Chapter 514: Black Zetsu's Despair
In Konoha Village, Kakashi had been idle for a long time, spending his days training at home or occasionally engaging in a "youthful" and "hot-blooded" challenge with Might Guy.
After Danzō took office, his job as the Hokage's guard was naturally over.
Danzō's new assignment for him was to be a jonin squad leader. Danzō had given him three children from Root to lead.
Kakashi had naturally refused, but he couldn't win against the Hokage, who had issued the order directly.
Kakashi could only pinch his nose and accept his three new disciples.
That's right, Danzō hadn't just made him a squad leader; he had made him their official sensei.
The three children were all very young and should have been in the Ninja Academy, but Root's training system allowed them to skip that step.
Kakashi had helplessly accepted them, but there was one thing he didn't understand.
Their talent was truly... average. Calling it average was perhaps a compliment. Did these three even have any ninja talent at all?
It felt like he had just randomly picked up some children from a remote mountain village and was now expected to have high hopes for them.
After a few days, Kakashi went directly to Danzō and said he wanted to return them.
Danzō then told him that all three were members of the Uchiha clan.
Kakashi was initially overjoyed. The Uchiha clan still has members besides Sasuke and Shisui?
But he quickly realized something was wrong. "Lord Hokage," he said, "is it really possible for Uchiha talent to be this bad?"
Danzō frowned. He couldn't figure it out either. He had personally tried to guide these children. It was only because he truly couldn't teach them anything that he had thought of Kakashi.
Kakashi, however, thought a bit deeper. He remembered that day, when he was rescuing the children as Ishiro had asked, Ishiro had said he only wanted the infants.
At the time, Kakashi hadn't thought it was a problem. But now, the more he thought about it, the more it felt wrong. "Lord Hokage," he blurted out, "could it be that these three aren't from the Uchiha clan at all, but were swapped out by the Tsuchikage?"
Danzō's eyes widened. He had also realized it. There had been rumors for a long time that Fugaku and Ishiro were colluding.
After the Uchiha were exterminated, Iwagakure had publicly declared that they were the new orthodoxy of the Uchiha clan and that they had many Uchiha members.
So, it was very likely that Fugaku had secretly transferred a batch of children.
Come to think of it... that night, when I captured these Uchiha children, there wasn't a single elder with them. It was as if they had been... abandoned.
Thinking of this, Danzō's face flushed with anger. He slammed his fist on the desk. "Ishiro, that little brat! How dare he play me for a fool!"
Kakashi saw Danzō's expression and knew he had guessed correctly. Not wanting to be in the line of fire, he used a Body Flicker and fled.
After that, Kakashi never received another mission.
He knew Danzō was probably looking for new disciples for him, so he was happy for the peace and quiet. In any case, the pay for missions in Konoha was extremely low now. He didn't want to bother.
That evening, after a great battle with Might Guy, Kakashi had just returned home when he suddenly felt a palpitation in his heart.
He vigilantly observed his surroundings but found nothing.
And yet, that feeling of dread lingered.
After a long while, he finally found the source: his Sharingan. His Sharingan was acting strangely.
He had never experienced this before. The last time it had happened... was when Obito had awakened his Mangekyo. But Kakashi had been unconscious at the time.
"Obito... is something wrong with Obito?!" he thought, his heart clenching.
As his left Mangekyo throbbed, all his memories of Obito flooded his mind, making him dizzy.
After a long time, the throbbing finally stopped. His strength and chakra completely depleted, Kakashi collapsed in his courtyard and fell unconscious.
The next day, after breakfast, Kakashi carefully found the residence of an Iwa intelligence ninja.
He had the man help him ask Ishiro if he knew anything about Obito Uchiha's situation.
He had no other choice. Ishiro was the only person he could think of who might know Obito's whereabouts.
Ishiro returned to Iwagakure with Izumi Uchiha, Sōkai, Chiga, and all the children, including Suigetsu Hōzuki.
He let Izumi and the others go their own way, then arranged for the Kiri children at the hospital, placing them under Anbu guard.
He then singled out Suigetsu Hōzuki.
On the hospital roof, Ishiro woke him up. "What's your name?"
Suigetsu secretly observed his surroundings while putting on a harmless smile.
