A twisted spatial vortex abruptly appeared beside a large tree. Aozora emerged first, followed leisurely by Obito.
"Let me introduce you to one of the organization's members."
Obito called toward a tree, "Zetsu, come out!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two giant pitcher plant leaves slowly emerged from the tree. From within them appeared a face split between black and white, who introduced himself: "Zetsu. I handle intelligence gathering and reconnaissance for Akatsuki."
Aozora eyed Zetsu carefully, frowning slightly. "So it was you spying on me recently, wasn't it?"
"Not bad for Madara Uchiha's descendant!" Zetsu gave Obito some support.
"Besides handling intelligence and reconnaissance," Obito explained, "Zetsu also takes care of message delivery. In the future, he may contact you directly."
After introducing Zetsu, Obito continued, "Do you have Biwa Juzo's ring?"
Aozora asked, "You mean the one engraved with 'South'?"
Obito nodded. "Exactly. It's one of the symbols identifying Akatsuki members and has important functions as well."
"It's with me!" Aozora said. "The moment I realized how unique the material was, I stashed it away."
"Excellent judgment!"
Obito regarded Aozora in a new light before continuing, "There's going to be an Akatsuki meeting soon. A few newcomers will be joining us then. Zetsu will notify you beforehand—you should go together with him, bringing the South Ring."
"No problem!"
Satisfied, Obito looked at Aozora and said, "You can head back for now. Don't reveal yourself yet. Your current mission is to gather intel on Konoha—especially anything related to the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."
After talking with Obito, Aozora realized something: though he was officially just another Konoha villager, his situation was unique. He could serve a special purpose. Therefore, there was no need for him to carry out frequent Akatsuki missions right now, to avoid early exposure.
"Yes!"
With that response, Aozora transformed into a black shadow and quickly vanished before the two men.
Watching Aozora leave, Zetsu spoke cautiously, "Do you think we told him too much? There's a chance he might report us to Konoha."
Shaking his head, Obito replied, "He won't. Although he still holds slight emotional ties to Konoha, he's completely lost faith in both the decaying Konoha and the decaying Uchiha clan."
Zetsu darkly proposed from beneath the pitcher plant leaves, "Should we help him cut off that last emotional tie for good?"
After a brief silence, Obito answered, "Not yet. His current strength is already more than enough for our needs."
Although their interaction had been brief, Obito noticed that Aozora's mastery of Fire Release techniques nearly rivaled Madara's—a C-rank Great Fireball Jutsu exhibited the power of an A-rank technique. Just imagine what his signature Great Fire Dragon Jutsu would unleash?
Earlier in Kamui's dimension, Obito had sensed a deeply unsettling pressure radiating from Aozora.
Without even awakening Mangekyou, Aozora had already approached—and possibly achieved—true Kage-level power. If he were to awaken those unpredictable Mangekyou abilities... even Obito couldn't guarantee full control over him anymore.
Hearing this response, Zetsu glanced at Obito in surprise. He hadn't expected this to be Obito's answer.
Elsewhere, Aozora sped swiftly through the forest until reaching the battlefield where he'd fought with Obito earlier.
"Nice work back there, Bunshin!"
The speaker was another Shadow Clone of Aozora, slowly emerging from the ground.
At the same time, a giant crow with a ring of orange-red feathers around its neck perched on a thick branch.
Hearing Aozora's compliment from the ground, the Shadow Clone let out a cold laugh and struck a stylish pose, tilting his head up. "You don't even know who I am? With just my words, I could go head-to-head with Obito!"
Aozora was speechless. He had planned to keep the clone around a bit longer, but the clone just couldn't help going off-script!
He lost himself the moment the main mission was over!
"Release!"
"Anoth—"
The word barely started when the Shadow Clone scattered into a wisp of white smoke.
After absorbing the clone's memories, Aozora couldn't help but give the performance a round of applause.
Though the acting had been a bit over-the-top, Aozora had to admit one thing — damn good work!
Aozora knew all too well that the Great Fireball Technique rarely hit someone like Obito. He'd never held any false hopes about that.
That's why, right after unleashing the Great Fireball Technique, he formed a Shadow Clone and slipped underground with his real body.
He had expected the clone to be easily pierced by Obito, yet he actually sucked the clone into Kamui's dimension.
Even more surprisingly, to survive a few extra minutes, the clone actually managed—with just verbal persuasion and good acting—to stay alive inside Obito's space without consuming much chakra, even reaching an agreement to join the Akatsuki organization.
This time, Obito had been overly confident—he didn't strike hard against Aozora, assuming Aozora had truly been cowed by his Space-Time Ninjutsu and that his lies had successfully deceived him.
Aozora didn't blame the clone for making decisions on his own; he probably would've done the same.
The Uchiha are born right in the eye of the storm—there were things he couldn't escape no matter what.
Obito already had his eyes set on both the Uchiha and Konoha. Whether or not Aozora accepted his recruitment offer, it wouldn't change Obito's intention to weaken, if not completely destroy them.
Rather than letting Obito cause chaos elsewhere, Aozora might as well infiltrate secretly as a spy. This way, he could obtain first-hand intelligence and also seize opportunities to acquire resources he needed.
Setting aside everything else, the Akatsuki housed numerous S-rank rogue ninjas—their collection of jutsu and kinjutsu must be vast. By becoming a full member of the Akatsuki, at the very least he could learn both the Projection Technique and the Dragon Sealing Method, which seemed like standard techniques among members.
Moreover, Aozora had already used up all his Yū Fire. Now, he wanted to seek out Two-Tails and Four-Tails to harvest some Mystic Flame. But going alone to Hidden Cloud or Iwagakure to confront jinchuriki would definitely be challenging given his current strength.
Of course, joining the Akatsuki indeed carried disadvantages—like greater danger and significant time consumption.
Fortunately, he had already succeeded in cultivating the Embodiment Beyond the Self technique. His Keshin could handle affairs on his behalf.
Remember, the chakra in the Keshin came from the same source—it could use nearly all his abilities except for the Sharingan—and communication between the two was possible anytime.
Therefore, having the Keshin impersonate him should reveal practically no flaws.
Thinking about this, Aozora looked upward toward the large crow and said, "Keshin…"
The big crow interrupted him, saying, "I've decided on my name."
"Oh?"
Aozora was taken aback, then apologized and said, "Go ahead! Speak!"
The Corpse Crow cleared its throat, spread its wings, soared majestically into the air, and let out a solemn, ancient cry:
[All things originate from Taiyi!]
Aozora blinked at the words, then stammered in disbelief, "Taiyi?"
The Corpse Crow folded its wings, proudly perched upon a tree branch, and gave a slight nod.
Aozora muttered under his breath: "Don't you fear getting involved in karmic retribution?"
Why are these Bunshin and Keshin behaving like this?
Each one tries to act more aloof than the next, practically inviting calamity. Only his original body still occasionally remembers Chuxin.
The Corpse Crow shook its head and said, "Since we'll die eventually anyway, I'd rather shine brilliantly for a while than live in Mui!"
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