Chapter 184: Stirring the Waters, Buying Time!
Obito, lying bound on the ground, saw his old friend appear before him. His heart churned with complex emotions.
His feelings toward Kakashi were a tangled mix of love and hate.
They had once been rivals and comrades who shared everything—until the day Obito personally witnessed Rin's death at Kakashi's hands. That moment had transformed him into the man he was today.
Now, deep in his heart, only hatred remained for Kakashi.
Seeing those eyes flickering with shock and uncertainty, Obito gave a cold snort and deliberately turned his head away, avoiding Kakashi's gaze.
"You… who are you?"
Although Kakashi already had his answer, he still couldn't fully believe what he was seeing. He refused to accept that this was truly his long-dead best friend.
"I'm someone who has already buried everything from the past."
"Since I've fallen into your hands today, there's no need for pointless words. Just do it."
Obito replied coldly.
"So… you were the one who controlled the Nine-Tails and attacked Konoha?"
Kakashi's pupils contracted sharply. His heart sank like a stone.
He already knew—the Obito before him had changed.
This was no longer the familiar Obito he once knew. He had become a complete stranger.
Obito had surely recognized him too.
Yet Obito chose not to acknowledge him.
Instead, he deliberately pretended not to know him.
Kakashi's heart ached painfully. He had so many questions, so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to talk about with Obito.
But right now, none of that mattered most.
What mattered most was confirming whether Obito really was the true culprit!
"Does it matter if I was or wasn't?"
"None of that is important anymore."
Obito continued responding coldly to Kakashi's questions.
He knew that at this very moment, Black Zetsu, Nagato, and the others were still carrying out their operation—still capturing the remaining tailed beasts.
Since he had already been captured and escape was temporarily impossible,
he might as well make the most of his remaining time—create opportunities for the others to complete their mission smoothly.
As long as the Eye of the Moon Plan could still succeed,
even sacrificing himself was acceptable.
Creating a peaceful, perfect world with Rin—that was the greatest wish buried deep in Obito's heart.
"You bastard—speak clearly!"
Beside him, the Fourth Raikage clenched his fists and glared fiercely at Obito:
"Did you kidnap our Kumogakure's Eight-Tails jinchūriki?"
"Answer me right now!!"
The Fourth Raikage roughly grabbed Obito by the collar and yanked him up, demanding answers in a deep growl.
Obito looked down at him with contempt:
"The Eight-Tails jinchūriki is in Hōzuki Oborotsuki's hands. Didn't I already give you that information?"
Right now, his only goal was to buy time—stir up as much confusion as possible.
The best way was to make these people fight each other again, tearing one another apart.
Hearing this, the Fourth Raikage's fierce gaze immediately shot toward Oborotsuki.
But seeing Oborotsuki's calm, unruffled expression, the Raikage gritted his teeth and turned his glare back to Obito:
"Stop spouting nonsense here!!"
"Today I'm going to wipe out all you scum right here!!"
The Fourth Raikage wasn't stupid.
With Hōzuki Oborotsuki's strength, there was no way they could win.
The enemy was deliberately trying to redirect the conflict onto Oborotsuki—precisely to make them kill each other.
Right now, the Fourth Raikage gripped his fist tightly, lightning chakra crackling around it as he prepared to strike Obito.
"Raikage boy—hold your hand!"
Ōnoki flew over and hurriedly stopped the Fourth Raikage.
"Hm?"
The Fourth Raikage turned back, looking puzzled.
"This old man has questions for him!"
Ōnoki didn't care at all whether the man in front of him was the culprit behind the attacks on Sunagakure and Konoha.
What he truly cared about were Iwagakure's Four-Tails and Five-Tails.
"Your Akatsuki organization invaded Iwagakure and attacked the Four-Tails and Five-Tails. Where have you taken them now?"
Ōnoki questioned Obito sternly.
Back then, the Six Paths of Pain together with Kakuzu had invaded the Land of Earth and clashed with the Four-Tails and Five-Tails jinchūriki near Iwagakure.
The entire Land of Earth knew about it by now.
Afterward, both jinchūriki had vanished. No matter how much Iwagakure's ANBU investigated, they found no solid leads.
Now, finally capturing a member of Akatsuki,
since they couldn't defeat Hōzuki Oborotsuki, Ōnoki naturally chose to squeeze the softer target.
Using this Akatsuki member to indirectly question Oborotsuki.
Oborotsuki stood to the side, calmly watching the drama unfold.
He completely ignored Ōnoki's words and remained silent, while Obito gave a soft snort:
"You people from the four great ninja villages really are foolish…"
"You don't even believe the truth, so how many times do I have to repeat it?"
"Akatsuki has never had any interest in seizing your tailed beasts. We don't care about those things at all—why would we invite trouble for ourselves?"
"We're only interested in money."
Obito had already instructed Black Zetsu to feed lies to Kumogakure's Fourth Raikage earlier.
Now he had to stay consistent and keep the story straight.
Hearing this, Ōnoki inevitably looked up toward Oborotsuki with doubt flickering in his eyes.
But right at that moment, a sharp female voice rang out:
"He's lying!"
"He is the real culprit! I can testify!!"
Everyone instinctively turned toward the source of the voice.
The moment the Konoha group saw who it was, they were all visibly moved.
"Kushina?"
"Is that really her? No way…"
"It's her!! It's definitely Kushina!"
"Kushina… how is she here in Kirigakure? Wasn't she…"
"Thank goodness… Kushina didn't die!"
"…"
After clearly seeing the woman's appearance, every single person from Konoha was shocked and overjoyed.
Because they all instantly recognized her—the young, beautiful woman with long fiery red hair, walking toward them with clenched fists and furious expression—was none other than Minato Namikaze's wife, Uzumaki Kushina!
Kushina had originally been worried that Oborotsuki might struggle to handle the verbal attacks from the Kage of the four ninja villages, so she came to help.
At the same time, she could personally testify that Obito was the true culprit.
She quickly arrived in front of the crowd.
"Master…"
Kakashi saw Kushina appear and immediately stepped forward:
"You… how are you here?"
"Kakashi—we'll talk about that later!"
"Everyone—I can testify that the man right here is the true mastermind who used the Sharingan to control the tailed beasts and attack Konoha!"
"That night, it was him who released the Nine-Tails sealed inside me and used it to destroy the village. I will never forget!"
Kushina turned around, facing all of Konoha's people, and loudly explained to them.
Meanwhile, Obito—still held up in the air by the Fourth Raikage gripping his collar—gave no response at all.
Seeing his cold, indifferent attitude, Kushina's anger flared even hotter. She clenched her fists tightly but forced herself to hold back.
Right now, the most important thing was to clear Oborotsuki's name and remove all suspicion from him.
As for this culprit—she definitely wouldn't let him go! She could deal with him slowly later!
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