"Renya-sama, are you alright?"
Tobi looked at Renya, who had suddenly appeared, worry written all over him as he asked nervously.
He had witnessed the entire battle just now—Renya-sama fighting alone against hundreds of ninja from the allied forces.
In the end, he had been sneak-attacked by an evil ninja and severely wounded…
At this moment, the three wounds on his body were still bleeding heavily, soaking his long robe in red.
"Maybe a little."
Renya did not immediately return to report to Madara-sama. Instead, he had Tobi find a hidden spot to treat his wounds.
If he didn't stop the bleeding soon, he would really die here.
If it weren't for Flying Thunder God, that ultimate escape technique, there was no way he could have broken out of the encirclement.
The capture mission had failed, but Madara should be able to understand.
Renya was actually very satisfied with the outcome of this operation.
Not only had he told the ninja allied forces the reason Madara was capturing the tailed beasts, but he had also made them realize the importance of protecting them.
By putting everything out in the open, the difficulty of capturing the Six-Tails would increase dramatically!
Unless Madara planned to take on the entire ninja allied forces alone.
Otherwise, without several years of time, there was no way he could capture another tailed beast.
"Tobi, you know how to explain this to Madara-sama, right?"
After treating his wounds, Renya stared straight at Tobi, his tone filled with threat.
Although he believed his plan had no issues, he didn't want White Zetsu to mess things up.
Before seeing Madara-sama, their stories had to match.
Otherwise, if White Zetsu talked nonsense, things would become troublesome.
Given Madara-sama's personality, he would definitely believe the White Zetsu he created rather than Renya's one-sided account.
"Huh?" Tobi looked confused. "How should I explain it?"
With his simple mind, he wasn't capable of thinking that far.
Renya took a deep look at Tobi's foolish expression and said in a low voice,
"Just tell the truth."
With White Zetsu's level of intelligence, he probably wouldn't embellish things or make things up.
With that, Renya dragged his heavily injured body and prepared to return the way they came.
Seeing this, Tobi hurriedly followed, one man and one Zetsu walking side by side.
"Renya-sama, I want to ask you a question."
"Speak."
"What does the urge to poop feel like?"
"..."
...
Dozens of meters underground, in a vast subterranean space.
"Madara-sama, we're back."
Uchiha Madara slowly opened his eyes. Noticing Renya's deathly pale complexion, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
"Where's the tailed beast I wanted?"
This kid went out and came back empty-handed.
It was hard not to question his loyalty.
"Cough…"
Just as Renya was about to explain, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and quickly covered his mouth with his hand.
Seeing this, Uchiha Madara frowned even more deeply.
"What exactly happened?"
He was well aware of Renya's strength. Ordinary ninja shouldn't have been able to injure him like this.
Something must have happened…
"Madara-sama, the nations of the ninja world noticed the consecutive disappearance of tailed beasts, so they spontaneously formed a ninja allied force to protect the Six-Tails jinchūriki of Kirigakure."
"I was injured by the ninja allied forces…"
Renya roughly recounted the sequence of events, quietly omitting certain statements that were unfavorable to him.
For example, accidentally revealing the purpose behind capturing the tailed beasts and other inappropriate remarks.
"You're saying the nations suddenly organized themselves to protect the tailed beasts?"
Hearing this, a trace of surprise appeared on Uchiha Madara's face.
Logically speaking, the probability of something like this happening was extremely low—unless someone had secretly leaked information to the various nations.
Otherwise, with how foolish those people were, there was no way they could unite.
His gaze subconsciously shifted to Renya's pale face, immediately identifying the prime suspect.
This kid really wasn't as loyal as he had thought.
Even when things were so close to the end, he still had to trip him up.
However, Uchiha Madara did not expose Renya.
At this point, the truth was no longer important.
Their top priority was to gather all nine tailed beasts and directly revive the Ten-Tails!
"Ninja allied forces?" Uchiha Madara sneered. "They're nothing."
One ant is an ant. A group of ants banding together are still just ants.
Before absolute power, all resistance is meaningless.
"I'll give you one more month. Whether you can capture a tailed beast or not."
Uchiha Madara's sharp gaze locked onto Renya's eyes. His voice was exceptionally calm, giving no hint of emotion.
Time waits for no one. He decided to give Renya one final chance.
The "Eye of the Moon" plan had to be carried out as soon as possible.
Delay would only invite trouble. There was no room for procrastination!
Although he didn't understand why Renya was deliberately delaying the progress of gathering the tailed beasts, he knew this kid definitely wasn't harboring any good intentions.
Time waits for no one, and Uchiha Madara no longer wanted to waste time on Renya.
One last time—he was prepared to give Renya a final opportunity!
Hopefully, this kid would cherish it…
"One month?" Renya showed a conflicted expression and said helplessly, "I'll do my best."
Looks like Madara is really anxious!
Even knowing that thousands of ninja from the allied forces were blocking the way, he was only giving him one month to prepare.
Renya didn't dare make any guarantees. He could only say he'd try his best.
Who could say what would happen after a month?
Besides, thousands of ninja from the allied forces weren't pushovers. Even if he wanted to capture one, it might not be possible.
Madara was really making things difficult for him.
Not everyone was a monster like him, capable of fighting tens of thousands of ninja allied forces alone.
Of course, that was only when he was young.
With Madara-sama's current condition, even dealing with Renya was already difficult, let alone thousands of well-trained ninja from the allied forces.
If he showed up leaning on a cane, wouldn't they laugh themselves to death?
Uchiha Madara quietly observed Renya's reaction and eventually slowly closed his eyes.
"Stay here and recover for now."
At first, he had regarded Renya as a like-minded junior, but as time passed, he gradually no longer thought so.
This kid's heart had always been with Konoha. He had never truly wanted to realize the ideal together with him.
But it didn't matter. The plan was about to succeed.
Even if Renya stopped helping him capture the tailed beasts, it wouldn't have much of an impact.
Uchiha Madara had never placed his hopes on others.
He had always believed that only he could bring true peace to the ninja world!
As for everyone else, they were nothing more than chess pieces for him to use.
"Do you have any dreams?"
After some unknown amount of time, Renya, who was lying on the bed resting, heard Madara-sama's question.
For a moment, he felt somewhat lost.
The word "dream" felt rather distant to him.
At the beginning, Renya had only wanted to become stronger and survive in this dangerous world.
If he really had to name a dream, it was simply to live on.
Now that he thought about it, his dream had already been realized without him even noticing.
"Madara-sama, my dream is to live."
Uchiha Madara said nothing. His eyes remained closed as he continued to sit in meditation.
Seeing this, Renya couldn't help but fall into self-doubt. Had he imagined hearing that question?
Maybe it was due to excessive blood loss.
Whatever. He'd focus on recovering from his injuries first.