The sealing ritual was being carried out by all members of the Akatsuki, led by Obito.
The sealing required a long time.
Starting from the One-Tail and ending with the Nine-Tail, the Chakra of all Nine Tailed Beasts had to be injected into the Gedo Statue in order.
A heavy silence filled the cave.
Only occasionally was it broken by the faint whimpers of the Tailed Beasts.
Suddenly, Kakuzu, who was almost the same age as the two old-timers Madara and Hashirama, couldn't help but speak up.
"This feels way too smooth."
His dark green eyes swept across the Akatsuki's members as he continued, "Only Kisame died. The Government Allied Forces shouldn't be this weak, right?"
At these words, everyone's gaze turned to Kakuzu.
White Zetsu and Black Zetsu couldn't help but tremble inside.
Black Zetsu gritted his teeth deep underground.
'That guy Kakuzu, having lived too long, had an unexpectedly sharp sense of smell.'
'Once something like that was said, everyone present would start thinking too much.'
'Although they couldn't possibly guess the real plan, any hint of suspicion could cause the entire scheme to fall apart.'
Then, before anyone else could speak, White Zetsu was the first to respond, his tone carrying a hint of deliberate nonchalance:
"So what? Are you suggesting we give the Tailed Beasts back?"
At these words, some who had been about to speak fell silent again.
Including Obito.
Indeed, although it felt like things were going a bit too smoothly, now that the most important Tailed Beasts were in hand, there was no turning back.
It wasn't like they could just give the Tailed Beasts back, as Kakuzu had suggested.
Obito was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and squeezed out one word: "Continue."
The sealing continued.
The atmosphere in the cave relaxed slightly.
Hashirama, who had a tendency to be talkative, couldn't help himself again.
"Haha, Madara, how does it feel to be ordered around by your descendant?"
Madara gave him a dirty look and retorted, "Aren't you also being controlled?"
Hashirama put his hands on his hips and said triumphantly, "He's not my descendant, so you're the more embarrassing one."
As he said this, the corners of Hashirama's mouth were stretched all the way to his ears.
Although what he said was clearly the pot calling the kettle black, he was still very happy to be able to one-up Madara.
After all, he had always been one step ahead of this old partner during his lifetime, and he didn't expect to keep winning even after death.
Win!
Keep winning!
Winning streak!
This time, Madara didn't respond.
His gaze shifted away from Hashirama and landed on the Six Paths of Konoha in the center of the cave... Tobirama, Hiruzen, Minato, Sakumo, Shisui.
His gaze lingered on them for a moment, and his eyes keenly captured the black rods inserted into the reanimated bodies.
'Chakra Receivers.'
Madara sneered coldly.
'That deadbeat kid Obito had grown quite a lot during the years I had been dead.'
Tobirama couldn't help but complain about his older brother, "Brother, you still have the leisure to be happy? We're all controlled now, and the Tailed Beasts have fallen into the hands of that Uchiha brat. It seems this Ninja World is in grave danger."
However, Hashirama didn't really care. He waved his hand and said,
"A very powerful Ninja must have appeared in this era. Otherwise, that young Uchiha wouldn't have called us old-timers out to help, right?"
At these words, the many Akatsuki's members, led by Obito, couldn't help but glance at Hashirama.
'As expected of the God of Ninja.'
'Despite knowing nothing about this era and not even having set foot on the battlefield, he could still pinpoint the key point with precision.'
However, Tobirama indicated that these people were overthinking it.
His older brother was just simply not very sharp.
…
Time passed minute by minute.
The sealing ritual continued from day until night.
Finally, night arrived.
The Yin Nine-Tails extracted from Minato's body was also sent into the Gedo Statue by the sealing technique.
The nine Chakra chains simultaneously contracted, injecting the final surge of Nine-Tails' Chakra into the statue's body.
Click!
A faint sound rang, like a lock being opened…
The ten eyes of the Gedo Statue, which had been tightly shut, suddenly snapped open.
Every eye socket was filled with bloodshot veins, and a crimson red glow burst forth from them.
Its originally withered body rapidly expanded.
Countless worms seemed to writhe beneath its dry, shriveled skin.
Then, as its body expanded, one, two, three... ten tails burst out from the base of its tail, growing within just a few breaths to a scale sufficient to blot out the sky and sun.
The ten tails danced wildly in the cave, each swing leaving a deep gash in the cave walls, with rubble falling like raindrops.
The next moment—
The Gedo Statue raised its head, opened its mouth, and let out a heart-wrenching roar.
"Roooar—!!!"
That sound erupted from the cave, penetrating hundreds of meters of solid earth and shooting into the clouds.
Over a hundred miles away, countless Allied Forces' Ninjas who had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep were jolted awake, running out of their tents with pale faces, looking toward the direction from which the sound came.
"What's going on?!"
…
Obito stood atop the statue, his feet seemingly rooted to the spot. Rubble fell around him, brushing past his clothes and crashing to the ground.
The corners of his mouth slowly rose, rapidly escalating into an almost uncontrollable frenzy.
"Revive… my Ten-Tails!"
At that moment, above ground in the Allied Forces' camp, a soap opera was unfolding.
The Konoha rookies were all comforting Naruto.
Ino: "It's not your fault."
Kiba: "Don't you want to become Hokage? Then forget about that guy Sasuke. He's not normal anyway."
Shikamaru: "Get some rest. The war isn't over yet."
Naruto curled up on his cot, his body covered in bandages, his face buried in the blanket, his voice muffled and tinged with suppressed tears.
"I didn't bring Sasuke back. I didn't keep my promise to Sakura... and now Gaara is hanging by a thread... It's all my fault."
Sonoko, leaning against the tent entrance, heard Naruto's words and finally couldn't help but interject:
"Putting aside Gaara's situation for a moment, you really don't need to take that promise to Sakura so seriously. If she wants to bring her husband back, why doesn't she just go herself?"
Sonoko's voice carried a hint of impatience.
She really couldn't listen to this anymore.
Sakura didn't go looking for Sasuke herself. Instead, she cried and begged Naruto to go. And now that Naruto hadn't brought him back, he was here crying about how sorry he was to Sakura. What kind of logic was that?
It made it sound like Sasuke was Naruto's husband.