Itachi's combat IQ was truly impressive. Despite the entire Akatsuki chasing him for hours, they found no trace of him.
Naruto suspected Itachi had prepared for this long ago, or perhaps he had never attended meetings in his real body to begin with.
Just in case his identity was ever exposed.
'Tch…'
'You really are worthy of being called an old schemer!'
After Nagato finally discovered that the traitor had escaped, he could only retreat into the shadows and seethe in silent fury.
After calming down, he found the three people who captured the Ichibi and sealed the Biju into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
This would also confirm whether they had been lying to him.
When the three of them watched Pain approaching the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path with the mini Ichibi in his hand, Sasori and Deidara were panicking.
Because they knew that this thing was just part of Ichibi's Chakra.
If Pain knew about this, wouldn't he just blast them with a Shinra Tensei on the spot?
However, Naruto remained completely calm.
While Shukaku's Chakra might not be enough to revive Jubi, he thinks it should be no problem for the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to absorb the Biju's Chakra.
Sure enough…
Just as Naruto had expected, the palm-sized Shukaku was effortlessly sucked into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Pain turned and gave them an approving nod.
"Good work."
"You guys can go back and rest first."
"Remember to keep a low profile recently."
With their hideout recently attacked and Itachi's betrayal, even someone who proclaimed himself a god like Nagato had to order his members to keep a low profile.
Plus, he needed time to recover as well.
"Yes, Leader!"
The moment Deidara heard they could rest, he nearly jumped in joy.
Naruto glanced at Deidara, covered his face and couldn't bear to look at him.
'Fine, fine, fine.'
'When you were on the mission, you were one step away from calling Pain an idiot, and now that now that you get time off, suddenly he's 'Leader' again?'
'What a hypocrite.'
After completing the mission, the three of them left the base, exchanged glances, and wordlessly went their separate ways.
Naruto thought about it and realized that he had nothing urgent to do, so he opened a portal and went back to the village to find Sasuke.
He wanted to tell him the news that his brother has defected again.
…
Meanwhile, in a hidden corner of the Kamui Dimension, a severely injured Obito lay sprawled on the ground.
At this moment, Black Zetsu suddenly rushed over, dragging a burlap sack and shouting excitedly, "Obito!"
"You are saved!!"
As Black Zetsu ran, the sack in his hand made a clinking sound.
It seemed like there were quite a few glass bottles in there.
"Cough... cough..."
"Can't you... just shut up for once?"
Obito was this close to losing it. Ever since Black Zetsu had started lurking in the Kamui Dimension, he'd been nothing but noisy.
While it is true that Black Zetsu always finds ways to help him recover...
But he's really annoying.
Obito even felt that his slow recovery was entirely because he didn't get enough rest due to the noise made by Black Zetsu.
"That doesn't matter!"
"These things can heal your injuries!"
Black Zetsu interrupted Obito and excitedly took out an empty glass bottle from the sack.
Originally, he'd just been wandering around the Kamui dimension out of boredom, but as he walked around, he discovered that there were quite a few discarded glass bottles in here.
At first, Black Zetsu didn't care.
But as time went by, curiosity got the better of him, and he opened one of the empty glass bottles to see what the remaining red liquid was.
It would have been fine if he hadn't seen it, but once he did, he was completely stunned.
He actually felt a powerful Yang Energy in the liquid remaining in the empty bottle.
Though only a tiny amount remained, if he collected all the leftover liquid from these bottles, he can probably save up a lot.
That is to say...
As long as Obito drinks the remaining liquid, he could return to full strength!
Then the Eye of the Moon's plan could resume!
And most importantly, the plan of saving his mother can finally move forward!
"You…"
Obito glanced at the remaining liquid in the glass bottle and felt a surge of rage bubbling in his chest.
'Damn it!'
'Black Zetsu actually wanted me to drink someone else's leftovers!?'
'What's the difference between this and picking up garbage to eat?!'
'And what's worse…'
'I remembered that there were no such things in my Kamui Dimesion before.'
'Which means these things belong to that guy Kakashi...'
'Drink these!?'
'I'd rather die than eat Kakashi's leftovers?!'
When Black Zetsu saw Obito's twisted look, his face instantly turned dark.
"Obito..."
"I know this is very humiliating..."
"But think about the Eye of the Moon's plan."
"Think of your beloved Rin."
Black Zetsu was truly a master of manipulation. With just a few words, he had Obito drowning in a flashback of memories.
At the same time, his hands moved deftly, pulling out an empty bottle and carefully pouring the dregs from the other bottles into it.
It wasn't long before he had collected half a bottle of red liquid.
Because this red liquid was far too precious, Black Zetsu split the half-bottle into two doses.
"Obito, drink it now."
"It's not a good idea for us to continue hiding here."
"There is still that powerful enemy in the sky waiting for us to defeat."
Black Zetsu was persuading Obito earnestly like a nagging mother, and had already pressed the bottle in his hand to Obito's mouth.
Obito felt great hatred in his heart. Then, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, opened his mouth and accepted the humiliation.
As the liquid entered his throat, Obito's body was instantly filled with Yang Energy.
His injuries rapidly healed under the influence of this energy.
In just a few seconds, Obito pushed himself up from the ground.
He stared at his hands and muttered to himself.
"Un... unbelievable..."
"Kakashi actually had something like this."
"Wait…!?"
"My eye!?"
Obito rubbed his left eye and was shocked to find that the eye that had been given to Kakashi had grown back again.
He subconsciously opened his Sharingan to see if his restored eye could also use Kamui.
"Hmm..."
"Seems like just a normal eye, huh?"
Unfortunately, no matter how Obito mobilized his Pupil Power, he could not open the Sharingan with his left eye, let alone the Mangekyo.
"This really is amazing stuff."
Black Zetsu couldn't help but sigh as he held the remaining dose in his hand.
"Let's save the rest for later."
"It'll come in handy at a critical moment."
At this point, Obito couldn't care less that this was Kakashi's leftovers. He just wanted to continue to look in the Kamui Dimension to see if there was any more of this thing.
"First, show me where you found these bottles."
Black Zetsu nodded, then stored the remaining dose, and led Obito in the direction where he had found the bottles.
After walking for about ten minutes, Obito finally saw the location that Black Zetsu mentioned.
The large open space was littered with empty bottles and cans, alongside broken training posts, damaged furniture, and all sorts of discarded junk.
Though the medicine was undeniably useful, Obito couldn't help but feel furious.
'Damn it!'
'What on earth does Kakashi think of the Kamui Dimension!?'
'A garbage dump?!'
"Calm down."
"At least Kakashi did leave these potions behind to heal you."
Seeing Obito on the verge of exploding, Black Zetsu hurriedly tried to soothe him.
But he never expected that Obito would become even more upset after hearing this.
"SHUT UP!!"
"Just help me collect the bottles!"
Obito's face twitched as he bent down to pick up the empties, but when he passed by a particularly colorful pile of trash...
He froze.
Like he'd been struck by lightning, he stood there dumbly, his brain short-circuiting.
He stood there for a full ten minutes, then gritted his teeth and roaring word by word.
"KAKASHI…!!"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU USE MY EYE FOR?!!"
Obito looked at the mountain of women's clothing in front of him and was so angry that he wanted to kill Kakashi on the spot.