There was no signature or name, only a single line of writing.
"Choose Land of Rain as the battlefield and launch an offensive against Konoha. Hanzo is now old and decaying, afraid of death and cowardly, and will not refuse Zetsu or resist."
For a moment, the living room sank into an even deeper silence.
Rasa narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression unchanged, while turmoil rose in his heart. The name Hanzo had once made Sunagakure, Konoha, Kumogakure, and Iwagakure all tremble, standing for the courage to say no to several great powers at once. That was why he and the others had chosen the second-best plan, attacking Land of Fire through Land of Rivers instead.
Yet now this letter claimed that Hanzo was old, afraid of death, and cowardly.
Staring at the paper, Rasa's eyes flickered as his thoughts raced.
Sending troops through Land of Rain to strike at Konoha and Land of Fire was without doubt extremely risky. But what if the letter was true? If Hanzo had truly lost the ferocity and resolve of his prime, becoming cautious and fearful of death, then Amegakure at the heart of Land of Rain would already be a tiger without fangs.
This route, passing through Land of Rain to strike directly at the rear of Konoha, would no longer be a dangerous dead end, but might become a shortcut that caught everyone by surprise. Combined with the pressure Kumogakure was applying in Land of Moon, they could become a hidden, poisoned dagger, stabbing into the soft underbelly of the giant that was Konoha.
Enormous risk, and enormous opportunity.
"So, is it true or false?"
Fixing his gaze on that single line, Rasa swallowed, his heart pounding hard in his chest. Was this precise intelligence on Hanzo's current state, or a carefully laid trap meant to lure him in? Without question, someone who hid in the shadows like this was not trustworthy and must have their own secret purpose.
Even so, the letter had opened a new line of thought, bringing Land of Rain back into consideration after he had instinctively ruled it out.
"I will send scouts to Amegakure to probe the situation and confirm whether this intelligence is true, but…" Rasa looked again at the letter and sneered. "Whoever you are, do you think I will let you use Sunagakure as a blade to kill for you?"
No matter whether this operation succeeded or failed, he would leak the information to Hanzo. A humanoid creature half white and half black, capable of extreme concealment and free movement underground, was not something to ignore.
At the same time, in Konoha Village, within the territory of the Uchiha Clan.
Black Zetsu, who was searching among the Uchiha for the reincarnation of Indra's Chakra, suddenly felt an inexplicable chill. "What is this?" it muttered, scanning the surroundings without finding anything amiss, and could only suppress the feeling and turn its gaze back to the person in the distance.
It could sense that the Uchiha child, barely over ten years old, had already awakened the two-tomoe Sharingan. That kind of talent, opening the eyes with just a bit of mental stimulation, was very similar to Madara Uchiha in his youth. "Is his name Itachi Uchiha?"
Looking at Itachi Uchiha sitting in the courtyard, then at the little one clinging to him and calling him brother, Black Zetsu felt a surge of surprise and delight. Was even the material for fusing an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan already prepared? And that child named Sasuke Uchiha looked astonishingly like Uchiha Izuna when he was young.
That settled it.
This Itachi Uchiha was, without a doubt, the next reincarnation of Indra's Chakra after Madara Uchiha.
"Still, something feels off about his birth year compared to when Madara died," Black Zetsu thought, a trace of doubt rising. It quickly brushed the thought aside. No matter what, Itachi Uchiha was the most likely candidate it had found in the entire Uchiha Clan.
"Come to think of it, Itachi Uchiha's younger brother's age fits better, and his birth is closer to Madara Uchiha's death," Black Zetsu mused. "But he is too young. Even if I wanted to do something, I could not."
In that case, whether Itachi Uchiha was the reincarnation or not, he needed to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan first. That was better than doing nothing at all. Later, once it was clear which of the two was truly the reincarnation of Indra's Chakra, it would be easy enough to take the eyes and give them to the right one.
Fine rain fell like endless silver threads, silently soaking the forest at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain. Unlike the cold rain of the Land of Rain, this place only had damp, lingering drizzle. The air felt thick and heavy, mixed with the smell of wet soil and mist.
A thin white fog hung through the woods like gauze that would not clear, limiting vision to a few dozen meters. Shadows shifted faintly all around, and the silence was broken only by rain tapping on leaves. Every sound felt close and muffled at the same time.
A patrol team made up of three Konoha Chunin and one Jonin moved along the boundary between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain on routine duty. Because Amegakure was guarded by Hanzo and had no history of launching wars, the mission was considered low risk. The leader, Yamada the Jonin, looked relaxed as he smiled and chatted with the others about a newly opened dango shop back in the village.
When they passed through a dense part of the forest, Yamada suddenly stopped and frowned, staring toward the shadow beneath a massive oak tree. "Captain, someone seems to be over there!" one Chunin whispered after sensing something strange.
Yamada immediately became alert and pressed his right hand to the kunai pouch at his waist. The other two dropped their smiles and spread out into a loose half encirclement. The sound of rain hid their light steps as they moved closer.
As Yamada approached carefully, the figure in the shadows came into view. In a hollow formed by thick, twisted tree roots, a small figure was curled up tightly. The child trembled violently, not from cold but from something deeper and harder to control.
Torn, muddy clothes hung loosely on the thin body, the wrong size making the child look even smaller. "Why... why is it me..."
The child kept his head down, face buried between his knees, broken sobs passing through rain and fog. The sound was painfully clear in the quiet forest and filled the four with helpless sorrow. For a moment, it seemed like nothing more than a lost child.
Perhaps a refugee separated from his parents. People sometimes crossed from the Land of Rain into the Land of Fire border forests, and Yamada relaxed slightly. Still, his training as a Jonin kept him cautious.
He signaled two teammates to watch the surroundings and stepped forward more gently. "Kid, why are you here alone? Where is your family, and which way did you come from?"
There was no answer, only heavier sobbing as the small shoulders shook harder. "Do not be afraid. We are Konoha Ninja, not bad people."
Yamada slowly crouched down and tried to see the child's face. "What is your name? Tell uncle, and I will help you find..."
He finally saw the child's soaked, messy dark red hair. Dark red. A strange sense of unease flickered through Yamada's mind.