Chapter 532: Obito's New Friends
Ino glanced at Kurotsuchi, who was supposed to be the Stone's commander.
Kurotsuchi put her hands behind her head and propped her long legs up on the table, as if to say, My grandfather wanted to come. You think I could have stopped him?
Facing the Third Tsuchikage's aggressive questioning, Ino was not polite. "The mission I received is to purge the Akatsuki within the Hidden Rain Village. I don't know anything about anything else."
"You really don't know?"
"I really don't know."
The Third Tsuchikage floated in mid-air, seemingly trying to look down on Ino. But when she blatantly began to absorb natural energy from her surroundings and harmonize her senjutsu chakra, the old man had no choice but to lower his altitude and meet her gaze at eye level.
The Third Tsuchikage said, "I've heard that the Akatsuki used a strange wooden statue to absorb the Tailed Beasts' chakra. Does this mean that the Four-Tails and Five-Tails are now inside that statue? If the statue is found, what will be done with them?"
Minato Namikaze's hidden mission for Ino was indeed to find the Gedo Statue. As for what to do with it afterward, to be honest, even Konoha's leadership had not reached a consensus.
Tsunade's opinion was to just seal it away, no questions asked. Koharu worried that Konoha taking control of the Gedo Statue would provoke a joint hostile reaction from the other great villages. Homura wanted to take complete control of the statue and turn the captured Four, Five, and Six-Tails into Konoha's weapons.
The three advisors had three different opinions, which put Minato in a difficult position.
Konoha was already very powerful, and its own jinchuriki had not been harmed. If they sealed the Gedo Statue, they would directly lose two Tailed Beasts. The biggest loser in that scenario would be the Hidden Stone Village.
After weighing the pros and cons, Minato agreed with Tsunade's opinion. Konoha was strong enough now; it didn't need the power of the Tailed Beasts. He implicitly instructed Ino to seal the Gedo Statue if she had the chance.
The Third Tsuchikage, of course, did not want that to happen.
Ino didn't know what Obito did with the Gedo Statue after Nagato's death in the original timeline. She thought the chances of her finding it were slim, especially now that Madara Uchiha had been revived. But at this moment, being called out directly by the Tsuchikage, she looked at the Cloud's Yugito Nii. What's the situation, sis? How does the Third Tsuchikage know about the Gedo Statue? Did someone from your village leak the information?
At the time, Ino and the Fourth Raikage had only caught a glimpse of the Gedo Statue in the heat of battle. The one most familiar with it would undoubtedly be Yugito, who had had her chakra continuously extracted for two days and was nearly drained to death.
"Don't look at me. I was unconscious at the time. What wooden statue? I don't know anything about it." Yugito suspected there was a Stone spy within the Cloud Village and played dumb.
Ino played along with her. "You were really unconscious?"
"Really unconscious! I don't know anything."
Ino cleared her throat. "I completely understand Lord Third Tsuchikage's concern for the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. I personally express my deepest regrets for the sacrifices of Lord Rōshi and Lord Han. To honor the spirit of these two seniors, we must put aside our disputes, strengthen the communication between our villages, and jointly establish a new era of shinobi alliance..."
She rambled on and on. The Third Tsuchikage listened patiently. It seemed like a lot was said, yet nothing was said at all.
The Third Tsuchikage wanted to retrieve his village's Tailed Beasts and had flown all this way to join the battle. Ino had no good solution either. She couldn't just kill him, could she? She would have to play it by ear.
With the allied forces assembled, Ino shouted, "Move out! We enter the Hidden Rain Village today!"
The Akatsuki had already split before the allied forces entered the village.
Yahiko's ideal was grand. He wanted the Akatsuki to be an organization that spread peace. Wherever there was war, the Akatsuki would be there. They would help the weaker side, resist the strong, help balance the conflict, and then eliminate the threat of war.
His ideology, with its hint of universal love and non-aggression, had essentially surpassed that of all the previous Hokage. Such an ideology was undoubtedly a thorn in the side of the five great ninja villages.
Danzo had incited Hanzo of the Salamander to attack the Akatsuki precisely because he saw how dangerous Yahiko's ideas were to the great villages.
In that respect, Danzo had been very perceptive.
Now that Yahiko was revived, at the tender age of fifteen and in the throes of his chunibyo phase, he wanted to put his ideals back into practice.
Konan, frankly, was exhausted by it all. She had little interest in these ideals and dreams, but since Yahiko insisted, she could only accompany him.
Before Nagato left for Konoha to carry rice, he had left letters for Gaara and Itachi. Itachi had died before he could read his, but Gaara wholeheartedly agreed with Nagato.
The two found Gaara, and after a heartfelt conversation, Gaara joined Yahiko and Konan's small group.
They took Nagato's body and left the Land of Rain for the Land of Wind, where Gaara still had a few supporters.
Elsewhere.
Obito was unaware of Madara's revival. His attention was mostly focused on Nagato's Rinnegan.
He was somewhat wary of Konan and Gaara and knew it would be difficult to snatch the Rinnegan from them. Therefore, he needed help.
Kisame Hoshigaki had thrown in his lot with Obito. Back in the Hidden Mist, he had been recruited by Obito, who was then masquerading as Madara. He was someone who relatively agreed with Obito's ideology. Now that his partner, Itachi, was dead, he naturally returned to Obito's command.
Obito asked Zetsu, "What about Kakuzu and Hidan?"
Zetsu replied emotionlessly, "Kakuzu only cares about money, so..."
Obito cursed inwardly.
He was broke too!
He hated these people who were obsessed with money. Don't you have any ideals in your hearts?
"Nagato didn't collect all nine Tailed Beasts as we planned. What do you intend to do next?" Zetsu asked.
Of course I'm going to snatch the Rinnegan! But Obito had his own plans. In his mind, Zetsu was just a spy sent by Madara to watch him. He certainly couldn't say that aloud.
Obito said, "Our current mission is still to capture the Tailed Beasts. The Three, Seven, and Nine-Tails jinchuriki need to be captured. It would be best to capture the Eight-Tails jinchuriki as well. Also, Deidara and Kakuzu are no longer reliable. We need some new help."
Soon, Obito approached the Konoha rogue-nin, Hiruko.
By this time, Hiruko had already obtained the bodies of the Magnet Release user Toroi, the Scorch Release user Pakura, and the sensory-type ninja Chūkichi. He was still two short of the five Kekkei Genkai abilities he needed. His remaining targets were the Explosion Release user Gari from the Stone's Explosion Corps, and... Kakashi from Konoha.
Hearing that Hiruko had his eyes on Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan, Obito sneered inwardly. You, you ugly freak? You think you're worthy?
Though he felt contempt, Obito showered Hiruko's Chimera Technique with praise.
You want to go after Kakashi? Go ahead! Let's see how you die!
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