"How did you find that out?" Obito asked, still looking at Ren's picture with an utterly astonished gaze full of disbelief.
The fake Tobi had been driving him spare these last few months. Whomever it was, they were clearly making fun of him. Not only that, but they also knew far more about him than he was comfortable with.
The fake Tobi had to die. There was no if or but about it in Obito's mind.
He had investigated right, left, and center, running around like a headless chicken as he went through every informant available to him, but nobody knew a damn thing! It was infuriating. No matter the threat or a bribe, he got nothing. The fake Tobi seemed to be a ghost that didn't exist outside of a few short appearances here and there.
The fact that Zetsu had found out his identity was nothing short of a miracle to Obito. Despite himself, he felt a measure of wariness toward Zetsu surge within him.
But then he inwardly shook his head, admonishing himself for being foolish. Zetsu was Madara's creation that was supposed to help him with the Moon-Eye plan. He was the last thing that would scheme against him.
"Heh, you know how we started a surveillance on this man after he made us fail a mission and had pitted Deidara and Sasori versus the Eight-Tailed Jinchuuriki." The Black Zetsu started in his low, menacing tone.
"It was a complete mess! I swear!" The White Zetsu continued in an upset, childish tone, pouting in an unnerving fashion. "The man has soooo many seals on his house that it was impossible to watch him! Who even does that? Shouldn't there be a limit to paranoia? He is exactly like you, Obito! No wonder he calls himself Tobi! Just more capable!" He beamed at the unmasked Uchiha with an innocent grin, only to receive an unfriendly look for his trouble.
"Get on with it," Obito said through gritted teeth as his expression darkened, irritation spiking within him at the white idiot, who had always acted out in some way when he could get away with it.
"Hehe~, right, right. So, that surveillance was pretty much a pointless waste of time." Not to mention, he suspected this Ren knew exactly that somebody was watching him. Nevertheless, he had never revealed anything in public.
At least, there was a lot to uncover about his actions. His efforts in improving Sunagakure were blatantly obvious, but of no concern to Zetsu. He was interested in the man's prowess, not his skills in village building.
Only the assassination attempt on him was a chance to uncover something, and Zetsu had to be extra careful poking at the strings of certain people to set it up without anybody knowing about his involvement.
But what else could he do? It wasn't as easy as manipulating the simpleton Obito! He was really starting to get annoyed with his failures to find something out when he decided to go a bit more hardcore, and it resulted in that assassination attempt.
Even watching a poo was more entertaining than that mission! He would know. He had loved to annoy Obito with his artistic depictions of poo when the boy was freshly kidnapped by Madara!
Well, hobbies aside, the assassination attempt was another failure. The smoke screen prevented Zetsu from seeing what was happening inside. He could have put the whole thing in motion behind the scenes, but deciding how it would ensue was beyond him.
But as somebody who had been waiting for his chance throughout the last thousand years, manipulating things behind the scenes for the sake of his mother's resurrection, he became very patient. He left the White Zetsu clone there to continue the surveillance, even if there were no results.
And it had unexpectedly paid off!
The Black Zetsu's grin became unnerving. "Ren made an unlucky mistake, and we were lucky to be just in the right place at the right time to notice."
"Imagine my surprise when my clone saw the man teleport into his house when he was trying to peer inside through the window!" White Zetsu exclaimed.
It was an amazing coincidence. The man did not teleport straight in front of said window, either. It happened deeper in the house. He most likely did not even realize his teleportation could be seen through the window from a certain angle, given how careful he was not to even hint at being able to do it throughout all the time Zetsu had been observing him.
Even to Zetsu, that came as a massive surprise.
"The time coincided with fake Tobi disappearing from Ame after meeting Konan. We were watching them." The Black Zetsu added, but there was an underlying hint of annoyance in his tone.
He was very interested in their discussion, but halfway through, Ren subtly erected some kind of privacy seal, causing him to be unable to eavesdrop anymore. He hated that he missed the most important part of their discussion.
"So, we put two and two together!" White Zetsu continued, self-satisfaction oozing out of him. "And voila! This Ren guy is most likely our fake Tobi."
If Ren had heard just how they had discovered his secret identity, he would have had to fight an intense urge to bash his head against the wall. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea that White Zetsu was watching him at home. The plant man was the best spy in the world, and if he maintained his distance, there was simply no easy way to detect his presence for Ren.
