In the Akatsuki’s HQ.
Pain sat on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, looked down at Itachi walking to the foot of the statue, and said solemnly, “Itachi, you are a member brought in by Tobi. You should know the true identity of Tobi, correct?”
Pain didn’t conceal anything from Itachi, nor did he care about Itachi’s thoughts. Tricks had no place in the face of absolute strength.
Itachi’s expression didn’t change much, but a huge wave started to surge through his heart. Combining this with his conversation with Konan just now, he guessed what Pain was about to say.
Until now, the mysterious masked man claimed to be Uchiha Madara, but Pain and Konan seemed to have found evidence that the masked man was Uchiha Obito!
“He deceived me and claimed to be Uchiha Madara.”
Pain observed Itachi’s expression and continued with a dark tone, “In fact, his true identity is Uchiha Obito. A spy of Konoha sent by Shimura Danzo…”
“…”
Itachi fell silent.
Various memories swirled in Itachi’s mind, and he began to use Pain’s words to analyze Obito’s true identity in reverse.
When he first saw the mysterious masked man, he killed his teammates and caused him to open his Sharingan;
Later, when Itachi grew up, the masked man was willing to cooperate with him and kill the entire Uchiha Clan then he guided him into joining the Akatsuki.
The mysterious masked man knew at heart that Itachi was a spy for the Third Hokage, but he still told Itachi about his plan, and he was willing to continue to cooperate with him.
Whether or not Itachi understood the mysterious masked man’s reasoning behind his actions but he saw the shadow of a dark style, and it was just like Danzo’s!
Besides Danzo, who else would want to destroy the Uchiha Clan? When Itachi finished his reverse analysis, he couldn’t help but panic!
If they were right and that the mysterious masked man was not Uchiha Madara but Uchiha Obito, then he was practically guaranteed to be Danzo’s subordinate!
This was because of Obito’s excellent reputation in Konoha and because he had no other relatives except for his grandma. So his presence was not exceptionally high.
It was impossible for them to objectively believe that Obito did so many things in the dark. Those actions could only have been done under Danzo’s command!
This was very logical.
Not many ninjas from the Uchiha Clan entered the Anbu, but Uchiha Shisui and Itachi were both assigned to be Danzo’s men. Danzo also had a ninja named Uchiha Daito in his hands, which was not unusual.
Itachi slightly frowned. He hadn’t expected Danzo to have manipulated him every step of the way. Danzo could truly be described as a ghost that refused to let go.
“Obito is Danzo’s spy.”
A Yin-Yang-Style black receiver emerged from Pain’s hand. Staring at the young man underneath, he demanded, “Itachi, what is your true identity? You, who wiped out the Uchiha clan in Konoha, are you also a spy??”
Itachi looked up at Pain and shook his head slightly, then said, “I just wanted to find a place to stay. He also claimed to be Uchiha Madara and fooled me…
Now that I know that he is a spy sent by Konoha to monitor me, I will kill him next time.”
Itachi did not tell them the truth, that his cooperation with Obito was the one that brought on the destruction of the Uchiha Clan.
He might clear Obito’s suspicion if he did say that, but it was more likely to drag him deeper into the water.
At this moment, Itachi didn’t want to be used by Danzo, but, more importantly, he didn’t want to be in danger!
As for Obito, when they meet again, Itachi would definitely find a way to deal with him. He couldn’t stand the idea of Danzo continuing to watch him!
“Very good.”
Pain nodded and turned towards Konan and declared, “Konan, the next step is to extract Zetsu’s true identity. If anything goes wrong, kill him immediately!”
Zetsu was Akatsuki’s intelligence specialist.
Zetsu had always provided Akatsuki with a lot of information, so Pain didn’t want to kill him immediately. Instead, he wanted to find his true identity. How they would treat him depended on whether he was a spy or someone deceived by Obito.
When Zetsu heard the news, both Black Zetsu and White Zetsu felt blindsided. They couldn’t understand how Obito’s identity became exposed.
And why did they say that Obito was Danzo’s spy?
Obito had contacted Yahiko first, but Yahiko just rejected them, then Yahiko was killed by Danzo and Hanzo the Salamander…
In terms of both time and motivation, Obito being Danzo’s spy was very reasonable.
With Konan and Pain’s simple mindset, they would definitely believe that unless they were told the absolute truth!
White Zetsu’s mood turned a touch melancholy, “Although it is just a guess by Nagato and Konan, it sounds like they have solid evidence. If we defend him, it will lead to Nagato’s suspicion…”
“Un.”
Black Zetsu had a strong mentality, and it was already thinking about a solution, “In short, hold on to Nagato and Konan to ensure that they continue the plan to collect the Tailed Beasts.”
“Then shall we meet Obito and discuss countermeasures?”
White Zetsu quietly opened his mouth and said, “Obito has just returned to our secret base and asked one of the White Zetsu clones to help him retransplant a 3-Tomoe Sharingan…”
“What’s the matter?”
Black Zetsu asked with some confusion, “Did he use Izanagi? There are people who can force Obito, who owns Mangekyo Sharingan, into using the Izanagi?”
“It’s Uehara.”
White Zetsu’s face twisted into an expression of disbelief, “Obito claimed that he was careless and was trapped by Uehara’s Explosive Tags and had to use Izanagi to escape… and he is very anxious to see us now.”
“…”
Black Zetsu’s mood was not good anymore.
Didn’t Obito claim that he could control Uehara? Now he’s being turned upside down by that twelve-year-old demon?
Sure enough, aside from Uchiha Madara, all other Uchihas are losers!
In Zetsu’s secret base.
This area used to be Uchiha Madara’s hiding place in his later years, and there were a few White Zetsu inhabiting it to guard it.
Obito was transplanting a new 3-Tomoe Sharingan with the help of a White Zetsu clone, so he had to take off the mask on his face.
Starting from today, he didn’t need to use Madara’s identity to trick everyone anymore.
Zetsu’s silhouette emerged from the ground.
Black Zetsu gazed at him sadly and said, “Obito, you shouldn’t have refused to follow our advice. Nagato has determined that you are a spy sent by Danzo.”
White Zetsu blamed Obito lightly, “Moreover, we have been involved in this matter. In order to make Nagato trust us again, we have to help him collect information on Hanzo the Salamander.”
“Is there no way to resolve this?”
Obito’s brows were tightly knit. This news was not good for him, if he could not control Akatsuki’s actions in real-time, it would become disadvantageous for him.
“Currently, there is no way.”
Black Zetsu shook his head and said solemnly, “Now that Nagato has identified you as a spy, we can only wait until his anger dissipates, then we’ll slowly clear your suspicion.”
White Zetsu softly put forward his own suggestion, “We must find a way to install a new member in Akatsuki as soon as possible to prevent Akatsuki’s actions from going out of control… and watch Itachi, who hasn’t joined the Akatsuki for long enough.”
“That won’t be an issue.”
Obito’s brows smoothened as he said with a smile, “I’ve secretly talked with Kisame while that kid Uehara was not paying attention. Kisame still believes in the Eye of the Moon project, so he’ll continue to act as my spy within Akatsuki and help me monitor Itachi.”