After speaking with the Sage of Six Paths, Uchiha Gen had almost finished laying out his demands.
He had many points, but only two truly mattered.
First: place a seal on the Hidden Cloud Village's upper leadership. It would be removed after the unification, but until then, it ensured they couldn't act out of desperation.
Second: the Hidden Cloud leadership must obey all directives issued by Konoha's upper ranks. Anyone who disobeyed would bring punishment not only upon themselves, but also their families and the entire Hidden Cloud Village.
Once the Hidden Cloud leaders were restrained, the village itself would fall under complete control. From the public stance of the officials to the private leverage over their families, both sides of the village's power structure would be in Konoha's hands.
With that, the situation was essentially settled. The Hidden Cloud Village could be steered however they wished.
Gen's terms were harsh, but Hidden Cloud had no room to negotiate. They could only accept.
After finishing the arrangements, Gen's group enjoyed a lavish meal in the village, then divided into three teams.
One stayed behind to handle the aftermath.
One headed toward the Hidden Mist Village.
The last group set off toward Iwagakure.
Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, the One-Tails jinchuriki, the Two-Tails jinchuriki, the Six-Tails jinchuriki, and the Seven-Tails jinchuriki went to the Hidden Mist Village with Kyouki escorting.
Uchiha Gen, Uchiha Madara, Uzumaki Kushina, the Four-Tails jinchuriki, the Fourth Raikage, and Killer Bee headed toward Iwagakure.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sannin, Pakura, Kakashi, Shisui, and the others remained in Hidden Cloud for the time being.
At three in the afternoon, Gen's group arrived above Iwagakure in the Land of Earth.
This time, Gen wasn't the one leading the charge. The one stepping forward was Uchiha Madara himself—who had once called Onoki "kid."
Before the rest of the group even landed, Madara dropped from the sky like a meteor. His voice echoed with impatient arrogance.
"Onoki, you brat, get out here and face me!"
BOOM
Madara hit the ground and created a wide crater. Dust exploded upward in a brown cloud.
Hearing such blatant arrogance at the village gate, the Hidden Stone guards were enraged. They rushed forward at once.
The leading chunin barked, "Who dares act so wildly in Iwagakure?!"
After years of relative peace, the villages' vigilance had grown lax.
Madara stepped out of the dust with his arms crossed and didn't spare the chunin so much as a word. A single sweep of his three-tomoe Sharingan trapped all of them in genjutsu.
Gen and the others landed. With a thought, Gen instructed Roshi, the Four-Tails jinchuriki, to enter full transformation. Roshi erupted into the form of Son Goku, the Four-Tails.
Son Goku tilted his head and gathered Yin and Yang chakra into the air above him. In an instant, a two-meter purple Tailed Beast Ball formed.
He launched it like a cannon shot. It arced upward across the sky.
Inside Iwagakure, Onoki was flying low when he noticed it. His expression changed immediately. He fired Dust Release, and a column of brilliant white light shot straight into the path of the Tailed Beast Ball.
The two forces collided and vanished.
"Has Roshi lost his mind?"
"Or has the Four-Tails escaped its seal?"
Seeing the Tailed Beast standing at the village entrance, Onoki swore under his breath.
As for Madara's voice… he didn't immediately place it.
Even though Madara had left a deep mark on him, Onoki was someone who preferred certain memories stay buried.
The sudden appearance of the Four-Tails threw the entire village into chaos. High-level officials and elite fighters rushed toward the entrance.
They weren't slow. Within moments, Onoki arrived. Kitsuchi, Kurotsuchi, Han the Five-Tails jinchuriki, and several other high-ranking shinobi were close behind.
Hovering low, Onoki caught sight of Gen and the others all at once. His face tightened. His heart sank.
They were clearly here with bad intentions. This was going to be trouble.
"Onoki, you brat, you're slow."
"If you were any slower, I wouldn't have been able to hold myself back."
Onoki said solemnly, "Uchiha Madara… weren't you dead?"
Madara grinned. "I was. A guy named Orochimaru brought me back."
Damn Orochimaru.
Of all the people to resurrect, why him?
Onoki cursed endlessly inside.
Gen stepped forward. "Alright. Let's speak plainly."
"Lord Tsuchikage, we're here for one reason. Iwagakure will surrender to Konoha."
More officials arrived just in time to hear that.
Kurotsuchi immediately exploded. "Why should we surrender?!"
Gen smiled calmly. "A reasonable question."
"First: Hidden Sand has already agreed to join Konoha."
"Second: Hidden Cloud has surrendered."
"Third: Hidden Mist is currently surrendering."
"Orochimaru didn't just resurrect Madara. He also resurrected the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama."
"And the group headed for Hidden Mist includes the One-Tails, Two-Tails, Six-Tails, Seven-Tails, and Eight-Tails jinchuriki."
"As for our lineup here… do you really think Iwagakure is capable of resisting under these conditions?"
Kurotsuchi, Onoki, and the others were stunned. The village entrance fell silent except for the wind.
After a moment, Kurotsuchi forced out, "Who knows if any of that is even true…"
Gen raised an eyebrow. "If you doubt it, feel free to gamble."
"But the treatment for voluntary surrender and forced surrender are very different."
Onoki turned to the Fourth Raikage and Madara. "Lord Raikage, Lord Madara… is everything Hokage-sama said true?"
Compared to Gen's words, Onoki trusted the Raikage and Madara more. The Raikage had no reason to lie. And Madara, someone that arrogant wouldn't bother.
The Raikage sighed. "Old man Onoki, I'd love to tell you it's false… but it's all true."
"Hidden Cloud is already under Konoha's control."
"We're in the same situation. Don't resist. You'll only destroy yourselves."
"Konoha's power can't be fought by one village. Even combining the power of three villages, including their Tailed Beasts, you'd only barely qualify to resist."
"And even then, the chance of losing is around seventy percent."
Madara snorted. "Wrong. Even if three villages combined their strength, you wouldn't stand the slightest chance."
"Before Gen and the others would even need to act, Hashirama and I alone could handle all of you."
Hearing that, the Raikage, Onoki, and the others looked even more grim.
Some hot-tempered stone shinobi almost moved to attack, but calmer companions held them back.
Gen and Kushina exchanged looks as their mouths twitched. This was…
Pure, unfiltered arrogance. The kind that said, "I'm arrogant. What can you do about it?"
But Madara had earned that arrogance.
A fully powered Madara and Hashirama fighting together… even four villages combined would stand no chance. That kind of overwhelming power couldn't be offset by numbers.
Even in their current incomplete states, the two of them could still defeat three villages, though the process would be much more grueling.