The afternoon sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, and a breeze rustled the leaves. It should have been a peaceful afternoon, yet an unsettling air now permeated the forest.
A strange figure stood silently in a clearing. He wore a black robe, his long black hair hanging loose, with an Ōdachi at his waist. Most striking of all was the Tiger-Pattern Mask on his face—it completely concealed his features.
"So," a cold voice suddenly came from behind him, "what is your purpose in coming here now?"
The Tiger-Pattern Mask slowly turned toward the source of the voice.
Beneath the shadow of a tree several meters away, a man wearing a Fox Mask had appeared at some point.
The leader of the Ember Organization, Uzumaki Menma.
"Ember... this should be our first meeting, shouldn't it?" Obito's Sharingan slowly turned behind the eyehole of his mask. "From what you said, you don't seem unfamiliar with me."
"Mm, I know far more than you imagine." He took a step forward. "But I didn't expect you to still have the nerve to return to this place."
"Because of the Nine-Tails' Attack, you personally sent your own clan to hell."
Obito fell silent for a moment, the Sharingan beneath his mask staring fixedly at Menma. He could clearly sense the undisguised hostility in the other's words—not ordinary wariness or caution, but tangible disgust and anger.
"It seems..." Obito said slowly, "you really do know quite a lot."
Menma watched Obito quietly. His Shadow Clone had waited in this forest for an entire day and had finally succeeded in intercepting this elusive fellow.
Obito cautiously assessed this unexpected variable before him. The leader of the Ember Organization—this mysterious powerhouse who had suddenly risen in the Ninja World, possessed the terrifying strength to face a major ninja