Both Sides Were Playing Their Parts / Orochimaru Was Normal, Except for Being a Pervert

The more Shisui probed, the more he felt that this person wasn't Uchiha Madara.

"The real Uchiha Madara is over there!"

Shisui shouted at him.

"I'm right here!!"

Obito shouted back just as loudly.

He was prepared to risk it all. He didn't believe the other man's ocular prowess could surpass his own. In a genjutsu clash like this, the winner was simply whoever had the stronger mental power.

He had strengthened himself with White Zetsu Cells, while using the Mangekyō Sharingan came with side effects. So he was sure he'd win!

Obito attacked again, determined this time to pull Shisui into Kamui's other dimension.

Chapter 42: Both Sides Were Playing Their Parts

Shisui sensed that his opponent was serious this time. He was only reaching out, not even blocking Shisui's line of sight.

Shisui was also assessing Obito's method of attack. He could tell Obito was deeply fixated on touching him, which was clearly a necessary condition for the other man's technique.

He was confident that he could suppress his opponent with genjutsu the moment Obito touched him.

So the question now was whether his Kotoamatsukami would take effect first, or Obito's technique.

As Obito reached out to grab him, Shisui threw a punch at him as well.

The instant fist and palm collided—

"Got you!"

The space around Obito's body began to warp.

"Kamui!"

"Kotoamatsukami!"

They used their ocular jutsu almost simultaneously.

A second later, the warped space returned to normal. At the same time, Obito's body passed right through Shisui's. He staggered uncontrollably, nearly falling to the ground.

"You've endured that many mental attacks and you're still standing?!"

Shisui used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat. His left eye was bloodshot, but it hadn't shed any tears of blood.

He had just unleashed a devastating mental assault in the genjutsu space with all his strength. It had taken a heavy toll on his mental energy.

Inside the genjutsu space, Obito had almost no way to fight back. He could only endure it.

"You really are strong. No wonder you're an Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

Obito turned around slowly.

Even speaking seemed difficult for him.

Kakashi had still been able to speak after being hit with Tsukuyomi. It was only natural that Obito, with his White Zetsu Cells, could withstand Kotoamatsukami. He was even in somewhat better shape than Kakashi, though his head was still splitting with pain.

After all, the light of Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was more destructive than Tsukuyomi. It directly destroyed Obito's mental space, though he had managed to endure it.

If it had been Kakashi, he might already have collapsed.

Kotoamatsukami also had one fewer restriction than Tsukuyomi. As long as Shisui could keep his opponent in his line of sight, he could use it. It was easier to activate than Tsukuyomi, and more powerful as well. It was Shisui's ultimate genjutsu.

"Heh. So this is Uchiha Madara?"

Shisui taunted him.

He had just been trying to kill Obito outright, but he hadn't expected the other man to withstand it.

That was enough to prove that Obito's mental power wasn't much weaker than his own. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have been able to endure it.

"Hmph. If I weren't in this body, you'd already be dead."

"Can you barely hold on any longer? You're interesting. Next time we meet, we'll have a proper talk."

Obito kept up his stubborn act.

Shisui wasn't the only one who'd prepared a script for his role. Obito had done the same.

He knew his own strength couldn't compare to Uchiha Madara's. If he let anything slip, he could always use his new body as an excuse. After all, Uchiha Madara had lived until now and was quite old. It was perfectly reasonable that he'd changed bodies.

Shisui did look doubtful when he heard that.

But Obito didn't give him time to think. He turned intangible, sank into the ground, and vanished from Shisui's sight.

Shisui could still sense his approximate location, but that feeling soon disappeared.

"Did he get away?!"

Shisui didn't lower his guard.

Still, today's probing had shown him that even if this man really was Uchiha Madara, he didn't seem all that dangerous.

He thought he should send the information about this man back. But should he give Konoha a copy as well?

"So impressive! He's wearing all those gems just like that?"

"That blue teardrop gem around his neck is so beautiful!"

On the streets of Konoha, one figure drew the attention of many women.

The gems on him were simply too eye-catching.

If not for the symbol on his back, someone might already have tried to snatch them.

"Captain, it looks like a lot of people have their eyes on you," one of Uchiha Gin's subordinates whispered in his ear.

"It's fine. No one in Konoha would dare steal my gems," Uchiha Gin said nonchalantly.

Today, he wore a black-and-white robe, resembling the captains in Bleach. Underneath was a black Uchiha robe, and over it he wore a white sleeveless haori, with the Uchiha clan crest emblazoned on the back.

All five fingers of his left hand wore gemstone rings: yellow, blue, red, cyan, and clear.

Around his neck was the Tears of the Goddess he'd received as a mission reward.

His outfit was so flashy that nearly everyone who saw Uchiha Gin on the street stopped to stare.

Seeing their captain say so, the others stopped worrying about it.

But Uchiha Gin's every move was being watched by Konoha's major clans and its higher-ups. They couldn't understand why he was dressing so ostentatiously.

