The night was dark, with a moonless sky and howling winds.
In a relatively secluded forest, Hidan, Deidara, and Sasori stood silently, each lost in their own thoughts.
After a while, Obito and Black Zetsu emerged from the ground.
"Tobi, how's the situation?" Seeing Obito, Deidara greeted him with great enthusiasm.
"This time, it's not simple!" Beneath his mask, Obito's face showed a trace of frustration. "I don't know if these so-called Six Paths Ninja Tools are real or fake, but their power... it's no joke!"
"How so?" Deidara played his part as the eager audience.
Obito explained, "Hōzuki Castle has been reduced to ruins. The original prisoners there have all turned into small black monsters, and above the castle, a black monster over ten meters tall is patrolling. The moment it spots an intruder, it attacks on its own initiative."
A monster over ten meters tall!
The sheer size startled Deidara, but soon he grew excited. "Then doesn't that mean I can use C3 and blow that thing straight into the sky?"
Before Deidara could continue fantasizing, Obito cut in. "This monster has extremely high resistance to conventional ninjutsu. I estimate your clay explosions wouldn't do much to it. More importantly, it has an extraordinary sense for danger—I tried attacking several times, but it escaped every time."
No wonder Obito was frustrated. First there was Kamizuki Hikari, and now this Box of Ultimate Bliss—things beyond his control that he absolutely despised.
Yet both were incredibly powerful, and he had no way to deal with them.
Deidara fell silent. Creatures with high resistance were exactly the kind he hated most.
His clay explosions were mostly effective against ordinary people and summoned beasts. Against an unknown entity like this, they might not work at all.
"If that's the case, does that mean we have no way to deal with it?" Sasori was quite curious about this creature.
For one thing, its lifespan.
Since it was a ninja tool passed down from the era of the Six Paths, it had to be at least a thousand years old. Any living being that could survive a millennium was worthy of becoming part of his collection.
"Unless we call Pain over, it'll be hard for just us to take this thing down." Though reluctant, Obito had no choice but to admit it in the end.
He didn't want to throw Deidara, Sasori, and Hidan in as cannon fodder—these were his future helpers for collecting tailed beast chakra. Losing even one would pain him for days.
"Let me say a few words."
Black Zetsu hadn't planned to speak, but when he realized Obito was actually interested in the Box of Ultimate Bliss, he couldn't stay calm.
He wanted Obito to focus entirely on gathering tailed beast chakra, reviving the Ten-Tails, and using Infinite Tsukuyomi—so that his mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, could be resurrected.
"First of all, this thing is highly dangerous and aggressive. It attacks any living being it sees—or that sees it. Its defenses and vitality are strong; ordinary ninjutsu barely scratches it. Most importantly, it has a certain contagious property."
Black Zetsu's expression was serious. (Though a serious Venus flytrap was quite a funny sight.)
"Did you notice, Tobi? Those smaller monsters were likely incubated from the shinobi by the large one. Logically, over time, these smaller monsters will also grow. Once they reach half the size of the large one, they'll be even harder to deal with."
Hearing Black Zetsu mention it, Obito realized the same point.
He had originally wanted to take the thing back for research, but Black Zetsu's scenario couldn't be ignored. If he was right, then this thing couldn't be allowed to live.
Obito's interest in studying it was only because it wouldn't interfere with his original plan.
If it did interfere, the only option was to send it to the heavens.
"Then what do we do? You said ordinary ninjutsu is useless against this monster!" Deidara felt like stomping his feet in frustration.
He really wanted to unleash his explosions on that giant monster—even pull out his ultimate move, C0—but only if he could take the monster with him. If not, it would be a pointless death.
"There might be a way, but it depends on whether you, Tobi, agree," Sasori glanced at Obito, speaking mysteriously.
Obito wasn't stupid. Seeing Sasori's behavior, he knew this guy was up to no good.
"Spit it out. I'd like to hear what plan you have, Sasori!"
Not just Obito—Deidara and Hidan were curious too.
Meeting their inquiring gazes, Sasori didn't keep them in suspense. He quickly laid out his idea.
"If it were just us, of course it'd be difficult. But we shouldn't forget that Iwa, Suna, and Konoha have all sent people here. We can ignore the shinobi from Iwa and Suna for now. The only one we need to watch is Konoha's Kamizuki Hikari. His strength is a cut above ours—why not take this opportunity to push him to the front? We can observe just how strong he really is and prepare countermeasures accordingly. What do you think?"
This idea... was pretty good.
Though it carried the suspicion of boosting the enemy's morale while dampening their own, considering Hikari's power, using the black monster to force a fight and probe his abilities was actually a smart move.
Once they knew Kamizuki Hikari's capabilities, dealing with him later would be easier.
"Not bad. I'll go talk to him right now. I'm sure he'll agree."
With that, Obito sank into the ground and vanished from their sight.
Deidara blinked in disbelief. "No way. Hikari isn't an idiot—how could he not see through our intentions?"
"He's not an idiot," Sasori stated confidently. "But his goal is to resolve the situation here. We're proactively coming to help and even sharing some of the pressure. So even if he sees through our plan, he won't refuse—and he can't refuse."
Deidara scratched his head at those words. As an art enthusiast, scheming like this was definitely not his strong suit.
---
"Who's there?"
Hikari sensed a faint killing intent nearby and instinctively grew wary.
"Obito?"
Seeing the masked man appear not far away, Hikari looked puzzled. "What are you doing here? Have you forgotten how White Zetsu ambushed me last time? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
"I'm afraid!"
Obito admitted it outright, though deep down he silently noted this humiliation. Once he became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, he would definitely grind Hikari into the dirt.
"But today, I'm here to talk about Hōzuki Castle. I'm sure a righteous person like you wouldn't sit idly by while the shinobi world falls into danger, right?"
His slightly mocking tone revealed Obito's true attitude—he looked down on people like Hikari.
To him, his world was Rin.
Hikari couldn't be bothered wasting words on Obito. "If you have something to say, say it directly."
A hundred thoughts of killing Obito flashed through his mind, but then he remembered Black Zetsu, that thousand-year-old schemer; Nagato, the chuunibyou youth; and Uchiha Madara, who might revive at any moment. In the end, Hikari suppressed his killing intent.
Some people were more useful alive than dead.