Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 264: Speculation

Facing Obito's full-power strike at close range, Ishiro had no time to dodge. Unsurprisingly, he was hit directly in the chest by Obito's punch.

"Crack."

A sound of shattering bones was heard, and Ishiro's entire body was sent flying like an arrow leaving a bowstring.

"Got him!" This was the voice of the White Zetsu half of the yin-yang face.

But the other half, Black Zetsu, felt something was wrong. He looked again in the direction Ishiro was sent flying and immediately shouted, "No, he's trying to run!"

It turned out that the direction Ishiro was sent flying was precisely where the exit was.

However, Obito, reminded by Black Zetsu, did not pursue. Obito's current state was very bad. Forcibly using Kamui to make the entire Gedo Statue phase along with him, Obito's current condition was no better than in the original story when half his body was crushed by rocks.

If not for the fact that his connection with the Gedo Statue was still intact and the statue was constantly repairing his damage, Obito might have already died, and his Mangekyō would have likely gone blind from the immense backlash.

As for Ishiro, riding the force of Obito's punch, he quickly escaped the hall, enduring the intense pain and desperately flying outwards.

Ishiro knew that Obito was in a bad state, but he still didn't dare to stay behind to kill him. Firstly, Black Zetsu had not yet made a move. Secondly, Obito being alive was clearly beneficial to him and to Iwagakure. And most importantly, Ishiro himself was now on the brink of death.

Ishiro was a typical ninjutsu-type ninja. Taking a full-power blow enhanced by the Gedo Statue head-on, it would have been normal to die on the spot.

But the moment Obito phased, Ishiro had sensed something was wrong and held back a move. He had applied a layer of Porcelain Release shell to himself, just like Gaara did when fighting Rock Lee in the original story. This layer of porcelain blocked the vast majority of the damage for Ishiro.

The remaining force was still fatal for Ishiro. If not for his damage resistance being far greater than usual under Sage Mode, the current Ishiro would already be a corpse.

However, Sage Mode was also terminated by Obito's punch. The current Ishiro had almost completely exhausted his chakra. While flying, Ishiro stuffed several Soldier Pills into his mouth, not daring to stop for a moment. He used the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu to fly to a high altitude at the fastest speed, and then flew towards Iwagakure without looking back.

...

A day later, Ishiro flew back to Iwagakure. His chakra depleted, after lowering his altitude at the village entrance, he could no longer maintain the Light/Heavy Rock Jutsu and took a tumble, falling in front of the two Chunin guarding the gate.

...

When Ishiro woke up, he was in a hospital room in Iwagakure. By his bedside stood four people, a full Anbu squad.

Seeing Ishiro wake up, the Anbu squad leader said something to someone outside the door, and Ishiro heard several people leaving in a hurry.

"I'm safe." With this setup, Ōnoki must have arranged for many Anbu squads to stand guard.

Completely relieved, Ishiro asked the squad leader, "How long was I unconscious?"

The squad leader said, "Advisor Ishiro, you were unconscious for three days. Your injuries have not yet fully healed. Please do not move. A medical-nin will be here shortly."

As soon as the squad leader's voice fell, the door was pushed open. Medical Department Head Nakata Hajime and several medical-nin walked in quickly. Seeing Ishiro awake, Nakata Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. Waking up meant that Ishiro was completely out of danger.

Nakata Hajime didn't waste words and immediately, along with the other few, gave Ishiro's body a thorough examination.

After Nakata finished his examination, Ōnoki, Ikura, and the other advisors also arrived.

Nakata said, "Lord Tsuchikage, Advisor Ishiro is out of danger."

"Advisor Ishiro's injuries are twofold. One part is a fatal blow to the chest, and the other is chakra exhaustion. The latter is no longer a major issue after these few days of rest. The former is a bigger problem, but Advisor Ishiro's physique has strengthened a lot over the years, and his recovery ability is also astonishing. As long as he rests well, it won't be a big problem."

Hearing this, Ōnoki and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, three days ago, they had been badly frightened by Ishiro's miserable state. Ōnoki had ordered the entire village to enter a state of alert at that time.

Given Ishiro's condition at the time, everyone had thought he was being pursued by some Kage-level individual. Now that Ishiro was awake, they all wanted to understand the ins and outs of the matter immediately.

After a while, after Nakata had treated Ishiro's injuries some more, all the medical-nin left the hospital room. The Anbu retreated outside the room to stand guard.

Ishiro also began his account.

In Ishiro's telling, he had found the location of the Konoha-Kiri conflict but had not intervened at first. It was only later, when a powerhouse wearing a spiral mask appeared and slaughtered all the Mist ninjas, that Ishiro took action, leaving a tracking seal on that person.

Afterward, Ishiro briefly described his gains in Madara Uchiha's base and the process of his battle with Obito.

After hearing this, everyone silently digested the information contained in Ishiro's experience.

No one cared about how Ishiro got the news or why he had prepared a tracking seal in advance. Everyone was guessing who the owner of that huge underground hall was, what their purpose was, the identity of the mysterious masked man, and what level his strength had reached.

