Chapter 110: Madara: "Three Minutes. I Want His Entire File!"
White Zetsu shrank back, pulling his head into his leafy collar.
He had just realized that the old man—who usually just grumbled at them or made
fun of their low IQs—possessed a gaze that could physically melt a lesser being
when he turned serious.
"Lord Madara, your eyes are terrifying!"
"Please—don't get too excited! I only said he looked like him!" Zetsu stammered,
taking several steps back toward the shadows.
"Shut up!" Madara Uchiha roared, standing up with a sudden, violent surge of
energy. "Three minutes. I want every scrap of data on this boy! Now!"
Madara waved a hand with his signature arrogance, his single fist clenched
tight. It was the first time in years he had felt a spark of genuine adrenaline.
Technically, Madara still followed the Izuna Doctrine of Uchiha potential: the
belief that the kindest, most emotional Uchiha made the best weapons because
their "Hatred" would burn the hottest when they eventually snapped. But if an
actual "Izuna-class" prodigy had appeared, the doctrine could be tossed in the
trash.
Probability was one thing. A certainty was another.
Izuna had been calm, brilliant, and elite from the day he could walk. Madara
himself had been a cold, detached genius from childhood. As a lonely old man who
spent his days being tortured by "Poop-Obsessed" clones, Madara deep down didn't
want to mentor a mental patient or a crying idiot like Obito.
The idea was exhausting. He wanted a peer.
"Lord Madara, three minutes isn't enough time to pull a full dossier!"
Zetsu explained cautiously. "Mito Uzumaki doesn't just sit in her garden
anymore. She's started taking morning walks. Our surveillance window has been
cut in half."
"As per your orders, the moment we see her, we start reciting your name in our
heads to suppress our malice and then we bolt. It's hard to gather Intel when
you're running for your life."
Most Zetsu clones were functionally brain-dead. They couldn't help but leak
"Malice," which Mito's sensory field picked up like a shark smelling blood.
Madara had taught them to use his name as a "Mantra" to ground their chakra, but
it only worked for a few seconds.
"By the way," Zetsu added, "Mito looks years younger now. Maybe you should look
into whatever jutsu she's using? You could learn a thing or two."
In the shadows, Black Zetsu's spirit flared with interest.
Finally! he thought. The idiot clones actually said something useful.
Black Zetsu had always hated Madara's "Pawn" plan. A strategy that spanned
decades and relied on a child was a statistical disaster. One wrong move, one
meddling Hokage, and the whole plan would collapse.
Madara is old, Black Zetsu mused. His rotting body makes him afraid of failure.
He wants to project the risk onto a disciple so he doesn't have to face the
possibility that he might lose his final war. And living with these morons is
making his brain dull.
Black Zetsu was the only one who didn't feel the effects of the "Zetsu
Environment." He was the "Will of the Mother," ancient and immutable. But he
watched Madara's mental health decline as the old man was forced to communicate
with creatures whose only topic of conversation was bowel movements.
"Hmph. You think I don't know about Mito's little trick?" Madara scoffed.
"The Strength of a Hundred Seal. It's just a cheap imitation of Hashirama's
biological structure. A poor man's version of the God of Shinobi's vitality."
"If it were Hashirama, he wouldn't need a seal to maintain his body. His cells
were a miracle of nature—eternal and perfect! In his prime, he healed wounds
before the blade even left his skin! People called him 'invincible' for a
reason!"
White Zetsu's lip twitched. God, here we go again. Nobody asked about Hashirama,
old man. Stop repeating the same lore for the millionth time.
Black Zetsu let out a silent sigh. Madara's obsession with Hashirama was deeper
than any "Transmigrant Bond." It was a psychological knot that even death
couldn't untie.
"It's different," Madara continued, his tone turning clinical. "Mito is just
using chakra to preserve a mortal frame. I require All-Encompassing Power. The
power of the Forest and the Eye combined."
"Nagato has the potential. If he matures, the Rinnegan will finish the
reconstruction of his body. Then, his life-force will be the fuel for my
resurrection."
