Uchiha Obito, Pain, and Konan arrived in the Land of Water.
The three were preparing to travel to Kirigakure in search of a new member for the Akatsuki organization.
However, not far from the entrance to Kirigakure, they unexpectedly encountered Yagura, the current Fourth Mizukage.
After the Third Mizukage was killed by Sora, Yagura had succeeded him as the Fourth Mizukage.
Meanwhile, after Nohara Rin's death, Kirigakure had recovered the Three-Tails.
Kirigakure had experimented with many shinobi to become the Three-Tails jinchūriki, but without exception, they all lost control, causing great losses to the village.
To better control the tailed beast, Yagura had sealed the Three-Tails within himself, becoming the second Three-Tails jinchūriki.
Yagura was immensely talented. After intense training, he could skillfully control the Three-Tails and had reached an understanding with it. Like Killer Bee, he could perfectly control his tailed beast.
Yagura was returning to the village from another part of the Land of Water when he spotted Uchiha Obito, Pain, and Konan at the village gate.
He immediately sensed extreme danger from the three, particularly noticing Pain's forehead protector. The Amegakure forehead protector that Pain wore had a horizontal line drawn through it—a symbol of rebellion.
Yagura immediately stopped in front of the three intruders. He raised a staff-like weapon with a hook on the end, decorated with green flowers, and pointed it at them.
"Who are you?!" he demanded.
Uchiha Obito, recognizing Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, immediately formulated a plan.
"Perfect timing. Please do me a favor!" Obito activated his Sharingan, attempting to place Yagura under a genjutsu.
Yagura, hit by the illusion, momentarily froze in place.
Pain glanced at the Mizukage, who appeared to be under control, then looked at Obito with his orange mask and asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Obito replied, "Controlling the Fourth Mizukage means controlling Kirigakure. I can use my Sharingan to maintain control over him and use Kirigakure to strengthen the Akatsuki. Moreover, the Three-Tails sealed within him is exactly what we need. So after we capture the other tailed beasts, we can extract his tailed beast and achieve our plan."
Pain paused, considering Obito's plan.
From the beginning, Nagato had never fully trusted Obito and Zetsu. Therefore, whenever Obito proposed a plan, Nagato always carefully considered it before making a decision.
After thinking it over, he felt Obito's plan was feasible. If the Akatsuki organization had the support of all of Kirigakure, they could indeed grow rapidly in power.
Pain nodded. "Very well, let's proceed."
"I see. So your target is me and the tailed beast inside me," came Yagura's voice suddenly. "As the Fourth Mizukage, I will... kill you here!"
"Coral Staff Four-Hit Combo!"
Yagura channeled his chakra into his staff and swung it toward Obito.
Obito, using his Sharingan's insight, managed to avoid Yagura's attack.
He was surprised that Yagura had broken free from his genjutsu. Normally, a genjutsu could only be broken by someone else disrupting the flow of chakra.
The fact that Yagura broke free from the illusion meant that a 'second person' had disrupted the chakra flow in his body. Since Yagura was alone, this 'second person' had to be the tailed beast within him.
Uchiha Madara had once told Obito about jinchūriki.
"A perfect jinchūriki?" Obito realized.
Jinchūriki who reached an understanding with their tailed beast were immune to genjutsu. No matter what genjutsu was used, the tailed beast would help its host break free.
Pain looked toward Kirigakure in the distance and said to Obito, "This is not a good place. Konan and I will wait for you elsewhere."
With that, Pain and Konan turned to leave.
Obito clicked his tongue. "You really know how to delegate."
Pain was clearly asking him to lure Yagura away from Kirigakure before attempting to capture him.
Seeing Nagato and Konan about to depart, Yagura quickly formed hand seals with one hand.
"Water Style: Water Tooth Bullet!"
Yagura condensed three streams of compressed, rotating water, directing them at Obito and the retreating Pain and Konan.
Obito used his intangibility to avoid the attack.
Pain turned sideways, raised his left hand toward the water coming at him and Konan.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A powerful repulsive force deflected the two water streams.
Yagura's pupils contracted sharply.
The masked man and the one with orange hair were clearly no ordinary shinobi!
In the moment Yagura was stunned, Obito pulled out a sickle and swung it at him.
This sickle was the same one Uchiha Madara had used as a crutch. Originally, it had been connected to the gunbai war fan by a chain—a fearsome weapon Madara had wielded on the battlefield, claiming countless lives.
Now, Obito was using it.
Yagura immediately raised his staff to block the sickle, then formed a one-handed seal.
"Water Style: Water Fang Blade!"
Water condensed around Yagura's hand, forming a rotating jet that stabbed toward Obito's chest.
The Water Fang Blade passed directly through Obito's chest, with no resistance or effect. Obito appeared completely unharmed.
"So you can indeed phase through attacks!" Yagura exclaimed.
Obito immediately jumped back.
Yagura frowned, sensing these three were extremely dangerous. He couldn't allow them to remain in the Land of Water.
He pursued them decisively.
Yagura chased after Obito, continuously attacking with Water Style ninjutsu.
Without exception, these attacks either missed as Obito dodged or simply passed through his body.
"What kind of technique is this?" Yagura wondered. "I've never heard of anything like it in the shinobi world."
At the same time, Yagura worried about the repulsive force Pain had demonstrated.
Suddenly, Obito stopped while Pain and Konan stood on the trunk of a large tree.
Obito called to them, "I've lured him here. Let's deal with him together."
However, Pain and Konan remained motionless. They stood on the tree trunk, looking down at Obito.
"You two are really going too far," Obito complained, spreading his hands helplessly. "Making an old man like me fight alone."
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