Just as Mogera was about to slash Kakashi, an ice mirror suddenly appeared between them. His blade struck the mirror with a sharp crack.
Kakashi, unfazed, didn't stop his charge. He reached out, shattered the ice mirror in front of him, and pierced through Mogera's abdomen.
With a puff of smoke, the Mogera before him vanished—it was just a shadow clone. Kakashi also stopped his motion.
From the recent fight, he realized that he couldn't yet control Chidori properly. In other words, this jutsu still wasn't suitable for real combat.
"There's an opening!"
On the other side, a remaining shadow clone of Mogera suddenly burst out from underground, aiming for Obito and Rin, who were positioned behind. However, with his newly awakened one-tomoe Sharingan, Obito's perception had become much sharper than before. He promptly moved to block the clone's first attack.
"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"
Kicking away Mogera's extended arm, Obito formed hand seals and expelled a dragon-shaped blaze from his mouth, directly hitting Mogera and dispersing the clone.
With Rin safely shielded behind him, Obito gripped a kunai and scanned the surroundings cautiously, prepared for any surprise attacks.
"I didn't expect the shadow clone to be dealt with so quickly. Damn it... Aren't these just some bratty kids? And how the hell were all my clones eliminated..."
Hiding behind a tree trunk, Mogera cautiously peeked out to observe the situation on the battlefield.
When his eyes landed on the hiding place his clone had previously used, his pupils contracted sharply. In that instant, he understood how his clones had been taken out.
Multiple ice mirrors stood silently, gleaming with a white sheen.
Coupled with the way his clone had been defeated earlier, Mogera instantly grasped the truth.
A chill crept up behind him, followed by searing pain in his leg and arm joints.
Four senbon had pierced the joints in his limbs, stripping Mogera of control over them. His body collapsed uncontrollably, face-first to the ground.
"The White Reaper... the Ice Release user from Konoha who struck terror into enemies on the Kumogakure front..."
Unable to move his limbs and knowing he wouldn't make it out alive, Mogera spoke with difficulty, turning to glance at Takeshi behind him.
Takeshi ignored him, calmly creating more senbon and driving them into Mogera's chakra points, systematically cutting off any chance the enemy might have to retaliate.
By the time Kakashi, Obito, and the others reached Mogera, the man had been turned into a senbon-filled porcupine by Takeshi.
"Obito, use genjutsu on him."
Seeing the setup complete, Takeshi motioned for Obito to activate his Sharingan on Mogera.
Soon, they learned that two more Jōnin were stationed ahead as guards, and that a larger unit led by Special Jōnin was marching in their direction.
"Three Jōnin, huh? Quite the luxurious arrangement."
Seeing there was no more useful intel to extract, Takeshi cleanly slit Mogera's throat and began planning their next move.
What came next would be much riskier. Who knew if Madara or that shady old backstabber of a "good son" was already watching them from the shadows?
No—more accurately, watching Obito.
Takeshi was half right.
Someone was indeed observing them. But it wasn't Black Zetsu—it was a White Zetsu.
As everyone knew, beneath the Land of Grass lay a certain kindly old Uchiha grandfather. This "grandfather" usually relied on White Zetsu to gather intelligence, keeping abreast of changes in the shinobi world in real time.
Once the White Zetsu noticed Obito possessed a Sharingan, it immediately dived underground to deliver the news to Madara.
...
At that moment, Uchiha Madara sat with his back against a massive hollowed-out tree stump converted into a seat. Beside him lay a scythe that doubled as a cane, while behind him, thick, strange tubes fed him the nutrients he needed to survive.
"Huff... huff..."
Soft snoring filled the air. A far cry from the fearsome warrior who once dominated the shinobi world, Madara was now a withered shell of his former self. Without the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, he would perish instantly—irretrievably.
"Madara-sama~"
In a voice so syrupy it could rot teeth, White Zetsu called out to wake Madara.
"Hmm?"
Madara's eyes opened, confused. It took a while before he focused his gaze on White Zetsu.
He really was getting old—couldn't even remember when he'd dozed off.
"What is it?"
Madara's voice was hoarse as he asked why White Zetsu had woken him.
"Madara-sama, per your orders, I've been observing young Uchiha on the battlefield... and I found someone interesting."
White Zetsu reported Obito's name and the fact that he had awakened the Sharingan.
"Uchiha Obito... I recall..."
Madara furrowed his brows in thought.
He had always assigned White Zetsu to monitor the Uchiha clan. The plan was to one day find a successor—a stand-in who could help rein in Nagato if necessary.
If Nagato didn't develop the way Madara envisioned, he'd just be giving away the Rinnegan for free—a literal charity case.
"Obito... Obito... huff... huff..."
Muttering Obito's name, Madara's voice grew fainter until it faded into soft snores again.
"Uh... Madara-sama~"
"I'm listening."
Woken again by White Zetsu, Madara stubbornly refused to admit he'd fallen asleep and instead retrieved Obito's file from memory.
"That child isn't bad. You must monitor him closely. His heart is filled with love... but if he experiences true pain, that love will transform into deep hatred. Then, he will align with my ideology and become my stand-in."
"But, the people around him are not easy to deal with. One of them is... that Ice-something Wind... is that the name?"
"No, it should be Wind Ice."
"No no no, it should be White Frost."
"No no no no, I think it's..."
Just as the White Zetsus were about to break into a full argument, Madara, annoyed by the noise, cut them off:
"Enough. There's someone difficult to deal with, right?"
Seeing them nod, Madara extended his arm. After a brief moment, a lump of black goo slid out from his wide sleeve, landed on the ground, and crawled onto one of the White Zetsus.
"Black Zetsu, go see if you can bring that little brat here—without alarming the others."
Staring at the product of his Yin-Yang Release training, Madara issued his order, then turned to another nearby White Zetsu:
"You keep watching the brat fighting Kirigakure. If the opportunity arises, bring him in as well."
That's right—even stand-ins needed redundancy.
Even if Black and White Zetsu both failed, Madara had a third candidate in mind—just a bit older, that's all.
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo