As night fell, a white-haired old man stood atop a desolate ridge, gazing silently at the distant lights of Uzushiogakure flickering on the coastline.
"Hashirama… this is the world you envisioned. But it's not peace—it's a mockery of it."
Uchiha Madara's voice was hoarse, tinged with resignation and buried fury. He had long known that the shinobi village system, birthed by their dream, was fundamentally flawed. Time and again, its shortcomings were laid bare—wars, betrayals, genocide. Now even the once-formidable Uzumaki clan, known alongside the Uchiha and Senju, stood on the brink of annihilation—and Konoha, Hashirama's creation, was complicit.
And this… this was just the beginning. The tragedies would only multiply. As he watched the sea-bound village preparing for its doom, the old man—Uchiha Madara—felt a quiet rage. Though he had remained in the shadows all these years, nursing his wounds and plans, the turmoil in the Land of Whirlpools was too significant to ignore.
Outwardly, history claimed he died by Hashirama's hand, but in truth, he had feigned his death. He survived, through both Hashirama's cells and his own will. But it was not Hashirama alone who had defeated him—it was Mito Uzumaki as well. It was her Uzumaki sealing arts that allowed Hashirama to restrain the Nine-Tails and suppress Madara's final trump card. Her expertise had turned the tide, not brute force alone.
The sealing techniques of the Uzumaki remained unparalleled in the shinobi world.
"How can one truly obtain the power of all creation?"
Madara clenched his gnarled hands, staring at the weathered skin and sinew that once wielded power equal to a god's. According to the Uchiha Stone Tablet—altered over centuries by Black Zetsu—when the opposing forces of Sharingan and Senju blood united, they could awaken the Rinnegan, the eye of the Sage of Six Paths and the origin of all ninjutsu.
Yet despite transplanting Hashirama's cells and awakening the Wood Release, true fusion eluded him. The Rinnegan had not manifested, and his vitality was slowly devoured by the conflicting forces within him.
His body, though once sustained by Hashirama's regenerative capabilities, had begun to wither. He could feel death crawling closer—he had perhaps a year left. If he couldn't awaken the Rinnegan within that time, the cycle would end, and he'd join Hashirama in the void.
"How do I break through this limit…?"
Even Madara, with all his genius and decades of preparation, had reached a wall. He didn't yet understand the final component needed to birth the Rinnegan—though it stared at him from the shadows.
Black Zetsu, hidden beneath the earth nearby, silently observed his long-term pawn. He too was perplexed.
"Why hasn't the Rinnegan manifested? Is Uchiha Madara… not the one?"
Black Zetsu's slitted eyes narrowed. Madara was supposed to be the culmination of generations of manipulated Uchiha evolution—centuries of Black Zetsu's work since Kaguya's sealing. Madara had the Sharingan. He had Hashirama's cells. All he lacked was the final push.
After all, the Rinnegan had only been seen twice before: first in Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, who awakened it after consuming the God Tree's fruit; and later in her son, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, the Sage of Six Paths, who inherited it directly.
But to recreate it in this world, without divine heritage, required not only Uchiha and Senju power—but another component: the chakra of the Uzumaki. Not just because they were distant Senju relatives, but because their chakra had inherited Hagoromo's life force most purely.
Their vitality, sealing prowess, and chakra resilience made them the purest descendants of the Ninja Sect's body. The Adamantine Sealing Chains, a technique that could suppress tailed beasts, originated from the Ten-Tails binding roots. Their chakra was, in essence, the closest natural match to that of the Sage.
"Perhaps… yes. That's what's missing. The Uzumaki's chakra is needed to awaken the Sage's eyes."
Black Zetsu turned his gaze toward Uzushiogakure. With war looming, this was a perfect chance. Amidst the bloodshed, chakra would be released in great quantities. If Madara could be infused with Uzumaki chakra from the dead, it might be the final catalyst to trigger the Rinnegan and initiate the next phase—Infinite Tsukuyomi.
"Time to act. I'll collect their chakra. Madara must succeed."
