The vast Uchiha clan grounds lay completely deserted. Whether it was because of lingering grudges or something else, the faint chirping of birds could still be heard, weak and distant.
The wind here carried a colder edge than anywhere else.
All the Sharingan they had managed to collect were placed before the shrine altar, so many that they covered the floor entirely.
One crimson eye after another lay there, an unsettling sight.
Itachi Uchiha opened his mission scroll.
Compared to the scrolls belonging to young Naruto and young Obito, theirs contained pitifully few tasks, only a scattered handful at most.
"Mission Rank: SSS"
"Mission Content: Recover all stray Sharingan eyes."
Itachi Uchiha frowned slightly.
They had already placed every Sharingan they could find here. So why hadn't the mission been marked as complete?
"Just as I suspected."
Minato Namikaze stood slightly behind him, letting out a quiet sigh.
Itachi looked puzzled. "Fourth Hokage-sama?"
Minato Namikaze studied the contents of the scroll. "Recover all stray Sharingan eyes."
"It seems we'll have to bring Obito, Kakashi, and Nagato here as well."
At those words, Itachi immediately understood.
"Stray"…
That naturally included the Sharingan held by Obito Uchiha, the one manipulating Akatsuki from the shadows; the eye transplanted into Kakashi, an outsider; and Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan now embedded in Nagato's eye sockets.
Perhaps even Indra, the ancient progenitor, would have to be counted.
Seeing the difficulty written on Itachi's face, the Fourth Hokage reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Wait here. I'll go bring them."
As he spoke, he handed a Flying Thunder God kunai to Itachi Uchiha.
"Fourth Hokage-sama…"
"Hm?"
"Please bring Sasuke as well."
Minato Namikaze asked knowingly, "You're not hiding it from him anymore?"
"…Mm." Itachi's response was as restrained as ever.
The life he had lived within the illusion had shown him that perhaps, back then, he too had another path he could have chosen.
Minato Namikaze patted his shoulder once more, said nothing else, and vanished into the shrine within the Uchiha clan grounds.
...
No matter what method Minato Namikaze used, he ultimately managed to gather everyone here.
Young Obito, young Sasuke, adult Obito, adult Kakashi, Pain (since Nagato's mobility was limited, Pain came in his place), as well as Indra and the Ōtsutsuki Obito from another world.
Everyone who possessed the Sharingan had assembled in this one place.
Seeing the memorial tablets of his parents enshrined inside the shrine, along with the Sharingan covering the floor, Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan flared open in an instant, even though Minato Namikaze had warned him in advance.
Indra reacted the same way.
No matter how much one claimed not to care, seeing so many memorial tablets and so many eyes identical to one's own inevitably made the heart uneasy.
Just as Minato Namikaze had anticipated.
When all of these people, or rather, all of their eyes, were gathered here, Itachi Uchiha opened his mission scroll. Behind the SSS-rank mission, a completion seal had appeared.
"Mission Rank: SSS"
"Mission Content: Recover all stray Sharingan eyes."
[Mission Status: Completed.]
All the Sharingan placed inside the shrine were sealed using fūinjutsu. The golden chains were the Uzumaki clan's Kekkei Genkai sealing technique.
Each Sharingan, together with the container it was stored in, was firmly locked to the ground.
Before the others could even understand what this meant, Minato Namikaze sensed that something was wrong with Pain.
A dark blue chakra that did not belong to him began to appear around his eyes.
The moment that chakra was sensed, the First Hokage and the Second Hokage, who were staying far away at Kakashi's old residence, both changed expressions almost instantly.
Tobirama Senju placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to bring him to the Uchiha clan grounds. The two then used the Body Flicker Technique to arrive inside the shrine where everyone else was gathered.
By the time the two Hokage arrived, the chakra around Pain's eyes had already detached on its own and fallen among the crowd.
As the dark blue chakra landed on the ground, everyone instinctively stepped back, surrounding it.
Like the flames of Amaterasu, the dark blue chakra burned without going out.
After several seconds, the chakra slowly burned into the shape of a human figure.
Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju both wore extremely grim expressions.
Itachi frowned slightly, while adult Obito instinctively tensed his entire body.
Because that scorching, overbearing dark blue chakra belonged to the legendary ninja who had been active during the Warring States era…
Madara Uchiha!
"This isn't Edo Tensei. He's been truly revived?!"
Staring at the Madara Uchiha before him, Tobirama Senju exclaimed in shock.
Hearing Tobirama's voice, Madara Uchiha, still lost in the haze of revival, sharply furrowed his brows and snapped his eyes open.
