Chapter 59: "What an utter fool"
Kenzo's movements halted at the exact second the memories came back from the shadow clone, just moments ago he had been dashing through the forest at high speed, his figure cutting between the trees with sharp and precise steps, barely touching the ground as he moved, yet in that instant everything stopped as if the momentum itself had been forcefully cut off, his body freezing where it stood while the world around him continued as normal, leaves still drifting, branches still swaying.
For a brief moment he just stood there, reeling from the shock of the revelation, this was unexpected… very very unexpected to say the least, not just something slightly out of place but something that directly clashed with everything he had accounted for till now, something that could not be brushed aside or ignored as a minor variable, something that reached deeper than a simple miscalculation.
However the shock didn't last long, after all in Kenzo's long life he had already experienced so many life and death situations that it was only natural that he wouldn't react as strongly, his mind stabilised quickly, the initial disturbance fading almost as soon as it appeared, settling back into that familiar cold clarity he relied on.
Even so this was still very shocking and extremely bad for his current predicament because from what he understood from the scroll this wasn't just some casual information… It was everything… Yes, everything from the smallest details to his habits, his movements, his patterns, the way he operated, the choices he made, even things that should have never mattered were all laid out in full, as if someone had been watching him from the very beginning without missing a single step, every single thing about him exposed in completeness without even the slightest gap left behind.
Motherfuckers... truly each and every single one of them!! Kenzo cursed slightly under his breath, his gaze completely dark. What was the most valuable thing in the shinobi world? Most ordinary people would say wealth or power but it was neither of those, the most valuable thing in the shinobi world had always been information and probably will remain so for the rest of time, because unlike power it didn't need to be displayed to be dangerous.
If revealing information about his Sharingan and other things could be called strategic then revealing everything else, the unnecessary details, the patterns, even the meaningless things could be called nothing short of pure spite, a deliberate act not for gain but to corner him from every possible angle, closing off exits before he could even see them.
Kenzo took in a long deep breath and exhaled slowly, his eyelids closing shut as he forcefully removed all distracting thoughts from his mind, the wind blew past him slightly moving his clothes but Kenzo remained perfectly still, his posture steady as if nothing had happened, as if the disturbance had never existed in the first place.
Right now what mattered was to understand his position and move strategically according to it, trivial things like anger wouldn't get to him nor would they change anything, they had no value here.
So first of all, Kenzo imagined all the reasons for this but there were simply too many so he disregarded most of them and focused purely on situations fatal to him at this current moment, stripping the problem down to its core.
Who could pose the greatest threat to him at this moment? Was it Konoha or the other villages? Or was it powerful rogue shinobi like Orochimaru? No, it was none of those, because all of them would require some degree of time to get to him and even if they got to him there was still a good chance he could escape. What truly worried Kenzo was not this but rather it was the masked man, or to be more specific Uchiha Obito himself.
And that was because of his Kamui abilities, with this ability it would be nearly impossible to escape from him and even if he somehow did there was still White Zetsu which arguably was the most effective intelligence network in the entire shinobi world, meaning even distance and concealment would only delay things rather than solve them.
Therefore it was nearly impossible for him to escape once he was targeted, and as for the reason there were plenty, his three tomoe Sharingan alone was enough to attract Obito's attention, and once that attention was fixed it would not simply fade away.
Kenzo's eyes slowly opened, the conclusion forming naturally, among all the possibilities this one aligned the most, not just in ability but in intent, compared to others he was far more dangerous because he did not move openly and more importantly because he did not need to.
—
While Kenzo was still deciding his next move...
In the depths of a hidden underground space, far away from the reach of normal sight, within a dimly lit chamber that felt disconnected from the outside world, where even sound seemed slightly suppressed as if the space itself rejected disturbance.
Uchiha Obito stood there silently. His figure still, his presence utterly calm yet faintly oppressive, the spiral mask covering his face leaving only a single eye visible, the dim light in the room stretching his shadow across the uneven walls.
For a while nothing happened in the silent atmosphere of the chamber, the stillness lingering long enough to feel intentional rather than empty.
Then—
From the ground a black substance began to rise, slow and unnatural as if the earth itself was shifting, forming into a half human figure beside him. This was undoubtedly Black Zetsu.
"There has been movement," it spoke, its voice low and strange, almost blending into the silence around it.
Obito did not turn away and simply spoke in his usual Madara Uchiha persona, "Speak."
"The Uchiha… Kenzo's information has already begun spreading and not just in fragments… detailed."
"The three tomoe Sharingan has been confirmed."
Silence filled the room for a moment as neither of them spoke, the weight of the information settling before Zetsu continued.
"No exact location yet, but the spread itself is already drawing attention. Multiple sides are beginning to move."
"So should we hunt him?"
Obito remained silent for a moment, his gaze unmoving as if thinking through the situation without showing anything on the surface, not reacting to the information itself but to what it implied.
After all he still had to maintain his Madara Uchiha persona.
"We will," he spoke in a deep, controlled voice.
Zetsu didn't respond and simply began to sink back into the ground, but as it disappeared it couldn't help but shake its head inwardly, as a being who had lived for thousands of years and manipulated mankind for so long, how could it not see through something like this.
Zetsu looked at Uchiha Obito one last… final time as his head slowly sank below the surface.
"What an utter fool."