Naruto: I'm in Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 324 White Zetsu: Lord Madara, something terrible has happened!

Hanzo of the Salamander, once regarded as the guardian deity of the Land of Rain and hailed as a "demigod of the ninja world," couldn't even withstand a single move from his opponent. He was easily kicked away like trash, his fate unknown.

This incredibly impactful scene, like a tsunami, instantly shattered the dam of "awe" in the hearts of all the Rain Village ninjas and Akatsuki members who witnessed it.

Their long-held beliefs and their adoration of Hanzo seemed so ridiculous and fragile at this moment.

The culprit who caused all of this has now landed safely on the ground.

Cixian arrogantly surveyed the Amegakure members around him, who were in shock and panic because their leader had been instantly defeated. His eyes were indifferent, as if he were looking down at a group of panicked ants.

The members of the Rain Shadow Anbu who were swept by his gaze felt a chill run from the soles of their feet to the top of their heads, and their foreheads instantly broke out in a fine sweat. Their hands, which were gripping their weapons, trembled involuntarily.

That wasn't the look a human should have; it was devoid of any emotion, like looking at a pack of wild dogs.

However, loyalty and duty ultimately prevailed over fear.

"Avenge Lord Hanzo! Kill him!" The Dark Squad leader suppressed his horror and issued the desperate order in a hoarse voice!

"Water escape·Water chaos!"

"Water Release·Water Fang Blade!"

"Wind Release: Wind Cut Technique!"

Earth Release: Earth Stone Dragon!

The dozen or so surviving Amegakure ANBU ninjas, suppressing their fear, formed hand seals and unleashed their strongest ninjutsu with all their might!

In an instant, surging water, sharp water blades, invisible wind blades, roaring earth dragons... all kinds of attacks bombarded Cixian, who stood still in place, from all directions!

The light of chakra intertwined, creating a powerful force that seemed to engulf him completely.

However, faced with this dense barrage of ninjutsu, Jigen's figure suddenly vanished into thin air just before the attack was about to strike!
All the ninjutsu missed their mark, crashing into each other or blasting into the open ground, causing a series of explosions. Mud and water mixed with gravel flew everywhere, but none of them even touched the hem of Jigen's clothes.

"Gone...disappeared?!"

"Where is it? The sensory class!"

The ANBU were in a panic. Even the ninjas in the team who were skilled in perception were horrified. They had completely lost track of Jigen within their perception range, as if he had never existed.

puff!

The faint sound of a sharp blade piercing through a body was particularly jarring amidst the chaotic aftershocks of the explosion.

A member of the Rain Shadow Anbu suddenly froze. He looked down in disbelief and saw a jet-black rod, like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil, emerge from the ground beneath his feet without warning and pierce his chest precisely!
"Ugh..." He let out a short moan, the light in his eyes quickly dimmed, and his body went limp and collapsed.

"Watch out for the ground!!" Upon seeing this, the other members of the ANBU jumped back in alarm, trying to get away from that area.

But it's all in vain.

Puff puff puff puff——!
In the next instant, countless identical black rods appeared out of thin air in front of, behind, or even suddenly pierced out from the shadows beneath the feet of every Amegakure ANBU ninja!
The speed was beyond their reaction limits!

These black chakra rods, imbued with the power of Yin-Yang Release, ignored their armor and defensive ninjutsu, piercing through their bodies as easily as a hot knife through butter!

Heart, throat, skull...

Every single one of them is a fatal flaw!

The screams stopped abruptly.

In just two or three seconds, the dozen or so elite Rain Shadow members who had been so aggressive were now all dead, nailed to the ground by black iron rods. Blood flowed down the cold iron rods, quickly staining the muddy ground red.

The entire process resembled an efficient yet ruthless mass execution, filled with suffocating despair.

Cixian's figure appeared silently in the center of this death zone.

He didn't even glance at the ANBU members around him who had instantly lost their lives, but simply uttered a few words, filled with utter contempt:

"A bunch of lackeys."

Not far away, Yahiko and the others who witnessed this horrific scene turned deathly pale.

Konan's cool eyes trembled slightly: "How...how did that guy do it? Was it some kind of unknown space-time ninjutsu? Or...some kind of bloodline limit that I've never seen before?"

This method of killing without leaving a trace was unheard of, and it put her under immense pressure.

Nagato's Rinnegan, hidden beneath his red hair, was now fixed intently on the black chakra rods piercing through the corpses.

Unlike others, his Rinnegan can "see" more things.

The power contained in those black rods resonated subtly with the power of his Rinnegan, giving him a sense of enlightenment, yet also making him even more confused.

Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Yahiko turned to look at Vanilla Uzumaki beside him, whose expression was equally grave, and asked in a dry voice, "Vanilla-san! Is this the enemy Menma is looking for?"

