Chapter Forty-Four: The Watcher
Night fell, and countless lights illuminated the entire village of Konoha. In scattered areas, many craftsmen could still be seen working overtime, rushing to complete repairs. Having just endured the calamity of the Nine-Tails, Konoha was silently licking its wounds.
At the Hokage Rock of Konoha, a spatial vortex suddenly appeared out of thin air.
As the vortex dissipated, a black-clad figure emerged at its center—it was the masked man, Uchiha Obito, the true culprit who had summoned the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha just days earlier.
The gentle night breeze fluttered Obito's black cloak as he stood quietly in place, gazing down at the brightly lit village below.
At that moment, two enormous pitcher-plant leaves slowly rose from the ground. As the leaves parted, a strange face was revealed—half white, half black.
"Obito, it seems your plan didn't go very smoothly.
Your teacher, Minato Namikaze, truly lived up to his title as the Yellow Flash of Konoha. Even in that situation, he still managed to injure you—and then sealed away the Nine-Tails.
From the looks of it, collapsing Konoha in the short term seems impossible."
A hoarse, low voice emerged from the bizarre face.
"The Uchiha Obito of the past is already dead. And Minato Namikaze is no longer my teacher.
The chaos three days ago was nothing more than a whim. As long as the Fourth Hokage died, there would be no one left here capable of stopping us—my objective was already achieved. Whether Konoha truly collapses or not is irrelevant.
Now, our plan has only just entered its proper course. Nagato's side will still need a long time to revive the Outer Path. We have plenty of time to plan slowly.
As for Konoha… whether it can truly survive this crisis is still far too early to say."
Obito's voice came from beneath the mask, sharp and cold.
"Oh? Do you have other plans as well?"
This time, a much younger voice sounded from the strange face, filled with surprise.
"I've already found a way to leak Konoha's current situation to Kumogakure. I believe they'll make the correct choice."
Obito replied calmly.
"Obito, you really are worthy of being the successor chosen by Madara. Your schemes have already reached such depth."
The same youthful voice spoke again from the strange face.
Obito waved his sleeve lightly.
"That's enough, Zetsu. After the upheaval of the Nine-Tails incident, a serious rift will inevitably form between Konoha's upper echelons and the Uchiha clan. I need you to stay here and closely monitor both the village and the Uchiha clan's movements for me."
The strange face named Zetsu nodded.
"Understood."
As he finished speaking, a spatial vortex appeared once more. Obito's figure gradually vanished into the void along with it. Above Zetsu's head, the two massive pitcher-plant leaves slowly closed and sank back into the earth.
Moments later, the Hokage Rock returned to its former silence.
Hokage Tower, Konoha Village
Inside the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, once again donned the Hokage's ceremonial robes and sat down upon the Hokage's seat.
Thick smoke lingered around the desk as the Third Hokage clenched his pipe between his lips, brows furrowed in deep thought.
Earlier that day, he had once again thwarted Danzō and reclaimed the position of Hokage.
Yet what lay before him now was nothing but a complete mess.
Deep down, Hiruzen Sarutobi could sense that some hidden force was secretly watching Konoha from the shadows.
The outbreak of the Nine-Tails disaster had been far too sudden—there had been no warning signs whatsoever.
Kushina's pregnancy had been classified as the highest-level secret within the village. Only a handful of people had known about it.
Moreover, to avoid any accidents, before Kushina went into labor, the village's leadership had deliberately moved her to a hidden location outside the village and dispatched a large number of ninja to guard her.
Yet even with such meticulous arrangements, the enemy had still accurately grasped the exact timing of Kushina's delivery. They had taken advantage of the moment when the seal on the Tailed Beast would be greatly weakened after childbirth, forcibly summoning the Nine-Tails from within her body and unleashing devastation upon the village.
During this entire process, the mastermind had entered and exited the village without triggering a single response from the detection and barrier systems set up around Konoha's perimeter—they had been completely useless.
Did this mean that someone inside the village had been involved? Could it have been the Uchiha clan?
When the Nine-Tails appeared in the village, its eyes clearly bore the Sharingan—something no one could deny.
Yet when the Uchiha clan's movements that night were reviewed afterward, they appeared not to have participated at all.
So whose Sharingan was it that controlled the Nine-Tails?
Was Minato's decision to use the Reaper Death Seal and perish together with the Nine-Tails related to this mystery?
And then there was the orphan left behind by the Fourth Hokage and his wife—Uzumaki Naruto. How should he be handled?
Would the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails incident make further moves?
The deeper implications hidden within these countless questions left the Third Hokage utterly baffled.
Now, the structure of the village had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Not only had the Fourth Hokage, in the prime of his youth, and Kushina Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki, both fallen, but dozens of elite jōnin and a large number of civilian ninja had also perished. Vast numbers of buildings within the village had been severely damaged.
Most critically, with the loss of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki—two of the most promising Kage-level combatants—Konoha had fallen into an extremely awkward transitional period.
Among the younger and middle generations of the village, Jiraiya was rarely present, Tsunade had left the village due to her hemophobia, and aside from the increasingly enigmatic Orochimaru, there were no true Kage-level fighters left.
All that remained were the Third Hokage and figures like Danzō—elder statesmen who had held power for more than twenty years—barely propping up the village's façade.
Faced with such a dire crisis, after discussions among the village's senior leadership, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to once again answer the call and reassume the role of Hokage.
At present, there were far too many pressing issues before him—there was no time to carefully ponder those deeper mysteries.
During the daytime leadership meeting, someone had proposed launching a serious investigation into whether the Uchiha clan had been involved in the Nine-Tails incident. The Third Hokage had rejected the proposal on the spot.
In Hiruzen's view, regardless of whether the Uchiha clan had truly been involved, as long as they had not openly rebelled as a clan, he intended to temporarily shelve the matter.
Because the most urgent priority was to stabilize the situation as quickly as possible.
The Uchiha clan was Konoha's foremost noble family, long in control of the village's Military Police Force. They were both the face of Konoha and one of its core pillars of strength.
If the village leadership were to clash with the Uchiha clan at such a time, no matter the outcome, it would only further weaken Konoha.
Moreover, the eruption of internal conflict would make it easier for spies from other villages to probe Konoha's true state.
After suffering such consecutive blows, hostile villages like Kumogakure and Iwagakure would never miss such a golden opportunity.
This was a scenario the Third Hokage absolutely did not wish to see.
Therefore, regardless of the truth, he had to suppress the matter as quickly as possible.
However, the rift between the two sides had already formed. Pretending that nothing had happened was impossible—someone suitable would need to be chosen as a mediator to ease the tension.
But who should that be?
"It seems it's time to select some fresh blood to replenish the ANBU…"
At that thought, a certain figure surfaced in the Third Hokage's mind, and he muttered softly to himself.
For 60 advanced chapters,you can go to my Patreon: Patreon.com/Keiondir