After a long silence, Uchiha Madara suddenly spoke. "I've decided. Next... I'm heading to the Hidden Leaf."
White Zetsus: "Eh-le-le?"
Uchiha Madara said solemnly, "The current Hidden Leaf has changed too much. The genjutsu game has brought huge changes, and the developments among other members of the Leaf are also significant. That younger one—Minato Namikaze—I've been observing him. While his potential was decent before, it never impressed me."
"But lately, the speed at which Minato Namikaze has grown has exceeded my expectations. And since the Nine-Tails is essential for the success of the Eye of the Moon plan..."
"If he keeps getting stronger, he'll become a major threat. So I've decided to personally go to the Hidden Leaf and hide in the Uchiha clan's ancestral land beneath the Naka Shrine, to better observe the village."
"Black Zetsu, go there now and build a new underground chamber for me. I'll have Tobi bring me there later."
Black Zetsu's entire body tensed at those words, and he felt completely unwell.
He had been hoping to stay as far away from the Hidden Leaf—and Uchiha Kei—as possible. And now, Madara wanted him to go straight toward them.
Although the Naka Shrine wasn't technically within the Hidden Leaf but in a hidden forested area northeast of the village near the Naka River, it was still the Uchiha clan's ancestral estate. Its concealment and security were excellent, and being underground would likely keep them hidden from the Uchiha clan.
Still, Black Zetsu just couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't safe. He had this constant sense of impending doom—that Uchiha Kei would find them and subject him to ultimate humiliation.
Sure, this was mostly trauma-induced paranoia, but Uchiha Kei's sheer intimidation factor left Black Zetsu unable to stay calm.
But orders were orders. If he didn't comply, even his persona as Madara's incarnation would be in jeopardy.
So Black Zetsu could only nod solemnly and promise to handle things properly for Madara.
Whether he was mentally cursing the old geezer for being so troublesome at such a critical time... well, who knows.
One way or another, after more than forty years away from the village, Madara was finally returning to the Hidden Leaf.
But this time, it wasn't the return of a king. It was the twilight of a fallen warrior.
———— Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹⟡𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⟡𝙣𝙚𝙩
Two weeks quietly passed since the Black Zetsu ambush incident.
During that time, Uchiha Kei focused most of his energy on developing a new game—a fighting game, specifically.
Without a doubt, this game was more time-consuming than any of his previous projects, even with the vast resources available through the spiritual network.
The game required a large roster of characters, and fighting games demanded finely tuned balance. Even if perfect balance wasn't achievable, it had to be relatively close.
This took serious time to refine.
Honestly, the cost in time and energy for this project was extremely high—some might even call it wasteful.
But Uchiha Kei didn't mind. He saw it as a valuable opportunity to hone his skills while also completing the system's persistent main quest: "Have 200,000 players try a new game."
Once this fighting game was completed, he would gain critical experience in balancing mechanics—a skill that would benefit future projects immensely.
Those three little words, "game balance," might seem simple. But in competitive gaming, it was the hardest thing to get right. A single misstep in stats or mechanics could collapse the entire meta.
Just look at Earth's classics like Honor of Kings, League of Legends, or Counter-Strike—every one of them had struggled with balance issues that nearly tanked their competitive scenes. Fixing those issues always came at a huge cost.
Uchiha Kei didn't have those skills yet. In his past life, he was just another scummy dev. He had never touched competitive games. Without a powerful company backing you, dreams stayed dreams.
Normally, it would take him at least a year or two to iron out the balancing alone. Fighting games, after all, usually required full teams of experts working for extended periods.
Thankfully, the system's spiritual network tools were ridiculously powerful. Many processes were automated using internal modules. Need to simulate ability values? The network tools had it covered.
Thanks to this, Uchiha Kei managed to get the new fighting game nearly finished in just two weeks. In a few more days, it would be ready to launch.
Meanwhile, his other games were still performing well. "Outlast" had launched across the entire shinobi world and created quite a stir—especially among daimyō, nobles, and wealthy merchants. The game was a massive hit.
The thrill of fear brought a unique kind of pleasure. The sense of "surviving death" was irresistible to thrill-seekers. For the daimyō and elites who were bored of every conventional pleasure, a safe but intense thrill was irresistible.
In the caste-like world of the shinobi, a lack of crisis was common among the upper class. Even in the original Naruto story, this was evident.
Remember the Fourth Great Ninja War? As Obito, under Madara's name, plunged the world into chaos, the daimyō and nobles remained relaxed—so much so they gathered to play mahjong while the frontlines were burning. Their only concern was how many medals to hand out afterward.
Back then, Uchiha Kei had only one thought watching that scene: "These useless scumbags should all just die. Protecting them is a waste of manpower."
Now? He believed it even more.
The gaming market had hit a bottleneck. With support from the Uchiha clan, major ninja clans, and external partners, his genjutsu-based games had already spread across most of the shinobi world.
Yet, even his most successful game had only 160,000 players—far from the 200,000 required by the system.
He had to expand the market. And the best way was to bring in the real masses—the common folk.
But in a world like the shinobi one, the poor had no upward mobility. They barely survived, let alone played games.
Kei understood why. That understanding made him want to blow up every daimyō and noble, to destroy this rotten, backward system, and modernize the world.
If he could do that, system goals would no longer be a problem. Reaching user quotas would be easy.
Unfortunately, reality wasn't so kind. No matter how badly he wanted to obliterate the elite class, without the power to destroy and rebuild the world order, any such attempt would just be suicide. Not even his best bro Minato could save him.
So he had to find another way.
Just then, Orochimaru "conveniently" completed a new aphrodisiac drug. But more importantly, the top scientist in the shinobi world also developed a bonus product—a type of plant growth accelerator.
This chemical could take a plant from sprouting to maturity in just one month, without depleting the soil's fertility. In fact, it even enriched the land.
The implications were clear: agriculture.
Using this, food production could skyrocket without worrying about overusing the soil. This would be a massive benefit to civilians and shinobi alike—but a nightmare scenario for the ruling class.
Technically, more food should always be a good thing. But in feudal systems, too much food disrupts the power dynamics of landowners and nobles who use food scarcity as a tool of control.
Throughout history—even on Earth—peasants had eagerly embraced high-yield crops, while elites often destroyed or suppressed them to maintain control.
It was inevitable the same would happen in the shinobi world.