Put on a show, Obito

"Giant parasitic insects!!"

The insect-controlling ninja let out a loud shout.

After the insects crawling out of the holes in his body dropped to the ground, they swelled in size as if by magic.

Each insect grew to roughly a meter long, looking grotesque and terrifying.

Their nimble legs scuttled as they charged toward Obito like a squad of soldiers storming a trap.

"It's useless! I already told you!"

Obito shook his head disdainfully, ignoring the swarm crawling toward him.

He walked straight toward the insect-controlling ninja, step by step.

His body passed right through the insects, and he reached the ninja as the man's eyes widened in terror.

"Susanoo!!"

In case the insects were poisonous or his opponent launched a desperate counterattack before dying, Obito activated Susanoo anyway.

The upper half of a blue-green skeleton enveloped Obito, protecting him.

A skeletal hand formed, scooped up the insect-controlling ninja, and held him before Obito.

The instant Obito's eyes met his opponent's, his Sharingan's ocular technique activated.

The ninja's gaze went vacant. He stopped resisting altogether, hanging limply in the skeletal hand's grip.

The insects behind him likewise lost their controller.

They waved their antennae and wandered in place before scattering a short while later.

Obito ignored the insects. They posed no threat to him anyway.

He activated Kamui again, and space rippled into a spiraling distortion before him.

The other man in black, who had been sucked into the Kamui Dimension earlier, dropped out and hit the ground with a thud.

Obito stepped forward and pulled away the black cloth covering their faces, only to find that he recognized neither of them.

He pried their mouths open and found no Root Cursed Seals on their tongues.

"Talk! Who sent you!"

Obito slapped each of them across the face and demanded an answer in a low voice.

The depth of a genjutsu could be determined by the amount of eye power expended.

Both men before him were firmly under his control and would not suddenly wake up.

"We don't know... we don't know him... we only know he's a captain in Root..."

"You don't know him?" Confusion crossed Obito's face.

Were Root's rules really that strict?

"Then what does this Root captain look like?"

"We don't know... he wears a mask, so we can't see his face..."

Since it was definitely Root, that sneaky old bastard Danzo was most likely behind it.

Only then did Obito remember accepting Danzo's gifts and making a fool of him.

Was that old geezer Danzo really so petty that he wanted to silence yours truly over something so trivial?

It was just past eight in the evening.

Lights shone in the houses, and pedestrians streamed along the roads.

The streets around the Hokage Office Building were just as lively.

Yet in the middle of the street stood a young boy wearing goggles, his body covered in bright red blood and a hemp rope slung over his shoulder.

He trudged forward with difficulty, as though straining to drag something behind him.

The passing pedestrians looked startled at the sight and stepped aside to make a path for the boy.

"What is that kid doing? He's covered in blood. It's pretty scary."

"Look, he's dragging two corpses with that rope. What on earth is going on...?"

"He has the Uchiha Clan's crest on his clothes. He must be an Uchiha."

The pedestrians murmured among themselves, pointing at him.

But the boy ignored them, gritting his teeth as he continued laboriously dragging the two bound corpses forward.

All along the way, the villagers' curiosity was piqued.

Even those who had things to do set them aside and followed slowly behind the boy.

But the sight of him covered in blood was truly frightening.

Coupled with the Uchiha Clan's reputation, it kept anyone from approaching to ask him what was happening.

At last, the boy dragged the corpses to a spot near the Hokage Office Building.

The Anbu hidden in the shadows around the office building stared in shock.

Seeing such a large crowd following a boy, they had no idea what was going on.

"Wait! What are you doing, Obito Uchiha!"

The two ninja guarding the stairs at the foot of the building immediately hurried over to question him.

Obito had visited the Hokage Office Building many times, so both ninja already knew him.

Obito raised his head, his eyes brimming with tears as he looked pitifully at the two ninja:

"Please, sirs, help me carry the bodies upstairs. I want to lodge a complaint with Lord Third Hokage!"

"What! A complaint?" Both men were taken aback, still unable to figure out what Obito intended to do.

But he wanted to take two blood-covered corpses upstairs, and Obito himself was filthy.

The two guards were clearly not about to let him go up.

"Obito! What on earth happened here!"

The two exchanged a glance and asked cautiously.

"This is beyond you! I want to see the Third Hokage!"

Obito kept his eyes filled with tears, sighing helplessly over and over.

"Obito! Don't panic! I'll go upstairs and inform Lord Third Hokage!"

One of the ninja could see that this had become quite a commotion.

With hundreds of villagers still following behind Obito, he did not dare take it lightly and immediately turned to head upstairs.

An imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of Obito's mouth. The first step of his plan was complete.

Back in the woods, Obito had been genuinely furious.

His first thought had been to storm Root and settle the score with that old geezer Danzo.

But the system had issued Obito a sudden mission.

The mission was to make Danzo lose face completely, which would earn him two copying opportunities and one random reward.

After thinking it through, Obito decided that charging into Root alone would be reckless.

Although he now had Dual Kamui, he was still too young, and his strength had yet to fully develop.

Rather than risk his life storming Root to fight Danzo, completing the system's mission and watching Danzo suffer would be far more satisfying.

Besides, Obito had no way to confirm whether Hokoku Shimura had sent these men or Danzo had dispatched them himself.

Rather than keep agonizing over it, he might as well collect the system's reward first.

By now, more and more villagers were gathering downstairs.

The few hundred from earlier had probably grown to nearly a thousand.

Everyone chattered away, their discussions growing louder and louder.

Hiruzen Sarutobi must have heard the commotion from upstairs, because he came hurrying down himself.

"Obito, what on earth happened here?"

The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi saw Obito, shock filled his puzzled face.

This little fellow was covered in blood. Could he have been seriously injured?

He's one of the youngsters in the new generation I want to focus on nurturing.