"What's going on?"
Obito became more and more confused as he listened. 'Where did they go? Why do they seem to have become like Pain and the others?'
He couldn't figure out the situation, and with many people and prying eyes around, it wasn't good for him to make a move.
"What?"
A suddenly widened his eyes, looking at B. "You don't have confidence?"
"Of course not."
B said very frankly. "I'm not like you, Brother, seemingly possessing endless confidence."
"Even if you don't, you're coming to train with me!"
A said very forcefully. "Only by joining forces, us brothers, can we possibly defeat Takumi!!"
"Rely on that move?"
B frowned deeply. He still thought it wasn't very reliable.
"Maybe it's not possible now, that's why we need to train."
A also had self-awareness, but he wasn't one to give up easily either.
"I see."
The hidden Obito roughly guessed where they had gone before. 'So they witnessed the battle between the Third Raikage and Takumi?'
'This saves me the trouble of sowing discord.'
Obito felt a sense of relief, but suddenly sensed something was wrong.
"Wait!"
Obito stared intently at A and B. 'Did they say they were going to train hard?'
"..."
A deep doubt arose in Obito's heart.
…
The next day.
Obito's doubts became reality.
Early in the morning.
A dragged B to a special training ground.
Their training method was simple: practicing their ultimate combined attack.
"Double Lariat!"
A and B, one after the other, instantly charged towards the stone dummy in the center of the training ground.
Both their arms simultaneously locked onto the stone dummy's neck, unleashing fierce, wild force.
The stone couldn't block their power at all, snapping instantly.
The break was even extremely smooth, completely unlike it had been twisted off by brute force, more like it had been cut by a blade.
'Such violent power.'
Obito couldn't help but marvel, but then his face darkened.
Originally, he had hoped to have these two assassinate Takumi.
But judging by the current situation, that had become impossible.
At least, as long as they believed they couldn't kill Takumi in the short term, they would definitely not cause trouble for him again.
'This is troublesome.'
He continued observing their training for a while.
Stone dummies were no longer effective for training.
They directly started using steel dummies as targets.
This time, they weren't able to successfully twist off the steel dummy's head.
'Maybe, when they can twist off the head of this steel dummy too, they'll go cause trouble for Takumi?'
Obito said, unable to help but feel a headache coming on. 'Who knows when that will be? By then, it'll probably be too late for everything.'
'No! I can't keep wasting time here.'
Obito watched a little longer, and after confirming these two couldn't be used in the short term, he decisively left.
He quickly returned to the Land of Rain, intending to activate the trump card he had always kept unused.
"You're back?"
Pain seemed to know Obito would come, waiting for him in his own room.
"What happened?"
Obito sensed something was wrong.
Pain's expression had always been very cold, but he could still gauge the emotions of Nagato behind him from some of his actions.
Obviously, Nagato was somewhat anxious.
This gave him an ominous premonition.
"Konan returned yesterday, bringing the latest intelligence on Takumi."
Pain recounted everything Konan had said yesterday, then continued, "Takumi's power is growing daily, and we don't know how many trump cards he still has hidden."
"So we must deal with him as soon as possible!"
A hint of determination flashed in Obito's eyes. "Pain, are you confident?"
He looked up at Pain, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
He hoped Pain could give him a definite answer, so he wouldn't need to start the plan early.
But Pain shook his head very decisively.
"Judging from the power he has displayed, I have no absolute certainty of killing him."
Pain said calmly. "In fact, to control the Six Paths of Pain's bodies, my real body would have to be in a very dangerous place. If there's the slightest mistake, I might very well die at Takumi's hands."
His words immediately silenced Obito.
Obito understood in his heart that Pain's words were correct.
How much intelligence had they gathered from so many attacks on Takumi?
Astonishing defensive power, astonishing speed, extremely strong evasion ability, high resistance to Genjutsu, able to use Susano'o even without a Sharingan.
Regarding this last point, Obito still suspected Takumi might be an orphan lost from the Uchiha Clan.
But he had never seen a Sharingan in Takumi's eyes, let alone a Mangekyo.
So this could only remain a guess, impossible to confirm.
In short, after so many attacks, they had reached one insoluble conclusion.
That was, Takumi seemed invincible.
Able to fight a powerful enemy for three days and three nights with ease, extremely strong Fire Release and Lightning Release, it seemed there was nothing he couldn't do.
And this was before Takumi had even shown the Genjutsu he had just learned in front of them.
Otherwise, Obito would definitely have an even bigger headache.
"It seems there's only one last method left."
Obito sighed, his voice seemingly carrying a deep weariness.
He hadn't yet made thorough preparations; he hadn't fully gathered intelligence on the Tailed Beast and Jinchuriki.
Starting the plan rashly carried far too many risks.
But now,
He had no other choice.
If he continued to allow Takumi to grow, he even suspected that even if he revived the Ten-Tails, whether he could defeat Takumi would be an unknown.
"What method?"
Pain frowned deeply, as if interrogating Obito.
'At a time like this, if there's any way, use it quickly.'
'Hiding it, planning to take it to the grave?'
"Bring the plan forward."
Obito said, word by word.
"Revive the Ten-Tails?"
Pain couldn't help but be shocked. He hadn't expected Obito's method to be this.
But thinking carefully, Takumi was now unfathomable.
Perhaps they really needed to revive the Ten-Tails to be sure of completely eliminating Takumi.
"It seems so."
Obito nodded in agreement.
As long as the Infinite Tsukuyomi was activated, no matter how many abilities Takumi had, in the end, he would be trapped in that perfect ideal world, unable to extricate himself.
"If we're starting the plan, who should be the first target?"
Pain, no... Nagato had long been ready, as his body was deteriorating day by day.
Back then, he was attacked by Danzo and Hanzo, and was severely injured.
If not for relying on the Outer Path Statue for support, he would probably have died long ago.
But even so, his body continued to gradually weaken.
This was also a major reason why Konan increasingly felt this Akatsuki had become a burden to them.
She had already lost Yahiko, and didn't want to lose her only companion, Nagato.
But she couldn't persuade Nagato.
Nagato was now deeply influenced by Obito's instigation, completely becoming a puppet placed at the forefront to carry out Obito's plan.
All she could do now was stay by Nagato's side.
Even then, she was still very lost.
But now, Takumi's appearance had brought her a glimmer of hope.
She urgently hoped Takumi could destroy the current Akatsuki, but she also knew the organization's strength.
Especially Pain and the hidden Obito; neither was an easy opponent.
If she rashly brought Takumi here, not to mention whether he would come, even if he did, Konan worried he might not be a match for all of them combined.
So, although eager, she could only continue to endure.
And then continuously spread Takumi's strength, to undermine the confidence of the other Akatsuki's members.
This way, perhaps the Akatsuki might even disband on its own.
Of course, she also knew this possibility was almost non-existent.