Inside Uchiha Madara's former residence at Kannabi Bridge.
Black Zetsu watched as Obito slowly walked in from the outside and asked, "Where did you go?"
"Konoha," Obito responded calmly.
"What were you doing in Konoha? It's dangerous there. You've become strong, but Konoha's powerhouses..." Black Zetsu furrowed his brow, speaking with a hint of dissatisfaction.
Truthfully, under any other circumstances, he wouldn't speak to Obito this way. On the surface, Black Zetsu was never a forceful individual; at most, he would offer Obito a subtle reminder and leave it at that.
But things were different now. Black Zetsu had failed to handle Rodriguez Diarmuid in Amegakure. To this day, the most valuable "chip" in his hand remained Obito alone.
If Obito ended up dead, Black Zetsu wouldn't even know where to go to cry about it. That was why he sounded so anxious.
However, before he could finish, Obito cut him off: "Enough. Nothing happened. I'm back safe and sound, aren't I?"
Black Zetsu opened his mouth but ultimately said nothing more.
"How are things on your end? What is Rodriguez Diarmuid's attitude?" Obito asked directly.
At the mention of this, a smile played across Black Zetsu's face. "He didn't agree immediately, but I can tell he is very interested, and quite tempted."
"Is that so? How long do you think it will take to truly convince him?" Obito pressed.
"It will likely take a long time. Moreover, I can see that he doesn't particularly want to 'collaborate' with us. On the contrary, he seems to favor another option..." Black Zetsu said after a moment's thought.
"What option?"
"He wants to hold the actual initiative. He wants to be our boss," Black Zetsu explained in a heavy tone.
"That's going to be troublesome..." Obito sighed.
Black Zetsu let out a soft chuckle. "Not necessarily. It might actually be quite appropriate. Our primary objective is to first collect the nine Tailed Beasts and then resurrect Madara-sama. During this stage, it doesn't matter who plays the boss. Once Madara-sama returns from the Pure Land, these issues won't be ours to worry about anyway."
Black Zetsu truly didn't care. As long as he could rescue his mother, did it matter who was in charge?
It was all meaningless. Once his invincible mother emerged from the moon, she would be the only ruler of this world. He didn't care at all about Diarmuid's excessive demands; if the benefits were right, he'd have no problem kowtowing to the man.
Obito, however, felt a slight pang of discomfort. He had been thinking that once Uchiha Madara died, he would inherit everything, become the great mastermind behind the scenes, subdue Nagato and the others, and act as the leader.
In the end, he failed to recruit Nagato, and the Rinnegan and Gedo Statue were all snatched by Diarmuid. Now, he couldn't even be the boss; it seemed he'd have to bow his head to Diarmuid and play the subordinate for a while...
Sensing Obito's internal reluctance, Black Zetsu quickly offered consolation.
"Think of it this way: Diarmuid is ultimately just a pawn. We are using deception and lies to implicitly control and manage him. He is merely the 'boss' on the surface. The true plan and its core have always belonged to us, it has always been Eye of the Moon Plan."
Undoubtedly, this was pure self-consolation, a classic case of "sour grapes."
Yet, it was highly effective.
Obito remained silent for a long time before finally nodding slowly. "Fine. You're right. Eye of the Moon Plan is the core. For the sake of the plan, I can endure anything. Besides... Diarmuid certainly has the qualifications and the strength, doesn't he?"
"I'm glad you see it that way," Black Zetsu said with a satisfied nod.
The two then discussed several other matters regarding this issue, including Black Zetsu making periodic trips to Amegakure to maintain communication with Diarmuid.
"Also, I think we should deepen our connection with them. Our advantage lies in intelligence; in this regard, we can complement them..." Obito said suddenly.
"Your thoughts align perfectly with mine," Black Zetsu agreed. "However, the Yorozuya is essentially a mercenary organization. I believe if we want to deepen our ties, we can do so through commissions. Through back-and-forth business, we'll become familiar with each other, laying a solid foundation for future cooperation."
"Makes sense. But what should we hire them for? We can't just do something meaningless," Obito asked after a moment's thought.
"Capturing Tailed Beasts. At this stage of Eye of the Moon Plan, only you, I, and White Zetsu know the truth. Simultaneously, we don't have enough manpower. We originally hoped to harvest the Akatsuki, but that's off the table now. Capturing Tailed Beasts will inevitably be a difficult and complex task. I believe we can use this as an opportunity to open cooperation with the Yorozuya. We hire them to help us capture the Tailed Beasts," Black Zetsu explained.
Obito thought it over and found it reasonable, so he nodded in agreement. "Fine. Let's go with that."
"Then, what we need to determine now is which Tailed Beast to start with..." Black Zetsu said solemnly.
"No," Obito countered. "What we need to determine now is how much funding we have left and how many such operations we can afford to commission."
Black Zetsu froze for a moment, then quickly consulted with the White Zetsu within his body. His expression turned somewhat grim as he spoke, "The funds are indeed running low. At best... we can afford one commission."