Vanilla nodded vigorously, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists, her eyes filled with worry for Menma: "Yes! I... I have never seen Menma-sama with such a serious and solemn expression."

In her mind, Menma had always been strong, composed, and seemingly in complete control. The terror of the enemy at this moment only served to highlight the pressure Menma was facing.

Just then, Jigen's cold gaze passed over the ruins and corpses in the middle and landed on the Akatsuki group, especially lingering for a moment on Uzumaki Vanilla, who had fiery red hair.

He remembered that the red-haired girl seemed to have come with that troublesome, mysterious boy.

A thought flashed through his mind in an instant.

call out--!
The next moment, Jigen appeared among the Akatsuki members!

The speed was so fast that it exceeded the dynamic visual capture capabilities of Yahiko, Konan, Nagato, and even all the Akatsuki members!
They only felt a blur before their eyes, and a suffocating sense of oppression descended upon them!
Jigen's goal is clear: Whirlpool Vanilla!

His hand, covered in black patterns, like an eagle's claw, went straight for Vanilla's shoulder, who seemed to be caught off guard!

The intention was to capture them and use them as leverage or as a tool to extract information!
"Watch out!" Yahiko only had time to utter a single exclamation.

At this critical moment.

call out--!
A jet-black chakra rod, accompanied by a sharp whooshing sound, shot out from afar like a black lightning bolt!

It shot precisely at Cixian's wrist as he grabbed Xiangcao!
Sensing the familiar yet dangerous chakra rods approaching, Jigen frowned slightly and had to abruptly stop his grappling maneuver, flipping his body to avoid the rods' sharp edge.

clang!
The black rod was deeply embedded in the ground between Cixian and Xiangcao, its end still trembling slightly and emitting a low hum.

"Back off!" Yahiko reacted quickly, grabbing the still somewhat dazed Vanilla's arm and leaping backward, while shouting a warning.

Konan, Nagato, Kyusuke, Daibutsu, and the other Akatsuki members reacted instantly. Although they were horrified, their well-trained nature allowed them to scatter in all directions, quickly distancing themselves from the suddenly appearing Jigen and forming a loose encirclement in the open space of the ruins.

They drew their kunai and ninja swords, or assumed hand seals, their backs soaked with cold sweat, their eyes fixed on the death-like figure in the center of the arena, filled with unprecedented vigilance and fear.

The way the enemy killed more than a dozen members of the Rain Shadow Anbu, and the lightning-fast surprise attack just now, made them clearly realize how huge the gap in strength between the two sides was!
They couldn't even catch a glimpse of the opponent's speed!
Jigen stood still, ignoring the Akatsuki members around him who looked like they were facing a formidable enemy.

His attention was completely drawn to the black rod that had interrupted him.

He slowly turned his head, his gaze sharp, toward the direction from which the black rod had been shot.

Yahiko and the others also subconsciously followed his gaze.

In the misty rain, a figure was seen silently hovering in the air atop the ruins of a half-collapsed tower in the distance.

At this moment, the vortex-faced man had somehow shed his black robe with red trim and put on a black outfit that allowed him to move around easily. He wore fingerless black gloves and had conspicuous red strips of cloth wrapped around his forearms.

His short, black, spiky hair looked even more striking in the rain, and a tiny slit was faintly visible on his forehead.

What's most striking about him are his eyes. His left eye is a deep crimson, with a complex and mysterious swirling pattern in the pupil—the Mangekyou Sharingan!
The right eye, on the other hand, has a clear white sclera, a light blue pupil, and slightly protruding surrounding veins, making it a white eye!
"That's... the Byakugan?! And... what kind of eyes are those?" The well-informed Idaten Kyusuke couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, his vertical pupils contracting in shock.

When he was gathering information on various ninja villages, he naturally paid more attention to these famous bloodline limit families. Therefore, he recognized the Byakugan, but had never seen a more advanced evolution of the Sharingan.

Yahiko was also stunned, and subconsciously murmured, "Byakugan? Isn't that the bloodline limit of the Hyuga clan of Konoha? But Menma... isn't he a member of the Uzumaki clan?"

This puzzled him greatly.

Konan, Nagato, Ootori, and other Akatsuki members all turned their bewildered gazes toward Uzumaki Vanilla, hoping to get answers from her. However, Vanilla's entire focus was on Menma in the distance, her hands clasped tightly to her chest, her face filled with worry, completely oblivious to the questions posed by those around her.

At this moment, Jigen slowly opened his palm, and dense black chakra gathered and compressed in his palm, quickly condensing into a black chakra rod that was one and a half meters long, more solid, and exuded an even more dangerous aura.

