In a dark, secluded underground cave deep in the Land of Grass.
Zetsu rushed back from outside in a panic as soon as he saw the newspaper.
There was no other reason; the news in the paper was simply too shocking!
Unlike others, Zetsu's main concern wasn't the Raikage.
He didn't give a damn whether the Raikage, A, lived or died. He only cared about the Tailed Beasts!
Where did the Two-Tails go?
Is it dead?
Or what?
He had to find out immediately, right now, at this very moment!
Otherwise, if he couldn't gather all nine Tailed Beasts, wouldn't the Eye of the Moon Plan be stillborn?
However, before that, he needed to first figure out if Obito Uchiha was involved in this.
If he was, then that was for the best, and Zetsu could forgive him even if he had acted without telling him.
If he wasn't, then that was a problem!
Zetsu walked into the cave.
In the dimly lit space, only a small screen was glowing, illuminating a certain small, round face.
Obito Uchiha was sprawled out among a pile of manga, soda bottles, and potato chip bags. His hands were deftly mashing buttons on a handheld console, and he occasionally made a "Hadoken!" fighting sound.
"K.O!"
The sound of the battle ending rang out.
He casually grabbed a large bottle of soda next to him, tilted his head back, and chugged a huge gulp!
Zetsu watched this practiced, thousands-of-times-repeated sequence of actions and fell silent.
He was sure it wasn't him.
Compared to the imposter, the real Obito Uchiha never left the cave. All he did was play games, read manga, and drink soda.
Damn it!
This is the partner for world destruction that I chose?
The one who stirred up the Bloody Mist, controlled the Nine-Tails to attack the village, and turned the ninja world upside down?
How did he turn into this sorry state?
"Has he been here this whole time? Never left?"
Since he was already here, Zetsu still asked the White Zetsu doing chores nearby.
This White Zetsu was a regular one, not the one called Tobi. Its job was to take care of their daily lives and, most importantly, to act as a monitor.
At that moment, it was squatting in a corner, trying to flatten a pile of Lay's potato chip bags and stack them neatly.
Next to it were stacks of empty soda bottles, empty jars of Old Godmother chili sauce, and various manga books, all neatly arranged.
It was clear that it had a bit of an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Hearing the boss's question, it immediately replied.
"Lord Obito's mood has been stable today. He's been at home the whole time. Today's record is: controlling Naruto Uzumaki to beat Kakashi Hatake 114 times."
Zetsu became even more silent.
You didn't have to report the battle record!
"See? I told you it couldn't have been Obito."
The main body of White Zetsu's voice was filled with a carefree sarcasm. "Besides, even though the Raikage, A, is all muscle for brains, he's not someone Obito could take down with his current strength!"
"It's never wrong to be a little suspicious."
Black Zetsu said in a low voice. In truth, it would have been better if it was this Obito Uchiha.
The fact that it wasn't was a much bigger problem!
It couldn't for the life of it figure out where the other Mangekyō Sharingan with Kamui came from!
A Mangekyō Sharingan could only come from the Uchiha clan.
But it had been monitoring the ninja world for so many years and hadn't seen any Uchiha clan members living outside the village.
It couldn't figure it out! Its head was starting to hurt!
Obito, who was chugging soda, noticed Zetsu from the corner of his eye.
His voice was tinged with the annoyance of being interrupted. "Hey, Zetsu! Have you caught that fake—the one named Uchiha Daitama? or Tsuchi? I don't know what he's called, but have you caught that imposter yet?"
"No," Zetsu replied coldly.
As for this partner, if his Mangekyō didn't have some use, Zetsu would have already abandoned him.
Now, the ideal partner was no longer Obito Uchiha.
It was that imposter: Uchiha Daikage? or Tsuchi? or was it Daitsuchi?
If he could find him, Zetsu was confident he could trick him into joining his Eye of the Moon Plan!
That person had the strength to kill the Raikage and capture Tailed Beasts by himself!
He was the perfect choice to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan!
"That damn rat!"
Obito, who didn't know Black Zetsu's thoughts, violently crushed the empty bottle in his hand. A furious, homicidal rage at being impersonated instantly overwhelmed his otaku aura. "He's ruining my reputation like this! When I catch him, I'll—"
White Zetsu glanced at the slightly rounder Obito, wondering if it should say something.
Actually, your reputation couldn't get any worse.
"Obito," Black Zetsu ignored his anger and interrupted abruptly. "Are you sure you don't have a brother?"
"No!!"
Obito's roar shook the cave, his anger level surpassing even Tobi's persistent questioning about when he needed to go to the bathroom!
Seeing this, Zetsu shook his head inwardly, and its figure gradually disappeared into the cave.
"Obito! Obi—to—! I'm home—! Dinner's ready!"
Tobi's cheerful voice came from the cave entrance.
He had two family-sized buckets of "Old Godmother" fried chicken tucked under each arm, four two-liter bottles of soda hanging from his fingers, and was struggling to hold three new newspapers and four brand new manga volumes.
He wobbled as he squeezed inside, almost tripping over the scattered potato chip bags.
He was greeted by a gaze so cold and devoid of otaku vibes that it was chilling!
Whoosh!
The handheld console was tossed aside. Obito stood up.
"Tobi," his voice was low and cold, without a hint of the laziness from his gaming. "Get ready. We're leaving now!"
"What are we doing?"
Tobi looked at the slightly pudgy Obito and was stunned, almost dropping the soda bottles.
He had been perfectly fine when he left this morning, so why had he suddenly turned back into the big boss from before?
"White Zetsu is incompetent. It hasn't found the imposter after all this time, so it looks like I have to emerge from hiding!" Obito said decisively.
His eyes seemed to have returned to how they were half a year ago, full of fighting spirit!
"But..."
Fight the imposter? Can we even win?
Thinking of this, Tobi immediately put down the things in his arms, skillfully pulled out a copy of the Ninja World Daily, and shoved the front page in front of Obito.
The Ninja World Daily's front-page headline: "Shocking! The Uchiha Demon's Solo Domination! The Two-Tails Rampages, Tearing the Raikage Apart!"
The "killing intent" on Obito's round face instantly froze!
He gasped, his small eyes almost popping out of their sockets!
Extract the Two-Tails?
Tear the Raikage apart?
I did this?
Am I that strong?
The younger Obito would have been fearless and bold enough to think he could take on a Kage, but now that he was older and heavier, he knew better.
Especially after being ganged up on last time, he had a much better grasp of reality.
His strength was insufficient!
Moreover, the Raikage was a person who had fought against the Fourth Hokage!
So... this earth-shattering event could only have been done by the imposter?
"That damn imposter!!!"
Obito was so angry he wanted to throw something. The imposter had framed him for something this terrible again!
In an instant, he calmed down.
If what the newspaper said was true, then the imposter's strength...
An imposter is stronger than the real me? Is there any justice in this world?
No, I can't be this listless anymore. If I continue like this, not only will I fail to change the ninja world, but I might not even get to see Rin again!
"Obito, are you still going to emerge from hiding?" Tobi asked sincerely.
Grumble...
"Let's eat first!" He picked up a bucket of fried chicken and started eating right away!
"Then are you going to play games?" Tobi seized the opportunity, deftly picking up the discarded game controller and handing it over. "Let's play online? I'll use my newly practiced 'Naruto Uzumaki' super combo to beat you up~"
"Play! Of course I'll play!" A pair of greasy hands took the handheld console.
The scene cuts away.
At the same time as Obito and Tobi were eating, Uchiha Ben was setting foot in the Land of Rain.