For two years, their every move had met a brick wall. Obito Uchiha stared into a random spot into the sky as his mask concealed his frustration. Kumogakure remained entirely out of reach, its sea borders locked down tighter than a fortress.
"I miscalculated, Uzushiogakure's sheer potential... I underestimated it." Obito muttered. " Kushina has proven to be an infuriatingly difficult obstacle to maneuver around."
He paced slowly, the clacking of his sandals was the only sound breaking the silence.
"That massive fuinjutsu seal array she anchored across the sea bed leading toward Kumo makes infiltration nearly impossible by standard means for the battalions. And then there is reanimated Might Duy... between his physical prowess and those five Swordsmen of the Mist Orochimaru summoned, conventional shinobi are become worse than cannon fodder now... they are entirely useless."
A few paces away, half-buried in the floor, Black Zetsu remained silent. Outwardly, he appeared to be listening, but inside his mind was calculating for future plans. "The Tailed Beasts are slipping through our fingers," Zetsu thought. They are landing in the hands of the absolute strongest figures of this era. "Iwagakure alone is currently hoarding three of them... the Four, Five, and Seven-Tails. Obito is stalling way too much. He is paralyzed by these setbacks and wanting every victory. Leaving the grand plan entirely in his hands was a mistake. I must begin making my own preparations... to kill Madara and revive him in his absolute prime."
"Zetsu... Zetsu!"
Obito's demanding voice startled Zetsu and his internal monologue. Black Zetsu's golden eyes blinked, turned upward to meet the Sharingan staring down at him.
"I was merely reflecting on the situation," Black Zetsu replied in his dual-toned voice. "Thinking of how we might best turn the tide."
Obito scoffed with an arrogant farce. "You don't need to do anything beyond what is necessary. You do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it." He turned away, his cloak billowing slightly as a swirling vortex began to distort the space in front of his face. "I suppose it is finally time to use that tool."
With a ripple, Obito vanished into his Kamui dimension.
~~
In the heart of the newly rebuilt Uzushiogakure stood the Uzushiokage Tower, a towering monument to a village reborn from the ashes. Inside the office at the apex, Kushina Uzumaki leaned her head back against the high chair, letting out a long exhausted sigh. The stress of governing, organizing, and maintaining a rising superpower was taking a visible toll on her.
Establishing this sanctuary hadn't been cheap. The staggering two billion ryo she had secured from her father, the Raikage, for this quarter had been meticulously allocated. It funded their extensive border security networks and Fuinjutsu arrays around the village, built a state-of-the-art Ninja Academy, and established a fully functional medical hospital.
Yet, a portion of those funds had also gone into more clandestine channels: Orochimaru's underhanded research projects. Kushina didn't object of his methods, but as long as her own people weren't harmed and the results were tangibly beneficial to the village's survival, she chose to provide her hand.
To her right, standing in the corner of the room was Orochimaru with a creepy smile.
"How go your experiments on the Kaguya clan?" Kushina asked, keeping her eyes closed. "You went so far as to make me deliberately weaken the perimeter fuinjutsu seals just so a few Mist ninja could land near the village for your harvesting."
"The progress is... sluggish, to be completely frank," Orochimaru purred, crossing his arms beneath his long sleeves. "However, the data yielded something fascinating. I have discovered that the Uzumaki bloodline limit and the Kaguya clan are, in fact, incredibly close genetic descendants."
Kushina's eyes snapped open with a look of surprise on her face. "Those savage, bloodthirsty creatures? Related to my lineage?"
"Oh, it runs much deeper than that," Orochimaru chuckled his eyes gleaming with a melancholic amusement. "Did I forget to mention the Hyuga clan? Or the Uchiha? They all share branches on this very same grand tree. I find myself constantly wondering... just who exactly do all of these clans trace their origins back to?"
Kushina's expression darkened and a dangerous aura began to radiate from her body. The tips of her vibrant red hair began to lift into the air, separating into distinct nine hovering strands.
"Orochimaru," she said, her voice dropping into a threaten. "I agreed to bankroll your research because your last two projects... the chakra batteries which is currently powering our defense barriers and the teleportation array between this village and Kumo... proved highly effective. Do not waste my money chasing after random family trees. Keep your focus where it belongs."
~~
Miles away, on the southern coast of the Land of Whirlpools, space distorted into a spiral. Obito stepped out onto the shoreline. He had visited this territory once before, back when the concept of a Sixth Great Ninja Village was not a thing. Looking around, he had to admit things had changed drastically. Civilians walked the newly paved streets in the distance, laughing and living in apparent peace.
"A fleeting illusion," Obito thought with a detached and cold gaze. "This peace is temporary, entirely pointless. It will crumble like a deck of cards."
In the Uzushiokage office, Kushina's eyes suddenly widened. Her sensory abilities, amplified by her potent Uzumaki chakra, alarmed in danger.
"Orochimaru! We have an intruder on the southern coast," she said in urgency, her political exhaustion vanishing, replaced by battle readiness. "Do not underestimate this one. They are incredibly powerful... likely stronger than even I am."
Orochimaru's playful demeanor instantly vanished. Without a word, his hands blurred through a sequence of hand signs, ending on the Ox seal. Slapping his palms onto the floor, a summoning formula spread wide, and five coffins burst forth from the ground. The doors fell away to reveal five of the reanimated Swordsmen of the Mist.
"Then let me gather some information for you," Orochimaru said his voice flat as he can't have someone destroy this village which provides funds and resources to satiate his curiosity.
In an instant, Jinpachi, Ameyuri Ringo, Raiga, Jinin Akebino, and Kushimaru appeared on the southern coast, forming a tight circle formation around Obito. Though they lacked their legendary blades, their reanimated bodies and monstrous chakra reserves still made them a lethal threat.
Obito looked at the undead shinobi, his Sharingan tracking their movements effortlessly. "Orochimaru's work, is it?"
~~
A/N: Obito attacks Uzushiogakure to destroy the Fuinjutsu array seal on the sea bed towards kumo.
How do you think this will turn out? This is Obito's first major fight unlike in canon where attacked Minato.
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