Konoha's Nine-Tailed.
Hidden Cloud's Two-Tailed and Eight-Tailed.
Hidden Rock's Four-Tailed and Five-Tailed.
Hidden Mist's Three-Tailed and Six-Tailed.
Hidden Sand's One-Tailed.
If their purpose in monitoring the Five Great Nations' Ninja Villages is to recollect the Tailed Beasts and revive the Divine Tree Ten-Tailed, then keeping watch over the Five Great Nations makes sense as an excuse.
But if this mysterious organization truly had enough combat strength, they wouldn't just be surveilling—they would have already gone after the Tailed Beasts from each Ninja Village directly.
Therefore, the total fighting power of this mysterious force can't match the Ninja Villages of the Five Great Nations in a direct confrontation.
That's actually good news.
As long as it's not a head-on clash with the Five Great Nations' level of military power, Hakushi still has confidence in winning.
Though his own side also lacks manpower, that problem is mainly with the mid- and lower-level ranks. At the top-tier combat level, Hakushi believes his side still has some solid reserves.
At the very least, conquering the Ninja Villages of small countries isn't impossible.
The problem is how to force this mysterious group to reveal themselves, and then wipe them out swiftly, root and all, eliminating them for good.
If they keep hiding in the shadows, Hakushi also can't keep dividing his attention over such matters forever.
It'd be best to find the right moment to deal with these enemies lurking in the dark.
"Uchiha Obito…"
Hakushi muttered that name.
Recalling Obito's ridiculously naive face, he couldn't help but let a smile slip at the corner of his mouth.
That guy's probably tangled up with old grannies in Konoha every day, right?
Such an amusing kid.
"Overwhelming love turning into negative emotions is the core factor that rapidly stimulates a member of the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan to evolve. Afterwards, the ninja's personality tends to distort, falling into darkness, and viewing the world with incredibly pessimistic and extreme thoughts…"
Hakushi fell into thought.
"For someone to have devised a plan for Obito, they must understand the Uchiha very well, maybe even one of the clan's own ninjas."
But as Ruri had said, there is only one person with a confirmed record of leaving Konoha beforehand—Uchiha Madara, back in the day.
And Uchiha Madara has already been confirmed dead, defeated by the First Hokage Senju Hashirama at the Valley of the End. That's an acknowledged fact in the Ninja Realm, and highly credible.
If that's the case, then who else could it be?
After all, someone who understands the evolution of the Sharingan to this degree is very likely from the Uchiha Clan.
"Speaking of which, what did they want by targeting Obito's Sharingan? What were they planning to have him do?"
Wouldn't it make more sense to just ambush a Jonin Uchiha and dig out the Three-Tomoe Sharingan from those elite Uchiha?
If Obito's Sharingan only awakened to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, doing all this would just be a waste of time.
So, is it just to get Obito to unlock the Mangekyo Sharingan?
"..."
As for how to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, Hakushi isn't particularly knowledgeable.
The methods are varied.
Witnessing the death of a loved one is a strong, albeit unverifiable, hypothesis for unlocking it.
If anyone was most important to Obito, only one person came to Hakushi's mind—Nohara Rin.
"In short, there isn't enough intel right now. Best to draw the snake out of its hole and probe these people's bottom line as much as possible."
He'd previously sent Earth General and Water Dragon God to test the waters, and after all this time, the enemy has probably realized he's the one secretly pulling the strings.
There are definitely some records in Konoha, as well as info on Earth General and the other clones, and whoever is behind this mysterious group has a strong surveillance network on Konoha—they've likely found out something by now.
"Speaking of which, Ruri's been saying her hands are itching for a fight lately, wants to test her strength. Might as well find her something to do."