From the night of genocide, marching towards the strongest.

Mitokado Homura said with certainty, "Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina, and has the bloodline of the Uzumaki clan. Moreover, he possesses the Nine-Tails, a legacy left to him by the Fourth Hokage. If we're talking about who in the village has the best chance of catching up with the current Uchiha Sasuke, it has to be him."

"From today onwards, we will utilize all the village's resources to nurture Naruto. Having only one Madara Uchiha is far too dangerous; we must also have our own Hashirama Senju!"

Upon hearing this, Tsunade remained silent for a moment before slowly speaking:

"The village will not neglect any aspect of the training of the younger generation, but I will consider your suggestions."

"Is there anything else?"

"Immediately send people to Takachiho Gorge in the Land of Rivers. We need to confirm whether the information from Sunagakure is accurate!"

"understood."

In the Land of Lightning, at the Cloud Village Building, shortly after Konoha received the message from Sunagakure, Cloud Village also received a message from Sunagakure that afternoon.

Inside the office, after reviewing the intelligence, the Fourth Raikage didn't speak, but instead smashed several tables to pieces.

After a long while, the Fourth Raikage's voice, like muffled thunder, finally rang out.

"Send someone to Takachiho Gorge!"

Meanwhile, in the Land of Rain, in the Hidden Village of Rain.

In a research base, Kazuma stared blankly at the brand-new coffin that Black Zetsu had brought him, lost in thought.

Inside the coffin lay a person dressed in a black, tight-fitting combat suit, with red, layered armor on top!

This person was tall and slender, with waist-length hair, resolute features, and masculine facial features; he possessed extraordinary talent.

Even if this person is dead, even if what you see before you is just a corpse.

But anyone who sees this person will sense his inherent arrogance and the domineering aura of a king emanating from his entire body!

After a long while, Kazuma finally came to his senses and spoke in a hoarse voice:

"Uchiha Madara!"

Chapter 299 The Artificial Ten-Tails, the Spying One.

Team 7, having just left the Hokage Building, was walking along Konoha Street.

"Is the Madara Uchiha that Granny Tsunade mentioned really that powerful?"

Naruto asked his companion out of curiosity.

This was the second time Naruto had heard the name Uchiha Madara, which puzzled him greatly.

Is this person very strong?

Even though he has been dead for decades, why does everyone look so solemn when they mention his name?

"He's very strong, in fact, you could say that 'strong' doesn't even begin to describe him."

Sakura, a well-read and academically gifted student, was the first to answer: "After all, that person was a great figure who was known as one of the two gods of the ninja world, along with the First Hokage. To put it simply, you probably can't fully grasp the meaning. For example, it is said that Madara Uchiha could easily destroy a great ninja village like the Five Great Ninja Villages by himself."

"Moreover, you must be very clear about Sasuke's talent. Among the Uchiha clan, which has produced countless geniuses throughout history, Madara Uchiha is recognized by the world as the strongest member of the Uchiha clan, which shows how strong he is."

After hearing the Mangekyou Sharingan and the name Madara Uchiha in the Land of Swamps, and then Sasuke revealing the Mangekyou Sharingan to them in the end.

After Sakura returned to Konoha, she spent all her free time in the village library, gathering as much information as possible about the Uchiha clan.

The Konoha Library naturally has no record of the Mangekyou Sharingan, which is an absolute secret. However, some of the deeds of Madara Uchiha, one of the two founders of Konoha, have been passed down.

Although most of the records about Madara Uchiha are vague, the clever Sakura was able to deduce the general facts from the clues and was deeply shocked by his powerful deeds.

"One person can destroy an entire ninja village!?"

Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyes narrowed. Even though his brain was a bit slow to react, he could clearly understand the meaning behind those words.

Sasuke is now known as the modern-day Madara Uchiha!

Thinking of this, Naruto felt somewhat powerless and said with a wry smile, "I thought that with my hard work and training, I could catch up with Sasuke, but now it seems that the gap between me and Sasuke is getting bigger and bigger."

Who is not?

Sakura sighed inwardly, then said softly, "However, we can also gain two pieces of information from this incident."

"What two pieces of information?"

"There's a good and a bad thing. The good thing is that since Sasuke's current strength is called the modern-day Madara Uchiha, then we don't have to worry about him being taken over by Orochimaru. In fact, with Sasuke's strength, he won't encounter any danger in the entire ninja world."

"The bad thing is, as you said, the gap between us and Sasuke is indeed widening, and..."

At this point, Sakura paused for two seconds before slowly saying, "I'm increasingly unable to figure out Sasuke's thoughts. Before, I thought he joined Orochimaru to gain power and seek revenge on his brother, Itachi Uchiha, but now... I don't know what Sasuke's purpose really is?"

"Since we can't guess, let's not bother guessing. We'll just ask Sasuke ourselves next time we meet!"

Naruto clasped his hands together, regaining his spirited demeanor, and said, "However, we must catch up with him in strength before that, otherwise that bastard Sasuke will definitely not tell us the truth."

"Sakura, Yakumo, I'm going to train now, bye-bye!"

Without hesitation, Naruto left behind this statement and immediately went off to train.

"This guy is still as impatient as ever."

Sakura's lips curled into a faint smile.

