Chapter 440: Obito: My Mind Collapsed
The rain continued to fall.
Obito ran through it, running madly, almost using the fastest Body Flicker Technique he had ever learned in his life.
He was heading toward the new capital of the Land of Water.
Earlier, Amamiya Kenichi had already brought Nagato and Konan to the location chosen for the Akatsuki's new base. Throughout the entire journey, Obito had been restless, pacing back and forth like a trapped animal.
After everything was settled, he used the excuse of going out on a mission and slipped away.
He knew his actions might seem suspicious.
But at this point, Obito truly could not care less.
At this moment, his heart was fixed on only one thing.
One person.
Rin Nohara.
Before that, the Akatsuki's relocation had gone smoothly.
On the way to the new base, Tobi had been far too enthusiastic.
"Tobi ran really fast, didn't he? Such a qualified organization member isn't common," Kenichi said, smacking his lips.
That scoundrel Obito must have rushed over to see Rin.
Kenichi wanted to go and watch the fun, but he also wanted to see what Obito planned to do.
"Yes. This member is very good," Deva Path Pain said as he walked out.
Inside the base, various items brought from the Land of Rain were being arranged. Nagato still had some free time.
Kenichi glanced at Nagato.
That guy Nagato must have been speaking sarcastically.
Nagato did not have much goodwill toward Obito. Especially after learning that Obito and Black Zetsu were hiding secrets, and might even be plotting against him, Nagato had grown even more displeased with the two of them.
However, he hid this emotion well.
Because of the Gedō Statue, Nagato's expression was not easy to read. After all, how many rich expressions could a person who had been reduced to skin and bones make?
"My name is Nagato."
Just as Kenichi was about to bid farewell, Nagato suddenly spoke.
Kenichi froze when he heard it.
He truly had not expected Nagato to reveal his real name to him.
Was this a sign of trust?
Or was it because Konan had previously visited the current Land of Water, causing Nagato to recognize him more?
But no matter what, it was good news.
Kenichi licked his lips.
He was going back to the capital, and he could not wait to return and watch the fun.
After leaving the Akatsuki's new base, Kenichi quickly returned to the capital of the Land of Water.
He did not bother looking for Obito.
There was no need.
As long as he found Rin, Obito would certainly be nearby.
At the same time, Obito had already reached the outskirts of the city.
Finally, he saw it.
The capital of the Land of Water.
He had been here before. Back when he controlled Yagura, he had passed through the capital. But at that time, Obito had not even been interested in glancing at it.
Now, looking at the city before him, Obito stopped far away.
He stood foolishly in the rain, staring at the distant capital with mixed emotions.
He did not know what he should do.
Should he go over?
Or should he not?
Would it be all right to go dressed like this?
Should he change his clothes first?
By the time Obito came back to his senses, he had already entered the capital of the Land of Water.
The bustling crowd and noisy streets seemed not to exist for him.
He stumbled forward, step by step, searching through the city.
The heavy rain gradually softened.
Obito's vision became clearer and clearer.
But he still could not find the person he wanted to see.
"Rin," Obito murmured, looking around in a daze.
Why were there so many people here?
Why were there so many people here?
Why were all these people blocking him from finding Rin?
"Uncle, can your soba noodles be a bit cheaper?"
A familiar voice sounded.
It was like a sudden clap of thunder in a quiet summer night.
Like the loud crash of a desk being overturned in an examination hall.
In an instant, it pierced through Obito's ears and soul.
Obito stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
A moment later, he tremblingly turned his head, little by little.
At that moment, the rain in the sky stopped.
"Then if I buy another portion of green vegetables and a portion of tonkotsu, can it be a bit cheaper?"
In Obito's line of sight, a girl wearing casual clothes was holding a small wallet and bargaining with a vegetable vendor.
Her lively eyes.
Her familiar face.
Her happy smile.
All of it made Obito feel as if he had been isolated from the entire world at this moment.
