In the 65th year of Konoha, two pieces of news shook the entire ninja world.
The first: Uchiha Madara—the murderer who had stolen the Four-Tails and Five-Tails from Iwa Village and killed Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage—was killed by Konoha's Fourth Hokage, Uzumaki Raiden, near the border between the Land of Birds and the Land of Earth.
The second: Uzumaki Raiden, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha Village, will marry Mizukage Terumi Mei of the Mist Village on January 1st, in Konoha.
The news about Uchiha Madara was released jointly by the Sand and Stone Villages, while the wedding announcement came from Konoha and the Mist Village.
It was September, and the scorching summer was nearing its end. The temperature had dropped to around twenty degrees. Though pedestrians still wore short sleeves and shorts, the breeze carried a noticeable chill.
At the gates of Konoha's prison, Uchiha Sasuke, after more than ten days of detention and interrogation, was finally released—thanks to the guarantee of Uzumaki Raiden and Uchiha Fugaku.
"Hah…" Sasuke stood outside the prison, took a deep breath, and revealed a faint smile on his usually cold face. Returning to Konoha this time, he felt more at ease than ever.
"Sasuke, welcome back to Konoha."
Near the prison gates, Uzumaki Raiden and Karin had been waiting. Seeing Sasuke exit, Naruto greeted him with a bright smile. When Sasuke had left the village in pursuit of power, Naruto had searched far and wide, until Sasuke eventually encountered Uzumaki Raiden in the Land of Rain—and only then did his goals become clearer.
Having spent time with Uchiha Madara, Sasuke not only grew stronger, but also came to realize that everything he had been pursuing might have been a mistake from the very beginning.
As a symbol of change, the Uchiha clan's ancestral stone tablet had been shattered after Uzumaki Raiden's return to Konoha.
"Naruto… long time no see." Sasuke looked at Naruto, and finally smiled with relief. Sensing the change in Sasuke's heart, Naruto beamed and raised his fist.
Sasuke paused, puzzled.
"Friends who share the same heart understand each other with a fist bump. We're friends, aren't we?"
"Heh." Sasuke smirked and met Naruto's fist with his own. In that moment, the rift between them disappeared.
But Sasuke wasn't the only one tied to Uchiha Madara.
Thanks to the endorsements of Uzumaki Raiden and Uchiha Fugaku, Sasuke's return went smoothly. Others weren't so fortunate.
The masked man—the elder son of the Uchiha—had remained trapped within Raiden's barrier until Uchiha Madara's defeat.
Without access to space-time ninjutsu, he was powerless before Raiden. After gouging out the masked man's eyes and sealing his chakra, Raiden brought him back to Konoha and imprisoned him. As for White Zetsu, he wasn't even deemed worthy of trial and was immediately executed by Raiden on the spot.
Upon returning to the village, Raiden requested that Tsunade transplant Uchiha Shisui's eye—retrieved from the masked man—back into Shisui. The once-blinded Shisui thus rejoined the active ninja roster.
In the depths of Konoha's dungeon—dark and barely lit—the masked man was imprisoned.
His body was sealed to a stone platform, leaving only his head exposed. His eyes were bandaged, his complexion was pale, lips cracked, and his whole appearance frail.
In front of him, Yamanaka Inoichi had one hand pressed against his head, eyes closed, diving deep into his mind. Standing beside him was the head of the Interrogation Department, Morino Ibiki. Behind them sat Uzumaki Raiden and Uchiha Fugaku.
Raiden sat with legs crossed, hands folded on his knees, silently staring at the man being interrogated. His hair had grown slightly, and his bangs now covered his right eye—concealing the Rinnegan beneath.
The cell was silent. Everyone was waiting for Inoichi's results.
Eventually, Inoichi opened his eyes, slowly withdrew his hand, and turned to Raiden with a shake of his head.
"Lord Raiden, we've reached the limit for today. Any further probing will damage his brain."
"We haven't found the location of the second Rinnegan yet."
"However, we did uncover the secret base he and Madara used over the years. We can now send forces to search and eliminate it."
Raiden and Fugaku were both disappointed. Raiden nodded silently and stood up. As he did, the air shifted his bangs slightly, revealing the Rinnegan hidden beneath.
"Don't let him die. Extract every bit of information you can before executing him."
"Compile today's findings into a scroll. Give it to Minato and have him send scouts to search the identified bases."
Raiden picked up the long blade leaning against the chair and left the cell.
Inoichi, misinterpreting Raiden's expression, looked ashamed.
Fugaku, noticing this, reassured him. "Inoichi, don't take it to heart. Just keep trying. After waiting so long, a few more days won't make a difference."
"Raiden wasn't blaming you—he's just…"
"It's fine, Fugaku. I understand." Inoichi sighed. "We're talking about the Rinnegan here—this isn't a small matter."
