Obito stood at the entrance of his secret base, located on an unknown small island in the East Sea, far from the Akatsuki Organization's main base in the Land of Rain. This was one of his many hideouts.
When Obito had nothing to do, he would stand under the eaves in the Land of Rain, putting on airs, but in reality, he didn't like rainy weather at all. Whenever it rained, he would recall the tragic death of Rin Nohara. On that day, too, a light rain was falling, and every time this happened, his heart ached so much he couldn't breathe.
Rin Nohara seemed to be wavering between the two young men, but in reality, Rin Nohara's feelings for Kakashi were primarily admiration. Kakashi was too aloof at that time, and the warm-hearted Rin Nohara found it difficult to resonate with him. Conversely, Obito was a living, breathing person in her heart.
There was affection between the two of them. If it weren't for the Dancer stirring up trouble, and the Iwagakure Ninja's "Earth Release: Rock Collapse," the two would have surely ended up together. Kakashi would only have offered his blessings from afar.
Nagato and Konan, through their probing, knew that Obito disliked rain. So Nagato would make it rain heavily in the Land of Rain, thinking, 'I'll annoy you to death!'
When Obito was in a bad mood, he wouldn't go to the Land of Rain, choosing instead to stay alone in his secret base, lost in thought.
And these past two days, his mood wasn't very good.
After a stroll through Iwagakure, he was reminded of his past 'death' at the hands of Iwagakure Ninja. The memories of that time were severely fragmented; he felt like he had become two different people—one who died in the Kannabi Bridge and another who became the lonely, wandering spirit he was now, unsure when he would find peace.
After sitting quietly for a while, he noticed the rain outside growing heavier. Without much thought, he walked out of the room to watch.
Suddenly, a strong light flashed before his eyes. Before he could react, a bolt of lightning unexpectedly struck down from the sky!
A lightning snake as thick as a bucket pierced through the dense dark clouds, instantly illuminating half the sky. Its power was immense, seemingly splitting even space in two.
The lightning's energy was powerful, and its speed was incredibly fast.
Obito was caught off guard. He had no time to think about Kamui or Izanagi; before the thoughts even formed, the lightning struck him directly.
With a loud 'boom,' his body was thrown high into the air like a rag doll. Before he could even hit the ground, a second bolt of lightning arrived.
This time, he finally reacted. No matter how this thing appeared, he had to dodge it!
He endured the pain in his body and used Kamui. The lightning struck in his direction, crackling and hitting seven or eight times consecutively. The clouds slowly dispersed, and it was a full five minutes before he dared to materialize again.
'Wah!' He spat out a large mouthful of dark red blood. He had dodged the subsequent lightning bolts, but the first one had hit him squarely. Even with the Hashirama cells in his body, that strike had severely injured him.
His black-cloaked, red-clouded Akatsuki coat was burnt to charcoal, and large areas of his skin were scorched. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his left eye socket was completely liquefied, and his Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye was also somewhat blurred, with bloody tears flowing from the eye socket. Undoubtedly, his vitreous humor was damaged. The Mangekyo Sharingan, as a semi-independent organ, had used its internal Dojutsu Power to resist some of the lightning damage at the critical moment; otherwise, both eyeballs would have been ruined.
Obito's consciousness grew increasingly sluggish, his limbs were weak, and his internal organs were severely damaged. He quickly sent a signal to Zetsu, then collapsed into the mud.
Zetsu wasn't a twenty-four-hour nanny and couldn't constantly monitor him. Upon receiving the signal, he rushed over.
Seeing the scene, he was also stunned. What was going on? He hadn't watched him for a moment, and he got struck by lightning?
What terrible things did you do for the heavens to be unable to tolerate it?
He had no time to think carefully. Obito's breathing was weak, and he looked like he was about to die.
Zetsu took Obito underground, connected him to the life support system that Uchiha Madara had used back then, and then injected a large amount of Hashirama cells to repair the necrotic cells in his body.
At any rate, he had to keep him alive first.
On the other side.
Kurama Yakumo looked at the drawing paper, torn down the middle, and began to cough violently.
'Yakumo, are you alright?' Jiraiya was still very humane at this moment, not asking for results but first inquiring about Kurama Yakumo's physical condition.
'Cough, cough, I'm fine, Hokage-sama. The first bolt of lightning hit; the subsequent ones should have missed.' As soon as she finished speaking, Kurama Yakumo also suffered the backlash of her Bloodline Limit, tilted her head, and fainted.
Shizune immediately ordered the Medical Corps to enter and save her.
Ino listened to Tsunade and Jiraiya discussing nearby.
Undoubtedly, Obito must have been severely injured.
He had no time to react at all; by the time he saw the lightning, it was already too late. They believed Obito should not have had time to use Kamui.
What a pity! Ino felt that if she had known the location of Obito's secret base, she might have been able to ambush him in advance and take his Kamui Sharingan.
The right eye would be fine; she wouldn't be picky. Now, she had simply missed a good opportunity.
Shizune examined Kurama Yakumo and concluded that the young girl would need at least a month to recover, and another month after that to use her Bloodline Limit ability.
The few of them went to the prison to ask Konan if she knew the exact location of this secret base, planning to strike while he was down.
Konan actually didn't know the exact location. The Six Paths of Pain knew the location; under Nagato's control, they had once distantly tracked Obito. The two sides almost fell out over this, and after that, Nagato never tried to probe again. Konan only knew the general location, which should be overseas, on an island in the East Sea.
Currently, the East Sea was a powder keg.
Numerous warships from the Land of Water and the Land of Lightning had been vying for dominance over that sea area. The Land of Fire firmly held onto some of the islands it controlled, remaining neutral.
The three great Ninja Villages had not yet intervened in the war. If Konoha Ninja were to appear in large numbers in the East Sea at this time, it could easily send out wrong signals. If you said you were pursuing the Akatsuki Organization's mastermind? Who would believe that!
Relations with Iwagakure were already tense. If they were to also have friction with Hidden Mist and Kumogakure, Konoha would once again fall into the predicament of fighting on two fronts, or even three, as in the past.
Jiraiya thought for a long time and rejected the suggestion of sending a small unit to search for the Masked Man in the East Sea.
The Masked Man's strength, in his opinion, far surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin, given that he could escape unscathed even when facing the combined efforts of Tsunade and the others.
Ordinary people simply couldn't defeat him; going there would be suicide and could easily cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
Now, they could only hope that the other party would succumb to his injuries or that Konoha would find other solutions.
Ino did not try to take the lead.
In her opinion, Obito was like a cockroach; he wouldn't die anytime soon. Zetsu surely had ways to save him. Rushing to the East Sea now on her own would be too risky and certainly not a wise move.
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