The reason he had guided public opinion in the village and released news about the culprit behind the Nine-Tails Attack—
On the surface, it was to suppress Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
But Namikaze Mirai hoped even more to use the growing public discourse to draw out the true mastermind behind that night!
He had spoken with Minato within the Nine-Tails' Sealing Space.
From Minato, he had learned detailed information about the enemy from that night!
Including the mask, the Space-Time Mangekyo Sharingan and Wood Style, and the chains used as weapons...
The rumors spreading through the village included quite a few details from Minato's description!
Namikaze Mirai did not believe that, after learning the village rumors pointed directly at his identity, he would remain completely inactive!
After all, aside from himself and the dead Minato, no one should have seen what he looked like that night.
"Just as I thought! My guess was right!"
Crimson blood vessels filled Namikaze Mirai's eyes, and the corners of his mouth curled into an almost uncontrollable, eerie arc.
Blue Lightning Arcs crackled around his body.
He stomped hard on the Rock Shadow beneath his feet. His body shot up like a cannonball, charging toward the direction he had sensed.
At the edge of Konoha, within the forest.
"White Zetsu, keep a close eye on Konoha during this period. If you find anything unusual, report to me at once."
Obito issued the order indifferently.
Judging from the results of his investigation, his true identity should not have been exposed.
Still, necessary precautions had to be taken.
And besides, he had a feeling.
These rumors had surfaced too strangely.
It seemed as though some force was pushing them from behind the scenes.
After giving his instructions, Obito's crimson eye gazed at the village across from him through the hollow of his mask, carrying a trace of melancholy.
This rotten village was not worth saving.
Only in the world of Genjutsu could everything find redemption.
Whether Minato or Rin, they would reunite in another world.
He prepared to leave.
The space around him had already begun to distort.
Suddenly, as if he had noticed something, his expression shifted and his gaze snapped toward the sky.
A blue object was rapidly approaching! No, more precisely, it was falling!
It plummeted at tremendous speed! BOOM!!! A violent tremor suddenly erupted through the forest as the falling object slammed heavily into the woods opposite Obito. A vast swath of trees was pulverized by the impact, and dust billowed outward.
Obito stared at the rolling dust.
As the swirling dust gradually settled.
A humanoid silhouette emerged from the point of impact.
Amid crackling electricity, violent lightning arcs danced around his body. His blond hair stood nearly straight on end in the current, while his azure eyes were webbed with savage blood vessels, his furious glare like that of a demon from hell.
"I finally caught you!!"
Obito's eyelids twitched!
This guy... had he jumped directly from the sky??? There was no high ground anywhere around this forest, and if his jumping point had not been far enough away, Obito would have noticed the disturbance immediately.
That meant the man before him had leaped here directly from an extremely distant location!!! "Looks like we're in trouble!"
White Zetsu, whose upper body protruded from a tree trunk, immediately sensed that things were going badly.
Namikaze Mirai had come with murderous momentum, and that unique entrance clearly marked him as no ordinary opponent! White Zetsu began quietly shrinking back into the trunk.
He wanted to slip away before the battle broke out.
Obito, I'll leave the enemy to you.
With your strength, there shouldn't be a problem, right? Just as he was about to escape, Obito stared at that familiar blond hair and suddenly sneered beneath his mask.
"You're Minato's younger brother, aren't you? What, you want to avenge..."
Before he could finish.
A thunderous blast rang out. The ground beneath Namikaze Mirai suddenly exploded, and in almost an instant, Namikaze Mirai had reached Obito's side and thrown a punch! Obito was fearless with Intangibility protecting him, but White Zetsu beside him, who was trying to flee and had already sunk more than half his body into the tree trunk, instantly bristled!
Obito, you bastard, you set me up!!! BOOM!!! The great tree was blasted apart, and the fist's shockwave carved a passage directly through the forest!
White Zetsu's body was smashed to pieces, countless tiny White Spores scattering amid the splintered wood.
Though he had taken the attack head-on, Obito remained completely unharmed. He had evaded it with Intangibility.
Namikaze Mirai's azure eyes shifted slightly.
A Space-Time Dojutsu?
Just as Minato had described.
This Masked Man before him truly was the culprit who had killed Minato and Kushina!
The only difference was that the mask had changed from the Tiger Mask Minato described to an Orange Swirl Mask.
"The Blue Flash, huh? You're a little stronger than I imagined."
The Crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan peered through the hollow on the left side of his mask, studying Namikaze Mirai with a hint of surprise.
That unique entrance and the power behind that earlier strike had both raised his assessment of Namikaze Mirai by more than a notch.
But...
"It's useless."
As though mocking Namikaze Mirai's helplessness, the corner of his mouth curled beneath the mask.
"Before these eyes of mine, you won't have any chance at all."
At the same time.
Inside the Hokage Office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was still overwhelmed by the affairs in the village.
The rumors that had suddenly erupted were like an unexpected heavy punch, catching him utterly off guard.
If he could not stop the rumors quickly, who knew what further trouble they might cause.
"Danzo, that bastard! He caused this mess himself, and now I have to clean up after him!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen fumed indignantly.
If Danzo did not already have dirt on him, how could such baseless rumors have spread throughout the village in so short a time?
Once this matter was over, he would definitely shut down Root's research completely.
If Danzo continued, there was no telling how many more disasters he would bring down on him.
Just as he was seething, an Anbu suddenly appeared with a whoosh.
"Lord Hokage, violent tremors have suddenly come from the southeast side of the village. It appears that ninja are fighting there!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression froze! The southeast side of the village? Wasn't that area all forest? For the shockwaves of a ninja battle to reach all the way here?
Who on earth was it?! "Immediately gather a group of Anbu and come with me to investigate."
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave the order in a low voice.
There was no time to worry about the village rumors now. He had to determine the identities of both sides in the battle.
Elsewhere.
At the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Fugaku, who had been speaking with Itachi, suddenly raised his head and looked toward the distant forest.
"Father? What is it?"
Itachi asked in confusion.
"Something over there seems to be shaking..."
Fugaku wore a thoughtful expression.
Was someone fighting? But the distance was far too great. If those truly were the sounds of battle, then the opponents' strength was terrifyingly excessive.
"Shaking?"
Itachi's eyes shifted slightly.
Drawing a breath, Uchiha Fugaku looked at his eldest son. "Itachi, we'll discuss Namikaze Mirai becoming your teacher later. Go gather the clan members who have awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan, then come with me to investigate the source of the tremors."
Itachi noticed the gravity in his father's expression.
He nodded solemnly.
"Understood, Father."
Before you continue