Upon hearing Zetsu's report, Obito immediately envisioned a thousand twisted, ritualistic ways to "sacrifice" that childhood sweetheart.
Yes! No one understands childhood sweethearts better than me, Uchiha Obito!
Only those who've stood in the rain know how best to shred someone else's umbrella.
But the more Obito dug into Itachi's intelligence report… the less confident he felt.
"Uchiha Itachi. A prodigious youth of the Uchiha clan. Son of the Fifth Hokage, Uchiha Fugaku."
"At age four, he was taken by his father into the Third Great Ninja War. He personally witnessed combat—and even killed an Iwagakure genin."
"At six, upon learning that Konoha was cooperating with Kirigakure—a village notorious for slaughtering its own shinobi—he became emotionally agitated and awakened the Sharingan."
"A few years later, during his father's successful Hokage campaign, he awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan out of pure excitement."
"And earlier this year, when Sarutobi Hiruzen was captured and publicly tried by Fugaku, the emotional shock pushed him to awaken the three-tomoe Sharingan."
Obito furrowed his brow the more he read.
A three-tomoe Sharingan at only nine years old—an achievement that, even throughout Uchiha history, was vanishingly rare.
But the real problem was how he awakened it.
He awakened his eye not from clan loyalty or personal trauma—but from a desire to protect the village.
He felt anguish when he learned of Konoha's collaboration with murderers from Kirigakure.
He awakened again from joy when his father brought honor to the Uchiha as Hokage.
And again when he saw a beloved symbol of the village—the Third Hokage—publicly disgraced and his ideals shattered.
"Bro... how are all your Sharingan awakenings about the village and not your clan or yourself?! Are you even a real Uchiha?!"
Obito twitched at the mouth.
He looked as if he'd just stumbled upon some truly monstrous anomaly.
The Uchiha were a clan of overwhelming love—a love so deep and intense that, when twisted, gave rise to unimaginable power.
Looking back over the clan's century-long history, some Uchiha loved their brothers and their dreams. Some loved family and ambition. Others loved romance and friendship.
But a Uchiha who put the village above all else?
Itachi was the first of his kind.
"Judging by this intel," said Black Zetsu, "simply targeting his childhood sweetheart may not provoke enough emotional backlash to trigger further evolution."
"If you want a true explosion of emotion, you'll need to go further."
"Besides, with Yuki Yoru overseeing Konoha, and Fugaku wielding Mangekyō, the village is practically impenetrable."
Obito nodded.
"Forget it. Let's focus on acquiring the Shikotsumyaku bloodline first."
Whether it was Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Itachi, or anyone else—everything ultimately served his grand plan.
If he could seize the Shikotsumyaku, the rest of these contingencies would become irrelevant.
"Let's move. Time to execute the next phase."
"Understood."
..
At Iwagakure...
"An invitation to a joint Chūnin Exam from Sunagakure...?"
In his office, Ōnoki frowned deeply as he read the scroll.
Under normal circumstances, the Chūnin Exams didn't need participation from other villages. But once outsiders were invited, the event transformed from an internal promotion system into a stage for diplomatic muscle-flexing.
Essentially: a show of power.
Just like in the original timeline when Naruto and Sasuke attended the joint exams, the primary goal was to flaunt Konoha's dominance and observe rival villages.
But now?
Aside from their "little brother" Suna, none of the other major villages had shown any intention of attending.
(In canon, Kirigakure was still recovering from the Blood Mist years, and Kumogakure and Iwagakure couldn't care less about giving Konoha a platform.)
The Third War had only ended a few years ago. For Sunagakure, a defeated nation, to suddenly initiate a multi-village exam...
That raised eyebrows.
Was this a way to probe the progress of other great nations—and maybe trigger another war?
Ōnoki stared at the intelligence report with complicated eyes.
This situation was tricky—particularly because of timing.
Attending or not attending both carried political consequences.
If they declined, people would start speculating.
And if other nations sent their elites, Sunagakure could end up in real trouble. If the other four great nations deployed strong genin and coordinated efforts, it could overwhelm Suna entirely.
"The village still needs the Third Tsuchikage to stay put," someone advised.
"We performed terribly in the Third War. If we don't show up now, the other villages will think we're weak."
"We don't need the Tsuchikage himself, but the team we send must be elite. We need to restore Iwa's prestige!"
"But what if we suffer losses? You all know how fragile our situation is!"
"Suna took just as much damage as we did. There's no way they've recovered this quickly. Something's off."
"That's true... but if we refuse, we'll look even worse!"
Ōnoki remained silent as his advisors bickered furiously.
Finally, he spoke.
"Enough."
"You're all correct. Sunagakure clearly has something up its sleeve—but this is an open strategy."
"They've mimicked the old Blood Mist policies and adopted a 'Blood Sand' doctrine. We don't yet know how effective it's been, but the fact they dare to host joint exams now... means every village will send someone. If only to scout for intel."
"In terms of diplomacy and intelligence, we can't fall behind."
"Let's send Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Kitsuchi. Have Kitsuchi lead the team and find out what Sunagakure is really up to."
"Understood!"
...
Kumogakure
"Spiritual Simulation: Lightning Release – Black Panther!!"
In a secluded training ground near a waterfall, Darui's closed eyes snapped open.
