Uchiha Obito lay on the stone bed, his single red eye turning listlessly, taking a moment before it focused on the figure standing at his bedside—a plant-like creature shaped like a human-sized pitcher plant.
His voice was hoarse as he spoke.
"Do you remember who you are?"
"...Uchiha Obito," he replied, slowly moving his limbs. "I remember everything clearly. That mental breakdown was just an accident. Don't worry. I won't die or go mad before I create the new world!"
It was the normal Obito.
Black Zetsu quietly breathed a sigh of relief. If Obito had truly gone insane, things would have been troublesome for him.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"A little over ten hours since you were defeated by Uchiha Sōgen."
"More than ten hours, huh? So this is... a temporary base." Obito propped himself up, his single Sharingan spinning as he took in the familiar scenery around him. "That means we're still on the eastern coast of the Land of Fire. It's not too late yet. White Zetsu, transform into Yagura Karatachi and lead the Mist Ninja to continue attacking Konoha."
"Eh? We're continuing with that plan?"
White Zetsu was shocked.
"Whether Konoha wins or the Mist Ninja suffers a crushing defeat, the outcome will work in our favor. Ideally, both Konoha and the Mist would severely weaken each other, though that's unlikely..." Obito shook his head in regret. He knew the current state of the Mist Village far too well—it was no match for Konoha.
"But Yagura Karatachi was captured by Uchiha Sōgen. Can Konoha and the Mist still fight?"
White Zetsu seemed reluctant to engage in such undercover work, trying hard to find a flaw in the plan.
"Don't worry. The war won't end so quickly. Negotiations between Konoha and Yagura will take time, and the Mist Village is undergoing internal changes. Some decisions are no longer Yagura's to make. Just keep the war going when you impersonate him, and even if you're exposed later, it won't matter."
Hearing this, White Zetsu realized there was no escaping the mission.
Black Zetsu, throughout the entire conversation, remained silent.
He didn't care about the war between Konoha and the Mist Village, nor who won or lost, as long as it didn't interfere with his own plans. Watching Obito assign tasks to White Zetsu in such a clear-headed manner improved Black Zetsu's mood.
It seemed Obito's mind was still intact.
White Zetsu wriggled, splitting apart. He had worked with Yagura before, so he didn't even need hand signs or preparation. Once he fully separated from Black Zetsu, he transformed into Yagura's form: a green-haired, purple-eyed boy with a doll-like face and a height of barely 4'7" (140 cm).
The only flaw was the absence of the Three-Tails.
No matter how skilled White Zetsu was, he couldn't replicate a tailed beast. However, as long as Yagura didn't have to personally fight, White Zetsu's transformation was flawless, even to the Byakugan. Unless he exposed himself, his cover should hold for a while.
White Zetsu was part of a larger collective. Most of them had low combat abilities and were mainly used for gathering intelligence, like walking surveillance cameras. Only a few, like the one impersonating Yagura or the one who attacked Sōgen with the Wood Clone Technique, had the strength to assist Obito.
Once the transformed White Zetsu left, Black Zetsu found another one to fuse with. The large pitcher plant reappeared in Obito's field of vision.
"Obito, what exactly happened? Why did things turn out like that?"
Finally, Black Zetsu asked the question that concerned him the most.
"Didn't you use **Izanagi**?"
Obito raised his pale right hand, silently looking at it without comment. With half his body replaced by White Zetsu's cells, gaining another right hand didn't bother him. He touched his mask and took it off.
Black Zetsu wasn't interested in Obito's scarred face.
He focused on Obito's opened left eye, which was clouded with dust-like haze. Beneath it, faintly visible, were three black tomoe. Obito pressed his fingers into the eye socket, pulling out the now-useless Sharingan, leaving only a dark, hollow cavity like the entrance to hell.
"If you used Izanagi, then..."
Black Zetsu was momentarily puzzled.
He had witnessed many Uchihas use Izanagi before. Uchiha Madara, for instance, had used it to fake his death against Senju Hashirama, as it was the ultimate technique capable of rewriting even death.
So why had it failed for Obito?
