"Hey, Obito—"
"I brought back some interesting news for you. Where are you?"
"Obito—"
White Zetsu Tobi emerged from the rock wall, calling Obito Uchiha's name in a voice that sounded excited and gleeful at the first listen.
But at this moment, inside the dim underground cave, only the increasingly aged Madara Uchiha slowly raised his head and answered in an indifferent tone.
"That brat Obito is still outside training alone, Tobi…"
"Huh? Training alone outside? How boring." Tobi somehow showed an oddly vivid look of regret on his featureless face. "After I got the news, I specially rushed back early just so I could see his expression right away…"
"What kind of expression did you want to see, Tobi?"
As that voice rang out, Obito Uchiha passed through the Kamui dimension and returned to the underground cave. His cold gaze landed on Tobi's spiral-shaped body.
"Of course I wanted to see an expression other than that gloomy, cold look of yours. Something a little livelier~"
"Like this?"
Obito's face darkened.
A fierce killing intent erupted from his body at once and pressed straight down on Tobi. The pressure frightened Tobi so badly that he shrank back underground, and it also made Madara Uchiha speak up to defuse the situation.
"Enough, Tobi. This is not the time to play around… Tell us the intelligence you gathered."
"Uwaa, so scary, so scary. Damn it, Obito. I hope you can still keep that ugly face pointed at me after you hear the news…"
After muttering to himself for a while, Tobi only exposed half his head above the ground and began recounting the latest intelligence he had gathered in an extremely lighthearted tone.
"…The Uzumaki clan's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, and the brat who mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique. Hmph. The things Konoha can bring out are no different from back then."
After hearing the identities of the two high-level fighters Konoha had deployed in the Battle of Kannaen Mountain, Madara Uchiha seemed to have been reminded of some unpleasant memories. He gave an extremely disdainful cold snort.
Obito Uchiha, meanwhile, maintained his expressionless, icy look and murmured in a flat voice.
"First Minato-sensei, and now even Kushina-sensei, whose identity has always been hidden very well, was dragged out? The village's strength has really been squeezed to its limit… And then, Tobi? Did Rei Kaguya lose, or did he win?"
"Hmm, that question of winning or losing is a little hard to define…"
Tobi instinctively wanted to keep them in suspense.
But under the suddenly intensified pressure from both Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha, he quickly understood the meaning of knowing when to back down. His words instantly became clear, orderly, and smooth.
"In the first half, both sides had wins and losses. Minato Namikaze relied on a surprise attack to control that bone freak, then worked with Kushina Uzumaki to try sealing him.
"In the end, the bone freak brought out Sage Mode, something completely outside their expectations, heavily injured Minato Namikaze, and dragged the battle into the second half.
"The second half was a one-on-one fight between the bone freak and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki entered a partial Tailed Beast transformation and even reached a five-tailed state, but still couldn't do much to the bone freak under Sage Mode. Later, in order to decide the winner, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki used a Tailed Beast Ball to attack and almost blasted the bone freak away—
"But in the end, because she thought she had already won, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was ambushed and severely injured by the bone freak, who had somehow survived. She directly fell unconscious. Overall, I guess it should count as that Rei Kaguya's victory?"
The moment he finished speaking, Tobi burrowed underground on the spot and slipped away from the underground cave, where the air had instantly frozen solid.
But unlike what Tobi expected, after hearing this news, Obito Uchiha did not lose control of his emotions and fly into a rage.
He merely took a deep breath, then turned and walked before Madara Uchiha, who could not help frowning because of this news that had exceeded his control.
"Madara… your battle against the First Hokage, the one that permanently changed the terrain and created the Valley of the End, should be real, right?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that, brat?"
As if he had sensed something, Madara Uchiha raised his head and met Obito Uchiha's eyes.
"You and the First Hokage at your peaks should be stronger than the current Rei Kaguya, right?"
"Ridiculous. A man who cannot even suppress the Nine-Tails alone has no right to be mentioned in the same breath as Hashirama and me."
