Chapter 305: The Mountain Graveyard!

Chapter 305: The Mountain Graveyard!

Land of Iron.

The mountains rose and fell in endless ranges, covered in lush vegetation, showing little sign of large-scale human activity.

Nara Keisuke, like a ghost, drifted silently into this primeval mountain forest. Under the cover of the S-Rank Shadow Invisibility Technique, his movements went undetected by any living creature.

"It seems this is the main source of the [Branch of the Divine Tree] that Neko-san spoke of..." Nara Keisuke stopped in a part of the forest, placing his hand on the rough bark of an oddly shaped tree. The panel immediately popped up with the item information for this seemingly ordinary tree—

SSS-Rank Miscellaneous Item: [Branch of the Divine Tree].

Looking across the entire shinobi world, anything—living or material—that could touch an SSS-Rank evaluation was, without exception, related to Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's family.

And at this current point in time, the [Branch of the Divine Tree] growing in the Land of Iron had only one possible origin—the empty husk of the Divine Tree, the Gedo Mazō (Demonic Statue of the Outer Path), which Uchiha Madara had summoned from the moon after awakening the Rinnegan!

Ever since the end of the Kannabi Bridge battle, Nara Keisuke had been plotting how to deal with Old Man Madara. Now that the Third Great Shinobi War was about to end and there was no fighting in the Land of Hot Water, Nara Keisuke, the frontline commander, finally had enough time to come to the Land of Iron to solve the problem of the mastermind who had been silent in the shadows for so long, "seeking peace."

The distance between the Land of Iron and the Land of Hot Water wasn't far; they were separated by only one small country. Nara Keisuke set out from the Land of Hot Water camp, and with his travel speed, it didn't take long to arrive.

The only question facing Nara Keisuke now was how to find Uchiha Madara's base in these mountains.

Since he had long known that Uchiha Madara's true target was Uchiha Obito, Nara Keisuke had naturally left a [Flying Thunder God Technique] mark on him, as well as on his subordinate, Uchiha Shisui.

However, the process of sensing a Flying Thunder God mark was no different from conventional chakra sensing. The moment Nara Keisuke sensed the mark, Uchiha Obito would also be able to lock onto him in reverse.

"Sensor-type ninja are mutually attracted." Nara Keisuke looked out; the endless green mountains seemed to be covered by an invisible veil. "As expected, I'll have to rely on sensing natural energy!"

Nara Keisuke pushed his natural sensory abilities to their limit. The natural energy, invisible to the naked eye, formed an omnipresent tidal wave in his perception.

Within this overwhelming tide, the energy density of one mountain peak was clearly far greater than the others.

Following his perception, Nara Keisuke quickly arrived in front of a massive mountain.

"Such a majestic peak. It's easily a match for the eight great mountains outside Konoha." Nara Keisuke recklessly expanded his senses, using the natural energy to clearly probe the internal structure of the mountain.

Even Old Man Madara had not mastered the means to control a special existence like natural energy—at least, not yet. (Edo Madara could use Senjutsu after his resurrection because he stole Hashirama's Sage Chakra with his Rinnegan). Nara Keisuke naturally didn't need to worry about his probing being detected by Old Man Madara and the others inside.

Through the omnipresent natural energy, the scene inside the mountain gradually became clear in Keisuke's perception.

"If I hadn't seen it myself, it's hard to imagine Old Man Madara actually built such a massive base..." Using his natural energy senses, Nara Keisuke smoothly found an entrance leading into the mountain. He floated lightly into the air and advanced inside without a sound.

Inside the Mountain Graveyard.

Old Man Madara leaned on a cane, sitting quietly on a wooden chair made from the Divine Tree. A sense of crisis welled up in his heart for no reason.

"White Zetsu."

Old Man Madara's old, hoarse voice echoed inside the graveyard, the sound waves bouncing off the mountain walls. "Is there any unusual movement outside?"

Old Man Madara trusted his intuition, but his frail body couldn't withstand any strenuous movement. He could only rely on his "tools" to check the situation.

Answering the summons, Tobi, the White Zetsu with the spiral mask, emerged from the ground. However, Uchiha Setsuna, who usually acted with him, was nowhere to be seen.

"It's the same old story outside." Tobi spread his hands. "Not even a person taking a crap."

Not outside? Then is it a problem inside?

"What's the situation with Uchiha Obito?" Old Man Madara asked again. "Has his body been modified yet?"

In the previous Land of Hot Water campaign, Uchiha Obito had "mysteriously disappeared" during battle. In reality, he was just captured by Uchiha Setsuna and Tobi. With their strength, dealing with an Uchiha Obito who had just awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan was almost too easy.

But for the sake of Old Man Madara's plan, Uchiha Setsuna and Tobi didn't just "capture" Obito. To increase the credibility of this operation (named "rescue" but actually "capture"), and to enhance Obito's potential, when they caught Obito, they "removed" some insignificant bits from his body and "grafted" on some new cells.

And those "new cells" were, naturally, the "White Zetsu cells" cultivated from Hashirama's cells and the Divine Tree.

During his time in the Mountain Graveyard, Uchiha Obito had been constantly familiarizing himself with his new body, undergoing rehabilitation training.

According to Old Man Madara's plan, once Obito fully adapted, they would begin upgrading his Sharingan. A mere two-tomoe Sharingan was not enough to satisfy Old Man Madara's requirements. In his view, if Obito couldn't awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, everything was a waste.

Fortunately, this kid wasn't too bright. Most importantly, he had "great love" in his heart, but also "small love," and he cared deeply for his two teammates, especially the girl named Nohara Rin.

To deal with an Uchiha like this, Old Man Madara didn't even need a sophisticated plan. He just needed to "create" a dangerous experience between Obito and Nohara Rin, and Obito's Sharingan level would shoot right up.

The Uchiha Clan was just that emotional, extreme, and easy to manipulate.

"That foolish kid?" Tobi shook his head, about to say something. "His brain must be—"

Spiraling Shadow Killing Cannon!

Before Tobi could finish his sentence, a shadow bullet shot out from the darkness, streaking through the air like a thunderbolt, and accurately struck the head of Uchiha Madara, who was sitting on the Divine Tree chair.

Boom!

Like a watermelon exploding, Old Man Madara was instantly blasted into a headless corpse.