"No rush, Master Dan."
Meikyō shook his head at Dan Katō, then turned his head toward Minato Namikaze.
"Minato, I'll need you to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to secretly bring Obito here. Remember, don't let anyone find out, otherwise, I'm worried that others will pay unnecessary attention to Obito."
"I see."
Minato Namikaze reached out and inscribed the Flying Thunder God Mark at his feet, then vanished instantly.
Just one second later, Minato Namikaze appeared before everyone with Uchiha Obito.
"Minato-sensei... and Teacher Meikyō and the Clan Head, what... is going on?"
Uchiha Obito completely bewildered.
"Obito, what is the twenty-ninth rule of the ninja code?"
Meikyō asked Uchiha Obito.
"Um... well... this..."
Uchiha Obito his head, stammering.
"Ah, I remember now, it means that when ninjas are on a mission, they must avoid any unforeseen complications and always prioritize the mission!"
Uchiha Obito said with absolute certainty.
Minato Namikaze helplessly covered his face.
"Obito, what you just said was the twenty-eighth article of the Ninja Code. The twenty-ninth article states that ninjas must avoid leaking information at all times. I remember I reviewed with you and Rin before last year's Chunin Ninja Exams."
"Haha, really? I remembered wrong!"
Uchiha Obito scratched his head sheepishly as he spoke.
Minato Namikaze had reviewed these points with him, but unfortunately, he seemed too engrossed in watching Rin at the time and didn't remember them clearly.
Meikyō sighed softly and gave Minato Namikaze a look that said, "I understand you."
Might Guy was actually doing the same thing in this regard...
"Alright, Obito, remember this: you must not divulge what I am about to say, not even to your closest friends! Because what you are about to hear is very important news about you and me, the entire Uchiha Clan, and even the entire Konoha and the Ninja World."
With a Meikyō face, Uchiha Obito.
"I understand, Teacher Meikyō!"
Uchiha Obito spot.
"Very good."
Meikyō nodded, opened the Sealing Scroll, and took out two White Zetsu corpses.
"I saw this thing once several years ago, when I was fourteen years old, on the way back from Amegakure with Nami and Ryo to retrieve the Second Hokage's sword."
Minato Namikaze, Dan Katō, and Tsunade couldn't help but silently recall this incident.
The former encountered the massive explosion when he met Xuanyuan Group on his return journey from Meikyō.
It was he who used the Flying Thunder God Technique to send the Meikyō out of the blast radius.
The latter two knew that the Xuanyuan Group was actually hired by Danzo to target Uchiha Meikyō.
It was precisely because of this incident that their initial conflict with Danzo arose.
The subsequent power struggle and the fight for the next Hokage position, coupled with the Third Hokage's efforts to balance power, intensified the conflict between the two factions.
"At that time, I killed two of these white creatures on the spot. They called themselves White Zetsu. However, their bodies disappeared in the explosion. I thought it was some kind of strange method used by the Xuanyuan Group, so I let it go."
Meikyō made up a story that was half true and half false.
"When I activated Sage Mode to fight the Four-Tails Jinchuriki on the battlefield, it was the second time I encountered White Zetsu. From that moment on, I realized that this thing was not simple."
As Meikyō spoke, he turned his gaze to Uchiha Obito.
"At first, I thought their target was still me, but now I'm finally certain that their real target is you, Obito."
"I?"
Uchiha Obito pointed to himself.
"At the time, because of the great distance, I could only barely sense them using one of my abilities. In addition, I was fighting the Four-Tails at the time and it was inconvenient for me to intervene. So I used a clone to tell Genma to guide Guy and Kakashi to a match, because the combined strength of the two of them was enough to resolve the crisis you were facing at the time."
"Then why did these things target Meikyō so many years ago, and now they're targeting Obito? Who's behind them? And what are their goals?"
Minato Namikaze said with a frown.
Uchiha Meikyō was his friend, Uchiha Obito was his student. Given Minato Namikaze's personality, he would never stand idly by.
