I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 335 The advantage of longevity is that you can watch your enemies die; the disadvantage is that you can also watch your relatives and friends die.

In a flawed underground space, various ninja tools and scrolls hang on one wall, along with many identical sets of clothes, while on the other side, there is a huge, strange stone statue.

The stone statue was connected to several pipes that extended to a stone pedestal not far in front of it, or rather, to the white-haired old man sitting on the pedestal.

The old man's face was full of lifelessness as he watched the white humanoid creatures moving around freely in the space, some of them even trying to defecate.

At this moment, another white humanoid creature emerged from the ground not far in front of the old man. It emerged from the ground without damaging it, which was quite amazing. The old man's gaze naturally fell on it.

After examining him, the old man said, "Jue, shouldn't I have ordered you to keep watch over the Land of Water?"

"Yes, Lord Madara."

He didn't answer, then leaned a little closer to Ban, a complicated expression on his face, and said, "I have something to tell you, don't be surprised."

Ban narrowed his eyes, his already loose eyelids almost completely covering them, revealing only a tiny red glow. He said with slight displeasure, "Speak."

"Hashirama Senju must have had an illegitimate child, and that child stayed in the Land of Water."

"Nonsense! Do you think I don't know what kind of person Hashirama is?!"

Upon hearing that his own creation dared to slander his lifelong enemy, Madara's previously lifeless face turned angry, and he directly refuted Zetsu's words.

Zetsu shook his head and continued, "It's true. I smelled Wood Release, Sage Mode, and a little bit of the Uzumaki clan on that child."

Ban frowned and asked, "The child?"

"Hmm, he looks like a child around fifteen years old."

"Ha~ I've been lonely for so many years, how could Hashirama have a fifteen-year-old child? But it's just Wood Release, Sage Mode, and the Uzumaki clan."

Madara lowered his eyelids again, as if he was thinking about something. These elements combined did not seem to be the illegitimate son of Hashirama that Zetsu had said, but should be his grandson, a grandson who inherited the legitimate bloodline.

However, when Hashirama's grandson was born, Madara sent White Zetsu to investigate, but he did not inherit Hashirama's talent. Afterwards, Madara rarely paid attention to Konoha, after all, it was a place of sorrow, and that woman was still there.

Pulling his thoughts back from the past, Ban pursed his lips and said, "Tell me about that child."

"That child's name is Takasugi Shinsuke, or so he calls himself, of course. He was recently listed as an S-rank rogue ninja of Kirigakure, but I had no information about him before that."

After Zetsu finished answering, Madara smiled and said, "Takasugi. What an interesting surname. He probably already knows about his talent. Go and investigate."

"By the way, in the Land of Fire, has anything interesting happened lately? Like... my good-for-nothing clansmen?"

"Lord Madara, I'm in charge of the Land of Water. Are you suffering from dementia? Or are you like us, unable to defecate and your brain is blocked? After all, we don't have feces, so it's okay if we can't defecate. But you can defecate, so what if you can't?"

Zetsu continued talking to himself, ignoring Madara's wide eyes and the murderous aura that made the temperature in the entire secret room drop. Madara had even raised his hand, and his chest was heaving.

The heavy breathing, like a broken bellows, echoed in the empty, sealed room, but Madara ultimately did not make a move.

He glanced back at the stone statue, looking at the human figures clinging to it, seemingly trying to break free. The work, modeled after that man's cells, indeed carried his wickedness.

Hmph! I'm not going to bother with him.

Suppressing his anger, he waved his hand and said, "Go back to the Land of Water, and while you're at it, bring Zetsu, who's in charge of monitoring the Land of Fire."

"Yes, Lord Madara."

After accepting the order, Madara returned to his melancholy and lifeless state. There were no timekeeping devices in the secret room, so perhaps even Madara himself was unaware of the time outside.

After an unknown amount of time, a figure with a remarkably similar appearance appeared and said to Madara, "Lord Madara, did you call me?"

"Is there anything interesting about the Land of Fire?"

Madara spoke calmly, seemingly having forgotten the previous unpleasantness. Zetsu nodded and said, "Lord Madara, do you still remember that Konoha genius I reported to you about a few years ago?"

"The Jade-Striking Dragon Horse?"

After thinking for a while, Madara recalled that he seemed to have heard Zetsu mention it before, but since it wasn't the Uchiha or the Senju, he didn't pay much attention to it.

Zetsu nodded and said, "He's quite something now. Konoha seems to have confirmed his identity as a descendant of Tobirama Senju. However, you instructed me not to enter Konoha, so I can't be sure of the source of this information."

Tobirama Senju.

Ban's eyes narrowed again, and a strong killing intent erupted once more. Jue Wang seemed not to hear it and said, "He's incredibly powerful now. He's even learned the Flying Thunder God Technique. Sometimes even I can't pinpoint his whereabouts."

However, it seems he went to the Land of Lightning and the Land of Wind, wreaking havoc on both countries and even triggering a small-scale war between them, which is still ongoing.

"Flying Thunder God Technique instigates war! The Cloud Ninja and Sand Ninja are all a bunch of useless trash, actually sitting idly by while outsiders commit evil on their own territory."

