Black Zetsu had been uneasy for some time.
The short-sighted White Zetsu, however, failed to notice anything strange about the people around him.
Before long, they returned to the Akatsuki hideout.
By then, Uchiha Madara had already arrived and was speaking with Uchiha Obito alone.
After the earlier shock, Obito had completely lost the mysterious air he once carried. His clothes were torn, his mask was gone, and his scarred face looked deathly pale.
His lips were cracked. Even his Sharingan had lost its light.
His entire body looked hollow, as if every trace of life had been drained from him.
"Obito."
Madara's low voice echoed through the room.
"I need an explanation."
On the way back, Madara had already erased Namikaze Minato's Flying Thunder God mark from himself. The moment he arrived at the cave, he saw Obito in this miserable state.
After questioning Sarutobi Asuma, he learned what Namikaze Kirito had done over the years.
Uzumaki Nagato, the pawn he had left behind, had been captured in the Fantasy Kingdom?
How was he supposed to return to life without the Rinnegan?
At Madara's question, Obito finally reacted.
He slowly raised his head and looked at him.
"Rin…"
His voice was hoarse.
"Rin came back…"
Madara's eyes narrowed.
"Uchiha Obito. You fell apart over one woman?"
Those words seemed to flip a switch inside Obito.
He suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Madara by the collar.
"That's Rin!"
His voice tore out of his throat.
"She's not just some woman! She's not anyone else! She's my Rin! Do you understand?!"
Boom!
Even at his peak, Obito's strength was nothing compared to Madara's. In his current state, there was no contest at all.
With a dull impact, Obito was sent flying and slammed into the wall, his body half-embedded in the stone.
Clatter…
Madara walked toward him slowly.
His voice remained calm.
"Obito. You are alive because I allowed you to live. I gave you the Tsuki no Me Project and the chance to create the world you desired."
His eyes turned cold.
"And yet you ruined everything and reduced yourself to this pathetic state."
"What do you know?!"
Obito showed no respect toward Madara. He glared at him and roared with rage.
"Rin was dead… she was supposed to be dead! But she came back right in front of me! And now her heart is filled with that Namikaze Kirito! What am I supposed to do? What can I even do?!"
Boom!
Seeing the chosen pawn he had placed so much effort into reduced to this spineless state, Madara drove his fist into Obito's stomach.
"Gah—!"
Obito coughed up blood, his eyes filled with hatred.
Whether that hatred was aimed at Madara or Namikaze Kirito, even he could no longer tell.
Madara looked down at him.
"If that woman was revived by that brat, then she is not the Rin you lost."
Obito froze.
Madara's voice lowered.
"If you truly wish to see the real Rin, then complete the Tsuki no Me Project. Only in that world will she truly return to you."
Obito's trembling stopped.
"Yeah…"
His voice became quiet.
"That's right…"
His eyes slowly widened, as if he had found something to cling to.
"That isn't Rin. Not my Rin. Only I can bring the real Rin back. I'll create a world where Rin exists…"
He muttered to himself, almost like he was forcing the thought into his own mind.
After seeing Rin resurrected, Obito had lost the meaning behind everything he had done.
But Madara's words gave him a new answer.
The Tsuki no Me Project still had to be completed.
Only then could Rin truly be brought back.
Obito had always wanted to believe that.
He only needed someone else to say it.
Now that Madara had given him that excuse, he clung to it like a drowning man grasping at a lifeline.
Seeing Obito's expression change, Madara smiled faintly.
For now, he was still bound by the Impure World Reincarnation. There were still things that had to be done through this pawn.
Otherwise, he would have killed this trash with his own hands.
Under the gazes of the others, Obito soon regained his composure.
He pulled himself out of the wall and looked at Madara coldly.
"Madara. What comes next?"
Madara did not mind Obito's disrespectful tone.
Instead, he sat down on a chair in the room, as if the situation had returned to his control.
"When I went to Konoha, I sensed two jinchūriki in that village. If we are to revive the Ten-Tails, they will be necessary. First, we—"
"There's no need."
Before Madara could finish, Obito cut him off.
"The Ten-Tails will be revived soon. The two jinchūriki in the Fantasy Kingdom are unnecessary. Just tell me the next step."
"Oh?"
Madara's eyes sharpened slightly.
The Ten-Tails could be revived without the One-Tail and Nine-Tails?
It sounded absurd.
Even so, Madara did not think Obito was lying.
If there was anyone in this world desperate to complete the Tsuki no Me Project, it was the people in this room.
Obito had no reason to deceive him about that.
Madara leaned back slightly.
"It seems you have learned a few things."
Then his gaze turned heavy.
"Fine. The next step is simple. You will become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki."
"Understood."
Obito showed no surprise.
Even the idea of becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki barely stirred any emotion in him.
Madara continued, "After that, we retrieve Nagato. I need to be fully revived. With this body, the Tsuki no Me Project cannot be completed."
"Nagato…"
Obito's eyes shifted slightly.
"I'll think of a way."
When Madara mentioned his resurrection, a strange light flickered in Obito's eyes, as if he had his own plans.
Madara noticed it at once.
A brat like this could not hide his thoughts from him.
But once the Rinnegan was retrieved, Obito's opinion would no longer matter.
Live a little longer, Obito.
Once I am truly revived, you will no longer have any use.
With that thought, Madara glanced at Black Zetsu.
Black Zetsu understood and gave a silent nod.
Madara stood.
"Take me to the Ten-Tails."
"Fine."
Obito turned and led the way, with Madara and Sarutobi Asuma following behind him.
They passed through a dark, deep tunnel.
Before long, the group arrived in a vast underground chamber.
The walls were covered in countless sealing formulas, layered so densely that they seemed to crawl across the stone.
At the center of the chamber stood the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Around it, several members of the Akatsuki were forming hand seals, maintaining the barrier without pause.
Even when Obito arrived, they did not react.
It was not because they were careless.
The Ten-Tails had already been revived.
However, Obito had used sealing jutsu, along with the Akatsuki's own unique techniques, to force the Ten-Tails into a temporary slumber.
Without the Rinnegan, none of them could control it.
For now, this was the only option.
Because if the Ten-Tails awakened completely, the first thing it would do would most likely be to kill every person in the chamber.
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