As it turned out, Madara Uchiha's moral standards weren't particularly high.
The plan to find a successor was quickly put into action. Black Zetsu and the White Zetsus found a descendant of the Uzumaki bloodline in the Land of Rain and transplanted Madara's Rinnegan into the eyes of a child named Nagato.
Of course, Madara wasn't the only one making use of the Uzumaki clan. Konoha also brought in a young girl named Uzumaki Kushina around this time. The life of the previous Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Uzumaki Mito, was coming to an end, and Konoha needed a new container.
"Konoha wants my power, right?" the Nine-Tails snarled, its chakra churning unstably within the sealing space. "Now that you're done using that Emiya Shirou fellow, you want to use me again, is that it?"
"I'm sorry, Kurama," Mito's face was etched with shame. Konoha had wronged them both.
"Konoha will not use your power," she said, the words tasting like ash in her mouth. It sounded so false, even to her.
Given Konoha's track record, who would believe it?
Certainly not a thousand-year-old Tailed Beast.
"Hmph. Don't say my name!" it roared, its voice dripping with contempt. "What a hypocritical face, Mito. You people even used Emiya Shirou."
"Do you really think I'll believe your words? I heard your Uzumaki clan is on the verge of destruction. That's the price you pay for believing in Konoha!"
Mito was overcome with guilt. The village in Land of Whirlpools(Uzushiogakure) was heading towards ruin, its people scattered. The great ninja villages, coveting the Uzumaki's sealing prowess, had been encroaching on their land for years, and Konoha had never offered any real help. Just as the Second Tsuchikage had predicted, being an ally of Konoha was a one-way street.
Recently, Uzushiogakure had brought up an old matter. When Shirou had traveled the ninja world, he had suggested that the Uzumaki, with their great strength, should shoulder more responsibility and move to the Land of Grass, swapping land with the weaker village there.
This would have kept them next to their traditional ally, Konoha. But the Uzumaki, unwilling to leave their homeland, had refused. They feared conflict with their powerful distant relatives, the Senju. Now, their home was gone.
The only sliver of fortune... a man named Kakuzu found the wandering Uzumaki refugees.
"When Lord Emiya traveled the world, I met him a few times," he told them. "He mentioned that you Uzumaki people are sincere and can be trusted. Perhaps you can help me manage a few orphanages I'm funding?"
In the past, Kakuzu had never interacted with Uzushiogakure. As a rogue ninja, he assumed the proud clan wouldn't give him the time of day. But now, with them homeless and desperate, he decided to try.
And he soon realized Shirou had been right. The Uzumaki were, one might say, surprisingly naive. These red-haired people were truly honest and diligent. They were exactly what he needed.
Kakuzu himself was having a hard time. He had been trying to help people in need, as Shirou had suggested. But he was only good at killing for money and never had time to manage things. This led to embezzlers popping up in the orphanages he funded.
His money!
The ryo he earned from killing!
Was being embezzled!
What the hell!
Was it easy for him to earn money?
As the man who had single-handedly wiped out the leadership of his own village, Kakuzu had no qualms about killing. He'd kill the thieving orphanage directors on the spot and then start looking for the next director who would inevitably continue to embezzle from him.
It was getting absurd.
This ninja world was a bit much. He, a great villain, was starting to doubt if there were any good people left. Weren't they just bullying an honest man?
He couldn't understand it. He had the Earth Grudge Fear and a very long lifespan. But those directors didn't know that. They just looked at his wanted poster, assumed he was old, and figured they might as well embezzle what they could before the money dried up. So, the immortal and ageless Kakuzu was constantly dealing with this kind of people.
Fortunately, the Uzumaki were different. They were honestly taking care of the orphans, which made his mood much better. It seemed Lord Emiya's words were right. The refugees, bewildered but grateful, accepted his help.
"Some of our clan members wandered to the Land of Rain," one of them told him. "Our clanswoman Fuso married into that land. We hope you can tell her our news."
"I happen to be going to the Land of Rain," Kakuzu said, placing stacks of money on the table. "The common people there are having a hard time. It's always being used as a battlefield. This is the orphanage's funds. I hope you are as trustworthy as Lord Emiya said."
"Yes... Where did this money..."
"Killing people," Kakuzu said, ever the honest man. "The bounty office is buying ninja corpses. I just killed a Jonin from the Stone Village. His body is worth one million ryo."
He was going to the Land of Rain to find new high-priced corpses. Compared to killing for money, other missions were just too troublesome.
