"You think I can't deal with you just because of this, boy?"
Upon receiving the news, Uchiha Madara's lips curled into a cold, sinister smile.
Renya had gone out of his way to invite Danzo and Koharu along on this mission. That alone showed he valued them and didn't want to see them die just like that.
But precisely because he cared, Madara's attention turned to Danzo and Koharu.
"Tobirama's disciples, huh?" Madara's eyes flickered. "Looks like that kid has formed bonds with them."
As long as he found the right chance to let the two of them die before Renya's eyes, that boy would definitely awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan because of it.
With just a little guidance, he would join the Eye of the Moon Plan.
After all, only in the world of illusion would there be no pain.
Though Madara had set his sights on Danzo and Koharu, he wouldn't choose to kill them directly.
Such an act would easily expose him. If Renya ever learned the truth, not only would Madara fail to recruit him, but they would also turn into bitter enemies.
He didn't want to become an enemy of this junior he had taken a liking to—not yet. Before making a move, he needed to wash himself clean of suspicion.
"Boy, I have many ways to make you join my plan."
Madara was confident that, with his schemes, tricking a kid who couldn't even hold his liquor into joining was as easy as breathing.
It was nothing more than a matter of time.
Before awakening Rinnegan, time was the one thing he had in abundance!
He had all the time in the world to plot this out.
In just a short while, Madara had already thought of several different ways to make Renya open his eyes.
"Madara, what are you mumbling about?" Senju Hashirama asked with a cheerful smile.
Now, he had to stick by his best friend's side every moment of the day. He couldn't allow Madara any chance to sweet-talk Renya.
That child was far too pure at heart—no match for Madara at all.
Hashirama was deeply worried that Renya would become another Uchiha Madara.
If that ever happened, the shinobi world would truly be in danger!
Hashirama could only hope that Renya wouldn't be so easily deceived. If worst came to worst, he would have to tell Tobirama and let him think of a countermeasure.
His younger brother had been sharp-witted ever since childhood. He would surely come up with something.
"I'm thinking about what to eat today," Madara tilted his head and asked.
"Madara, I want grilled fish. Let's go catch some by the river," Hashirama said with a goofy grin, scratching his head.
Madara nodded, and the two of them walked side by side toward the river.
For now, he had no intention of laying hands on those around Renya. He would have to wait for the right opportunity.
Once the two of them were gone, a lump of black matter peeked out from beneath the ground.
"Why isn't Asura's reincarnation dead yet?!"
Remembering Hashirama's rosy complexion just now, Black Zetsu's already dark face seemed even darker.
As long as Hashirama remained alive, the plan would be affected.
What if one day he really convinced Madara to abandon the Eye of the Moon Plan? Wouldn't that make all of Black Zetsu's years of effort meaningless?
It didn't monitor Madara every moment of every day. For the first two years, it saw him following the plan perfectly…
Convinced that there would be no problems, it stopped watching him and went back to plotting across the shinobi world.
After all, it couldn't put all its hopes on Madara alone.
In thousands of years, it had already failed more times than it could count.
If Madara failed, it could always continue lurking and wait for the next reincarnations of Indra and Asura.
But when it began monitoring Madara again, it discovered that somehow, Senju Hashirama—long since dead—was by his side once more.
At that moment, Black Zetsu felt like it had seen a ghost!
Later, from their conversations, it learned of Hashirama's faked death.
Still, it hadn't cared. With Hashirama's frail condition, he couldn't possibly live long.
It thought Hashirama would soon die of illness.
Yet three years passed in a flash, and not only was the man still alive, but his health had even miraculously improved somewhat.
He was practically an immortal cockroach!
Black Zetsu felt as if the sky itself had fallen.
And the man clung to Madara's side every day, making it impossible to subtly sway him.
Black Zetsu wished more than anything that Hashirama would just die already!
Hashirama's existence was nothing less than a massive variable in its plan.
It seemed it would need to find a way to send him to the Pure Land sooner rather than later.
And then there was that chef the two of them kept mentioning!
What kind of cooking could it be, that the two of them never stopped talking about it?
If that chef's cooking really was so incredible, once it resurrected its mother, perhaps it could make him her personal cook.
After being sealed on the moon for thousands of years, Mother could surely use some good food to ease her boredom.
As her child, Black Zetsu naturally had to consider her needs.
The only problem was—it didn't even know what that chef looked like.
"They say he's from the Senju clan…"
Black Zetsu muttered softly, then sank back into the earth, swiftly moving toward Konoha.
It had to see for itself whether that Senju chef really lived up to the rumors.
...
"Renya-san, we came to see you!"
At Senju Tobirama's residence, Renya was leisurely basking in the sun in the courtyard when Tsunade came rushing in like a whirlwind, with Jiraiya and Orochimaru trailing behind her.
"Little Tsunade, what brings you here?"
"Renya-san, look at this!" Tsunade proudly pulled a test paper from her bag.
"Let me guess—you need a parent's signature, but your grades were bad and you didn't dare show Mito-san, so you came to me instead?"
Renya chuckled as he took the paper, curious to see just how poor her score was this time.
But when his eyes fell on the bright red '100' written on it, he froze on the spot.
One hundred points? How was that possible?!
"Heehee, Renya-san, I got a perfect score on today's exam!"
Renya stared blankly at the smug Tsunade, his eyes filled with complicated emotions.
After a long silence, he said sternly, "Tsunade, did you cheat, you little kid?!"
He simply couldn't bring himself to believe that Tsunade could score full marks on an exam.
Either she had cheated… or the test had been too easy.
Tsunade: "???"
Jiraiya and Orochimaru: "???"
"Would anyone even need to cheat to get a perfect score on a theory exam?" Jiraiya muttered.
Even though he was bad at theory, he had still managed to score sixty points this time.
Hearing that, Renya immediately suspected that the test questions had been too simple.
"Let me take a look at the questions first."
With a critical eye, he examined the test, resting his chin on his hand in thought.
"Now this question is interesting…"
"Orochimaru, which one is Renya-sama talking about?" Jiraiya whispered.
"Looks like… the first question," Orochimaru said, the corner of his mouth twitching.
At last, he understood who that legendary senior the school always talked about was.
"Wasn't the first question just a freebie—mmph!"
Before Jiraiya could finish, Orochimaru clamped a hand over his mouth.
"Shh—"
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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