After pondering the Ninja Path Sasuke character card, Uchiha Gen used his weapon enhancement card to upgrade the Sengoku Ninja Sword in his hand to +4.
[Current weapon quality has been enhanced to the limit. To continue enhancing, please use a higher quality enhancement card.]
Enhanced to the limit?
Uchiha Gen looked at the Sengoku Ninja Sword in his hand.
After four enhancements, the quality of this sword had risen by nearly half a tier.
Perhaps with one more enhancement, this blade could advance to Blue quality, rivaling the top divine weapons of the Ninja World like the White Fang Short Blade, the Sword of the Thunder God, or even the Kusanagi Sword.
Even at its current quality, it was no worse than most of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist.
"With the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, once I absorb the kenjutsu and nature transformation from the Kakashi card, I should be able to secure a place among the Elite Jonin."
"By then, I'll have the Sharingan paired with three types of nature transformation."
"Regarding physical attributes, the shortcomings caused by my age have been compensated for by the Senju Constitution."
"As long as I don't encounter those Kage-level experts or get caught in a large-scale encirclement, I should finally have the ability to truly establish myself in this Ninja World."
Uchiha Gen placed the Sengoku Ninja Sword back under his pillow, lay down on the bed, and thought silently.
After today's battle, the war landscape of the Land of Rain would be rewritten, which in turn would affect the overall situation of the Ninja World.
As his strength and status changed, he would likely become increasingly busy, and his cultivation time might decrease as a result.
Hopefully, I'll have more chances to pull a few more Cultivation Acceleration Cards later.
Meanwhile, in a hidden cave somewhere in the Land of Rain.
In the dim candlelight, an old man wearing a high-collared gray robe sat quietly on a bed.
His eyes were cloudy, and several black rods were inserted into his back, connecting him to the massive Gedo Statue.
"Oh dear, Lord Madara, perhaps you should move."
"If you stay in the Land of Rain any longer, your recurring rheumatism will only get worse."
"Shut up, Zetsu."
The old man shifted his gaze toward the White Zetsu emerging from the ground, and his aura seemed to flicker with life.
He did not possess the Sage Body; he only had a piece of Hashirama's flesh.
To nurture the Rinnegan, he had consumed a massive amount of his life force, leaving him severely depleted.
If not for that, even at his current age, he would still have fifty to sixty percent of his strength remaining.
Even with just barely half, it would be enough to suppress the entire Ninja World.
Therefore, after the Rinnegan awakened, he could only transplant it into Nagato and use the Gedo Statue to restore his own life force to linger on the brink of death.
"What's the situation on Nagato's side?"
"Lord Madara, we've already managed to lead them to a nearby town."
"We were just waiting for Konoha and the Rain Ninja to fight to a mutual destruction before letting Hanzo or the Third Hokage's disciples come into contact with them, but an unexpected turn of events occurred."
Inside the pitcher plant, blackness stained the other half of White Zetsu's body, and it spoke in a raspy voice.
"Unexpected?"
The wrinkles on Uchiha Madara's aged face became even more pronounced.
"It's on Konoha's side, caused by that junior you've been keeping an eye on."
"Uchiha Gen?" Uchiha Madara asked.
In his mind, Black Zetsu was an incarnation of his "will" created through the Yin-Yang Release of the Rinnegan.
All along, he had used Black Zetsu to remotely control White Zetsu, secretly screening Uchiha members who had the potential to be the inheritor of his will.
Uchiha Gen's sudden rise within this year had naturally fallen into Black Zetsu's sight.
"Yes, it's him. I don't know where the Hidden Rain showed a flaw, but he sensed something was wrong and warned Orochimaru in advance."
"This led the Konoha Ninja to be prepared, causing a deviation in the outcome of this battle."
In Madara and Black Zetsu's scheme, Nagato was meant to be the core of their plan, the vessel for the Rinnegan, and an important tool for repairing the Gedo Statue.
This naturally placed high demands on Nagato's strength, so he definitely needed a powerful expert to lay a solid foundation for him.
Hanzo, or the Sannin, were both potential candidates for this teacher role.
If the Hidden Rain had won this battle and the Sannin had died, they could have guided Nagato and the others to encounter Hanzo.
Upon seeing the young Nagato and recognizing the red hair of the Uzumaki Clan and the Rinnegan, Hanzo would surely have adopted them.
He would have cultivated them as the future core of the Land of Rain, and they could have inherited Hanzo's legacy in the process.
If the Konoha Sannin were the ones left standing, the situation would have followed the original timeline's plot.
Even if they failed, given their temperaments, they wouldn't have killed Nagato and the other two.
If there were any accidents, they had also arranged backup plans to save the trio.
Unfortunately, the final result was a stalemate between the two villages, and both armies were still present.
Three children who weren't even ninjas had no chance of crossing through layers of armies to reach those powerful experts.
"Regarding Nagato's side, continue to find ways to create a chance encounter between them and Hanzo."
"He has reached the age to learn how to become a ninja."
"Without undergoing orthodox training, he cannot become a qualified vessel for the Rinnegan."
"As for Uchiha Gen——"
Uchiha Madara paused in thought.
He remembered Black Zetsu telling him that he saw a bit of Madara's younger self in this boy.
If anyone else had said that, Madara would have only scoffed, but Black Zetsu was different—that was his own "will incarnation"!
"Has his Sharingan evolved?"
"This war didn't stimulate his Sharingan to evolve because his ninja talent in other areas is extremely prominent."
"He has already displayed power no less than a Jonin's."
"Lord Madara, if we don't act on him in time, I'm afraid that with his growth speed, he will soon become even stronger, making it very difficult to scheme against him," Black Zetsu said in a low voice.
He had to urge Madara to act as soon as possible.
"There's no need to rush; I already have a plan."
"Only by severing all his bonds in this world, making him witness the deepest darkness and despair, and crushing his will, can we make him carry my will!"
Uchiha Madara glanced sideways with a confident smile.
A few days later.
Uchiha Gen was surprised to find that he wasn't as busy as he had expected.
The previous wounded had already followed Mimura Shigaki and Sarutobi Biwako back to Konoha Village.
The current wounded were all accumulated from the two major battles that day.
After those battles, Konoha suffered significant casualties, the Sand was heavily damaged, and the Hidden Rain's elites were crippled.
Only the Hidden Stone remained in relatively good condition.
The intensity of the war suddenly dropped significantly.
This felt somewhat like the final silence before a storm.
Once the various parties finished resting and the situation became clear, it would be the critical period that truly decided the winner of the Land of Rain battlefield, and the level of tragedy would rise even further.
The rain fell continuously, droplets tapping into the puddles and creating ripples.