Konoha: Starting with Sage Mode

Black Zetsu immediately obeyed the order, then took over the body of the nameless White Zetsu in front of Madara Uchiha and began to lead Madara Uchiha the way.

……

Beneath a fortress built by a powerful noble family in the Land of Waterfall lies an underground base that closely resembles the Root headquarters of Konoha. This underground base is the very headquarters that the former Root members built in the Land of Waterfall after leaving Konoha.

Here, a large number of lights dispel the darkness underground, and people wearing masks can be seen walking in this underground base filled with underground passages. Each of them carries someone with them.

Some of these people died. The living were sent to a specific room and imprisoned, while the dead were thrown directly into the beast prison in the center of the underground base, which led directly to the deepest part of the base, to serve as food for some of the mutated beasts raised there.

Deep within the underground base, in the Root leader's office, a man wearing a white demon mask sat in a chair.

There were no lights on in the room; the only light source came from the eyes of the white demon masked figure, the eerie blue light shining through the gaps in the mask's eyes into the darkness.

Because of those two wisps of pale blue light, the temperature in the room seemed to have dropped considerably.

The room showed no signs of life despite the presence of the white-masked demon; instead, it was deathly still, filling the room with an atmosphere of utter silence.

"Both the Rat and the Rabbit failed? That's quite unexpected. But Uchiha Homura and Hatake Sakumo are both missing. What exactly happened?"

The white-masked demon suddenly spoke, his voice revealing a chilling, emotionless quality.

"The specific cause is still under investigation. The puppets controlled by the Rat and Rabbit are also being retrieved. If they are successfully retrieved, we should be able to learn some information from them."

As soon as the man in the white demon mask finished speaking, an equally cold voice appeared in the room.

As the voice appeared, a man wearing a horse mask suddenly appeared, bowing his head to the man in the white demon mask, displaying a respectful posture.

"Who's doing the recycling now?"

The man in the white demon mask asked.

"It is the Tiger (寅虎)."

The man in the horse mask answered immediately.

"It's him. No wonder it's taken so long to successfully retrieve them. Let Hiruko handle this and have him retrieve the Reanimated Puppets of the Rat and Rabbit as quickly as possible."

"The masked demon gave the order."

"Ha~"

The masked man obeyed the order and then used the Instantaneous Movement technique to disappear from the spot.

"Who could be sabotaging my plans from behind? And who has the power to take Uchiha Homura and Hatake Sakumo away as well?"

After the horse-masked man disappeared for a while, the white demon-masked man muttered to himself.

Suddenly, one of his hands shattered into a large number of gray paper scraps, but in less than a few seconds, these paper scraps gathered together again, and the white demon masked man's hand was restored to its original state.

The white-masked demon showed no reaction to this, seemingly having grown accustomed to it.

However, his eyes, which emitted a faint blue light in the darkness, suddenly flickered several times, revealing his inner turmoil.

"Sure enough, you bug managed to 'survive' this way."

A cold voice suddenly appeared in the room.

As soon as the sound was uttered, the man in the white demon mask reacted immediately. A mass of dark matter surged from beneath his feet, engulfing him completely, and the two wisps of eerie blue light in the dark room disappeared as well.

But the next moment, a large blue chakra hand formed from highly condensed energy appeared in the room and grabbed a dark figure.

With a forceful squeeze, the dark substance representing the black figure disintegrated, and his entire body shattered like a porcelain doll, turning into a large number of gray paper scraps.

A white demon mask also fell from the masked man's face to the ground.

Then, a large number of gray scraps of paper began to rapidly gather from another place, combining to form the image of a middle-aged man with abnormal cracks on his face.

If the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, were here, he would definitely recognize this person's identity just the same way. This person is none other than his good comrade-in-arms, Danzo Shimura, who has been dead for a long time.

Danzo Shimura was indeed dead, but he was 'resurrected' in an abnormal way.

