After Danzō left, the air in the pouring rain felt moist and sweet.
Yagami stood on a tree trunk, watching the distance through his binoculars.
B was on the other side of the Tree World Birth, keeping an eye on both the surroundings and Fox.
Uchiha Madara had chosen an extremely remote location. The rain here was heavier than anywhere else in the Land of Rain, with no signs of human activity and no shinobi passing by.
Days passed, and Yagami and B didn't exchange a single word.
Yagami knew that B had warned Danzō a few days ago—asking if they should kill Yagami to silence him. He must be Aburame Ryōma from the original story.
Aburame Ryōma, you'd better never leave Danzō's side.
It took seven days to travel from the southern Land of Rain back to the Hidden Leaf Village.
Even if Danzō immediately met with Sarutobi Hiruzen to discuss a plan and set out right after, it would still take fourteen days to return.
On the first day of the fourteenth day, a large group appeared in the distance.
Yagami lowered his binoculars, thinking, Madara must've scared Danzō out of his mind.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzō, and the clan heads of the Senju, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, and Aburame were all present. The Hyūga sent an elder.
The Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyūga clans were here to handle reconnaissance.
Senju Hanaki and Uchiha Toki were the two parties directly involved.
Each brought two bodyguards, making the group look unusually large.
With such a force, even Hanzō of the Salamander would tremble if they claimed they were attacking the Hidden Rain Village.
A truly grand investigation team.
Yagami paid special attention to Danzō—his right eye was still wrapped in bandages.
So it wasn't over. After tasting the power of the Sharingan, Danzō could no longer resist its allure.
To revive from death—what a temptation.
Danzō had gained far too much from Uchiha Kagami.
The group landed around the Tree World Birth.
Sarutobi Hiruzen wore his battle armor, holding the Adamantine Staff in his hands.
On the staff, the great ape's eye opened wide.
"Hiruzen, is this... the First Hokage's Wood Style?"
Sarutobi swung the staff with force, smashing apart a coiled tree trunk. "Its density and strength—it's definitely Wood Style."
Everyone turned to look at Senju Hanaki, who stared at the sight in confusion.
"Advisor Danzō said Uchiha Madara used Wood Style? Not a Senju shinobi who awakened a new bloodline on the battlefield?"
For Senju Hanaki and Uchiha Toki, the information sounded so absurd that it couldn't possibly be fake.
Danzō had no reason to fabricate such a wild lie about this.
No one else spoke. The Senju clan hadn't produced a Wood Style bloodline for decades. Aside from Nawaki, there hadn't been any remarkable talents in years.
The Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyūga clans immediately began scouting and gathering information nearby.
Yagami and B landed near the higher-ups.
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't look at B from Root but turned to the ANBU operative, Fox.
"Fox, what happened? Tell me everything from the beginning."
Yagami guessed Danzō had already reported his version, so he summarized how they had encountered three leaf shinobi under Madara's control and how they fell into genjutsu, killing each other in confusion.
He pushed all the internal slaughter onto Uchiha Madara.
Then, he explained how he'd escaped, met Danzō, and how Danzō brought him and B back to confront Madara.
Madara had controlled three leaf shinobi and fought against Kato Dan's team of three. Danzō, Yagami, and B joined the fray.
Kato Dan's team and B's all died in battle.
The Inuzuka clan head, Inuzuka Retsu, found seven corpses among the Tree World Birth.
Yagami guided the higher-ups onto the wooden terrain and led them to each corpse for identification.
When they reached Kato Dan, Senju Hanaki's face turned pale.
Through the cracks of the tree trunks, one could see the lower half of Kato Dan's face.
She had once heard tales of her father's Wood Style dominating the ninja world—yet now, one of the Senju clan's most promising young elites lay dead here. Hanaki's heart bled.
Kato Dan wasn't only Tsunade's lover, he was also the head of the Kato clan, a small vassal of the Senju.
His death was a devastating blow to the already weakened Senju clan.
The Yamanaka clan head, Yamanaka Kai, said, "All the victims' skulls were crushed by Wood Style. We can't recover any intelligence from their brains."
Standing on a tree trunk, Yagami glanced down at the crushed severed hand of Kato Dan lying in the crevice beneath his feet.
It was horrific—Senju Hanaki couldn't stitch together even half of Kato Dan with two hundred meters of surgical thread.
Once Senju Hanaki had fallen into utter despair and voiced no doubts, Yagami spoke again. "Lord Hokage, please come with me to the cave where Uchiha Madara once hid. There's critical intelligence inside."
Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately said, "Move out!"
As they neared the cave, even Hiruzen slowed his steps.
Madara had left a deep impression on Hiruzen and his generation when they were young.
Even Tobirama Senju himself wouldn't have lasted long against Madara at his peak.
The group entered the cave.
It sloped downward into a vast chamber carved beneath the mountain.
At the center stood a stone chair atop a raised platform.
Thick layers of dust covered everything. One could imagine that for countless years, Uchiha Madara had sat there motionless, leaning on his scythe.
He had grown too old—too weary to move.
The world no longer held any meaning worth his attention.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood at the foot of the platform, gazing up at the chair, tension visible on his face—as if Madara still sat there.
"Lord Hokage… Lord Hokage?"
Yagami called twice before Hiruzen came back to himself.
"Lord Hokage," Yagami said, "behind the chair is a very deep pit. It looks like something enormous was once there… I can't say for sure—perhaps a giant."
Aside from Senju Hanaki, everyone's attention shifted entirely to Madara's secrets.
They followed Yagami around the chair and saw the massive pit behind it.
Yagami said,
"I used a shadow clone to check below. Inside the pit is the lower body of a humanoid giant—legs, knees, feet.
Judging by the proportions, it must have stood over a hundred meters tall."
Even Danzō's gaze locked on the dark pit.
Yagami's goal was achieved—no one was thinking about silencing him anymore.
The group was puzzled. What was Madara planning? What was this giant? Some kind of Wood Golem Technique?
Or the Thousand-Handed Buddha?
Yagami produced a scroll and handed Sarutobi Hiruzen a drawing of the giant's lower half.
B was shocked. So these past few days, Fox's shadow clones had been entering the cave—to draw?
Yagami thought to himself, Former life as a civil engineer—time to show off my drafting skills.
The Third Hokage examined the drawing, shaking his head repeatedly. It wasn't the Thousand-Handed Buddha or the Wood Golem Technique—it looked more like a malnourished, atrophied giant.
Once everyone had digested this revelation, Yagami continued,
"Lord Hokage, there's also a wooden bed made from Wood Style in a side chamber—just big enough for a child to lie on.
I don't know what Madara was doing with it."
The crowd rushed toward the side chamber.
Yagami finally relaxed. No one was paying attention to Kato Dan anymore, and Danzō had no intention of killing him.
The mysteries surrounding Uchiha Madara would keep these people occupied for a long time.
***
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