Sasuke sat up from his rest bed. This was the third day after the battle with Gyuki.

The pain from his eyes could still be felt, even after so much time had passed.

"Is this the pain Itachi endured when he fought me?"

"Of course not. Itachi was nearly blind and sick—his pain was far worse than yours."

Sasuke had only muttered to himself, but then Zetsu emerged from the wall nearby. White Zetsu even answered his question.

"Have you thought about it, Sasuke? Will you transplant your brother’s eyes?"

The reason Zetsu came was to ask Sasuke—right now, he was far less powerful than his brother. He hadn’t even used Susano’o yet. Even if he could, he wouldn’t match Itachi, who wielded two sacred tools.

Boosting his strength quickly would benefit them. Obito was only using Sasuke as a tool. Who wouldn’t want their tool to become stronger?

"No, I don’t intend to do that yet."

Zetsu still didn’t understand Sasuke.

Living out the future his brother arranged for him wasn’t what Sasuke wanted. He wanted to change that future with his own eyes first, not just rely on his brother’s.

Zetsu couldn’t force him to transplant the eyes, so he had to report the situation to Obito. But Obito didn’t have time to deal with Sasuke’s matters right now.

He was currently on his way to Konoha village.

Zetsu didn’t go with Obito but waited at the base instead. Kamui’s ability manifested in the air—Obito had returned.

"Obito, Sasuke won’t..."

"Obito?! How did you end up like this?"

Obito transferred out of Kamui space and collapsed straight onto the ground. Seeing this, Zetsu was genuinely shocked. Since his battle with the Fourth Hokage, Obito hadn’t suffered injuries this severe.

White Zetsu immediately directed his clones, which transformed into half of Obito’s body.

After stopping the bleeding, Obito sat on the ground panting heavily.

"Hey, what happened? Obito."

Zetsu wanted to know what Obito had just done.

"It was that Hatake Satoru..."

Obito told Zetsu about his conversation with Nagato and his subsequent failed mission to capture the Nine-Tails in Konoha.

"Obito, you acted too impulsively. Your identity is exposed now."

With Hatake Satoru entering Kamui space, Obito’s identity was no longer a secret.

"Hatake Satoru doesn’t know who I am; he only guessed the owner of this Sharingan."

Obito’s reasoning had merit—Hatake Satoru had never actually called him by name.

"So what will you do next?"

"You go and urge Nagato to locate and capture the Nine-Tails quickly. My trip this time has already alerted Konoha. The Nine-Tails probably isn’t in the village anymore."

"If he says anything like trusting Hatake Satoru again, kill him ahead of time."

Although Nagato was a tool to revive Madara, if he became uncontrollable, it would be pointless. If necessary, even if he performed the Rinne Rebirth himself, he had to prevent Madara’s eyes from falling into Hatake Satoru’s hands.

"Also, Sasuke refused to transplant his brother’s eyes again."

"Everyone’s causing trouble for me."

"You contact Sasuke and have him join Kisame to recapture Gyuki. Tell Kisame to let Sasuke use his eye techniques as much as possible, provided they can capture Gyuki."

Obito intended to lure Sasuke into overusing his Mangekyō Sharingan ability.

When he nears blindness, Sasuke, craving power, probably won’t resist the temptation of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.

"Understood."

After saying this, Zetsu sank into the ground and headed to the Hidden Rain Village and Sasuke’s location to relay the message. Obito leaned against the wall and sank into thought.

"My identity? Maybe Kakashi already knows I’m alive."

Rain Village side.

After conveying Obito’s message to Nagato, Nagato didn’t say much. He just told Zetsu he would set out to capture the Nine-Tails once ready.

In the last conversation with Obito, Nagato mentioned the talk with Hatake Satoru, but only to test Obito’s attitude. Obito didn’t show distrust or take any dangerous actions against him afterward. Continuing with his original plan wasn’t bad.

But Hatake Satoru’s words truly shook Nagato. Choosing to directly attack Konoha this time to capture the Nine-Tails was also to see what Hatake Satoru could do. Perhaps compared to Obito, Hatake Satoru could better achieve his goals.

After Zetsu left, Nagato called Konan.

"Prepare to depart, Konan."

...

Sasuke, after resting a few more days, received the news that capturing Gyuki failed and was deeply shocked.

"Don’t make such a basic mistake again, Itachi’s little brother."

Kisame arrived at Sasuke’s location after Zetsu.

"This is your new partner for the mission. I heard your squad suffered a heavy setback. Let them rest properly."

"I don’t need helpers."

"Then let’s see if your strength is enough to say that."

Kisame was dissatisfied with Sasuke’s foolish tone and pulled Samehada from his back to teach him a lesson.

"Stop, Kisame."

"Sasuke, you should understand from the last battle that your strength is below Gyuki’s. Kisame is sent to help you complete your revenge plan."

"Tch."

Though Sasuke was displeased, what Zetsu said was true. Sasuke couldn’t argue further.

"If you drag me down, I’ll kill you."

"I’ll return those words to you."

The two set off for the mission in an atmosphere thick with hostility.

"Compared to Itachi, Sasuke is indeed much more immature."

Seeing Sasuke’s reaction, Zetsu couldn’t help but sigh.

The Raikage side was also taking action.

The Samui squad was already on the way to Konoha village. After receiving Konoha’s response, the Raikage planned to convene a Five Kage Summit to rally the five great villages to purge the Akatsuki organization.

And the culprit behind all this was leisurely learning ’rap.’

"Killer Bee, your rap is completely off."

"Performance isn’t just singing; you need to pour your deep, soulful emotion into it."

A short man beside Killer Bee was lecturing him on rap. This should be the rap teacher he mentioned earlier: Akin.

"My rap is full of feeling, yo~"

"You’re disrespecting performance?!"

As expected of Killer Bee, he still had a carefree attitude even in front of his teacher.

How free Killer Bee was now, how he would be when the Raikage found out he wasn’t captured but had just escaped to play.