If anyone claimed that Uchiha Madara had never harbored special feelings for the First Hokage, Hayashi would never believe them.
Otherwise, how could anyone explain the entire wall covered with "Hashirama"?
It was probably... love.
Hayashi could almost picture Uchiha Madara sitting alone in this dark, sunless cave, reminiscing about the boy he had pursued in his youth while quietly savoring the bitterness of unfulfilled feelings.
Truly something else.
After silently marveling at the thought, Hayashi turned his attention to the old corpse before him.
Although Uchiha Madara had grown old and his hair had turned completely white before his death, traces of the overwhelming arrogance that once defined him still lingered on his face.
As Hayashi stepped closer, he noticed several black chakra receivers embedded throughout Madara's body.
After examining them carefully, he sensed a steady stream of chakra flowing through the black rods into the corpse.
In other words, Black Zetsu had likely transformed Madara's body into something similar to one of the Six Paths of Pain.
The chakra maintaining it most likely originated from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
This was probably how the corpse had been preserved all this time.
As for why Black Zetsu had gone to such lengths to keep Madara's body intact, Hayashi could not be certain.
One thing, however, was obvious.
If Black Zetsu truly intended to resurrect Uchiha Madara one day, then preserving him as nothing more than a chakra-controlled corpse would make little sense.
Whatever Black Zetsu's true objective was, Hayashi had no intention of leaving Madara's remains here.
He planned to take the body back to Konoha.
After extracting Indra's chakra, he would bury Uchiha Madara near the graves of Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito.
Even if they had not stood together in life, at least they could rest as neighbors in death.
...
...
Deep within Amegakure, a towering structure rose through the endless rain.
It had once been Hanzō's preferred residence.
After Hanzō's death, it became Nagato's headquarters.
The tower had also undergone extensive renovations, transforming from the home of the so-called Demigod into the sanctuary of the self-proclaimed God.
Today, however, that god had returned in a thoroughly miserable state.
Knowing Hayashi possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique, Nagato had immediately summoned a creature and escaped with Konan after casting Chibaku Tensei.
Remaining behind would have been no different from waiting to die.
His grand ambition remained unfinished.
He could not afford to die yet.
The Animal Path, which bore Hanzō's body, and the Deva Path, using Yahiko's body, had escaped alongside them.
This battle had finally made Nagato understand the vast difference between himself and Hayashi.
Even if all Six Paths of Pain had fought together, he doubted they could have won.
The realization cast a heavy shadow over his heart.
This operation had divided the Akatsuki into two groups.
One had attacked Konoha.
The other had targeted the Five Kage Summit.
The results of the summit operation were far from ideal.
Now Nagato could only wait for news regarding the Eight Tails and the Nine Tails.
If both operations succeeded, the mission would still be considered a tremendous success.
Even if only one succeeded, it would still be worthwhile.
As for both failing...
Impossible.
Unfortunately, it did not take long before White Zetsu arrived with the first piece of bad news.
"The team that attacked Konoha failed."
"Not only that, they were completely wiped out."
"I didn't get close enough to confirm whether Sasori and Pakura died, but I can say for certain that Kakuzu survived."
Kakuzu had escaped once again by pretending to be dead.
This time, however, he had no intention of returning to the Akatsuki.
Return for what?
After witnessing an enemy like that, he would rather go back to being an independent bounty hunter.
Surviving in the ninja world required knowing when to run.
He had originally joined the Akatsuki because Nagato possessed the legendary Rinnegan and seemed destined for greatness.
After the battle at Konoha, he changed his mind completely.
He still wanted to live a few more decades.
At least then he could proudly tell others,
"I once fought Hyuga Himeji."
"Forget him," Nagato said calmly.
"If he wants to leave, let him."
He had never placed much value on the organization itself.
With seven Tailed Beasts already gathered, he was satisfied.
If Sasori and Pakura had truly died, there was no reason to waste effort searching for Kakuzu.
