Naruto: I, the villain template, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 183 Madara Uchiha's Astonishment, The Person Bearing the Name "Madara"

A land of mountains, a mountain cemetery.

Inside the circular pit, hundreds of meters in diameter, lies the remains of a massive beast, with only a section of its stark white spine exposed.

Dust was blown up by the wind from above and poured into the cave entrance surrounded by stone walls, creating eerie and chilling echoes that were even more terrifying than the sound of the wind itself.

It sounded like the low groans and hisses of humans, like countless voices—men, women, old and young—intertwined like wisps of silk, as if you could hear the resentment and malice hidden in the wind.

The mountain cemetery is named so not only because it is the burial ground for some giant wild animals, but also because it is like a strange and mysterious "forbidden place".

It is filled with complex and rugged caves. Anyone who enters will get lost. If they are lucky, they will be able to find their way out. If they are unlucky, they will simply disappear without a trace.

But the people of the Mountain Kingdom were unaware that the deepest, most unknown part of the mountain cemetery, which they now considered a forbidden area, had been transformed into living quarters.

Surrounded by huge, intertwined trees, with branches extending from the ground and crafted into tables, chairs, and beds, it looked as if someone lived there.

In the very center of the room, a large tree chair several meters high stood, and a figure sat motionless on it with his head bowed. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, he would look like a corpse at first glance.

All that could be seen was a head of messy white hair and several tube-like, tube-like stems connecting to his neck.

The roots extended from the shadows behind him, and if you looked closely, you could see the huge red flower buds.

"Huff...huff..."

Just then, the figure slowly raised its head, opened its somewhat dazed eyes, and a scarlet light shone in the darkness.

"Hoo-ha!"

White Zetsu's entirely white half-body emerged from the wall, looking at the old man sitting on the tree chair and exclaiming in an exaggerated manner, "Lord Madara! Lord Madara! That brat is so scary! Luckily I hid far away..."

"..."

Madara Uchiha ignored it and instead exhaled a deep breath, as if to expel all the bloody smell of rainwater from Kirigakure.

But when he inhaled again, the new damp smell filled his nasal cavity, making him feel as if his whole body was enveloped in a dampness again while his mind was clear.

"Cough! Cough!"

He coughed a few times in a hoarse voice, and a deep sense of disgust flashed across Ban's eyes as he sensed the frailty of the old body.

He loathed his current fragile, powerless, and aged body.

Now, he is nothing more than a wretched, destitute Uchiha spirit clinging to life.

If that man saw me now, he would definitely point his finger at me and make a lot of fun.

After all, he can't even dance now.

"Lord Madara?" White Zetsu, who had been pouring out his grievances, noticed the old man's absent-mindedness and cautiously inquired, "Are you listening?"

Ban came to his senses.

First, I felt a pang of sadness, realizing that I was truly getting old and that I was prone to sentimentality and reminiscing about people and events from the past.

He slightly opened his crimson Sharingan, looked at the White Zetsu in front of him, and said indifferently, "Have they already left?"

White Zetsu originally wanted to complain about the dangers it had encountered on its journey, but seeing Madara's cold and serious expression, it dared not act up at this moment.

"Yes, those guys have left."

He could only scratch his head and answer seriously, "Because you said, Lord Madara, that human brat named Tsukimi-ri Kumokawa might have a special ability to detect me, and told me to observe from a distance as much as possible, I haven't been able to find out much useful information."

"I only saw that after he wiped out all the troops in Takigakure Village, he first went back to Kagerou Village to take some people with him, then went to the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Mountains, and was finally respectfully escorted away by the Daimyo's personal guards..."

"Yeah?"

Listening to White Zetsu's brief account, Madara Uchiha narrowed his eyes and sighed, "Kato Danzo's son also died at his hands."

During this period, due to the deaths of Suigetsu Hobuki and several other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, as well as the huge losses caused by the invasion of the Land of Whirlpools, the ninja clans in Kirigakure that he had previously suppressed began to stir again.

After all, a large part of the main force in that operation was drawn from the ninja clans by the Third Mizukage under his control. How could those guys remain indifferent when they were all wiped out at once?

