"It wasn't much — Madara took control of the Third Mizukage. I warned Yagura before, but the kid went back and got caught. Tsk, way too green."
"Uh…" Ōnoki's lip twitched. From the point of view of rank and seniority, Kyoichi's phrasing was rude — calling Yagura "kid" felt off — but the content was staggering.
The Third Mizukage — Ebizō and Ōnoki both knew the man: a cunning, capable leader, not just raw power. And yet he'd been put under Madara's control.
Kyoichi outlined roughly how Madara did it. Both Ōnoki and Ebizō went serious fast; especially Ōnoki. He'd never fought Madara in his prime, but as someone from that legendary era he knew exactly how terrifying Madara's genjutsu could be — even tailed beasts weren't immune. The word that came to mind was "horrifying."
He mulled a long moment, then said, "And the Three-Tails—?"
"The Three-Tails' jinchūriki was Yagura. I rescued him; his life's not in immediate danger, but forget the Mizukage post for now." Kyoichi glanced at the two elders.
They sat up straight, putting on solemn looks… with no Kirigakure people present. Who exactly were they putting that performance on for? Kyoichi thought, inwardly rolling his eyes. Still — the surface politeness had to be kept. They'd be meeting again at a Five Kage Summit soon enough.
"Well, living's more important than titles. Who sits the mizukage seat can be decided later. That old man Gensui should hold on a bit longer — worst case, train a new one." Ebizō chuckled.
They all smiled quietly. Then Kyoichi went on with more details.
Kirigakure was where Kyoichi first clashed with Madara, and it was the single event where Madara's influence had the greatest visible effect — so it had to be treated as the prime example in their briefing.
Listening to the particulars left Ōnoki unsettled. Madara remained frightfully difficult to deal with. Kyoichi's account matched the feedback Iwagakure's ANBU teams had given — there was corroboration. So Kyoichi wasn't lying, nor did he need to. Konoha's position as top of the shinobi world was rock solid, and a Five Kage Summit would normally bring little direct benefit to Konoha — unless Madara existed. With Madara in the equation, everything changed.
Ōnoki and Ebizō, being clever men, quickly remembered Madara's old defection from Konoha and suspected revenge. But then Kyoichi dropped another bomb.
"Our current hypothesis, based on the Uchiha stone inscriptions we examined, is that Madara may have already obtained the Rinnegan — the Sage of Six Paths' eyes. The Sage is said to have created the tailed beasts…"
"Wait— the Rinnegan?" Ōnoki's eyes widened. How did Madara get that? Ebizō had not known either; the news left him stunned. If Madara truly had the Rinnegan, the combined forces of the whole shinobi world might not be enough.
Legends say the Sage of Six Paths once created the moon; that moon still hangs bright in the night sky. If Madara has the Rinnegan, he's nearly godlike. Silence fell.
"Scared?" Kyoichi half-smiled.
Ōnoki drew a deep breath. "Even if we're afraid, we still have to act. Madara is probably weakened now — age and all that — and even if he has the Rinnegan, does he still need the tailed beasts?"
"Possibly," Kyoichi nodded. Ōnoki kept his composure. Ebizō spoke next.
"If Madara does have the Rinnegan, shouldn't we examine it further? Maybe he can't actually use them anymore. Otherwise — with Kyoichi moving so often lately — Madara's temper alone would have him up and moving."
Yahiko fidgeted, embarrassed. The old guard, however shocked, calmed quickly and began analyzing — exactly what an ANBU captain would do. Kyoichi had no qualms about that: the elders were supposed to think this way. He hadn't concealed info, but even Ebizō couldn't have guessed where the eyes actually were; Nagato hadn't walked to Konoha — he'd been teleported here by Kyoichi's Flying Thunder God technique.
Nowadays, sneaking into Land of Fire along any of the main routes resembled an S-rank infiltration task; those corridors were heavily patrolled by ANBU and the Guard. That's the whole point of having expanded the Guard. In short: Land of Fire had become arguably the safest nation in the shinobi world. Even Suna and Iwa's ANBU teams couldn't infiltrate those thoroughfares; Konoha itself was sealed like an iron bucket. Not even the White Zetsu could mount a proper invasion; certainly not them. So Kyoichi had told the truth.
"We have intelligence: Madara's eyes aren't on him."
"Could they be used by us?" Ōnoki asked — asking about the Rinnegan.
Kyoichi just smiled without answering. Ōnoki's mouth twitched; the boy was defiant. Ebizō cleared his throat.
"Putting aside whether we can use the Rinnegan, the key point is: Madara can't use them right now. So did he engineer the Uchiha unrest?"
"Yes…" Kyoichi confirmed. The Uchiha chaos had been huge — many defectors gone without trace. Other villages were searching for those missing Uchiha. Those defectors were walking doujutsu — valuable beyond measure. If you obtained even a single Sharingan secretly, it'd be a major prize.
But so far they knew only this: where those Uchiha went, nobody could say for sure. All they'd noticed was that Konoha had transported a group back from the Land of Water. That was puzzling — until Madara's situation was revealed. Without the Rinnegan, Madara was far less threatening; he'd been manufacturing eyes by manipulating Uchiha.
Ōnoki reflected: "So Madara didn't have the Rinnegan, yet could still control the Third Mizukage and Yagura?" If he could do that without the Rinnegan, his power was even more fearsome.
"Yes. At present I suspect Madara may be hiding in some underground area. I want to mobilize everyone to conduct a carpet search."
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