UK:GSW Chapter 423 – Will Uchiha Madara Turn into Coach Anzai?
"I've prepared one hundred Jonin, one hundred Chunin, and over a dozen powerful mercenary ninja. This time, the Leaf's leadership will only bring around a dozen people."
"No matter how you look at it—over two hundred against just over a dozen—the advantage is mine!"
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire made this proclamation to what he considered his most trusted retainers.
Among those retainers, some were in complete agreement, even growing fervent, while two others twitched at the corners of their mouths—wanting to speak up but holding back, unsure how to even begin.
Clearly, these two had at least some understanding of the true power of the ninja world's top-tier fighters—unlike the Daimyo, who thought the gap between a Jonin and a Kage wasn't that large.
The truth was, the ninja world didn't have those fanfiction-like categories of "Kage-level," "Super Kage-level," and "Six Paths-level." In theory, the highest rank was Jonin; "Kage" was merely a title, not a level.
Because the Kage of each nation were chosen from among the Jonin, most people believed a Kage was only somewhat stronger than a typical Jonin—able to take on ten or twenty foes at most, but still killable through sheer numbers.
It couldn't be helped—in this pre-Third Shinobi World War era, while several Kage had died, the difference in strength between a Kage and an elite Jonin hadn't been clearly demonstrated.
Those Kage had either died of illness or in battles against other Kage. The legendary battle between the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, and Uchiha Madara had no witnesses—people only knew it created the Valley of the End. How powerful it truly was remained pure speculation.
And as everyone knew, imagination is limited by one's knowledge and experience. Most people's mental picture of that fight was rather "low-end"—completely lacking the broken, god-tier feats of late Shippuden.
Before Kishimoto ever drew that battle, fans imagined it based on early Naruto power levels. There was even an animated depiction in the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm games—where Hashirama and Madara's great battle matched the early-series setting.
In it, both were powerful, but still within the mid-series power scale. The fight was exciting and intense, full of strategy, technique, and unique moves, but still recognizably "Naruto" in scale—so that the "Strongest Hokage" Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't look like a clown in comparison.
That was how both professionals and fans saw things at the time—and Kishimoto himself must have agreed, since he supervised that game animation.
In short, this was the same understanding most people in the ninja world had of the Leaf's top power.
And to be fair, it wasn't wrong. Before the power scale went out of control, the Kage were indeed strong, but not to absurd levels.
After all, Second Hokage Tobirama Senju and the Second Raikage had once been killed together by the Cloud's rogue ninja brothers, Kinkaku and Ginkaku. How overwhelmingly powerful could the Hokage and Leaf's leadership really be?
That was the basis for the Daimyo's—and most nobles'—judgment. And if the Leaf had still been what it once was, this plan might have actually worked.
However, while the rest of the ninja world was still on the old "version," the Leaf's high-end combat power had long since been updated to late-Shippuden's broken scale.
Coincidentally, those two cautious retainers were among the few aware of this. While they didn't know exactly how strong Fourth Hokage Tsunade or the current Leaf leadership were, they had heard from their own sources that Minato Namikaze had single-handedly wiped out a Mist elite squad without breaking a sweat.
Had the Third Shinobi World War already happened—with iconic feats like the Third Raikage holding off ten thousand Iwa-nin, or Minato's "Yellow Flash" showing his invincible speed—neither the Daimyo nor his retainers would be so optimistic.
Sometimes, fate simply played out that way.
The Daimyo noticed the worried looks on those two retainers' faces, and his sharp gaze locked on them. "What? Do you two have objections to my plan?"
Hearing this, the two flinched, their hearts pounding. The Daimyo's expression was terrifying—they felt that one wrong word could see them "loyally" executed on the spot.
So they swallowed their advice.
Exchanging a glance, their survival instinct took over, and they spoke in unison—
"What we want to say is: My lord is wise!"
Their faces were the picture of loyalty.
The Daimyo nodded, satisfied. The frightening look melted away.
He was now lost in a fantasy where his plan would surely succeed, wiping out the Leaf's leadership in one stroke, taking full control of the village, and becoming the greatest figure in the Land of Fire's history.
Whether this would cause chaos or invite invasion from other nations never crossed his mind. Or rather, he never considered the negative outcome—believing that with the Leaf under his control, he could simply command its ninja to fight.
Under his "wise" leadership, the Land of Fire would easily crush its enemies, winning an even more glorious victory than in the First or Second Shinobi World War.
