Itsuki POV
Aizen's glasses (Bleach).
Hedwig's cage (Harry Potter).
Staring at the last two cards I'd pulled before, I prayed to every god in the Omniverse that today would be better before finally checking the next one.
Issei Hyoudou's secret ero manga.
…Seriously?
To confirm that it really was nothing special, I read the description.
"A manga a pervert got from his pervert friend."
I sighed. Looks like all my luck was burned on the first spin.
Hmm. Maybe instead of spinning every three days, I should save up and do a ten-card pull once a month.
It didn't sound like a bad idea.
It wasn't as if I could immediately assimilate a new template anyway. I only had two slots for Assimilation, and both were already occupied. And maybe doing it this way would increase the chances of getting something actually useful.
"Itsuki, focus."
"Yes, Captain," I replied instantly, snapping out of my thoughts.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
We moved swiftly through the forest, leaping from tree to tree at high speed. A pity the jōnin we captured hadn't revealed anything instead he committed suicide. I was impressed by his loyalty and it made me wonder if someday I can get someone like him as my subordinate.
Anyways, we managed to find the clues Kakashi had left behind and followed the trail leading into this forest.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
What the hell?
All of us halted immediately, balancing on the branches we had landed on, eyes snapping toward the rising smoke far ahead.
"Yūsō," Captain Shinku shouted.
"Already on it," the sensor responded instantly.
"Captain, the location is too far to sense there," Yūsō reported. "But multiple shinobi are moving towards us. Some of them have chakra volume comparable to yours."
Multiple jōnin, huh.
Maybe they had been fighting Obito and realised they couldn't kill him. Some might've broken off to report back to the village or seek higher-ranked reinforcements.
As for the ones Yūsō sensed now, they could be a diversion, meant to lure enemies away.
"Captain," I spoke up, trying to draw his attention. "Should we set a trap—"
I was cut off.
"Captain," Yūsō interrupted urgently, his tone shifting. "They're turning back."
"Going back? Why?" Guy blurted out the question all of us were thinking.
Had they set a trap and retreated?
Or…
Was it White Zetsu?
Killing them, devouring them, and mimicking their chakra signatures?
The thought felt far-fetched at first.
But considering Madara's paranoia and the lengths he'd go to ensure no information leaked out…
…it was disturbingly plausible.
And that thought made me uneasy.
Madara was one of my favourite figures in anime history. Even knowing the contradictions in his beliefs, preaching realism while embracing an eternal illusion as the answer to endless conflict.
But admiration didn't equal safety.
There was no reason to believe he would show me any mercy.
Uchiha or not.
Anyone who stood in the way of his vision of peace would be sacrificed.
"As Itsuki suggested, we'll set a trap. We won't advance any further until we confirm the situation," Captain Shinku said, forming two shadow clones.
The clones leapt forward and vanished into the forest.
…It really was one of the best jutsu tobirama created.
If I ignored, just for a moment, the fact that he possessed one of the most racially biased mindsets in the Omniverse, I had to admit something.
He was absurdly talented.
Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. Flying Thunder God. Reanimation Jutsu.
Each of them operated far outside conventional logic.
Someone like him should've been locked in a sealed chamber and forced to spend his days doing nothing but creating jutsu. Maybe that was exactly the real reason why he created the Reanimation Jutsu to summon himself back into the living world just so he could keep inventing new techniques.
…Yeah.
That absolutely sounded like something Tobirama would plan.
I couldn't help but wonder how he'd feel if he ever learned the truth how the disciples he trained to deal with the Uchiha ended up turning on his sister-in-law's clan first… and then on his own.
Hah.
I already imagining to summon him back, laying out all their "achievements" one by one, just to watch his expression crack. The shock. The rage. The realisation that the village he tried so obsessively to control had twisted everything anyway.
And then asking him, very politely, what he thought should be done about it.
"Everyone, gather!" the captain shouted, pulling us out of our preparations just as we were about to set more explosive tags. We immediately jumped back to his position.
"Captain, what did you find?" Genma asked.
Shinku's expression was grim,"My shadow clone located Kakashi. It's bringing him back now. The moment it returns, we withdraw."
"Is he safe?" Guy asked, the question slipping out before he could stop it. Hope and fear were both written plainly across his face.
"Yes," Shinku answered immediately. "No serious injuries. He's unconscious from exhaustion, nothing more."
Guy let out a breath he'd clearly been holding, his shoulders loosening just a little.
"Captain what about rin nohara" I asked seeing the seriousness of captain face haven't vanished.
"She is dead, by time my clones reached there was no breath in her" he said confirming my guess it was really Obito who was fighting .
That confirmed my suspicion.
It really had been Obito fighting there.
He continued, sharing more details. By the time his clone arrived, the area where Kakashi lay was completely destroyed. The ground was torn apart, trees shattered, and Kirigakure shinobi corpses were scattered everywhere. Whoever had fought there hadn't held back in the slightest.
"Kakashi—!" Guy cried out, his voice breaking as he lurched forward, almost throwing himself at the unconscious body. Genma barely managed to grab him in time, holding him back before he could collapse onto Kakashi.
My gaze drifted to Kakashi's left eyelid.
For a moment, the temptation was there.
I could open it. Take the Mangekyō.
But I forced myself to stop.
In the anime, there hadn't been any White Zetsu attached to him at this point but this wasn't something I could afford to trust blindly. Black Zetsu wouldn't let something this important slip off his radar so easily.
Tch.
When the hell will I unlock Observation Haki?
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Observation haki vs white zetsu