LRAB Chapter 289 Madara Uchiha: Obito's useless, might as well go after Sasuke.
Chapter 289 Madara Uchiha: Obito's useless, might as well go after Sasuke.
Chapter 289 Madara Uchiha: Obito's useless, might as well go after Sasuke.
Inside the cave, Sasuke listened blankly to Madara Uchiha's questioning.
Reason told him that this man was extremely dangerous, a monster who treated the entire ninja world as a chessboard, and should never be trusted easily.
But from the night of the annihilation of his clan until now, the questions weighing on his mind have continued to brew and ferment.
Sasuke looked up at the man on the stone seat and solemnly asked, "Black Zetsu implied that Hiruzen Sarutobi was the true culprit behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan."
"What on earth is going on?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he could even hear his own heartbeat.
Madara Uchiha wasn't particularly surprised when he heard the question.
"Black Zetsu is right. Hiruzen Sarutobi was one of the key figures who led to the destruction of the Uchiha clan. There is no doubt about that."
Sasuke's expression visibly changed upon hearing this. The events in the audience last night had already fueled his speculations, but before he could recover from his shock, Madara Uchiha suddenly sneered, his eyes turning icy, and abruptly changed the subject: "What? You talk about revenge all the time, but you still don't even know who your real enemy is?"
"————"
Sasuke felt like his throat was blocked.
The next second, he gritted his teeth and roared, "No! I saw it with my own eyes!"
The scene of the night of the massacre kept replaying in my mind.
Crimson blood, clan members lying on the ground, familiar faces—and those Sharingan eyes.
"There was a monster that could transform into anyone! It could even perfectly disguise its chakra! It was this monster that transformed into Nisan and wiped out the entire Uchiha clan!"
"I saw it with my own eyes! There's no way I could be wrong!"
Madara Uchiha listened quietly, his gaze growing increasingly profound.
He looked down at the junior below and smiled coldly to himself.
Unexpectedly, the opportunity to seize control of this brat came even faster than he had imagined.
"Saw it with your own eyes?" He scoffed. "Foolish. How much can your eyes even see?"
Sasuke's expression froze.
"The Uchiha clan, one of the founding clans of Konoha, the most powerful bloodline in Konoha—do you really think that some monster you're talking about could wipe out such a clan overnight without a sound?"
"That Uchiha clan—they're far too weak."
Sasuke instinctively wanted to refute, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized that he couldn't find any reason to say anything.
Yes.
If that night, the enemy was truly only that kind of monster, would the Uchiha clan have had no chance to fight back?
Similar words spoken by Madara, the Hokage, in his dream flashed through his mind.
The same question, the same cold arrogance, sent a chill through his heart that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"You mean—" Sasuke's voice was hoarse, "that night, there were other people?"
Before he could finish speaking, his body began to tremble.
The truth that had sustained him since the night of the massacre was now beginning to crack.
"Hmph, still obsessed with that monster?"
Madara Uchiha looked down at him, a cold smile flashing in the depths of his dark, abyss-like pupils.
This is precisely what he excels at: not simply defeating his opponent's body, but fundamentally rewriting their worldview.
What could be more effective at controlling a person than completely reshaping their perception?
"The kind of monster you're talking about, one that can perfectly impersonate someone else?"
"You mean this thing, right?"
The moment the words fell, the ground less than five steps in front of Sasuke suddenly rippled slightly, as if a pebble had been thrown into the water.
The originally hard rocky ground began to undulate strangely, with gravel trembling slightly and small sand and gravel rolling down.
The next second, something slowly emerged from the ground.
A pale hand emerged from the crevice in the rock, its fingers thin and dry, yet possessing an unnatural softness, like a mixture of tree roots and a human hand.
Next come the shoulders, torso, and head.
It was a humanoid creature, pure white, with skin covered in bark-like patterns, as if it had been twisted out of a white tree root.
White Zetsu.
The moment Sasuke saw that face clearly, his pupils constricted sharply, and a chill ran down his spine to the back of his head.
"Impossible—" he murmured.
