Half an hour time later, Konan and Nagato arrived at the site where Yuji and Obito had fought.
They had come because Tobi had still not returned to the base.
According to what Yoru had instructed them beforehand, Tobi, as a spy, would most likely attempt to flee the engagement and return to the base during the course of the fight. Konan and Nagato were to intercept him on that path and eliminate him before he could reach safety, striking while he had no warning of what was waiting for him.
Konan and Nagato had already confirmed that something about Tobi was deeply wrong well before this moment. That realization had come largely through Yoru's warnings, combined with Nagato's extraordinary sensing ability catching something off about the newcomer from early on. The person was almost certainly a member of whatever shadowy force had been monitoring Akatsuki from behind the scenes.
Furthermore, both of them had noticed Tobi attempting to influence Akatsuki's decisions and actions in subtle ways.
And so, after Tobi had failed repeatedly to make any headway with Yahiko, and had turned his attention to the two of them instead, Konan and Nagato had responded with deliberate warmth. They had allowed the closeness to appear natural and genuine.
Because the purpose was to lower Tobi's guard completely.
That way, if Yoru was unable to kill him outright, Tobi would meet Konan and Nagato waiting for him on the road back.
All of this had been Yoru's plan.
On the very first day Tobi appeared within the organization, Yuji had quietly informed the two of them. Once Tobi had left the base and the target had emerged, Konan and Nagato had followed the plan and moved to support Yoru as backup.
"According to the location Yoru described beforehand, this is definitely the right place," Konan said, staring at the devastated forest around her, something cold moving through her chest. "It seems the fight has already ended."
Looking at the state of the battlefield alone told her everything. The exchange between the two had been extraordinarily fierce. The methods used to destroy the surrounding terrain carried a frightening quality.
That Tobi. Who exactly had he been?
"I cannot sense Yoru or anyone else," Nagato said beside her, his eyes closed as he extended his perception, his voice dropping low.
An uneasy feeling rose in both of them simultaneously.
Had Yoru been killed?
"Keep searching," Konan said, her tone tight.
The two of them moved quickly and began tracing the battlefield's remaining signs.
A moment later, Konan dropped down to a clearing, bent, and picked something up from the ground.
A mask.
Yoru's mask. Damaged beyond use.
Konan's eyes grew heavy. She did not want to believe the conclusion forming in her mind.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Yuji was being led by Black Zetsu toward the Land of Grass.
According to his plan, the moment Obito and Black Zetsu had shown themselves, Yuji had intended to move in for the kill. But he had not been certain beforehand whether Obito would choose to fight to the death or attempt to flee once his secrets were exposed.
So he had deliberately held one card back, leaving the possibility for Konan and Nagato to finish the job if Obito somehow managed to escape. As it turned out, that contingency had not been needed.
The reason Yuji had waited for Obito to enter Akatsuki and approach him before acting, rather than simply eliminating him the moment he arrived, was deliberate. He had needed Obito to become curious about him, to believe he was a threat that needed to be investigated and removed.
From very early on, Yuji had been laying information for White Zetsu to collect. The Mystical Palm Technique, the taijutsu, the various ninjutsu, including the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist techniques, all of it had been designed to lead Obito's suspicions toward Konoha as a possible origin.
Combined with the sudden display of his doujutsu, Obito's alertness would have been inevitable.
All of it had been intelligence Yuji had intentionally allowed White Zetsu to gather.
"Finished," Yuji thought to himself quietly.
His operations within Akatsuki had concluded successfully.
Mission one: accumulate experience points. Completed.
Mission two: gather intelligence on both Akatsuki in the Land of Rain and the Hidden Rain Village. Completed.
Mission three: destroy Madara's plan, and use either Konan or Nagato as leverage going forward. Completed.
Mission four: kill Obito. Completed.
As for Salamander Hanzo and Danzo, those no longer required Yoru identity to handle. Because what came next was Akatsuki's confrontation with the Hidden Rain Village.
Madara was dead. Obito had been eliminated before he could mature. It was like removing a tumor that had been sitting in the back of his mind for years.
The threats that had required the most careful planning and caution were now surface-level problems by comparison.
This same engagement could conveniently serve as the announcement of Yoru's death.
Notice: Because the host has killed a plot character who serves as a key figure in the fate and destiny of the ninja world's era, their death has caused a deviation in the world's destiny and in the future trajectories of all related characters' storylines.
