"Thick, straight, long hair? A bright red full moon?"
Ye Liang instantly recognized the identity of this person.
Damn it all—this was none other than the legendary Lord Madara Uchiha!
Though the hairstyle wasn't entirely clear, those crimson eyes could only belong to the Sharingan. In this era, only one elder possessed such power—none other than Madara Uchiha himself!
"But why would Lord Madara want to kill me?"
Ye Liang felt a flicker of confusion.
He began recalling memories from his previous life, and everything suddenly clicked into place.
"Oh right! The Kannabi Bridge incident was actually orchestrated by Madara Uchiha as a scheme against Obito! That's probably why the Land of Earth had the Three-Tails in the first place—it was almost certainly because of Madara Uchiha!"
"Madara Uchiha used the Three-Tails to kill Rin Nohara, which ultimately led to Obito's complete descent into darkness, planting the seeds for his resurrection!"
"And yes, I eliminated the ninja from the Land of Earth, causing Madara Uchiha's plan to fail—that must be why he wants me dead!"
It all became clear to Ye Liang now.
If that were true, then Biwa Juzo had truly suffered an unjust fate!
"Cough cough!"
After coughing twice, Ye Liang once again turned his gaze toward the fallen Juzo on the ground.
"I've said everything I needed to say. Whether you believe me or not, that's how it is."
Ye Liang slowly turned and walked away.
Now that he had figured everything out, he couldn't stay here any longer.
Since Madara Uchiha wanted him dead, staying would be extremely dangerous. This time it was just Biwa Juzo, but next time—who can say? It could be Nagato, Hidan, or even Madara Uchiha himself!
Ye Liang knew that although he possessed many S-ranked ninjutsu techniques, when facing top-tier masters like them, he was clearly at a disadvantage.
Thinking this, Ye Liang let out a sharp whistle!
It was the contact signal between him and his teammates—a unique whistle code he had learned from a melodramatic anti-Japanese war drama.
"That's the captain's signal!"
Kakashi quickly knocked down one of the grunts and ran toward Ye Liang.
Meanwhile, the remaining grunts hesitated to give chase. Truthfully, Kakashi had been dominating them in battle before, but they had stayed only out of fear of punishment. Now that Kakashi had left, they no longer dared to pursue.
Rin and Obito also made their way toward Ye Liang.
The group soon reunited within a town in the Land of Waves.
"Teacher, did you deal with the leader?"
"Yes, I've temporarily immobilized him. Once the village sends backup, they can just pick him up. However, there's been a change in plans—the true mastermind behind this is far greater than we initially suspected."
"The previous plan is canceled. We'll have to finish things quickly." Ye Liang suddenly sighed.
Kakashi and the others immediately tensed up!
...
A few days later.
Ye Liang frowned while looking at the Third Hokage in the Hokage's office.
"You're saying that when Anbu arrived, Biwa Juzo was already dead?"
"Yes, apparently killed by a genjutsu. His face showed signs of terror prior to death, yet his body bore no other fatal wounds!" The Third calmly explained.
Ye Liang fell deep into thought.
"It really seems to be Madara Uchiha without a doubt."
Dying from the terror of Tsukuyomi's illusion.
Besides Tsukuyomi, Ye Liang couldn't think of any other genjutsu capable of directly killing a super jounin.
But for these days at least, he had no intention of leaving the village.
It's freaking dangerous!
I'm being targeted by Madara Uchiha! That's seriously terrifying!
After all, that guy was a master conspirator!
"Cough cough, if you're done, go out first," Sarutobi Hiruzen simply replied. "This mission was completed quite well. Since Biwa Juzo showed up, I'll increase the mission reward money."
"Yeah."
Ye Liang nodded.
After leaving the Hokage office, Ye Liang headed straight to Anko's cottage.
Counting coins was a talent deeply rooted in the Hua Nation people!
After sorting through his rewards, Ye Liang immediately pushed thoughts about Madara Uchiha to the back of his mind.
"Actually gave me a Tailed Beast Ball? Can this even count as ninjutsu?" Ye Liang muttered to himself in Anko's room.
After resolving Gato, the System rewarded him with a technique called "Tailed Beast Ball."
But strictly speaking, it wasn't ninjutsu at all. A tailed beast ball was an ultimate attack technique belonging to tailed beasts themselves. It concentrated their power within their mouth and fired it out in one massive blast.
Though its power was tremendous, it required enormous chakra.
After all, he wasn't a tailed beast. His chakra reserves simply couldn't compare — what should've been an S-rank technique felt more like a weak A-rank at best.
"Is there really no other way?"
Ye Liang fell into deep thought again.
Now that he'd been marked by Madara Uchiha, improving his strength became an urgent priority.
Imagine being stuck in the starter zone, and already marked by the endgame raid boss? The pressure would be unimaginable...
"But how can I improve my chakra reserves?" Ye Liang pondered deeply.
In the Naruto world, chakra originated from Kaguya's God Tree in ancient times.
Back then, Kaguya, an alien herself, had just arrived on Earth. She wasn't benevolent either. Kaguya's civilization planned to drain Earth's energy entirely using the divine tree to enhance their own civilization's cultivation power.
Unfortunately though, just as she was about to succeed, she got *knocked up* by a local human!
You see, during that time, Kaguya's entire civilization could easily rival Ye Liang's previous life. However, Earth in the Naruto world still remained in the Stone Age with primitive weaponry — practically indistinguishable from monkeys!
"Perhaps she really must've been desperate," Ye Liang sighed.
This beautiful woman actually got pregnant by a monkey-like creature!
Now *that* was shocking!
Frankly, Ye Liang just couldn't wrap his head around her mindset.
By the way, in his previous life, Ye Liang had heard rumors like this.
It's said that AIDS originated from zoonotic transmission through primates — the very first case must've involved close contact with a great ape species.
Kaguya found herself in exactly that kind of story — being the first woman to bond with someone from a primitive, monkey-like race!
"Tsk tsk tsk... Well, she *was* just a woman after all."
After Kaguya had an affair with the local "monkey" lord, she soon gave birth to her own children and thought life would be blissful and fulfilling.
But unfortunately, while still in her prime, she drew the attention of another "monkey" lord.
And this monkey was even bigger! Stronger!
Her husband quickly betrayed her.
It couldn't be helped — beasts follow the strong. Her husband, also a "monkey," had no choice but to obey a higher-ranking one!
Kaguya was ambushed.
She was nearly killed, barely clinging to her life.
In that moment of crisis, she had a sudden realization. She used the power of the God Tree to kill every "monkey" who dared oppose her — but spared two!
One was named Hagoromo, the other Hamura.
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