He saw Hashirama Senju, Tobirama Senju, and then the grown Obito Uchiha.
Madara Uchiha's voice was filled with displeasure.
"Explain this to me, Obito. What exactly is going on?"
He couldn't understand it. Reviving him was supposed to be a mission reserved for Obito and Nagato.
So why wasn't he the only one brought back?
He had never planned to revive Hashirama and Tobirama, let alone have them revived before him. That alone made him deeply unhappy.
And then…
Looking at the orange-haired man across from him, the Rinnegan in his eye sockets were unmistakably his own eyes. But where was Nagato?
Where had Nagato gone?
What confused him most of all was that, aside from the grown Obito, he also saw a young Obito standing beside young Kakashi.
Neither of them had scars on their faces. Clearly, they had never experienced the setback of the Kannabi Bridge mission.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Everything made Madara Uchiha keenly aware of an enormous gap in information, leaving him in an extremely disadvantageous position.
"Give me an explanation, Obito." Madara Uchiha's voice was laced with unmistakable menace. "Where is Black Zetsu?"
Black Zetsu was something he had left behind to keep Obito under watch.
For Obito to act so decisively on his own could only mean one thing: Black Zetsu had lost control over him.
When Black Zetsu was mentioned, everyone present realized they still hadn't asked the Ōtsutsuki Obito how things were on that side.
Madara Uchiha noticed that the moment he finished asking, everyone's gaze shifted to a single person.
A man wearing a Konoha ANBU uniform, with short white buzz-cut hair and a black cat mask.
"Black Zetsu?"
Ōtsutsuki Obito spoke up.
Because Madara Uchiha had never heard Obito's voice after he grew up, he naturally failed to recognize the true identity of the ANBU agent from his voice alone.
Ōtsutsuki Obito said, "Black Zetsu is probably being all clingy and acting cute with his mom right now. Why, something wrong?"
After all, Naruto still had an A-rank mission to help Black Zetsu reconcile with his brothers.
When the topic turned to missions on the scroll, Hashirama Senju raised a hand to stop Madara Uchiha, who was about to keep pressing the issue, clearly confused about what nonsense the ANBU was spouting.
"Hold on, Madara."
Being pressed down by Hashirama like that twisted Madara Uchiha's expression in irritation.
Hashirama added calmly, "I have a few questions I need to ask your younger clan members first."
Then he turned to Itachi Uchiha.
"What's going on here? Why did Madara suddenly revive?" Although he was genuinely happy about the revival, the situation in front of him was still far too shocking.
Minato Namikaze answered on Itachi Uchiha's behalf. "It seems to be a reward from the mission scroll."
Even he found it hard to believe. His instincts told him that an SSS-rank mission shouldn't be limited to reviving just one person.
At that moment, Itachi Uchiha raised his hand and passed the object he was holding to Minato Namikaze and the First and Second Hokage for inspection.
"It seems to be the mission reward obtained after completing the SSS-rank mission."
"This is…"
Obito leaned in, staring at the object in Itachi's palm, where a needle swayed slightly.
"A watch? But it doesn't look like one."
"It's a compass," Minato Namikaze said. "And it seems to be incomplete."
So this was the reward for an SSS-rank mission?
Then what did it have to do with reviving Madara Uchiha?
And all the Sharingan sealed on the ground made the whole situation even harder to make sense of.
Madara Uchiha, who had been brought here without understanding anything, had originally thought he would be revived on a battlefield against the entire shinobi world.
At last, he could no longer hold back.
Dark blue chakra surged, faintly taking the shape of a Susanoo.
"I already said it. Give me an explanation."
Oh…
How should this be put? Should someone just tell Madara that he had been deceived from beginning to end, completely toyed with by Black Zetsu?
Thinking of that, Hashirama felt a twinge of sympathy.
Adult Obito, however, clearly didn't share that sentiment.
He let out a cold snort. I should feel sorry for him? Then who the hell is supposed to feel sorry for me?!
He continued coolly, "Tell me this first. What made you believe Black Zetsu was your own will?"
That question left Madara Uchiha momentarily stunned.
Black Zetsu had indeed appeared when he awakened the Rinnegan. There was no doubt about that.
But Madara Uchiha was never a man who accepted being put on the back foot. His pitch-black eyes fixed steadily on adult Obito.
"I'm the one asking questions now. Understand?"
His chakra caused the Uchiha shrine to tremble violently. Tobirama spoke up to stop him, but Madara Uchiha had never listened to Tobirama.
But one thing should not be forgotten.
Besides these few people, there were two others here who absolutely would not indulge Madara Uchiha in the slightest.