In this way, more than three months later, on October 1, a secret piece of information was quietly placed in front of the high-level leaders of the four major ninja villages.
It contained detailed intelligence on the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, the complications faced by female Jinchūrikis during pregnancy, Kushina's due date, and Konoha's countermeasures.
"Where did this information come from? Is it accurate?"
In the Earth Country, Rock Hidden Village, during a high-level meeting, one elder asked while staring at the paper on the table.
"The source is unknown. It suddenly appeared in the Tsuchikage building last night."
The Third Tsuchikage, Onoki, responded... his expression cold as he chuckled.
"Looks like someone wants to borrow a knife to kill. That probably means the intel is legit."
"Then we should..."
"Hmph!"
Onoki snorted.
"If we can get rid of the Fourth Hokage and weaken Konoha, what's the harm in being someone else's blade?"
"And besides..."
He paused, then added, "We don't need to get our hands dirty. Isn't there a mercenary group that's been pretty active lately?"
"You mean... Akatsuki?"
"Exactly. Hire them. Let them move first. We'll send our elites to follow from the shadows."
"That way, even if it's a trap, our people can pull out safely."
Onoki sat back, looking quite satisfied with his strategy.
"Tsuchikage-sama is wise!"
At the same time, in the Land of Lightning, inside the Raikage's Office, the Fourth Raikage sat on the sofa, glaring at the report in his hand.
Moments later, he raised his voice and roared:
"Someone! Tell Dodai to get here! Right now!"
Meanwhile, in the Land of Wind, inside the Sand Hidden Village, Fourth Kazekage Rasa was also staring at the same intel in silence.
"Kazekage-sama, should we—?"
"I saw nothing."
Rasa used chakra to disintegrate the document and replied calmly.
Elsewhere, in the Land of Water.
A team of Kirigakure shinobi disguised themselves and boarded a merchant ship bound for the Land of Fire.
The next day, deep within a forest in Fire Country, several corpses lay cold and lifeless on the ground.
"You're telling me the Third Tsuchikage actually hired Akatsuki to hit Konoha?"
Obito listened to White Zetsu's report, eyes twitching.
Good god. Nagato had wanted to use Iwagakure as a pawn to kill the Fourth Hokage only for old man Onoki to turn it around and use Akatsuki as his pawn.
'That's some next-level mind games and coincidence.' Obito sighed internally.
What's this called again? Oh right. The knife... is actually me?
"Nagato refused," said Zetsu.
"Of course he did. Killing a Kage, whether it succeeds or not, would definitely draw attention from every major power."
"Akatsuki is still in its dormant stage. It's not time to go public."
Obito spoke while casually plucking a white eyeball from a corpse's right socket and slipping it into a small bottle.
"Alright, go check out which groups are planning to crash Konoha's little party."
"Got it."
Once White Zetsu left, Obito tucked the bottle away and glanced down at the corpses.
"Looks like I need to train some exclusive tool-people. Doing all this myself is way too much work for a big boss like me."
Grumbling, he tossed the bodies into the Devouring Coffin, then used Kamui and disappeared.
Time passed. A few more days rolled by.
October 10. Konoha.
Though it was autumn, Konoha's climate made the village feel as warm as ever.
Once again, Obito disguised himself as an ordinary Konoha shinobi, standing on a rooftop and casually observing the ninja school across the way.
On the school's playground, a class of students was practicing Taijutsu.
Among them, a purple-haired little loli about ten years old knocked her opponent down in just a few moves.
Seeing a familiar face among the students, Obito raised an eyebrow and asked the White Zetsu beside him:
"So, which big shots came here to smoke... I mean, to kill Minato?"
"Iwagakure brought the Five-Tails Jinchūriki."
"Cloud Village's AB Brothers came personally."
"Both teams infiltrated the Fire Country with caravans. They arrived last night and are currently laying low near Konoha."
"Sand Village didn't send anyone."
"Huh?"
Obito was genuinely surprised.
"Damn, that's hilarious."
Don't think a truce means no one's stirring the pot behind the scenes.
Konoha had dominated all three Great Ninja Wars. If there's even a small chance to mess with them, some villages will always jump at it and even make it worse.
So Obito wasn't shocked that two of them were trying something.
But bringing both their Jinchūrikis?
How much do they hate Minato?
Looks like the day the so-called child of prophecy is born... it's gonna be fireworks.
Also, if both villages sent Jinchūrikis, there's no way they didn't coordinate. Obito wasn't buying the "coincidence" angle.
But still... if he remembered right, the Fourth Raikage's father was killed by Iwagakure.
And yet, here they were working together.
Guess that Raikage guy was all about business. No grudge-holding... only goals.
That evening, after leaving another bouquet of white roses at the cemetery, Obito wandered the streets of Konoha.
While passing a training ground, something caught his eye and made him stop.
There, under the orange glow of sunset, the same purple-haired loli stood alone, sword in hand, swinging with full concentration.
"You don't just wave a sword like that, little girl~"
"Who?!"
Startled, she spun around with her weapon, only to see a completely average-looking middle-aged man standing nearby.
"I'm just a nice guy passing through?"
"..."
She stayed silent, staring at the man's clearly-unbelievable line.
"Well, don't worry about the details."
Obito shrugged, then continued:
"Swordplay is a killing art. For people with great strength and speed, all you need is precision. One clean hit... that's all."
"But for someone at your level... those wide, flashy swings just won't cut it."
Author Note:
Well, the goal wasn't reached this time… we fell short by 80 Stones.
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