Chapter 556: Kirigakure's Miss Four Yang
"Can we talk now?"
After Ao arrived, Obito once again asked Uchiha Madara if they could talk.
"No."
Madara rejected him again.
Ignoring Obito completely, he turned toward the newly arrived Ao.
"I can give you your reward in advance."
"But in return, you must use that reward to complete one task for me."
"After that... you'll be free."
"What task? As long as it doesn't require me to betray the village, I'll do it!"
Ao's voice trembled with excitement.
"You said that yourself."
Madara glanced at Ao before beckoning to White Zetsu.
White Zetsu fiddled with the tubes connected to Madara's back and removed something.
The moment Obito saw it...
His eyes widened.
'Isn't that...'
That's right.
It was exactly the thing the real-world Obito never had, but the Obito of the Engraved Tsukuyomi world did.
Obito stared at Ao in disbelief.
'Could it be... this man, who had a Byakugan transplanted into him, went through the same thing I did in the real world?'
As it turned out...Obito had guessed correctly.
While White Zetsu installed the "plugin" into Ao, Madara casually explained Ao's story.
Because Obito had interfered ahead of time and sealed the wild Three-Tails inside Rin...History had changed drastically.
The disturbance had been enormous.
Kirigakure eventually discovered what had happened, but by the time they arrived...
It was already too late.
Kirigakure was under immense pressure.
One of their Tailed Beasts had disappeared.
Originally, they didn't mind the Three-Tails roaming free in the wild.
Kirigakure was isolated from the rest of the world anyway.
As long as outsiders believed both the Three-Tails and Six-Tails were under their control, that deterrence alone was enough.
But things were different now.
Konoha not only knew the Three-Tails wasn't in Kirigakure's possession...
They had taken it for themselves.
What would happen next?
Would the Six-Tails be stolen too?
Even Madara, who was controlling Yagura from the shadows, found himself with a headache.
He had lost a Tailed Beast for no reason at all.
Thus...
Both sides ended up sharing the same objective.
Recover the Six-Tails first.
As the owner of a Byakugan, Ao was perfectly suited for tracking down the Six-Tails' jinchūriki.
He lived up to everyone's expectations and found him.
Unfortunately…
An accident occurred.
The Six-Tails' jinchūriki went berserk.
A single Tailed Beast Bomb completely blew away the lower half of Ao's body.
That's right.
Obito had been split in half from left to right.
Ao, on the other hand, was split in half from top to bottom.
Looking at it that way, Ao really did have a strange connection with Kakashi.
After all, in the original timeline, it should have been Obito who was split left and right.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was practically Gojo Satoru… or rather...Two-and-a-half Gojo...Split from top to bottom.
Yet somehow...
Ao had inherited the traits of Kakashi's alternate-world counterpart instead.
It had to be said that Ao really did have a talent for attracting Tailed Beast Bombs.
After all, in the original timeline, he had also been blasted away by one of the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bombs, sending him straight into the Boruto villain organization.
Madara saved Ao.
The main reason was simple.
He needed someone to help him with tasks that White Zetsu couldn't accomplish.
Ao's Byakugan perfectly suited those needs.
Until Madara found a suitable Uchiha successor, Ao would serve as his temporary chess piece.
Not only did Madara use cultivated Hashirama Cells to reconstruct the lower half of Ao's body...
He also had White Zetsu retrieve several Kirigakure Ninja Swords along with their swordsmanship manuals.
All for the sake of strengthening Ao.
However...
The relationship between Madara and Ao wasn't the same as the relationship between Madara and Obito in the real world.
Madara never told Ao about the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Nor did he expect Ao to inherit his will.
Therefore...
To ensure Ao would faithfully serve him, Madara secretly installed four testicles into Ao's reconstructed body...
But deliberately left out the matching tool.
Only after Ao completed his mission would Madara restore him to a normal man.
That way...
To avoid remaining a monster...
To reclaim his dignity as a man...
Ao had no choice but to obey Madara's orders.
Ao originally believed he'd be under Madara's control for many years.
Perhaps for the rest of his life.
Yet just moments ago, Madara had told him that completing a single task would earn him his freedom.
Ao was suspicious.
But at the same time, he couldn't help feeling hopeful.
The plugin was installed.
However...
The four testicles White Zetsus were not reduced back to two.
Ao didn't pay much attention to it.
He assumed it was simply another safeguard Madara had placed on him.
Once he completed his final mission...
Madara would naturally remove the extra two.
"Go, Ao."
"Obito will be here soon."
"You must make sure he witnesses that scene."
Madara calmly looked at Ao after the installation was complete and issued his command.
"Yes."
Ao casually put on a mask, covering his face.
Then he picked up the long sword Nuibari from behind him...
And slowly walked toward Obito.
Only then did Obito finally realize something was wrong.
Because of Madara's words—"Obito will be here soon."
He finally understood where everything had gone wrong.
He wasn't Obito anymore.
And what Madara needed...
Wasn't just a loyal subordinate.
He needed an Uchiha subordinate.
"Wait... don't tell me he's the demon everyone's been talking about in Kirigakure recently... Miss Four Yang?" (Full english Miss Four Suns and Japanese Miss Shiyo)
Looking at the masked figure before him, Obito suddenly found the image strangely familiar.
His face immediately filled with horror.
After the Three-Tails incident, Obito had constantly ordered Danzō to send Root operatives into Kirigakure to gather intelligence.
It was all in preparation for finding Madara today.
During that time...
Root had brought back some rather bizarre reports.
A new urban legend had appeared in Kirigakure.
Her name was...
Miss Four Yang.
Just like the legend of the Eight-Foot Lady, she had become one of the nightmares lurking within Kirigakure's thick mist.
According to the rumors, Miss Four Yang possessed four testicles, but no plugin.
Her eyes were completely white.
She carried a long sword.
No matter where you hid, she would always find you.
And then subject you to inhuman torture.
Obito had originally dismissed it as nothing more than a ghost story.
He never imagined…
Miss Four Yang actually existed.
And she was Ao!
Now everything made sense.
No wonder the rumors claimed no one could hide from her.
With the Byakugan's penetrating vision, hiding really was completely pointless.
'Wait...'
'Is now really the time to be thinking about that?!'
'I'm the prey now!'
'Miss Four Yang is coming after me!'
'How am I supposed to escape?!'
"Madara! I came here intending to cooperate with you!"
"And this is how you treat me?"
"And do you really think this guy alone can handle me?"
Obito gritted his teeth and issued a threat.
If this were the real world, with Kamui's intangibility, killing a hundred Aos in a single day wouldn't have been difficult.
But now, all he could do was analyze the situation.
Ao possessed no particularly special ninjutsu.
Just a Byakugan and a sword.
He was essentially a pure taijutsu fighter.
That meant...Obito might still have a chance.
"..."
Madara had no intention of answering.
He simply watched calmly.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Having no other choice, Obito spat out a massive fireball.
The moment it forced Ao back...
He immediately turned and fled.
Even if he had to fight...
He absolutely couldn't do it here.
At first glance, this seemed like the perfect battlefield.
An aged Madara sat nearby.
The Gedo Statue loomed behind him.
Anyone would hesitate to fight recklessly.
But looking at it from another angle...
Even if Obito won here...
White Zetsu and Madara might simply step in afterward and capture him anyway.
(End of this chapter)