Chapter 196: Obito: "My Cover's Blown!"
The Land of Rain.
Behind Konan, sheets of pure white paper transformed into a pair of angelic white wings, lifting her up entirely.
Under Jūzō Biwa's gaze, Konan flew directly across the broken cliff gorge, arriving at Jūzō Biwa and the Wood Clone's side.
The wings behind her spread open and instantly dissipated. The expressionless woman landed on the ground, with several sheets of paper appearing beneath her feet to support her.
This prevented the rain-soaked mud from touching her in the slightest.
Seeing her fly over so openly and without reservation.
Jūzō Biwa realized that Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone was right. The woman before him must be a clone! If she were the original body, she wouldn't dare stand alone in front of the 'Lava Release Fiend,' unless she also knew this was only a Wood Clone.
A thought flashed through Jūzō Biwa's mind.
He was almost completely confused by the word "clone."
"My mission for you was to obtain specific confidential information, not to betray the Akatsuki and bring him to the Land of Rain." Konan's pair of amber eyes glared at Jūzō Biwa: "I warned you when you joined the Akatsuki. Betraying the organization will cost you an unimaginable price. In that situation, 'death' might even be a luxury."
"Hold on, hold on! "
Jūzō Biwa vehemently denied it: "Don't arbitrarily impose your malicious suspicions on me. Did you tell me I couldn't bring Ikeizumi Uchiha here?"
He paused, and as Konan's expression grew colder, he continued: "What's more "
"The man who truly knows the secrets of Madara Uchiha has come right to you. Wouldn't that allow you to understand Madara Uchiha better? Isn't this what you wanted?"
Jūzō Biwa exhaled. Since things had come to this, he could only defiantly stand his ground.
He looked directly at Konan and continued, "Or are you afraid of this 'Lava Release Fiend' from Konoha? Strictly speaking, I've exceeded the requirements of the mission you gave me. Surely our Akatsuki organization wouldn't discard a newcomer like this, would we?!"
Konan looked deeply at Jūzō Biwa.
Then, without changing her expression, she looked toward Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone.
She said, "Even here in the Land of Rain, we've heard of your great reputation. Ikeizumi Uchiha, the Uchiha genius active during the Third Great Shinobi War; the founder of the [Absolute Justice] ninja way; the man who dared to kill the Daimyō of the Land of Fire alone and still made it out of the capital unharmed."
"Perhaps you don't know, but your deeds have already spread throughout the entire ninja world. Many busybodies are already confusing you with your clan's ancestor, Madara Uchiha. They believe you, Ikeizumi Uchiha, will be the second Madara Uchiha."
At this, Konan's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I understand that 'Madara Uchiha' seems very interested in you; he's been secretly investigating everything about you. This leads me to believe you must possess certain secrets concerning him."
"How about we make a trade? The Akatsuki organization can kill someone for you anyone, as long as it's within the Akatsuki's capabilities."
"What you need to give the Akatsuki organization is the secret of Madara Uchiha."
The air suddenly grew quiet. The light rain started to fall again. Konan didn't intentionally use her paper to shield the rain, allowing the rainwater to splash onto her, causing her black cloak with red clouds to cling to her body. A few strands of wet hair stuck to her pale face.
Jūzō Biwa felt the slightly heavy atmosphere and was inexplicably nervous, which he found absurd.
I, a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, feeling nervous in this situation?
It would be humiliating if that got out.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone finally spoke. He also looked directly at Konan, meeting her amber eyes: "I don't need the Akatsuki organization to kill anyone for me. If the only way to trade information is through terms, then all your core Akatsuki members submitting to execution might be the best term of trade."
Konan was stunned.
A trace of annoyance flashed across her high, cold, and aloof face.
Before she could speak, Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone continued expressionlessly: "However if revealing that guy's information to the public can cause him some trouble and make his life miserable, I'd be quite happy to do so."