He held the black rod in his hand like a scepter, pointing it at Menma who was floating in the air, his voice filled with anger:
"You bastard... you really are one of those hidden tricks left behind by that bitch Kaguya Otsutsuki!"

Cixian's gaze was solemn, fixed on Menma, who was suspended in the air.

The opponent's strange combination of eyes—the Mangekyou Sharingan and the Byakugan—along with their skillful use of Yin-Yang Release, completely confirmed his suspicions.

The natives of this planet could never have produced someone with such pure blood that they could activate both of these eye techniques on their own, let alone possess and perfectly utilize both of these powers originating from the Otsutsuki clan.

“As expected…” Jigen’s resentment accumulated over a thousand years intertwined with his fear of the new threat: “Trying to use such a pawn to stop me from reclaiming my chakra fruit? Wishful thinking!”

However, Mianma, who was suspended in the air, did not care about the conclusion that Cixian had made up in his mind.

He tilted his head slightly, sizing up Cixian while his mind raced, contemplating how to cripple Cixian just right.

We can't be too lenient, otherwise we won't be able to provoke this guy who has learned to be cautious and patient; but we also can't be too harsh, in case we scare him away and make him abandon this "weapon" and run away to find another "weapon" to continue hiding in the shadows, then it would be a loss.

The best outcome would be for Jigen to feel sufficiently threatened and humiliated, and in order to regain the advantage, actively absorb the Ten-Tails' chakra and forcibly activate a higher stage of the "Karma" to fight him.

Only in this way could he follow the clues and find the alternate dimension where the Ten-Tails was hidden, by using the Flying Thunder God Technique mark that had been silently left on Jigen during their previous brief encounters.

At that time, Little Nine, who has been craving it for a long time, will have the opportunity to feast and devour the immature Ten-Tails, further increasing its power.

Just as Menma and Jigen were facing off above the ruins of Amegakure, about to clash again, the entire village trembled in fear of this sudden disaster.

Some unseen "eyes" are quietly watching all of this.

In the shadows of the walls that had not yet completely collapsed in Amegakure, in the cracks of the damp ground, and even in the flowing sewage, several strange, pale-faced creatures, like planktonic organisms, silently poked out their "heads" lacking some facial features.

They silently "record" everything that happened in the village, especially the two terrifying clashes of chakra.

After gathering enough information, these white objects quickly retreated underground or into the walls, disappearing without a trace as if they had never existed.

……

In a huge, extremely hidden cave deep underground in the Land of Fire.

The air was cold and damp, with only the enormous and ferocious body of the Outer Path Golem emitting a faint green light, barely illuminating this desolate space.

Seventy-two-year-old Madara Uchiha, with a head of hair as flamboyant as a mad lion but completely white, and a body so thin that he was almost just a skeleton, was sitting slumped on a chair made of black chakra rods extending from the Gedo Mazo.

His eyes were tightly closed, his face was covered with deep wrinkles and age spots, and his breath was weak. He was only barely kept from completely collapsing by the chakra and life force that the Gedo Mazo behind him was constantly supplying through the black rods.

Since faking his death to escape after his duel with Hashirama Senju at the Valley of the End, Madara Uchiha has devoted all his energy to the pursuit of greater power.

He painstakingly studied the piece of flesh he had bitten off Hashirama during the battle at the Valley of the End and transplanted it into his own body.

After decades of integration and exploration, he finally sensed the "power of all things" and opened the eyes of the legendary Sage of Six Paths, the Rinnegan, and successfully summoned this demonic statue.

However, while achieving the pinnacle, the price was also incredibly high.

With the death of Hashirama Senju, the chakra belonging to Indra within him was eager to find a new reincarnation, which accelerated the decay of his already exhausted body.

Now, he possesses a powerful soul and keen eyesight, but his body is nothing more than a wrecked skeleton that can only survive by relying on external objects.

Just then, the ground in front of him rippled slightly, and a strangely shaped creature slowly emerged.

Half of its body was pale white, making it look comical and panicked; the other half was deep black, like a solidified shadow, making it look calm and eerie.

This is the special existence he "created" by fusing the power of the Gedo Mazo with White Zetsu after awakening the Rinnegan; he calls it "Ze".

The white half (White Zetsu) is responsible for reconnaissance and execution, while the black half (Black Zetsu) carries his deeper will and is an important executor of his plans.

Although he was unaware that this black part was the real force behind his fate, a product of Kaguya Otsutsuki's will created before she was sealed away.

"Oh no! Lord Madara!" the White Zetsu shouted in an exaggerated and panicked tone, gesturing wildly, "Amegakure! Two super strange ninjas suddenly appeared from Amegakure and started fighting! They're fighting so fiercely that half of Amegakure has been wiped out! How terrifying!"

