Obito nodded grimly, his visible eye filled with a solemnity that was only half-feigned. "His name is Uchiha Kagami, of my own clan. He can launch an invisible slash, an attack that requires no hand seals. Its power is... terrifying. It must be his mangekyou ability."
"Is that so?" Pain replied, his Rinnegan eyes giving the masked man a long, penetrating look. "It sounds as if you suffered a great loss at his hands."
Though Pain's face was a blank, impassive mask, Obito could almost feel the smug satisfaction radiating from him.
"Hmph!" Obito snorted, forcing a tone of arrogance into his voice. "He may be powerful, but compared to me, he is nothing more than a speck of dust. He is not even worthy of my full attention." He couldn't let Pain see his fear, couldn't let the boy lose the awe he held for the name "Uchiha Madara."
Pain remained silent, his expression unreadable.
Obito pressed on. "I came here to warn you: do not attack Konoha yet. It will not be too late to deal with him after we have collected the other Tailed Beasts." He couldn't risk Nagato stubbornly charging in to fight Kagami. A confrontation now would only delay the Infinite Tsukuyomi. In his estimation, Kagami's power had already surpassed Nagato's, and he couldn't afford any complications at this critical juncture.
Hearing this, Pain considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. With the other great villages sending their armies to attack Konoha, this is the perfect opportunity for us to capture the other Tailed Beasts." He was no fool. If this Kagami was powerful enough to make "Madara" wary, then he was a threat to be taken seriously. Besides, Akatsuki's membership was not yet complete. Now was not the time for an all-out war. It seemed the best option was to leave the Nine-Tails in Konoha as their final target. While they collected the other beasts, they could gather intelligence on this Uchiha Kagami and prepare accordingly.
Hearing Pain's logical agreement, Obito felt a wave of relief. "So it is decided." Immediately after, the familiar spiral of Kamui activated, pulling him into his private dimension.
Three days later, in Konoha Village.
Perhaps it was due to the integration of Sukuna's power, which had amplified his innate comprehension to a supernatural level, but it took Kagami only an hour to not just learn the Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, but to master it completely. Or maybe Multi shadow clone jutsu was easy enough since Naruto also managed to learn it in short time as well. He had previously been unable to use ninjutsu due to his minuscule chakra reserves, but now, with a veritable ocean of energy at his command, he found that learning even the most complex jutsu was trivially easy.
In just three days, using his shadow clones, he had mastered hundreds of ninjutsu spanning all elemental affinities. His body, it turned out, possessed an affinity for all five basic nature transformations, excluding only Yin and Yang. Now, even without calling upon the power of Sukuna, he was a Kage-level shinobi in his own right.
He managed to overcome the mental exhaustion that came from spamming so many clone with the help of reversed cursed energy.
But Kagami did not become complacent. He continued to push, setting his shadow clones to the task of studying the nature transformation of the Rasengan and learning the Flying Thunder God Technique. Although his own ocular jutsu, Shukuchi, allowed for a form of teleportation, the Mangekyo Sharingan consumed too much ocular power. Until he could evolve his eyes to their Eternal form, the Flying Thunder God was a far more efficient method of travel.
His original body, meanwhile, was dedicated to an even more important task: working day and night with Uchiha Rinne and his other companions on the "Many Children, Many Blessings" project. It was a truly arduous, exhausting endeavor.
It was worth mentioning that, two days prior, he and Rinne had run into Anko again while out for dinner. Rinne, seeing that Anko had a good heart and a strong spirit, had taken it upon herself to play matchmaker, inviting the kunoichi to join them. Kagami wasn't sure what Rinne had said, but the very next day, Anko had come to him and asked to be his woman. Kagami, of course, had not refused. And so, Anko had become the newest member in their growing family.
Just as Kagami was finishing a day's work and planning to take his three women out for a celebratory candlelight dinner, he opened his door to find Shikaku Nara standing there, his face etched with anxiety.
"Kagami-sama, it's a disaster!" Shikaku said the moment he saw him, his usual lazy demeanor completely gone. "The Hidden Cloud, Hidden Stone, and Hidden Sand have invaded the borders of the Land of Fire with massive armies. What should we do?" With Konoha's elite forces all but wiped out by Kagami himself, the three great ninja villages were descending upon them like vultures. Konoha was on the brink of destruction.
Hearing this, Kagami frowned, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes. "They are truly very impatient. Konoha will definitely emergency victorious?" He wasn't surprised by the attack; the other villages were like hyenas, pouncing at the first sign of weakness. He just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. As for why the Hidden Mist hadn't joined them, Kagami already knew. They were still mired in their own bloody civil war, far too busy to worry about Konoha.
Kagami's casual dismissal earned a helpless smile from Shikaku. "Kagami-sama, have you forgotten? You've already killed nearly all of Konoha's top-tier fighters. We have nothing left but a handful of Genin and Chunin. Our forces are not nearly enough to withstand the combined armies of three great nations." If he could have avoided it, he never would have bothered Kagami. But Konoha was about to be wiped off the map. He had no choice but to ask for help.
Hearing this, Kagami remembered that he had, in fact, slaughtered most of the Anbu and Root. The village probably had very few active Jonin. It was indeed unlikely they could fend off such an invasion.
"Alright, alright," Kagami said with an impatient sigh. "I'll handle it." In this situation, if he didn't act, Konoha would surely fall. And since Konoha was now his territory, he couldn't just sit back and watch it be destroyed. How could he enjoy his life then?
He calmly created ten shadow clones, ordering them to deal with the invading armies. With the current strength of his clones, three would have been more than enough, but considering they would dissipate if struck, he sent ten just to be safe.
Seeing the shadow clones flicker into existence, Shikaku's face broke into a wide grin of relief. "Thank you, Kagami-sama!" He had seen Kagami's training over the past few days and knew that even a single one of his clones possessed terrifying power. With ten of them on the move, the battle was already won.
Kagami simply waved his hand dismissively, then turned to take his three ladies to their candlelight dinner.
Shikaku, his mission accomplished, left with a satisfied smile, eager to spread the good news and calm the rising panic in the village.