The clues Saiki deliberately left behind were like stones thrown into a silent lake, sending ripples that rapidly spread to every corner of the battlefield.
The news of Hanzo of the Salamander's fall, Saiki Shiroya's suspected severe injuries, and the impending total offensive by the Iwagakure army acted like three blazing fires.
They instantly ignited the already hyper-tense situation on the front lines.
Inside the main tent of the Konoha camp.
Orochimaru looked at the encrypted intelligence delivered by his hidden snakes; his golden slit-pupils first contracted sharply, then flickered with an unshielded tremor of dread.
Finally, they settled into a state of near-burning greed.
"Hanzo... is actually dead..." he whispered hoarsely, his voice carrying a trace of lingering fear that he hadn't even noticed himself.
He once joined forces with Jiraiya and Tsunade during their collective peak, yet even then, the three of them barely managed to survive Hanzo's hands.
They won the title of the "Sannin," but they had not won the battle.
He understood Hanzo's power intimately.
Yet Saiki, a boy barely over ten years old, had managed to decapitate him single-handedly?
This level of strength had completely exceeded his prior estimations, reaching a degree that made even his own heart skip a beat in alarm.
A sense of immense relief welled up within him; fortunately, he hadn't moved against the boy prematurely.
Otherwise, his fate likely wouldn't have been much better than Hanzo's.
But following the relief, an uncontrollable greed began to grow like a poisonous vine.
"Ten years old... only ten... what kind of power is this? What kind of jutsu or constitution does he have?"
"How can he possess such terrifying strength?!"
Orochimaru's breathing quickened; his tongue reflexively flicked out to lick his lips as if he could already taste that dreamlike power.
And when the intelligence mentioned that Saiki was "severely wounded," the greedy light in his eyes almost overflowed.
"Wounded... an opportunity! This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance!" Orochimaru's heart hammered against his ribs.
A weakened Saiki, carrying heaven-defying secrets, was in his eyes nothing more than a walking, priceless treasure trove.
His mind began to calculate frantically: how to "capture" Saiki in the coming chaos without alerting anyone.
He would make every one of those secrets his own.
...
Deep underground, before the Gedo Mazo.
Madara Uchiha also received the report from White Zetsu.
A flicker of doubt passed through the Sharingan on his withered face.
"Wounded?" Madara muttered low. "With the strength he showed before and that bizarre defense, Hanzo shouldn't have been enough to hurt him..."
A veteran's instinct told him something was off.
But then, a surge of arrogance welled up in his chest.
"Hmph, why am I hesitating? He is nothing more than a brat with a bit of talent!"
"Do I truly need to wait for him to be wounded to deal with him? Since when did I, Madara Uchiha, become so timid?"
He felt a wave of displeasure at his own momentary caution.
As the Ghost of the Uchiha, the mastermind behind the Eye of the Moon, worrying about whether a junior was at peak condition was a personal insult.
However, Madara's "confidence" didn't last long.
Even worse news followed immediately.
The information Onoki had tried so hard to suppress finally burst through the dam and spread throughout the Rain Village's ranks.
Hanzo of the Salamander—their leader, their "Demigod"—had fallen!
And the Hidden Stone had not only hidden the news but attempted to use an impostor to keep driving them like cannon fodder!
Fury and panic spread through the Rain shinobi like a plague.
The Rain ninja, who were already divided over the war with Konoha, mutinied instantly!
Countless shinobi refused to follow Stone commands, and some even clashed with the Stone units attempting to suppress them.
The fragile alliance between the Stone and the Rain—built only on shared interests and Hanzo's personal prestige—collapsed into ruins.
This news also grew wings and reached the Akatsuki organization operating within the Land of Rain.
"Lord Hanzo... is really dead..." Yahiko felt a complex mix of emotions upon hearing the news.
Hanzo had been the symbol of the Rain, but also the greatest obstacle to the Akatsuki's ideology.
Yet his death brought no joy, only greater upheaval and crisis.
However, opportunity is often born from crisis.
Soon, high-ranking Rain ninja who were dissatisfied with Hanzo's high-pressure rule, or those sympathetic to Akatsuki, began to contact Yahiko in secret.
They hoped to use Akatsuki's strength to find a new path for the leaderless Rain Village.
They wanted to escape the fate of being completely annexed by the Hidden Stone.
"This is the moment to realize our dream!" Yahiko clenched his fist, his eyes shining with idealistic fire.
"Helping our fellow Rain countrymen escape control and building true peace... this is why Akatsuki exists!"
He decided to accept the plea of these Rain shinobi, leading Akatsuki to intervene in the chaos to guide the village toward a new direction.
Madara Uchiha, who had kept constant surveillance on Nagato, learned of Akatsuki's contact with the Rain leadership immediately.
For the first time, a truly solemn expression appeared in his Sharingan.
"Stupid!" Madara spat.
That naive brat Yahiko had no idea what kind of danger he was exposing the Rinnegan to!
Onoki was not like Jiraiya; he was not a man of mercy.
Once Onoki learned Nagato possessed the Rinnegan, the Stone would stop at nothing to seize it!
The core of Madara's painstakingly arranged plan could be ruined before it ever matured!
"The situation... is slipping from my grasp..." Madara felt the power surging from the Gedo Mazo, and killing intent boiled in his heart.
Saiki, the wildcard, had triggered a chain reaction far more troublesome than he had anticipated.
...
The front line was in total disarray.
The internal strife between the Stone and the Rain drastically reduced the pressure on Konoha, but it also created an unpredictable war zone.
And the source of all this chaos seemed to point directly to the boy quietly returning to the Konoha camp.
To "hook" the already impatient Orochimaru, Saiki returned to the camp at the "perfect" time.
His face remained "pale," and he suppressed his aura to look "weak and lethargic."
Upon hearing the news, Orochimaru personally went to "visit" him.
"Saiki-kun, I heard of your battle with Hanzo. Truly heroic! You've removed a great threat for Konoha! It must have been exhausting!"
Orochimaru wore a mask of fake concern, yet his eyes acted like scanners, searching Saiki for evidence of "critical wounds."
"You look unwell. Is the injury severe? Do you require me to treat you personally?"
Saiki sneered internally but responded flatly: "I appreciate the concern, Lord Orochimaru. It is just a minor injury; it is nothing."
He deliberately manipulated his chakra to make his face go even "paler," and even offered a light cough for effect.
To the greedy and biased Orochimaru, this performance confirmed his judgment that Saiki was "struggling to stay upright."
The hunger in his heart burned like a forest fire, becoming nearly impossible to restrain.
In his eyes, a weakened yet priceless Saiki was a gift from the heavens themselves!
"You are a young hero, Saiki-kun, but you must take care of yourself."
Orochimaru offered a few more hollow platitudes while his mind raced to plan the trap.
He was already moving his pawns to ensure that during the chaos of the final offensive, he could seize Saiki and strip him of his intoxicating source of power.
Saiki caught every bit of that blatant greed in Orochimaru's gaze.
He knew the fish had taken the bait.
"Lord Orochimaru, the front is a mess and I require quiet rest. I won't stay any longer."
Saiki gave a slight nod and turned to leave, presenting Orochimaru with a seemingly "frail" back.
Watching him go, the fake smile on Orochimaru's face vanished, replaced by a look of freezing, predatory certainty.
"Soon... Saiki-kun. Your power will be mine very soon..."
Walking away with his back to Orochimaru, Saiki's own lips curled into a cold arc.
"Finally... I've found the perfect chance to kill you."
The final battle had not yet begun on the field, but within the camp, an even more dangerous hunt had commenced.
the undercurrents had finally converged into a vortex capable of swallowing everything.