Madara observed everything unfolding across Konohagakure through the eyes of Mū and Gengetsu.
He was an exceptionally meticulous man.
He could have achieved the same result by having White Zetsu possess the Sky Ninja.
But even with their flying ninja tools, those frail Sky Ninja were only so capable.
Madara didn't believe the village was so helpless that it couldn't even shoot down a handful of them.
If Hiruzen were to capture a White Zetsu possessing one of the Sky Ninja, then given the talent of the man who had inherited his youthful ideals, he might actually deduce a few clues from it.
Not enough to uncover Madara's identity...
After all, he was currently using Senju Tobirama as a smokescreen, so even if Hiruzen noticed something, it wouldn't matter too much.
But it might send Konoha's research on Hashirama's cells racing ahead at an astonishing pace.
That would be a problem.
'If Hiruzen and Konoha can withstand the Sky Ninja and seize their technology, they've earned that reward...'
'But obtaining Hashirama's power crosses the line!'
Madara still adhered to the strict system of rewards and punishments he had inherited from his father, Tajima.
Back in the Warring States Era, he had constantly defied Tajima, believing the old man to be nothing more than a hopeless fossil.
But as he grew older, even Madara failed to realize that in some ways, he was becoming more and more like the father he had once despised.
"All Sky Ninja, prepare to drop your bombs!"
"Concentrate your bombardment on Konoha's Scientific Research Department! Strike directly at the Hokage's greatest lifeline!"
"All remaining forces, prepare to open fire!"
Madara issued his orders through Shinnō.
Using the multiple viewpoints of the invisible Mū and Gengetsu, he surveyed the entire situation in Konoha from high above.
The Rinnegan's Six Paths Puppet Technique was just that overwhelming.
"Whoa... this guy's really trying to kill people!"
Gengetsu's eyes widened as wave after wave of Sky Ninja poured out. "Suddenly the Bloody Mist Village doesn't seem so bad anymore..."
The Bloody Mist Village was certainly cruel, but compared to actual warfare, it wasn't even close.
At least there was still some semblance of order, even if that order constantly shifted with the whims of the Third Mizukage.
"I've thought about putting the village through live combat drills before..."
"But you can actually do it like this?"
"That complex is marked 'Konoha Scientific Research Department,' isn't it? Senju Tobirama is actually attacking the village's own institutions? That's the most critical area in the entire village..."
"Shouldn't he be bombing the Uchiha Clan instead?!"
Even Mū was stunned.
In his view, Tobirama would most likely use this opportunity to ruthlessly clean out the Uchiha.
Settling personal grudges under the guise of official business was simply too tempting to pass up.
"I don't know about that. He was still Konoha's Second Hokage. Even though the entire shinobi world knows about his history with the Uchiha, I'd think he'd still try to remain relatively fair..."
Gengetsu pondered aloud.
"I've never gotten along with the Ice Release clan either, but I never deliberately made things difficult for them. Once you're sitting in our position, you have to learn to let certain things go..."
As Gengetsu and Mū talked, the Sky Ninja swarmed out of Ancor Vantian like bees pouring from a hive.
Their entire military structure revolved around the flying fortress, supported by three aircraft carriers that controlled the waterways, with Sky Ninja equipped with winged flight gear serving as their mobile forces.
They also wielded ninja tools that functioned much like firearms.
Their ammunition consisted of senbon, and they carried throwable bombs similar to explosive tags.
"That's because you were the Mizukage back then."
"You were thinking like a Kage..."
"But is Senju Tobirama still the Second Hokage now? What Kage would ever test his own village this way? Even a battle maniac like you wouldn't go this far, would you?"
"Answer me this. If you were in Tobirama's position right now, wouldn't you be looking for a way to kill that Third Mizukage?"
Mū replied coldly. He genuinely couldn't get along with someone so hopelessly rigid.
Seriously...
"...You've got a point."
"If I could move freely right now, and I had those mysterious First Generation artificial humans and the Sky Ninja under my command, I'd have Kiritori that useless fool kneeling beneath my boots already..."
Gengetsu nodded, acknowledging Mū's reasoning.
Once you were no longer a Kage, there was no reason not to act as boldly and recklessly as you pleased. That position really was suffocating.
Back when he had been Mizukage, there had been countless times when Gengetsu had nearly lost his temper. He'd wanted nothing more than to use Water Release: Gunshot to pick off every clan and shinobi who refused to obey him.