"How did your side go?" White Zetsu asked.
Nagato remained silent.
At that moment, Fugaku emerged through the rain.
His condition was even worse.
His entire right arm was gone, and his chest had visibly caved inward.
Without saying a word, he tossed a severed piece of the Eight Tails' tentacle onto the floor.
"This is all we managed to obtain."
The atmosphere inside the tower instantly became oppressive.
Seeing everyone's grim expressions, Fugaku frowned.
"Sasori and Pakura haven't returned?"
"They're probably... already dead," White Zetsu replied quietly.
Fugaku froze.
Given the combined strength of those three, even if the mission failed, escaping unharmed should have been easy.
"Did they charge straight into the Hokage's office and get surrounded?" he guessed.
White Zetsu shook his head.
"No."
"They were intercepted before they even reached Konoha's gates."
"A Hyuga ninja blocked their path and simply said..."
"This road is closed."
"A Hyuga ninja?" Fugaku frowned.
"Hyuga Tenku?"
Although Hyuga Tenku had once led the Hyuga Clan, he had used a forbidden technique during the Second Great Ninja War while fighting Chiyo.
Since then, his strength had greatly declined.
Later, Tsunade had even restored his eyesight.
White Zetsu shook his head again.
"It wasn't him."
"It was... Hyuga Himeji."
"Hyuga Himeji?"
Fugaku looked puzzled.
"Isn't she closely connected to the Fourth Hokage? Even so, she should only be around Elite Jonin level."
"That's what everyone thought."
"So Sasori and the others completely underestimated her."
"But then her Byakugan suddenly changed."
"It turned into a brilliant sapphire blue unlike any ordinary Byakugan."
"What?"
Fugaku's expression changed dramatically.
"The Byakugan can evolve? That's impossible."
As the Uchiha Clan Head, he had never heard of the Byakugan possessing an evolution comparable to the Sharingan.
"That is the Tenseigan," Black Zetsu finally spoke.
"It was the dōjutsu once awakened by Hamura Ōtsutsuki, the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths. Its power is nearly equal to the Rinnegan."
"Then how does someone awaken the Tenseigan?" Fugaku immediately asked.
Black Zetsu slowly shook its head.
"I don't know."
In truth, it was equally confused.
If it had known the method, it would have pursued the Tenseigan long ago instead of spending a thousand years engineering the Rinnegan.
White Zetsu continued.
"After Hyuga Himeji awakened the Tenseigan, her entire body became enveloped in green chakra."
"Then..."
"She defeated Pakura, Sasori, and Kakuzu in just a single attack."
"The moment we realized what was happening, Black Zetsu and I fled immediately."
"One attack..."
Fugaku stared blankly in disbelief.
Even with both of his Mangekyō Sharingan, defeating those three in one attack was beyond imagination.
After a brief hesitation, he looked toward Black Zetsu.
He found White Zetsu's stories difficult to believe.
That fool loved exaggerating.
As expected, Black Zetsu shook its head.
"It wasn't one attack."
Fugaku let out a sigh of relief.
If Hayashi had yet to be dealt with and Himeji truly possessed that level of strength, then collecting the Tailed Beasts would already be meaningless.
Black Zetsu calmly finished,
"It took two."
Fugaku: "..."
"Fugaku! What's wrong with you?"
Seeing Fugaku's head tilt before he collapsed unconscious, White Zetsu cried out in alarm.
Black Zetsu glanced around at everyone present.
Neither Nagato nor Fugaku inspired much confidence anymore.
Perhaps it was time to revive Uchiha Madara ahead of schedule.
Suddenly, its expression changed.
The chakra connection flowing through the black receivers implanted in Madara's corpse had vanished.
Which meant...
Uchiha Madara's corpse was gone.
A corpse could not simply disappear on its own.
Someone had stolen it.
"Black Zetsu, what's wrong? Don't scare me, brother!"