Especially when Ishiro mentioned his specially shaped Mangekyō Sharingan, everyone was silent.

After a long while, Ōnoki finally said, "Ishiro, according to what you said, that person only has one Mangekyō Sharingan? During the battle, although he communicated with that giant monster, he didn't use the terrifying demon god that Madara Uchiha used back then?"

Ishiro nodded, "Although I haven't seen the demon god that Madara used, I have seen it in the village archives. It's not the same as the monster in that base; the two should be different things."

"I guess Madara's demon god should be his ocular jutsu, while the monster I encountered should be a physical entity. It's just that although I could feel a strong life force within that monster, I also felt that it was just a dead thing."

"As for why the mysterious person who also has a Mangekyō Sharingan didn't use the demon god in battle, I guess it's because he only has one Mangekyō Sharingan."

Ikura rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and said, "The ninja world was already not peaceful. Now the situation has become more complicated. First, the Rinnegan appeared in the Land of Rain, and now the Mangekyō Sharingan has appeared. I always feel like something big is going to happen in the ninja world."

Everyone nodded in agreement with Ikura's words. They also felt that the changes in the ninja world in recent years had been too fast. The frequency of great ninja wars in the past was far from being this high, and the number of Kage-level powerhouses that appeared in the past was far less than in these years.

Not only that, but various major events had also occurred one after another in the ninja world these years, either this person defecting or that family having internal strife.

"Ishiro, do you have any guesses about the identity of that mysterious person?" Saka asked. He was in charge of intelligence, so he was the most sensitive in this regard.

Ishiro hesitated for a moment and said, "I have a guess."

Seeing everyone immediately turn their gaze to him again, Ishiro continued with a bitter smile, "It's really just a guess. Even I don't believe this guess myself."

"Although that mysterious person possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan, his combat skills are very clumsy. Even I could steadily suppress him with taijutsu. After he killed the Mist ninjas, he held that Konoha female ninja and spaced out for a long time."

"So I guess, that mysterious person might be the recently deceased Obito Uchiha, that disciple of Minato Namikaze."

Hearing Ishiro's words, Saka and the others were all dumbfounded. Saka subconsciously said, "Impossible. That Uchiha kid, I have an impression of him. The intelligence describes his age as being much younger than you and Ikura. And when he died in battle, his strength was at most that of a Chunin."

Ishiro nodded and said, "This is also why I said this is just a guess."

At this time, Mei said, "The eye that mysterious person possesses is the right eye, correct? I remember the last intelligence report mentioned that Minato Namikaze's disciple, that Hatake kid, received a Sharingan, and it was precisely the left eye, wasn't it?"

Hearing Mei say this, everyone felt a jolt. That ninja who had beaten the Kage-level Ishiro half to death, could he really be Obito Uchiha?

"Do we have detailed intelligence on Obito Uchiha? What is his talent like?" Ōnoki immediately said.

Ishiro gave a bitter smile and said, "Because this Obito Uchiha was the bridge to ease relations between the Hokage's faction and the Uchiha's faction in Konoha, I have read his intelligence. When he graduated from the Ninja Academy, he was the dead-last."

Hiss~~

After a series of gasps, Ōnoki said, "Could it be because of the Sharingan? The Sharingan caused his strength to advance by leaps and bounds? But, this is too exaggerated."

After a while.

"Ishiro, you said this Obito Uchiha—let's just call him that for now—will he return to Konoha?" Ikura asked a question.

Except for Ishiro, the others were first stunned, then they reacted.

That's right! If this person really was Obito, then he was a Konoha ninja. After he returned to Konoha, Konoha's strength would inevitably increase. But according to Ishiro, he had personally seen his own teammate Kakashi kill another teammate, Rin Nohara. Would he still return to Konoha?

If he still thought of returning to Konoha, then why didn't he go back with Kakashi after killing all the Mist ninjas?

If he wasn't returning to Konoha, then what was his attitude towards Konoha? Was it hatred, affection, or indifference?

Setting aside the Gedo Statue, just the fact that he possessed the Mangekyō meant his stance was worthy of the Kage of all the major hidden villages spending their efforts to ponder.

Ishiro thought for a moment and replied, "I estimate he probably won't go back. It's hard to say who saved Obito before, but that person is definitely not on the same side as Konoha."

As he spoke, Ishiro took out a bottle from his tool pouch. Inside was a pair of Sharingan.

"These are the eyes I took from the old man in that base. They are also a pair of Sharingan, but I don't know if these eyes are Mangekyō."

Ōnoki took the pair of crimson Sharingan with trembling hands and asked, "Could that person really be Madara Uchiha?"

Ishiro shook his head and said, "I don't know. That person was already dead when I got there."

As he spoke, Ishiro described Madara's appearance.

"Although the person was much older, from the facial features, he still somewhat resembled the Madara Uchiha of yesteryear," Ōnoki's voice trembled slightly.

Ishiro didn't want the topic to linger too much on Madara, so he began to take out the spoils of this trip one by one.

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