Inside his body, the reiryoku he had learned to convert on Shadow Island suddenly erupted.
The 雷 (lightning) tattoo on his shoulder gleamed brilliantly, as if a monstrous power were gathering within him.
A moment later, a pitch-black lightning panther exploded from his hand with a feral snarl, launching straight toward the waterfall.
The next instant, the entire waterfall was split in two—shattered by the surge of black lightning that spread in all directions.
"What the hell was that?!"
Standing nearby, a blond-haired shinobi who resembled the Fourth Hokage, C, stared in disbelief.
His mind was filled with the image of that black thunder-beast—a brutal, roaring predator born of lightning.
"No doubt about it... That was the Third Raikage's signature jutsu—Black Lightning. Darui... you pulled it off!"
"Was it because of reiryoku?" asked Samui, crossing her arms over her impressive chest, golden hair shining in the sunlight. Her eyes sparkled with awe.
"Yeah, it's because of reiryoku" Darui replied, exhaling deeply as he recovered. "After converting all my chakra into reiryoku, techniques I used to struggle with now flow like water. Even the Third Raikage's Black Lightning—I can control it now."
"And it's not just that... even my kekkei genkai seems stronger."
"...What?!"
Both C and Samui were visibly shaken.
They already knew that reiryoku gave a huge boost to ninjutsu. After all, everyone chosen as successors of Shadow Island had seen dramatic improvements.
But they hadn't expected that even kekkei genkai could be enhanced this way.
Just how powerful was reiryoku?
"YOYO~ Looks like Darui completed an incredible training, just like the spicy stir-fried noodles I just ate, baka yarō, konoyarō~"
With that overly enthusiastic rap verse, a new figure descended.
Killer B landed flamboyantly, half-covering his mouth and striking a pose before pausing at the sight of the split waterfall.
"Lord B!"
"B-sama!"
The three greeted him with deep respect. Killer B wasn't just a powerful shinobi—he was one of the pillars of Kumogakure, a man worthy of reverence.
"Honestly, it's all thanks to reiryoku. I haven't even trained that hard," Darui said lazily, stretching. "It might be worth asking the Fourth to authorize widespread training access. What do you think, B-sama?"
"You lazy brat, hmph hmph, the higher-ups will handle those things. You have a new mission, baka yarō, konoyarō~"
With another twirl and a 360-degree spin, Killer B tossed a scroll. Samui caught it smoothly.
She opened it—and her sharp eyes immediately narrowed in confusion.
"...Chūnin Exams?"
"Yeeaaah Chūnin Exams, baby" B rapped.
"Time to flex those muscles, show 'em our might, win those promotions, and crush the fight!"
The three exchanged glances, faces twitching.
Chūnin? Please—they were all beyond that. Most jōnin in the village couldn't beat them. And they were being sent to take a promotion exam?
But they understood.
Kumogakure hadn't secured a decisive victory in the Third War—or even in their final conflict with Konoha.
And now that Yuki Yoru had brokered peace across the nations, future wars were unlikely.
If they wanted to reclaim face, this Chūnin Exam was the perfect stage.
"Tch... what a pain..." Darui muttered.
He was the strongest of the three, having mastered a technique even the Fourth Raikage hadn't—Black Lightning.
But he was also the most laid-back.
Lying around, cloud-gazing—that was his preferred hobby.
The recent reiryoku conversion had drained him, and now they were dragging him into another event?
"Don't worry, B-sama," said C solemnly as he accepted the scroll.
"We'll make sure the world sees the might of Kumogakure!"
"That's what I'm talkin' about~!"
...
"Chūnin Exams?"
In the Mizukage's office, Yuki Yoru raised an eyebrow at the invitation, genuinely intrigued.
He already knew that Sunagakure was Obito's base of operations—he'd discovered that through monitoring microbes shortly after the war ended.
Yoru wasn't yet at the peak of his power.
And before he spread reiryoku across the entire shinobi world, he didn't mind playing Obito's games. It was mildly entertaining—and would keep certain figures in the Pure Land from getting suspicious.
He'd originally thought that after Konoha and Kumo's conflict ended, the world would transition to the Asura vs. Indra reincarnation war.
But now, it seemed Obito was growing restless.
"So, you're inviting me personally? Planning to trap me in Suna permanently, are you...?"
Yoru twirled the invitation scroll in his hand, eyes glinting with amusement.
"You're even willing to risk exposing Sunagakure... oi, you little punk.
You're actually getting me a little fired up."
"Are you really planning to go?" asked his secretary, Terumī Mei, who was helping sort papers.
"Sunagakure is part of the Infrastructure Alliance with us. They sent an invite—how could I not go?"
Yoru shrugged, stretching lazily.
"Besides, I've been stuck in the village forever. Let's call it a vacation—clear the mind, stretch the legs~"
Mei twitched at the corner of her mouth.
She and Yuki Kiri did most of the paperwork. Village affairs were handled by others too.
Meanwhile, this guy—who treated himself like a hands-off ruler—barely did anything except design a few fancy Quincy's Blut.
"What about your escort?"
"I meant the guards. Who are you taking with you?"
Yoru looked at Mei clinging close to him and gave a helpless smile.
"Kiri's going to complain again... Fine, fine, I'll take you. And since it's Sunagakure, let's bring Pakura too."