"Have Lord Minato and Lady Kushina really sacrificed themselves?"
Hearing the news of the Fourth Hokage and Kushina's deaths, the surrounding Konoha shinobi were visibly shocked, their faces filled with disbelief. They couldn't fathom that the Fourth Hokage, who had just been seen saving the village atop Hokage Rock, had died during the process of sealing the Nine-Tails, leaving not even a body behind.
Wait... if Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki have both perished, then where are their bodies?
The thought crossed the mind of the Anbu commander, who turned to Hiruzen, saying, "Lord Third, there are no remains of Lord Minato or Lady Kushina here. Could it be that they haven't died and are just hiding somewhere to heal?"
Hearing this, the Third Hokage furrowed his brow and pondered, "Shin, your guess isn't without reason, but the only technique capable of sealing the Nine-Tails in such a short time is the Reaper Death Seal... However, our priority now is to settle the villagers and investigate the culprit. If Minato and Kushina were still alive, they wouldn't have left this child behind."
After speaking, the Third Hokage picked up the baby Naruto from the ground and headed back towards the village.
His words left the surrounding shinobi with heavy hearts. Though they didn't want to believe that the Fourth Hokage and his wife had sacrificed themselves, the facts were in front of them.
Whether it's the loss of a tailed beast from a Jinchuriki or the use of a forbidden technique like the Reaper Death Seal, the user would be doomed.
Glancing at the full moon in the sky and the extinguished lights in the distance, the Konoha shinobi sighed softly and followed the Third Hokage.
---
After evading the Byakugan scouts from the Hyuga clan, Byakuya arrived at the pre-arranged meeting point with Black Zetsu.
At this moment, Obito was sitting on the ground, transplanting limbs from White Zetsu. When he saw Byakuya approaching, his expression immediately darkened. He knew Byakuya would undoubtedly mock him, so he turned his face away.
Black Zetsu, spotting Byakuya approaching, quickly asked, "Byakuya, what's the status of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails? Did you kill them?"
Byakuya glanced at Black Zetsu and shook his head, saying, "My original plan was to strike when Minato and the Nine-Tails were both exhausted, but I didn't expect Minato to use the Reaper Death Seal and seal the Nine-Tails into his son. The Reaper Death Seal is a one-time-use sealing technique that kills the user, so I didn't risk exposing myself to intervene."
Hearing this, Obito quickly turned around, staring at Byakuya as he said, "Byakuya, it seems your cleanup efforts weren't that great. I thought you'd be able to defeat Minato head-on, but it turns out you just scavenged after the fight."
"Better than getting severely injured by the Flying Thunder God. I wouldn't know the pleasure of getting hit by a Rasengan." Byakuya retorted.
"You..." Obito wanted to retort, but then recalled something and said, "When I was fighting Minato, you were nearby? Why didn't you step in to assist?"
Without changing his expression, Byakuya replied calmly, "Masked Man, I'm not your babysitter. If you come up with a plan, then you should see it through yourself. Besides, if I had interfered, someone might have accused me of stealing the credit."
Obito fell silent. If the fight had been interrupted, he probably would have mocked Byakuya.
However, who could have expected that the Flying Thunder God Technique had a second phase? If his body hadn't been modified by White Zetsu cells, he would have been dead already.
Byakuya, unwilling to let Obito off so easily, added with a smirk, "But I'm really curious about something. As a Uchiha, how does it feel to control the Nine-Tails to attack your own village?" Does it bring joy, pain, or maybe a bit of sorrow?"
"I don't know..." Obito thought to himself. He genuinely had no idea what he felt when he controlled the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha. It was as if he were in a dream, devoid of any real emotions.
Yes, this hellish world was just one long nightmare...
Yes, this hellish world is nothing but a nightmare.
No matter the wrongdoings committed in this world, as long as the Eye of the Moon Plan is realized, everything can be restarted.
While Obito was lost in thought, Black Zetsu, growing impatient, asked, "Byakuya, stop mocking the Masked Man. Let's get down to business. You said the Fourth Hokage sealed the Nine-Tails with his life, so you must have captured the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, right?"
Byakuya shook his head and replied, "Sorry, Black Zetsu, I didn't take the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."
Hearing this, Black Zetsu's expression changed slightly. This wasn't what it had anticipated. It had assumed Byakuya would capture the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and would have been prepared to start collecting the other tailed beasts early.
Byakuya glanced at Black Zetsu and explained, "Black Zetsu-senpai, I think starting to collect the Nine Tailed-Beasts right now would be extremely unwise. The reason the Masked Man could cause the Nine-Tails incident today is because the Three Legendary Sannin weren't around, and the Jinchuriki was in a perfect moment of vulnerability due to childbirth. At any other time, let alone taking on Konoha alone, even if we teamed up, dealing with the Fourth Hokage and his wife would be very difficult.
In this situation, if we were to take the Nine-Tails, it would undoubtedly alert the Five Great Nations and put us in a 'world against us' scenario. We don't have the strength to oppose the Five Great Shinobi Villages, even with the support of Amegakure.
Tonight, being able to eliminate both the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki in one fell swoop is already the best possible outcome. I don't want to ruin our plan to unify the shinobi world by acting for short-term gain."
At this point, Obito, having snapped out of his daze, interjected, "In the end, you're just not confident in your own strength. If we lose this opportunity today, it will be even harder to capture the Nine-Tails in the future."
Black Zetsu glanced at Obito and said, "No, I think Byakuya makes a lot of sense. Killing both the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki tonight has been a huge victory for us. To begin the Eye of the Moon Plan, we certainly need more preparation."
Obito's face grew stormy upon hearing Black Zetsu take Byakuya's side. He, after all, was supposed to be Madara's successor, while Black Zetsu was merely a will parasitizing White Zetsu. How dare it oppose him like this?
The more he thought about it, the angrier Obito became, but in the end, he clenched his fists and let it go.
Next, Obito used Kamui to enter his own space.
After Obito left, neither Black Zetsu nor Byakuya showed any intention of leaving. The two exchanged glances before Byakuya, with a grim expression, said,
"Black Zetsu-senpai, isn't the Masked Man being disrespectful to you? How many times has he walked away like this?"
Hearing this, Black Zetsu recalled how both Obito and Byakuya treated him, and his face darkened as well. He sighed lightly and said,
"The Masked Man has the power of a space-time dojutsu. It's not surprising that he lacks respect for his elders. However, this time, he suffered a great loss, nearly dying at the hands of the Fourth Hokage. I imagine he'll be more obedient from now on."
Pausing for a moment, Black Zetsu looked at Byakuya and continued,
"By the way, I've drafted a plan for the future of the Akatsuki organization, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it to see if anything needs to be changed."
Byakuya glanced at Black Zetsu, thinking to himself that it didn't really have any plan at all.
Ever since manipulating Indra, this "little black figure" had never come up with a proper strategy, always relying on the various incarnations of Indra to improvise.
However, despite his inner complaints, Byakuya began to seriously explain his plan for the next steps to Black Zetsu.