"If not for the confidentiality of the mission, I'd gather the entire Yamanaka clan and have them work together to stabilize his mind while we probe his memories."
He looked at the masked man's youthful, pale face and murmured, "So young… and yet with Madara, he brought down the Stone Village."
"I heard that ever since Onoki died, Iwa hasn't appointed a new Tsuchikage."
"If Raiden hadn't stopped Madara in time… I can't imagine what more they might have done."
Fugaku's thoughts drifted to his son Sasuke—who, by now, should've been released. That thought filled him with anxious anticipation.
"Konoha is not Iwa. Don't dwell on it." Fugaku's tone grew heavy. "Focus on finding the other Rinnegan. It's crucial to us."
Inoichi and Ibiki both noticed Fugaku's sudden seriousness, and exchanged glances.
"Don't look at me like that," Fugaku said. "You'll understand soon enough."
"When the time comes… I hope you'll make the right choice."
With that, Fugaku turned and left, leaving Inoichi and Ibiki staring at each other. They didn't know exactly what Fugaku meant—but both felt that Raiden and Fugaku were preparing something… something big.
Their instincts told them: it would shake Konoha.
"What do you think?" Inoichi asked solemnly, still uneasy.
"I don't know." Ibiki replied. "All I know is—I'm a Konoha shinobi. That's all."
His meaning was clear: he had no intention of getting involved in power struggles—if that's what this was.
In a secret lab in the back mountains of Uzumaki Raiden's home, Raiden entered the long-unused lab and found Orochimaru.
Orochimaru was hunched over Uchiha Madara's body, which lay on the operating table. Raiden hadn't entrusted Madara's remains to the village's autopsy team—he gave them to the one person he trusted for this kind of work: the scientific madman Orochimaru.
Raiden believed Orochimaru could put Madara's corpse to good use.
Orochimaru ignored Raiden's entrance, fully absorbed in his experiments. Raiden simply stood by, watching.
"Why are you here? There's plenty of interesting material in this body, but none of it is of use to you." Orochimaru eventually looked up.
"The second Rinnegan still hasn't been located," Raiden replied. "I suspect the masked man doesn't know where it is either. So I came to see if you could uncover anything useful."
Glancing at Madara's corpse, Raiden asked, "What are you doing? What's all this equipment for?"
"Testing body functions. Analyzing data. Extracting cells. Measuring cell activity." Orochimaru casually handed Raiden a test tube. "That, and more—it's hard to explain everything at once."
"Aren't you curious? We're all human—so why was Uchiha Madara so strong? Why is it only the Uchiha clan that can awaken the Sharingan?"
"These are the fundamental questions I want to answer."
"If I can figure it out… maybe everyone can become a Madara. Wouldn't that be fascinating?"
Orochimaru's excitement was obvious, his tone brimming with unrestrained enthusiasm.
"You're overthinking it. You can't erase individual differences," Raiden replied. "Even clones turn out different."
"How can everyone become Madara?"
"I came to ask you to preserve Madara's brain. When needed, I want the Yamanaka Clan to extract his memories."
But Orochimaru didn't register Raiden's last words. His attention had already locked onto a different word:
"Clone? What's that?"
"Just a hypothesis," Raiden replied. "We're all developed from embryonic cells. What if you used the same genetic material to grow multiple individuals?"
"Wouldn't that mean they're all the same?"
"You already experimented with this—injecting the First Hokage's cells into babies."
"What if you went further? Cultivate an adult body directly from the First's cells?"
Raiden's words seemed to open a door. Orochimaru froze. His eyes lit up as he held the test tube. His face shifted rapidly between awe, contemplation, and sheer excitement.
"Hehehe… hahahaha!"
"Interesting… so interesting!"
"Raiden, your words just gave me the breakthrough I needed. I've been stuck—but now I have a new path to follow."
"Don't worry—I'll preserve his brain carefully. It'll be useful someday."
"Clone… clone! Hohohoho…"
Orochimaru waved him off with a mad laugh. Raiden, unfazed, glanced once more at Madara's body before leaving the lab.
A week later, while lounging at home, Raiden received a report from Fugaku: the scouts Minato had dispatched had returned from Madara's secret base. Inside, they had found countless growing White Zetsu.
Konoha was now mobilizing troops to destroy White Zetsu's lair.
At the same time, Yamanaka Inoichi finally uncovered the location of the second Rinnegan.
That very night, Uzumaki Raiden left Konoha. When he returned a week later—both of his eyes had become Rinnegan.
Madara's legendary eyes now belonged to Uzumaki Raiden.
His first action upon returning was to summon all the senior officials of Konoha—not only the upper brass, but also the village's Jinchūriki.
Rin Nohara, Naruto, Killer Bee—all were summoned to the Hokage's office.
A storm was brewing in Konoha.
A storm that would soon sweep across the entire ninja world.
(End of this chapter)
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