The meeting room was filled with heated arguments that gradually escalated into a full-blown quarrel.
Once renowned as the "Flower of Sunagakure," the "Thorned Rose of the Gale," and one of the top ten hottest women in Sunagakure's "Hundred Beauties" list, Chiyo was no ordinary woman.
Although her husband had passed away at a young age, Chiyo, now in her early forties and in the throes of menopause, seemed to have gained even more vigor. Her prowess in arguments and debates had reached unparalleled heights.
Such a woman could only exist in the ninja world. In today's society, she wouldn't just be a corporate elite— even a water cooler would tremble at her presence.
With a loud slap on the table, Chiyo stood up abruptly, her still-elegant face flushed with anger.
"You idiots! Do you even understand what war is for?
War is for us! For the development of our village!
You keep saying Iwagakure isn't cooperating. Do you think I care about their cooperation?
They lost the Four-Tails, and now they're being completely dominated by that muscle-bound Raikage!
Even during the iron ore incident, while we had the Third Kazekage holding the line, both the Raikage and Hokage made huge profits.
And yet that old fossil from Iwagakure lost so badly he couldn't even recognize his own reflection! And he still has the nerve to talk about being 'Two-Day Scales'?"
As Chiyo spat out her biting words, even the Third Kazekage and others present subtly shrank back in their seats.
This woman, once young, beautiful, and graceful, had somehow become a sharp-tongued, middle-aged force of nature!
Taking a deep breath, Chiyo was about to continue her tirade when her timid younger brother, Ebizo, tugged at her sleeve and softly pleaded, "Sister, please, let's tone it down. Everyone here is working for the good of the village."
Hearing this, Chiyo let out a heavy snort and said irritably, "The battlefield must be in the Land of Rain. If Ōnoki doesn't agree, then let everyone keep holding back and watch Konoha grow stronger!
Anyway, we've already dug a canal in the Land of Rain. Though there's not much water, it's enough to significantly improve our basic living conditions.
If worse comes to worst, we can just ask the Daimyo to invite the Daimyo of the Land of Rain over and dig a few more rivers.
And besides, there's this kid named Rasa in the village lately who can use Magnet Release to mine gold. We're not in the most desperate situation here!
And don't you all understand how important logistics are to war?
Without explosive tags, ninja tools, or materials to repair puppets, are we supposed to fight with nothing but our bodies against steel?"
Hearing this, many people lowered their heads in silence.
Of course they understood this logic.
But setting the battlefield in the Land of Rain—wasn't that a bit too much?
Fighting in water was a completely different matter. If someone became exhausted, they couldn't just find a corner to rest like in mountain or jungle warfare.
And that wasn't even the worst part. The most disgusting thing was the rumor that the leader of Amegakure kept a giant salamander in the lake—one with a notoriously bad digestive system that often caused it to have diarrhea.
Ugh.
No wonder villagers had been complaining lately that the river water tasted oddly salty.
In the end, under the banner of the greater good, the higher-ups of Sunagakure chose to compromise. The village's offensive direction was set toward the Land of Rain, and they would demand Iwagakure's cooperation.
While the Land of Wind grappled with the absurd idea of building ships in the desert, far away in the Land of Iron, Madara Uchiha was dealing with his own headache.
Ever since his encounter with Rinjin a few days ago, Madara had been plagued with frustration.
After the battle, having lost a significant number of White Zetsu, Madara returned to the Graveyard of Mountains, only to find a note waiting for him at his resting spot.
The note read:
"The moon winks at me, the Ten-Tails sings for me;
I am a little fairy hanging on a tree, dreaming away~"
At the bottom of the note were two little hands drawn clasped together and a big smiling face.
...
If it had been anyone else, they might not have thought much of it. But for Madara Uchiha, the moment he saw the note, cold sweat broke out across his back.
There was no doubt—this was the work of that "immortal brat"!
What did he want?
What did the clasped hands mean?
Did he want to arm-wrestle me? Test our grip strength?
And what about the smiley face?
Was it mockery? Did he think I, Madara Uchiha, couldn't handle him?!
Ridiculous!
I've already fused with Hashirama! With the full power of my bond with my best friend, who could possibly defeat me now?!
Fuming with anger, Madara's thoughts spiraled further.
What infuriated him even more was Rinjin's relentless harassment.
Not only had that brat stolen White Zetsu, but he also abused his seemingly limitless chakra to leave Flying Thunder God marks everywhere.
Even though Madara had ordered the White Zetsu to thoroughly inspect every corner of the base, Rinjin's shadow clones still kept appearing through the Flying Thunder God Technique.
And these clones did nothing but wander around, leaving marks everywhere.
Even the damn Gedo Statue had been touched so much it now had a glossy sheen!
Not far away, the White Zetsu were shouting excitedly. One boasted about finding a Flying Thunder God mark in the Gedo Statue's toes, while another smugly showed off a mark on its backside labeled "Go Anywhere, Anytime."
Seeing this, Madara wanted nothing more than to hang Rinjin from a tree and whip him a hundred times!
A virus!
That brat was nothing short of a virus!
The immediate priority was to locate the source of this virus and eliminate it!
Then, the White Zetsu could clear the marks off the Gedo Statue, and the base could be relocated to a safer place.
Letting out a cold snort, Madara turned and walked out of the Graveyard of Mountains.
He had come to fully appreciate how infuriating the Flying Thunder God Technique could be.
One could only imagine that the creator of the technique, Tobirama Senju, never anticipated his serious space-time ninjutsu being misused in such a maddening way by such an unserious individual.
Was this a children's game? Poke here, poke there—what nonsense!
As the mountain breeze caressed his face, Madara's thoughts drifted to his earlier encounter with the reanimated Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hōzuki.
Madara, well-versed in Konoha's forbidden techniques, recognized that the Impure World Reincarnation was clearly a jutsu recorded in Hashirama's Scroll of Seals.
Yet another creation of that scoundrel Tobirama Senju.
Given that Rinjin had been dispatched to Kumogakure as an undercover agent, it made sense for him to have infiltrated Kirigakure as well.
At that moment, Madara recalled intelligence from Black and White Zetsu:
The reanimated Gengetsu Hōzuki often hung around with a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen named Watermelon Tuna.
It seemed likely that this "Watermelon Tuna" was Rinjin in disguise!
A wicked smile slowly spread across Madara's face as he murmured:
"Little brat, let's see how you handle me, Madara Uchiha, playing along with your games!"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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