He was all too familiar with that face, that structure, that chilling aura that sent shivers down his spine.
The masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara showed this skin when he was injured by Hokage Madara.
Later, when Nissan exposed the fake, it was the same white monster body.
And now, the same monster has brazenly emerged from Madara Uchiha's territory.
Why————
Sasuke stared wide-eyed at the man on the stone seat.
"Why would you have something like this?!"
He didn't even realize that his way of addressing Uchiha Madara had taken on a tone that was almost questioning.
To most people, this would be tantamount to courting death.
But instead of getting angry, Madara Uchiha revealed a half-smile.
Why would I have that?
Then, the corners of his mouth slowly turned up, revealing a smile that could almost be described as pleasant.
"The reason is simple: I was the one who created this kind of inferior consumable."
Sasuke froze on the spot.
"—What did you say?"
Madara Uchiha looked at him and continued, "These things are just defective products. They can barely be used for infiltration, intelligence gathering, and deceiving the enemy. Since there are many of them, it's not a pity to sacrifice them."
He stretched out his right hand and casually beckoned to the white Zetsu in front of him.
The white monster gurgled and twisted its neck to look at him, its expression blank, completely unaware of how dangerous its situation was.
"Watch closely."
Madara Uchiha said it casually.
The next moment, he flicked his finger.
call out!
An inconspicuous pebble shot out from between his fingers, its sharp whistling sound drawing a cold line through the cave.
puff!
The pebble gently and easily pierced through White Zetsu's forehead.
Before the creature could even utter a sound, pale tissue slowly flowed from the hole in its forehead, and its entire body shuddered violently, collapsing like a rag doll that had suddenly lost its skeleton.
The white body quickly softened, melting into a mess of white mud that seeped back into the ground along the cracks in the rocks, soon disappearing without a trace.
Sold out instantly.
A truly casual strike.
Sasuke watched helplessly as all of this happened.
From the moment Madara Uchiha flicked his finger to the moment White Zetsu disappeared, less than two seconds had passed.
"Did you see that clearly? They're just cheap reconnaissance tools, not even worthy of being called ninjas."
"Their only value is in intelligence gathering. Their excellent shapeshifting ability not only allows them to infiltrate everywhere, but also, when necessary—"
He glanced at Sasuke sideways: "It can also be used to deceive naive brats like you."
"To make you think you've found your enemy."
'
'
Sasuke was so speechless that he couldn't utter a single word.
His long-standing target of revenge.
What he believed to be the truth was what he had witnessed firsthand.
That was the simplest answer he could bear.
Now, Madara Uchiha's casual remark has completely overturned this only support.
"You really think," Madara Uchiha asked slowly, "that this kind of trash, which I can mass-produce at will, has the ability to wipe out the mighty Uchiha clan?"
"Are you capable of making the police department, the Anbu, and all the major clans of Konoha turn a blind eye to everything in one night?"
The answer to the question is obvious.
Sasuke's face was as pale as White Zetsu's just now. He uncontrollably took a step back, his back hitting the cold, damp rock wall before he could barely steady himself.
His clenched fist was trembling.
His long-held goal of revenge, the truth he thought he had figured out, and the facts he had witnessed were all torn apart bit by bit by Madara Uchiha, revealing even dirtier and more complex layers within.
"I have been asleep for a very long time."
Madara Uchiha leaned back on the stone seat, as if he were chatting casually.
"They were only recently pulled back from the Pure Land using forbidden techniques, and some of the things they had were scattered all over the ninja world. If I'm not mistaken, there should be people in Konoha researching this thing as well."
Sasuke shuddered.
Two names popped into my mind almost simultaneously.
Danzo!
Orochimaru!
At that time, he only felt that it was another story in a dream.
Now, Madara Uchiha's calm words cruelly juxtapose the dream with reality.
"I see----"
Sasuke muttered to himself, then slammed his fist into the rock wall beside him.
boom!
The rock cracked open, and excruciating pain spread from his fist to his arm, but he seemed oblivious to it.
"So all along—my enemy has been hiding right beside me—those beasts, committing such crimes, and then trying to cover it all up as Nisan's doing!"
