Near Amegakure, inside a cold and damp underground base—
"Obito."
A strange plant-like creature emerged from the earth, calling out to the man in front of him. "We finally uncovered his identity."
"And who exactly is he?" Obito rasped in reply.
For some time now, he had been pouring all his energy into absorbing the ninjutsu that Madara had left behind, all in preparation to defeat Naruto.
Unfortunately, his rate of growth was extremely limited.
After all, everything he had was originally bestowed by Madara, and his path of growth had already been set. Unless he became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, the Obito of the Fourth Shinobi World War was already his peak.
If he wanted to grow stronger, his only option was to reclaim the other Mangekyō from Kakashi.
After all, Obito with dual Kamui was a force to be reckoned with.
Black Zetsu spoke: "He's an ancestor of the Uzumaki Clan—Nagato's forebear."
Even Black Zetsu himself was baffled by this so-called Uzumaki ancestor who had suddenly appeared.
In his memory, although the Uzumaki were long-lived, he had never heard of them having some mysterious "ancestor."
But right now, the only explanation that fit was exactly that: an elder of the Uzumaki Clan.
After all, a being of such power couldn't just pop out of nowhere.
Surely it couldn't be Hagoromo himself? …No, impossible. Or… could it be?
But that man should be long dead.
The more Black Zetsu thought about it, the more his head ached.
Obito only gave a slight nod and said no more.
But inwardly, he was cursing.
'What the hell do you mean, some "Uzumaki ancestor"?'
'Clearly, that man is the true inheritor of Madara's will—Kashin Kōji!'
'You think I'm an idiot?'
'Zetsu has betrayed me… or rather, he was never really on my side to begin with. They've always been in it together.'
With this thought, Obito grew even more convinced of "Naruto's" true identity.
Rin, wait for me. I will definitely create a world where only you exist.
Black Zetsu glanced at Obito, cursing him in turn.
'This guy Obito is so pathetic. One defeat and he collapses like this. Why on earth did Madara choose him as his successor?'
According to Madara's plan, Obito was supposed to use Nagato to capture the nine tailed beasts, then force Nagato to resurrect him. After that, Madara would become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, cast Infinite Tsukuyomi, and achieve world peace.
Obito might have been the "inheritor" of Madara's name, but in truth, he was nothing more than a pawn—merely a tool for Madara's resurrection.
But now, this tool had gone off-script. Not only did he have no intention of reviving Madara, he wanted to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan on his own. That was still acceptable in theory—who carried out the plan didn't matter. The problem was that Obito was too useless.
Even after inheriting almost all of Madara's ninjutsu, forbidden techniques, and experience, he had been effortlessly defeated by some mysterious newcomer. And then he just wallowed in despair.
Black Zetsu felt utterly exhausted.
Obito was the most disappointing "successor" he had ever had to support.
'Madara really was better—easier to manipulate, stronger by far. The only drawback was his short lifespan.'
Of course, "short-lived" was only relative to Black Zetsu's perspective.
If it were Madara alive right now, he might have already captured all nine tailed beasts and become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki.
'I'll have to figure out a way to bring Madara back.'
Both Obito and Black Zetsu were scheming in secret, each carrying their own agenda. Only White Zetsu's main body remained clueless, while off to the side, a special White Zetsu clone—"Tobi"—was hopping around, looking for a place to relieve himself.
"The only good news is that Itachi is dead," Obito muttered.
"I thought he would be an ally, but he turned out to be a traitor."
Originally, Obito had recruited Itachi into Akatsuki in hopes of gaining a powerful assistant. Instead, Itachi had been the greatest obstacle to the Eye of the Moon Plan. In the original timeline, Obito hadn't moved forward with his plan until Itachi was gone.
"Now Nagato's gone and recruited a new batch of members. He's calling for a meeting tomorrow. Are you going?"
"I won't."
"Nagato has his own agenda. Keep your guard up."
"Hopefully there's someone there worth using."
Even though he was already certain Black Zetsu was working with Nagato, Obito had no choice but to keep up the charade, pretending to be ignorant and playing along. It was suffocating.
He had considered abandoning his own schemes and fully committing to reviving Madara and launching the Eye of the Moon Plan. But no—he couldn't accept it. A world with Rin could only be created by his own hands. He could never entrust it to anyone else.
At Akatsuki's meeting place—
In a pitch-black space, several silhouettes gradually appeared, the sound of light footsteps echoing through the vast cavern.
"Hehehe, what a rare occasion," one figure, hanging upside down from the cavern ceiling, cackled eerily, trying to sound profound. "The last time we were all gathered like this… was seven years ago, when Orochimaru left the organization, wasn't it?"
He looked every bit the part of a second-rate villain.
"…"
The others took their positions in silence, none of them bothering to respond.
Except—
"Get down and let me go up there," one tall, scythe-wielding figure with slicked-back hair pointed at the dangling man. "That looks pretty cool."
"Was the last time we gathered really when Orochimaru left? I could've sworn there was another time after that…"
"That time didn't count—too many people were missing," the upside-down figure quickly cut in. "You weren't there when Orochimaru left. You don't know how spectacular it was, what a lineup we had that day."
Spittle flying as he spoke, he spun a tale of how they had fought Orochimaru's army of ten thousand for three days and three nights, how Orochimaru had unleashed a terrifying 'Heavenly Justice Descent Technique' that tore the sky asunder. With his gift of storytelling, he had the slick-haired man listening in awe, blood pumping with excitement.
The scythe-bearer licked his lips regretfully. "Is that so? What a shame. If I'd been there, I definitely would've cut Orochimaru down myself and offered him up to Jashin-sama."
"Deidara, stop fooling around and get down," a hunched figure's voice interjected. "You weren't even there when Orochimaru left."
"And Orochimaru doesn't know any ridiculous 'Heavenly Justice Descent' jutsu."
"Deidara, you liar! You weren't even there either!" the slick-haired man suddenly realized he'd been duped, and shouted furiously, pointing at him.
"Sasori-danna, don't ruin it for me! Let me mess with him a little longer," Deidara spat, then hopped down from the cavern ceiling. "Tch, no fun."
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
The slick-haired man charged at Deidara with his scythe, only to be yanked back by the collar.
"Only an idiot like you would believe his nonsense." Kakuzu held Hidan by the scruff of the neck with obvious irritation.
Ever since they returned from Konoha, the leader had learned of Hidan's antics—trading a bounty worth three million for cash. As punishment, Hidan had been assigned to Kakuzu's squad. The brat wasn't very strong, but he was loud, arrogant, and reckless, constantly stirring up trouble with his "immortality." In the end, Kakuzu always had to clean up after him.
If not for the fact that Hidan's head had fetched decent money a few times, Kakuzu would've abandoned him in some shinobi nest to fend for himself long ago.
"Heh, you can't hit me, you can't hit me!" Hidan wriggled in Kakuzu's grip while Deidara twisted his hips in mockery. "Mad, aren't you? Mad, aren't you? Hm!"
"Deidara, you be quiet too."
At last, Sasori couldn't take it anymore, and spoke sharply.
"If Konan sees you two acting up like this, she'll string you both up outside."
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