However, Madara had anticipated the ninjas' reaction.

Although he hadn't expected such a huge loss, the reason he sent the ninja clan to invade the Land of Whirlpools was to weaken their power, so he naturally wouldn't be caught off guard by those ninja clans.

During this time, he has been using his clones to control the Third Mizukage to suppress and purge those unruly individuals. The entire Hidden Mist Village may be weaker than before, but it is now completely under his control, and that is enough.

He didn't need Kirigakure to be that strong. After all, the Land of Water is an island nation made up of many islands. As long as it doesn't provoke or attack other major powers, those major powers won't bother to come and attack Kirigakure for no reason.

What he needs is a village that is obedient enough and can provide him with sufficient resources; it doesn't matter if it's weak.

However, Madara didn't expect that in just a short time, the brat from Tsukimi would inexplicably end up in the Land of Mountains.

When White Zetsu told him that he had discovered Tsukimi Kumokawa in the Land of Mountains, Madara had to admit that he was indeed startled and subconsciously thought that the brat was coming towards him.

But he quickly calmed down and realized that this was absolutely impossible.

He was certain that his concealment was flawless.

Moreover, no one could have imagined that he would fake his death and escape during the final battle with Hashirama Senju at the Valley of the End, let alone that his ghost, Madara Uchiha, would still be alive today.

After Bai Jue investigated from several kilometers away, he found that the facts were indeed as he had thought.

However, to Madara's surprise, that kid actually came to help Kagero Village defeat the Takigakure forces.

What surprised him even more was that the kid who only brought a few hundred people actually managed to do it.

Even including the ninjas from Kagero Village who weren't skilled in combat, they only numbered a little over a thousand.

With just over a thousand people, they were able to defeat the more than three thousand people from Takigakure Village.

"What an unexpected brat," Madara Uchiha murmured, his voice deep. "He's grown to this level in such a short time?"

Although he didn't witness the battle firsthand, based on Bai Jue's account, the slash with a radius of 100 meters, which was impossible to dodge, was enough for him to roughly understand the kid's current strength.

While it's uncertain whether that slash can be used multiple times, it doesn't matter if it can only be used once within a certain period.

Adding to the fact that the brat Tsukimi had previously killed Musashi and suppressed Hanzo, he was already stronger than the renowned "White Fang of Konoha."

This made Madara feel a little regretful, because when Tsukimi-ri Kumokawa came into contact with Nagato, several White Zetsu were watching the whole thing.

However, Madara didn't take a nobleman's son seriously at the time, so he didn't stop it after receiving the message from White Zetsu.

They even considered having that brat protect Nagato for a while, and then killing the brat once Nagato had adapted to the Rinnegan, further stimulating Nagato to awaken the Rinnegan and summon the Gedo Mazo.

But even Madara didn't expect that the kid he once looked down on would grow to this level.

This not only thwarted his plans, but also put him in an extremely awkward situation.

Unless he burns his already limited life force to take action himself, he can only try to use someone else to kill that brat.

So, whose knife should we borrow?

Hanzo? Iwagakure? Or Sunagakure or Konoha?

Madara Uchiha frowned in thought, feeling helpless for a moment.

"Do you want me to monitor their movements?" White Zetsu asked tentatively.

"You brainless idiot, don't you think things are bad enough?" Madara raised his eyes, glanced coldly at White Zetsu, and said in a sinister tone, "White Zetsu, whom we sent to monitor Nagato, has already disappeared once. If he is discovered again, the other side will definitely guess our purpose."

"Then... Lord Madara, what should we do next?" Hearing Madara say this, White Zetsu scratched his head, feeling a bit itchy and like he needed to grow a brain.

Nagato is Madara's most important piece; nothing can happen there.

But they really had no other choice but to watch helplessly as the pieces jumped off the board.

Although every White Zetsu possesses exceptional stealth abilities, with only a very few special sensory ninjas able to detect their presence, their weak combat capabilities are a major weakness for most White Zetsu. Only Tobi is a unique individual with relatively strong power.