He himself was treated like a fool and manipulated at their mercy.
Tears streamed down his cheek and fell to the ground.
Madara Uchiha looked down at him, his eyes filled with satisfaction.
What he wanted was this kind of despair where all existing knowledge was completely overturned.
Only by breaking it down can it be rebuilt.
"very good."
He said softly.
"Now, at least you know who your real target for revenge is."
"Only then can we talk about revenge."
Sasuke raised his head, his eyes churning with complex, almost frantic emotions, but he did not refute him further.
He was unable to speak.
the other side.
The western part of the Land of Water, where Kirigakure is located.
In the center of a large lake surrounded by mountains, sunlight falls vertically through gaps in the clouds, hitting the lake surface and refracting into dazzling fragments of light.
If you only look at the lake, you might think this is some tranquil scenic spot.
If you shift your gaze slightly, everything around you serves as a reminder that a terrible battle has just ended here.
Large swathes of trees along the lake shore were flattened, their trunks charred black by the flames, with lingering smoke still hanging in the air. Fragments of explosive tags were scattered on the ground, and deep craters had been blasted into the soil in some places. Charred wood and pebbles floated in the pool.
-
The lake water was no longer clear as it once was, with large bubbles still churning around.
In the middle of the lake, a huge shadow filled the field of vision.
It was a turtle-shaped monster, so large it resembled a moving island—the Three-Tailed Isobu.
It floated on the water, its shell covered with crisscrossing scorch marks.
At the highest point of this enormous creature's carapace, a figure wearing a tiger-striped mask lay sprawled out on all fours.
Obito Uchiha.
He looked as if he had been thrown from a great height and landed hard on the back of the Three-Tailed Fox, his limbs outstretched and his mask facing the sky.
"call--"
Obito slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
Not far from the side of the three tails, a strange plant shaped like a pitcher plant slowly rose from the water.
The thing was half black and half white, like two different colored lumps of flesh forcibly sewn together, with a huge flower-shaped opening on its head.
"Wow!" came an exaggerated exclamation.
"Really? Obito, you really took down the Three-Tails all by yourself?"
"I thought you would find some excuse to drag it out for ten days or half a month, but it was resolved so quickly, which really surprised me."
As he spoke, the smile on his face didn't look genuine at all.
Upon hearing this voice, Obito, who had been completely lost in thought, tensed up almost imperceptibly for a moment.
Obito braced himself against the Three-Tails' carapace, flipped over, and sat up on its back.
The tiger-striped mask slowly turned toward where Jue was.
"That's all over. What are you doing here?"
"hehe--"
Jue let out a low chuckle, automatically ignoring the impatience in his words.
"Of course I'm here to check on the progress."
"Capturing the Tailed Beasts is the top priority of the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"If you get entangled with the Three-Tails and it disrupts the whole plan, that would be troublesome, wouldn't it?"
He spoke as if he was very worried, but there was little sincerity in his voice.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Obito coldly interrupted.
"Mission accomplished."
"Now, return to Amegakure immediately."
He didn't want to stay here for too long.
The lake, the tailed beast, and all the chaotic emotions that surged up during the battle made him instinctively want to get away.
Jue stared at him for a long time.
The lake water rippled gently, swirling around the pitcher plant.
"What's it like to fight a tailed beast all by yourself?"
Jue suddenly changed the subject, a meaningful smile appearing on his half-dark face.
"Does this bring back any memories?"
Obito's body tensed slightly.
"snort."
He just gave a cold laugh and didn't respond to the question.
Don't be presumptuous.
Obito stood up, water droplets sliding down the edge of his cloak.
"I said, I'm going back to Amegakure, now."
When he uttered the last word, he no longer intended to give Black Zetsu any further chances to test him.
Space distorted before him.
The vortex spread out, engulfing him and the three tails beneath his feet, before suddenly contracting.
As Jue watched the vortex dissipate, his smile gradually faded.
"Obito, I hope you don't seek your own death."
He muttered to himself, then sank into the water along with the strange pitcher plant's body and disappeared.
nNnn
The Land of Rain, the Hidden Village of Rain.
