…
Kakashi shot Naruto a speechless look. The kid's idea was dangerous—asking Guy to open the Eighth Gate against him?!
Forget the Eighth; even the Seventh might be more than Kakashi could handle.
He rubbed his temples. Had he grown too lax? Since Obito and Minato died, his strength had plateaued.
Kakashi inhaled; he'd start training again when they returned.
Once upon a time he'd been a prodigy—Jonin at twelve.
Of course, that record was broken by Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi, who joined Anbu at eleven.
Anbu didn't always equal Jonin, but Itachi already possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Before even entering Anbu he'd defeated a Root operative.
Root—Danzo's creation—was ruthless, willing to sacrifice comrades for the Village.
Every member rivaled a Jonin in combat strength.
Yet pre-Anbu Itachi had beaten one, proof of his genius and power.
And that same prodigy slaughtered the entire Uchiha Clan and became a rogue ninja.
Knowing Konoha's darkness, Kakashi guessed hidden reasons, but he and Itachi were neither friends nor enemies.
If they met again, he wouldn't hold back.
He was Konoha's Jonin; Itachi was an S-rank missing-nin.
Kakashi-sensei, why so quiet?" Naruto teased, clearly picturing the cool, mysterious Kakashi
losing spectacularly to the bushy-browed taijutsu monster.
Just thinking about the coming war
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "From the multiverse projection, Uchiha Madara appears to have 'returned."
And my teacher—the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze—he…
Looking at smiling Naruto, Kakashi's heart twisted. He wanted to say: Minato is your father
the hero who sealed the Nine-Tails and saved the Village.
But remembering Naruto's lonely childhood, he swallowed the words and said instead
His appearance on the battlefield means the fight has become desperate—so desperate the dead are summoned to fight.
"The Fourth had died; resurrected like that, it had to be the forbidden jutsu created by the Second Hokage—Edo Tensei."
If they were resorting to a technique that trampled souls, the future war would be horrific.
"Yeah, you can tell—after all, it's Uchiha Madara"
Sasuke said flatly, indifferent to his ancestor.
Had Madara appeared the night of the massacre and saved the clan, Sasuke might have revered him.
But a powerful Uchiha who'd stayed hidden during the genocide earned no gratitude now.
At that moment, Uchiha Sasuke felt a flicker of murderous intent—this guy probably wasn't any better; the secret to how Uchiha Itachi awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan had most likely been handed to him.
If I ever meet that Uchiha Madara again, once I'm strong enough, I'll definitely kill him.
"Well, this has nothing to do with us for now; the Higher-Ups in the Village are the ones who'll be arguing over it," Kakashi nodded. He wasn't from that era,
but he knew all too well what storms the name Uchiha Madara could summon.
At the same time… that name would bring unimaginable pressure to this age.
And it wasn't just Team 7.
Inside the Hidden Rain Village,
a youth with the Rinnegan watched the falling rain and said calmly, "Did you see it?"
This was one of Nagato's Six Paths clones—the Animal Path. His real body couldn't move, so these puppets carried out his will.
"Yeah, looks like a tiny wrinkle just appeared in our future plans."
The man with the whirlpool mask stepped from the shadows; he'd been waiting for Nagato. In a perfectly level voice he said, 'After seeing that scene, you know what end awaits you.'
Obito knew very well: Nagato's Rinnegan wasn't his own—it had been given by Uchiha Madara.
A naturally born Rinnegan? Apart from the legendary Six Paths Sage, probably no one had that potential.
From the footage, Madara would somehow resurrect in the future, and the first thing he'd do was steal the Rinnegan back.
For some reason, though, only one of his eyes held the Rinnegan.
Had the other one been destroyed, or simply hidden?
With too little intel, Obito didn't care to speculate; the bigger headache was keeping Nagato in the dark while finding a chance to explain to Kisame who he really was.
"The fight isn't over in that future. That Might Guy is fearsome; even you, who stole a god's power, couldn't beat him."
Nagato spoke with a hint of mockery. The Uchiha Madara in the video was terrifying—even he had felt unimaginable shock.
He believed he'd fully mastered the Rinnegan, yet he still had no confidence in defeating Might Guy or Uchiha Madara—unless he could stand on his own feet.
But even if he could, judging by the Evening Elephant barrage shown in the video, he'd probably die on the spot.
Guy relied on taijutsu, not Ninjutsu; against Ninjutsu Nagato feared nothing—
with the Preta Path he could nullify any offensive Ninjutsu.
In the video Madara also obtained the Rinnegan and wielded Six Paths power, yet it barely scratched Might Guy.
"Hmph." Obito caught the sarcasm, but since he wasn't really Madara he replied coolly, "Who can say what the future holds? We need to move our timetable forward."
"The footage exposed "me." Now the great Villages will band together at the name Uchiha Madara."
'…'
Nagato said nothing; he gazed at the distant city, then murmured, "Three more years—our moment isn't ripe."
"Still three years?" Obito raised an eyebrow, plainly impatient.
"You're the one exposed as Uchiha Madara—what has that to do with my Akatsuki Organization?" Nagato gave a cold laugh, turned, and walked away.
...
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