Chapter 372: Where is Itachi?
Izanagi, the Uchiha's ultimate Forbidden Jutsu. At the cost of permanently blinding one Sharingan, it converts any damage received within a certain period—even death itself—into a dream, thereby rewriting reality.
For some reason, two were consumed this time; if Obito hadn't pre-implanted two eyes into his arm and activated the technique, he would have remained in Hidden Leaf Village forever.
God knows why one Izanagi wasn't enough. This should have been a mechanical technique; unless the opponent had a jutsu that hindered the activation of Izanagi, it shouldn't have been like this.
He paused and added, "Nagato should be dead too."
At the mention of Nagato, Black Zetsu's fingers, which were holding a page, tightened abruptly, nearly tearing the paper.
An irrepressible sense of fury and frustration surged into his heart once again.
After Nagato's body recovered its health, not only did he not become more cautious, but his self-confidence inflated to an extreme degree.
He actually said that Uzumaki Naruto was not to be feared, believing that his body, augmented by the Rinnegan and Hashirama cells, was enough to crush everything.
Then, he had Obito use Kamui to take him and sneak into Hidden Leaf Village to rescue the captured Konan.
And the result?
Konan wasn't rescued, and instead, Nagato ended up staying in Hidden Leaf Village forever.
Death is death; he was just a pawn, and Black Zetsu didn't care about Nagato's life or death.
What he cared about was that pair of Rinnegan.
A thousand years of planning, a thousand years of waiting—the key he had obtained with such difficulty.
It was lost just like that because of an idiot's arrogance and impulse!
It was an absolute humiliation; a thousand-year grand plan nearly ruined in an instant.
But fortunately, he could outlast them. If it were just Black Zetsu, he could wait a few decades to outlive Uzumaki Naruto, but Obito clearly couldn't wait for that day.
The black substance on Black Zetsu's body fluctuated violently, revealing the extreme turmoil in his heart.
But after all, he was a thousand-year-old monster; he quickly forced down his anger and began to calmly consider the current situation.
Right now, there seemed to be only three paths before them.
The first: go directly to Hidden Leaf Village, kill Uzumaki Naruto, and take back the Rinnegan.
But this path... looking at Obito's wretched state and Nagato's fate, it was clearly a complete dead end.
That blond brat's strength and methods had far exceeded their estimates.
The second path: kidnap Uchiha Sasuke.
According to intelligence, Sasuke had already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
If they could give him Uchiha Itachi's eyes to fuse into an Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, and then stimulate and nourish them by implanting Hashirama cells... perhaps they could let Sasuke gestate a new pair of Rinnegan.
Although the process might be long and uncertain, this seemed to be the fastest viable alternative for Obito and Black Zetsu at the moment.
The third was to outlive Uzumaki Naruto. Of course, Obito had already ruled out this option before changing eyes.
Obito was older than Naruto; there was an eighty percent chance he wouldn't outlive him.
It was hard to say, though. After all, Obito still had his virginity, while Naruto had so many girlfriends... maybe he could outlive him after all...
Just as Black Zetsu was calculating the feasibility of this third path, Obito suddenly spoke, his voice interrupting his thoughts.
He extended a finger and tapped the tabletop lightly, making a "tap-tap" sound. "Perhaps we have other choices..."
Obito's eyes flickered with a deep and dangerous light.
Regardless of whether the Eye of the Moon Plan was a hoax, he definitely couldn't go back to Hidden Leaf Village.
Uzumaki Naruto would definitely kill him.
The experience of being "killed" last time still left Obito with lingering fear.
When he was killed, he had absolutely not expected Naruto to appear so suddenly.
It was almost as if a Flying Thunder God Mark had been placed on him.
After returning, Obito had actually found a Flying Thunder God Mark on the back of his left shoulder.
And the pattern and sensation of that mark looked exactly like Minato Namikaze's, the Fourth Hokage.
Could it be that Uzumaki Naruto's Flying Thunder God Mark was the same as the Fourth Hokage's?
Even if it was, there was no way around it. Conventional methods simply couldn't remove a Flying Thunder God Mark.
Obito simply decided to go all the way; he cut off the entire area of skin and flesh on his back that bore the mark.
Regardless of whether what Naruto said about the "Eye of the Moon Plan being a hoax" was true or not... they had no other path to take now.
Obito was very curious now, and also very afraid.
Why? Why was Nagato, who had recovered his health and absorbed a large amount of Chakra from the Five-Tails Jinchuriki and the Five-Tails itself via the Preta Path, reaching a state of near-Peak condition... so easily taken down by Hidden Leaf Village?
According to White Zetsu's observations, after Nagato entered Hidden Leaf Village, it was like a pebble thrown into a bottomless pool... he disappeared silently without even splashing any decent ripples.
Within Hidden Leaf Village, there wasn't even any sound of large-scale combat.
It was as if Hidden Leaf Village hadn't been invaded at all.
This was too terrifying!
Nagato's compatibility with Hashirama cells was surprisingly high; after the transplant, he immediately and perfectly absorbed and fused with the Five-Tails' Chakra, and his strength soared.
Obito admitted that he was absolutely no match for a healthy Nagato.
Yet, even such a Nagato was so vulnerable before Hidden Leaf Village...
Then, just how strong had Uzumaki Naruto become?
Could it be that in all the previous battles, he had just been toying with them? Had he not used his true strength at all?
This conjecture sent a chill through Obito's heart.
Uchiha Obito, as if recalling something, raised his head to meet Black Zetsu's gaze.
"By the way, Black Zetsu."
Obito's voice was hoarse and low, with no discernible emotion. "Where is Itachi?"
Ever since Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki returned from Hidden Leaf Village, Obito hadn't heard any news about Itachi for a long time.
Hearing Obito's question, the pool of black substance that was Black Zetsu fluctuated slightly, and then, it emitted a chilling, owl-like cackle: "Hehehehe... Itachi?"
Along with the cackle, Black Zetsu controlled the White Zetsu Clone he was currently possessing.
The White Zetsu's originally expressionless face suddenly twisted and stretched violently, its mouth opening exaggeratedly like a torn bag, almost reaching its ears.
And deep inside that pitch-black oral cavity, there was no throat, but a face—pale to the point of being almost transparent, devoid of any blood color, with eyes tightly shut. It was Uchiha Itachi!
Itachi's face looked as if it were embedded in the White Zetsu's body, his expression terrifyingly hollow, with almost no blood vessels visible beneath his skin. The whole person exuded an eerie aura between life and death, truly looking as if he were dead.
"Hehehe..." Black Zetsu continued to explain with a weird laugh, his voice full of malice and mockery. "With White Zetsu's cells and life force nourishing his body, Itachi is not dead, oh~"
"However..." he dragged out his tone, "that's limited to just 'not dead'."
"In order to escape from that encirclement in Hidden Leaf Village, he forcibly activated the Perfect Susanoo. His Chakra and ocular power were overdrawn too severely, and his body also suffered heavy backlash and damage."
"Right now... he's just a 'living corpse' with faint vital signs."
"Consciousness? Perhaps a little residual instinct, but it's not much different from being dead. Hehehehe..."
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