Uchiha Madara's secret base.
In the pale shadows, Drampa lay nearby, eyes half-closed.
Its long dragon whiskers twitched slightly as it leisurely exhaled a wisp of bluish smoke.
The smoke wasn't scorching flame, but carried a faint grassy fragrance, gently swirling in the air before transforming into a peaceful cloud that drifted above Uchiha Madara's head.
"...My mood is perfectly stable."
Uchiha Madara's voice was deep, carrying a trace of impatience.
"Stop doing these pointless things."
Drampa slowly rolled its eyes to glance at Madara, gave a light flick of its tail, and another wisp of bluish smoke rose, almost forming the shape of a smiling face.
Uchiha Madara glanced at the smiling smoke and snorted coldly.
But the slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
During this time, Drampa seemed to have figured out his temperament.
No matter how cold and distant Madara acted, it would always quietly stay by his side, accompanying him through exhaling smoke, tail flicks, or simply lying down.
It didn't speak or offer advice, yet it always managed to lighten the oppressive atmosphere that enveloped the base.
"You creature..."
Uchiha Madara narrowed his eyes slightly, watching the faint bluish smoke slowly dissipate.
"For a Ninja Beast, you're better at reading people than humans are."
Drampa slowly opened its eyes, revealing a gentle smile.
The general meaning was: You're bored, so I'm here to keep you company.
"Enough nonsense."
Uchiha Madara flicked his sleeve, but the corner of his mouth lifted even more noticeably.
Just then, the ground began to squirm.
As the earth shifted, a pale face emerged from the surface - White Zetsu.
"Lord Uchiha Madara."
White Zetsu bowed respectfully before lowering his voice.
"Something strange has appeared in the Land of Rain - a place called the Flame Gym."
Uchiha Madara raised an eyebrow slightly.
White Zetsu quickly explained: "Yes, it's said that place tests ninjas. Every challenger must face powerful fire-type Ninja Beasts. Even Hanzo personally took action, but I heard he couldn't break through that gym's Barrier and was forced to retreat."
Drampa stopped exhaling smoke, squinting at Uchiha Madara.
Madara didn't respond immediately. "Hanzo..."
After a moment, through White Zetsu's account, Uchiha Madara understood what had happened.
"Someone like Hanzo, if he can't solve a problem immediately, will first weigh the costs and benefits."
"He won't trap himself in an unnecessary war of attrition."
Drampa leisurely exhaled a puff of smoke that condensed into Hanzo's outline in midair.
Uchiha Madara stared at the smoky silhouette and continued.
White Zetsu seemed to partially understand: "So you mean Hanzo would deliberately let other countries get involved?"
"Hanzo needs to consider whether he can eliminate this strange gym and its ninjas at minimal cost."
"If he can crush it outright, he'll crush it directly."
"If he can't crush it and needs to expend resources, Hanzo will seek to borrow strength."
"That's his way of thinking."
"If it requires paying a certain price, he'll borrow strength from other forces while observing this gym and the positions of the other two great ninja villages."
"The positions of invaders and the ninja villages are all things Hanzo is watching."
"When they restrain each other, he'll move in to clean up. No matter the outcome, the Land of Rain can use this to catch its breath."
He paused for a moment, closed his eyes, and chuckled softly, "This is the basic judgment a weak demigod should possess."
A weak demigod.
That was Uchiha Madara's evaluation.
Drampa narrowed his eyes, smiled, and exhaled another puff of blue smoke.
The smoke swirled in midair, transforming into a small fiery sun.
Uchiha Madara stared at the flames for a long while before speaking calmly, "Where did the previous White Zetsu go?"
White Zetsu scratched his head, "I don't know. Recently, many companions have been scouting in the Land of Rain, and there have been many incidents of being scrapped or worn out."
"Was that White Zetsu more interesting than me?"
Uchiha Madara impatiently shooed away the muttering White Zetsu.
Different dimension · World Tree.
Shiroishi stood before the central monitoring node, complex data streams flickering across his glasses.
He adjusted his frames and murmured to himself, "The battle with Hanzo... the Chakra output rate actually reached nine times the peak."
In the massive holographic projection, the battle scenes of Red and Typhlosion were reconstructed into data models.
Every tremor of flames burning in the air, every shockwave impact, every fraction of thermal energy release—all were converted into intricate calculation formulas.
The data ultimately converged into a striking line of red text:
[Chakra Consumption: 3.2% of World Tree's Current Reserves]
Shiroishi's gaze darkened.
The tree should...
It should absorb, not expend energy for defense.
Attacking is one thing... but even energy attacks require spending one's own energy to block.
...Just maintaining a battle lasting less than fifteen minutes.
He looked up at the unimaginably vast World Tree.
Countless green light streams extended from the depths of the roots, continuously replenishing the system's energy and repairing the deficit caused by Red and Typhlosion's battle.
These energy flows intertwined and spiraled in midair, eventually converging into a crystalline energy core, pulsating like a beating heart.
"Although... this battle did serve to divert attention,"
Shiroishi murmured, his voice echoing in the space, "this consumption model is simply unsustainable."
With a light flick of his finger, a new graph immediately unfolded on the virtual screen.
It was the synchronization rate chart of Red and Typhlosion. In the early stages of the battle, their mental link was almost perfectly aligned,
but as Chakra continued to burn at high intensity, the link stability sharply declined, showing violent fluctuations.
Shiroishi sighed softly.
"Though the combat power is astonishing, the energy consumption increases exponentially. If Red engages in three consecutive battles of similar intensity... I'm afraid even the World Tree won't be able to bear the energy replenishment."
The first battle has already consumed this much!
He slowly retracted the projection and turned his gaze to the energy core suspended at the center.
The World Tree converted residual Chakra from Ninja Beasts, ninjas, and even the natural world, then channeled it back through nodes to maintain the entire ecosystem and balance.
Now, the glow of this core had noticeably dimmed.
Indeed, the World Tree's energy allocation is still not mature enough.
If Red is to continue maintaining the Gym system, his Chakra consumption structure must be optimized.
New data layers flickered across his glasses.
However, this cost is necessary.
Now that the Two-Tails of the Cloud ninjas has disappeared,
and with the Breeding House being too conspicuous, many of the arrangements I've made currently rely on the Breeding House as the core for distribution.
So.
By throwing out this Flame Gym and using Red's presence to waste everyone's time and create chaos...
This was Shiroishi's goal.
To divert everyone's attention.
After all, the two Mythical Ninja Beast Eggs currently hatching above his head were Shiroishi's primary task moving forward.
Gazing at the sky, Shiroishi murmured: "Mythical Ninja Beasts, huh..."