No.
It was as if he had isolated the entire world, just to see the person before him.
Rin Nohara.
Obito was certain that the person in front of him was Rin.
Her appearance was something he recalled every night.
Obito might mistake others.
He might even mistake his former family members.
But he would never mistake Rin Nohara.
Obito leaned against the wall, silently watching the girl before him.
This was the girl in his heart.
But the question was, if she truly was Rin, then why would Amamiya Kenichi choose to revive her?
In the ninja world, wasn't the only resurrection Ninjutsu the Rinne Rebirth Technique?
This special Ninjutsu came from the Rinnegan's ocular power.
Could there be other resurrection techniques in the ninja world?
But why?
Why had Black Zetsu never told him?
Obito looked at the living Rin before him, feeling utterly confused.
So the question was, why had he not revived Rin before?
Although Kenichi himself knew that resurrection Ninjutsu in the ninja world was rare, extremely rare, it was definitely not completely nonexistent.
For example, was his own Edo Tensei not one?
There was also Rinne Rebirth.
But Obito seemed to have truly never considered this direction.
He had only wanted to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.
He wanted to create a world where Rin existed.
Obito loved Rin.
He had never denied this.
As a result, he saw his friend Kakashi kill Rin with his own hands. Although he saw that Rin had rushed into it herself, the pain in his heart was still unbearable.
Obito and Rin Nohara.
These two people had run through most of the story of the Hokage world.
Although Rin died very early, she had a fanatical pursuer named Obito, who committed all kinds of terrible acts for her sake.
And he was also very strange.
He even felt that his teacher, Minato Namikaze, was strange enough as well.
Minato had clearly been the fastest man in the ninja world, yet he had failed to save Rin.
And Obito himself had done many evil things.
He had caused the Nine-Tails incident in Konoha, released the Nine-Tails, and killed his teacher and his teacher's wife.
Even though Minato and Kushina had been very good to him, Obito had still attacked them without mercy.
He said it was to achieve his plan.
But his way of thinking was strange enough.
He had controlled the Mizukage, Yagura, and implemented the Bloody Mist policy.
He had joined the Akatsuki to monitor whether the organization was acting according to the plan.
After Nagato died, he had even dug out Nagato's Rinnegan and killed Konan.
All of this had been for the Eye of the Moon Plan.
All of it had been to create a world where Rin Nohara existed.
But now...
Obito's heart wavered.
He suddenly no longer understood what he had been striving for all this time.
Moved?
Shocked?
Ecstatic?
Obito did not know how to describe his current mood.
But suddenly, he felt a surge of relief.
He was certain that the person before him was Rin Nohara.
The Rin he had always longed for.
The Rin who had died right before his eyes.
At this moment, Rin had finished buying her things.
She happily carried the vegetables she had bought, then turned around to head home.
Then she saw Obito standing not far in front of her.
A trace of doubt flashed in Rin's heart.
And not far behind Rin, Obito leaned against the wall, constantly rubbing his chest with one hand.
Right now, he only felt nervous.
No.
He should say extremely nervous.
Just now, after Rin spoke, Obito suddenly felt as if he were about to drop dead.
That intense heartbeat made his entire body tremble.
He wanted to confess his feelings to Rin.
He wanted to tell her how much he had missed her.
But the words reached the tip of his tongue, and nothing came out.
It was like some strange surrender ritual.
"Um, excuse me, do you know me?"
Rin looked curiously at Obito before her.
As she spoke, she noticed that the mysterious masked man in front of her shivered all over, and his hands even lifted straight up.
"I... I..."
The masked man said nothing.
Then he fled in a panic, leaving Rin utterly bewildered.
However, she soon shook her head.
For some reason, she had felt a familiar sensation from that person just now.
Although she did not know what it was, it felt very familiar.
But now that feeling was gone, and the other person had already run away.
So Rin did not think too much about it.
