As that one breath was released, Terumi Mei's whole body suddenly went soft, and she collapsed straight down.
"Mei-nee?"
Aoba hurriedly reached out to catch her and began checking her body, "Are you hurt somewhere?"
Terumi Mei couldn't help rolling her eyes, replying weakly, "No, just a little weak in the legs. I'll be fine after resting for a bit."
After all, before the Three-Tails even appeared, she'd just fought a fierce battle with the other side, and her stamina bar had already been nearly empty.
Then she'd tangled with that monster for a while, and the only thing keeping her going had been pure adrenaline.
Still, she couldn't help but feel somewhat lucky. If that guy hadn't been here, she really didn't know how the Hidden Mist Village could've stopped the rampaging Three-Tails and that mastermind behind the scenes.
"That's good, then."
Seeing that Terumi Mei was really just exhausted, Aoba finally sighed in relief, "But I'm afraid you still can't rest just yet."
"Hm?"
Terumi Mei looked confused.
Aoba looked toward the towering tree that imprisoned the Three-Tails, "The situation isn't completely over yet."
After marking Uchiha Obito with a Flying Thunder God seal, he'd ordered the Mist shinobi to detain him for now.
Then he brought Terumi Mei before the Three-Tails.
As for whether Obito would escape or be rescued by Black Zetsu. Well, Aoba honestly didn't mind either way.
After all, Namikaze Minato wasn't someone to joke about.
Only someone who had become a Sage of Six Paths could erase a Flying Thunder God seal. If Uchiha Obito dared to run, Aoba could just show up at his house the next day.
"Three-Tails, we can talk properly now, right?"
Holding Terumi Mei in his arms, Aoba stood before the giant beast's massive head. The other Mist ninjas had wisely stayed back.
The Three-Tails opened its single eye. Only its head was showing, and somehow, it actually looked a little… cute.
["What do you want to say?"]
Its deep voice carried a trace of grievance.
It had already said they could talk things out peacefully, but this guy had just gone ahead and beaten it senseless. As a Tailed Beast, it truly suffered in silence.
Aoba didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Terumi Mei, "Mei-nee, do you want to become the Three-Tails' jinchuriki?"
"Huh?"
Terumi Mei froze, "You mean… you're going to seal the Three-Tails inside me?"
"Don't you want to? I'll make it behave, it won't cause you trouble."
"That's not what I meant. The Three-Tails was subdued by you. Aren't you planning to take it with you?"
Aoba blinked, "The Three-Tails is useless to me. Why would I bring it along?"
"Besides, with it by your side, I can feel more at ease about you staying in the Mist Village."
"This…"
Terumi Mei hesitated, then finally exhaled deeply, releasing all the complicated happiness building inside her.
"Thank you, Aoba."
"Between us, what's mine is yours. No need to thank me."
Aoba smiled, then looked again at the Three-Tails.
"You heard our conversation, right? You don't have any objections, do you?"
'I do have objections!'
Inside, the Three-Tails roared in frustration. It had just barely regained its freedom, and now it was about to be stuffed back into that cramped sealing space again.
"..."
["I have no objections."]
Seeing how cooperative it was, Aoba looked very satisfied.
"Since you're being so obedient, I'll give you a bigger sealing space this time."
He looked to Terumi Mei, "Alright, let's begin. Since the Three-Tails is so understanding, I'm sure you two will get along fine."
"Mm."
Terumi Mei nodded, "What do I need to do?"
"Nothing at all."
Aoba began weaving hand seals, then pressed his palm against her lower abdomen.
A string of black ink-like markings appeared on her fair skin, forming a strange pattern.
First, he opened up a sealing space within her, and then he directly stuffed the massive body of the Three-Tails inside.
"For a ninja village, transferring a Tailed Beast is always a huge event, often taking months of planning…"
Terumi Mei rubbed her stomach. That sensation of being filled by Aoba's chakra made her a little dazed, "Yet with you, it's as easy as a casual meal."
Aoba crossed his arms with a grin, "That's because the Uzumaki Clan's sealing techniques are the most powerful in the whole shinobi world."
"Alright then, only one last matter left to deal with."
He raised his right hand and pointed into the air.
The entire scene of the Mist Village seemed to begin reversing in time—
———
"Useless trash, Uchiha Obito!"
"So many years have passed, and you're still this worthless!"
Unable to stop worrying about Obito, Black Zetsu had secretly followed him, using the Mayfly Technique to hide deep underground far away.
Though the sealing barrier had prevented him from seeing the battle, he had seen Uchiha Obito being carried away by Mist shinobi like a dead dog.
Even Tobi was gone.
Years ago, he'd witnessed Obito's fight with Sarutobi Hiruzen from start to finish.
Back then, he'd only managed to save Obito when Hiruzen became immobilized using the Reaper Death Seal.
But this time? He didn't even get the chance to intervene—Obito had gone from releasing the Tailed Beast to becoming roadkill in the blink of an eye.
Black Zetsu felt like his whole world had collapsed.
Even if you raised a pet dog for years, you'd still grow attached. From the day he'd saved Obito at the Kannabi Bridge until now, he'd been taking care of him for who knows how long.
How many times had he cleaned up Obito's messes for him?
He wanted to rescue him, but he didn't even know how.
And that gaping hole in Obito's eye socket clearly showed that his Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan had been taken.
Even if he saved him now, what was the point?
After raising that precious Mangekyo Sharingan for so many years, it still ended up benefiting someone else.
'Damn it!'
A thousand years.
Indra and Asura's reincarnations had cycled who knows how many times already.
And every single time, Indra's vessel would get beaten down by Asura's vessel, always with the same nonsense about "friendship" and "bonds," completely unreasonable.
This time had been such a rare opportunity.
This was his most promising reincarnation yet. The one he'd placed the most hope in.
And now it was ruined. Uchiha Obito, the one he'd invested so much in, had died halfway through the plan. All those years of secret plotting and careful grooming had gone to waste.
The Fourth Great Ninja War he'd prepared for so long hadn't even begun. The hundred thousand White Zetsu hadn't even been used, and now he had to start over again.
Enraged beyond reason, for the first time in many years, Black Zetsu broke down.
He gave up on saving Uchiha Obito. There was no value left in him.
Without Kamui, Obito was less useful than some random elite jonin injected with Hashirama's cells.
Luckily, years ago, Black Zetsu had anticipated Obito's unreliability and prepared backups in advance.
The only real pity now was Tobi.
If Uchiha Madara woke up and discovered that the crystal made from him and Hashirama was gone… Who knew how badly he'd lose his temper.
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