Faced with Uzuki Yūki's sudden question, Obito said: "An old acquaintance, you could say."
Uzuki Yūki thought to herself: 'An old acquaintance. Among the Uchiha, the only person who could be called Hatake Kakashi's old acquaintance would be his fellow student, Uchiha Obito. But wasn't that Obito a hero who died in battle at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth during the tail end of the Third Shinobi World War? Come to think of it, Hatake Kakashi's Sharingan came from Uchiha Obito, but then he inexplicably lost it at some point.'
Yūki stared at Obito's back: 'He calls himself Uchiha Raito. But during my time as a Konoha Anbu, I was assigned to monitor the Konoha Military Police Force, and through that I had access to the Uchiha clan's family register. There was no one named Raito anywhere in it, not even among newborns.'
Suddenly, a theory so alarming it sent a cold sweat down her back rose in her mind: "Are you, Uchiha Obito?"
Ahead of her, the corner of Obito's mouth curved slightly upward, and he gave no answer.
Who could have guessed that the first person to uncover the mystery of Obito's identity would be neither his closest friend Hatake Kakashi nor his mentor Minato Namikaze, but Uzuki Yūki, a complete stranger to him. There was a certain irony in that.
In truth, Obito had no real reason to hide anything. He could have simply told her he was Uchiha Obito.
But.
'She's started investigating me. Isn't that a sign that she's grown interested in me? Then the right move is to stay mysterious and let her curiosity keep growing.'
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not." Obito said.
Hearing that, Uzuki Yūki's mouth puckered into a pout: "What do you mean, maybe you are, maybe you're not! You're Obito, aren't you!"
"Who knows." Obito said.
"You!" Uzuki Yūki's face flushed red with frustration. She thought to herself: 'Maybe I met Obito before, I just don't remember him clearly.'
So she said: "Then take off your mask and let me have a look."
"Go ahead, come take it off." Obito said with a smile.
Uzuki Yūki ran up and reached her hand toward Obito's mask.
Whoosh! But her hand passed straight through his face.
Obito grabbed her hand, used Kamui to pull her in, and after a moment let her back out.
"Have you calmed down?"
"I swear, I am going to kill you, whoever you are!!" Uzuki Yūki was nearly beside herself with rage.
"Hmm. Is this what humans call being a third wheel?" Spiral Zetsu muttered to himself, watching the two of them bicker from behind.
After another full day of travel, the three had crossed more than half of the Land of Water and arrived at the base of the mountain where Kirigakure was located.
Uzuki Yūki was a woman, after all, and she could not endure the state of being drenched in sweat from a long journey.
So after extracting a firm promise from Obito that he would absolutely not spy on her, she found a clean mountain spring, glanced around in all directions, and began to undress.
She had fine, attractive features and a head of long violet hair. Her figure was exceptional by any measure, whether judged as a ninja or as a woman, and while it lacked the exaggerated proportions of Tsunade, it was in no way inferior to Hinata after she had grown up.
In the moonlight, her perfectly developed form relaxed as she covered her chest with both hands, a faint blush tinting her face.
Obito had noticed earlier that her appearance differed slightly from Uzuki Yūgao's, and that difference lay in the beauty mark beneath the outer corner of Uzuki Yūki's left eye, which Yūgao did not have.
She soaked in the spring water and let it wash away the tension and exhaustion of the past several days.
Things had turned out somewhat differently from what she had imagined. Since being taken captive by Obito, nothing had happened that she would have found humiliating or degrading.
Back at the campfire, Obito was eating wild fruit while Spiral Zetsu lay sprawled on a tree branch with nothing to do.
Obito said: "Come to think of it, the place we reached earlier was still quite a distance from Kirigakure. So why were all the Seven Ninja Swordsmen there at the same time? If it was a coincidence, the odds of that are far too low."
He had been so caught up enjoying the fight that he had overlooked those details until now.
From his perch in the tree, Spiral Zetsu said offhandedly: "If it wasn't a coincidence, then someone knew about your movements and leaked the information."
"And just who would that someone be? Could it be that." Obito said, falling into thought: "Curly head, from this distance, can you still communicate with the other White Zetsu?"
"Yes, no problem at all. They send word at regular intervals to update me on things back home. After all, Orochimaru's results concern your big plan going forward and can't afford any mishaps." Spiral Zetsu was unusually dependable.
"Have any of you been keeping an eye on Kabuto?" Obito asked.
"You mean that glasses-wearing guy under Orochimaru who always looks like he's suffered some injustice? He never seemed particularly remarkable, so we didn't pay him much attention." Spiral Zetsu said.
"As I suspected." Obito's eyes narrowed slightly.
He didn't think much of Kabuto as he was now, but he knew Kabuto harbored a terrifying potential within him, and if Kabuto weren't such a useful subordinate to Orochimaru, Obito would have eliminated him at the first opportunity.
"What, you think the glasses guy did it?" Spiral Zetsu said.
It wasn't suspicion. Obito was already certain it was Kabuto's doing. Kabuto had originally served under Danzō as a double agent moving between nations, and after being abandoned by Danzō he had found shelter with Orochimaru and devoted himself completely to him.
But his devotion to Orochimaru did not mean devotion to Obito.
Just imagine: Kabuto watching his beloved Lord Orochimaru reduced to a tool for Obito to obtain Hashirama's power. What would he do?
Quietly leaking Obito's movements to others behind Orochimaru's back would not be the least bit surprising. That was simply the kind of person Kabuto was.
"If that's really what happened, I'll have the White Zetsu eliminate him immediately!" Spiral Zetsu released a rare surge of killing intent.
"Don't act rashly for now. Just keep him under surveillance. There is nothing more important right now than Orochimaru's results. The Hashirama cells concern my entire future, so nothing can be allowed to interfere with Orochimaru's progress. Even if Kabuto really is behind this, we have to pretend we don't know for the time being."
Even as Obito said this, his eyes were filled with a surging killing intent. It had never crossed his mind that even after arriving in this Naruto world, someone would still manage to scheme against him.
So he had already decided: the moment he obtained Orochimaru's results, he would kill Kabuto immediately, even if it turned out Kabuto was innocent.
Uzuki Yūki returned from her bath, glanced at the campfire burning in front of Obito, and frowned: "Don't you have any basic shinobi sense? Lighting a fire while camping at night is the worst thing you can do. Enemy ninja could spot it at any moment."
"All the better then. If I get taken out, you'll be free." Obito said with a smile.
"You!" Uzuki Yūki ground her teeth, unable to find a comeback, and could only stamp her foot in frustration.
Whoosh!
The campfire that had been burning vigorously a moment before shuddered violently and went out.
Then an enormous mist, far too dense to be natural, blanketed the entire mountain. This was the Hidden Mist Jutsu, a technique secret to Kirigakure.
But the scale of this Hidden Mist Jutsu was something no member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen could come close to matching.
In the Blood Mist Village, only one person was capable of casting the Hidden Mist Jutsu on this scale.
"You were able to overcome the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure on your own. I have no choice but to take the field myself and eliminate this intruder." From within the mist, a beautiful young boy appeared, walking slowly forward, his green hair and violet eyes striking, his voice clear and high, almost childlike.
Obito rose to his feet, completely unruffled: "Sooner than I expected. The one who controls the Blood Mist Village, the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi."