Chapter 331: The Fourth Great War Begins

At that moment, Natsuro stretched lazily and suddenly said, "Now that we've come this far, how about our uninvited guest? Still not planning to come out?"

The instant those words left his mouth, everyone in the room tensed, except for Natsuro. As the Hokage, he wouldn't say something like that without being certain. Which meant… someone had infiltrated their meeting.

All the other Kage immediately turned to their sensory-type shinobi standing behind them.

Those sensory ninjas tried their best to detect anything unusual, but none of them picked up on anything. They could only shake their heads, confused.

But before anyone could even begin to doubt him—

A large plant-like structure suddenly burst from the center of the conference room, resembling a withered flower bud. It bloomed wide open, revealing a white humanoid figure inside. One half of its body was normal, but the other was stretched and torn unnaturally, as if being forcibly twisted apart.

"Hello~" said White Zetsu cheerfully, waving to everyone.

No one doubted him now. The Kage Guards immediately stepped in front of their respective Kage, though Naruto and Sasuke remained behind Natsuro as calmly as ever.

"Zetsu?" Mei looked at him and recalled Natsuro's earlier intel.

"That's right, though this is just a clone," Natsuro replied casually, staring at Zetsu.

"What are you trying to do?!" Raikage barked, his towering figure brimming with fury even in a simple question.

"What am I trying to do?" White Zetsu tilted his head in thought, then lit up as if he had an idea. "Oh! I just came out because I got exposed. According to the rules of the game, once you're exposed, you pop out!"

He said this with an obnoxiously cheerful tone, completely unfazed by the pressure of being surrounded by five Kage.

"Enough, Zetsu."

Just then, space warped around the host table where Mifune had been seated. Sensing the danger, Mifune and his guards instantly retreated, moving closer to the Kage, where it was safest.

When the distortion faded, a figure appeared in the center of the room. He wore a red swirl-patterned mask and the iconic black cloak with red clouds of the Akatsuki.

It was the masked man, and his Sharingan spun as he looked around at everyone in the room, making his entrance with a powerful presence.

"Although the Hokage already mentioned me, allow me to introduce myself again. I am Madara Uchiha."

Not giving anyone a chance to respond, he continued, "First, I'm here to explain something to you all. And once you understand, I'll be asking the Hokage for a favor."

"What favor?" Natsuro asked, remaining calmly seated at the far end of the room, facing the masked man.

"My plan, the Eye of the Moon Project." The masked man spoke slowly and deliberately.

But just as he finished, a streak of lightning tore through the room with a thunderous boom. Raikage had blitzed forward, his body crackling with lightning. The wall behind the masked man exploded, but the masked man remained unharmed.

"The Akatsuki's plan is always evil! Incomprehensible!" Raikage roared. "Where is Killer Bee?!"

"If you want answers, you'll have to listen to my explanation," the masked man replied mockingly. "Whether I tell you anything at all depends on your response."

"Calm down, Raikage," Ōnoki floated beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's hear him out first. Then we'll decide."

"That was space-time ninjutsu, wasn't it?" Kankurō said aloud, trying to process what he'd just seen. "Raikage's punch went right through his body…"

Everyone was shaken. The intel Natsuro had provided earlier was now being verified in real time.

"So… are you all willing to listen now?" The masked man slowly leapt further back, keeping his distance, especially from Natsuro, the one person here who had defeated the wielder of the Rinnegan.

"To think Madara is still alive… I'm honestly shocked," Ōnoki muttered, still staring at the masked man's form. The Sharingan behind the mask looked real enough. "But someone like him, why use such roundabout methods?"

"With your strength, you could force any plan you wanted."

The masked man paused, then replied, "On one hand, the injuries I sustained during my battle with Hashirama were too severe. I'm not at full power, what you see is just a shell of my former self."

He looked toward Natsuro, who remained calm. "On the other hand… you all have underestimated the strength of this generation's Hokage."

Everyone was stunned. If this really was the legendary Madara Uchiha, and even he praised Natsuro, just how powerful was he?

"Then tell us about this Eye of the Moon plan," Natsuro said indifferently. He didn't care for flattery or hidden threats. He was probably already a thorn in this man's side.

