"Zetsu... Madara's will, you say?" Uchiha Obito chuckled darkly to himself. "Dead? Then lie peacefully in the Pure Lands."
Just recently, a simple and clear thought had struck him: there was no longer any need to resurrect Uchiha Madara.
When everyone had transported to his Kamui dimension and fallen asleep, waiting for Uchiha Yue to die of old age, he would rip the Rinnegan from Nagato's eyes. And then... why should he hesitate? Why share power?
Why not carry out the Eye of the Moon plan himself?
Why did he even need Uchiha Madara?!
The thought was so intoxicating that Obito almost laughed out loud. A mad, silent laughter shook him from within.
"Yes... exactly. It is fate. Fate has chosen me!"
Black Zetsu, who had considered Obito his pawn all this time, had no idea that a completely different plan had been hatched in the "fool's" mind.
"A way to kill Uchiha Yue..."
Despite his new plan, Nagato's anxiety never left him. He had no doubt that he was superior to Uchiha Yue. If not for that damned Sphere of Dead Silence... Last time, he had nearly been crippled not because he was weak, but because he had underestimated his opponent. He had recklessly sent the puppets into the Sphere, allowing it to absorb his own chakra. This had led to a crushing defeat.
Under normal circumstances, Yue would never have defeated him in a single blow. Now Nagato was confident he could withstand it.
If possible, he wanted to find a way to deal with Uchiha Yue himself, without relying on Obito's plan. Hiding in Kamui's dimension and hibernating was a last resort. He didn't trust any of them.
Rather than hide in the shadows, he would prefer to find a way to crush the enemy personally. The task seemed deceptively simple: he only needed to block the Sphere's absorption ability.
Absolute power... The Uchiha clan's eyes could be transplanted. Even though it placed a tremendous strain on his body, Nagato was confident he could withstand it. Especially now that the lower half of his body had been replaced with White Zetsu cells. He felt better than ever, almost forgetting what it was like to walk on his own two feet. Had he known how effective this replacement was, he would have decided to undergo it much sooner.
As soon as he neutralized the Sphere's absorption, he would kill Uchiha Yue, take his eyes, and transplant them into himself.
And then, relying on his invincible Mangekyo Sharingan and his all-powerful Rinnegan, he would unleash absolute terror upon the great nations. He would single-handedly bring the entire shinobi world to its knees, force them to surrender the Tailed Beasts, and become the true god of a new world!
And not a pathetic creature hiding in the shell of Kamui's space, waiting for the enemy to die of old age. The god of a new world... What a laughingstock!
But the main thing, of course, was that Nagato didn't trust the impostor calling himself Madara Uchiha.
When Obito and Black Zetsu left, Orochimaru appeared at the hideout.
"So, Orochimaru, have you found a way to block this strange absorption ability?" Nagato asked hopefully.
That was his true plan: to task a shinobi genius with finding a vulnerability to the Sphere. Once a way was found, Uchiha Yue's days were numbered. After all, Nagato had become so much stronger now! If he were able to fight Yue at full strength, he would undoubtedly kill him.
"No," Orochimaru shook his head. "The power of this Mangekyo is too unusual."
He glanced at Nagato's Rinnegan, but his snake-like eyes no longer held the same greedy interest. Those eyes had once captivated him, and if he had had a chance to defeat Nagato, he would have been on his operating table long ago. But now, retaining only a sliver of curiosity about the Rinnegan, he yearned to obtain Uchiha Yue's Mangekyo Sharingan. This is the true power, capable of destroying the world!
Even the notorious Rinnegan—was it capable of such a thing? Orochimaru was partly privy to Akatsuki's plans. If Nagato could destroy the world, he would have done it long ago, not scheming.
Orochimaru even entertained a heretical thought: what if the Rinnegan was merely a mutation of the Mangekyō? What if the legendary Sage of the Six Paths was not a progenitor, but merely a mutant from the ancient Uchiha clan? A descendant, ironically becoming an ancestor. Alas, this was only a hypothesis, but Orochimaru felt it was close to the truth. Uchiha Yue's power was too miraculous, too far beyond comprehension.
"Still no progress? No progress at all?" Nagato glared at him with displeasure. He had poured almost all of Akatsuki's resources into Orochimaru's research. "Time was short, I understand. But to have no changes at all?"
"You don't understand the full nature of Uchiha Yue's eyes," Orochimaru said with undisguised admiration. "This 'sphere' isn't a sphere at all. It's his personal hunting ground, an anomaly similar to the gravitational field of a black hole. Chakra, life force, even kinetic energy—it absorbs it all! A mere mortal shouldn't possess such power. This is the power of the gods, accessible only to deities."
Orochimaru thought for a moment.
"Any technique that requires energy expenditure doesn't penetrate this strange defense, but merely fuels its user. However, my research hasn't been going on for that long. It's possible there exists a special type of energy capable of resisting this absorption. Or a method unrelated to chakra at all... I've even resorted to purely physical methods..."