Just as Nagato was preparing to drag "Uchiha Madara" down with him, a pitch-black, mud-like substance suddenly stuck to his body, abruptly halting his attack. "You are?!" Nagato said in disbelief.
Black Zetsu's hoarse voice rang out, and Nagato's Rinnegan widened sharply. "Zetsu? It was you?! Bastard! Is this your true ability? Was that white part merely a puppet?!"
Nagato panted heavily, yet his expression was eerily calm, sending chills down everyone's spine.
He had been too foolish.
"Hehe, I merely followed Lord Madara's orders. Don't blame me. If you must blame someone, blame yourself for being too foolish," Black Zetsu said slowly in a hoarse voice.
Nagato fell silent, somewhat despondent. He truly had been foolish. He had actually been toyed with by those two. He had always been on guard, yet he had never imagined that even the source of his power, the Rinnegan, had been placed within him by "Uchiha Madara." Recalling all of this, Nagato gave a miserable smile. He could not even complete the act of smiling. This body controlled by Black Zetsu was exactly like how his entire life had been controlled by "Uchiha Madara."
"Then I'll begin retrieving my Rinnegan." Watching Nagato, whose spirit had completely collapsed, Uchiha Obito revealed a smile beneath his mask that even he himself had not noticed. He extended his right hand toward Nagato, whose body was controlled by Black Zetsu.
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you. That companion of yours was called Yahiko, wasn't he? He truly was an obstacle. He actually stopped you from joining forces with me. Using Hanzō to remove that stumbling block was indeed the correct choice. Otherwise, how could you have summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path?"
Uchiha Obito looked at the despair reflected in Nagato's eyes. His right