"Heh. Straight to the point as expected. Then allow me to take a seat," the masked man said, casually sitting. "Let me explain slowly…"

He began with the Uchiha clan's secret stone tablet, allegedly left behind by the Sage of Six Paths. Then he recounted how the Sage became the God of Shinobi, by defeating a monstrous being known as the Ten-Tails.

The moment he mentioned the Ten-Tails, the room fell silent in shock. Everyone here had encountered Tailed Beasts before. They knew what that meant.

"The Ten-Tails!?"

"It's the source of all chakra, an entity formed from all nine Tailed Beasts!" the masked man declared with satisfaction, watching their reactions.

Naturally, some questioned this, there were only nine Tailed Beasts.

But the masked man merely replied, "I said it before, the Ten-Tails is the fusion of all nine."

The One-Tails and Gaara. The Two-Tails and Yugito Nii. The Three-Tails and Yagura.

The Four-Tails and Rōshi. The Five-Tails and Han. The Six-Tails and Utakata. The Seven-Tails and Fū. The Eight-Tails and Killer Bee. The Nine-Tails and Naruto.

The masked man listed each Tailed Beast and its Jinchūriki one by one. "From One to Nine, just fragments of the Ten-Tails' chakra, divided by the Sage of Six Paths."

Everyone began to understand. If the Ten-Tails could be split, then surely it could also be recombined. Was this man trying to become the next Sage of Six Paths?

He continued explaining how the Sage sealed the Ten-Tails within himself and became a godlike being. Fearing its power, the Sage split its chakra into nine parts before his death, and sealed its body into the sky, creating the moon.

"That's absurd! No human could do that!" someone protested.

"Once the Sage became the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki, he was no longer human," the masked man answered.

Natsuro barely resisted the urge to scoff.

He didn't need the Ten-Tails to surpass humanity, he was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's son, after all.

Finally, after all the buildup, the masked man revealed his ultimate goal:

Revive the Ten-Tails. Become its Jinchūriki. Amplify his ocular powers. And then…

Cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

He explained the jutsu, by projecting his eyes onto the surface of the moon, he could trap all humans in an eternal illusion, a shared dream world without conflict or suffering.

"Everyone united as one, free from pain. That is the Eye of the Moon Plan!" he declared.

"Don't be ridiculous! The world can't be entrusted to someone like you!" Raikage shouted.

"A false peace has no meaning. Reality is where true meaning lies," Gaara added firmly.

"A dream world has no hope, no future, is just an escape," said Mei coldly.

"You say you'll unify the world, but it sounds more like you're putting it in your pocket," Ōnoki grumbled.

"Well," Natsuro said lazily, "If that's your goal, maybe you should just build yourself a little illusion field somewhere and live your fantasy alone."

"Hmph. That would be fake," the masked man scoffed.

"…Isn't your whole plan fake to begin with?" Natsuro shot back, deadpan.

"If one person alone is caught in a genjutsu, it's fake," the masked man said, spreading his arms wide as if embracing the entire world. "But if everyone is caught in it, then to them, the illusion becomes the true reality! So, hand over the Nine-Tails, Hokage!"

Naruto clenched his fists, glaring at the masked man. If not for Natsuro signaling him to stay still, he would've already launched an attack.

"You really think that's possible?" Natsuro asked in return.

"Why wouldn't it be?" the masked man countered. "The Tailed Beasts were created to maintain balance between the villages. Now, all the other villages have lost theirs, only Konoha still holds the Nine-Tails. I bet the other Kage are hoping you'll hand it over too."

As he said this, both he and Natsuro turned their eyes toward the other four Kage.

"I oppose handing over Naruto," Gaara said immediately, making his stance clear.

None of the others objected, either. Yes, they were a bit sore about being the only ones without a Tailed Beast, but the greater threat now was the sudden appearance of 'Madara Uchiha.' The matter of the Nine-Tails could wait.

"Hmph. Since you refuse to cooperate with me peacefully, then it's war," the masked man declared.

"War?!" Gaara's eyes widened.

