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Chapter 400 How could they be so similar?

At first, Ban was a little confused.

Especially when he saw those photos leaked from Sunagakure, showing "him" cleaving the sky with a sword while piloting a deep blue Susanoo and kidnapping Gaara, the sense of bewilderment became even stronger—wait, how can there really be a Susanoo that looks exactly like him? How can they be so similar?

However, Madara quickly realized what was happening:

"I see...it must have been her who did it?"

Although a considerable amount of time has passed, Madara did indeed display his Susanoo in front of the Konoha clans and the First Five Kage. Theoretically, if one could obtain information about the appearance of his Susanoo from people of that era, and also possess the Mangekyou Sharingan, then it was indeed possible to perfectly disguise himself using genjutsu.

The question is, why now?

and……

Is the target still the Jinchūriki of Sunagakure?

"Could it be that she also knows about the Ten-Tails?"

Madara Uchiha, dressed in dark red Sengoku-era armor, sat upright on a stone chair, his brows furrowed and his mind racing.

Not far from him, Payne and Konan stood a short distance apart, facing him. They were both looking down at each other, maintaining a calm and composed demeanor, showing no doubt about his true appearance.

That's right.

The Akatsuki organization is no longer what it used to be; the most obvious change is that its leader has changed. It has changed from Pain to Madara.

Several days ago.

Madara Uchiha, disguised as the "masked man," met with Pain and Konan and obtained some information from them. After verifying this information with that provided by Obito, he roughly understood the current situation of the Akatsuki organization.

Well...

Ban was very dissatisfied.

Although he never had direct contact with Nagato, in a sense, Nagato was one of his chosen successors, after all, he carried the Rinnegan that Nagato left behind.

However, despite possessing such immense power and being a pure-blooded member of the Uzumaki clan, Nagato, having developed to this point, has only managed to kill a minor figure, Hanzo of the Salamander, and hasn't even managed to defeat one of the Five Kage. And the Akatsuki organization, which has been assembled, consists of only a handful of members.

In Madara Uchiha's eyes, Konan, Sasori, Kakuzu, and Hidan were nothing more than mediocre people who were merely hired hands.

On the contrary, Himiko and Kisame Hoshigaki caught his eye a few more times.

—Himiko today is not what she once was. In the year or so since returning from the Land of Demons, she has conducted more in-depth research and improvement on the "Demon Sprout Technique," having already absorbed the sixth bloodline limit and preparing to absorb the seventh. Theoretically, her strength is now comparable to, or even surpasses, Pain's.

Even Madara was quite surprised that a mere mortal could rise to the level of a demigod.

As for Kisame Hoshigaki...

This is a new member that Obito recently recruited from Kirigakure. His strength is only so-so, but he has a good character and a ruthless streak, just like Madara in his younger days. So he's very much to Madara's liking.

After figuring out the current situation of the Akatsuki organization.

The freckles were no longer hidden.

He directly removed his mask, showing Nagato the prowess of a veteran powerhouse. After defeating Nagato with lightning speed, he took over the leadership of Akatsuki, summoned all members, and announced the start of the "Tailed Beast Capture Plan."

In Madara's view, Kirigakure had already been nearly destroyed by him and Obito. Of the remaining four villages, he would choose two, with Nagato and Himiko each leading the charge against one. Taking advantage of the information gap between the two sides, he would capture the Jinchuriki, and the "plan" would be 80% successful. Even if the five great nations joined forces to demand retribution afterward, the Ten-Tails would be able to easily defend against them.

As for who will become the Ten-Tails' Jinchūriki...

We can discuss it later.

It's worth mentioning that Madara didn't tell Nagato and Konan that he and Obito were actually two different people, and that the latter was a "stand-in" he had arranged. He didn't even let Obito enter Amegakure.

—This intelligence gap can be very useful at crucial moments.

Although Obito was no pushover either, and had his share of underhanded tricks, Madara had another trump card: Black Zetsu, which he believed he had created using Yin-Yang Release. As a creation of Yin-Yang Release, Black Zetsu and White Zetsu were absolutely loyal to him and possessed many characteristics that humans lacked, such as the ability to subtly infiltrate the will of others.

With this hidden mole in place, Madara didn't think Nagato and Obito could turn the world upside down.

But now...

The situation has changed.

The sealing of the tailed beasts by the Gedo Mazo must be done in a specific order. The One-Tailed Beast is the first, and the Nine-Tailed Beast is the last.

Originally, Naruto being the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki in Uchiha Hikaru's hands, while troublesome, wasn't too bad. Because once the One- to Eight-Tails were gathered, the Gedo Mazo could regain some of its power. Then, with Madara personally intervening, and Nagato and the others cooperating, they might be able to snatch Naruto back. But…

If one tail is cut off, that's a different story.

This means that the "Tailed Beast Capture Plan" was cut short from the very beginning.

Without the original One-Tail and the final Nine-Tail, even if the Akatsuki could capture all seven remaining tailed beasts, they wouldn't be able to revive the Ten-Tail.

"...It seems I'll have to go to Konoha first."

After pondering for a long time, Madara finally made up his mind: "Although I don't know what she wants to do, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of the 'Tailed Beast Capture Plan,' we can only eliminate her at all costs before we can consider anything else."

……

"Achoo!"

At this moment.

Hikaru Uchiha, who was in the world of One Piece, sneezed.

After staying in the ninja world for several days.

She finally returned to Bullet Island in the One Piece world with Naruto, Sasuke, and the newly captured Gaara. Then, at Vegapunk's laboratory, she met a little Minato who was already two or three years old and could run and jump around.

Because of the presence of Namekian cells, Minato's physical development was unusually rapid, even faster than Dr. Brief had predicted. However, also due to the presence of Namekian, Saiyan, and Kizaru bloodline factors, his appearance differed somewhat from his pre-mortem appearance, making him look more like Minato's fraternal twin.

And it's the juvenile version.

Sasuke didn't recognize Minato's identity and was still looking around, trying to find where the Fourth Hokage was.

Naruto, however, with his powerful intuition and bloodline connection, recognized Minato within seconds of seeing him, and then shouted loudly at the little bean sprout who looked less than half his height:

"dad!"

Sasuke: "?"

(End of this chapter)