But in the end, those thoughts had remained just thoughts.
Tobirama would probably feel the same way.
Their entire conversation, however, was overheard by the Sky Ninja's supreme commander—Uchiha Madara.
"Tch..."
"Those idiots don't understand a thing!"
"'A Hokage has to treat everyone equally'? Only Hashirama and Hiruzen could ever manage something like that..."
"That bastard targeted me and the Uchiha Clan on purpose!"
Madara let out a long breath, once again recalling the conversation he'd secretly overheard between Hashirama and Tobirama before he left the village.
'A Hokage is chosen by everyone,' was it?
Give me a break!
Hashirama and I built this village with our own hands!
The overwhelming majority of the village's shinobi and clans—including that bastard Senju Tobirama—have no right whatsoever to judge me!
"Don't blame me."
"If you want someone to blame, blame this chaotic era... blame Senju Tobirama!"
Madara's eyes turned cold as he issued his second order.
"Make the Konoha Military Police Force and the Uchiha Clan compound the second-highest priority targets!"
Truthfully, even without inventing those excuses, Madara felt very little psychological burden about attacking the Uchiha.
His logic was perfectly consistent.
The Sky Ninja were destined to attack Konoha sooner or later. That was an objective fact.
All he had done was move those events forward. Although the scale of the battle had increased, it also created an opportunity for Konoha to seize the Sky Ninja's technology.
As for the Uchiha...
During the Warring States Era, Madara had experienced and witnessed countless life-and-death ordeals just like this.
These were only Sky Ninja. They couldn't compare to the brutality of his father—or many of the Uchiha elders.
If the members of the Uchiha Clan knew what he was thinking, they would probably sigh and say:
'Ah... Warring States parenting.'
Through the White Zetsu network, the two 'commentators,' Mū and Gengetsu, naturally heard the order Madara had just issued.
Mū glanced at Gengetsu, his eyes plainly saying, 'See? What did I tell you?'
Thoroughly convinced, Gengetsu nodded and gave his longtime rival a thumbs-up.
"You really do understand Senju Tobirama. No wonder the two of you are infamous throughout the shinobi world for being so underhanded!"
Mū's expression darkened. "I wouldn't go that far. Every ninjutsu I've developed is perfectly respectable..."
Madara smiled faintly.
Although they had mistaken him for Tobirama yet again, he had already accepted the role by now.
'Damn you, Tobirama. Stay in the Pure Land and complain to your heart's content about the fate that denied you the chance to remain among the living...'
'The dead exist to be used by the living!'
Gengetsu and Mū looked down upon Konoha.
The warm golden light of the afternoon spilled across the Hokage Rock. Surrounded by mountains, Konoha spread out below them in vigorous prosperity, having finally broken free from the shackles of war and the shinobi way of life.
The broad stone slabs paving the main road gleamed brightly. Beyond them, trading houses and shops stood in orderly rows, their signs packed closely together.
It wasn't difficult to imagine what Konoha had looked like before the Sky Ninja attacked.
Merchants would have been bargaining enthusiastically, while the rich aroma of tonkotsu ramen drifted through the streets amid the bustle of everyday life.
Old shinobi played board games in peace, children raced past laughing after school, and patrol teams calmly stood watch.
The entire village lacked the constant tension found in an ordinary hidden village. It held only the warm, vibrant atmosphere of peaceful daily life.
But the moment the piercing battle alert tore through that peace, all of it was destined to shatter.
"This is seriously fucking insane..."
Mū certainly didn't enjoy seeing Konoha prosper this much.
Even so, the sight of something beautiful being destroyed for no sensible reason drew a rare curse from him.
As long as a lunatic like this remained alive, the shinobi world would never know peace!
And this didn't apply only to Konoha. The same was true for Iwagakure.
If Tobirama could strike his own village this ruthlessly, would he really leave Iwagakure alone once it began to prosper?
"He really did spend too much time tangled up with the Uchiha Clan. Senju Tobirama's way of thinking is practically indistinguishable from those obsessive lunatics now..."
The moment that thought crossed his mind, Mū glared at Gengetsu, who was also sighing heavily, and couldn't resist slamming his shoulder into him hard enough to make him stumble.
"Ow! What was that for?" Gengetsu cried out in confusion.
"Spending so much time around a madman like you has contaminated me too!"
