"After all these years… has the masked man who launched the Nine Tails Rebellion finally revealed himself again?"
Shikaku Nara's voice was grim as he stood in the intelligence hall, his brow furrowed with concern. He gave a curt nod to Yamanaka Inoichi. "Send out a high-level alert across Konoha. We cannot afford even the slightest misstep against this enemy who once nearly brought the village to its knees."
Meanwhile, in the Uchiha district, Andrew and Fugaku were overseeing the strategic relocation of their clansmen under the guise of a night drill. The sudden blaring of the emergency signal across the village caused both men to halt, tense and alert.
"Has Konoha already caught wind of our movement?" Fugaku muttered, glancing skyward as red flares cracked through the night.
Andrew narrowed his eyes, but after a moment of listening to the signal's frequency, he exhaled in relief. "No… this isn't about us. It's something else—something bigger."
Fugaku stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Could it be an attack from another village? We knew ever since the higher-ups introduced their so-called 'weaponized Wood Style,' other nations would begin to take Konoha as a threat."
"If this were a full-scale invasion, the alarm would've sounded differently, and the noise would be deafening. This is something more covert. It seems Konoha's facing another kind of storm," Andrew said with a smirk. "And the more chaos that befalls Konoha right now, the better it is for the Uchiha."
Just then, Uchiha Kamasu burst into the courtyard, panting, sweat streaming down his forehead. "Clan head! Big news! It's the masked man—the one from the Nine Tails attack! He's shown up again!"
Andrew and Fugaku locked eyes for only a second, but their shared understanding was instantaneous. In a flash, Andrew vanished using Body Flicker, leaving Fugaku to coordinate the next phase.
"Kamasu! Gather all available Jōnin. Intercept the masked man. Don't let him escape, no matter what. Surround him—stall him if you can!" Fugaku ordered sharply. He knew full well that ordinary Uchiha might not be able to match the masked man, but inaction was not an option.
Elsewhere, the Third Hokage stood with narrowed eyes, watching in disbelief as the masked man used Wood Style: Cutting Technique—an ability thought to be extinct, save for Tenzo and Danzo.
"How does he have Wood Style? Unless… was Danzo involved in the Nine Tails incident? Just how much has he hidden from me?" Hiruzen's thoughts raced as the masked man weaved in and out of space with Kamui, untouched by the Shinobi trying to pin him down.
Each time the Wood Style attack landed, it turned into a death sentence—the sharp roots pierced flesh and then expanded inside the body, turning the victim into a grotesque pincushion. It was a horrific and unstoppable assault.
"Lightning Style: Chidori!"
Kakashi appeared in a blur of speed, Sharingan now unveiled, and thrust forward with deadly precision.
"Earth Style: Yellow Springs Marsh!" Jiraiya bellowed, slamming his palm onto the ground, turning the terrain beneath the masked man into a thick, muddy trap to hinder his movement.
These two veterans of war didn't need words to coordinate. Their eyes met, and a strategy was born. They'd deduced it already: Obito's intangibility wasn't constant. He had to become tangible to attack. That brief moment was their only window.
Chidori's speed made it the perfect weapon to exploit that opening.
As Kakashi closed in, Obito's eyes widened for a brief moment. "Chidori... Rin..." he muttered, his voice choked with emotion as he saw his old comrade approaching with that same jutsu.
The moment of sentiment didn't last. Obito phased, letting Kakashi pass through harmlessly. Then, with a sharp spin, he drove an elbow into Kakashi's back, sending him crashing across the field.
A swirling vortex of space appeared behind him, pulling Obito out of the marsh and back into the battlefield. He landed lightly, his single visible eye glaring at Hiruzen and the Shinobi ranks behind him.
"Konoha now... is truly weak and pitiful."
The words cut deep. Hiruzen felt the sting more than anyone. Of the assembled shinobi, only Jiraiya could be counted on to match Kage-level strength. Kakashi, though talented, wasn't quite there yet.
And Obito… his Kamui and Wood Style made him nearly invincible in a battlefield setting.
"Mangekyō Sharingan…" Hiruzen whispered, pondering the implications. Shisui had one—Kotoamatsukami, the eye that could rewrite minds. Itachi's Mangekyō came later, after Shisui's fall.
Andrew? Possibly, though he was too young during the Nine Tails Rebellion.
That left Fugaku. Could he have possessed the Mangekyō at the time? Perhaps. But Fugaku had never revealed any evidence of using it, and he was heavily monitored during the Nine Tails attack. So… was Uchiha truly innocent?
Was Danzo's obsession with the Sharingan less about power and more about fear of people like Obito?
There was a pattern emerging.
"Who the hell are you?!" Hiruzen finally shouted, his voice echoing across the battlefield.
The masked man turned, his voice cold and clear: "Uchiha... Motor."
The entire battlefield froze.
"Uchiha... Motor?!" Hiruzen repeated, his voice shaken.
The name itself was enough to unnerve any shinobi worth their salt. Uchiha Madara, the man once called the "Shura of the Shinobi World," the only person who ever fought Hashirama Senju to a draw—if not better. A symbol of absolute power.
If this man was truly Madara…
"We're finished," Hiruzen thought with dread. Even Jiraiya and Tsunade combined wouldn't be enough. Konoha would fall.
A single Mangekyō user like Andrew could already freeze the village's military strength. But Uchiha Madara? He was the ceiling of the Uchiha clan's power—the pinnacle.
"Hah! If you were really Madara, you wouldn't need to sneak in during Kushina's labor to launch the Nine Tails attack!"
A new voice rang out across the battlefield. Andrew emerged from the treeline, eyes burning with fury.
"Don't flatter yourself with that name. Cowards like you, hiding behind masks and lies, don't deserve to touch our clan's legacy!"
The sudden interruption snapped many Konoha shinobi out of their fear.
Andrew's rage wasn't just about pride—it was personal.
"You claim to honor Madara's name, but what have you done? Attacked your own teacher's wife while she was vulnerable? Betrayed the very people who raised you? Don't talk to me about despair!"
He stepped forward boldly, Mangekyō Sharingan spinning in his eyes. "You're not Madara. You're just a kid playing dress-up in his master's shadow!"
Obito remained silent, but there was a flicker of unease in his posture. Andrew's words struck at something buried deep.
"Minato might forgive you. Even Kakashi might pity you. But me? Never. Kushina treated you like family, and you repaid her with chains and the Nine Tails! Don't expect redemption from me."
Obito's fingers twitched slightly.
Andrew saw it.
"You want to talk about pain? So be it. But don't pretend you carry Madara's will. You're just a coward who used someone else's name to spread your own misery!"
For a brief moment, even Hiruzen looked at Andrew with something close to admiration. His words, though fiery, had broken through the despair in the ranks.
Obito said nothing more.
Instead, the masked man turned, Kamui swirling around him again.
"Next time, I won't hold back."
With that, he vanished.
The battlefield fell into silence.
Andrew stood where he was, fists clenched. "Don't let him escape again," he muttered to himself.
Far away, within a secluded chamber beneath the surface, Obito removed his mask and stared into the darkness. The words echoed in his mind:
"You don't carry Madara's will… You betrayed your own family."
His hand trembled, not with rage, but with doubt.
Back in Konoha, the shinobi gathered their injured, the weight of the battle settling over them.
Hiruzen sighed. "Whatever happens next… we can't afford to face it alone."
Jiraiya nodded. "It's time we bring Tsunade back."
"And prepare the next generation," Andrew added quietly, walking back into the shadows of the Uchiha compound. "Because war… is coming."
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