He was not stupid. He quickly deduced from the architecture that he was in Iwagakure. Then his gaze fell on Ishiro's face, and his body stiffened.
Seeing the faint smile on Ishiro's face, Suigetsu's heart sank. He quickly said, "My name is Suigetsu Hōzuki. Greetings, Lord Tsuchikage."
Ishiro smiled. "Quite smart. You're not playing dumb. You recognized me immediately. You're a clever child. Unfortunately, your mind is too mature. You're past the optimal age for brainwashing."
Hearing this, Suigetsu broke out in a cold sweat. What does he mean? Is he going to kill me to silence me?
He swallowed. "Lord Tsuchikage should know, I am Mangetsu Hōzuki's younger brother. If you trade me back to Kirigakure, you should be able to get a very considerable reward. It's not easy for you to manage such a large village. There's no need to lose out on a large sum of income for the sake of a mere child like me."
Ishiro looked at him, then sighed.
His mind is too mature. He's impossible to brainwash. He probably doesn't even have much of a sense of belonging to Kirigakure.
"Alright," Ishiro said. "I'll take your advice. I'll go and negotiate with your 'adults'."
With that, Ishiro picked up Suigetsu and returned him to his hospital room.
After Ishiro left, Suigetsu looked at his still-unconscious companions and finally let out a small sigh of relief.
The Tsuchikage is terrifying, he thought. He's on a completely different level from that Uchiha. He's impossible to fool.
After hitting a wall with Suigetsu, Ishiro convened a high-level meeting.
He hadn't really returned just to "recover his mood."
The death of Obito Uchiha was a major event that he needed to discuss with the high command. At the very least, he had to inform them.
In the Tsuchikage's office, he first glanced at Sōkai, who had been summoned to the meeting.
"These past few days," he began, "thanks to the qualitative change in Chiga's blood perception, I've found all the scattered Uzumaki clan members. Then we located all the Hyuga. I cooperated with Orochimaru and captured many Hyuga branch members near Konoha for experiments. Although Orochimaru successfully broke the Caged Bird Seal in the end, it's a pity that the successful test subject became a vegetable. I brought him back; he's in the hospital now. His name is Hyuga Iroha. His soul was completely destroyed when Orochimaru forcibly broke the seal."
Everyone frowned. Saka asked, "Ishiro, is there any other way to break the seal?"
The others also looked over. Neji's talent was truly excellent, and he had already caught the attention of the high command at a young age.
Ishiro shook his head. "Not for now. I'll continue to think of a way. Let's not talk about this first. There's something else. Last night, we located all the Uchiha. I took Sōkai and Izumi Uchiha to the border of the Land of Snow and Land of Demons, where Obito Uchiha has been hiding."
He paused. "With Izumi's cooperation, I killed Obito Uchiha."
Everyone was shocked and turned to look at Sōkai.
Sōkai looked at them innocently. I wasn't the one who killed him. Why are you looking at me?
He was still depressed about it. They had agreed to let him and Izumi get revenge. But before the warm-up was even over, Ishiro had killed the guy. And before they left, Ishiro had even laid out a detailed battle plan.
In the end, Obito had only dodged the mudslide for a bit. In the head-on confrontation, he hadn't even lasted a single round before being killed. And his death had been extremely ugly.
At least Izumi had gotten to act and had even absorbed a lot of ocular power. Sōkai hadn't even thrown a single kunai.
Ikura quickly asked, "Obito is dead? Doesn't he have that unbeatable space-time ninjutsu? And Izanagi? Ishiro, how did you kill him?"
Everyone looked at him expectantly.
"It's all thanks to Izumi," Ishiro said. "Her two dōjutsu are absorbing ocular power and sealing off vision. She used both on him at the same time. Obito had three three-tomoe Sharingan transplanted onto his body, probably all for Izanagi. But before they could be used, their ocular power was drained completely. The three spare eyes were useless. The Mangekyo he used for phasing could still be used, but he was hit by both of her dōjutsu, which interfered with his ability to cast them. In that delay, I seized the opportunity and killed him."
Everyone looked at each other, processing the battle he had just described.
After a long time, Bella asked, "What about Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Ishiro let out a deep sigh. "His head was turned into mush by my porcelain. The Mangekyo is gone."
