Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its character belong to Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I make.
Chapter 159: Report
12 DECEMBER KONOHA YEAR 46
MADARA POV - REPORT
"Konoha has grown bigger than I expected," commented Madara quietly after listening to the latest report by white Zetsu, his eyes are looking at nothing because his mind are still processing every news that he had just received.
Since the last war ended, the ninja world had changed in ways that went far beyond he had expected. The first change started from Konoha spread outward like water finding new ground to make sure the plant grow healthier.
The first victim was the Daimyo himself, what had once been a position of absolute authority had been reduced to a mere figurehead role, with ninja from Konoha watching every movement of the current Daimyo.
Not enough of that the new Hokage had introduced the new system called Democracy and this system would let those commoner or scholar become president which is the name of a new ruler.
President has almost the same power like Daimyo, they can implement the yearly budget for people in land of fire. With the new presidential system, the slave system were slowly abolished.
Second biggest thing that happen are the economic reform, it is not just happen in Konoha even the other places that just lost the war got benefit from this new system.
Merchants apparently were moving outside land of fire (with Raiken who directed them behind the scene), new entertainment district has been opened in a place that was once empty. The village that struggle to survive suddenly filled with a new job opportunity thanks to all this shop.
Now all those people who had once had good reason to resent Konoha after losing the war were now benefiting from the peace that Konoha had brought to them.
The third thing in the report gave Madara pause for a while because children born from the combination of Uzumaki and Uchiha bloodlines were awakening the Sharingan at an age that should have been impossible, some of them reaching three tomoe as young as two or three years old.
Madara didn't know yet that this wasn't naturally awakening, in the surface it looked like a natural result of two powerful bloodlines combining but the reality, which had never been made public and was known only to a very small number of people, was that a new Uzumaki sealing jutsu had been developed that could enhance the specific type of chakra responsible for awakening the Sharingan. Nobody outside of those involved knew it existed which meant the world had misunderstood it.
Madara sat still for a moment before releasing sigh.
'If I had stayed in Konoha, if things had gone differently and I had remained part of what was being built there, he might have looked at this report and felt something close to satisfaction. The village I had helped found alongside Hashirama had become something that was genuinely changing the world,' thought Madara.
But he had chosen different path and he still believed in the peace he had always wanted. He had simply stopped believing it could be reached the way Hashirama had always insisted it could. The world Madara wanted was one where suffering was impossible and the only way he had ever been able to imagine achieving that was to remove the choice entirely, to place every living person inside a Genjutsu so that the pain of the real world could never reach them again.
"How about Raiken? Last time his wife was pregnant," asked Madara.
"Madara sama, when im trying to heard from passerby about them, I found out about Fugaku," replied White Zetsu.
"Fugaku, who is that?" Madara put his finger on his chin trying to remember the name. "Is that the elder son?"
"Yes Madara sama, before this he was the candidate for the next clan leader," replied White Zetsu. "But after Raiken come to Konoha, his status within the clan had changed."
"Describe what had changed," Madara questioning Zetsu.
"Fugaku was once candidate for a future leader, he was a man full of calibre and confidence but now he was someone, no it should be a madman who fail in love," Madara brow furrowed but he still listen to White Zetsu. "From what I have heard, Fugaku was in love with Uchiha Mikoto, she is the current wife of Uzumaki Raiken."
Madara eyes widened and then blinked before finally laugh.
"Hahahahaahahahahaha, we now have someone who we could mold," said Madara.
"Madara sama do you mean you wanted Fugaku to become our people?" asked White Zetsu.
"Yes, we will use Fugaku," replied Madara.
"But how, he only failed in love not being betrayed," White Zetsu feel confused.
"An Uchiha would only awaken their true power when they have emotional distress such as death of their close relatives and now your job is to find out either he had awaken Mangekyou Sharingan or not," ordered Madara.
White Zetsu took a moment before finally replying to Madara.
"Ok Madara sama," he then swirled down to the ground and vanished.
Meanwhile Fugaku who didn't noticed at all feel the sudden cold gush on his head.
UZUMAKI NAGATO - HOME
"How are you Nagato," greeted Raiken.
"Uncle, do you have candy?" asked Nagato, his eyes already searching Raiken hands with the kind of hopeful expression that was difficult to say no to. Nagato is currently 2 to 3 years old and he can eat the candy, last time Raiken visit and did the mistake.
'The adult shouldn't give the candy to early to the kids.'
Raiken laughed at that, because this version of Nagato was very different from the person he would one day become in the manga, that the contrast was difficult for Raiken to sorted them out.
Then another man arrived just in time, stepping through the doorway with his wife with a warm smile already on his face and he was the father of Nagato.
"Raiken sama, thank you for visiting us," he said.
"There is no need to thank me," replied Raiken easily. "I just wanted to see the future of the Uzumaki Clan with my own eyes."
'And to find out whether that future would become a dangerous enemy or a trusted ally,' he thought quietly to himself.
Although many things had gone the way he had hoped, he never allowed himself to fully relax about the direction of the plot. There were too many variables he could not control and too many ways things could still go wrong. Nagato in particular was someone he intended to keep close regardless of how innocent he looked right now asking for candy.
As one saying from his past world went, keep your friends close and keep your enemies even closer. Whether Nagato would end up being one or the other was something only time would answer and until then Raiken saw no reason to leave that question unattended.
....
There is 30 advanced chapter on my patreon.
Chapter 183: Dealing
Chapter 184: Approved
Chapter 185: Inspecting
Chapter 186: Waifu Part 1
Chapter 187: Waifu Part 2
Chapter 188: Waifu Last
Chapter 189: Kaguya POV
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