"If that brain-sick sycophant dies because of it, all the better, even if he doesn't die by my hand, but in the internal fighting between villains."
"What's more, the secret of Obito Uchiha is no secret at all to me. It doesn't even count as information."
Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone dropped a bombshell that stunned Konan.
She was momentarily too focused to worry about being subtly referred to as a "villain."
Konan's brows furrowed: "Obito Uchiha?!"
"You tell her." The Wood Clone glanced at Jūzō Biwa.
"Huh? Me?" Jūzō Biwa was sweating profusely. He realized Konan was looking at him, too.
Hiss! This guy dragged me into it! Isn't he blatantly implying that I also knew 'Madara Uchiha's' secret but didn't voluntarily report it to that woman?
But in this moment, Jūzō Biwa could only take a deep breath.
After calming himself, he straightened his face and simply narrated everything he knew.
This left Konan in a deadly, silent state of shock.
She suddenly found it absurd... A Uchiha brat younger than herself had somehow managed to fool her and Nagato.
The person was just a Konoha Genin named Obito Uchiha, and the so-called "Madara Uchiha" was just a mask he was hiding behind.
But Konan didn't think this information was false.
Because only this could explain why "Madara Uchiha" was so intensely focused on Ikeizumi Uchiha.
All the previous confusion was answered in this moment.
She was silent for a long time, taking an unknown amount of time to fully process such shocking information.
Finally, a flicker of emotion appeared in Konan's eyes.
She looked deeply at Ikeizumi Uchiha: "You traveled all the way from the Land of Fire to the Land of Rain, told me all this without asking for anything in return, just simply to make Obito Uchiha's life difficult? Honestly, I don't believe it. My intuition tells me that your purpose for coming to the Land of Rain is definitely not that simple."
"Of course, it's not simple! Do you think this guy is only targeting Obito Uchiha? He's targeting the entire Akatsuki organization!"
Jūzō Biwa grumbled silently in his heart.
"But a man like you... unless you speak, no one in the world can guess what you're thinking." Before the Wood Clone could reply, Konan continued, "Whatever your objective, I will give you one warning."
"Don't naively believe that you can oppose the entire Akatsuki organization with your so-called [Absolute Justice] ninja way. Stay away from worlds you shouldn't touch, and you'll live longer consider this a warning for your selfless sharing of information."
Then, she looked at Jūzō Biwa: "I still doubt your loyalty to the Akatsuki. This mission doesn't count. Because you went off on a tangent and did something unnecessary."
Jūzō Biwa: "???"
I almost died in Konoha, and this suspicious woman is going to penalize me, a newcomer?
However.
Her words also meant he wasn't being expelled from the Akatsuki.
Jūzō Biwa felt that the woman was doing this for Ikeizumi Uchiha's sake. She wanted to keep him to establish a channel of communication with Ikeizumi Uchiha. I've gone from one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to a simple tool, a mouthpiece!
Jūzō Biwa suddenly realized Konan's true intention.
While he was lost in his thoughts, Jūzō Biwa watched Konan regenerate a pair of wings behind her.
But just then.
A kunai whizzed past Jūzō Biwa's ear, instantly striking Konan's throat with lightning speed.
"Letting a villain like you, who puts on a self-important posture and treats the lives of the innocent as a game, walk away so smugly, even if it's just a paper clone, is still incredibly irritating."
The Wood Clone said indifferently.
Konan narrowed her eyes, her body instantly dissolving into a flood of paper scraps.
She
was indeed a clone.
"That's vigilant enough." Jūzō Biwa looked at the scattering sheets of paper. He snorted: "If she had come as her true body, she might have fallen by both of our hands."
After saying this, Jūzō Biwa himself was stunned for a moment.
Something's wrong!
Why did I say 'fallen by both of our hands'? When did I instinctively think that I would cooperate with Ikeizumi Uchiha to destroy the Akatsuki?
Damn! Did he brainwash me with his [Absolute Justice]?
