Chapter 251: The Desire to Fight
In the dark and damp underground cellar, a withered and hunched figure sat with his head bowed, seemingly dozing off.
It wouldn't be surprising if someone thought he was already dead.
Behind him, numerous grotesque tubes connected his body to a massive, blurry shadow in the background, sustaining his life. Yet his body was inevitably marching towards decay. His skin was as thin as parchment, clinging to his clearly defined ribs.
Water dripped from a stalactite, ignoring the stone's attempt to hold it back, and fell into a small puddle on the ground.
Drip.
The old man was startled awake, slowly lifting his head.
"Was I dreaming...? Hashirama, even in my dreams, you still look like an idiot..."
But once awake, the memories of the dream faded like water. In just a few breaths, a certain grinning face blurred and vanished from the old man's memory.
Just as the old man was lost in thought, a pitch-black figure wearing tattered clothes appeared in the cave.
"Madara-sama!"
Madara looked up. "Ah, Zetsu. Back so soon? Is the plan going smoothly?"
Black Zetsu shook his head. "Madara-sama, there is a problem with the plan. Our intelligence seems to have been leaked..."
Black Zetsu's answer stunned Madara. He could accept the failure of a plan—after all, long-term schemes always had uncertainties—but an intelligence leak was inconceivable.
He hadn't left this cave for decades. All his actions were secret arrangements. Forget intelligence; no one in the ninja world should even know of their existence.
Black Zetsu continued, "Kumogakure seems to know we were behind the layout in the Land of Lightning's capital. Moreover, that Yotsuki Dana suspected my characteristics and abilities, setting up a specific trap. He chased me for a day and a night before this."
Madara asked, "What about that little girl? Did she leak the secret?"
Black Zetsu thought for a moment and shook his head. "Unlikely. She was with me the whole time, and the spores inside her showed no abnormalities. The intelligence the Cloud possesses seems to be something even she doesn't know. After I was discovered, I left her in the capital. If we're lucky, there might still be a chance to proceed with the next step of the plan."
"If it wasn't the girl, then it's unclear. Perhaps a White Zetsu was captured."
Black Zetsu fell silent. He had scattered White Zetsu across the ninja world to gather intel, traveling through deep mountains and underground waterways. There were plenty of dangers; some unlucky ones didn't return, and some even ended up as bear food.
But White Zetsu couldn't betray them. Their obedience was akin to clones; they had no concept of their own death. Being chatty was possible, but betrayal was almost impossible.
Could someone extract memories from them?
" regardless, Madara-sama, we must prepare for the worst. The enemy might even know of your existence."
Black Zetsu continued, "The Cloud is now effectively the strongest ninja village. I witnessed the combat power of their regular forces in the capital; it is extremely robust. They also possess special equipment we don't know about, even equipping standard troops with Chakra Metal weapons."
A sharp glint flashed through Madara's cloudy eyes.
"The Cloud's influence has spread throughout the northern ninja world... After this, they will likely search for us consciously. Madara-sama, we must be vigilant..."
Madara's body trembled slightly.
"Madara-sama?"
Madara Uchiha covered his face with his withered hand and suddenly began to laugh.
"Interesting! For decades... I have rotted in this underground hole for decades! Finally, something interesting has appeared! Interesting!!!"
His aged voice was unusually resonant, echoing through the cavern, causing even the stalactites to vibrate slightly.
"Discovered, am I...? On the level of mortals, the Cloud has done well! In that case, let the Cloud become the stepping stone for our plan. I will use the Cloud to stir up this erroneous ninja world... Having an opponent is a good way to kill boredom! I, Madara Uchiha..."
BOOM!!! BOOM!!! BOOM!!!
"Dana-Nii-san, it's right here!"
On an unnamed mountain peak in the Land of Waterfalls (Takigakure), Kayo pointed toward a dense forest in the distance.
"Right under there... very deep underground. There are two... no, three chakra signatures. Two feel human... The other one... feels like a huge, massive monster! Its chakra feels extremely crazy!!"
A drop of cold sweat rolled down Kayo's forehead, and her body trembled slightly. In her Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the massive, chaotic chakra reaction deep underground radiated a madness that chilled her to the bone.
Dana shaded his eyes from the sun. The Mind's Eye of the Kagura surpassed his "Pulse" Vision in detecting deep underground targets; he couldn't sense the things down there himself.
But after tailing Black Zetsu for so long, it shouldn't be wrong.
Since pretending to give up the chase a few days ago, Dana and Kayo had been trailing Black Zetsu from dozens of kilometers away, utilizing Kayo's terrifying sensory range, patiently waiting for the final result.
Black Zetsu was cautious indeed. Even after seemingly shaking off the pursuit, he moved randomly across the ninja world for a long time.
But this time, based on how long he stayed and the chakra situation Kayo sensed, they had finally found the main target.
Dana looked at the dense forest at the foot of the mountain, imagining the situation underground.
Seeming to ponder something, Dana asked after a moment, "Kayo... among the two human chakra signatures, besides Black Zetsu, what is the condition of the other one? I mean, strength level."
Kayo closed her eyes to sense again, then said hesitantly, "That person... feels very decayed. Although the chakra intensity isn't weak, their condition feels very bad... It's the feeling of an old person."
"Not weak means..."
Kayo searched for the right words. "Probably among the stronger Jonin."
Dana nodded. Although chakra could be refined during battle and quantity didn't equal strength—endurance and burst power were important too—in a resting state, the size of the chakra signature in the Mind's Eye of the Kagura could serve as a standard for measuring strength.
At least it established a lower limit.
The opponent was the legendary Asura of the Ninja World, an existence at the ceiling of power in his prime.
Madara Uchiha.
But the one underground now should be in his weakest state.
Old, mortal flesh, not Reanimated (Edo Tensei), and without his Rinnegan...
If Six Paths Madara was a 100, the current one might be... a 10?
"A seventy-something-year-old... Madara Uchiha..."
Injuries accumulated over a lifetime of war, health issues from living underground for decades... In Dana's memory, Old Madara wasn't hale and hearty; he needed a cane just to walk.
Such a Madara...
Seeing Dana fall silent, Kayo asked, "Dana-Nii-san? What's wrong?"
This was Madara and Black Zetsu's lair, surrounded by White Zetsu. The two of them had avoided detection only by using their superior sensory abilities. However, staying in one place too long would inevitably lead to discovery.
After a long while, Dana seemed to make a decision.
"Forget it. I won't pretend anymore. I really can't suppress it."
"Suppress what?"
"The desire to fight."
Kayo panicked. "EH?!! Shouldn't we call for reinforcements? The Heavenly Transfer Technique can bring everyone from the village here quickly! That's not what you said before we came!"
Dana smashed his fist into his palm with a smack.
"If I can't beat him, calling for help won't be too late! I think my odds of winning are high! Look on the bright side, maybe he can't even take one of my hits?"
Kayo was speechless. She had no concept of the person underground. theoretically, if it was just a Jonin-level enemy, they couldn't be a match for Dana-Nii-san...
But Kayo instinctively felt that a villain hiding this deep would be hard to deal with.
She didn't want to interfere with Dana's decision, so despite her worry, she asked, "Then... then what do we do next?"
Dana looked at the sky. The sun was shining brightly.
"First, we knock on the door!"