At that moment, his gaze snapped toward Uzushio's northern cliffs. Several massive chakra signatures had just launched themselves out of the village and toward the Mist-nin's army encampment.
"What's this? Did the Uzumaki attack preemptively?"
Intrigued but not alarmed, Black Zetsu melded into the ground and raced toward the battlefield, prepared to scavenge corpses and chakra.
Meanwhile, the Kumogakure army—honoring the temporary alliance—struck at the Kirigakure base just as planned. Under cover of darkness, thousands of elite Cloud-nin surged forward, chakra burning as they pushed their stamina to the limit, swiftly crossing miles of forest and terrain to confront the Mist army.
The perception-type shinobi within Kirigakure's forward camp immediately sensed the dual approach—Uzushio from one side, and Kumogakure from another. Their commander, Kizuki of the Mizunotsuki clan, tensed. Were the Cloud-nin here to reinforce the Uzumaki? Or would they attack both sides? Was this an ambush or alliance?
"Send word to Suna and Iwa immediately! Kumogakure and Uzushio have allied—request immediate reinforcements! We must annihilate the Kumogakure forces before they encircle us!"
With orders sent, he rallied his troops. No matter what Kumogakure intended, Kirigakure would not stand alone. If forced to, they'd retreat to the sea, where their water affinity and familiarity would give them the edge.
But that hope was a fatal miscalculation.
The Uzumaki did not intend to let them retreat.
Four elder Uzumaki—each with chakra reserves on par with a Kage—arrived at cardinal points around the Mist army's base. In unison, they unleashed streams of crimson chakra, forming a dome of incandescent red light.
The Four Red Yang Formation—a barrier technique that required four high-tier shinobi working in sync—sealed the entire Mist army within. It was a move both offensive and defensive, once used during the Fourth Shinobi War to contain the Ten-Tails itself.
These aged veterans of Uzushio had little left to lose, but chakra was something they still had in abundance.
Aloe Uzumaki was already in motion. As the barrier locked into place, she poured a massive surge of chakra into the treasured Bashōsen—the Banana Palm Fan, one of the Sage's Five Treasured Tools.
A sweep of the fan, and a roaring sea of fire erupted, engulfing the terrain around the Mist encampment, especially targeting the Mizunotsuki clan's units.
"What kind of Fire Release is this?!"
"A fire of this scale—how can it be so vast?!"
"Impossible! Water Release isn't putting it out!"
The Mist-nin reeled. The flames were immense, the heat unbearable. Water techniques were consumed and vaporized instantly, converting into deadly scalding steam that added to their casualties.
But it didn't end there.
Aloe Uzumaki handed the fan to another elder, who infused it with chakra and waved it again. The firestorm intensified. One by one, each Uzumaki warrior took a turn, fueling the Bashōsen and fanning fresh waves of destruction.
The flames now rivaled the notorious Great Fire Annihilation—a jutsu used by Uchiha Madara himself during the Fourth War.
Tamura Hao, observing from outside the barrier with the Kumogakure force, was stunned. "This fire… it's no weaker than the Madara from the parallel world who decimated entire formations. The Uzumaki with this fan… are unstoppable."
Each fan strike equaled an elite Uchiha's high-tier Fire Release. Ten consecutive sweeps would incinerate any Kage-level fighter.
And they weren't done.
Another wave from the fan—this time unleashing crackling bolts of lightning—struck down across the battlefield. Lightning coursed through the scorched earth and struck Kirigakure units still reeling from the flames.
Mist-nin were masters of Water Release, but Lightning Release was their natural counter. Entire squadrons—especially those of the Mizunotsuki clan—fell to the electrified onslaught.
Even reinforcements from the Hyō clan (Ice Release users) found themselves overpowered. Their chakra was disrupted, their water attacks turned to steam, their formations crumbling.
At that moment, a bolt of actual lightning crashed down just ahead of the Kumogakure lines.
When it faded, a towering silhouette stood where it struck—veins bulging with chakra, surrounded by crackling static.
The Third Raikage had arrived.