There was a short silence.
Lord Madara and Obito had both calmed down.
They both knew one thing for sure:
To achieve their respective goals, they still needed each other—for now.
If internal conflict were to break out at this moment,
perhaps Hashirama and Konoha would be laughing in their sleep!
Would Lord Madara allow such foolishness?
"Tell me,"
"Can the Akatsuki organization still be used?"
Lord Madara asked with a calm expression.
He had realized this long ago—
human energy is limited.
To accomplish great things, capable subordinates are indispensable.
And useful pawns? The more, the better.
That's why he created Black Zetsu, produced White Zetsu, saved Obito, and manipulated Nagato...
You could say that the so-called Akatsuki
was merely one of the "shells" he used to realize his plan.
...
Obito gave an answer.
At present, Nagato had suddenly died; Konan had disappeared; Sasori's fate remained unknown; Biwa Juzo had fallen in battle…
The core structure of Akatsuki had already collapsed.
In name, only five remained: Obito, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Orochimaru, and the unnamed rough man.
In practice, aside from Orochimaru—who'd always had his own warped agenda—only three were still useful: Obito, Zetsu, and Kakuzu.
As for that unnamed rough gentleman… he barely counted as filler.
"Kakuzu?"
"The one who used to serve Takigakure?"
"I remember—he actually dared to go after Hashirama head-on?"
Lord Madara recalled slightly, quickly remembering Kakuzu's appearance.
After all, anything related to Hashirama—even an insignificant little assassin—he knew inside and out.
Obito nodded.
"He is."
"His strength is mediocre. But when it comes to making money and managing finances, he's quite skilled."
"He was always in charge of Akatsuki's financial affairs."
"He still holds some utilization value…"
Certainly, money alone couldn't rule the whole of the Ninja World.
But money's power remains enormous.
The operation of Akatsuki, member salaries, purchases of special jutsu ingredients to advanced lab tools—all cost money.
Let's be honest—if it weren't for Kakuzu, our gold-plated money machine and financial wizard, Akatsuki wouldn't have risen so fast,
nor could they have recruited one outstanding member after another…
Therefore, in Obito's view,
Kakuzu was still valuable.
Lord Madara: "Where is Kakuzu now?"
Obito: "Still on a mission..."
Lord Madara: "Contact him. Order him to return to base immediately. I'll decide whether to keep him after seeing him."
Clearly,
Lord Madara was preparing to reorganize the Akatsuki.
Although judging by appearance, the Akatsuki shell seemed severely damaged,
as long as it hasn't fully collapsed,
with slight repairs, it could still be put to use again.
...
Half a day later.
Lord Madara arrived at their secret base.
That was the three-story underground base located beneath the Mountain Graveyard within the Land of Iron.
The sight was horrifying.
He returned the main body of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path — which had once belonged to him — back to its original place,
and began repairing the statue.
However,
when he saw tens of thousands of White Zetsu soldiers stored by Obito at the lowest level of the base,
Lord Madara frowned deeply,
and couldn't help but feel the urge to beat Obito senseless once again!
Obito had actually drawn a massive amount of life energy from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path
and used this precious energy to create such a vast number of useless foot soldiers...
What in the world was going on inside that rock-solid brainpan of his?
Did he actually think that merely tens of thousands of White Zetsu foot soldiers could unify the Ninja World?
Has he gone mad?
Yet he ended up squandering a vast amount of the statue's precious life force!
No wonder when it was under Nagato's control, the statue easily defeated Sanshouo and many Anbu from Konoha,
but in later stages, despite having much more Tailed Beast power, it got bogged down by the weak shinobi alliance forces.
It turned out the statue had been completely drained!
Madara suppressed his rising anger.
Although what Obito did was stupid, it somehow had some minor usefulness now.
Each of those ten thousand White Zetsu still contained abundant life force.
He needed to extract this life force from their bodies and return it to the statue.
This should allow for quick repair of the damaged Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
It also saved him considerable effort.
Otherwise, if waiting for the statue to heal itself naturally, who knows how long he would've needed to wait.
Fine, considering this alone,
he'd overlook Obito's mistake this one time!
...
Lord Madara used [Clone Technique] to create two wooden clones and left them within the third underground level,
helping the Demonic Statue recover its life energy and accelerate the healing process.
As for himself, his real body returned to the first floor of the base.
