The most dazzling Shinobi of this era is Konoha's Yellow Flash—Minato.
To Madara, Minato was only at Tobirama's level, perhaps even inferior to Tobirama.
Madara descended in his prime, but to a battle maniac like him, all he saw were a bunch of rabble.
Being invincible is a form of loneliness; having no opponent is a form of pain.
Madara looked at the cavern ceiling, seemingly gazing into the distance: "Hashirama... in a world without you, who else can stop me?"
Wait, this feeling—
Madara suddenly stood up, his Rinnegan seemingly piercing through layers of mist to see the distant Shikkotsu Forest.
He had a feeling that Hashirama's chakra had been revived; the chakra within his own body was resonating with the other's.
This was a tacit understanding, the ultimate bond between best friends or rivals.
Madara began to laugh, eventually breaking into wild laughter.
This feeling couldn't be wrong; Hashirama has returned from the Pure Land!
Now things are getting interesting; this is what gets the blood pumping.
Black and White Zetsu watched with some confusion, not knowing what madness had gripped Madara to make him suddenly break into that characteristic Uchiha wild laughter!
After Madara calmed down, he sensed Ryou moving away from Amegakure.
Madara's Rinnegan couldn't clearly see Ryou's Spore Clone, but Ryou bore a cursed seal placed by Madara.
Madara knew exactly where Ryou was.
"Is this fellow planning to go to Ryūchi Cave to seek Senjutsu?"
Madara deduced.
Back when Ryou went to intercept Orochimaru at the bridge, a White Zetsu had followed him; Madara knew Ryou had sought Orochimaru's summoning scroll.
It wasn't hard to understand. At Ryou's current level, there were only two kinds of power he could pursue.
Either move toward Madara's path of development or toward Hashirama's.
Madara's path was the power of the Mangekyo, which required witnessing the loss of a loved one.
This could only be accepted passively.
The power of the Sharingan has always been a passive acquisition; no member of the Uchiha Clan could actively awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, Ryou could actively seek Hashirama's power; Ryou was only Senjutsu away from Hashirama's realm.
As long as he learned Senjutsu, he would be no different from Hashirama.
And for Senjutsu, among the Three Great Sage Regions, only Ryūchi Cave would accept him.
White Zetsu asked, "Lord Madara, should we stop Lord Ryou?"
Madara smiled. "Why should I stop him?"
White Zetsu explained, "If Lord Ryou learns Senjutsu, he will possess the power of Hashirama."
Madara sneered. "Do you think that even with the Rinnegan, I still haven't pulled far ahead of Hashirama?"
"..."
White Zetsu fell silent.
Even if Ryou obtained all of Hashirama's power, he would still be a small fry in front of Madara.
In the original work, even though Hashirama and Madara fought tooth and nail during the Fourth Great Shinobi War...
In reality, Madara had always been using Hashirama to stay away from Obito and the Shinobi Allied Forces's battlefield, waiting for the moment of Obito's failure.
After all, both Madara and Obito wanted to seize control of the Ten-Tails.
If Madara wanted to, he could easily deal with Hashirama; with the Rinnegan, Madara had long since surpassed Hashirama by a wide margin.
With Limbo, Madara could instantly take out Hashirama.
Madara crossed his arms and sneered, "I look forward to him becoming stronger, and even more so to him trying to resist me. Having no opponent is simply boring to me."
Madara wasn't afraid of Ryou betraying him; he was afraid Ryou wouldn't dare to, as that would be even more disappointing.
To struggle against heaven is infinite joy; to struggle against earth is infinite joy; to struggle against man is infinite joy.
...
Ryou took Katsuyu far away from Amegakure and emerged in a rainforest.
Katsuyu said, "Ryūchi Cave is far from the Shinobi continent. If you rely on running, it will take a month's journey. Are you prepared?"
Ryou stroked it and said, "Who has the patience to run? I can fly!"
Ryou channeled the Seven-Tails within him. Under the Seven-Tails' Chakra, a pair of giant orange-yellow veined wings sprouted from Ryou's back.
Katsuyu recognized them. "Those are Seven-Tails Chomei's wings. You've obtained the Seven-Tails' power?"
