"I hope they can see the bigger picture. With such good conditions, there's no need to keep resisting," Hashirama muttered, shaking his head.
He despised war and death, but Yoichi had been more than generous to the villagers of Sunagakure.
It hadn't even been half a day since the unification plan had been distributed, yet one or two hundred people had already passed through the blockade set by Rasa's forces, heading to Konoha's settlement points.
Even though he hated war, Hashirama understood that this time he had to fight. The current Fifth Hokage, much like his brother Tobirama in the past, hoped to unify the Five Great Nations under a single village system.
Only through such unity could true peace be achieved.
"Brother, stop thinking about other things. The pressure from the Fifth Hokage is no small matter. Focus on your upcoming task," Tobirama remarked, setting aside the unification plan.
His comment left Hashirama puzzled, prompting him to ask, "Tobirama, what other task is there?"
"The oasis project. The shinobi in the village who can use Wood Release don't even have a fifth of your proficiency. Aside from you, only Tsunade and the Fifth Hokage can use it. Who do you think is best suited for the job?" Tobirama pointed to a small line of text on the unification plan.
After reading it, Hashirama's face fell, and he sighed. "Fine, since I've been revived, I owe the Fifth Hokage a favor anyway. Besides, he revived Nawaki too. I can't very well make Tsunade plant trees, can I?"
Hashirama had always been fond of his granddaughter, Tsunade. If not, he wouldn't have taken her to the gambling houses when she was only three years old, even though Mito constantly scolded him for it. Hashirama had been unable to resist Tsunade's requests and would sneak her off to gamble with a smile on his face.
"Tobirama, the Fifth Hokage didn't say anything, but I have a feeling he'll revive you too. After all, he's already entrusted you with such an important task," Hashirama said with a grin.
"Brother, I didn't take this on just to be revived. This is for Konoha's benefit," Tobirama responded, shaking his head.
His words left everyone in the room awestruck.
Jiraiya, in particular, was thinking about how much he wanted to revive his student, Minato. He had saved Minato during the mission to hunt down Pain, but Minato had died shortly after, leaving Jiraiya with a sense of guilt that he couldn't shake.
However, the conditions for revival were stringent. While there was hope of retrieving Minato's body, Jiraiya had learned that Minato was being controlled through Edo Tensei by the enemy, making the possibility of reviving him seem distant.
As for others like Pakura, who had only recently joined Konoha, they were utterly shocked. The fact that Konoha's Fifth Hokage had mastered a forbidden jutsu capable of resurrecting the dead left them speechless.
Pakura, however, kept the news to herself. Since she had agreed to the unification plan, she had already decided to fully commit to Konoha, so there was no need to reveal such information.
Soon after, under Tobirama's direction, squads of Konoha shinobi infiltrated Sunagakure under the cover of darkness, swiftly taking control of unoccupied buildings.
If Rasa truly planned to take action, the battle would surely take place within the village.
"Lord Madara, bad news."
After escaping, Black Zetsu immediately sought out Uchiha Madara.
Madara had just captured the Seven-Tails, but he was perplexed by the beast's meager chakra reserves. The entire Seven-Tails only had less than a fifth of the chakra the Three-Tails had possessed, which didn't make sense.
Madara had used genjutsu to interrogate the Seven-Tails' jinchūriki from Takigakure but found no discrepancies.
"What is it, Black Zetsu? Did you fail?"
Seeing Black Zetsu return alone, Madara had already deduced the outcome. If the mission had succeeded, Uchiha Fugaku and Tobi would have returned with him.
"Fugaku was a fool. This is the second time he's been betrayed because of his misplaced trust. But this time, there's no saving him—he's completely fallen."
Black Zetsu then gave Madara a detailed report of the events, including the battle's specifics. Fortunately, at the last moment, Tobi had managed to send information through the underground roots, though he hadn't been able to escape himself.
"Heh, betraying even his own family. Hashirama's village was a mistake from the start. This world will only find true peace through the Eye of the Moon Plan."
Madara's disdain for Hashirama's village deepened after hearing how Fugaku had been betrayed by his own son. The village had always harbored darkness, far removed from the ideal village they had once envisioned.
"What now, Lord Madara? Konoha seems to be quite formidable. They've already gained control of the Two-Tails and Nine-Tails' power, not to mention the First Hokage."
Black Zetsu pondered the situation and realized that they held no real advantage. Although Madara possessed the Rinnegan, he had yet to become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
Currently, Konoha had a resurrected First Hokage, a Fifth Hokage with the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, two jinchūriki who controlled their Tailed Beasts, and numerous other powerful shinobi.
Black Zetsu grew anxious, fearing that they might not be able to collect all the Tailed Beasts before Konoha intervened. If that happened, would they have to wait another thousand years to revive his mother?
"Don't worry, Black Zetsu," Madara said, slightly more serious about Konoha's strength, though he still believed they wouldn't be able to stop him. With the Rinnegan and his full revival, only Hashirama could pose a real threat.
"The more Tailed Beasts we collect, the stronger the Gedo Statue becomes. Even with only seven Tailed Beasts, no one in the shinobi world will be able to oppose us."
But without the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts, the Ten-Tails wouldn't awaken.
Black Zetsu, who understood the Ten-Tails better than Madara, thought to himself. The Gedo Statue might grow stronger with seven Tailed Beasts, but it wouldn't undergo a qualitative change.
This wasn't a reliable plan.
Still, Black Zetsu couldn't point this out to Madara, as doing so would only arouse suspicion. After all, he was supposed to be an extension of Madara's will.
"Lord Madara, what were you pondering earlier?" Black Zetsu asked.
"Nothing. It's just that the Seven-Tails' chakra seems to have been depleted. Even after absorbing it into the Gedo Statue, it will take time to replenish." Madara replied casually. Fortunately, Tailed Beast chakra replenished quickly, so it wouldn't delay his plans for the Ten-Tails.
Capturing the Tailed Beasts had gone unusually smoothly for Madara. No one had been able to stop him, not even Kirigakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, which had suffered heavy losses when Madara took the Six-Tails.
With four Tailed Beasts already collected, and the revival of the Four-Tails and Five-Tails imminent, the only remaining targets were the Eight-Tails from Kumogakure and the Two-Tails and Nine-Tails from Konoha.
"Lord Madara, the Eight-Tails is well hidden by Kumogakure. The White Zetsu clones haven't been able to locate it yet. We may need to wait a little longer."
Black Zetsu explained that Kumogakure seemed to have misplaced the Eight-Tails' training grounds. They had even launched a large-scale search recently. Since then, the whereabouts of the Eight-Tails jinchūriki had become classified information, even the White Zetsu clones had been unable to gather any intel.
"If we directly attack Kumogakure, those stubborn shinobi would rather die than reveal the location of the Eight-Tails jinchūriki. This could draw too much attention, and the entire shinobi world would find out that you're collecting Tailed Beasts."
"Three months. If we still haven't found the Eight-Tails jinchūriki by then, I'll go to Kumogakure myself." Madara declared, setting a timeline that Black Zetsu and White Zetsu weren't entirely confident about.
Still, Black Zetsu agreed. He wanted to advise Madara to be more patient since the chance to become the Ten-Tails jinchūriki was so close, but he feared that saying so would have the opposite effect.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, on the fourth underground level of the prison...
A rhythmic clapping echoed through the dimly lit corridor.
Nagato, who had lost his eyes, faintly heard the sound and asked, "Konan? What's wrong?"
(End of Chapter)
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