In the Forest of Death, Itachi looked around vigilantly.
He wasn't the type of ninja to get arrogant. Since his opponent used a space-time jutsu to escape at the last moment, he couldn't assume the masked man had been killed.
Considering the possibility that the other party could break his genjutsu, he needed to be on guard for a space-time dojutsu ambush at any moment.
About two minutes later, space twisted behind him. Itachi immediately threw a shuriken, but the shuriken strangely passed right through the newly appeared figure.
The moment he saw the masked man, Itachi, who was always attentive to detail, was momentarily stunned. "Why did you change your pants?"
Obito glared at Itachi in slight annoyance, but didn't explain. "Itachi, I'm not here to fight you. If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead before you even realized I was here."
He wasn't boasting—if he ambushed Itachi with his newly regained other eye and Kamui, he could cut him in half before Itachi could react.
After his earlier setback, Obito became much more cautious around Itachi. He didn't dare meet Itachi's gaze again. While he was invincible on a physical level, he could still lose in the realm of genjutsu.
"There's nothing to talk about. The Uchiha clan is doing just fine now, and things will only get better. The so-called truth doesn't matter anymore."
Itachi replied calmly.
"Heh, Itachi, you still haven't realized the real problem. Konoha will soon make a move against the Uchiha clan. You don't really believe they'll just sit back and watch our clan grow, do you?"
Obito sneered. "But I can help you—whether you want to launch a coup and overthrow Konoha's top brass, or wipe out your whole clan to protect the village. I'll support you either way."
Truthfully, Obito hoped Itachi would sever his ties to the Uchiha and kill everyone, then join him.
But for some reason, the Uchiha's situation had actually gotten better and better lately. Since Itachi was reluctant to read the stone tablet, Obito had to approach things from a different angle—pretending to help Itachi, so he could recruit this powerful force to his side.
After a moment's contemplation, Itachi raised his head and asked, "What did you do?"
Obito thought to himself, as expected, Itachi is sharp. He replied calmly, "Nothing much. I just took Kakashi's Sharingan."
Hearing this, Itachi frowned. He knew Kakashi's hidden status in Konoha—as the Fourth Hokage's only living disciple, the embodiment of the Will of Fire.
Now, an Uchiha with a Sharingan had attacked Kakashi. At this sensitive time between the village and the Uchiha, it was deadly.
It was truly infuriating. Shisui, also a famed ninja known as "Shisui of the Body Flicker", died and barely caused a ripple in Konoha. Only the Uchiha clan was outraged.
But if Kakashi is attacked, it becomes a huge issue for Konoha, affecting the reputation of the Hokage's line.
Now that the masked man attacked Kakashi, how could the Uchiha defend themselves? Obviously, Danzo would find a way to pin the blame on their clan.
And they really had no evidence to refute it—unless Itachi could capture the masked man before him, proving there was another Uchiha in exile.
But after their brief clash, Itachi realized that was unrealistic. The opponent's dojutsu was too troublesome—he could come and go at will. Even when Itachi first used Tsukuyomi, he failed. The masked man would never give him another chance.
He was also confused—why could the other guy use Mangekyo so freely, while he himself struggled every time, and lost vision after each use?
"Itachi, you should understand by now. The Uchiha are at the brink of life and death—you have no choice."
Seeing Itachi's silence, Obito thought he had shaken his resolve and pressed on.
"If I help you, what do I have to do in return?" Itachi asked.
"Nothing much. After this is over, just leave Konoha, join Akatsuki, and follow me."
Obito stated his goal. He thought Itachi was easy to control because he had too many weaknesses—family, clan, brother, village. With so many soft spots, Obito could manipulate him at will.
"Fine. If I need you, how do I contact you?"
Itachi asked with a straight face. Of course, he had no intention of cooperating or rebelling or destroying his clan. He already decided to follow Gusion's path, which had proven to be the right one. The Uchiha clan was now thriving.
Just this month, they'd had six weddings—four women married out, and two brides from other clans married in.
Even the always loyal Hyuga clan had softened lately. Just yesterday, Hiashi met his father at a teahouse in Konoha, and they got along surprisingly well.
Apparently, they were discussing marriage prospects for him, exploring the potential of mixing dojutsu bloodlines.
Itachi himself wasn't interested in marriage or children, but if it was for the clan's revival, he didn't mind being used as a tool for political marriage.
The only real issue, he thought, was that the younger generation of Hyuga girls seemed a bit too young.
Fortunately, Itachi felt it was unlikely he'd marry into the Hyuga, since they had lots of issues with the caged bird seal and main/branch family disputes. They were insisting either Uchiha men marry in, or their daughters marry out.
Regardless of the outcome, it proved Gusion's strategy was correct.