"Judging from their characteristics, they are likely targeting young and promising Uchiha. It seems their goal is to cultivate their own Uchiha master to help them with certain tasks. The key issue is that anyone or any organization capable of cultivating someone with such stealth abilities must be extraordinary. The fact that they would spend so much time on this can only mean two things."
Dan Katō placed his hands on the table, his mind racing as he analyzed the situation.
"The first thing is that they have very high standards. Ordinary young Uchiha, even if they have the aptitude to awaken the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, would not be of any interest to them. What they are likely pursuing is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"Secondly, since they are willing to spend so much time on this matter and need such a strong Uchiha who can serve them, they must have a big plan, and most likely it is not a good thing. Otherwise, they would not hide their tracks so well and could just hire Uchiha Clan ninjas from the village to do it."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Meikyō also felt that his teacher was quite skilled in intelligence analysis, and his words were almost entirely accurate. He truly deserved to be Konoha's strongest intelligence ninja at present.
"So, Obito, you must be more careful in the future. The enemy will definitely try every means to set up a trap to recruit you and train you into their tool, especially those people you care about the most. They may target them as the key to their trap."
"The person I care about most, the person I'm most concerned about? Isn't that..."
Obito's face turned pale.
Minato Namikaze pressed down hard on Obito's shoulder with his hand.
He knew exactly who his love-struck, foolish apprentice cared about most.
"Obito is my student, as are Kakashi and Rin. No matter what happens, I, as their teacher, will do everything in my power to protect them."
If something were to happen to Nohara Rin right under Uchiha Obito's nose, anything could happen to that silly boy.
"So you can't tell anyone else about this, because it could very well drag them down with you."
Meikyō looked into Uchiha Obito's eyes and said.
His purpose today is to give Uchiha Obito and others a heads-up.
Even without evidence that Uchiha Madara is still alive, it is necessary to use the White Zetsu incident to make these people realize that there is a force in the Ninja World that is not very friendly to them, so that they will be more vigilant.
"I understand, Teacher Meikyō!"
Uchiha Obito clenched his fist and nodded fiercely.
No matter who it is, if they want to control him by hurting Rin, Uchiha Obito will definitely fight to the death to protect Nohara Rin.
The matter of Uchiha Obito has come to a temporary end.
White Zetsu remains sealed inside the scroll, awaiting further research by Tsunade, Uchiha Meikyō, and even Orochimaru.
For Meikyō, Dan Katō, and the others, what they need to face right now is the war between Konoha and Iwagakure.
With the death of the Four-Tails Jinchuriki Ōnoki severely injured, the fighting strength of the Iwagakure has been reduced, and the overall morale is not as high as before.
Dan Katō, Uchiha Meikyō, Tsunade, Uchiha Fugaku, along with Minato Namikaze and Might Duy, formed a formidable lineup capable of suppressing a major ninja village, leading the Konoha Ninja straight to the heart of the enemy.
One day later.
Kannabi Bridge.
Unlike the original timeline, this place was not destroyed. Instead, it was directly occupied by the Konoha Ninja, who used this once important logistical passage of Iwagakure as a crucial springboard for their subsequent counterattack against Iwagakure.
"Itachi, kill him!"
Uchiha Fugaku looked at an Iwagakure Ninja was seriously injured and lying on the ground, took out a Kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch and put it into Uchiha Itachi's hand.
"Father, why is there a war? Why must I kill him?"
Five-year-old Uchiha Itachi asked Uchiha Fugaku with a look of confusion in his eyes.
Before Fugaku could reply, the Iwagakure Ninja lying on the ground suddenly sprang up, using his last bit of strength to thrust his weapon at Uchiha Itachi.
Uchiha Itachi instinctively followed his past ninja training routine: he ducked, dodged, and swiftly sliced Iwagakure Ninja's throat with the Kunai in his right hand, ending his life.
"I'm sorry, I..."
Uchiha Itachi looked into the unwilling eyes of the Iwagakure Ninja, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. He just felt his eyes were a little sore and his vision was a little different.