Mū gave a cold snort.
Gengetsu was just about to fire back when both he and Mū were drawn to the sudden change unfolding before them.
Amid the blaring alarm, the village emblem atop the Hokage Building was the first to blaze with brilliant golden light.
The statues of the Hokage Rock, the compounds of the Uchiha, Hyūga, and Ino–Shika–Chō clans, and numerous nodes throughout both the inner and outer village lit up one after another, rapidly linking together into a unified network.
After the Flying Thunder God transportation towers had been deployed throughout the village, Shio, Kushina, and Minato had conducted joint research with the Patrol Force and the Konoha Military Police Force.
They had invested their remaining budget into defenses for emergencies.
The golden lights now igniting at the nodes within each clan compound were the defensive barriers they had prepared in advance.
They had been developed using vast numbers of formula tags, each carefully adjusted by shinobi proficient in Fūinjutsu and barrier ninjutsu.
It had cost an enormous amount of money.
However, with Amegakure supplying large quantities of raw materials and the nobles generously opening their purses, the expense amounted to little more than another routine project for Konoha.
It was also worth mentioning that the Nine-Tails had contributed some of its strength, providing a considerable amount of chakra.
Because of that, quite a few shinobi had come to accept it. Whenever Mito wasn't around, no one objected anymore if the fox wandered through the village by itself from time to time.
At most, Danzō would occasionally mutter a few complaints, but that was all.
The golden web of light covering the entire village rose and expanded. With the Hokage Building at its center, a colossal hemispherical defensive barrier formed in an instant, enclosing both Konoha's inner and outer districts.
"Hold on..."
"A barrier this enormous isn't even being maintained by a powerful shinobi? It's an automatic system activated by formula tags?"
"How much did this cost? Does Konoha get its Fūinjutsu scrolls for free?!"
Gengetsu and Mū stared in disbelief. In their eyes, this was no different from arming the village to the teeth. Konoha was practically flaunting its wealth!
The Sky Ninja were clearly stunned as well. Not only was this defensive barrier massive, it was also a fully mechanized system.
The technology behind it was in no way inferior to their own flight technology.
But they still had to attack!
The vast swarm of Sky Ninja blotted out the sky as they dove toward the barrier over Konoha, their flight gear unleashing shrieks that tore through the air.
The diving Sky Ninja pulled their firing mechanisms, instantly unleashing a storm of armor-piercing senbon that hammered against the golden barrier in a dense barrage.
Yet every last one was deflected and shattered into a cloud of iron fragments, or melted outright into tiny droplets of molten metal, producing nothing more than fleeting sparks.
Rows of chakra explosive shells followed close behind and crashed down with a roar. The violent flames and shock waves were terrifying, yet the barrier remained as steady as bedrock.
Its support nodes flickered as chakra flowed through the embedded patterns, dispersing each layer of impact. Even the hairline cracks that appeared were rapidly repaired.
"Not bad..."
Madara gave a slight nod when he saw the Sky Ninja's attack fail.
If Hiruzen had never even considered the possibility of an enemy attacking from the sky, that would have truly disappointed Madara as his senior.
In Madara's view, an outstanding Hokage had to mobilize every resource at his disposal.
He had to prepare not only for threats that already existed, but also for attacks that might arise in the future...
The Sky Village had attacked Konoha during the Second Shinobi World War, but it had never been completely wiped out. That was common knowledge throughout the shinobi world.
As Madara's successor, Hiruzen naturally had to account for every possible contingency.
As for whether Madara himself could have done all of this, he believed he probably could.
He simply hadn't wanted to!
"So, what will you do next, Hiruzen...?"
Madara narrowed his eyes.
"The true strength of flying shinobi doesn't lie in their destructive power, but in their mobility. They can strike and then escape without paying any price. Merely defending yourself won't be enough!"
"And because this barrier covers such an enormous area, its actual strength is only mediocre..."
"Flying fortress, mobilize your chakra and bombard Konoha's Hokage Building!"
The massive flying fortress adjusted its angle.
Embedded in its very center was an enormous tribal-style human face.
The face now opened its mouth wide as it gathered chakra for a tremendously powerful bombardment cannon.
Meanwhile, the Sky Ninja continued firing senbon and hurling chakra bombs.
Bombs fell and exploded without pause, soon engulfing the golden barrier in smoke and dust.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---