Impure World Reincarnation Technique!

This is why Danzo Shimura came back to life.

From the moment he was placed under the curse mark by the Third Generation, he had been plotting how to break free from it.

There are three ways for someone who has been placed under a curse mark to break free: one is to break it themselves or through others, another is for the caster to come into contact with or die, and the last is for the person under the curse to die.

As someone who lived in the dark world, Danzo always made the worst-case scenario plan before doing anything.

Therefore, he set his sights on the Impure World Reincarnation Technique, a forbidden technique that can revive the dead. He planned to break the curse by dying and then have his loyal subordinates revive him using the Impure World Reincarnation Technique.

Of course, this is a method that should only be used as a last resort.

Unfortunately, due to Kirito's fierce counterattack, he ultimately survived in the worst possible way.

However, although he was brought back to life, he was not as powerful as he was in life. The reason for this was that when he was resurrected by the Impure World Reincarnation technique, the technique had not yet achieved a breakthrough.

Fortunately, the subordinate who resurrected him was very loyal to him and did not impose any restrictions on him. This allowed him to successfully turn the subordinate in the center into a 'living dead' who was not controlled by anyone and had an independent will.

Relying on his immortality and the large number of powerful Edo Tensei puppets he left behind, he eventually managed to control his unruly subordinates, continue to control Root, and then faked his death to retreat into the background, where he continues to cause trouble in the ninja world.

At this moment, Shimura Danzo was extremely unsettled. His eyes were fixed on the large blue chakra hand in the room and the person behind it.

When he saw the man's eyes, he exclaimed in surprise, "An Uchiha? Who are you?"

"You don't need to know, and you don't need to struggle anymore. Neither the living nor the dead outside will come to your aid."

Madara Uchiha looked at Danzo's cracked face and the little tricks he was making in the shadows, and said sarcastically.

The impure world puppets created by the Impure World Reincarnation technique are powerful, but that depends on who they are facing.

Since dying once, this bug in front of him has become even more afraid of death, and has directly deployed a large number of elite Jonin-level Edo Tensei puppets outside as guards, including three whose strength is barely at the Kage level.

But no matter how many powerful Edo Tensei puppets Danzo had guarding him, they were useless against his Sharingan. He easily controlled all of these undead with his genjutsu.

"Who exactly are you, and what do you want?"

Upon hearing Madara Uchiha's words, Danzo's heart sank to the bottom, and he said coldly.

At the same time, he continued to desperately send orders to the impure earth puppets stationed outside.

He wouldn't easily believe the words of this Uchiha clan member in front of him; since the other party was from the Uchiha clan, he was undoubtedly an enemy.

The enemy's words are not to be trusted.

However, the impure world puppets outside are still there and have received his commands, so why are they not reacting at all?

"A bedbug is a bedbug, too weak."

In reality, Madara Uchiha looked at Danzo, whose eyes were completely glazed over, and said with little interest.

Danzo could not possibly summon the impure puppets outside, because he had already fallen under Madara Uchiha's genjutsu and was unable to extricate himself.

Chapter 253: The Art of the Ghost Sprout

"Congratulations, Lord Madara, on successfully bringing Root under your control. With these reanimated puppets here, the Eye of the Moon Project can probably begin ahead of schedule."

Seeing that Madara Uchiha had easily used genjutsu to subdue Danzo Shimura, this scoundrel from Konoha, Black Zetsu immediately began to flatter him.

Its flattery at this moment was absolutely sincere, because the Impure World Reincarnation technique mastered by Danzo's Root was really very useful. This kind of ninjutsu that could utilize the dead was truly amazing.

They no longer need to worry about a lack of manpower.

These impure earth puppets all possess self-awareness, but they cannot defy the will of the caster.

With Madara Uchiha's strength, subduing these Edo Tensei puppets would be extremely easy. Even if these Edo Tensei puppets could unleash 100% of their original strength, Madara Uchiha had the ability to suppress them, just as he did with Hashirama Senju.