They'd only seen this sort of thing during protection missions. It was usually nobles or wealthy merchants who dressed that way, and they tended to be nouveau riche. But Uchiha Gin didn't seem like a nouveau riche at all. His clothes simply looked perfectly fitting, as if everything were exactly as it should be.

As Uchiha Gin patrolled, he seemed not to care much about the mission. He frequently ducked into shops selling luxury goods.

Each time he came out, he'd bought something, but it was almost always some kind of gem.

"What's he doing?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched the Crystal Ball, unable to make heads or tails of it.

Although Kotoamatsukami had made him focus his attention on the Akatsuki, he was still keeping an eye on the village.

"Now that he thinks he's strong enough, and his only rival, Shisui, has left the village, is he starting to let himself go?"

That was the only explanation Sarutobi Hiruzen could come up with.

No one could have guessed that the gems Uchiha Gin wore were actually weapons, spellcasting mediums, and the like.

But other than attracting attention, this had no real effect, so Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't keep watching him.

That evening at the research base, Orochimaru was quite surprised to see Uchiha Gin dressed like that. He hadn't thought Uchiha Gin was the sort to crave luxury.

"Have you sent the funding request to the Third Hokage?"

Uchiha Gin paid no mind to Orochimaru's gaze and asked outright.

"I submitted it, but there's almost no chance it'll be approved. It's not just that my teacher is against us; Konoha doesn't have that much money right now. By the time the Land of Fire sends the funds, they've already been allocated."

Orochimaru replied.

At the same time, he was operating an instrument, analyzing cells taken from three Uchiha clan members.

The three had fused with the First Hokage Cells to varying degrees, but all three had grown much stronger. Their oldest, Uncle Fugaku, had even become twenty years younger physically, bringing him down to the age of forty-five.

However, all three showed some reactions. For example, parts of their skin had turned white. When they overused chakra, the First Hokage Cells inside their bodies would also retaliate, causing the whitened areas of their skin to spread. The consequences of their entire bodies turning white were still unknown, but Orochimaru believed they wouldn't be good. He would have liked to obtain an experimental subject after the cells had fully taken hold.

But he couldn't say that in front of Uchiha Gin, so he kept his thoughts to himself and continued his analysis.

After all, the First Hokage Cells they had now weren't the stable product Orochimaru would develop after years of research. They were also different from White Zetsu. Still, as long as the subjects didn't overuse chakra, there wouldn't be any problems.

"If they won't give us the money, then we'll just have to pool our own funds."

"Have the ninja tools from the Land of Snow arrived?"

Uchiha Gin had never expected to get any money from the Third Hokage in the first place. He'd only needed an excuse.

"Yes. They've already been delivered to the ninja tool research lab."

Orochimaru nodded.

Root was quite efficient, thanks to Danzo's arrangements. Root operatives were scattered throughout the Ninja World, not just in the places openly known to Konoha.

Chapter 43: Orochimaru Was Normal, Except for Being a Pervert

"I know of a more stable Wood Release Cell. Interested?"

Watching how absorbed Orochimaru was in his research, Uchiha Gin suddenly asked him.

"?"

"Are you hiding something from me?"

"I thought we'd already become allies who could trust each other!"

Orochimaru stopped what he was doing and turned around, looking disappointed.

He made it seem as if Uchiha Gin were some sort of heartless lover.

"That thing is unstable and could be risky. It's meant for the Uchiha Clan, so naturally I want something safer."

"But this thing could be useful to you. It just isn't very stable for the Uchiha Clan."

Uchiha Gin replied, completely unmoved by Orochimaru's guilt trip.

After knowing Orochimaru for so long, Uchiha Gin had learned that, apart from being a pervert, he was pretty normal in every other way and easy enough to talk to.

"What is it?"

Orochimaru stopped acting and asked directly.

The more he researched, the more interested he became. He wanted to understand what kind of person the Sage of Six Paths had been.

After all, he had already obtained the cells of the God of Shinobi. So what kind of structure did the so-called sage have?

"A creature called White Zetsu. After absorbing someone else's chakra, it can perfectly copy that person's chakra. It can also completely hide its chakra signature, so no one can detect it."

"Most importantly, it can use Wood Release."

Uchiha Gin explained.

He thought Orochimaru had probably captured a few White Zetsu to study while developing stable First Hokage Cells later on. After all, he'd been in the Akatsuki. There was no way a schemer like Orochimaru hadn't collected genetic information on the people around him.

And Zetsu was such an interesting creature.

If he hadn't left early, Orochimaru probably would have dissected Hidan and analyzed him thoroughly.

But at first, Uchiha Gin hadn't told Orochimaru to use Zetsu as an experimental subject. Uchiha Gin wanted more. The First Hokage Cells must contain more of Ashura's power than White Zetsu, which had been created using those cells. But for ordinary Uchiha clan members, White Zetsu seemed like it would be enough. If it could produce the same results as it had for Obito, that would be great.

"There are creatures like that in this world?"

Orochimaru looked astonished.

If Uchiha Gin hadn't told him, he really wouldn't have believed such a thing existed.

"Is it human?"

Orochimaru asked.