Uchiha Madara was already very old.
Initially, with a piece of Hashirama Senju's flesh, Madara Uchiha obtained the opportunity to awaken the Rinnegan, but bearing and nurturing the Rinnegan also required a massive amount of chakra.
If there wasn't enough chakra, then life force would be absorbed.
This was also why Madara transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato.
Nagato, possessing both the Uzumaki and Senju bloodlines, had the chakra and life force to bear the Rinnegan for a long time. Even so, Nagato was almost drained by the Rinnegan and the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
If Madara hadn't transplanted the Rinnegan into Nagato, his old body wouldn't have been able to withstand the loss of so much life force.
A significant portion of the Uchiha's strength lay in their eyes, with the rest being Fire Release, taijutsu, and so on.
Now that Madara had lost his original eyes, he could only temporarily use a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan to fill the void, and his other combat skills had also declined due to his age.
Even if Madara Uchiha was arrogant, he still had to rely on White Zetsu in his youth to temporarily provide him with some life force to strengthen himself.
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Sunagakure, the Kazekage Building.
The Third Kazekage started working early, reviewing documents and reading intelligence from the capital of the Land of Wind.
The previous generation Daimyo of the Land of Wind had passed away, and a new generation Daimyo had taken the throne.
The previous Daimyo spent his days in extravagance, neglecting state affairs, which led to the near collapse of the country's finances, despite the Land of Wind having some foundation. During his tenure, he had twice reduced the military expenditure for Sunagakure.
The current Daimyo also seemed to be giving the Third Kazekage a headache.
Because in the process of ascending to the throne, in order to win over the noble forces in the country, he had made a lot of promises to those people.
When the time came, he would probably have to feed these nobles first before it was Sunagakure's turn for military expenditure.
Fortunately, the resources that Sunagakure had plundered from the Great Ninja War two years ago had not yet been exhausted, and the canal, the new puppet technique production line, and the chakra-powered vehicles that Shimizu had created had greatly changed Sunagakure's financial situation, bringing huge benefits.
The Third Kazekage glanced at the annual financial report summary that he had just finished annotating.
Now the village's economic production capacity had entered a positive cycle, and even without the Daimyo's support for military expenditure, Sunagakure could maintain itself.
Perhaps, it was precisely because of this that the Daimyo and those nobles felt that they had lost control over Sunagakure, and made such a move in response.
Thinking of this, the Third Kazekage remembered the nobles of the Land of Wind who wanted to interfere with the interests of the canal after it was built.
The Third Kazekage couldn't help but have a headache.
Forget it, I'll call Chiyo and Ebizo to discuss it later, and also call Shimizu over.
Rasa wasn't smart enough, but Shimizu had unique insights and ways of thinking.
Although this child was talented, he was still young, and it was time for him to see the dangers of politics.
But since Shimizu was called, Rasa had to be called too.
Although the Third Kazekage recognized Shimizu's ability more and preferred Shimizu to become his successor, it didn't mean that Rasa was out of the game.
He was still one of the Kazekage candidates.
The Third Kazekage wouldn't favor one over the other, and he would give what should be given. Whether or not they could win depended on their own abilities.
Go invite Elder Chiyo and Elder Ebizo, and also call Shimizu and Rasa over.
The Third Kazekage rang the bell on his desk and said to an Anbu member.
Shimizu was the first to arrive, because he happened to be coming to the Kazekage Building to report on the Bloodline Puppet matter.
In fact, he ran into the Anbu member just as he was leaving.