Madara was extremely dissatisfied, even suspecting that he might have been too ruthless towards the people from those two ninja villages back then. If he had preserved some fighting force or promising talents, perhaps Tobirama Senju's descendant would have been killed.

But it's good that he didn't die; it would be best if he lived until the day his plan succeeded, so that he could personally kill Tobirama Senju's descendants.

But that guy Tobirama Senju actually had descendants? I hadn't heard of it before. Was it something that happened after Hashirama died? Or did he foresee that I would be detrimental to his descendants, so he kept it a secret?

The thought that the person who killed his brother had a descendant made Madara gasp for breath again, as if this was a blessing his brother should have enjoyed!

If his younger brother hadn't been killed by Tobirama Senju, he would have had a son soon, and then he would have had a nephew. It's all Tobirama Senju's fault!

Madara was even more excited to learn that Tobirama Senju had offspring than when he heard that Hashirama had an illegitimate child. After all, he trusted his closest confidant and knew that his lifelong rival, Hashirama, could not have such a thing as having an illegitimate child.

But a villain like Tobirama Senju could very well hide his descendants. That little bastard Ryoma could very well be a descendant of Tobirama Senju.

"Any other news?"

Suppressing his anger, Madara continued to ask. Zetsu nodded and said, "His teammates seem to know the Flying Thunder God Technique too. Oh, and he has an Uchiha teammate who awakened the Three Tomoe Technique at the age of fifteen."

"The Uchiha who can use the Flying Thunder God Technique? What a disgrace!"

Madara suddenly flew into a rage again. The thought of his worthless clansmen actually learning Tobirama Senju's techniques made him furious, even though he himself had also learned them.

"No, it's two people, two teammates," Jue quickly explained. "Your clansmen aren't qualified to learn, and they probably wouldn't be able to learn it anyway."

"What did you say?! Are you insulting the Uchiha clan?"

Madara didn't know why, after cultivating his character for so many years, he was so easily angered today after hearing about things related to the Senju brothers.

Even though he was already old enough to be almost uninterested in everything, his emotions would still surge uncontrollably upon hearing news related to those two people.

After taking several deep breaths, Madara finally calmed his anger and remembered the key point in Zetsu's words, saying, "Awakening the three-tomoe Sharingan at the age of fifteen, he does indeed have some talent."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced at Zetsu. After all, he, the strongest Uchiha, had only awakened his Sharingan at the age of fifteen, and he couldn't let others know that.

Fortunately, although Zetsu was his creation and he had endowed it with intelligence, it did not possess his crucial memories. This made Madara unconsciously breathe a sigh of relief, and then he said calmly:

"In that case, let's guide him to read the contents of the stone tablet, and then create some unexpected events. Although this might lead to that woman discovering it upon entering Konoha, it's worth it."

"That woman...do you mean Mito Uzumaki?"

"Um."

"She's dead."

"She's dead?"

Ban raised his head, his aged face showing disbelief and an indescribable disappointment. He said, "How could she have died so young? She was..."

"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, but since the beginning of the year, Konoha Village has suddenly lost that unsettling chakra, although the Nine-Tails' chakra is still present."

It was definitely a creation of Madara Uchiha. What he feared was, in a sense, what Madara Uchiha also feared. Madara Uchiha never feared the Nine-Tails' chakra, but that woman was different.

Madara didn't know what season it was, so he didn't know that Mito Uzumaki had been dead for almost a year. He just assumed it was a recent event, since he hadn't asked Mito to come back and report during this time.

Shaking his head, Madara suddenly became somewhat melancholy. The death of Mito Uzumaki meant that the person who personally witnessed him and Hashirama reaching the pinnacle of the ninja world had completely disappeared from the ninja world.

"In that case, Konoha is no longer a forbidden area. Do as I say, and bring that child here."

Madara's tone returned to its indifferent state, but Zetsu, upon hearing this, said, "But that child, Uchiha Tenka, has the Flying Thunder God mark on him."

"Ha! As expected, what teammates? They're nothing more than geniuses of the Uchiha clan who can be monitored at closer range. The face of Konoha is still as ugly as ever, just like Tobirama Senju."

With the Flying Thunder God mark branded on his body, no matter where he escapes, as long as it is still within the ninja world, as long as he enters the perception range of someone who has mastered the Flying Thunder God, he will have nowhere to hide.

Isn't this the best way to monitor them? Sure enough, the Uchiha are still as foolish as ever. They chose to betray his trust back then, and now they've foolishly handed over their talented clansmen to the village for surveillance.

Madara, his face dark, said, "Find a new candidate as soon as possible. The village can't brand every Uchiha with the Flying Thunder God mark. Also, find an opportunity to disturb the Nine-Tails; we can't let Konoha live in peace."

As for Ryuma of Konoha, hand over all the information you know to the Exchange Shop. The descendants of Tobirama Senju will not live in peace either; those who bleed him will bear his sins.

"Yes, Lord Madara."

Zetsu accepted the order and left. Madara turned slightly and looked back at the face on the humanoid sculpture, a face exactly like the one he had stood with at the top of the ninja world, laughing. What a pity.

The next time he stepped onto the summit, no one was there to meet him again; he was all alone, isolated from the world.

(End of this chapter)