Bella immediately pressed, "Then what about the legacy Madara Uchiha left behind?"
Ishiro sighed, not speaking.
Bella's eyes widened. "Ishiro, you actually made such a losing deal?"
Ishiro sighed again and said in a low voice, "I didn't want to. My original intention in going after him was to snatch some kids to trade with Kirigakure and earn some extra cash. And it would have been best if Izumi could absorb some ocular power to increase her strength. Who knew her dōjutsu would be so powerful, a perfect counter to him? I accidentally... killed him."
The council: ...
They thought: Should we feel sad for Obito, or should we be ashamed of your shameless attempt to shift the blame?
Saka cleared his throat. "In any case, killing this space-time ninjutsu user is a good thing. By the way, did you rescue the children? They weren't all trapped in that mysterious dimension, were they?"
Ishiro said, "He only transferred four children, including the one with the Red Eye. I brought the rest back. They're at the hospital."
Saka nodded. "We'll deal with how to handle them later. I think we should discuss the possible consequences of this matter."
Megumi analyzed, "The great villages all knew of Obito's existence. His reckless style and unbeatable dōjutsu were a sword hanging over all our heads. No matter what military action we took, we had to be careful of him attacking our homes. Now that he's dead, the village's security is much higher. This is a good thing for us. Also, the other villages don't know this yet. We need to grasp when and if we should tell them."
"Teacher," she asked, "if you trade those children back to Kiri now, won't they find out about his death?"
Ishiro shook his head. "Don't worry, they won't. Kiri is well aware of his abilities and also thinks they're unbeatable. They'll just think that, like last time, I found his hiding place and snatched some people in a surprise attack. No one will connect this to him being easily killed by us."
Everyone agreed. In that case, they would keep this secret for now and release it at an appropriate time.
Ishiro continued, "There's one more thing. Among the children I rescued is Mangetsu Hōzuki's younger brother, Suigetsu. He's also a genius. But I just probed him and found that he shows a maturity beyond his years. It's probably impossible to persuade him to willingly join Iwagakure. Let's discuss whether we should trade him back to Kiri."
Kawakita asked, "Teacher, when you say 'very talented', do you mean he has Kage-level potential?"
Ishiro nodded. "That's right. His talent is no less than Kurotsuchi's or the others."
"Why would we let a tiger return to the mountains?" Kawakita asked. "The Hōzuki clan is already troublesome enough. Is it appropriate to send him back?"
But Megumi said, "Kirigakure doesn't have many young talents. If they had more, they wouldn't turn on us so easily. If they see hope for their next generation, they will be willing to wait for them to grow up. Perhaps this Suigetsu can buy us a few more years of peace. In the current situation, time is on our side. The longer the peace, the stronger we become, and our growth rate is far faster than the other villages."
Kitsuchi also nodded. "That's right. My house is full of geniuses. The few classmates Kurotsuchi and Yakumo bring over are also talented. Our future is more promising than any other village's."
Ishiro nodded. If he didn't consider the two "saviors," they were right.
But he didn't mention them. "Then it's decided. We'll return Suigetsu. Now, let's discuss what to ask for in exchange."
After the meeting, Sōkai left the room in a daze. He hadn't heard a thing they discussed in the second half. He only knew one thing: it seemed all the high-ranking officials knew a lot about that mysterious Uchiha. They knew his name was Obito Uchiha, that he was Madara's agent, the abilities of his dōjutsu, that he had the First Hokage's cells. It seemed they even knew how he had awakened his Mangekyo.
And apparently, they had a very close working relationship with him. They had even mentioned a summon of his called the Gedo Statue.
After pacing in the hallway for a long time, Sōkai turned and went back to Ishiro's office.
"Teacher Ishiro," he said, walking in, "can you tell me about this Obito Uchiha?"
Ishiro glanced at him. "I can. But this story is a bit long. Sit down. I'll tell you slowly."
"Obito Uchiha was the Fourth Hokage's disciple... I personally watched him awaken his Mangekyo... his other eye is in Kakashi Hatake... he was the agent Madara chose before his death... I coordinated with him during the Nine-Tails' rampage... he summoned the Gedo Statue twice... he paid us rent every month... he has a nickname, 'Genius'... the village's space-time ninjutsu research also has him to thank..."
