Obito wasn't ready to complicate things by clashing with Hiruzen Sarutobi just yet.
The moment he heard the commotion, he charged toward Gaara!
But Gaara had borrowed chakra from Shukaku, recovering nearly all of his strength, and his mind was crystal clear—he hadn't forgotten how Uchiha Obito's abilities worked.
Kicking up a cloud of sand, Gaara soared into the sky, maintaining his distance while launching wave after wave of sand attacks at Obito.
In both Obito and Hidan, Gaara found a renewed sense of pride as a Kage. Even while dealing with a space-time ninjutsu user—someone easily countered once you understood his abilities—he still had the capacity to interfere with Hidan and protect Kitsuchi.
The only thing he couldn't do was run.
For now, Gaara's only hope was to stall. Stall long enough for reinforcements to arrive from the Five Kage Summit.
As expected, Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived first.
The Kazekage had already partially transformed into his Tailed Beast, and Iwagakure's Kitsuchi was severely injured. There hadn't been a chance to flee far.
Then there was the mysterious masked man—someone from the same organization as those rogue ninja from Yugakure whom Danzō had brought along. Together, they had cornered Gaara.
Hiruzen quickly assessed the situation.
Gripping his staff tightly, Hiruzen's gaze stayed focused on the masked man—Obito. The sheer danger emanating from him made it impossible to look away.
Naturally, Obito sensed the hostility and spoke in a low voice,
"Third Hokage. I've worked with your current Hokage before."
Then, to reinforce the point, he added, "Danzō used my abilities to return from Iwagakure to the Land of Iron."
Everyone, including Hiruzen, froze at that: "Iwagakure?"
Obito nodded casually. "Yeah, we captured the Five-Tails' jinchūriki from Iwagakure. The Five-Tails is now in Konoha's hands."
In truth, Danzō had returned empty-handed. The Five-Tails' jinchūriki was still under Obito's control.
But Obito didn't mind using this moment to play the misinformation game.
"Unfortunately, we failed to capture the Four-Tails. The Tsuchikage beat us."
Gasps rippled through the group.
Kitsuchi and the other Iwa-nin went pale, then flushed red with fury. They glared at Obito with shocked, hateful eyes.
No one doubted the truth of what he said. After all, it did explain why Ōnoki had stayed behind in Iwagakure, and why Danzō had gone missing before the Summit began.
"Oh, by the way—the Mizukage went to Kumogakure. He's done even better. The Two-Tails and Eight-Tails now both belong to Kirigakure."
——!!!
Before anyone could fully process what they were hearing, Obito turned to Hiruzen again and said,
"Third Hokage, can we proceed with taking the One-Tail now?"
Gaara hadn't even snapped out of the shock from those information bombs. When he noticed Hiruzen start shifting his attention toward him, his whole body—coated in Shukaku's cloak—nearly bristled into a puffball.
He'd used a good chunk of Shukaku's borrowed chakra in that brief clash with Obito.
If Obito and Hiruzen joined forces, even nine lives wouldn't be enough.
Closing his eyes for a moment, Gaara forced himself to stay calm.
"Is that so? Sounds like the Hokage is getting desperate… teaming up with a rogue Uchiha now?"
Hiruzen turned to look at him. "Uchiha?"
The Uchiha Clan had been wiped out by Danzō. And now an Uchiha was working with Danzō?
"You mean the same Uchiha who controlled the Nine-Tails, caused the Nine-Tails' Rampage, and got the Fourth Hokage killed?"
Hiruzen: !!!
Gaara could play the info-bomb game too.
As he watched Hiruzen's stunned expression and Obito's silence, Gaara couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction—like a fan mocking his idol.
He added, with a tinge of the smug sarcasm Yagura had mastered,
"Oh right. The name you left behind in Konoha—Uchiha Obito. A hero who died at the Battle of Kannabi Bridge during the Third Shinobi World War. Kakashi Hatake's best friend."
Gaara was hitting his stride. "So, now that Konoha's in danger, you've set aside your clan's extermination and are working hand-in-hand with Shimura Danzō. Totally makes sense."
So, mind explaining why you caused the Nine-Tails' Rampage twelve years ago, Obito?
Kitsuchi didn't even know what to be shocked about anymore.
More surprising than the intel dumps was the fact that this usually quiet kid Gaara could speak so many words in one breath.