"I may not be at full strength, but I have the power of all the Tailed Beasts I've collected. You don't stand a chance," the masked man warned.

"Not so fast. That's not a given," Natsuro said calmly. In truth, Konoha now possessed enough power to end everything, but since things had come this far, he wanted the war to break out. Only through it could he accomplish more.

The masked man was silent. If someone else had said that, he would've scoffed. But coming from Natsuro… he wasn't so sure. That man might really have the strength to back it up.

Ordinary Tailed Beasts were certainly no match for him.

"…Very well," the masked man said at last. "Then I, here and now, formally declare, the start of the Fourth Great Ninja War!"

His voice remained calm, as if simply stating a fact.

But what he had declared… was a war that would engulf the entire world.

Seeing that none of the five Kage responded immediately, the masked man activated his space-time ninjutsu once more. As the space around him twisted, he said:

"Next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield."

With that, his body vanished from the meeting room. Naturally, White Zetsu disappeared alongside him, waving his lone arm and calling out cheerfully, "Bye-bye~~"

"…What now?" Ōnoki finally asked.

"We must form a Shinobi Allied Force," Gaara said firmly. "Only united can we stand against the power of seven Tailed Beasts." He turned to Natsuro and added, "And as I said before, I support Hokage-sama becoming our Supreme Commander."

"I agree," said Mei without hesitation. Ōnoki didn't argue either.

Raikage, his mustache practically twitching from how hard he clenched his jaw, finally turned away and muttered, "…Kumogakure has no objections."

"In that case, I'll take on the role of Supreme Commander of the Shinobi Allied Forces," Natsuro said, finally standing.

He turned to Mifune. "Mifune-dono, will the Land of Iron participate in this war? Though your nation has always remained neutral, this war concerns the safety of the entire world."

Mifune nodded without hesitation. "Of course. The Land of Iron will offer what strength it can to defend the world."

Even if Natsuro hadn't asked, Mifune had planned to volunteer.

"I've already laid out the Akatsuki's remaining known members," Natsuro continued. "If you don't include the Tailed Beasts, our combined strength vastly exceeds theirs."

"But we can't ignore the power of the Tailed Beasts," Mei said, frowning. "Each one is a walking natural disaster."

"They're not that terrifying," Natsuro said. "What's dangerous is the enemy extracting and concentrating all that power. Even without the Nine-Tails, if they fuse the others into a single vessel, it could be catastrophic."

Everyone fell silent. That scenario… was all too plausible. One Tailed Beast was already terrifying, what kind of monster would someone become with all of them combined?

Frankly, even imagining it was difficult.

"But you don't need to worry too much," Natsuro said. "If it were so easy to fuse them, he wouldn't have come here to declare war. His actions prove he still has things to fear."

"…Still, he must have some kind of trump card," Gaara said. "Otherwise he wouldn't be so confident about starting a war alone."

"There's still one issue," Mei added. "The last remaining Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails. Should we protect him, or let him fight? I think we should keep him safe. He's the target."

"I agree," Gaara said. "All of this might be a scheme to force us to bring him to the battlefield, where they can capture him."

"But the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki is a powerful asset," Ōnoki countered. "If we keep him in the rear and we lose, wouldn't that make it meaningless? Better to use him from the start."

"I don't want to be protected in the rear!" Naruto finally shouted.

"There's nothing to discuss here," Natsuro said. "I trust Naruto's strength, and I have the power to protect him."

"At the very least, until something happens to me, he will never fall into enemy hands. And frankly, if something does happen to me, hiding him in the rear won't help anyone."

"Exactly! And I don't need protecting!" Naruto added, pumping his fist.

Gaara and Mei exchanged a glance, then nodded. They remembered the masked man's words earlier… how they'd underestimated the Hokage's power. Clearly, Natsuro was confident for a reason.

And besides, they all knew he could use Flying Thunder God. There was no way the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki didn't have a seal on him.

If Naruto truly ended up in danger, Natsuro could teleport to him instantly, and hide him then.

Most importantly, if anyone stood to lose the most, it was Konoha.

And if they weren't worried… the others had no right to argue.

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Currently on Chapter 386 - Attaining a Kekkei Mōra