"I will help you inquire about that woman named Fuso. If you meet other refugees, you can have them come over. Some of the directors of the other orphanages I donated to also embezzled my money and were killed by me. I don't know if those places have found new directors yet."
The red-haired women present all widened their eyes in terror.
-----
Fate, it seemed, was fair. The world, perhaps out of pity, quietly began to tie the fate of the ninja world to two scions of the Uzumaki bloodline. One, a young girl, was slowly learning to become a jinchuriki in Konoha. The other, an orphan left outside, had obtained the Rinnegan.
The situation in the small countries was getting worse, especially the Land of Rain. The Stone Village, Konoha, and the Sand Village used it as a battlefield, unscrupulously carrying out sabotage and assassinations, even attacking ordinary people.
Before. no one expected the Second Great Ninja War to break out there. Or that the person who started it was the leader of the Land of Rain himself, Hanzo of the Salamander.
This leader of a small country publicly demanded that the three great villages stop their activities in his land, or he would declare war. This demand, naturally, brought a hammer down on himself.
Did this guy really think he was Emiya Shirou?
Konoha, the Stone, and the Sand immediately responded, turning the Rain Village into the main battlefield.
But no one expected this war to usher in Konoha's golden age. Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade actually led Konoha's forces to a standstill against Hanzo himself.
-----
Raindrops fell, contaminated with potent poison. A rhombus mark shone on Tsunade's forehead, black cursed seal energy and purple chakra converging. Her fists were devastating, her self-healing in cursed seal mode allowing her to block Hanzo head-on.
"This is..." Hanzo found it familiar. "The power Lord Emiya left for you?"
He had seen Danzo use a similar power in his youth. He also saw Katsuyu next to her. "No wonder Konoha was besieged by everyone during the First War. It seems you have gained too much from Lord Emiya."
"That's right," Tsunade said, fearless. "And the antidote for your poison." She threw two vials to Orochimaru and Jiraiya. "I looked through all the case scrolls he left behind. He once treated people who were accidentally injured by your poison gas."
"He knows about Lord Wei Yuan too?" Katsuyu asked curiously.
"Is there anyone who doesn't?" Manda, Orochimaru's snake, flicked its tongue. "The old hag at our place used to talk about that person too."
Only Gamabunta from Mount Myoboku was out of the loop.
"Is that white snake still thinking about Lord Wei Yuan?" Katsuyu's cute voice was suddenly full of murderous intent. "We should have killed you back then!"
"Hey, hey, hey, don't take it out on me!" Manda panicked. It knew it was no match for Katsuyu.
"Be quiet!" Gamabunta grumbled. "It seems we've won now, right?"
"At least it counts as a victory," Jiraiya nodded, still being supported by Orochimaru as he drank the antidote. "As long as the three of us can hold off Hanzo here, there won't be any problems on the other battlefield."
"It certainly looks that way," Orochimaru's gaze fell on Tsunade. The changes in her after she activated the cursed seal mode made his eyes burn with a certain heat. He, too, craved great power and was willing to cross taboos to get it.
For example, the forbidden jutsu sealed within Konoha. After this war, he would find a way to obtain even greater power. His teammate's strength was growing too fast.
"It seems there's no hope for the Land of Rain to win," Hanzo sighed. He had no way to deal with these three, especially Tsunade's recovery ability. "Konoha's new generation of ninjas, you have really grown up. From today on, you will shine brightly. So, before the war ends, let me give you a title: Konoha's Sannin."
"Have you finally decided to give up?" Tsunade breathed a sigh of relief. This battle was a huge burden, even for her.
"It's not that I just decided to give up," Hanzo said, looking down at her. "It's that this war wasn't what I wanted to start in the first place. I just wanted to, like Lord Emiya did in the First War, try to end the conflicts between you great villages to prevent the civilians of my land from being constantly affected."
Tsunade already knew. To avoid mentioning Konoha's disgraceful actions during that period, the village rarely mentioned the First War. But other villages never shied away from it, even using it to mock Konoha.
"Unfortunately," Hanzo sighed, thinking of the man he had seen in his youth. "I have neither Lord Emiya's power, nor his prestige. That's right, a person like me, how could I possibly be compared to him?" He shook his head regretfully and intended to withdraw. "If Lord Emiya were still in this world, this world would definitely not have become this terrible."
"It's a good thing he's not," Tsunade let out a long breath. "Otherwise, with the god-awful state our world is in now, it would just make him hate this era even more."