The Land of Iron, a permanently neutral country located in the northern part of the continent, was a coastal peninsula nation.
To the west, it faced the Land of Earth across the sea; to the southwest lay the Land of Water. To the east, it faced the Land of Lightning across the sea, and to the southeast was the Land of Fields. In the original timeline, Orochimaru would establish the Hidden Sound Village in this country.
In this era, dominated by shinobi, this samurai nation still upheld its ancient traditions, barely involving itself in the conflicts of the ninja world.
But that didn't mean the country was truly isolated. A man capable of shaping the history of the shinobi world now lived in seclusion in the mountainous graveyards of northern the Land of Iron.
Uchiha Madara.
At this point in Konoha's forty-year history, the man who once shook the ninja world was approaching seventy, fully showing his age.
Yet his spirit remained relatively sharp. He sat alone, leaning on his scythe amidst a field of dilapidated tombstones long abandoned.
Don't get it wrong—none of his relatives or friends were buried here. He was merely bored and came out for some fresh air, to enjoy whatever remaining time his body might have left.
Yes, Madara had already formulated his subsequent plans; all that remained was finding a suitable successor to inherit his will.
Unfortunately, he had yet to find one. None of the Uchiha who appeared on the battlefield had ever caught his eye.
Suddenly, the seemingly drowsy Madara's eyelids twitched. He slowly lifted his head, looking down at the ground ahead.
"Lord Madara, I've discovered something interesting," said White Zetsu.
"Shut up. What you call interesting has nothing to do with what a normal human would consider interesting. But I don't blame you; after all, you're just a low-quality copy of Hashirama. Having a defective brain is to be expected…"
Hashirama's mind had its own flaws; Zetsu's were far worse—practically nonexistent—yet still a twisted inheritance of sorts.
White Zetsu grinned: "The White Zetsu of the Land of Rain found intruders. Their secret technique is quite fascinating."
"Who?" Madara asked in a low voice.
"Kaede Tsukasa from Konoha. He can control many corpses to serve him, and the corpses can even use the jutsu they had in life! They're looking for something—maybe Nagato," Zetsu said, enjoying the spectacle.
Madara, accustomed to Zetsu's nonsense, didn't get angry. He merely showed an indifferent expression.
"Controlling corpses? What third-rate jutsu is that? I've never heard of it. If it's a technique for manipulating corpses, then the user probably isn't impressive on their own; otherwise, there'd be no need to rely on corpses."
Madara thought of the Impure World Reincarnation. It seemed somewhat similar to Tobirama's version—both were extremely distinctive forbidden techniques.
But comparatively, Tobirama's version annoyed him more.
"Lord Madara, aren't you worried? You look like you could die any moment. What if Kaede Tsukasa gets hold of your body? That would be quite the mess. The people of Konoha would probably be ecstatic," Zetsu said dramatically.
"And if Kaede Tsukasa uses your body to unleash many of your powerful jutsu… what a scene that would be! Truly terrifying."
"Say one more foolish word, and I'll kill you. I can create something like you anytime, anyway."
Madara finally showed a spark of interest, though it was minimal.
All resurrection techniques in the ninja world, apart from his Rinnegan ability—Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life—were insignificant.
Whether it was the Impure World Reincarnation or this corpse-controlling technique, they were merely ways of using the dead. That was entirely different from truly reviving them.
"Tobirama's Impure World Reincarnation isn't worth mentioning—too many flaws. The revived shinobi are laughably weak, barely able to use even a tenth of their pre-death strength."
Madara thought Kaede Tsukasa's technique was probably the same. Someone who toyed with corpses clearly lacked real ability and had to rely on external forces.
"No, it can at least utilize most of the corpse's former strength. It depends on how intact the body is," White Zetsu said.
"Hmph. That's still largely worthless. The stronger the corpse was in life, the lower the percentage of its power he can actually use after taking control."
A red light flashed in Madara's single eye, the three tomoe slowly spinning. "Then, White Zetsu, that one is yours. Under no circumstances let his puppets near Nagato. Ensure Nagato has a good environment to grow."
Jiraiya was, at least, a competent shinobi—a decent passerby on Nagato's natural growth path. Madara would not interfere too much in that.
White Zetsu chuckled and gradually merged into the ground, swiftly heading south into the Land of Rain to gather the White Zetsu scattered throughout the country, planning to ambush Kaede Tsukasa.
"No… maybe I should call it annihilation? So complicated… anyway, just kill them all."
Zetsu locked onto Kaede Tsukasa's location.
…
Kaede Tsukasa found an abandoned house and stood under the eaves, quietly listening to the thunder of the heavy rain, enjoying a rare moment of tranquility.
Behind him, three Root shinobi were using the time to recover and restore themselves while staying alert to their surroundings.
"Relax. In this kind of environment, unless an enemy sneaks right in front of you, you guys—non-sensory shinobi—won't notice anything," Kaede Tsukasa said.
"But you are a sensor. We need to ensure that when you give the order, we can act immediately," Komatsu Fuji said, still tense, cautiously scanning the area.
Looking around, the world seemed transformed into a marshland. Dense raindrops blocked sight and muffled all noise.
Honestly, when Kaede Tsukasa heard Komatsu Fuji call him a sensor, he felt a brief moment of irritation.
Any shinobi capable of detecting the enemy's location counted as a sensor. The Inuzuka clan, with their keen noses and dog partners, were all sensoe.
The Hyuga clan was even more obvious.
"The Hyuga are truly gifted in this environment; their Byakugan has long-range vision," Kaede Tsukasa thought. The eyes were genuinely useful.
No wonder the ninja villages coveted the Byakugan so much, while the Sharingan wasn't as sought after.
Occasionally, the Sharingan would evolve into the Mangekyo Sharingan, and an Eternal Mangekyo could upgrade to the Rinnegan—one case existed at this time. But a Byakugan evolving into a Tenseigan was extremely rare, at least in the current ninja world.
The four of them said nothing more, patiently waiting.
Until Kaede Tsukasa spoke again.
"I've roughly pinpointed Lord Jiraiya's location."
The three Root shinobi stood, ready to follow him.
"Roughly?"
"Yes. It's not that my subordinates can't be precise—they were blocked by some strange things," Kaede Tsukasa said, a faintly interested expression on his face.
As expected, in this search mission, the key wasn't finding Jiraiya but getting close to him—approaching Jiraiya meant approaching the still-weak Nagato.
White Zetsu being deployed indicated that Uchiha Madara had already set his eyes here—or rather, that he had been closely monitoring Nagato all along.
"So he's afraid that I, a corpse manipulator, will get near Nagato… worried I might kill Nagato and take his body?"