We need to hurry up and master the Yin Seal and the Hundred Healings Technique!

Half a year ago, after Sakura and Jiraiya finished their journey to find Tsunade, Sakura became Tsunade's disciple and her successor.

In just six months, Sakura learned a series of ninjutsu, including Palm Healing Technique, Chakra Scalpel, Super Strength Fist, and Fine-scale Extraction Technique.

Even with Tsunade's ultimate techniques, Yin Seal and Hundred Healings Technique, Sakura is only one step away from mastering them.

Her incredible speed of progress even shocked Tsunade, who deeply sighed that if it weren't for the existence of Team 7's Uchiha Sasuke overshadowing her brilliance, Sakura could also be considered a prodigy.

Actually, it's quite reasonable that Sakura was able to make such rapid progress within half a year.

In the original timeline, Sakura's talent was already quite remarkable; she possessed a precise ability to control chakra and was originally just a genin with a solid foundation in basic theory.

Yet, in just three years, he mastered the Super Strength Fist, a technique that Shizune hadn't learned in decades, even surpassing it with the Yin Seal and the Hundred Healings Technique.

In this timeline, Sakura had undergone chakra manipulation training five years earlier, making her chakra control far superior to that of her counterpart in the original timeline.

Not to mention his profound ninjutsu skills and rich theoretical knowledge.

In the simplest and clearest sense, it can be said that Sakura's strength in the original timeline was only that of a genin, but now Sakura's strength is that of a jonin, or even an elite jonin!

So, in the original timeline, Sakura took three years to learn the Yin Seal and the Hundred Healings Technique, while the current Sakura only took half a year to almost master them.

But, after learning the Yin Seal and the Hundred Healings Technique, can I really catch up with Sasuke?

After thinking it over carefully, Sakura sighed with great doubt.

The modern-day Uchiha Madara... Mangekyou Sharingan...

Perhaps only the first generation could do it...

Thinking of this, Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed, and she made up her mind. Then she turned to Yakumo, who had been silently reading a book, and spoke.

"Let's go, Yakumo."

Both of them are currently interning at Konoha Hospital, which is both an internship and a training program.

"Ok!"

That afternoon, on the back mountain of Konoha.

"Damn it, so much time has passed, why am I still unable to open the Seventh Gate without any sign of it? At this rate, how can I possibly catch up with Sasuke?"

Naruto clenched his fist and said with resentment.

Four months have passed since Naruto opened the sixth gate, the Gate of View, in a fit of extreme anger in the Land of Swamp. Now he can open the Gate of View steadily, but he still shows no sign of being able to open the seventh gate.

"......"

Seeing Naruto panting and looking utterly disheveled, Jiraiya sighed inwardly and then said:

"Naruto, let's go to Mount Myōboku to learn Sage Mode!"

"Sage Technique?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

Jiraiya nodded and said in a deep voice, "Yes, Sage Art!"

.................

Half a month later, in the underground base of Ghost Island in the Land of the Sea.

Inside a huge room whose walls were covered with various techniques such as soundproofing barriers and protective barriers, all carved by Sasuke.

Sasuke's eyes flickered as he looked at the altar in the center of the room, which was made of two tomoe, one white and one black, intertwined to form a yin-yang symbol, and surrounded by mysterious and unpredictable spells.

On the Yin-Yang Taiji altar, at the two poles, there was a meteorite and a branch of a divine tree!

The altar in front of him and the spells surrounding it were obtained from Shennong, the leader of the Sky Ninja.

After the battle at Takachiho Canyon, Sasuke took some time to visit Shennong, who had disguised himself as a barefoot doctor.

However, Sasuke did not kill him. He simply hypnotized him with genjutsu and obtained the method for creating artificial tailed beasts.

In Sasuke's view, Shennong still had value to him because he also had an aerial fortress called Anker Bandian that could fly.

However, this aerial fortress has not yet accumulated enough energy, and Shennong has been working hard to achieve this.

After obtaining the method for creating artificial tailed beasts, Sasuke put aside everything else and focused solely on thoroughly researching it to create his own artificial Ten-Tails!

Everything is ready. Now let's see if my idea will come true!

After carefully checking the ritual incantation on the altar once more and finding no problems, Sasuke took a deep breath and formed a hand seal.

He didn't know what would happen when the ritual started, so to prevent being discovered, Sasuke set up a barrier in the room to block out sound and chakra fluctuations.

"combine!"

The void shattered, light distorted, spells malfunctioned, mournful howls and wailing filled the air, eerie light blazed, ghostly energy filled the air, a deafening explosion occurred, shimmering lights danced in the air, and lightning flashed and thunder roared...

None of the above signs occurred.

Contrary to Sasuke's expectations that it would cause a great commotion, he could only barely sense two faint chakra fluctuations before the outer shells of the meteorite and the tree trunk of the god shattered into pieces.

Flesh-like buds and wood-shaving-like root threads emerged from the meteorite and the tree trunk of the divine tree, respectively. They intertwined and combined like vines, growing faster and faster, and finally converged into a grayish-white cocoon.

"It's that simple!?"

Upon seeing this, Sasuke was taken aback. He had anticipated all sorts of scenarios during the fusion process and had taken various precautions.