She walked home with the things she had bought.
After all, it was almost dinner time, and she was planning to cook.
On the other side, Kenichi had just returned to the capital.
The most painful thing in this world was probably dealing with government affairs.
Even in the ninja world, this was a very tormenting matter.
Kenichi even felt that the reason the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had aged so quickly was probably because he dealt with government affairs every day.
When a ninja did not have much time to train and was forced to handle all sorts of government affairs every day, it became extremely difficult for that ninja to improve their strength further.
"Lord Amamiya."
Just as Kenichi was about to look for Rin, Uchiha Shiori found him first.
"What's wrong?" Kenichi asked.
The large pile of documents in Shiori's arms made his scalp tingle.
"Lord Amamiya, these are the government documents you need to handle this month," Shiori said respectfully.
The moment Kenichi heard that, he already wanted to run away.
Looking at the documents in Shiori's hands, Kenichi felt a headache coming.
Although the ninja world had daimyo and an official system, after Kenichi carefully investigated and cleaned up the problems, he found that most of these people were occupying positions without doing their work.
They were simply coasting along.
Some people in charge of fiscal taxation and related policies could not even do basic arithmetic.
The documents they processed were simple and crude, with all numbers rounded down.
As for the rounded-off amounts, all of them went into their private coffers.
This made Kenichi sigh.
The fact that the ninja world could maintain its current peace was truly thanks to the deterrence provided by ninja power.
However, not all of them were useless.
There were still some capable people.
But in the current environment, these people also had certain problems.
After Kenichi implanted parasites in them, however, they became the most suitable officials.
"I still need to establish a complete and perfected management system as soon as possible. That way, I can quickly free myself from these complicated affairs," Kenichi said, pinching his brow.
Issues related to the new tax policy were the most numerous.
Many citizens even suspected that he planned to levy heavy taxes next month.
"Regarding the Land of Water's tax policy, the former tax official of the Land of Water wishes to meet the ruler and propose a more effective and profitable tax policy," Shiori reported.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
"Experimental fields one through twenty have completed transplanting, but the farmers are worried that planting such unfamiliar rice will lead to reduced yields. They want help from professional agricultural personnel. Should an expert team be dispatched to provide guidance?"
"Commodity prices in the capital are rising. Many merchant associations wish to launch new trade activities. The Gato Company..."
Many, many problems needed to be solved.
However, developing commercial transportation meant that spies from various countries might mix in, which was also a problem.
But not opening trade routes was also impossible.
Some materials in the Land of Water were unavailable and had to be purchased from outside.
Commercial development could not take off.
The common people were saving both money and food.
Industry was also difficult to develop because raw materials could not come in.
In a sense, the Land of Water was currently an isolated island.
It was still necessary to quickly conquer a new country and extend his influence into the wider ninja world.
That would also help avoid the current awkward situation.
"Give them to me. I'll eat while I work," Kenichi said.
He took the thick stack of documents from Shiori's arms and began walking while reading them.
"...I understand."
Kenichi sighed.
He had once not understood why the Kage did not simply use Shadow Clones to handle government affairs.
Now he understood.
Using Shadow Clones gave temporary ease, but the pain it brought afterward was also intense.
When a Shadow Clone dispersed, all its memories would return to the original.
At that time, Kenichi would be equivalent to frantically processing an entire month's worth of government affairs in a very short period of time.
Those memories flooding into his brain made Kenichi feel as if he were being forcibly penetrated by knowledge.
Handling it himself was tormenting.
But at least it was not as painful.
"Lord Amamiya..."
A soft voice sounded.
Kenichi looked up and realized that he had arrived at the door of Rin's room.
Rin was looking at him timidly.
Her evasive eyes and slightly shy face instantly made Kenichi feel joyful.
"It's Rin," Kenichi said, showing a kind smile.
And Obito, who was hiding in the distance, crushed the wall in front of him with a sharp snap.
.....
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