Is it Sharingan Genjutsu?
When did I fall under it?
"Hmph he destroyed my paper clone instantly. My paper clone couldn't even react. He's certainly powerful."
In the Akatsuki's secret base in the Land of Rain, Konan slowly exhaled.
The memory of the paper clone instantly flooded her mind, causing her eyebrows to twitch slightly.
It took her a good while to recover.
"Him?" Nagato's brows furrowed in response: "The one who met your clone was the newcomer, Jūzō Biwa, right? Did he strike at your clone?"
"No."
Konan shook her head: "Although Jūzō Biwa doesn't seem very honest and is probably not loyal enough to the Akatsuki, he doesn't have the guts to strike at a core member yet. The one who destroyed my paper clone was Ikeizumi Uchiha from Konoha."
Nagato looked surprised: "He came to the Land of Rain?"
"Yes."
Konan nodded: "Just like the rough intelligence we gathered in the beginning, he's a very difficult person to communicate with and very self-righteous. I'm actually a bit confused about what he wants."
She recounted what had just happened, which left Nagato deep in thought: "He just simply gave you the information."
"Nagato."
Konan interrupted Nagato's thoughts: "The information Ikeizumi Uchiha possesses about 'Madara Uchiha' is truly astonishing. The truth is Madara Uchiha has been dead for a long time. The person we're working with is a man from Konoha named Obito Uchiha."
"Hmph!"
Konan's eyes flashed with gloom: "In other words, a Konoha Genin once stood in front of you and me, acting arrogantly and telling us what to do. He's just a junior from Konoha hiding his identity!"
"Jūzō Biwa told me Obito Uchiha is the grand-student of Master Jiraiya. His sensei was Minato Namikaze. Strictly speaking, he is our and Yahiko's junior."
Konan's voice echoed slightly in the dark cave.
Regardless of Obito Uchiha's intentions or whether he was truly on the side of the Akatsuki.
In Konan's eyes, deceit was unforgivable. Upon realizing that the person had been deceiving them with a colossal lie, Konan completely lost all trust in Obito Uchiha.
Nagato sank into a long silence.
"Nagato." Konan continued: "Jūzō Biwa he also spoke on behalf of Ikeizumi Uchiha, revealing Obito Uchiha's abilities and specifically pointing out his weaknesses."
"He is in front of you and me "
"No longer hiding any secrets!"
Meanwhile, whether by coincidence or not, Obito Uchiha returned to the Akatsuki's secret base in the Land of Rain, feeling uneasy.
He felt that if he didn't return soon, it would be seen as "guilt" in the eyes of that suspicious old woman.
That woman investigating the secrets Ikeizumi Uchiha possessed meant she was already suspicious of him.
Obito Uchiha thought that at a time like this, he needed to appear "contemptuous." After all, the real "Madara Uchiha" shouldn't care too much about an ant like Ikeizumi Uchiha.
"Hmph I was indeed too hasty before. An oversight led to a chain of consequences. Black Zetsu still hasn't recovered, and Itachi Uchiha was killed directly "
Obito deeply reflected on himself for five whole seconds.
Then, wearing his mask, he slightly adjusted his voice so he wouldn't fail to produce "Madara Uchiha's" tone, and then calmly sought out Konan and Nagato.
However.
When he met the two of them, for some reason, Obito felt they were acting strangely.
Or rather, the atmosphere was simply strange.
Frowning slightly under his mask, Obito didn't pay much attention. He said in a raspy voice, "This old man went to Konoha to investigate the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. While I was gone, did the Akatsuki recruit any worthy newcomers? The plan we have for the future requires many talented people."
Nagato was looking at him.
Konan was looking at him.
"We did," Konan said expressionlessly: "The person is a ninja from the Uchiha clan. Perhaps you know him."
Obito was taken aback.
"Who is it?" His tone on the surface remained as steady as water.
"Obito Uchiha."
Konan said.
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