"Sorry… we let that child get taken!"
Kakashi and Jiraiya arrived soon after, apologetic.
"This isn't your fault. The enemy had a space–time dojutsu—there was no way to guard against it."
Uchiha Fugaku shook his head.
He was indeed concerned that the boy carrying the Nine-Tails' chakra had fallen into the hands of Akatsuki, but he had no blame for his allies. It wasn't negligence—the space–time ability Kamui of Uchiha Obito was simply too absolute. No amount of caution could stop it.
"To prevent Akatsuki from striking at Konoha, we need to return at once."
"Agreed."
The five of them rushed back toward the village.
Once inside Konoha, Fugaku wasted no time. Without rest, he convened an emergency council.
"The true leader of Akatsuki is Uchiha Madara. Are you telling us… Madara is still alive?"
The revelation stunned the assembled clan heads and elite jōnin.
The "Wood Release ninja" who had once claimed to be Madara had been exposed as an impostor. None of them had truly believed him. But the truth was far more unsettling: Madara, a man from the era of the First Hokage, not only lived, but was the mastermind of Akatsuki.
Pain—Nagato—was only a figurehead.
"If Uchiha Madara is alive, he must be over a hundred years old by now. Yet what you saw was a man in his prime."
"Hokage-sama… could this be someone impersonating him?" asked Hatake clan head, Hatake Nobuhiro.
"There were no traces of a transformation technique. It wasn't a disguise."
Fugaku shook his head.
He knew the truth: Madara had been restored to his prime body through the forbidden Rinnegan technique, Samsara of Heavenly Life, but he couldn't reveal how he knew such things.
"Lady Tsunade, could medical ninjutsu achieve something like that?" Nara Shikaku asked.
Tsunade, clad in a sleeveless kimono beneath her green cloak, frowned as she considered. Though older in years, she looked youthful—fair-skinned, beautiful, her figure commanding presence.
"With my medical ninjutsu, I can preserve a youthful appearance. But keeping the body itself young and strong is impossible. Decline is inevitable."
"Madara's body shows no decline," Jiraiya countered. "That strength couldn't come from an aging vessel."
"Then how?" murmured Hyūga Hiashi.
"Madara, like Nagato, possessed the Rinnegan," Kakashi said. "It was the eye of the Sage of Six Paths, said to govern life and death. Perhaps it allows him to maintain both body and appearance in youth."
The idea struck many as plausible.
"But whether he's truly Madara, or how he maintains his prime—it doesn't matter," Fugaku said firmly. "What matters is this: Akatsuki's goal is the tailed beasts. And the last remaining one is here, in Konoha."
"Exactly. How we respond to Uchiha Madara is the crisis before us," Shikaku agreed.
He continued: "Madara created Akatsuki to collect the bijū. He must have a greater purpose. If we uncover that purpose, we can prepare accordingly."
"I have a theory," Fugaku said.
"According to Uchiha clan records, the nine bijū were once part of a single beast—a Ten-Tails, a monster of apocalyptic power. Akatsuki may be gathering the nine in order to resurrect it."
"Ten-Tails?"
The name left most clan heads and jōnin shaken. None had ever heard of such a creature.
But Hiashi, versed in the Hyūga clan's ancient texts, paled. "So it's true… the Ten-Tails existed."
"If Akatsuki revives it, the consequences will be catastrophic." Sweat slid down Shikaku's brow.
"This must be shared with the other villages," Fugaku added. "They must understand this isn't only Konoha's crisis. It threatens the entire shinobi world."
"Then the Five Great Villages must unite again—to hunt down and destroy Akatsuki."
The council agreed. Where once the other villages had grown complacent, now Konoha could draw them back into alliance.
The meeting adjourned. Fugaku returned home, weary from the battle, the journey, and now the council.
"You're back."
Mikoto greeted him gently, her presence warm in her kimono. Seeing his fatigue, her heart ached.
"You must be exhausted. Let me give you a massage."
"Thank you," Fugaku smiled.
As a trained medical kunoichi, Mikoto's touch was skilled, easing his burden.
Meanwhile, at an Akatsuki hideout—
The colossal Demonic Statue of the Outer Path sat in its cavernous hall, its body marred by wounds left from the battle with Fugaku.
"You actually used the Gedo Statue in battle," Madara said darkly, eyes narrowing at the scars.
This vessel was essential to reviving the Ten-Tails. If it were destroyed, their plans would collapse. Fortunately, the statue's vitality was immense—it was healing.
"Should we use the Nine-Tails' chakra to begin the revival?" Obito asked.
"No. That would leave it incomplete. Unless we are forced, I won't risk it."
Madara refused. An imperfect Ten-Tails could bring unforeseen disaster.
"But the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is guarded by Konoha. After today… even with my Kamui, stealing him would be nearly impossible." Obito scowled.
From the shadows, Zetsu emerged. The black half spoke:
"I may have a solution. A way to restore the Ten-Tails without clashing head-on with Konoha."
Madara's eyes narrowed. "Speak."
"Do you recall how the Fourth Hokage died?"
Obito froze. "…It was said he used the Reaper Death Seal. He gave his life."
"And that technique drags both the user and their target into the belly of the Death God," Zetsu said with a crooked smile. "So who did Minato take with him?"
Obito frowned. That night, he had been the only attacker. He had released the Nine-Tails and withdrawn shortly after. No one else had been there.
"So who was sealed with him?"
"I suspect… it was the Nine-Tails itself."
Obito shook his head sharply. "Impossible. The Nine-Tails is sealed inside Naruto Uzumaki. That's certain."
"Of course it is," Zetsu's black face grinned. "But remember—bijū are not human. Even if killed, they revive. It's not impossible that the Fourth sealed the fox into the Death God… and yet it returned."