"It's too early to say anything now, but these impure earth puppets are indeed very useful."

Madara Uchiha smiled slightly upon hearing Black Zetsu's sarcasm, a hint of smugness flashing in his eyes.

He has now controlled Danzo with illusions, which is equivalent to gaining control of the users of those impure puppets in Danzo's hands, and even the entire Root organization here will become his pawns.

In a short time, he had many good pieces in his hand, which gave him more confidence in his next deal with Kirito.

To be honest, after taking Danzo under control, Madara Uchiha now has an urge to immediately use the Impure World Reincarnation technique.

This is because he wants to use this forbidden technique to summon a powerful ally. As long as he can successfully summon this ally, restore their power, and keep them firmly under control, the Eye of the Moon plan will be almost guaranteed to succeed, because no one in the ninja world can stop him.

That's right, the helper he wanted to summon using the Impure World Reincarnation technique at this moment was none other than his former friend and rival, Hashirama Senju.

If he had the help of Hashirama Senju, an impure puppet, his side's power would definitely increase greatly.

However, Hashirama Senju was well aware of his own strength, and he believed that with the Impure World Reincarnation technique that Root currently possessed, it would be impossible for the summoned Hashirama Senju to have all the power he had in life.

"If that guy had his full strength, it's uncertain whether I could truly suppress him with my current strength. But even if he only unleashed half of his full strength, it would be enough to sweep away all the trash in the ninja world now."

Madara Uchiha sneered inwardly.

In his view, the overall level of ninjas in the ninja world has been declining.

The reason is simple: since Hashirama Senju established the one-country-one-village system, the ninja world has ushered in peace. Although this peace is only localized, it has ultimately made the current era no longer as full of strife and killing as it was during the Warring States period. Most children no longer need to be thrown into the cruel war before they are even six years old.

With fewer conflicts and battles, the overall combat quality of ninjas naturally declined.

After all, people are inherently lazy. Since they don't have to fight to the death, they naturally won't train hard and will instead eat, drink, and have fun.

While Madara Uchiha felt a pang of sadness at the weakness of his successors, he was also somewhat pleased, because the weaker the enemy, the more advantageous it was for him, ideally making it incredibly difficult for even a Kage-level shinobi to emerge in the future.

"That kid is a variable; we must eliminate him as soon as possible."

Madara Uchiha suddenly remembered Kirito and cursed under his breath.

"Lord Madara, it's getting late. Shouldn't we head to the Land of Wind?"

Black Zetsu reminded him.

The more methods you have to deal with your enemies, the better, regardless of whether they are despicable or not. This is the best way Black Zetsu has come up with after living for so long.

Now that Madara Uchiha has taken control of Danzo's Root and mastered the Impure World Reincarnation technique, with many powerful allies, his chances of defeating Kirito Tohsaka have undoubtedly increased significantly. However, this does not mean that the chances of regaining the Rinnegan have increased significantly.

They need to capture a few more people to make Kirito Tohsaka hesitate to act.

The best option would be to capture Uchiha Chizuru, Kirito's childhood friend. On one hand, she might gain a new pair of Mangekyou Sharingan, and on the other hand, she could effectively blackmail Kirito.

"What's the rush? Didn't you say before that the current leader of Root is a guy named Hiruko? You've seen the situation of that bastard Danzo. How could a mere dead man possibly have complete control over this place? Besides, the improvement of the Impure World Reincarnation technique was done by this guy named Hiruko."

"A guy like this, so engrossed in researching ninjutsu, is bound to be very cunning. He might have used some unknown methods in the new Impure World Reincarnation technique. To prevent the Impure World puppets from causing accidents at crucial moments, we must also keep this guy under control."

"Uchiha Madara said coldly."

"Lord Ban is wise; your advice is correct."

Black Zetsu quickly admitted his mistake.