Madara Uchiha gave a light snort. In his words was the absolute confidence of someone who had once pacified the Warring States Period.
"That's good."
After saying that, Obito Uchiha took the initiative to reach his hand toward Madara Uchiha.
The Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye spun rapidly, as if reflecting the stormy emotions surging inside its owner's heart.
"Give me all of your power."
"A proud Uchiha like you could not possibly be hiding away and clinging to life until now because of something like fear. You must be plotting something, setting up something, somewhere the Five Great Shinobi Villages cannot see…"
"But in the end, you are still old. So old you are about to die. You no longer have the strength to wait until the seeds you planted before grow into towering trees."
"You need a successor, don't you, Madara Uchiha?"
Obito Uchiha spoke very directly, and very rudely.
But after staring into Obito Uchiha's eyes for a long while, Madara Uchiha could not help throwing his head back and laughing.
"Hehehe… hahahaha… hahahahahaha… A successor? You mean you, Obito Uchiha?"
"Yes. Me."
Obito Uchiha still kept his hand extended.
"I will inherit your plan. I will inherit your knowledge. I will inherit the name of 'Madara Uchiha.'"
At this moment, a massive blue chakra phantom once again appeared behind Obito Uchiha, as if providing even stronger proof for his declaration that he would inherit everything from Madara Uchiha.
"How arrogant, brat."
Madara Uchiha looked at the Susanoo behind Obito Uchiha, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled into a meaningful smile.
"However, the Mangekyo Sharingan, Hashirama Senju's cells, Susanoo, and hatred strong and firm enough… barely qualify you as a choice worth looking at."
"So your answer is?"
The Susanoo behind him made the same motion as Obito Uchiha, extending its palm toward Madara Uchiha.
"Uchiha ninjutsu, taijutsu, secrets passed down through the shinobi world, Yin-Yang Release that surpasses the Five Basic Nature Transformations… however much of these you can learn, I will teach you. Once you have mastered enough to inherit the name of 'Madara Uchiha,' I will tell you what you should know."
Madara Uchiha slowly raised his hand and gripped Obito Uchiha's outstretched hand.
On that aged face, the overwhelming arrogance and domineering pride of his prime appeared for the first time in a long while.
"I am Madara Uchiha. A man whose name alone can make the Five Great Shinobi Villages tremble in fear. If you want to inherit everything from me, you will have to bet your own life. Only then will you barely qualify, brat!"
…
"Lord Madara, are you truly not considering using Kirigakure's power, which is under our control, to forcibly erase that Rei Kaguya right now? With such abnormal growth speed, even if Obito inherits all your knowledge, he may not necessarily be able to defeat him. A successor is only a successor in the end. He cannot be compared to you yourself."
"Indeed. That brat from the Kaguya clan has quietly grown to a troublesome level as a target to chase… But there is no need to be that impatient."
"You do not seem worried?"
"News came from Kirigakure. In order to find a way to remove the Flying Thunder God mark on his body, Rei Kaguya took the initiative to request permission to leave the front line. He plans to appear in the countries around the Land of Fire and hold part of Konoha's attention there…"
"You intend to approve his request?"
"If we do not let him wander around the territory of other countries, those villages among the Five Great Shinobi Villages that are still watching from the sidelines will not develop the idea of joining hands to kill Rei Kaguya before he takes another step forward…"
Madara Uchiha narrowed his eyes.
In that silent darkness that seemed as though it would never be lit, he spoke softly to the true body of White Zetsu.
"Zetsu… carefully spread Rei Kaguya's battle records, as well as the intelligence that he intends to seize the Mizukage's position, to the other countries. Draw all of their intelligence personnel to Rei Kaguya's side."
"No one will want to see a Mizukage whose strength completely surpasses the other Five Kage appear in this era… For the ambitions each of them has to lead their village in the struggle for supremacy over the world, they will know what to do."
"Understood."