At that moment, Obito had no interest in dealing with Akatsuki matters. In fact, even Black Zetsu barely cared about the Akatsuki right now. Its eyes were fixed on Obito as he tried to commune with the Great Tenseigan.
"Well? Well?"
"Can you trigger the strongest technique inside that Tenseigan?"
Black Zetsu stared at Obito with eager anticipation. Compared to the Eye of the Moon Plan, it really did prefer the Tenseigan's straightforward brutality. If they could just use Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion to split the moon in half, why bother with all the extra steps?
"I can borrow a little of the Tenseigan's chakra, but it's not like what you said. The amount I can use is very limited."
Obito's expression didn't look good.
He really had established a slight connection with the Tenseigan. After all, the Uchiha clan traced back to Indra, and further back to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, who was the brother of Hamura Ōtsutsuki.
That blood connection let Obito barely tap into the Tenseigan's power, but the amount he could draw on was even less than what Hyūga Neji could use, let alone enough to gain the kind of world-crushing power Black Zetsu had described.
What Obito didn't tell Black Zetsu, however, was that as the Tenseigan's chakra flowed into his body, the ocular power his Sharingan had previously lost was being replenished in a different way.
If he kept holding onto this Great Tenseigan long enough, then through the influence of both his transplanted Wood Release and the Great Tenseigan, his Mangekyō Sharingan might actually evolve into an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Still, Obito had a vague sense that using the Tenseigan's power to evolve his own Mangekyō Sharingan would take an extremely long time—so long that it might rival the time it took Uchiha Madara to awaken the Rinnegan.
"So… it really does require Hyūga blood…"
After hearing Obito's answer, Black Zetsu's disappointment was obvious. It had always suspected that the Great Tenseigan might require Hamura Ōtsutsuki's bloodline to activate, but it had still held onto a sliver of hope.
Now, that hope had completely shattered.
"Maybe… we should try finding someone from the Dead Bone Pulse clan?"
"I remember that besides splitting into the Byakugan clan, Hamura Ōtsutsuki's bloodline also produced a branch with the Dead Bone Pulse."
"Unfortunately, the Dead Bone Pulse clan in Kirigakure seems to have died out…"
Now that Black Zetsu knew the Tenseigan required Hamura's bloodline to function, his thoughts immediately drifted to the Dead Bone Pulse clan, which had already vanished from the shinobi world.
"If we can find a member of the Dead Bone Pulse clan and have them wield this Tenseigan, then maybe we can bring out the true power of this Great Tenseigan."
"Yakushi Kabuto once said that Orochimaru had found a member of the Dead Bone Pulse clan before."
"And that person's bloodline had regressed so strongly that even they couldn't withstand the power of their own Dead Bone Pulse."
Black Zetsu's mind was racing. Once it confirmed that Obito couldn't control the Great Tenseigan, it had already started thinking about other options.
And true to form, the first thing it came up with was another roundabout salvation strategy, just like Nagato's. Back then, it had given the Rinnegan to a member of the Uzumaki clan to use. Now, it could do the same thing with the Great Tenseigan and a member of the Dead Bone Pulse clan.
"What a shame…"
Even though Black Zetsu already had a new idea in mind, it still wore a look of regret, as if it were genuinely upset that Obito couldn't use the Tenseigan.
"It's not that bad. At least it weakens Konoha, doesn't it?"
"That little Hyūga girl already awakened her own Tenseigan through that thing. If she keeps holding onto the Great Tenseigan, then who knows when Hyūga Hinata might fully awaken it?"
"The Three-Tails' revival isn't far off. Weakening Konoha even a little is still worth doing."
Obito was disappointed too, but he still tried to comfort Black Zetsu.
In Obito's mind, Black Zetsu was just a manifestation of Uchiha Madara's will. Even if Madara had lived a long time, he was still just an Uchiha. Why would he know that much about the Hyūga clan's secrets?
Besides, getting this Tenseigan wasn't completely useless for him either, so Obito naturally wanted to reassure Black Zetsu.
It really did say a lot about Obito's intelligence—if Black Zetsu sold him off one day, he'd probably still say thank you.
"This Tenseigan may not be useless to us after all."
Seeing Obito standing there with that idiot expression on his face, Black Zetsu figured that telling him the secrets of the Hyūga clan and the Dead Bone Pulse clan wasn't a big deal. After all, who even knew whether there were any Dead Bone Pulse clan members still alive?
After Black Zetsu explained its idea—find someone from the Dead Bone Pulse clan and have them wield the Tenseigan—Obito only hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
"The Akatsuki is missing someone on our side."
"If we can find a member of the Dead Bone Pulse clan, then we can let them get used to the Great Tenseigan's power first. Once they've tasted real strength, they'll naturally let us use them."
"And once they join the Akatsuki, they can also serve as a thorn we've planted inside the organization."
Obito turned his little scheme over in his mind. He felt that his intelligence had improved by leaps and bounds lately. He might not be able to use the Great Tenseigan himself, but that didn't mean he couldn't use it to do other things.
"Not a bad idea at all."
Inside the cave, Black Zetsu and Obito both let out sinister laughter. Even Black Zetsu had to admit that while Obito might not be especially smart, he really did have a knack for doing underhanded things.
Meanwhile, the news of Ōnoki's death and the Akatsuki's actions was spreading throughout the shinobi world.
Even in the remote Land of Water, with merchants flowing in greater numbers than before, the current Mizukage, Mei Terumi, received the news that Iwagakure had nearly been wiped out by the Akatsuki.
"Should the Land of Water attend this Five Kage Summit?"
Mei looked at Elder Genji beside her, uncertain what to do.
On the surface, the Land of Water was still one of the Five Great Nations, but ever since those Konoha jōnin arrived and Police Forces had started taking shape all across the country, the weight of her title as Mizukage had been steadily shrinking.
More importantly, the Land of Water was now essentially tied to Uchiha Chizumi—or rather, had become dependent on him. Mei couldn't help wondering whether it even made sense for her to attend the Five Kage Summit, or whether it would be more appropriate for Uchiha Chizumi to go instead.
"Pass the message on to Lord Chizumi."
"Our Kirigakure has suffered severe losses. Even though we're doing everything we can to rebuild, it will still take at least ten years before Kirigakure can recover to the strength it had before he came."
"In that case, Kirigakure should stay out of the Five Kage Summit."
After thinking it over, Elder Genji came to a simple conclusion: when the sky falls, let the tall ones hold it up.
And unfortunately for them, the tallest one in Kirigakure right now was in Konoha.