On the top floor of the tallest tower in the center, in a spacious but dimly lit room.
Rainwater pounded against the glass outside the window, and water streaks slid down the windowpane, leaving blurry lines.
Payne sat in the main seat.
Yahiko's body remained ramrod straight as ever, his Rinnegan silently gazing ahead, exuding a chilling pressure.
Xiao Nan stood slightly behind him in the shadows.
Long blue hair cascaded down her shoulders, and the paper flower hair accessory looked somewhat cold and hard in the dim light.
Her face was paler than usual, and the words Payne had just said to her were still weighing heavily on her mind.
The real Uchiha Madara has "appeared".
The truth about the origin of the Rinnegan—
It turns out that the owner of those eyes was someone else.
The dawn they fought for—
They believed they were in charge of the plan—
Faced with this intelligence, things suddenly seemed less pure.
The invisible dark clouds had already enveloped them completely, just like the rain curtain outside the tower.
Just then, the air in the center of the room began to subtly distort.
A black vortex appeared out of thin air.
Payne frowned slightly.
Xiao Nan's breath hitched briefly, and the two women's eyes met quickly in the air as they tacitly concealed all their emotions.
When Obito stepped out of the vortex, and the single eye beneath his tiger-striped mask swept across the room, he saw two calm, almost indifferent faces.
"Are you all here?"
Obito casually shook the water off his cloak, as if he were returning home.
Payne did not get up.
His Rinnegan eyes glanced over indifferently, his voice calm: "What is it?"
Obito was not surprised by this attitude; he was already used to it.
He was used to Nagato speaking to him in this superior, godlike manner.
In any case, he always regarded the other party as a tool to be disposed of in the future.
"The plan can begin."
Obito got straight to the point, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse through his mask.
"Isobu, the Three-Tailed Fox, has been captured by me."
The instant the words were spoken, Payne and Konan's pupils narrowed almost imperceptibly at the same time.
Although it was only for a moment, neither of them missed the change in the other's eyes.
The plan is progressing faster than they expected.
It's so fast that you don't even have time to check where you are.
Obito himself was not without his own awareness.
The previous probing on the lake, coupled with the fact that the real Uchiha Madara was resurrected by Edo Tensei in reality, these variables gave rise to an uncomfortable sense of urgency in his heart.
But he never intended to show even the slightest wavering in front of others.
He was the one who carried out the plan before, and he will be the one who does it in the future.
Even if Madara Uchiha reappears and the Akatsuki members begin to have doubts, he is confident that he can bring the Ten-Tails back to its original position at the last moment.
Whoever completes the Eye of the Moon will be the true victor.
"Your reaction is calmer than I expected."
Obito sized up the two of them and said in a casual tone.
Payne merely glanced at him.
"The capture of the Tailed Beasts is part of the plan."
Konan turned her head to look at Payne, and saw a face that revealed no emotion.
She knew, however, that behind this body, the real Nagato was probably frowning at this moment.
The real Madara Uchiha has appeared, revealing the origins of the Rinnegan, and the masked man's claim that he is Madara Uchiha has been proven false.
Continuing cooperation is a stopgap measure.
But everything must be reassessed.
We cannot allow our plans to be completely led by the nose by the other party.
We must find a way to gain the initiative.
Pain lowered his gaze slightly, and after a moment's thought, he said, "Akatsuki is currently severely understaffed. Under these circumstances, the process of sealing the tailed beasts with the Nine Seals of the Illusionary Dragon will become extremely lengthy, and the risks will be magnified infinitely."
Nagato's meaning was clear: they would not allow Obito to completely control the pace of the game.
At least until the manpower issue is resolved, the sealing process cannot be initiated rashly.
Obito listened quietly without immediately refuting anything.
He turned around, his back to the two of them, and slowly walked to the window.
Rainwater slid down the other side of the glass. Staring at the blurred rain curtain, he slowly said, "It's a manpower problem, isn't it?"
A soft laugh came from beneath the mask.
"Don't worry."
"Suitable new member"
"I've already found someone."
）