So even if Ōnoki didn't want to accept it, he still forced himself to acknowledge the intelligence immediately. This was no time for jokes.
If Fujisaki's report was true, then their forces still stationed in the Land of Rain were in real danger.
Right now, Iwagakure had already pushed Konoha to the brink. If they seized the chance and launched a pincer attack together with Amegakure, they could inflict massive casualties on Konoha.
Ōnoki also hadn't forgotten that although Arata was an orphan with no relatives, he had recently taken a beautiful wife—none other than Tsunade.
In the past, Ōnoki had assumed Arata was just a pretty boy living off a rich and powerful woman.
After all, Tsunade was one of Konoha's top fighters, close to Kage level in strength, and backed by the Senju lineage. It was natural to think that way.
But now it seemed Tsunade was the one who had struck gold.
Her current situation, however, wasn't good. According to Ōnoki's intel, Tsunade and her two teammates were being entangled by the peak-Kage-level Hanzō of the Salamander.
Though Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru were talented, they were still young and far from their peak. Facing Hanzo now was simply too early.
Ōnoki guessed the three would likely fall into a disadvantage—or even be killed by Hanzo.
If that happened, as Tsunade's husband, Arata would almost certainly rush to the front lines to support her. And once a peak Super-Kage monster arrived, everyone else would just be fodder.
Even a joint force of the Lands of Earth, Wind, and Rain might not be enough to handle Arata alone.
Ōnoki firmly believed this. He had personally witnessed the might of peak Super-Kage fighters in his youth.
While he was deep in thought, Fujisaki spoke:
"If I'm not mistaken, both fighters reached the peak of Super-Kage. Even from dozens of kilometers away, I could feel the aftershocks. A Kage-level shinobi would die instantly in that kind of battle!"
Even though they had somewhat accepted the idea, hearing that even Kage-level fighters could die instantly left the Iwagakure shinobi speechless.
Seeing that everyone now understood how dire things were, Ōnoki said:
"Now you understand the purpose of this meeting, right? At this point, whether we can eliminate those few from Amegakure or Konoha doesn't matter anymore. The real issue is that Arata will likely come here. How do we deal with him?"
Amegakure only had a handful of forces, and Konoha's reinforcements were limited. On paper, Iwagakure plus Sunagakure still had a chance.
But Arata was like a hammer striking their hearts. A peak Super-Kage monster wasn't something numbers could overcome.
To even contend with such a being might require a ninja alliance nearing a hundred thousand.
Hearing Ōnoki's words, no one objected anymore. Earlier they had wondered why he ignored such a good ambush opportunity to hold a strategy meeting instead.
Now they understood—compared to Arata, small local victories meant nothing.
This had already been proven countless times in the era when Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama were alive.
Back then, even if multiple nations allied against the Land of Fire and won small battles, the moment Hashirama and Madara entered the field, their armies would be crushed.
Fujisaki continued:
"I can't describe the full battle, but I'm certain Arata won. His opponent likely controlled the Nine-Tails and fired dozens of extremely powerful Tailed Beast Bombs."
They had already been shocked by Arata's strength, but now it seemed he wasn't just peak Super-Kage—he was a top-tier monster even among that level.
After all, if his opponent could control the Nine-Tails, that inevitably reminded everyone of Madara, who once did the same.
In this era, nations had begun mastering Tailed Beasts, but none had enabled their jinchūriki to fully transform yet.
Only Uzumaki Mito could barely manage it, but since she rarely acted, few knew.
Aside from her, the one universally recognized as fully wielding a Tailed Beast's power was Madara—he had treated the complete Nine-Tails like a pet.
Ōnoki then asked:
"Is there any way to confirm that mysterious person's identity? Was it really Uchiha Madara?"
Everyone was stunned. Was Ōnoki crazy?
Konoha had never hidden Madara's death. They had even publicized it as an honor across the shinobi world.
All Earth-country ninja knew that the once-invincible Madara had been killed by Hashirama after the Valley of the End.
How could a dead man fight Arata now?
Ōnoki didn't want to think in that direction either, but the mysterious figure's actions were too similar to Madara's.
Leaving aside the terrifying combat power, just the ability to control the Nine-Tails matched Madara perfectly.
Though rumors said the Sharingan could control Tailed Beasts, in all these years Ōnoki had never heard of any Uchiha besides Madara actually doing it.
Even the current Uchiha clan head, the capable Uchiha Tsuki, couldn't.
So Ōnoki had to wonder: could it really be Madara?
When Madara was first reported dead, Ōnoki hadn't believed it either. He simply couldn't imagine such a terrifying man dying so easily.
He had never seen the corpse himself. Everything relied on Konoha's word. Who knew if Konoha had only defeated Madara and exaggerated the achievement?
After all, Ōnoki himself had done similar things before—and he knew Hiruzen well.
Because of that, he still harbored some doubts about Madara's death.