Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
With a few leaps, Zou Hyuga arrived at a secluded cave in the Land of Rain. He greeted the Akatsuki members inside with a smile, then took his place among them.
Anything that prompted Nagato to assemble every member was naturally no small matter. Today, they would seal the One-Tail.
Zou Hyuga smiled as he surveyed the Akatsuki members around him. After the great battle not long ago, far fewer members remained standing here. Who knew how many would still be around in the future?
Then Zou Hyuga turned toward the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path at the center of the cavern and sank into thought.
In a sense, this enormous statue was even rarer than the Rinnegan. After all, it was the husk of the Ten-Tails.
The Rinnegan could still be awakened under the right circumstances, but the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was unique-the sole key to becoming the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki.
Reining in his wandering thoughts, Zou Hyuga sensed something and looked toward the cavern's entrance.
Ripples appeared in the air, and three figures gradually emerged from a twisting vortex: the newly recovered Immortal Duo and Obito Uchiha, wearing a tiger-patterned mask.
Seeing how weak Obito still looked, Zou Hyuga chuckled inwardly. Obito had attacked Konoha, only to suffer serious injuries because of Oto and even leave behind spoils of battle.
Unlike Zou Hyuga, Obito was in a foul mood. During the Battle of Konoha, he had encountered a counter unlike the Fourth Hokage's. The Fourth Hokage had countered his speed and space-time ability, and Obito had accepted that defeat wholeheartedly.
But Oto Uchiha's dojutsu was far more overbearing. It had simply prevented him from using his own dojutsu.
That final slash had nearly wounded him fatally,