"I thought that after dealing with that brat, you would come capture Shimizu Uzuki as quickly as possible." Madara's gaze remained fixed on Konoha in the far distance, now barely visible on the horizon. "So what exactly kept you this time?"
"Hahaha… there was a tiny little accident along the way…" Tobi laughed awkwardly while casually pulling innocent blades of grass from the ground.
"Tobi…"
"Hm?"
"How many times has this been now?"
"This one really was an accident!" Tobi said seriously.
"So the previous accidents were fake?"
"Wow, that's really going straight for the heart…" Tobi replied in an aggrieved tone.
Before he could continue explaining himself, Madara had already begun examining Tobi's injuries.
"Lightning Release?" Madara muttered with slight surprise.
Judging from the fresh wounds on Tobi's body, they were clearly penetrating injuries caused by a powerful Lightning Release technique.
There were many powerful ninjutsu in the shinobi world, but techniques capable of producing this kind of effect—and memorable enough to leave a deep impression—
"It resembles Shimizu Uzuki's techniques somewhat," Madara concluded.
"Yeah. A white-haired brat. His Lightning Release is actually pretty impressive."
"One person?" Madara glanced sideways at him. "So your 'accident' was losing to some little kid?"
Nonsense!
How could he possibly fail to deal with a mere Konoha brat?!
At most, he had only suffered a tiny setback because of two Konoha brats working together…
"That's not the important part."
Tobi's expression suddenly turned serious.
"Madara… another genius has appeared within the Uchiha clan."
He spoke with clear emotion in his voice.
"He's only around ten years old, yet he already possesses a fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan. And his ocular power is unbelievably strong…"
"Oh?" Madara's interest was finally stirred. "Rare to hear such praise from you."
Very few people ever received compliments from Tobi, so even Madara found himself intrigued.
But Tobi quickly changed the subject.
"Still, if he keeps growing like this, he'll soon hit a bottleneck."
"What a pity… he'll never step into the realm of the Mangekyō Sharingan in this lifetime."
His tone was filled with regret, as though he were already watching the downfall of a gifted Uchiha prodigy.
After all, for the Uchiha clan to break past the limits of the ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan and awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, the price required was unimaginably cruel.
Ever since Madara had left Konoha, decades had passed.
And during all those years, how many Uchiha within Konoha had successfully awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?
"If he truly is a genius, then remaining in Konoha is indeed a waste," Madara said, agreeing with Tobi's assessment.
In Madara's eyes, Konoha's greatness had vanished together with the death of the First Hokage.
Otherwise, how else could the decline of the Uchiha clan be explained?
To say Konoha had played no role in suppressing the Uchiha—
Madara simply did not believe it.
"Say, Madara… why don't we just bring this little Uchiha brat over to our side?"
"Right now he's still young and naïve, easy to manipulate. We could shape him however we want."
"And I've already found the perfect material for his Mangekyō evolution—the white-haired brat with the impressive Lightning Release we talked about before. The two of them are comrades bound by years of friendship!"
"Their teamwork was simply too perfect…"
Tobi's instincts were frighteningly sharp. At a glance, he had already seen through the true relationship between Obito and Kakashi.
"All we need to do is play a few tricks, sacrifice the 'material,' severely wound him, and then appear at the perfect moment to save him from despair…"
"This would be a tremendous asset for us once he awakens the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Tobi quickly sighed again.
"Look at Shimizu Uzuki. Sure, fate favored him, and he even managed to fuse with the First Hokage's cells…"
"But after inviting him multiple times, not only did he refuse to appreciate it, he kept scheming against us and loved launching sneak attacks."
"Honestly, I just don't like teammates like that."
Madara did not respond immediately, but Tobi could tell his words had already taken root in his mind. Madara's gaze drifted toward the distant horizon, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Still, Tobi felt confident.
Madara had definitely been tempted.
There was no need for him to make a decision immediately. As long as the idea had been planted, the rest would depend on how Tobi arranged things moving forward.
If only that little Uchiha brat could also fuse with the First Hokage's cells… then everything would truly be perfect.
Suddenly, Tobi raised his head and looked toward the pitch-black forest in the distance.
"The Third Hokage is chasing after us," he said seriously.
Madara merely smiled dismissively.
"That old man really is persistent. He's probably here to avenge Jiraiya."
"Should we kill him?" Tobi suggested cautiously. He could tell Madara was in a foul mood because of the Third Hokage.
After all, Madara had once stood at the very peak of the shinobi world, yet now he was being pursued and forced to retreat in embarrassment. Anyone would find that frustrating.
But Madara decisively shook his head.
Frustrated or not, he was not foolish.
No matter what, the Third Hokage was still the teacher of Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin. He was a monster standing at the pinnacle of the current shinobi world.
"Forget it. We should move quickly and return to the Hidden Mist Village. The longer we delay, the greater the chance something unexpected happens."
"You should know that the Third Mizukage's position still isn't stable."
"Haven't we already dealt with several of the pro-peace elders and reduced a lot of the pressure on him?" Tobi muttered. "If he still can't hold onto the Mizukage position after that, then he's completely useless."
"The Three-Tails is still in the hands of the peace faction." Madara's concern was justified. After all, a Tailed Beast was essentially a village's ultimate weapon.
Then he suddenly asked, "And what about the Three-Tails jinchūriki? Have you found a suitable candidate yet?"
"Jinchūriki don't grow on trees, you know. It's not like you can find one whenever you want."
Madara ignored Tobi's complaints.
"Before we return, we need to find one."
"Yes, yes…" Tobi replied helplessly.
The two figures soon disappeared completely into the darkness of the night.
…
"They're at the seven o'clock direction, roughly one kilometer away," one of the ANBU reported while tracking Madara and Tobi's location.
But in the next instant, his expression suddenly changed.
"No—that's wrong. They disappeared!"
"Disappeared?!"
"I lost their trail!"
The moment those words fell, several violent gusts of wind roared past the group. The Third Hokage, dressed in black battle robes, instantly broke away from the formation and charged into the distance alone.
He was actually using Wind Release chakra to accelerate his movement.
"So Wind Release can be used with such precision…" another ANBU muttered in amazement. "As expected of Lord Hokage."
"Without absolute chakra control, something like that would be impossible."
One ANBU captain glanced back at the fifteen elite shinobi behind him. Every one of them belonged to the Hokage's personal ANBU force and possessed speed far beyond that of ordinary jōnin.
Yet even so, they were rapidly falling behind.
After only a few leaps, the Third Hokage had already vanished from their sight entirely.
"We need to move faster too!"
...
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