Noon.
Kakashi returned from his scouting run.
Minato also flickered out from the forest.
Drake stopped whispering to the trees, and the three regrouped.
"Nothing unusual in the surroundings," Kakashi reported.
"Not a single trace," Minato shook his head.
"As far as I can tell, Madara escaped underground and left the range of the tree roots. His exact location is unknown."
Drake relayed what he'd learned from the forest.
With that, their first attempt to track Madara officially ended in failure.
After a brief rest, the three leaped back onto the trees, preparing to continue their ambush of the Stone ninja.
Minato glanced at the massive crater near the bridge and suddenly seemed to realize something.
"I have an idea," he said seriously. "Let's do some analysis."
"About Uchiha Madara?" Kakashi asked.
"No. The Stone Village."
Drake immediately caught on.
"You mean predicting how many Iwa ninja will come next?"
"Exactly."
Minato unfolded a map and began measuring distances.
"The last wave numbered close to fifty. That should've been most of the ninja stationed at a border outpost. In other words, we essentially wiped out an entire Iwa checkpoint."
He paused, then looked at them.
"If you were the commanding officer and received this report, how many ninja would you send next?"
"I'd send at least a hundred," Kakashi blurted out.
"And you?" Minato turned to Drake.
"I'd send ten times that," Drake replied calmly. "No less than five hundred."
"Five hundred?!" Kakashi nearly fell out of the tree.
"That many people, and every single one of them using Earth Release… this place would turn into a bottomless abyss!"
Then a thought struck him.
"Wait… Drake, can your Wood Release even handle that many?"
"Hmmm…" Drake stroked his chin. "Probably, yeah."
From his clash with Madara, he had a rough idea of his current limits. Summoning a few hundred wooden constructs wasn't even close to impossible anymore.
After all, his Wood Release had already doubled twice.
"You've already surpassed me," Minato said sincerely.
"Not really. I just got lucky and awakened Wood Release," Drake replied modestly.
Suddenly—
All three turned their heads in unison.
On the distant path, a White Zetsu had appeared out of nowhere and was sprinting toward them.
"That white creature again?" Minato pulled out a kunai, eyes sharp.
"It's definitely something Madara created."
"So he released another White Zetsu on purpose…" Drake squinted.
"He's testing whether it'll betray him again when it sees me."
"Careful. It might be rigged with explosive tags," Drake warned.
The moment White Zetsu spotted Drake, its face lit up with pure joy — like a child seeing family.
But it also knew there was a detonator inside its body.
When it reached about a hundred meters away, it suddenly shouted:
"Uchiha Madara is—"
BOOOOOOM!!
The White Zetsu exploded into fragments.
In that instant, a murderous intent ignited deep in Drake's heart.
It was so cute, and you just blew it up like that?
Madara had officially crossed a line.
"This thing was trying to tell you Madara's location," Minato sighed regretfully.
Now the pattern was obvious.
Any White Zetsu that encountered Drake would instinctively betray Madara.
Minato almost felt like laughing at the irony.
Drake jumped down and carefully gathered the remaining fragments of White Zetsu.
Then, with solemn care, he dug several holes and buried each piece.
"You think Drake has some kind of romantic attachment to trees?" Kakashi whispered.
"Perhaps that abnormal compassion is exactly why he wields such power," Minato replied quietly.
Normal people don't gain Wood Release.
And they definitely don't chat with trees.
Deep underground…
Black Zetsu had returned.
By Madara's orders, he had conducted the test on White Zetsu. The result was… expected.
"And?" Madara asked hoarsely.
"The moment White Zetsu saw Drake… it betrayed you."
"I figured as much…" Madara's voice grew heavier.
He already knew the reason.
"This must be related to that boy's ability to suppress Wood Release."
But even that wasn't all.
"His power goes beyond suppression… It must also involve extreme affinity with plant life. Communication. Resonance…"
Madara's deductions were frighteningly accurate.
If Drake heard this, he'd probably applaud.
"From now on, we must be extremely cautious when deploying White Zetsu," Black Zetsu warned.
"Indeed."
Just imagining his intelligence network betraying him made Madara's head ache.
"And the matter of capturing Drake?" Black Zetsu asked carefully.
"Wait for the perfect opportunity."
Madara had no intention of giving up.
In fact…
His interest in Drake had only grown stronger.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 60 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/SwipeSage