"But another ten years... Hmph." Madara shook his head.
He reached back and manually reconnected the life-support tubes to his spine. He
hated the "Plugging In." It reminded him of his weakness. It stripped him of his
dignity.
But then he thought of Mito Uzumaki—his only surviving contemporary—looking
young and vibrant in the sun.
If Hashirama's ghost saw me looking like a withered raisin while his wife is
still a beauty, he'd laugh his head off, Madara thought. I'll stay plugged in
for now. If only to keep my pride.
"Lord Madara!" Black Zetsu whispered, emerging from the wall. "I have a report
on several 'unpleasant' developments."
"Hanzo of the Salamander is making speeches in the Land of Rain. He's calling
for a 'Strategic Alliance' with the Leaf. He's claiming the last war was a
'misunderstanding' caused by Suna and Iwa."
"And Konoha's Anbu are currently scouring the continent for Uzumaki survivors.
They're building a 'Refugee Hub' in the village."
"Nagato is Jiraiya's student. Even though we faked the orphans' deaths to cut
the Leaf's trail, a prolonged search might lead them back to him. If the Hokage
finds the Rinnegan before we're ready... our plan is finished."
Madara stiffened. He had been sleeping too much lately. "I'm aware. I've
noticed."
"Increase the surveillance on Nagato. You don't need to return here for a while,
Black Zetsu. If anything changes, handle it."
Madara reached out and grabbed Black Zetsu, injecting a pulse of his own chakra
into the shadow-creature.
"You now have a resonance link with the Rinnegan I planted in the boy. If an
emergency occurs, anchor yourself to him. Protect those eyes at all costs."
Black Zetsu nodded obediently. "Your will is my command, Lord Madara!"
Internally, he was mocking the old man. 'I've noticed'? You've been reading the
paper and napping! And your chakra is a joke compared to the 'Mother's' power. I
don't need your 'link' to possess a brat like Nagato.
Black Zetsu viewed Nagato as a tool—a clumsy, emotional tool that was far too
easy to manipulate.
"You're useful, Black Zetsu," Madara noted, looking satisfied. "Unlike the
others, you actually possess my 'Will.'"
Black Zetsu smiled. Who is your creation? You're just another arrogant
Indra-brat...
"As for the new Uchiha," Madara asked. "Does he have a name?"
"Seisui Uchiha, Lord Madara."
"I'll monitor this 'Seisui' personally. It's too dangerous for you trash to move
around Mito Uzumaki."
A rare light returned to Madara's eyes.
Even though he didn't expect much—an "Izuna-clone" was a once-in-a-millennium
miracle—the name alone was enough to keep him awake. It would be a "High-Tier
Substitute" for his boredom. Something to keep his mind off the tubes.
"Attacking the Grass, recruiting the Uzumaki, building a financial empire in the
Land of Fire, deterring the other nations, providing welfare to the Uchiha...
and now giving me a new curiosity..."
"Konoha is changing rapidly," Madara muttered, flipping through the Intel logs.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi... he's Sasuke Sarutobi's boy, isn't he?"
In the Warring States, aside from Hashirama, the name Sasuke Sarutobi was one of
the few Madara actually respected. He believed in the logic of "Strong blood
breeds strong warriors."
"Correct, Lord Madara," Black Zetsu confirmed.
Black Zetsu had been watching Hiruzen as well. In a world populated entirely by
unstable lunatics, the Third Hokage's calm, systematic governance was...
confusing. He didn't act like a shinobi; he acted like an Emperor.
"Don't let him distract you, Master," Black Zetsu added. "He lacks the blood of
the Sage. He is a 'Commoner.' He can achieve nothing of permanence."
"True. Now... let's find this 'Seisui'."
Madara waved his hand, connecting his consciousness to the White Zetsu
hive-mind. He closed his eyes, preparing for a long, quiet stalk.
The Ghost of the Uchiha was officially going back to school.
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