Obito shot a cold look at Hiruzen. The old man couldn't reconcile this masked figure with the image of a cheerful kid in goggles—Obito, who used to smile like an idiot in Minato's squad, who'd help old ladies cross the street.
But Obito's silent stare said it all: every word Gaara had spoken was true.
The world suddenly felt absurd to Hiruzen.
"Why?"
Why had that kind-hearted boy become this? Why had Minato's own student caused Kushina Uzumaki's death and killed Minato Namikaze?
He took a step forward, a flood of questions bursting inside him.
But the moment he stepped again—
A flash of paralysis struck his heart.
His entire body lost its strength and control in an instant.
The sharp aftermath of a pierced heart spread throughout his body.
His grip loosened. The staff clattered to the ground.
And then Hiruzen Sarutobi collapsed, his blood pooling beneath him.
From afar, Hidan burst into hysterical laughter.
"Hahahahahahaha!! That was insane! So satisfying!! Jashin-sama, I didn't even indulge in this one! A pure, whole sacrifice just for you! Jashin-sama!!"
"Yes," Obito said as he knelt beside Hiruzen. "I'm the one who killed Minato."
"And now I've killed the Third Hokage. My teacher's teacher."
A Hokage killer, was that what he was becoming?
Whether Hiruzen heard those final words or not didn't matter.
Killing Hiruzen had always been part of the plan.
Which raised the question—why had Danzō stayed behind and let Hiruzen go chase the One-Tail's jinchūriki?
Because once they captured the One-Tail, Obito would've had to extract it in front of Hiruzen. Danzō was simply using the opportunity to eliminate a political rival.
"I should thank you, Kazekage."
Obito stood up, casting a cold glance at Gaara.
"You saved me a lot of trouble."
The damage Gaara dealt to Hiruzen allowed White Zetsu to collect his blood—just like he'd done with Kitsuchi.
Of course, the original plan had been to kill Hiruzen after capturing the One-Tail.
But Obito had improvised, giving White Zetsu instructions in advance.
Just now, he'd been waiting for Zetsu to deliver the blood to Hidan.
So what were Hiruzen and Gaara waiting for?
Gaara, using his third eye, saw it clearly: off in the distance, Hidan stood inside a blood ritual circle, jabbing a long needle into his own heart.
Hidan, with his immortality, survived the fatal blow and grinned with divine ecstasy as he offered his body as a vessel to his god.
But the Third Hokage…
Seeing the old Hokage who'd once suppressed him fall so suddenly and inexplicably, Gaara found himself at a loss.
Obito's voice rang out. "You're next, Kazekage."
"Light-Weight Rock Technique!"
Suddenly, Kitsuchi placed a hand on Gaara's shoulder.
He endured the automatic backlash from Gaara's sand armor and the searing chakra of his Tailed Beast cloak—just to lighten Gaara's body to a mere ten pounds!
It was called Light-Weight Rock, but Gaara had never felt so heavy before.
"Kitsuchi-san!" he yelled in shock.
"Go!"
With all his strength, Kitsuchi launched Gaara toward the Five Kage Summit.
Whoosh!
Gaara vanished into the sky.
And Kitsuchi was struck down by Obito—killed on the spot.
"You're in a rush," Kitsuchi said through bloodied lips.
Resolved to die, he gave Obito one last mocking smile.
"Things aren't going well at the Summit... Raikage and Danzō aren't doing great."
Which meant… Gaara would be safer going back there.
And he was right.
White Zetsu had just informed Obito—the battle at the Summit was already decided.
Sasori of the Red Sand had wiped out the samurai forces with his puppets, then joined the fight against the Raikage.
"Heh, so Danzo never intended to capture the One-Tail."
Obito couldn't care less about the lives of his two former comrades from Konoha. What mattered to him was the information he'd gleaned—Danzo had made a decisive return to the village.
No doubt, once back, Danzo would immediately exploit the deaths of Hiruzen Sarutobi and his team, wringing every ounce of value from their corpses. That was typical Danzo—always weighing the profit and loss, always avoiding risk.
Obito wasn't about to let this chance to capture the One-Tail slip through his fingers.
"Tell Hidan—go after them!"
"Eh?!" Zetsu gasped, eyes wide with exaggerated fear. "Obito~ those guys look really strong!"
Strong—they definitely were. Obito knew that.
But what was he supposed to do? Hide underground like Madara Uchiha, biding his time for decades just to outlive the current generation and then roll out the Eye of the Moon Plan?
This was the final window of opportunity.
Obito made up his mind—he would go all in.