After the White Zetsu sent to monitor the Uchiha began disappearing one by one, it finally caught Obito's attention.
For the group of Uchiha remnants who escaped Konoha under Uchiha Shisui's leadership, Obito had never cared much. Sending White Zetsu to monitor them was merely to observe Shisui's movements.
After all, that scattered group of Uchiha had value.
They could restrain the not-so-obedient Itachi Uchiha, and at the right moment, they could leak information to Konohagakure, redirecting Konoha's higher-ups' attention toward the remnants.
Two birds. One stone. Efficient villain management.
But now the White Zetsu were vanishing.
That forced Obito to focus.
White Zetsu weren't geniuses, but they possessed Wood Release traits. Transplanting their bodies could reduce the strain on Mangekyō Sharingan. If Shisui—who had awakened the Mangekyō—somehow mastered that trick, it would become a real threat.
Still, Obito hadn't figured out how to handle Shisui.
Attacking directly was risky. And with Itachi involved, he wasn't entirely sure whether the two had truly fallen out—or whether they might turn around and deal with the masked man who helped orchestrate the Nine-Tails incident.
That would be… inconvenient.
After some thought, Obito stopped sending White Zetsu. Instead, he planned to share the matter with Akatsuki.
Within Akatsuki, there were certainly people interested in Uchiha survivors. Orochimaru, obsessed with human experiments. Sasori of the Red Sand, who turned people into puppets like it was a hobby. Even bounty hunters might move.
Let someone else poke the hornet's nest first.
Pulling his thoughts back, Obito stood in the Mizukage's mansion, overlooking Kirigakure beneath its perpetual mist.
Whenever he had free time, he came here.
As the Fourth Mizukage, he issued cruel orders, incited purges against bloodline clans, and watched the chaos unfold.
Partly to pass time.
Partly to weaken Kirigakure in preparation for future tailed-beast collection.
After all, the Five Great Nations wouldn't just hand over their jinchūriki nicely. Akatsuki couldn't fight everyone at once.
And partly…
Personal venting.
He still remembered that rainy night when Kamui awakened.
Even if this world was false, he didn't mind making Kirigakure pay the price.
At that moment, Black Zetsu emerged from the ground.
"Obito, the Kirigakure ninja you were watching has completed his mission. He killed Fuguki Suikazan—one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—and returned."
Obito nodded.
He manipulated the blank-eyed Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, to leave the mansion.
Inside the damp ANBU base of Kirigakure, Obito met a young jōnin he favored:
Kisame Hoshigaki.
Kisame stood holding a sack in one hand and Samehada in the other. His eyes were bright—almost excited.
Inside the sack was the severed head of his former superior, Fuguki Suikazan.
With Samehada in hand and recognition from the Mizukage, Kisame was now one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
The reason for killing Fuguki was simple:
Fuguki had betrayed the village—selling intelligence to enemy nations and plotting against the Mizukage.
"Fourth Mizukage-sama," Kisame said calmly, "this is the head of the traitor."
Yet while speaking, he subtly observed Yagura.
This childlike figure was the Three-Tails' jinchūriki and the Mizukage of the village.
Rumors about him filled Kirigakure.
He had ended the Bloody Mist graduation killings… only to turn his blade toward bloodline clans instead. Civilian ninja gained influence, but the village's overall strength declined sharply.
Those who criticized Mizukage policies were dismissed, imprisoned… or quietly died.
The village lived in fear.
But Kisame was a ninja.
A ninja completes missions.
Reasons were irrelevant.
Still… sometimes he wondered.
Why did the Mizukage rarely meet his own jōnin? Why did he remain hidden inside the mansion year-round?
Was he afraid?
As Kisame pondered, a figure stepped out from behind Yagura.
A masked man.
A red Sharingan gleamed beneath the mask.
In that instant, Kisame understood.
Why the orders were absurd.
Why the Mizukage avoided meetings.
Why the village felt wrong.
The strongest man in Kirigakure… was a puppet.
"What…?" Kisame frowned. "Who are you? You're controlling the Fourth Mizukage."
Obito removed his mask slowly.
"I am the one manipulating Kirigakure from the shadows."
He paused deliberately.
"Uchiha Madara."
The name echoed.
Madara Uchiha.
Kisame repeated it, stunned.
Madara. The legendary war ghost.
Obito's voice drifted through the corridor.
"After seeing the truth behind the Bloody Mist, what will you do? Attack me? Or seek the truth of this false world?"
Kisame fell silent.
If this control were recent, perhaps he would have attacked.
But if Madara had been pulling strings for decades… then the Mizukage he had sworn loyalty to never truly existed.
The world felt absurd.
False.
After a long pause, Kisame asked quietly,
"…What is the truth?"
Recruiting Kisame went smoothly.
Obito gained a powerful subordinate and immediately assigned him a mission:
Assassinate the Daimyō of the Land of Water.
Of course, the mission was designed to fail.
Once exposed, Kisame would become a missing-nin.
Then Obito would guide him into Akatsuki as combat power.
Over the years, Obito had scouted many jōnin using his Mizukage identity. He had already sent Zabuza Momochi's former comrade Juzo Biwa into Akatsuki.
But Jūzō was growing too close to Nagato and Konan.
Unstable.
Kisame, however, was better material.
A loyal blade in the dark.
A nail embedded inside Akatsuki.
After Kisame left, Obito reviewed a list compiled by Kirigakure's ANBU.
It contained the names of jōnin dissatisfied with the Mizukage—those forming a secret faction, intending to stage a coup.
Obito scanned the list and smirked.
He deliberately left the names of Zabuza Momochi and Mangetsu Hozuki untouched.
He would incite them to rebel.
Then he would have a legitimate reason to eliminate these promising young blades.
Weaken Kirigakure further.
Reduce it to a second-rate village—barely comparable to Sunagakure.
One of the few simple pleasures left in Obito's long, bitter life.
Villainy, after all, requires hobbies.
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