Because the host has killed a special plot character, auxiliary experience points awarded: +10,000! (Single highest reward within current cap limit)
Because a character of particular significance has been eliminated, associated character ??? Resentment value: +60!
Yuji opened the system interface and saw a series of notifications highlighted in crimson.
Obito's death carried consequences that could not be called small. At minimum, the Nine-Tails incident in Konoha, the destruction of the Uchiha clan, and Obito's future manipulation of the Fourth Mizukage Yagura Karatachi, which would have plunged the Hidden Mist Village into its era of bloody fog, all of these things could now fail to occur entirely.
But even knowing this, Yuji had still chosen to eliminate Obito early.
The reason was simple. If Obito and Black Zetsu were left unchecked and a darkened Akatsuki took full shape, even if it operated outside the Land of Rain, the moment that organization achieved its full form the threat it would pose to the Sand Village would be enormous.
Furthermore, as long as Black Zetsu and Obito remained alive, Yahiko's death was only a matter of time, and Nagato's descent into darkness was inevitable. He could not afford to simply watch Obito mature into what he would eventually become.
The future version of Obito was not remotely comparable to the one Yuji had just killed today.
These were not things he could sit back and ignore.
Weighed against everything else, a change in the world's future timeline was something he could accept. At most it meant his advantage as someone who knew how the original story unfolded would be reduced somewhat. But his understanding of the key characters and their natures remained stored clearly in his memory regardless.
Besides, he now effectively occupied the position that Obito and Madara had once held. He was the one standing behind the curtain. Certain events from the original story that had required someone to push them forward from the shadows were now things he could push himself, if he chose to.
If it became necessary, he could pull certain storylines back toward their original trajectory.
The prerequisite was always the same. Whether it served the Sand Village's future development.
"Kushina, Minato, the Nine-Tails. The fates of these people are now in my own hands rather than someone else's," he thought to himself.
That feeling of holding control over destiny with his own hands was considerably preferable to leaving it in the hands of others.
"The Uchiha clan massacre does not actually require my intervention. Given the conflicts I stirred up between Konoha's leadership and the Uchiha clan back then, that contradiction has already become irreconcilable. It will explode eventually regardless. The key figure in that event is Danzo, not Obito."
"The Nine-Tails incident, on the other hand, is something I might consider attempting to handle differently."
Yuji turned this over quietly in his mind.
The auxiliary experience points awarded for Obito's death had been generous, reflecting the significance of the character. It had hit the current cap limit. Although his own strength had reached a level where experience point gains had become relatively sparse, and Obito's current power level had not been particularly exceptional compared to his future self, he was nonetheless one of the central protagonists of the Naruto world.
As for the resentment value the system had flagged.
No name had appeared alongside it, but Yuji's eyes moved immediately to Black Zetsu standing nearby. There was no need to think about it. The only entity that could have developed resentment toward him for killing Obito was Black Zetsu. And Black Zetsu's fury was not grief over Obito's death. It was rage at having its plan of many years destroyed in a single encounter.
But Black Zetsu had not shown it outwardly.
Not because it was exercising patience. Because it did not dare.
From the information Yuji had revealed during the encounter, Black Zetsu had concluded that this person was, in all likelihood, something more terrifying than Madara had ever been. Because he knew everything about them, down to their roots. That knowledge had rendered Black Zetsu temporarily unable to make any reckless move, presenting an outward posture of complete compliance.
But the system's notification made one thing clear enough. The depth of Black Zetsu's scheming mind meant that even now, buried somewhere in its ancient consciousness, it was already calculating how to use or outmaneuver him.
"Lord Yuji. Is something wrong?"
Noticing Yuji's gaze settle on it, Black Zetsu responded immediately. Even its form of address had shifted, carrying unmistakable deference.
"Nothing," Yuji said with a quiet smile.
But when Black Zetsu saw that smile, it could not stop an involuntary shudder from moving through it.
"Do we truly want to cooperate with this person?" White Zetsu asked Black Zetsu.
"Shut your mouth," Black Zetsu snapped back immediately.
It was afraid White Zetsu's careless words might provoke the dangerous figure walking ahead of them.
The current situation had already moved entirely beyond what either of them had predicted or could control.
Yuji paid no attention to White Zetsu's muttering.
After spending experience points to configure and implant the third ability module of the Ope Ope no Mi's Room, he closed the system interface.
...
STONES 💎
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