Weasel retreated to the underground base in the Grass Country.
Obito forced himself to stay focused as he looked at Shisui, whose expression was complex. "You go rest first. I'll talk to you about our next plan later!"
Shisui silently nodded—he also needed some time to process the information he had gathered today.
After he left, Obito asked, looking lost, "Black Zetsu, what should we do now? Although Aizen is trapped, many people saw me disappear along with him. And you guys—who shouldn't have even been at the battlefield—were seen with me too. It won't take long for people to figure out we ambushed him... That means we can't go back to the Akatsuki anymore!"
Black Zetsu sighed and nodded. "Unless we manage to subdue Aizen before Yahiko and the others catch on, we'll have no choice but to defect!"
"Defect?" Obito chuckled bitterly. "The Akatsuki is an organization that shelters traitors, and now even we have to defect from it. Where else is there left for us to go?"
"Things have come to this. There's only one course left to us now!" Black Zetsu said solemnly.
"What course?" Obito asked urgently.
"Return to Konoha!" Black Zetsu replied. "Blame everything you've done on me. With Seiki Shimaseki and Minato Namikaze as precedents..."
"Return to Konoha?" Thinking about the disdainful looks and hateful voices he'd faced earlier that day, Obito shook his head in horror. "No! Absolutely not!"
"You don't want to create a world where Rin exists? As long as you return to Konoha, there's still hope!" Black Zetsu tempted. "Once the Akatsuki collects all the tailed beasts from one to eight, we can use Konoha's strength to take the Rinnegan..."
Covering his ears, Obito roared, "Enough! Don't say another word! I'll figure this out myself!"
"Tsk, tsk. You really disappoint me, Obito!" Black Zetsu sighed, watching the seemingly broken Obito. "I really didn't want to take over myself. It's so hard to pretend to be someone in front of a monster like Seiki Shimaseki!"
Obito, still covering his ears, didn't quite catch it. "What did you say about pretending to be someone?"
"I said, pretending to be *you*!" With that, Black Zetsu punched through Obito's abdomen and transformed into a jet-black ink that coiled tightly around him.
"Aaah!" Obito screamed, defiance in his voice. "Why? Why are you doing this to me?"
"Don't blame me, Obito!" the ink-covered portion of Obito's body spoke in his voice as it consumed two-thirds of him. "Who told you to expose your identity?"
Obito couldn't comprehend. "You're taking over me just because my identity was exposed? Are you insane?"
Black Zetsu sighed. "I'm not insane. I just predicted you'd betray us!"
Obito laughed bitterly. "Betray? How could I possibly betray you at this point?"
"Really?" Black Zetsu teased. "What about the news that Rin's alive? Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
Obito froze like he'd been struck by lightning, not even noticing how quickly Black Zetsu was spreading further. His soul trembled violently. "That's impossible! You're lying to me, right? After going through death and resurrection, there's no way Rin could still be alive as the jinchuriki of the Three-Tails!"
"Fool!"
"Having followed Madara for so long, you should understand the Rinnegan's power to bring the dead back to life. So why can't you accept that a jinchuriki can survive without their bijuu?" Black Zetsu mocked.
"That's different!" Obito shook his head violently. "The Rinnegan is the Sage of Six Paths' ability, but Rin was just an ordinary person!"
"She indeed was just an ordinary person! But what about Seiki Shimaseki?" Black Zetsu continued to break down Obito's mental defenses. "Don't forget—we left back then precisely because we sensed Seiki Shimaseki's arrival. With his abilities, saving Rin wouldn't be the least bit surprising!"
"Let me tell you one more thing. Four years ago, I truly meant to destroy Rin's body, but when I opened the coffin, there was absolutely nothing inside!"
Obito's mind swirled, grasping at excuses without thinking. "If Rin were alive, why hasn't she appeared all this time?"
"Should I call you slow-witted or just plain stupid?" Black Zetsu taunted. "Haven't you found it suspicious? Why were Kakashi and the others so invested in the Three-Tails' revival four years ago? Why did Kakashi suffer so much after you killed the Three-Tails?"
A faint suspicion stirred in Obito's heart, his voice quivering. "Could it be… that Rin's resurrection wasn't complete, and the Three-Tails was the key?"
Black Zetsu crushed his illusions mercilessly. "Now you finally understand what you've done, don't you?"
"It was me—my own hands crushed Rin's hope of resurrection!" Obito muttered, his eyes hollow and unfocused, completely dazed.
At that moment, most of Obito's body was overtaken by Black Zetsu, turning pitch-black like ink, leaving only his eyes visible.
But Obito didn't even notice, only muttering to himself, "What the hell have I been doing, you good-for-nothing? It turns out I've been the only one blocking Rin's resurrection all along. Everyone else was striving for her return, while I was being used like a fool… No, I *am* the fool!"
"And if Rin was never really dead… then what I did to Teacher Minato and Sister Kushina… Ahhh… Scum like me doesn't even deserve to call them by those names anymore!"
"Exactly. Scum like you doesn't deserve to exist in this world!" Black Zetsu whispered temptingly in his ear. "Hand over your body to me. Let me finish the rest of the journey for you!"
The voice jolted Obito, who struggled violently and demanded, "What do you intend to do with my body?"
"Didn't I already tell you?" Black Zetsu chuckled. "I'll use your body to atone to them, then return among them as a repentant figure and use them to fulfill my dream!"
"Cursed! I won't let you have your way! I've already made too many mistakes—I won't make another one!" Obito roared.
"You're already nearly becoming my form. What do you have left to fight me with?" Black Zetsu sneered, then grinned maliciously. "Watch from hell! I'll replace everything about you. From now on, your friends will be my friends, your teacher will be my teacher, and your Rin… will be my Rin! Mwahahaha!"
At first, Obito's enraged roars were as futile as a drowning man splashing water in desperation. But when he heard the last words, the fury in his heart threatened to consume his entire body in flames, his willpower instantly growing immensely stronger!
"Damn you, scum! I'll never let you succeed!"
Driven by this overwhelming willpower, the black ink-like mass that had taken hold of his body began to recede like a retreating tide, slowly dissipating from his face!
"This shouldn't be happening! This wasn't supposed to happen!" Black Zetsu's voice sounded panicked, growing quieter and quieter until barely audible.
Finally, only his final furious roar echoed through the room: "I actually lost to a woman-obsessed lecher?"
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