"Hahaha! As expected of me—Minato's teacher! I was right all along!"
"Back then, Minato sealed the Nine-Tails' power within Naruto not for something meaningless! He really did want to entrust an important truth to him."
"And that truth… was already shown to Naruto in the previous scene."
"The Nine-Tails' Rampage back then… was controlled by a masked man from the Akatsuki!"
…
The scene continued.
[Scroll Toad: "Aren't you overthinking it?"]
[Jiraiya: "I don't think so! I wasn't there back then, so I don't know the details."]
["But think carefully—the Nine-Tailed Fox's attack on Konoha was considered a natural disaster!"]
["But that's clearly not the case. I suspect someone summoned it with a Summoning Jutsu!"]
…
Inside Naruto's belly, behind the Eight Trigrams Seal.
The Nine-Tails slammed angrily against the iron bars.
"Krrrh! How dare they call me a fox monster!?"
"But speaking of the old incident…"
The fox gritted its teeth in hatred. Indeed, it had been controlled back then.
"That bastard who dared manipulate me—if I ever see him again, I'll tear him into pieces."
"My power may only be half right now, but that brat Naruto won the reward from that Time-Screaming Chicken… with just a squeeze he can restore my full strength."
"Perhaps… I should cooperate with Naruto. At least until we get rid of those bastards."
Unknown to the others—
The Nine-Tails had already begun contemplating cooperating with Naruto.
…
Amegakure, Akatsuki Base.
Deidara: "Tobi! Was the Nine-Tails that attacked Konoha really summoned by you? Are you really that strong? Hmm!"
Tobi: "I'll explain later. Let's keep watching."
Deidara: "No way! Hmm!"
"When I fought Sasuke, I self-destructed! You were there, Tobi! If you're that powerful, why didn't you help me? Hmm!"
Hidan: "Yeah! Your reaction when you saw your future self get caught in Deidara's explosion was weird—like you already knew you wouldn't die!"
Kakuzu: "Also! Tobi told us earlier that anyone in Akatsuki who takes off their clothes in battle is doomed! And that's been proven true."
"Deidara died! Sasori died! Even the Leader's bodies died!"
Sasori: "Correct. In the future scene, Tobi was hit by Deidara's blast, but he didn't take off his clothes…"
Tobi looked speechlessly at the Akatsuki members.
That whole 'Akatsuki die when they undress' thing—he made it up while acting dumb!!
But these fools actually believed it. Truly hopeless.
Still, now that he had been exposed, he needed to think carefully about how to continue deceiving them.
Especially—
Tobi glanced at Nagato sitting in the leader's position.
Judging by Nagato's future choice, tricking him again wouldn't be easy.
Then…
Should he retrieve the Rinnegan first?
…
The Pure Land.
[Hashirama: Who is that masked man!?]
[Madara: Hashirama, why are you so worked up?]
Madara thought to himself: It's obviously Obito, but he couldn't say it.
[Hashirama: First he dared to control the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha! Then in the future he used Pain to destroy the village!]
[Hashirama: Madara! That village was something you and I built together with such effort!]
[Hashirama: Once it was nearly destroyed. In the future it really is flattened! How can I NOT be angry!?]
…
The scene continued.
[Scroll Toad: "Idiot! The Nine-Tails has always appeared when human malice accumulates—it's a natural disaster!"]
["And someone capable of summoning the Nine-Tails… that person simply doesn't exist in this world!"]
…
The Pure Land.
[Madara: As expected of a toad. The very definition of 'frog in a well.']
[Hashirama: Madara! Are you going to reveal that secret?]
[Madara: No rush, Hashirama. When it's my turn to rank, even if I didn't want to expose it—I won't have a choice.]
[Hashirama: True…]
…
The scene continued.
[Jiraiya shook his head: "There is one person capable of summoning the Nine-Tails."]
[Scroll Toad: "Who!?"]
[Jiraiya: "The founder of the Uchiha clan—Uchiha Madara."]
[Scroll Toad burst into loud laughter: "Hahaha!"]
["Idiot! Uchiha Madara lived during Konoha's founding! How could he still be alive ten years ago during the Nine-Tails' attack!?"]
[Jiraiya: "True. Everyone knows Madara lost to the First Hokage at the Valley of the End."]
…
The Pure Land.
Uchiha Madara was stunned.
He thought only Hashirama knew his secret ability to summon the Nine-Tails.
He didn't expect Jiraiya to know—and now the scroll had exposed it to the world.
When he appeared on the rankings with the Nine-Tails Summoning, people might not even be shocked anymore.
But!
Not even Hashirama knew…
That he hadn't died back then!
Now—
Everyone in the Pure Land was discussing Madara's Nine-Tails summoning ability intensely.
Most were in utter disbelief at his strength.
A small portion were flattering him shamelessly.
The ninja world was no different.
"My god! I always thought no one could summon the Nine-Tails."
"If it's Uchiha Madara, I wouldn't doubt it at all."
"In the previous scene, the Fourth Hokage said the Nine-Tails was controlled. Jiraiya said it was summoned. Could it be… Uchiha Madara is alive!?"
"That's impossible. As Jiraiya said—Madara died at the Valley of the End. Everyone knows that."
"He definitely died back then. No way he's still alive."
…
The scene continued.
[The view shifted to the Valley of the End. A man wearing a black cloak with red clouds, a vortex-pattern mask, and a single exposed Sharingan—was sitting atop Madara's stone head!]
…
Instantly—the entire ninja world was shaken.
"What??? That's the Valley of the End! The masked man the Fourth Hokage mentioned is sitting on Madara's statue!"
"Look! His exposed eye is definitely a Sharingan! Is he Uchiha Madara!? Is Madara really still alive!?"
"He's wearing an Akatsuki cloak! That means—he is Akatsuki!"
…
Hidden Cloud Village.
Fourth Raikage A: "He can summon the Nine-Tails and sits atop Madara's statue… Could he really be Madara!?"
Mabui: "It's possible! If even Uchiha Madara is Akatsuki… and the First Hokage is long dead… who can oppose them!?"
Raikage A: "If Madara didn't die, then maybe Hashirama, who defeated him, might also still be alive!"
A vein popped on Mabui's forehead.
"Lord Raikage… have you forgotten? When Orochimaru fought Konoha's 'Strongest Hokage in History,' he used the Impure World Reincarnation."
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