An hour later, Obito finally pulled out the syringe and was freed from the torment of the salamander poison.
Kabuto and the White Snake Sage were still busy tinkering with Sasori's corpse, debating endlessly over one question, if they used Edo Tensei to revive him, would it bring back a puppet corpse, or would Sasori's entire body be restored?
They argued non-stop.
Zetsu slowly crawled up from underground.
"Three pieces of news," he said.
"First, Ryosuke appeared on the border of the Land of Fire. He killed Ōnoki's subordinate Kurotsuchi's father, Kitsuchi, and set up a 'Mad Fish Trap' in the sea between the Land of Fire and the Land of Hot Water. Because of that, the Land of Fire's troops now have to detour around that area."
"Second, Pain's squad went to capture the Eight-Tails jinchūriki, Killer Bee. But he was too alert, so they couldn't complete the mission. Still, they managed to obtain enough Eight-Tails chakra."
"As for Itachi and Kisame's team… they completely failed and are now on the run."
Obito sighed lightly. "Useless."
"You mean Kisame?"
Zetsu looked surprised. "Why would you say that? I've never met a teammate more reliable than Kisame."
Reliability comes in two forms.
One is like Ryosuke, someone who can turn things around no matter how dire the situation.
The other is someone whose limits are clear, who never steps outside his boundaries, and as long as you assign him tasks within his abilities, he'll complete them perfectly, without the slightest carelessness.
Kisame was the second kind of reliable.
"I was talking about Itachi," Obito said.
"He's unwilling to be a pure tool, yet he doesn't have firm conviction either. He always pretends to act rationally while doing things he hates, twisting himself up more and more in the process."
"It's already a miracle he hasn't gone insane," Zetsu shrugged.
"Not only that, I heard he set Konoha on fire. Hundreds of civilians burned to death under Amaterasu, and after that, his Sharingan grew even stronger."
"Heh,"
Obito let out a dry laugh and shook his head, unwilling to discuss his fellow clansman, that so-called 'genius,' any further. "What's the third piece of news?"
"The third one, Pain says preparations are nearly complete. It's time to start the war."
Zetsu looked at Obito's body wrapped in bandages.
He still hadn't recovered from Deidara's explosion before he fought Sasori in a sudden ambush, then got burned by Amaterasu and poisoned by the salamander toxin.
One disaster after another, anyone else, even Hashirama himself, would need days to rest after all that.
The fact that Obito could still sit and talk was purely because he was forcing himself to stay upright, like an elementary school kid who stayed up all night gaming and had to go on a field trip the next day.
"Want to rest somewhere for a while?" Zetsu asked.
"When the war's over, I'll have plenty of time to rest."
Obito pushed against his knees and stood up. "Zetsu, take me to Pain. I'll become the final piece of the puzzle that secures victory."
"You sure?" Zetsu scratched his head, then pointed toward the puppet body of Hanzo the Salamander.
"Pain gave that old man's corpse to Sasori for one reason, to have Sasori kill you."
"But the one who died was Sasori," Obito said softly.
"That's the end of that story."
"Pain and Itachi are both stubborn people, but the biggest difference between them is that Pain always keeps his rationality. To reach his goal, he'll use his enemies if necessary. Itachi's the opposite, he gets used by his enemies for the sake of his goal."
"Believe me, the moment I stand in front of Pain and tell him I'm joining the war, he won't hesitate to accept me."
Zetsu shrugged.
Whether he believed it or not didn't matter, watching humans slaughter each other was entertainment enough for White Zetsu.
"What about them?" Zetsu nodded toward Kabuto and the other two.
Obito picked up his Akatsuki cloak lying nearby and brushed the dust off.
"They're still too weak. They don't have the right to set foot on this battlefield yet."
He didn't lower his voice either. The three of them heard him clearly.
They glared at Obito, not out of anger, but as if to say with their eyes, "If you know we're weak, then hurry up and give us resources and intel to make us stronger!"
That kind of shameless attitude made Obito's lips twitch, but it also reassured him, for a newly formed team, that kind of shameless drive was exactly what you needed.
After saying goodbye to the trio of the "Evil White Snake," Obito entered the Kamui space, using his power to warp away. Zetsu slipped underground again, using his mayfly technique.
The night quietly faded away.
Pain stood at the shore, silently gazing toward the east. Beside him were Kisame, Itachi, and Konan.
From the far edge of the horizon, a bright sun rose.
That was the direction of the Land of Water.
The space beside them twisted suddenly, Obito appeared. On the other side, Zetsu slowly rose from underground.
And so, all surviving members of the Akatsuki were finally gathered.
Pain glanced back at Obito, his eyes sweeping over the tattered Akatsuki cloak he wore. He was silent for a moment, then said nothing and turned back to the eastern sea.
"It's about time," he said.
"Let the war begin."
———
The armies of the Lands of Lightning, Earth, and Fire set out.
According to informants, they had gathered a total of two hundred thousand samurai and fifty thousand ninja, forces secretly trained by daimyōs and financial conglomerates.
It made sense. With just a bit of funding, a village could raise many ninjas. How much more so for wealthy, resource-rich organizations?
In addition, there were mercenaries and bounty hunters recruited with money.
There were too many of them, too mixed, with wildly uneven skill levels.
Some were cannon fodder barely worth a single soul fragment, while others were rogue ninjas from major villages or prodigies from small ones hoping to make a name for themselves. Counting them all, there were roughly three hundred thousand combatants.
And that was just the fighting force.
Behind them were logistics troops, commanders, medics, and to prevent Ryosuke from flying in for an aerial strike, they even took between hundreds to a thousand civilians aboard each ship.
Part hostages, part laborers, to do all the dirty, exhausting work.
In total, a massive army of over one million people.
From above, you could see it clearly, countless ships covering the ocean like an endless tide, all sailing straight toward the Land of Water.
In full armor, Kurotsuchi rested her right hand on the hilt of her ninja blade, her sharp eyes fixed firmly on the horizon where the Land of Water awaited.
Her eyes were red, filled with uncontrollable hatred.
She had received the report, her father, Kitsuchi, was dead.
Killed by Ryosuke in the seas near the Land of Hot Water.
Everyone says you should be ready for death once you step onto the battlefield.
But people have feelings, and when she heard that her father was gone, there was no way she could stay calm.
Kurotsuchi's grip on her blade tightened, veins bulging on the back of her hand.
Now, there was only one thought left in her mind.
She was going on a killing spree.
Whoosh!
A sharp, shrill cry suddenly pierced the sky.
Kurotsuchi looked up, and saw "birds" flying above, tracing a curved arc as they descended toward them…
"Enemy attack!"
Alarm sirens blared across the ships.
But it was already too late.
A missile dropped right above Kurotsuchi's head.
It exploded with a deafening roar.
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