Ryou nodded. "Yes, I absorbed the Seven-Tails' Chakra. Right now, I'm essentially a Seven-Tails Jinchuriki."
Katsuyu added, "It's still not enough. The Seven-Tails' flight speed isn't particularly fast, let alone just borrowing a portion of its power!"
"Flying like this, it will still take at least a week!"
Candy appeared on Ryou's shoulder and suggested, "Use Satori! I've never seen anyone exceed Satori in flight speed."
"Alright!"
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Ryou activated the Summoning Jutsu, and immediately a giant, long-fanged monster with black wings appeared from the smoke.
Katsuyu recognized it at a glance. "This is Satori, the Mind-Reading Demon sealed within the Box of Ultimate Bliss. I didn't expect you to have tamed it as a Summoned Beast!"
Satori was currently enjoying the negative energy of the prisoners in Hozuki Castle; being suddenly summoned here put it in a bad mood.
"I was just eating! Aren't you causing trouble by summoning me like this?"
"How dare you—!"
Ryou formed a hand seal and activated the spores inside Satori. Instantly, violent electrical currents surged through Satori's body, causing it to curl into a ball from the shock.
"Master, Master, I won't do it again! I'll never dare to disobey you again!"
Katsuyu watched as the demon that once terrorized the Shinobi World begged for mercy so humbly before Ryou, feeling not a shred of sympathy.
Because Satori was a demonic creature, such a monster needed someone even more demonic to keep it in check.
Ryou scolded Satori and explained the purpose of the summons: he wanted to use Satori's top-tier flight mechanics to reach Ryūchi Cave.
Satori realized, "Master, do you want to go to Ryūchi Cave to practice Senjutsu?"
Satori knew about Senjutsu; in the original work, it had recognized Naruto's use of Senjutsu during their battle.
Ryou nodded. "Stop talking. Katsuyu, you lead the way. We're flying toward Ryūchi Cave."
"Yes!"
Ryou flew onto Satori's back, carrying Katsuyu.
Satori suddenly unfurled its massive pitch-black wings, the resulting gale instantly blowing away the surrounding raindrops.
Its form turned into a blurred shadow under the dark clouds, almost merging with the howling wind, leaving only the sharp whistle of the wingtips slicing through the air.
Satori flew incredibly fast, so fast that everything around them became a blur.
If Ryou hadn't firmly anchored himself to its body with chakra, he would have been thrown off by the massive inertia long ago.
Under Katsuyu's guidance, they flew toward Ryūchi Cave.
But Satori's flight speed was so high that both Katsuyu and Candy were struggling to breathe.
A chakra shield expanded from Ryou's body, and Katsuyu and Candy immediately felt much better.
Katsuyu said, "At this speed, I estimate we'll reach Ryūchi Cave by tomorrow!"
Ryou nodded and praised Satori, "Satori, I'm willing to call you the second fastest in the Shinobi World."
Satori was a bit unhappy. Why second fastest? Its flight speed was once unparalleled in the Shinobi World.
Back then, it simply didn't know how powerful the Sage of Six Paths was and was killed by the Rinnegan's mechanics upon their first meeting.
If it happened again, Satori would definitely flee at maximum power immediately, ensuring the Sage of Six Paths could never catch up!
It considered its flight speed to be number one in the world, unrivaled throughout history.
No one in the Shinobi World could possibly exceed its speed!
But it couldn't disregard Ryou's words, as the other held its life in his hands.
Satori asked curiously, "Master, who is the fastest in the Shinobi World?"
Ryou said, "The Yellow Flash of Konoha, of course. Could it be me?"
Satori was curious again, "Yellow Flash?"
Satori had only just awakened and didn't understand this era yet. In Hozuki Castle, it clearly had the opportunity to ask the Kusagakure Shinobi for information about this era.
But with its arrogance, it clearly didn't want to interact with those weak humans.
Ryou then explained Minato's situation to Satori. Minato's speed wasn't actually the absolute top, but he had mastered Space-Time Ninjutsu.
For instance, to get to Ryūchi Cave where they were going now, as long as he had the spatial coordinates, Minato could arrive in an instant.
Whereas Satori had to rely on flying.