He was destined, as Daimyo, to make the Land of Fire great again!
Yes—this was his mindset now. Pure optimism mixed with delusion—more absurd than celebrating victory halfway through the game.
In fairness, the Daimyo wasn't entirely blinded by optimism. Everything he thought and did followed traditional feudal power-play, with plenty of historical precedent in the ninja world—and many such schemes had succeeded.
After all, in a feudal society—especially one unchanged for a thousand years—such things were "normal." They simply had no idea the Leaf had already evolved into something entirely different.
Nor could the Daimyo and his retainers imagine that everything they discussed was being completely observed by hidden watchers.
Those watchers were the White Zetsu.
While the Daimyo dreamed of his glorious future, the White Zetsu relayed the intel to Uchiha Kei.
Kei wasn't surprised—in fact, he thought, So this guy's finally making his move.
The Daimyo's dissatisfaction with the Leaf wasn't new—he'd wanted to act for some time, but until now had kept it to private mutterings and small talks with his most trusted men.
Now, he had simply decided to put his long-formed plan into action.
Receiving the intel, Kei shared it with the others.
Tsunade and the others reacted in different ways—anger, cold smiles, disdain, eagerness, or weary sighs. Hashirama, for example, sighed—still the peace-loving idealist, sympathetic to traditional structures. After all, he had insisted on securing the Daimyo's approval when founding the villages.
But this wasn't news to them—Kei had never hidden this intel. They had even discussed how to deal with the Daimyo, including whether to abolish the title altogether and implement a new political system in the Land of Fire.
That idea had been rejected as too radical for the current world—it would unite the ninja world against them, forcing an all-out war.
And while the Leaf could currently dominate the world, there was no guarantee everything would go as planned in such a scenario. The risks were too great.
So the plan they settled on was to remove the current Daimyo and replace him with a new, obedient figurehead to serve as the Leaf's proxy.
Not ideal, but it would maintain the current stability.
For the Leaf, the longer they could preserve the current favorable situation, the better. Once they developed enough, they could truly sweep the ninja world and bring real reform.
Tsunade had even decided to leave this to Minato—destined to be the Fifth Hokage. Her role was to strengthen the Leaf during her tenure, paving the way for his era.
Compared to Hiruzen Sarutobi, Tsunade was progressive; compared to Minato, she was less so. One's upbringing and worldview can't be completely reshaped just by influence or study—it was in her nature.
In short, for the new Leaf leadership and Kei's circle, the Daimyo's move wasn't unexpected—they were ready to resolve it.
When Madara heard the intel, he scoffed—saying they could crush the Daimyo outright, and if the Land of Fire resisted, destroy it entirely.
His approach: ignore such "traditional authority," fight anyone who opposed them, and kill them all.
While not wrong, the others saw it as too extreme—the aftermath would be troublesome. So they stuck to the original plan.
This "Hongmen Banquet" could even be turned to their advantage—if Black Zetsu learned of it, he would likely interfere. He might secretly help the Daimyo, or hide and observe from the shadows.
Either way, he would be present—and that would be the perfect time to act.
So this operation would take down the Daimyo and Black Zetsu together.
Madara would be the key player in capturing Black Zetsu.
And to make success certain, Kei did something that made the others wary—
He "returned" the Rinnegan to Madara.
Of course, not the main world's Rinnegan, but the pair taken from World No. 2's Nagato, currently in Orochimaru's lab.
Although from another world, they were still Rinnegan originally awakened by Madara, so he could use them without issue.
Thus, Madara regained the Rinnegan.
To him, the feeling was complicated—wielding the Rinnegan of another version of himself was bizarre.
Still, he didn't refuse—he was serious about capturing Black Zetsu, and would do whatever increased the odds.
With Orochimaru's help, the transplant went smoothly. There was no rejection—Madara effortlessly controlled their power.
Though using the Rinnegan in his old body was taxing, as their true "owner" his control surpassed Nagato's.
For example—he could return the Rinnegan to the appearance of normal Uchiha eyes, something Nagato could never do.
Once he did so, the strain lessened dramatically, and with that mastery came relief.
Then, he pulled out a can of cola, cracked it open, and downed it in big gulps.
The refreshing bliss brought a smile to his plump old face—suddenly making him seem one step closer to becoming Coach Anzai.
Watching this, Kei's feelings were… complicated. He held back for a long time before forcing himself not to laugh.
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