"Uchiha Sōgen's eye technique is strange. It's called a genjutsu, but it's unlike any other. His eye technique... devours my visual power!" Obito wasn't interested in hiding information. He leaned against the cold stone wall, his lone eye staring at the dim flame of an oil lamp on a nearby stone platform.
"Devours visual power?"
He had never heard of such a Mangekyō Sharingan ability before. But if what Obito said was true, it would explain why Izanagi failed. In reality, Izanagi didn't fail. Its flaw was that it couldn't restore the user's lost chakra. Visual power, being a form of chakra, couldn't be recovered either.
"I had to exhaust nearly all my visual power just to escape Sōgen's technique. The imbalance in my mental energy caused the breakdown you witnessed."
There was another reason Obito didn't mention: to better play the role of Madara, he had been giving himself mental suggestions that *"I am Uchiha Madara."*
That confusion had contributed to his breakdown, leading him to actually believe he was Madara.
Obito shook his head, pushing the unpleasant memories aside. "If my guess is correct, Sōgen can convert the visual power and mental energy he absorbs into his own strength. Waiting for him to lose his eyesight is probably futile."
"We need a new plan!"
He rubbed his temples, feeling a dual-layered headache—both physical and mental. Even with half of his body being sustained by the regenerative powers of the Zetsu cells, the loss of his visual power wasn't something a mere ten hours of rest could fix. He needed more time to restore his chakra flow.
Moreover, he realized how dangerous Sōgen's ability was. It was no wonder they found Danzo in the hospital in such a dire state when they infiltrated Konoha. He must have been drained by Sōgen's technique, leaving him in a vegetative state.
"A technique that devours mental energy, huh? That's a troublesome ability indeed," Black Zetsu mused.
Obito's fear had come true. Uchiha Sōgen's Mangekyō Sharingan had awakened into an ability that even Obito found difficult to deal with. The Uchiha clan continued to produce more and more terrifying individuals. Perhaps only the Rinnegan, a power that surpassed the Mangekyō Sharingan, could nullify Sōgen's genjutsu.
Although genjutsu-based eye techniques were powerful, they were vulnerable to higher-tier abilities. The Rinnegan, being a superior evolution of the Sharingan, possessed high resistance to genjutsu, particularly those from the Sharingan, and could even render them ineffective.
All this knowledge had been painstakingly researched by Uchiha Madara.
"If necessary, we'll have Nagato act," Black Zetsu suggested.
"Now isn't the time to reveal the Rinnegan. If we expose it without taking down Uchiha Sōgen, Nagato will face relentless pursuit from the entire ninja world. We're not ready to take on the world yet. It's not worth risking everything for this—it doesn't fit our plan..." Obito thought for a moment, deciding to temporarily swallow his anger. "For now, let's focus on helping Nagato strengthen the Akatsuki as planned."
"As for Uchiha Sōgen, keep an eye on him. If there's an opportunity, kill him. If not, we'll take care of him when the time comes."
Their focus on the Uchiha clan was merely precautionary. In truth, neither Uchiha Sōgen nor the Uchiha clan had any direct influence on their current plan. There was no need to waste energy fighting them.
"If that's your decision, I understand," Black Zetsu agreed.
The room was enveloped in long-lasting quiet.
Obito leaned against the stone wall, closing his single eye as he tried to calm his disordered chakra. The gaping hole where his left eye used to be was unsettling, even to Black Zetsu, who quickly averted his gaze.
Breaking the silence, he asked, "Obito, do we have any more Sharingan?"
"There should be two pairs left."
"Then find some time to implant them. Izanagi is still useful. This time, it was just bad luck."
"You don't need to remind me of that. If there's nothing else, just leave me alone for a while," Uchiha Obito waved his hand, dismissing him. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novelFirｅ.net
Black Zetsu said nothing more. The large pitcher plant slowly sank into the ground, leaving Uchiha Obito alone in the room. He sat on the stone bed, as still as a stone statue leaning against the wall. Only if you got close to his chest could you hear the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, proving that he was a living, breathing human.
For the sake of that beautiful new world, he had long since been prepared to risk everything, whether it was his life or his soul. He had already wagered it all.
No one could stand in the way of his progress.
No matter who they were.
Anyone who dared to block his path, he would crush without mercy.