Looking at what Takeshi called his "miserable state," Obito hesitated for a moment.
"Rather than saying you got beaten up, it's more like..."
In the end, Obito didn't finish what he wanted to say. He was afraid that if Takeshi heard it, he'd get pounded for real.
Kakashi, standing nearby, spoke bluntly.
"Too fake. It's not even as good as that ice clone you used to trick Obito back then."
Kakashi's words hit Obito right where it hurt. He jumped up, ready to fight Kakashi to the death.
"Damn you, Kakashi! Did you really have to bring that up?!"
The incident of being fooled by an ice clone into awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan had always been Kakashi's favorite weapon to provoke Obito.
When Uchiha Hikari heard the story, she couldn't stop herself from bursting into loud laughter, completely ignoring her image.
"Not convincing at all, huh? What a pain..."
Watching the two "quarrel like lovers," Takeshi rubbed his face, unsure how to keep up the disguise.
"I've got an idea."
Uchiha Hikari's eyes lit up, full of eagerness.
"Let me beat you up a little. I promise it'll look real."
As she said this, she rolled her shoulders, and before Takeshi could agree, she was already winding up to throw a few punches.
Takeshi quickly dodged her attacks, shouting as he moved.
"I'm warning you to calm down—or else tonight I'll make Dad cook dinner!"
Takeshi would rather die, even die out in the street, than let this Uchiha girl pummel him.
Besides, he was a Jinchūriki. Forget a few punches—even if Hikari stabbed him a couple of times, he'd recover quickly.
The threat worked perfectly. Having tasted both Takeshi and Haku's cooking, and then having suffered through Danzo's, Hikari would rather die than take another bite of that.
Pouting, she withdrew her fists, full of regret at missing her chance to give Takeshi a good thrashing.
...
"Our beloved Hokage has been assassinated!"
In the end, Takeshi settled for a slightly more battered-looking disguise.
As Kotetsu shouted at the top of his lungs, Takeshi stepped onto the Hokage building's rooftop, wearing an exhausted expression.
Looking like a Hokage who had just suffered humiliation, he appeared before the assembled Konoha shinobi.
"Who?"
"Which bastard from which village dared to assassinate Hokage-sama?!"
"I, Hyūga Sanchien, swear I'll personally slay that traitor!"
"I, Uchiha Shisui, also—"
The chaotic shouts for vengeance gradually died down as Takeshi raised his hands. At the same time, the medical corps carried out corpses one after another, and Izumo began announcing their identities.
Kazuma, Byoki...
One by one, the names of the Guardian Twelve Shinobi were read aloud. The once-passionate crowd of shinobi slowly calmed.
The truth was clear. This had been an assassination from the Daimyō's palace.
"Why would the Fifth Hokage, who always put protecting the Daimyō above all else, be betrayed like this?!"
Izumo's words didn't stir the crowd nearly as much as Kotetsu's had.
After all, most of the shinobi still followed the old belief of loyalty to the Daimyō.
Fortunately, Shikaku had anticipated this scene. With a light cough, he motioned for Izumo to step down, then took the stage himself.
"This is because the Daimyō's side harbors treacherous men, deliberately trying to sow discord between Konoha and the Daimyō's palace."
Takeshi nodded along.
"That's right. The Daimyō himself surely knows nothing of this. It's the schemers behind him pulling strings, trying to drive a wedge between us and the palace."
With their back-and-forth performance, the blame for Takeshi's "assassination" smoothly landed on General Oda.
The shinobi now had a proper target for their anger. While none dared curse the Daimyō himself, they had no problem hurling insults at his nobles.
Some immediately shouted that Oda must be taken down.
"I, Uchiha Shisui, am the first to refuse this injustice!"
With Shisui leading the charge, the shinobi loudly called for Oda to pay the price.
...
Three days later, inside the Daimyō's palace.
The Daimyō forced down his discomfort, carefully avoiding looking at Takeshi seated at the head, or at Danzo at the far end of the hall.
"This matter has been thoroughly investigated. It was indeed Oda's fault. I've already stripped him of his position."
From the start, the Daimyō had staged a lightning-fast kneel-and-confess.
Danzo snorted coldly, his gaze toward the Daimyō full of menace.
The Daimyō quickly lifted his fan to shield his face, deliberately pretending not to notice Danzo.
Takeshi, satisfied with the answer, didn't speak. Instead, he sat with closed eyes, looking calm and unbothered.
Seeing this, Shikaku cleared his throat and respectfully addressed the Daimyō.
"I wonder who the successor to General will be. It's not that I wish to pry, but we worry that a new appointment might bear prejudice against us."
"Well... actually, I'm still considering candidates for the new General..."
The Daimyō faltered, then cast his eyes toward a minister beside him.
This might be the perfect chance to rid himself of a thorn in his side.
Such was the Daimyō's thought.
"I..."
Just as the ministers prepared to speak on his behalf, Takeshi suddenly cut in.
"In that case, I think Lord Imagawa would make a fine choice. I'd like to recommend him."
Takeshi's words instantly silenced the ministers.
They, too, had considered Imagawa an ideal candidate, especially since he leaned toward a more hardline stance on shinobi.
If Takeshi hadn't spoken, the position of General would surely have gone to him.
But Takeshi's unexpected recommendation left them murmuring in doubt.
Had Imagawa struck some secret deal with Konoha?
Watching the ministers whisper among themselves, Takeshi and Shikaku exchanged a subtle smile.
...
"Hokage-sama, intelligence from Kumogakure—the Fourth Raikage has disappeared."
Back at the palace quarters assigned for Konoha, Takeshi had just sat down on the bed to rest when an Internal Affairs shinobi brought him the news.
The Fourth Raikage disappeared?
Could it be that the Ninja Committee executed him?
Takeshi didn't care much about the Raikage himself. What concerned him was the Raikage's brother, Killer B.
"What about the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki?"
"He caused a huge uproar in Kumogakure and has since gone missing."
As expected, there was no way Killer B would sit idly by while his brother suffered.
Takeshi knew the bond between the two. He immediately decided this was the perfect chance to draw the Jinchūriki over to his side.
"Investigate this. Find out if the Ninja Committee set up the Fourth Raikage."
"Yes, but Hokage-sama, could it be that the Daimyō's men rescued him instead..."
The shinobi hadn't finished before Takeshi waved him off.
"If the Raikage wanted to leave, no one in all of Kumogakure could stop him. And besides—if he were fleeing, he'd have taken Killer B with him."
Though he hadn't investigated personally, Takeshi judged from his subordinates' reports that the Fourth Raikage's disappearance was anything but ordinary.