A white figure moved forward at high speed.
Not long after, Uchiha Madara's brows drew together tightly.
"I merely slept for a little while, and the shinobi world has already changed this much?"
"The Uchiha clan defected from Konoha?"
That left Madara in a rather sour mood.
Back then, he had asked those Uchiha clansmen whether they wanted to leave Konoha with him.
But those short-sighted fools had immersed themselves in the false harmony of the shinobi village and "betrayed" him, their clan head.
Madara still remembered clearly how they had looked at him then.
Each and every one of them had gazed at Senju Hashirama with such admiration, as though they had been placed under a genjutsu.
"Hmph!"
Madara let out a cold snort.
"If they had left Konoha with me back then, the Uchiha clan would never have ended up like this. Their current fate is entirely of their own making. Their own choice."
"They deserve it."
Madara narrowed his eyes at the intelligence report in his hand.
"And even after things have reached this stage, some Uchiha still chose to remain loyal to Konoha?"
"Utterly absurd."
Then Madara looked toward the two stacks of cards beside him.
One set had the rumor about Uchiha Kagami on the front, and a beautiful kunoichi on the back.
The complete set was there.
The White Zetsu were numerous, scattered across many places, and highly skilled at hiding themselves. Their intelligence-gathering ability was exceptionally strong.
"Was this Ohnoki's doing?"
Disdain surfaced in Madara's eyes as he involuntarily recalled the first time he had met Ohnoki and taught the brat a lesson—one that had left a shadow over his entire life.
"To resort to such methods... where is even the slightest semblance of a shinobi?"
"I looked down on that brat back then for a reason."
"Uchiha Kagami was a fool as well!"
"Senju Tobirama was wicked to the core. For an Uchiha to take him as a master was no different from seeking death with his own hands."
"But this alone shouldn't have been enough to push the Uchiha clan into rebellion, should it?"
Below him, a White Zetsu began explaining in detail.
"Madara-sama, the rumor concerning Uchiha Kagami only intensified the contradiction between the Uchiha and Konoha's higher-ups. Their relationship had already been extremely poor to begin with."
"But the direct trigger that truly drove the Uchiha clan into rebellion was the death of a man named Uchiha Tong."
Those details were not recorded in the report.
Madara frowned.
"Uchiha Tong? What did he do?"
The White Zetsu replied,
"While Uchiha Yamakaku was using forceful measures to suppress clan members, Uchiha Tong went to question Hiruzen Sarutobi directly about the truth behind Uchiha Kagami's case."
"That very night, Uchiha Tong was found dead in his residence."
"Written on the floor were four bloody words—Save the Uchiha!"
"After that, the group led by Uchiha Yashiro flew into a rage and launched the rebellion."
Madara fell silent for a moment before spitting out two words.
"Utter stupidity."
Then he turned toward the second set of cards.
"Konoha sold out the Hyuga clan in exchange for an alliance with Kirigakure?"
Before Madara could ask further, the White Zetsu volunteered an explanation.
"That rumor did not have much effect on either Konoha or the Hyuga. Hyuga Yamaaki kept the Hyuga clan under complete control. There was no one like Uchiha Tong among them."
"Nor was there anyone like Uchiha Yashiro to lead the resisters."
Madara gave a cold snort.
"The Hyuga clan has always been like that. A clan that controls its own people with the Caged Bird Seal—what backbone could they possibly have? What broadness of spirit?"
"This 'Ninja Kill' thing is mildly interesting, but only mildly. A true shinobi could never be such a childish existence."
"In the face of sufficiently powerful strength, all these flashy little tricks are utterly worthless."
"Still... Sunagakure has surprised me a little."
"Rasa..."
Madara picked up an intelligence file concerning Sunagakure.
"One man suppressing an entire clan. That Hongshan clan must not have been very strong."
"But even so, being able to do that is still fairly decent."
"What I did not expect was for so many shinobi clans to rebel one after another—the Uchiha, the Kaguya, the Hongshan. Perhaps that in itself proves the shinobi village system was never the correct path."
Madara had little interest in the contents of the newspaper.
Only the story of The Kouga Ninja Scrolls caught his attention for a few extra glances.
After a while, he set everything down.
"But fortunately, the pawn I selected has not changed."
"And now that Minato Namikaze is supporting Kirigakure, this is a rather good opportunity."
Madara had no favorable impression of Minato Namikaze either.
The moment Minato was mentioned, Flying Thunder God would inevitably be mentioned as well. And whenever Flying Thunder God was mentioned, Madara could not help but think of Senju Tobirama—the murderer who had killed his younger brother.
Still, Madara had to admit that if Minato were nearby, his plans would certainly be affected.
The White Zetsu began moving.
At this time, the Iwagakure army was already itching to strike.
The Sunagakure forces had launched a fierce offensive against Kirigakure.
And with Konoha supporting Kirigakure, the strength of Konoha's forces against Iwagakure would inevitably weaken.
That was very likely an opportunity.
The only thing left to wait for... was intelligence.
And after the White Zetsu moved, the intelligence Iwagakure had been waiting for arrived.
It came far too easily—almost as though it had been handed to them outright.
Yet they were able to verify its authenticity.
The commander of the Iwagakure army hesitated only briefly before making his decision.
"The entire army attacks!"
The whole Iwagakure force instantly surged with excitement.
"Kill!"
"Charge!"
"Crush Konoha!"
Even though the Konoha army had prepared in advance, under such a savage offensive from Iwagakure, they could do nothing but retreat, retreat, and retreat. They had never expected the Iwa forces to arrive so quickly.
"Enemy attack!"
"Everyone, be careful!"
At that same moment, the battles on both fronts reached white-hot intensity.
Ninjutsu, ninja tools...
Ambushes, group attacks...
Retreats, evasions...
Countless sounds of slaughter filled the air.
Figures dropped one after another.
Konoha shinobi. Kirigakure shinobi. Iwagakure shinobi. Sunagakure shinobi.
The thick smell of blood spread across the battlefield overhead.
Then, two figures erupted into a fierce argument.
"Mission, mission, mission! Is that all you see, Kakashi?!"
"In the shinobi world, people who break the rules are called trash, sure—but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!"
Uchiha Obito glared at Kakashi with reddened eyes.
"If you won't go, then I'll go alone!"
"No matter what, I'm going to save Rin!"
"Konoha's White Fang was the real hero!"
"Kakashi, you're nowhere near White Fang-senpai!"
Obito hurled a furious punch straight at Kakashi.