He continued sitting on that rotten, ancient wooden chair, quietly recovering from injuries sustained in battle.
During this time, Obito left to pick up Kakuzu.
The remaining active White Zetsu were sent out to various locations, including the Rain Hidden Village,
to search for information regarding Konan's whereabouts,
so they could recover the other Rinnegan belonging to Madara as soon as possible.
Right now,
this place had become entirely deserted,
leaving only Madara,
accompanied solely by silence and coldness,
as if he had endured alone through those decades himself...
It wasn't clear how much time had passed.
An ugly mass of black mud slowly emerged from the ground, gradually gathering together into Black Zetsu's form.
"Lord Madara!"
Black Zetsu approached with cautious flattery, his expression dripping with sycophantic charm.
To this creature lurking in history's shadows, dignity and pride meant absolutely nothing...
So long as his plan succeeded;
So long as Madara's suspicions about himself could be cleared away,
even the most degrading groveling was something he willingly accepted.
Rescuing his mother—his one and only wish—
a desire both unnatural and pure...
"Black Zetsu, are you really an incarnation of my consciousness?"
Lord Madara asked coldly, clearly beginning to suspect Black Zetsu.
After all, Black Zetsu appeared far too cowardly, far too afraid of dying...
If it truly was his own consciousness incarnate,
Doesn't that mean I'm just as cowardly and despicable too?
How could that be?
Yet no matter how Madara recalled the day he obtained the [Rinnegan],
or revisited the day Black Zetsu was born,
he couldn't find even the slightest flaw.
Too perfect!
So perfect it felt like a trap...
As if everything had been planned from the beginning?
Hearing Lord Madara's accusation, Black Zetsu couldn't help but shudder inwardly.
There was seemingly endless icy coldness in Madara's tone,
making Black Zetsu feel as though Madara might suddenly attack and kill him any moment.
Besides, from what he knew,
Madara definitely wouldn't hesitate to do such a thing...
If he couldn't provide a reasonable explanation,
then his thousand-year-long scheme would surely be ruined again!
"Lord Madara, I will always be your loyal servant."
"Your will is the meaning of my existence! Your wish is my eternal pursuit until death!"
Black Zetsu groveled shamelessly,
wishing he could melt into a pile of soft mud and cling to Lord Madara to prove his loyalty.
Of course, he didn't actually do that.
Because he clearly understood Madara disliked physical contact from others—except for Hashirama...
"Hmph, sounds so sweet."
"And does that include abandoning me? Betraying me?"
Lord Madara continued coldly.
Lowering his head even more, Black Zetsu continued:
"Yes! Even if it means abandoning or betraying you, I'll still carry out your will!"
"Whoosh—"
Tangible killing intent surged violently, like countless blades pressing against Black Zetsu's neck.
If the next sentence failed to satisfy Madara,
he would certainly kill Zetsu without hesitation!
"From the moment you created me, my existence has been solely to help realize your [Eye of the Moon Plan]!"
"You yourself have commanded me: ensure the success of this plan at all costs!"
"Therefore, as long as I live, anything is possible!"
"Even if you die, I will find a way to bring you back to life!"
"This is truly your own will!"
"And my escape in front of that brat was also for better fulfillment of your will!"
"It's all for the plan!"
"O Great Lord Madara!"
Black Zetsu praised earnestly.
The flattery he spewed was slicker than oil.
Clearly, Black Zetsu understood Madara thoroughly...
Otherwise, how dare he appear before Lord Madara without confidence?
Each word he spoke struck precisely at Madara's heart.
Indeed, everything was for the [Eye of the Moon Plan]!
"Hmm—"
Madara inhaled deeply.
Then he retracted his killing intent, suppressing the slight suspicion towards Black Zetsu.
What Black Zetsu said made sense.
As long as he remained, his plan hadn't truly failed.
Moreover, Madara's resurrection was largely thanks to Black Zetsu.
He indeed shouldn't doubt him so easily...
"Fine, you may leave now!"
"Also, find me some books on prehistoric deities. I need to study them closely!"
"Very well."
Lord Madara waved his hand and released Black Zetsu.
"At your command!"
Black Zetsu bowed respectfully in reply.
Yet, his grotesque mouth curled upward almost seventy-five degrees.
He knew he'd managed to pull the wool over Madara's eyes again.
His Mother-Saving Scheme could now move forward without a hitch...
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