After Danzo left, even the air in the heavy rain felt moist and sweet.
Yōkō stood on a tree trunk, using a telescope to look into the distance.
"B" was on the other side of the Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees, also watching the distance warily, as well as Fox.
The place Uchiha Madara chose was extremely remote. The rain here was heavier than in other parts of the Land of Rain. There was no human activity nearby, and no ninja had come this way.
Days passed, and Yōkō and "B" had no communication.
Yōkō knew that "B" had reminded Danzo a few days ago about whether to kill Yōkō to silence him. He was probably the Aburame Ryoma from the original story.
Aburame Ryoma, you'd better not leave Danzo's side.
Traveling from the south of the Land of Rain to Konoha took seven days.
Even if Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi discussed a plan within an hour or two of returning to Konoha and set off immediately, the round trip would still take fourteen days.
On the first day of the month, fourteen days later, a large group of people appeared in the distance.
Yōkō put down his telescope, thinking, Did Uchiha Madara really put that much psychological pressure on Danzo?
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo, and the clan heads of the five major clans – Senju, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Aburame – while the Hyūga clan sent an elder.
The Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyūga clan heads and elders were here for reconnaissance.
Senju Hanaki and Uchiha Kane were the two parties involved.
Each brought two guards, making the team look exceptionally large.
With this level of force, if someone said they were going to attack Amegakure, even Hanzo would shudder.
A super lavish investigation team.
Yōkō looked specifically at Danzo. Danzo's right eye was still bandaged.
It never ends. After tasting the power of the Sharingan, Danzo could no longer resist the temptation.
Being able to resurrect? So sweet.
Danzo had gained too much from Uchiha Kagami.
The group landed around the Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees.
Hiruzen Sarutobi wore combat armor and held the Adamantine Staff in his hand.
A large monkey eye opened on the Adamantine Staff.
"Hiruzen, this is... the First Hokage's Wood Release?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi swung the staff, using some force, and shattered the coiled and twisted tree trunk. He said, "This level of strength is indeed Wood Release."
Everyone else looked at Senju Hanaki. Seeing the Wood Release with his own eyes, Senju Hanaki was confused and bewildered:
"Advisor Danzo said Uchiha Madara used Wood Release? It wasn't some Senju ninja awakening the Kekkei Genkai on the battlefield?"
For Senju Hanaki and Uchiha Kane, this intelligence was too outrageous, to the point it didn't seem fake.
Danzo had no need to fabricate such an unbelievable lie about this matter.
No one else commented. The Senju clan hadn't produced a Wood Release Kekkei Genkai user for decades. Aside from Nawaki, there hadn't been any exceptionally talented geniuses heard of in the Senju clan in recent years.
The members of the Yamanaka, Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyūga, and other ninja clans immediately began reconnaissance, gathering intelligence from the area.
Yōkō and "B" landed beside the higher-ups.
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't look at Root's "B" first, but instead looked at the Anbu Fox and asked:
"Fox, what happened? Tell me in detail from the beginning."
Yōkō estimated Danzo had already explained it once, so he briefly recounted how they encountered the three Konoha ninja controlled by Madara, and how they were controlled by genjutsu to kill each other.
Yōkō blamed the squad's internal strife entirely on Uchiha Madara.
Then he escaped, encountered Danzo, and Danzo brought him back, where they encountered Uchiha Madara.
Uchiha Madara controlled three Konoha ninja and fought against Kato Dan's trio. Danzo brought him, "B", and "C" to assist.
Kato Dan's trio and "C" all died in battle.
Inuzuka Clan Head Inuzuka Kari found seven bodies within the Wood Release area.
Yōkō proactively led the higher-ups to jump onto the Wood Release terrain, came to the several corpses, and pointed them out respectively.
When he pointed out Kato Dan, Senju Hanaki's face instantly turned pale.
Between the gaps in the tree trunks, the lower half of Kato Dan's face was visible.
Having heard stories of his father dominating the ninja world with Wood Release, and now seeing one of his clan's most important younger members dead here, Senju Hanaki's heart bled.
Kato Dan was not only Tsunade's lover but also the head of the Kato clan, a minor ninja clan affiliated with the Senju.
His death was a massive blow to the current Senju clan.
Yamanaka Clan Head Yamanaka Kai said, "The heads of several corpses have been crushed by the Wood Release. No intelligence can be gained from the brains of the corpses."
Yōkō stood on a tree trunk; in the gap beneath his feet was Kato Dan's crushed, severed hand.
It was a gruesome sight. Even if Senju Hanaki had two hundred meters of surgical thread, he couldn't stitch together half a Kato Dan.
After Senju Hanaki had completely despaired and raised no objections, Yōkō spoke again: "Hokage-sama, please follow me to the cave where Uchiha Madara once hid. There is important intelligence inside."
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately said: "Let's go!"
As they approached the cave, even Hiruzen Sarutobi slowed his pace.
Uchiha Madara had left a deep impression on the young Hiruzen Sarutobi and others back in the day.
Never mind Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others; even Tobirama Senju wouldn't last long against peak Uchiha Madara.
The group entered the cave.
The cave dug downwards, hollowing out a tall, large cavern beneath the mountain.
In the center of the cave was a stone chair atop steps.
Thick dust covered everything. One could imagine that over countless days and nights, Uchiha Madara sat on that stone chair, leaning on his scythe, motionless.
He was too old, too old to be willing to move.
This world was dull, unworthy of his further attention.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood at the bottom of the steps, looking up at the stone chair, his expression tense, as if Uchiha Madara was still sitting there.
"Hokage-sama... Hokage-sama?"
Yōkō called out twice before Hiruzen Sarutobi snapped back to reality.
Yōkō said: "Hokage-sama, behind the stone chair is a very deep pit. It seems like something gigantic was there once... I can't say for sure, maybe a giant, but I don't know what it was."
At this moment, aside from Senju Hanaki, all the higher-ups' attention was captured by the intelligence about Uchiha Madara.
They followed Yōkō around the stepped stone chair and saw a huge, deep pit behind it.
Yōkō said:
"I used a shadow clone to jump down and look. In the pit is the lower half of a large humanoid creature, with legs, knees, and feet.
Proportionally, there was once a giant over a hundred meters tall here."
Even Danzo's gaze was fixed on the pitch-black, deep pit.
Yōkō's goal was achieved; no one was considering silencing him anymore.
Everyone was puzzled. What was Uchiha Madara planning? What was the giant here? Was it the Wood Human Technique?
Or the Senju Buddha?
Yōkō took out a scroll and handed a drawing of the giant's lower half from the pit to the Third Hokage.
"B" was very surprised beside him. Had Fox been sending shadow clones into the cave these past few days to draw this?
Yōkō thought to himself, Former civil engineering buddy, let me show you my drawing skills.
The Third Hokage looked at the drawing of the giant's lower half and shook his head repeatedly. It was neither the Senju Buddha nor the Wood Human Technique; it looked more like some malnourished, muscularly atrophied giant.
After everyone had digested this information, Yōkō added:
"Hokage-sama, there's an area to the side with a bed made of Wood Release, only big enough for a child to lie on.
I don't know what Uchiha Madara did on that bed."
The crowd swarmed towards the side area.
Yōkō completely relaxed. No one was paying attention to Kato Dan anymore, and Danzo had no intention of silencing him either.
The mysteries surrounding Uchiha Madara were enough for these people to study for a long time.
(End of Chapter)