"Then after that, we either find a way to merge with the Yorozuya quickly, or we'll have to find a way to make more money," Obito said helplessly.
Black Zetsu nodded, his desire to have them join the Yorozuya becoming even more urgent.
However, he had no idea that Diarmuid had absolutely no intention of rushing to collect the Tailed Beasts. After all, once the Tailed Beasts were gathered, Uchiha Madara could be resurrected at any time. Even without the Rinnegan, Madara might still have a trump card, and Black Zetsu wasn't exactly trustworthy either.
Therefore, Diarmuid's plan was to first master Wood Release, Senjutsu, the Sharingan, and a vast array of Ninjutsu before even considering the Tailed Beasts.
He wanted to increase his own strength to a level where he could steadily suppress Madara before entertaining the idea of the man's resurrection.
"Since we can still hire the Yorozuya once, I happen to have some good news," Obito added suddenly.
Black Zetsu glanced at him. "Is it about Konoha?"
"Correct. Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina, the wife of Namikaze Minato, is pregnant..." Obito said in a low voice.
Black Zetsu gave Obito a meaningful look, forced to admit in his heart that this guy was truly a ruthless one. To collect the Tailed Beasts, the first person he chose to strike was the mentor's wife who had once treated him with the most kindness?
What a total deviant!
Without waiting for Black Zetsu to ask, Obito continued: "When I went to Konoha, I learned this top-secret information by chance. In eight months, Uzumaki Kushina will give birth. We just need to keep a close eye on her as the date approaches. Once she begins labor, we will have the opportunity to release the Nine-Tails from within her... At that time, perhaps the most powerful of them all, the Nine-Tails, will be the first Tailed Beast we collect..."
Black Zetsu weighed the idea and felt that Obito's plan was sound.
From the current perspective, Konoha's Nine-Tails was undoubtedly the most difficult to deal with among all Jinchuriki.
Uzumaki Kushina herself was quite powerful; as a member of the Uzumaki clan, she possessed an immense amount of chakra. With the Nine-Tails and her mastery of numerous sealing techniques and high-powered Ninjutsu, her chakra reserves allowed her to perform total bombardment.
Furthermore, she rarely left Konoha. Unlike other Jinchuriki, Kushina was well-liked within her village. As the strongest hidden village at the moment, Konoha was not easy to deal with. As long as nothing went wrong and Kushina stayed within the village, any attempt to attack her would likely be held off by her own strength until reinforcements arrived.
Once a large number of Konoha reinforcements showed up, capturing the Nine-Tails would be impossible.
Thus, Kushina giving birth was indeed a magnificent opportunity. During that period, she would essentially lose her combat effectiveness and be at the mercy of others. As long as they acted quickly and had a thorough plan, they could swiftly seize the Nine-Tails.
In truth, Obito originally could have just taken the Nine-Tails and fled.
But at the critical moment, his brain short-circuited. Perhaps finding the Nine-Tails so powerful, he wanted to use its strength to retaliate against Konoha before leaving.
Basically, he wanted to have his fun before retreating.
As a result, the Nine-Tails, which was practically in his hands, slipped away because of his meddling.
It even led to the Nine-Tails being split; half went into the belly of the Reaper with the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and the other half was sealed inside Uzumaki Naruto.
One could say that during the night of the Nine-Tails' attack, Obito's series of maneuvers resulted in the deaths of Minato and Kushina, and even Hiruzen's wife ended up dead.
In the end, he gained nothing. The only thing of value to him was that he utterly blackened the reputation of the Uchiha clan, whom he wished to destroy.
With a Sharingan so prominent in the eyes of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, everyone in Konoha saw it...
The Uchiha clan couldn't wash that stain away. After all, they didn't know Obito was still alive; besides the Uchiha clan, only Kakashi had the eye.
But during that period, Kakashi wasn't particularly compatible with the Sharingan, and his visual prowess couldn't possibly control the Nine-Tails.
Moreover, Kakashi would never manipulate the Nine-Tails to kill the Fourth Hokage and his mentor's wife, that was a joke; absolutely no one would believe such a thing.
Without a doubt, the Uchiha clan would have to take the fall for the Nine-Tails' rampage, and it was a blame they could never shake.
So, Obito's attack on Konoha and the creation of the Nine-Tails' revolt: The final result was that he got his personal satisfaction, after all, killing Minato was a significant blow to Konoha, and he successfully screwed over the Uchiha.
However, Black Zetsu, who had planned to seize the Nine-Tails and was left dreaming, was probably crying himself to sleep in a bathroom somewhere.
His only partner was a total moron.
Yet, despite the tears, Black Zetsu couldn't do anything to Obito. Obito was the only chip he had left...
He chose this teammate himself; what else could he do after getting burned?
He could only bear it in silence while weeping.
"Your idea is very good. I will dispatch White Zetsu to gather more information. When the time is right, we can invite the Yorozuya... to act together." Black Zetsu nodded with satisfaction.
After all this time, there was finally some good news.