Ishiro told him everything he knew.
After listening, Sōkai was silent for a long time. "Then, Teacher, why did you always call him the 'mysterious Uchiha'? I thought you knew nothing about him. It turns out you might know him better than he knew himself."
Ishiro thought for a moment. "Habit, I guess. I've always called him that. The intelligence on him was a village secret, and I had promised him I wouldn't leak it. To prevent myself from slipping up, I just kept calling him that."
Sōkai asked, "Then... can I tell Sister Izumi about this?"
"He's dead now. Do whatever you want. But you heard, this matter can't be known by the other villages yet. So, you remind her."
Sōkai nodded, then excitedly went to share the secret with his Sister Izumi.
Two days later, Kisame received a personal letter from Ishiro.
After reading it, he convened another high-level meeting.
After the others had read the letter, they were both happy and frowning.
Getting the genius Suigetsu Hōzuki back was a good thing, but Ishiro's price was too high.
Mei Terumī said, "The Tsuchikage wants to exchange Suigetsu and the others for our share of the Land of Hot Water, and the training notes for the Hydrification Technique? That's blatant extortion. I disagree. The village's finances are already tight. The funds from the Land of Hot Water are a great relief. It's too much of a pity to give it up so easily."
But Ning Mizunashi said, "You can't look at it that way. The value of a Kage-level fighter to the village is clear. What we need to consider is: do we abandon our long-term interests for short-term gain, or do we give up what's in our hands for the long-term?"
Hearing this, Mei fell silent. Although she didn't agree, she also felt that a Kage was more important to the village. But... was Suigetsu really guaranteed to become a Kage? She had never seen his talent, so she was still doubtful. But she couldn't say this out loud.
At this moment, Elder Genshi spoke. "Ning, how are you getting along with the Six-Tails? How much of its power can you draw on?"
"Not much. I still need time to adapt."
Genshi nodded and asked Kisame, "Fifth, any trace of the Three-Tails?"
Kisame shook his head. "So far, the Anbu have found nothing."
Genshi nodded again. "In that case, make the exchange. We can't use the power of the two Tailed Beasts in the short term. We should be recuperating and maintaining our relationship with Iwagakure anyway. Let's make the concession. Give them the Land of Hot Water. Bring Suigetsu back. While the shinobi world is still at peace, let's cultivate him well."
Kisame thought for a moment, then nodded. "I understand. I'll make the arrangements."
Hearing the final decision, Mangetsu Hōzuki, who had been silent but extremely nervous the entire time, finally let out a breath of relief.
Afterward, the various parties in the shinobi world suddenly received news: Kirigakure, for some unknown reason, had given its entire share of the Land of Hot Water to Iwagakure.
With this, the entire country was now under Iwagakure's control.
At first, Konoha and the others thought Iwa and Kiri were about to have a falling out, but they soon discovered they had overthought it. After this, the relationship between the two sides became even closer.
Danzō also received the news quickly. He felt that Iwa and Kiri must have reached some kind of secret agreement.
He immediately said to his Root subordinates, "Immediately send people to investigate! What secret agreement did they reach?"
"Yes, sir!" A Root member immediately went to carry out the order.
The Fourth Raikage, who was just as concerned about the situation, also sent his own professional intelligence ninja to Iwagakure and Kirigakure to gather information.
While the various parties were puzzled by Kiri's actions, Black Zetsu was standing alone in front of the Gedo Statue, dazed.
He was not merged with White Zetsu this time, but was standing quietly by himself in the empty underground space.
He had been the first to know of Obito's death.
Back when Obito had summoned the Gedo Statue, Black Zetsu had taken the opportunity while he was unconscious to attach a small part of his body to him. He had originally planned to use this to control him at a critical moment.
Who would have thought that Obito, with his unbeatable space-time ninjutsu, would die so inexplicably?
But when he died, Black Zetsu had sensed it immediately.
He was now in despair. He had just seen a glimmer of hope for reviving his mother. Who would have thought that the agent Madara had chosen would die?
With Obito dead, who would be responsible for all the preparations for the Eye of the Moon Plan before Madara's revival?
Nagato, the owner of the Rinnegan, was also out of his control. He couldn't even control the Gedo Statue now.
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