When the Fourth Raikage heard Jiraiya mention releasing him, an ominous feeling immediately surged in his heart.
"That bastard! He's planning to release me in front of the people of Takigakure and then have that brat come and finish me off, isn't he?"
The Fourth Raikage wasn't afraid of battle. In fact, he was a battle maniac who lived for the thrill of combat!
But he wanted to be defeated in a proper, face-to-face fight—not taken out by some sneaky bastard who appeared out of nowhere while he was unprepared.
Or worse, to spend every waking moment on edge, constantly watching his back. If that were the case, he'd rather die in battle with his dignity intact!
"You're really not leaving?"
On the way back to Konohagakure, Jiraiya couldn't help but confirm again, but the Fourth Raikage refused to budge.
"If you want to kill me, do it head-on! I'm more than happy to fight to the death. But don't pull any of that underhanded nonsense!"
"Idiot!"
Tsunade couldn't hold back her frustration and cursed. She glanced at Kitagawa Minamoto, who stood off to the side with an innocent expression, and felt a headache coming on.
"This brat... If you're going to act, then at least commit fully!"
"Forget it. Jiraiya, you can explain this mess to the old man yourself."
"I know, I know. What a pain," Jiraiya said, rubbing his temples. He was starting to suspect that the Fourth Raikage had overheard something during Minamoto's nonsense chatter or had seen something he shouldn't have during the fight with Yahiko.
"Speaking of which, what exactly happened with Yahiko?"
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Jiraiya asked as they left Takigakure.
"The one I fought was a puppet."
Minamoto didn't hide anything. He pulled out a fragment of a black rod and handed it to Jiraiya.
"I could sense that the real body was far away. They were controlling the puppet through this thing to fight me.
But when they realized I was tracking their location, they made a mistake, and I seized the opportunity. Unfortunately, the real body escaped—they seem to be able to fly."
"Remote control... and they can fly?"
Jiraiya took the fragment and examined it carefully. His expression grew even more serious.
"This Chakra..."
He could feel the unique nature of the Chakra emanating from the fragment. It was undoubtedly a creation of the Rinnegan's power.
Hearing Minamoto's explanation only deepened Jiraiya's unease.
He knew Yahiko was likely dead, and Nagato...
"You've done well, Minamoto," Jiraiya said softly, pocketing the fragment.
"But don't get overconfident. Whatever happened, they're not opponents to be underestimated. After all, they are—"
"Don't worry, I know."
Seeing Jiraiya's hesitant expression, Minamoto nodded decisively.
He knew exactly what Jiraiya was struggling to say—it was the Rinnegan.
As a "source of information," Minamoto knew far too much. He also understood Jiraiya's complicated emotions.
"Still, Nagato must hate me to death by now, right?"
Thinking of the Deva Path Pain, whose body he had half-destroyed—especially since that body belonged to Yahiko—Minamoto figured Nagato was probably on the verge of losing it.
"And it's not just Nagato. Obito Uchiha probably wants to strangle me right now, too..."
The thought of Obito made Minamoto feel a rare sense of awkwardness.
He hadn't expected that his first time impersonating someone to stir up trouble would end with the actual person catching him in the act.
And he had done and said plenty of things to push Obito over the edge.
Still, Obito had "left behind" a few things for him, albeit unintentionally. While they weren't immediately useful, Minamoto couldn't complain.
"Well, I guess he's a good guy in his own way," Minamoto thought to himself.
At that moment, Kakashi approached him and spoke in a low voice.
"Minamoto, I need to ask you something."
"Hm? Go ahead, Kakashi-sensei."
"Last night, Obito Uchiha seemed... mentally unstable. It was like he wasn't acting normal. Do you know why?"
"Uh..."
"If we can figure out the reason, maybe I can use it against him in the future. It would make dealing with him a lot easier!"
"..."
"So, tell me everything about what happened last night."
"..."
"Damn it!"
While Kakashi was trying to figure out what Minamoto had done to Obito, in the Land of Rain, Obito Uchiha let out a furious roar.
This failed operation wasn't a big deal to him—their goal had been to divert Konohagakure's attention away from the Land of Rain, and they had achieved that.
But still...
"Kakashi! Look at the kind of disciple you've trained!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier Obito became. He couldn't understand how someone could be so shameless!
"Obito, calm down. The battle is over," Black Zetsu said, attempting to console him.
"It's over, so let it go. That brat is too strange. We need to take him seriously."
"What do you know?!"
Obito shot Black Zetsu a venomous glare, silencing him.
Black Zetsu hadn't been present during the battle, so he didn't fully understand what had happened. He only knew that Obito had been thoroughly humiliated.
Glancing at White Zetsu, Black Zetsu realized that this one probably knew more.
But with everything that had happened—especially Minamoto defeating the Deva Path Pain—Black Zetsu's mind was in turmoil, so he hadn't paid much attention to Obito's ordeal.
"There's no point dwelling on this now. Nagato lost, and he lost badly," Black Zetsu said, trying to redirect the conversation.
"Hmph! Nagato overestimated himself. He only sent one body to fight. Sure, that body was strong, but with Minamoto using the Flying Thunder God Technique, what chance did he have?"
From the start, Obito hadn't approved of Nagato's approach. Obito himself had space-time ninjutsu, yet he had repeatedly fallen victim to the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"Besides, that brat trained by Kakashi is cunning and ruthless. He'll exploit any opening without hesitation. Hmph!"
"..."
Black Zetsu remained silent, observing Obito. Just how badly had this guy been humiliated?
"Enough. Let's move on."
Obito seemed to recall something unpleasant and quickly changed the subject.
"What about Pain's body? Did you recover it?"
"It's been retrieved," Black Zetsu replied with a nod.
"That body belonged to Nagato's friend, so I collected it immediately after the battle. But it's severely damaged."
"Return it to him. See if you can repair it," Obito said after a moment's thought.
"This time, Nagato must hate that brat as much as I do. Helping him will remind him of this humiliation!"
"..."
Black Zetsu suddenly realized that Obito's brain seemed to be working unusually well this time.
Could it be that the humiliation had actually made him smarter?
(End of Chapter)
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