The reason they were so calm before was because they were completely in the shadows, making them difficult to detect and allowing them to act in secret.

Once discovered, it could easily alert the human named Tsukimi Ryoukawa.

Judging from his behavior, he was clearly not a fool. It would be easy for him to know that their target was Nagato, or rather, his Rinnegan.

They might then turn around and investigate Madara's side.

That would be bad.

"So now I need someone to stand up for me."

Madara Uchiha looked up at the White Zetsu swaying like a pitcher plant in front of him, frowned, and asked, "Have you found the person I asked you to find?"

Upon hearing this, White Zetsu's swaying figure instantly straightened, and he said excitedly, "Lord Madara, you finally asked me! And you know what, that guy Tobi has indeed found someone who meets your requirements!"

Finding someone in Konoha who meets Madara's requirements is extremely difficult!

Compared to other villages, infiltrating Konoha is undoubtedly the most difficult of all ninja villages.

The sensory barrier surrounding the entire village, along with the Byakugan that can see through objects, makes it difficult for even White Zetsu's infiltration abilities to do so without alerting anyone.

It was thanks to the Sky Legion's invasion and attack on Konoha that Konoha's defenses were compromised, allowing Tobi to safely infiltrate.

Abi's goal was very clear: to gather intelligence within the Uchiha clan's territory and find the so-called "proxy".

As for what kind of personality and talent a "proxy" needs, everything needs to be decided by their "Master Ban".

The age definitely can't be too old, preferably between a few years old and a teenager, that way it's easier to control.

Therefore, the Uchiha clan members they were closely monitoring were mostly young ninjas in their teens or children attending ninja academies.

As a White Zetsu, Tobi is already adept at intelligence gathering. Even in Konoha, the most difficult place to infiltrate, given enough time, he can successfully establish an intelligence network.

However, during this time, Tobi searched the entire Ninja Academy and Uchiha clan territory, but still couldn't find an Uchiha clansman who met Madara's requirements.

In the end, they chose the orphan named "Shinji Uchiha".

"orphan?"

Ban, who had initially given up hope, was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "Very well, then I will personally go and see the people you have chosen."

As soon as he finished speaking, under the gloating gaze of the White Zetsu, another ordinary White Zetsu was summoned from underground.

As it approached, Madara Uchiha raised his crimson eyes, placed his wrinkled hand on its shoulder, and spun the three tomoe in his Sharingan eyes, uttering in a deep voice, "Transformation Technique!"

A chilling, sinister aura emanated from those Sharingan eyes, and the white root inserted behind Madara Uchiha surged, sending a stream of his chakra into the White Zetsu's body.

"ah!!"

As the White Zetsu let out a painful and terrified wail, its appearance gradually transformed into Madara's.

A moment later, the "Uchiha Madara" opened his eyes, lowered his head, clenched his fist, and frowned in dissatisfaction, saying, "This White Zetsu can't even withstand one-tenth of my chakra."

The technique he used, although it looked very similar to White Zetsu's transformation technique, was actually a secret technique called "Transformation Technique".

This is an ability he learned after awakening the Rinnegan. It allows him to distribute his chakra to the sacrificial offering, creating an exquisite "identical entity" that is 100% identical in appearance to his original body. It can use the original body's abilities, and the ninjutsu it releases through the sacrificial offering is exactly the same as the original body's. It can even imitate the weapons and ninja tools that the original body possesses.

The strength of the same entity is determined by the amount of chakra allocated to it. When the chakra of the living sacrifice is exhausted, the ninjutsu will automatically be deactivated, and the sacrifice will die immediately.

Madara used this technique to remotely control the Third Mizukage, even though his physical body was in the Land of Mountains.

However, the "same body" in Kirigakure was created by possessing a special White Zetsu, and its duration and strength are far superior to the White Zetsu in front of us.

"However, that's enough." Madara's true form withdrew his hand, looked at himself in front of him, and said indifferently, "Go, go to Konoha and see for yourself whether the person Tobi chose is qualified to carry out my plan under my name."

(End of this chapter)