Madara Uchiha slowly opened his three-tomoe Sharingan, which, though aged, remained sharp, and a crimson light flashed briefly in the dim cave.

Ignoring the White Zetsu's incessant chatter, he turned his gaze to the silent black half and asked in a hoarse, low voice, "Black Zetsu, is Nagato... in danger?"

What he cared about most was the Rinnegan residing in Nagato's body.

That was the core of his future "resurrection plan," and he could not afford to lose it.

He certainly didn't want his carefully chosen "container" and eyes to be destroyed or taken away by some inexplicably powerful figure.

Black Zetsu's deep, echoing voice rang out: "According to current intelligence, Nagato is temporarily safe. He is with Yahiko and Konan, on the edge of the battlefield. However..."

He paused, his tone becoming serious: "The white spores we implanted in the three of them... have been discovered and completely removed."

"Eliminated?" Madara Uchiha's brows furrowed instantly, a hint of surprise flashing across his aged face.

White Zetsu's spores have an extremely strong ability to lie dormant, perfectly mimicking the host's chakra, making them difficult for ordinary sensory ninjas and even the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan to detect.

It was actually discovered and removed?

Black Zetsu added, his voice growing grave: "According to the intelligence pieced together by the White Zetsu lurking in Amegakure, the two enemies in the battle... are incredibly powerful. One of them instantly defeated Hanzo of the Salamander in a single exchange. The aftershocks of their battle have destroyed nearly half of Amegakure. And... most importantly, both of them can use chakra rods!"

Upon hearing the first part of the news about Hanzo the Salamander being instantly killed, Madara Uchiha merely snorted dismissively in his heart.

The so-called "demigod" who was touted by the ninja world was nothing more than a junior who had gained fame by chance in the chaotic world. He was not even worthy of carrying Hashirama's shoes. The fact that he could be killed instantly proved his opinion.

He estimated that the two enemies were strong enough to last a few moves against him in his prime.

However, upon hearing the words "chakra black rods," Madara Uchiha's three-tomoe Sharingan suddenly contracted, and his body, which had been lazily leaning back in his chair, unconsciously straightened up slightly!
Chakra Black Rod!
That was the Yin-Yang Release technique that he gradually comprehended and mastered after he awakened the Rinnegan!
It is one of the powers used by the legendary Sage of Six Paths!

In the current ninja world, apart from the fact that he can barely be created by relying on the Gedo Mazo to supply chakra, how could anyone else possibly use this power?!

And they're two guys I've never even heard of before?!

Madara Uchiha's wrinkled old face became completely serious.

The ability to use chakra rods means that the opponent is not only powerful, but more importantly, has mastered advanced Yin-Yang Release techniques. Their understanding and application of the nature of chakra is likely to have reached a very high level.

Such an enemy... his strength is probably no less than that of him and Hashirama Senju at their peak during the Valley of the End!
As Madara Uchiha fell into deep thought, weighing this sudden change, Black Zetsu beside him was far from as calm as he appeared.

Heaven knows the turmoil that surged within him when the White Zetsu sent back intelligence mentioning that one of the guys on the battlefield had directly uttered the name "Kaguya Otsutsuki"!

How could my mother's name be mentioned so suddenly? And in such a hurling, abusive way!

What terrified him even more was that when the numerous White Zetsu clones he had sent out tried to approach or sense the man, they collectively responded with an instinctive, indescribable fear and repulsion!
What is White Zetsu?
Those were weapons of war transformed from humans whose chakra was drained by the Divine Tree a thousand years ago; they were creations of Mother!

How could someone have such a strong fear reaction to a "person"?

'Could it be... that guy has some kind of hatred towards my mother? And that boy, does he even know about my mother?' Black Zetsu was created in a very dangerous situation. Kaguya only left behind the message to save her, but didn't leave Black Zetsu with much information about the Otsutsuki clan.

Therefore, when Menma and Jigen appeared, it was the first time that Black Zetsu, the mastermind who had been plotting for a thousand years, felt that things were getting out of control.

Just then, Madara Uchiha, who was deep in thought, suddenly let out a low, hoarse laugh, which carried the arrogant air of the Uchiha who once looked down on the ninja world.

"Hehe...hahaha..."

He smiled, and the same fiery and warlike light as when he was young rekindled in his three-tomoe Sharingan eyes. Although his body had long since decayed, the pride and ambition that belonged to "Uchiha Madara" had never faded.

"It seems that after Hashirama's death, this ninja world... isn't entirely as boring as it seems!"

He raised his head, as if he could see through layers of rock walls to the fierce battlefield in the distant Rain Village, his voice filled with the excitement and anticipation of encountering a worthy opponent:
"I really want to... have a good fight with these two guys!"

[PS: Who is this girl again? What's with the tattoo on her arm?]

(End of this chapter)