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“Are you sure the Sage of Six Paths you mentioned will really come out?” Kushina yawned and asked Shin.
“Let’s go. That old geezer is more cunning than I thought—” Shin shook his head in disappointment.
Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki, who had died earlier, were now alive again. Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki had indeed saved them.
However, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki hadn’t come personally. He had left chakra within them long ago, hidden very deeply. This time, he had used that chakra to save them.
“I should have checked Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha earlier.”
Shin felt he had miscalculated.
If he had carefully examined them, even if Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki’s chakra was well-hidden—Shin would have been able to detect it.
But Shin hadn’t come away empty-handed—at least he now knew that Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were very important to Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki.
Otherwise, Hagoromo wouldn’t have revived them. It seemed he still needed to keep an eye on Naruto and Sasuke in the future.
Shin had also left a little something behind. When he killed Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, he had placed spatial markers within them.
No matter where they ran, Shin could find them—He felt Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki’s motives weren’t simple. He couldn’t judge him based on the original story…
——
In a dim, gloomy space, an old man clad in white robes with two horns on his head opened his eyes. His purple Rinnegan were particularly striking.
“Hamura Ōtsutsuki’s disappearance… was that your doing too, Shin Uzumaki?” Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki’s face showed a hint of apprehension.
“No matter what, I hope you don’t disrupt my plans. Or—” Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki’s killing intent flared.
Though he very much wanted to eliminate that variable, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki couldn’t ascertain Shin’s true strength. Hamura Ōtsutsuki had presumably died at his hands, so he dared not act recklessly.
If he had been confident, he would have acted long ago. He hadn’t expected such a troublesome individual to emerge after so long of not paying attention to the Shinobi world.
Though Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki paid attention to changes in the Shinobi world, over a thousand years, he couldn’t monitor it constantly. Sometimes, he only observed the Shinobi world once every few decades, or even centuries.
He hadn’t anticipated that during his slumber, such a troublesome variable, one that could potentially affect his plans, would appear.
Logically, it was impossible for a Six Paths level individual to appear in the Shinobi world unless someone became the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki, or he personally intervened.
He didn’t know the situation. Precisely because he didn’t understand, he dared not act.
The older one gets, the more cautious one becomes. Unless absolutely necessary, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki didn’t want to personally intervene.
“Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha… I hope you can clear all obstacles for me,” Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki muttered to himself.
Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha were the blades he had designated, blades to cut through thorns for him…
——
At the Akatsuki base, Nagato was somewhat dumbfounded, especially looking at the Nine-Tails before him. He felt quite bewildered.
“You brought the Nine-Tails back too?” Pain asked Shin.
Nagato had originally planned to gather all Akatsuki members to capture the Nine-Tails in the end.
Yes, the current Nagato had no intention of facing the Nine-Tails alone. The original plan was to gather the Akatsuki and launch a full-scale assault on Konoha to seize the Nine-Tails.
The plan wasn’t even supposed to be executed yet, and Shin had already brought the Nine-Tails back.
“This is only half of the Nine-Tails,” Shin said.
“Half??” Pain was confused. This was clearly the entire Nine-Tails—why did Shin say it was only half?
“Regarding this matter, just ask Obito Uchiha, and you’ll know.” Shin had no time to answer Pain’s questions.
“Who is Obito Uchiha?” Pain asked again. This time, he felt it might involve some secrets.
“Oops, looks like I let the cat out of the bag.” Shin realized he might have slipped up. Pain, of course, wouldn’t know who Obito Uchiha was.
“Obito Uchiha is Madara Uchiha.” Letting it slip didn’t matter. So what if he told Pain directly? If Obito had any problems, he could just come find Shin and settle it…
Pain, upon hearing this, froze for a moment. To be precise, Nagato was somewhat slow to react.
After a long while, Nagato finally processed it and understood. So, that masked man really isn’t Madara Uchiha.
He had suspected it for a long time, even disbelieving it from the start. Now, he finally knew the other’s true identity.
Though Nagato didn’t know Obito Uchiha, knowing his real identity meant he could investigate.
However, this investigation would likely have to be done by himself. Normally, matters of investigation were best left to Zetsu, but Nagato didn’t trust Zetsu at all.
Zetsu was likely aligned with Madara Uchiha—no, with Obito Uchiha. Zetsu was on Obito Uchiha’s side, not his.
“Thank you,” Pain said to Shin.
Regardless of whether Shin had intentionally let it slip or not, he had to thank him.
“Thank me?” Shin smiled, then shook his head. “No need to thank me. Actually, knowing this might not be a good thing for you.”
“The Nine-Tails is yours now. Don’t let it escape. If it does… well, you know what’ll happen.”
Before leaving, Shin reminded Pain.
If the Nine-Tails went berserk, he didn’t know if Nagato could suppress it. Hopefully, Nagato wasn’t that useless.
As for sealing it into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, that wouldn’t work. The sealing had to be done in order from One-Tail to Nine-Tails. Currently, only the One-Tail and Two-Tails had been sealed.
The Three-Tails and Four-Tails Shin had delivered hadn’t been sealed yet. And the rest hadn’t even been captured.
So, the Nine-Tails had to be guarded at the Akatsuki base for a while.
Hearing Shin’s impolite words, Nagato felt somewhat uncomfortable but said nothing.
Though confident in his own strength, Nagato truly wasn’t confident enough to defeat Shin Uzumaki.
“I won’t let the Nine-Tails escape,” Pain said coolly.
In the original story, Nagato being defeated by Naruto was basically plot armor. In terms of strength, Naruto actually had no chance of winning against Nagato.
——
After Shin and Kushina left, the Nine-Tails was freed from Shin’s control, its fierce eyes scanning its surroundings.
“Is that… the Ten-Tails?!” The Nine-Tails, seeing the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path nearby, was so frightened it took several steps back, warily staring at the statue. This was likely what the Nine-Tails feared most. Seeing it made it want to run.
“Behave yourself.”
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