Inside Yellow Dog's office, Yako delivered his report on the Rain Country mission.
Eliminating the A-rank target from the assassination manual was mentioned only briefly.
He focused instead on another matter.
"Commander, I encountered those birch-bark subordinates of Uchiha Madara again. I overheard them mentioning the Valley of the End.
I suspect the Valley is important to Madara. There might even be a hidden base there.
I'm not certain, but I'd like to investigate.
Madara has mainly been active in the Rain Country these past two years. Even if there's a base in the Valley, it's probably abandoned—so the immediate gains may be small. But if he's left any preparations behind, the risk could be significant.
Going alone would be dangerous, so I request authorization for two squads to conduct the investigation together."
Yellow Dog nodded repeatedly.
Fox was always cautious in his approach.
"Black Ant Squad can't leave the village—they're monitoring the Nine-Tails jinchūriki and relaying orders for the Hokage.
Golden Eagle Squad and the other teams are out handling assassination manual targets. That list has put heavy pressure on all squads.
Investigating Uchiha Madara is extremely dangerous. Let's wait until Golden Eagle Squad or another unit returns."
Yako nodded.
Yellow Dog was easy enough to work with.
Senior officials developed an instinct for survival. Back when Yellow Dog was a field Captain, he had fought through countless battles—but since becoming ANBU deputy commander, he had grown noticeably more cautious.
Then again, Konoha's enemies were more dangerous now. Uchiha Madara was beyond even Yellow Dog's ability to confront directly.
Leaving the office, Yako exited ANBU headquarters.
Inside a hidden training room behind an izakaya courtyard, he pulled down vines from the wall and began weaving.
A spiral mask took shape—two eye holes instead of one.
Similar to the original Tobi mask, though Tobi used a single eye to match Obito. Yako's version allowed both eyes.
This time he wouldn't use his White Ghost persona.
Instead—a smaller identity.
White Zetsu.
A rogue Sarutobi clan defector supposedly serving Uchiha Madara.
With this new persona, he would throw mud at both sides—Madara with one hand, the Sarutobi clan with the other.
Madara was already infamous; surely a little more dirt wouldn't matter.
As for the Sarutobi…
They could swallow this silent loss.
The wooden vines curled upward, forming twin spirals over the eyes. He inscribed sealing marks inside to block penetrating vision techniques.
Then Yako vanished into the ground.
He moved rapidly through the underground organic network.
In just over ten minutes, he reached the Valley of the End.
Keeping White Crane alive had been for this moment—to leak false intelligence to Danzo.
Outside Konoha, Danzo led Root: four current members and more than a dozen trainees.
Originally there had been twenty trainees. Some had died during brutal training exercises and internal combat.
C hesitated several times along the way. The Valley of the End was only fifty kilometers from the village—shouldn't they have brought A as well?
A was Root's operative too. Couldn't Orochimaru assist Root missions?
But Danzo seemed unable to command Orochimaru now, especially since Orochimaru had become the Hokage's assistant and was being groomed as the next Hokage.
The Valley of the End—the site of the First Hokage's final battle with Uchiha Madara.
Their clash had reshaped the terrain, carving waterfalls and a canyon from a tributary of the Naka River.
Danzo entered the canyon.
Standing on the water's surface, he looked toward two towering statues—each over a hundred meters tall.
One was Senju Hashirama.
The other, Uchiha Madara.
The statues had been commissioned by Hashirama himself, to commemorate both Madara—the greatest prodigy of the Uchiha—and their final battle.
It was said that Tobirama had fiercely opposed the idea, calling it childish. But Hashirama had insisted.
No one imagined that Madara had survived.
And now he haunted the Rain Country.
Danzo had clashed with him once—and suffered severely.
Between the statues roared a waterfall dozens of meters high.
Danzo gestured.
C advanced with ten trainees.
Hyūga, Inuzuka, and Aburame trainees approached carefully, conducting reconnaissance.
The roar of the waterfall grated on Danzo's nerves.
Within the waterfall, a masked figure emerged from the rushing white water.
His upper body formed as if directly from the current—not a Water Clone, not Body Flicker—more like water itself becoming flesh.
A white spiral mask covered his face.
The mask and even the neck were woven from vines, clearly tied to Wood Release.
Arms crossed, he gazed down at Danzo and Root below.
"Shimura Danzo. You dare to defile Lord Madara's monument?"
The strange, suppressed voice made Danzo tense, chakra coiling beneath his feet.
Then—recognition flashed.
The masked figure formed a hand seal.
Four shadow clones appeared atop the waterfall.
Five figures total.
Why did this stance feel familiar?
Wasn't this Sarutobi Hiruzen's opening form?
The realization shifted from confusion to shock.
"Five Elements Great Barrage!"
Each clone formed a single-handed seal.
Earth Release: Flying Gravel!
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Lightning Release: Thunder Crash!
Individually, each technique was only B-rank.
But casting them one-handed revealed terrifying mastery.
Five massive streams of chakra erupted simultaneously.
Yako's chakra reserves had grown naturally to 2.3 times that of an elite jonin.
His Ten Seal technique stored enough chakra for five jutsu.
Combined with his own reserves, the techniques were enormous.
Each attack stretched over a hundred meters, roaring toward Danzo and Root.
Danzo felt true fear.
Five elite-jonin-level techniques weren't impossible to counter—but if this was truly Hiruzen's Five Elements Great Barrage…
The clashing elemental interactions would trigger a catastrophic secondary explosion.
What began as elite-jonin-level jutsu could escalate into Kage-level destruction.
The true power of the technique lay not in individual elements—but in their explosive conflict.
Root shinobi unleashed defensive jutsu.
Earth Walls rose. Water barriers surged. Wind blasts collided.
Danzo turned immediately, activating Body Flicker at full power.
Behind him—
Boom!
A terrifying explosion erupted from the waterfall.
This wasn't just five jutsu.
It really was the Five Elements Great Barrage.
In an instant, the Valley of the End was swallowed by the blast.
Every Root shinobi—even Danzo, fleeing at full speed—was engulfed by the explosion.