Obito Returns to Konoha

Revived?

Pain’s Heavenly Path suddenly turned its head and looked at Konan.

Though this Puppet’s face showed no expression, Konan knew Nagato’s face must have looked just like hers when she had first heard the news.

"How was he revived? What price was paid? What condition is he in after being revived?" Nagato fired off three questions in one breath.

"We don’t know any of that." Konan shook her head.

"…"

Nagato fell silent for a moment.

Resurrection was not something inconceivable. The Rinnegan’s Forbidden Jutsu, the Outer Path — Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique, could bring the dead back to life.

However, the price of this technique was the caster’s own life, and the longer someone had been dead, the more difficult it was to revive them.

By the time he had mastered this technique, even if he sacrificed himself, he no longer had the ability to revive Yahiko.

Besides…

"Yahiko would definitely stop me." Nagato clenched his fist and looked at Konan through Pain’s Heavenly Path. "But Konan, you understand, don’t you? His wish can never be realized! Pursuing peace without resorting to force… That kindness and naivety already got him killed once!"

Konan’s long eyelashes trembled slightly. She lowered her gaze and spoke in a very, very soft voice.

"Yes… I understand."

Yahiko had been lured into a trap by lies of peace, then died protecting her.

Though Konan did not completely agree with Nagato’s current beliefs.

Yahiko’s beliefs would only lead to despair in this world.

Neither Nagato nor Konan wanted to see that kind companion deceived and hurt by this world again.

Konan raised her eyes and looked at Pain’s Heavenly Path before her.

"Have you truly made up your mind to defeat that mysterious man?"

"I have no choice. This is something I must do." Nagato continued staring at Konan and said in a low voice, "And now I have another reason to do it. If he can truly revive Yahiko, I will seize that power. When I finally succeed, the three of us can be together again… in that peaceful world. Konan, you’ll help me, won’t you?"

"…"

Konan looked at Yahiko’s face and Nagato’s eyes.

She nodded and said softly.

"That’s right. I’ll help you."

For her, that was enough.

No matter what her companions wanted to do, all she needed was to support them, then give everything she had to see it through.

"I’ll help you too." A man’s voice suddenly came from nearby.

Yet neither Konan nor Nagato seemed surprised.

Pain’s Heavenly Path turned and looked at the man wearing a Swirl Mask.

"You came too late, Uchiha—Madara!"

"I came as soon as I could." The man calling himself Uchiha Madara, who was actually Obito Uchiha, glanced at Nagato and Konan. "I’ve heard the general news from Konoha. Do you have any additional intelligence?"

He had only arrived when Nagato spoke his final sentence.

But he had already obtained some intelligence through his own means.

In truth, after hearing that Minato Namikaze had been revived.

He had already sensed that things were going badly.

He knew his former teacher’s strength. Back then, being able to use the Nine-Tails to kill his teacher and teacher’s wife had largely been a matter of luck.

At that time.

If either Jiraiya or Tsunade had been in Konoha, he could never have succeeded.

And now, both of them were in Konoha.

There was also that earth-shattering battle mentioned in the intelligence. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed utterly unbelievable.

"You haven’t been able to contact Zetsu either?" Pain’s Heavenly Path asked in a low voice. "With his abilities, he should have been able to obtain more intelligence."

"No."

Obito Uchiha shook his head.

Then he offered no further explanation.

He had tried to contact Zetsu, but it was normal enough that he could not find that mysterious being.

"No matter what, intelligence is the most important thing right now." Nagato’s brows were tightly furrowed, though Pain’s Heavenly Path remained cold and stern. "As far as I know, there is an extraordinary and mysterious figure behind this matter. He calls himself a merchant from another New World."

"Another New World?"

Obito Uchiha’s pupils contracted as he repeated those words.

The first time anyone heard of another New World, they would be stunned.

It was like watching an ordinary cops-and-robbers film set on Earth, only to suddenly discover aliens in it.

Everything abruptly jumped into science fiction.

Their entire way of thinking would be thrown off.

"That man did indeed call himself that." Nagato emphasized the words "calls himself," then continued, "But Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki have already met him, and they trust and respect him greatly."

"Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki?" Obito Uchiha froze.

He knew both of them very well.

It was hard to imagine.

People like them would trust, even respect someone after merely meeting him.

"Not only that, they have also gained considerable power…" Nagato told him everything he had learned, then stared at the masked man, seemingly trying to see his reaction clearly.

As Obito Uchiha listened, his heart grew heavier and heavier.

This could no longer be called an unexpected incident outside the plan.

If it was true.

Then all their plans, goals, dreams, and everything they had plotted for all this time would be destroyed.

"I’ll go to Konoha and investigate." Obito Uchiha finally said, "Until you receive word from me, do not take any action."

As he spoke, his body began to twist from his eye.

Then he vanished into a vortex.

Though Nagato had seen it more than once, this Space-Time Ninjutsu, which had once made him secretly wary, now gave him some peace of mind instead.

With such an ability.

At the very least, he could escape safely no matter what happened.

Obito Uchiha did not head directly to Konoha.

Instead, he first met Kisame Hoshigaki alone.

He wanted to hear how someone directly involved viewed the matter.

"He’s very powerful." Facing this Mister Uchiha Madara, Kisame Hoshigaki gave the strongest warning he could. "Mister Itachi and I had no ability to resist him at all. The power we gained truly came from another New World, and from different New Worlds at that!"

"I understand."

Obito Uchiha’s vigilance and unease had reached their peak.

But no matter what, he had to investigate.

What they intended to do was something they would accomplish even if they had to stake everything on it.

No matter what they faced.

Obito Uchiha was certain that his heart would not waver in the slightest.

And so.

After several years, Obito Uchiha once again set foot on the road back to Konoha.