Kakashi's intuition was correct.
On a cliff outside Konoha Village, Obito leaned against a tree trunk, silently watching the chaos unfolding within Konoha. No expression could be seen beneath the tiger-striped mask, but the atmosphere around him was terrifyingly heavy.
As the mastermind behind the Akatsuki organization, Obito had always kept a close eye on Konoha's situation.
After learning that Konoha was holding the Chunin Exams, he came all the way from Amegakure. On one hand, he intended to stir up trouble during the exams. On the other, he wanted to monitor the shinobi from Amegakure who had arrived in Konoha and see whether chaos could be exploited.
Ever since Nagato and Konan annexed the Land of Grass and turned it into an external outpost, Obito had begun suspecting that Nagato and Konan had lost their motivation to carry out the Tailed Beast collection plan. Instead, they seemed more interested in leading Amegakure toward dominance in the ninja world and turning it into one of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
The fact that Amegakure had openly sent a team led by jonin only confirmed his suspicions, especially since they had been secretly communicating with Konoha jonin.
If Nagato truly joined forces with Konoha, the Tailed Beast collection plan would completely collapse.
Fortunately for him, after arriving in Konoha, the village did not disappoint him. Even without much interference from him, Konoha had already fallen into chaos. All he needed to do now was seize the opportunity to provoke an even larger war between the ninja villages.
At that moment, Obito noticed two black dots approaching in the distance. Two massive chakra signatures were rapidly heading his way.
He was extremely familiar with those two chakras.
His former best friend Kakashi, and that loudmouthed idiot, Might Guy.
When he noticed the jonin vest on Might Guy, Obito couldn't help frowning.
It had only been a few years since they'd last met, and even Guy had become a jonin. What the hell was this world coming to?
Ten seconds later, Kakashi and Might Guy appeared in the clearing before Obito.
The two stared at Obito atop the tree, while Obito silently stared back. The atmosphere instantly became tense.
Might Guy felt that the figure before him looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. He turned to Kakashi and asked, "Is this masked guy another enemy of the village?"
Kakashi nodded slightly before looking solemnly at Obito.
"Obito... it's been over ten years."
Hearing this, Might Guy looked completely bewildered.
"Kakashi, you're saying this masked man is Obito? But Obito died over ten years ago. We even attended his funeral!"
Kakashi replied seriously, "Guy, you're right. The Obito from back then is dead. All that's left now is an enemy of the village... the masked man who calls himself Uchiha Madara."
After being exposed by Kakashi, Obito frowned briefly before bursting into loud laughter.
"So you've figured out my identity, huh? But you're right. The old Obito is dead. The only one left in this world... is Uchiha Madara."
"Obito, why didn't you return to Konoha all these years? Why did you attack Konoha? Why did you kill Kushina-sensei? You're not supposed to be this kind of person!"
"The world where shinobi endlessly kill each other is meaningless now. What would trash like you possibly understand?"
Obito laughed coldly before activating Kamui. His body vanished instantly, only to reappear behind Kakashi a moment later, the sickle in his hand aimed directly at Kakashi's heart.
Might Guy noticed Obito's movement immediately and shouted:
"Kakashi, behind you!"
Just as the sickle was about to strike, Kakashi disappeared as well, reappearing atop a nearby tree with a calm expression.
"Obito, you've gone down the wrong path. I'll drag you back out of that abyss... just like before."
Seeing this, Obito glanced at the kunai in Kakashi's hand with interest.
"So you trash actually improved a little over the years. You learned the Flying Thunder God Technique without me noticing."
"But tell me... is your Flying Thunder God faster than Minato-sensei's? Even he died by my hand."
Kakashi's face darkened. Lightning crackled violently in his palm after forming hand seals.
"Obito... I will personally defeat you and make you kneel before Minato-sensei and Kushina-sensei to apologize."
...
As time passed, most of the audience inside the arena had already evacuated.
Among the shinobi remaining in the arena, aside from the Uzushiogakure ninja and the reanimated dead, only Konoha ninja and a small number of Sunagakure ninja still resisting remained behind.
In terms of both numbers and overall quality, the Sand Ninja were clearly no match for Konoha's forces.
But in front of a Tailed Beast, numbers were meaningless.
Without enough powerful shinobi leading the charge, no matter how many ninja there were, they would still be crushed by a Tailed Beast.
Among the Konoha ninja remaining in the arena, the only one capable of fighting Shukaku head-on was Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin.
Unfortunately, Tsunade suffered from hemophobia, and after seeing the corpses scattered throughout the arena, she had completely lost her ability to fight.
Boom!
The shockwave created by Shukaku blasted away all the Konoha ninja attempting to approach him. His gleeful eyes locked onto Naruto in the stands as he frowned.
"Brat, I smell that stinking fox on you. Could it be you're the Kurama brat's Jinchuriki?"
After speaking, Shukaku formed hand seals and took a deep breath. A massive rotating chakra sphere condensed before him, launching toward Naruto at lightning speed.
"With a ninjutsu of that scale, those Uzushiogakure ninja are finished!"
Nearly every Konoha shinobi present had the same thought after sensing the terrifying power within the attack.
But Naruto merely raised a hand casually.
Countless golden chains burst forth behind him, weaving together into an impenetrable golden net that instantly blocked Shukaku's gigantic wind bomb.
The scene completely stunned both the Konoha ninja and the Sand Ninja alike.
The power of that wind bomb was practically comparable to a Tailed Beast Bomb, yet it had been stopped so effortlessly.
Who exactly was this seemingly ordinary teenager?
Naruto slowly stood up and looked calmly at Shukaku.
"Shukaku, if this is your full strength, then I seriously have to question whether you're even worthy of being called a Tailed Beast... let alone holding the title of the One-Tail."
Naruto's body, barely over a meter tall, was insignificant compared to Shukaku's gigantic form.
Yet in the eyes of everyone present, this looked less like a conversation between a human and a beast... and more like a confrontation between two monsters.
And somehow, Naruto's presence was even more overwhelming.
Some of the ninja even started wondering whether they had fallen under a genjutsu.
"Damn brat! This uncle is the strongest Tailed Beast!"
Shukaku roared furiously. His enormous body smashed through the surrounding barriers and charged straight toward Naruto. His massive arms, stretching dozens of meters long, swept through the buildings along the way before crashing down violently.
But just as Shukaku's attack was about to strike Naruto—
A green samurai-like Susanoo suddenly appeared in front of him.
The giant warrior tilted its chakra arrow toward Shukaku while driving the spiral longsword in its hand directly into Shukaku's body, instantly engaging the One-Tail in brutal close combat.
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