[Konoha Village, Hokage's Office]
Sarutobi Hiruzen received news from the Anbu.
The Seventh Squad, led by Namikaze Minato, had ended the war between Konoha and Iwagakure in a forceful and unexpected way.
The key among all this was Uchiha Obito.
He suddenly appeared on the battlefield, unleashing a Susanoo no weaker than Madara's, enormous and taller than a mountain peak, and in a battle scene that seemed like it came straight out of a myth, he fought Uchiha Madara head-on.
Although the result of victory or defeat was unknown, judging from the fact that Obito still had enough strength afterward to appear again in the center of the battlefield and once more threaten both sides into a ceasefire with his giant Susanoo, even if Obito was weaker than Madara, he wouldn't be much weaker.
Just by this alone, Obito might have already far surpassed all the current top-tier combat power of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
If it were earlier, Sarutobi Hiruzen, upon receiving such information, probably would not have been able to sleep.
He didn't believe that an Uchiha who had never even opened his eyes before could suddenly, against all logic, jump directly from ordinary eyes to the Mangekyo.
So, Obito must have had the Sharingan a long time ago, and had even evolved it to three tomoe early on. This fact had simply been well hidden, deceiving all of Konoha's higher-ups, including himself and Danzo.
And even if he had been deceived, that was one thing. After all, he wasn't Obito's team teacher and didn't live with him day and night.
But Minato Namikaze, would he truly have not noticed at all?
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't believe it.
'So then, Minato, what exactly are you trying to do?'
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly shivered.
'Behind that sunny smile, is there another deeply hidden face?'
But then again… no matter what Minato was thinking, at the very moment Madara suddenly appeared, when all five great villages were shrouded in a shadow, the fact that Konoha now had an Uchiha ninja who could contend with Madara, perhaps this wasn't a bad thing?
Not only could this reduce the risk of the Uchiha clan joining hands with Madara, it could also ensure that Konoha, when facing Madara, wouldn't cower in fear but could stand tall and act with dignity.
So long as Minato acted for Konoha's sake, Minato's disciple would naturally be firmly bound to Konoha's side. Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his pipe and took a deep drag.
"Minato, you know that for the sake of Konoha, I will push you into the Hokage's seat no matter what. So what, you're done pretending, and this is you laying your cards on the table?"
"The Yellow Flash of Konoha, and now… the Black Fang of Konoha. You really aren't simple."
A flicker of unpredictable light flashed in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes.
'Perhaps, under Minato's leadership, Konoha will become stronger than ever before.'
———
On the other side, in the underground cave Madara had left behind, Obito was lost in thought.
"The Black Fang of Konoha? What the heck is that supposed to be?"
"Who gave me such an awful-sounding title?"
Beside him, Kakashi was leisurely reading a volume of Icha Icha Paradise, absorbed in it. He couldn't help but lazily say, "Obito, I think this title fits you. After all, sometimes your heart really is filthy. If you cut it open, it'd definitely be black."
Obito immediately felt the urge to punch someone.
"Kakashi, you've got some nerve talking about me. Who was it that swore up and down he had nothing to do with that kidney-deficient guy who reads dirty books every day?"
"Look at yourself now, you're even worse than the Sharingan Kakashi people talk about."
Kakashi rolled his dead-fish eyes upward, not the least bit affected, and while continuing to read Icha Icha Paradise, he said, "Back then I misunderstood. Jiraiya-sama really deserves to be one of the Legendary Sannin. His writing has real depth."
"You think it's just smut?"
"No, it's actually teaching a kind of life philosophy."
Obito snorted. "Life philosophy, my ass. What did it teach you? It's clearly just some kind of romance novel. You've been reading it for so long, and I still haven't seen you get a girlfriend."
Kakashi: "…"
Just as Obito was about to keep ridiculing him, Rin suddenly came out from the room.
"Obito, Sato Yuki has woken up."
Obito instantly lost all interest in bickering with Kakashi. He stood up from his seat and jogged to Rin's side.
"Rin, you must be exhausted, let me blow on it for you."
He grabbed Rin's small hand, lifted it, rubbed it, and even blew on it.
Kakashi, seeing this, suddenly felt like he had taken ten thousand critical hits to the heart.
———
Inside the room, Yuki opened her eyes, the three-tomoe Sharingan spinning within them. She sat up and leaned against the head of the bed.
Her gaze was filled with confusion.
She lifted her right hand, discovering that her entire right arm had turned into some kind of unknown white material.
At this moment, Obito and Rin walked in.
Seeing the two of them, she couldn't help but ask, "You two… what did you do to me?"
Obito quietly looked at her, "What do you think?"
Yuki subconsciously recalled what had happened before she fainted. She had… run into her enemy.
The true identity of "Zero," the Iwa spy. Her late brother Sato Kawa's direct superior. The one responsible for her family's tragedy.
The important head of Iwagakure's intelligence division, Oishi..
After that, she had lost all rationality, wrapping her right hand with countless explosive tags and charging at Oishi, intending to self-detonate.
And then…
She gave a bitter smile and looked at Obito.
"So it was you two who saved me again. I didn't think that after suffering such terrible injuries, I could still be alive."
At this, she fell silent. A "thank you" wanted to leave her lips, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say it.
She closed her eyes, and a tear slid down her cheek, "Sorry… I really can't bring myself to thank you right now. If you think I'm ungrateful, then fine, I'll just repay you with my life."
Obito looked at her with a half-smile, "What's wrong? Thinking of your brother's death again, and now instinctively wanting to blame me?"
"You should know. Even if I hadn't acted, he could never have left Konoha alive."
Yuki's emotions surged, "But if you hadn't stopped me, at least he could've looked at me one last time!"
"Because of you, I didn't even get the chance to see him one final time!"
Facing this groundless accusation, Obito only said calmly, "From my standpoint, Sato Kawa absolutely had to be stopped. No one knew what that spy, who had just blown up the Hokage building, would do if he suddenly ran toward the Ninja Academy. Could he have done something insane?"
"Maybe you think your brother was a good man. But that's only how you see things…"
Pausing for a moment, Obito continued.
"Of course, I don't want to argue right or wrong with you about this. Sometimes right and wrong are meaningless. If your power were strong enough, you could even start a war and drag the entire ninja world into your brother's grave with him."
"But in reality, even though you staked your life to blow up the enemy, in the end, all you managed to do was give him a scare."
"I admit that explosive tags are indeed very powerful ninja tools. Sometimes they can even take down key shinobi, more useful than things like Amaterasu or Great Fireballs. For example… Tsunade's younger brother…"
"But to think you could blow up a battle-hardened jonin with rich experience, that was a bit too unrealistic."
[T/N: 🔥A new book is up— "Emiya in Honkai: Star Rail". I am releasing it from my second account(Ambitious_Guy) as I can't publish more books from this account(Max is 20). Make sure to check it out and support. Have a great read~🙇]
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