Even such a closed clan as Hyuga wanted to mix Uchiha blood.
Why worry about the Number One Dojutsu Clan rivalry? If they became in-laws, all problems disappeared.
Besides, Itachi had read the history books and knew that if you traced back far enough, the Uchiha and Hyuga were from the same bloodline. Who knows what advanced traits might arise from mixing their blood?
In short, even the Hyuga wanted Uchiha blood, so the other Konoha clans obviously wouldn't miss out on this chance to strengthen themselves.
With all these marriages, the Uchiha's status was rising fast. Even his father no longer just stayed in the clan house all day; now he was busy with upper class social events, coming home every day beaming with pride.
With things going so well, join the masked man in rebellion? Destroy the clan? What a joke!
He just wanted to stall this so-called Uchiha Madara for now, report to Gusion, adjust their plan, and then find a chance to kill the masked man.
"Take this. If you need to contact me, plant it in the ground, and I'll come find you."
Seeing Itachi agree, Obito felt pleased, thinking he had hooked him.
He tossed Itachi a seed—Zetsu's power. If planted, Zetsu would sense it and notify him.
"I understand."
Itachi examined the seed and put it away. "Aren't you leaving?"
Obito had finished what he came to do and was ready to go, but just before he left, he couldn't resist saying again, "You really should look at the Uchiha stone tablet."
He hoped Itachi would read it before leaving the village to follow him, and truly understand his lofty ideals—so they could work together as comrades.
His Moon's Eye Plan was Infinite Tsukuyomi, and he also wanted to hear Itachi's opinion as a genjutsu master.
With that, Obito's figure twisted and disappeared before Itachi.
Once sure Obito was really gone, Itachi quickened his pace. He had to hurry back to avoid conflict between the clan and the village over the Kakashi incident.
…
"Gusion-kun, are you dissatisfied with my subordinates?"
Inside the Sound Village, Orochimaru was assembling his forces and noticed Gusion's strange gaze, so he asked curiously.
Gusion looked at Orochimaru's men and wanted to ask, "Are you serious?"
Because the timeline was still early, Orochimaru hadn't been in the Land of Rice Fields for long, so he hadn't had time to build up a strong core team. Even his strongest, Kimimaro, probably couldn't beat a Jonin.
The rest were even weaker—a bunch of kids who hadn't even grown up yet.
Because they were so young, Orochimaru didn't want them involved this time—loyal and talented seedlings were too rare to waste.
For this operation, only some exiled rogue ninjas participated, none as high-quality as Akatsuki. They were all nobodies from small villages, taken in by Orochimaru because they had nowhere else to go.
They called themselves Jonin, but that was only in their old, now-extinct villages. Their Jonin status was only by those village standards.
Their actual strength was wildly inconsistent—having Chunin-level skills would be impressive.
"Orochimaru, you don't really plan to use these guys against Konoha's elites, do you?"
Gusion did have large-scale destructive powers—his Raijin Fruit paired with Conqueror's Haki was great for clearing mobs—but that didn't mean they didn't need subordinates.
The point was, the Konoha Destruction Plan needed to be as grand as possible. It had to look like a real war, with mooks and elite monsters.
Otherwise, if Konoha's ninjas easily crushed a bunch of weaklings, how could the Uchiha shine?
Ideally, he wanted himself and Orochimaru to suppress the top Konoha fighters, while their subordinates battered Konoha's rank-and-file, so the Uchiha could then arrive and save the day, finishing with a perfect father-son performance from Itachi and Fugaku.
But looking at these low-quality extras, Gusion was getting a headache—could this show even go on?
If the Mist Village hadn't just stabilized, and Zabuza wasn't busy campaigning for Mizukage, he'd have just recruited from there.
"I know you're concerned about their lack of strength, Gusion-kun, but aren't our real allies not here yet?"
Orochimaru smiled sinisterly. "Kabuto already sent word. I'll have things settled on the Sand's side by tomorrow. Then we'll have a strong ninja army."
Gusion looked at Orochimaru with a subtle expression. "Orochimaru, you'd better be careful not to mess things up in Sand."
As a pioneer, his instincts told him Orochimaru would definitely fail, but he had other things to handle—he had to go to Konoha and couldn't help Orochimaru assassinate the Kazekage.
"I know the Kazekage's strength. I have ways to deal with him. Don't worry, Gusion-kun."
Orochimaru was full of confidence—who knew what other tricks he had up his sleeve.
Gusion thought for a moment, and for safety's sake reminded him, "Just have a backup plan. Didn't you say you could summon dead experts to fight for you? Why not prepare more of those elites? It's more reliable than counting on Sand."
Orochimaru licked his lips and said, "Gusion-kun, you don't understand. Summoning the dead requires their blood and suitable vessels. It's hard to collect those things on short notice."