"That's why you have to kill him, because if you don't, he'll kill you."
Uchiha Fugaku looked at Uchiha Itachi, his heart filled with pride.
Judging from that move just now, Uchiha Itachi clearly possesses a strong instinct for independent combat, and...
"As expected of my son, he actually awakened the Sharingan at the age of five."
Thanks to Konoha's formidable strength, within just a few days, all the Iwagakure Ninja in the entire Land of Grass were forced to retreat. Some were deployed to defend the northern border of the homeland, while others turned around and headed to the southern part of the Land of Waterfalls, intending to disperse some of Konoha's forces and delay as much time as possible.
At the same time, Ōnoki also deployed the last batch of reserve forces from Iwagakure to the east of the Land of Earth.
Just as Konoha and Iwagakure were waging war, the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure and Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki Killer B, led a group of elite Kumogakure forces across the sea to attack the Land of Earth through some unknown means. They plundered a large amount of supplies and boosted the already very weak morale of Kumogakure.
Iwagakure has now reached its limit.
Ōnoki realized that Iwagakure could no longer defeat Konoha.
But the shrewd and calculating man also knew very well that Konoha was facing its own difficulties.
Throughout the entire Shinobi World War, Konoha first clashed with Suna, followed by Iwagakure and Kumogakure. Although Suna was disappointing and lost early on, and Kumogakure was also greatly weakened due to the Third Raikage and unable to withstand the combined forces of Uchiha Meikyō and Orochimaru, there was still Kirigakure fighting against Konoha.
After so many years of fighting, the four great ninja villages have all been attacked one by one. Konoha is undoubtedly the strongest, but it also suffers the greatest logistical burden and the most casualties.
If the war continues at this intensity, Konoha will definitely collapse internally!
Especially at times like these, Ōnoki must demonstrate his Will of Stone and persevere.
Even if he can't defeat Konoha, Hiruzen Sarutobi will give up a lot of benefits in the subsequent negotiations in order to end the war as soon as possible!
Ōnoki is prepared to fight while negotiating.
Konoha camp, Medical Corps, laboratory.
"Incredible!"
Tsunade stared wide-eyed at the lines of data displayed on the bulky computer screen in front of her.
"Teacher Tsunade, what's wrong?"
On the other side, Meikyō, having preserved the White Zetsu's corpse as a specimen, turned to Tsunade and asked.
Tsunade hesitated for a moment before speaking:
"The genetic sequence of these White Zetsu is exactly the same as that of my grandfather, the First Hokage! In a sense, it's almost..."
Tsunade gripped the metal railing tightly, crushing it into a deformed shape.
"This is almost like a clone created using First Hokage's Cells through some unknown means!"
In that instant, a series of suspects flashed through Tsunade's mind.
"There aren't many people who have access to the First Hokage's Cells. As far as I know, besides myself, there are only three other people who have access to the First Hokage's cells."
Even without Tsunade saying it outright, Meikyō knew who Tsunade.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, along with Danzo and Orochimaru, were the leaders of the Wood Release Project after Tobirama Senju's death.
"It's unlikely that the old man would do that. Given his status and position Hokage, he wouldn't need to do that. If he wanted to achieve something, he could use the power of the entire Konoha. Orochimaru is a possibility, but compared to others, this is clearly more in line with Shimura Danzō's style."
Tsunade frowned, pondered for a moment, and then deduced.
Ah, this...
Meikyō was completely bewildered.
How can everything be blamed on Danzo?
"That's it. This sneaky approach, and the fact that they specifically target the geniuses of the Uchiha Clan, could only be Danzo. Meikyō, the last time you encountered Xuanyuan Group at the border of the Land of Rain, it might have been Danzo's backup plan!"
The more Tsunade talked, the more likely it seemed.
"Including the matter with Obito this time, he's trying to eliminate the Uchiha he sees as potential threats in the future! He's even thinking of luring them into his own ranks!"