Even the detection seal would only reveal that there was a chakra presence, and that's how he found Zetsu hiding underground in the Amegakure during his talk with Konan. But considering that Sunagakure was a village of ninjas, a chakra presence near the Sabaku estate was nothing surprising. ANBU guards were stationed all around it, all the time, after all.
After living with Temari for nearly a year with no issues, Ren's vigilance grew a little bit lax. It was just human nature to relax in their home where they felt safe, especially one protected by so many seals that even a bijuu would get too scared to approach.
Unfortunately, nobody was perfect, and a mistake was bound to happen sooner or later. It's just... Ren probably never expected his casual mistake would be something this massive.
"I see..." Obito darkly muttered, his hands balling into fists as he narrowed his eyes and glared at Ren's picture.
Watching him, the Black Zetsu inwardly chuckled. He didn't reveal this out of some stupid sense of duty or something inane like that. He was simply curious what Obito would do next. This fake Tobi didn't matter to him.
Even the real Tobi didn't matter to him at this point. To be honest, Obito had outlived his usefulness as a pawn. He was always a bit annoying to work with. But that was simply his Uchiha genes. Zetsu's nephew, Indra, was a prick, and his descendants definitely inherited it.
Even if Obito went and got himself killed, Zetsu had options now, thanks to Orochimaru's unintended gift and Sasori's talent for puppetry.
It made Obito... expendable.
"This changes things." Obito gruffly spoke, causing Zetsu to tilt his head in curiosity. Obito glanced at him, "I have also gotten an important piece of intel." He pointed at Ren's picture, "Three days ago, his student, Hinata Hyuga, had killed the Five-Tailed Jinchuuriki."
Abruptly, Black Zetsu's posture went rigid as he felt as if somebody punched him in the gut. Both White and Black Zetsu's sides grew quiet, staring at Obito as they suppressed their urge to scream that came with the monumental rage coursing through their veins.
That... indeed changed everything. The machinations of the fake Tobi did not matter. But the death of a jinchuuriki was unacceptable.
Everything necessary to resurrect his mother was already in place and had been put into motion. And now somebody throws a wench into his plans? Zatsu seethed. This meant another three-year delay.
Missing Zetsu's sudden bad mood, Obito continued in a heavy tone, "With that loss, this war turned completely in favor of Konoha's alliance. Kumo was also pushed back, and with them having to fight on two fronts with no support from Iwa, they are soon going to be in a very bad spot."
When he started the war, he hoped to weaken Konoha. Their display during Orochimaru's invasion made him wary. But now he regretted not acting sooner and assassinating the two new S-rank kids in Konoha.
What the Hinata girl had shown during her fight against the Sound forces was one thing. But the technique she had used against the Iwa army rivaled Nagato's full-powered Shinra Tensei in sheer destruction.
He was no longer sure he could win that fight. It was enough to make him wary about haphazardly attacking her.
Silently listening to Obito as he continued complaining about his plans and machinations crumbling, Zetsu's inner displeasure only rose.
Obito was a passable pawn, but compared to Madara, he was practically a clown.
With Madara, they caused the first ninja war, manipulated the ninja world from the shadows for several decades, masterfully stirred conflict between villages, caused many S-rank ninjas to defect from their villages or get assassinated, plotted the downfall of the Senju clan, among several others, and much more.
Compared to that, what had Obito done in the last decade and a half? Caused the bloodline purges in Kiri to become a full-blown civil war?
Hah! Great job! The one village that was so weak it did not even matter in the grand scheme of things had been nearly eliminated. What an amazing accomplishment!
Zetsu inwardly grumbled, knowing he was unfair to Obito due to his anger. The kid managed to cause the Kyubi attack on Konoha that crippled them for some time. He even orchestrated the Uchiha clan purge and was responsible for the rise of Akatsuki.
But...
The Kyubi attack clearly didn't do enough damage, considering that Konoha was still the strongest village.
The Uchiha clan purge? There were still several Uchiha alive, so the job was not properly done. Not that Zetsu minded having some spares in case his current plan didn't go well.
And the Akatsuki rise? Nagato and Konan clearly considered rebelling, so was that something to be proud of? Akatsuki was their idea in the first place. Obito only helped here and there.
Zetsu initially intended to reveal that information to Obito, but now he decided he would need to do something more drastic.
"I think," Zetsu suddenly said, interrupting Obito, "We should get properly involved in the mess." 'You started.' He added in his mind. "Let's have Sasori do his thing." He paused for a moment before the Black Zetsu grinned.
"It is time for Madara-sama to come back from the dead."