"The Fourth Raikage was killed by me."
Ning Feng frowned slightly as he fell into thought.
He clearly remembered killing A with his own hands.
So how was the man alive again?
Could that not have been the real body?
But after death, he hadn't transformed into a White Zetsu or vanished like a clone.
Then suddenly, a possibility crossed his mind.
"Edo Tensei?"
A cold smile appeared on Ning Feng's face.
"If A finds out he wasn't even allowed to rest in peace after death and is still being used by the Allied Forces, I wonder if he'd die of anger a second time."
"Used?"
Yahiko scratched his head in confusion.
He looked at Ning Feng silently, unsure what to say.
"Kabuto probably resurrected the Fourth Raikage and used him to locate the Two-Tails in Kumogakure."
"What?"
Yahiko's eyes widened.
He hadn't expected Kabuto to move so quickly.
Only half a day had passed since Ning Feng issued his orders, and Kabuto's reach had already extended into Kumogakure.
"Forget about the Two-Tails."
Ning Feng stretched lazily.
"It'll end up coming to me eventually anyway."
After all, eight tailed beasts were already gathered in Amegakure.
Only one remained in Madara's possession.
Sooner or later, Madara would come knocking.
Somewhere Outside the Konoha Battlefield
"Nothing?"
Standing atop a cliff overlooking the distant battlefield, Madara gazed toward the north.
Smoke billowed into the sky.
Fires burned across the horizon.
Behind him, Black Zetsu emerged halfway from the ground and replied quietly,
"It was probably taken back to Amegakure by Uchiha Feng."
"He moves quickly..."
Madara slowly turned around.
The armor on his body fluttered despite the lack of wind.
"Any information on why he's collecting tailed beasts?"
"No."
Black Zetsu shook his head.
"It seems every tailed beast has been sealed directly into his body."
"Directly sealed?"
Madara's eyes narrowed.
There was such a method?
Ordinary jinchūriki already suffered immensely from containing even a single tailed beast.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path worked by extracting the chakra of all nine tailed beasts before reviving the Ten-Tails.
In essence, it created a single jinchūriki for the Ten-Tails itself.
But Ning Feng...
Had simply stuffed multiple tailed beasts directly into his body?
"I didn't believe it at first either."
Black Zetsu sighed.
"But there are already four tailed beasts inside him."
Seeing Madara's expression, Black Zetsu couldn't help sighing inwardly.
His own reaction upon first learning this information had been exactly the same.
He had lived for over a thousand years.
Never had he encountered anyone who treated tailed beasts like this.
The boy was practically swallowing treasures whole without understanding their value.
"Then we'll just take all the tailed beasts after we subdue him."
Madara sighed.
He had never expected the Eye of the Moon Plan entrusted to Obito to progress so poorly.
The only tailed beast they had successfully obtained—the Two-Tails—had been captured by Madara himself.
Looking at it that way...
Obito had accomplished almost nothing.
"Black Zetsu."
Madara paused for a moment, choosing his words.
"Tell me honestly."
"What exactly has Obito been doing all these years?"
"Forget the Reanimation of the Heavenly Life Technique."
"Even Edo Tensei was arranged by someone you recruited."
"The Nine-Tails Incident failed."
"The attempt to destabilize the Five Great Nations failed."
"So what has he actually been doing?"
"That..."
Black Zetsu fell silent.
To be fair, Obito had never slacked off.
He had spent years preparing for the Eye of the Moon Plan.
But every time he made progress, that Uchiha brat would appear and ruin everything.
As a result, the plan had made virtually no progress.
If Kabuto hadn't been recruited and used Edo Tensei to bring Madara back...
At Ning Feng's current rate of growth, Obito's entire operation might have been wiped out within five years.
"Prepare for a full-scale assault on Amegakure."
Seeing Black Zetsu remain silent, Madara began walking down the cliff.
Behind him, the war still raged fiercely.
He didn't particularly care how the other battlefields developed.
As long as Ning Feng's forces remained divided, the final offensive would not be outnumbered.
Konoha – Hokage Building
After receiving reports from every battlefield, Minato finally let out a breath of relief.
The reinforcements sent by Ning Feng had dramatically reduced the pressure on Konoha.
At present, Konoha could hold its own against all four enemy factions.
The White Zetsu army, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure forces were all beginning to lose momentum against Konoha's defenses.
After all, the fighting was taking place on Konoha's territory.
The longer the war dragged on, the worse it became for the invaders.
Furthermore, Konoha still possessed a strong core of elite shinobi.
There were enough personnel to support every front.
At this rate, all enemy forces would likely be forced to withdraw within a month.
"We still can't let our guard down, Minato-sensei."
Ning Feng casually picked up the intelligence reports and flipped through them.
His expression remained serious.
It looked as though Kabuto was still holding something back.
Every nation had only deployed about one-third of its total military strength.
Sunagakure and Kumogakure were understandable.
Their Kage had been killed by Ning Feng, leaving them leaderless. It made sense for some forces to remain behind.
But the other villages?
Why had they only deployed a third of their troops?
Take Iwagakure, for example.
If Ōnoki committed all his forces to Konoha, the current stalemate would be shattered immediately.
That old man might be short, but neither his age nor his ambitions were small.
Someone as ambitious as Ōnoki resisting such temptation?
Something was definitely suspicious.
"Hmm... I don't know what they're planning."
Although the situation looked favorable, Minato couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Still, turning the tide of war was unquestionably good news.
"Keep monitoring the battlefields."
Ning Feng studied the map carefully.
"If anything unusual happens, I'll use Flying Thunder God and head over immediately."
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Madara's instincts for warfare were exceptionally sharp.
Anyone could see that continuing the war under current conditions would only become more disadvantageous for the enemy.
Yet Madara remained completely inactive?
To Ning Feng, it felt like the eerie silence before a storm.
"Lord Feng!"
A figure suddenly appeared before them.
It was an ANBU from Amegakure.
"There's been a major breakthrough in the village's research!"
Though his face remained hidden behind an ANBU mask, the excitement in his voice was impossible to conceal.
"The research..."
A flash of joy appeared on Ning Feng's face.
"Has Orochimaru finally figured out a safe method of extracting tailed beasts?"
Without waiting for confirmation, he quickly turned to Minato.
"Minato-sensei, I'll head back first!"
"Go ahead."
Minato watched him leave and couldn't help sighing.
The little boy who once needed his protection had now become the leader of an entire village.
In fact, there were times now when even Minato relied on Ning Feng's help.
Time truly waited for no one.
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