The moment the cloaked man stood still before them, the team was ready to continue their fight. He seemed confident that he had already won as he began to chuckle dark, but they'd been able to fend him off so far. The team was ready to keep at it too! However, they didn't expect what happened next. The man used a summoning jutsu and immediately, an enormous, light-colored wood coffin arose from the ground to tower over them.
"Quiver in fear as I unleash the weapon upon you!" the deranged man shouted before he began to laugh even more maniacally as the coffin opened to reveal a man with skin cracked in a way that made it seem like darkness was seeping through. He was taller than the deranged Kara member and wore a vibrant purple mantle, black gloves, and black pants. His hair was a striking, inky black and his face was riddled in deep scars on the right. Plain white stirrups kept his black sandals in place and he looked peacefully asleep, but Team Konohamaru knew better. That was a dead man; a corpse. But the fact that their opponent had summoned the man's body was more than ominous.
A moment later, the coffin sank back into the ground and the corpse was left standing unassisted while the Kara member revealed a strange kunai, made a series of seals and slid it into the dead man's back. The resulting shudder that passed through the man startled them and chills passed down their spines. This man wasn't an ordinary corpse, but this technique was something they had never seen before.
"Are you awake yet?" the Kara member snapped. "Kill them! Kill them and take the blonde! I haven't got all day!"
The corpse lifted its head up and blinked, two-toned black eyes being replaced by a set of Sharingan surrounded by black. He seemed bleary and confused as he turned to look to his left and right. "Rin? Kakashi?" he murmured. One of those the genin recognized as Lord Sixth's name, but the Sharingan were unnerving as there were supposedly only two people in the world left who bore that dojutsu. "Where am I?"
"Stop blundering and attack them!" the Kara member shouted, pointing at Team Konohamaru, the three genin getting tenser by the second, ready to hold their ground.
The corpse seemed confused still until he looked across the field at the three genin, eyeing them with an unreadable expression in his eyes before turning to his handler. "Why should I?"
"Because I summoned you! I put you back together and now you'll do as I say or you can go back to the earth where you came from!" he spat at the corpse, seething and fuming with rage.
A horrible, angry chakra began to flare from the corpse, cowing the man and making him shrink back as the corpse turned his entire body to look at the man move fully. "What if I don't want to?" the corpse challenged, his dusky-lilac chakra beginning to surround him as he took a step closer, attempting to take shape around him.
The Kara member who had been so cocky mere moments ago was frozen in fear. "Y-You have to! You're no longer among the living so you have to do as I say!" he snapped shakily, trying to sound confident. But the undead Uchiha didn't seem inspired to listen in the slightest, especially given the way his chakra flared up further. So the Kara member began letting his hands fly through a series of handseals. But before he could blink, his hands were missing, the bloody stumps spraying all over himself and the ground as he screamed mercilessly in both terror and pain.
"Please! Please don't kill me! I was only taking orders from Lord Jigen!" the man pleaded frantically, falling to his knees and holding his crippled wrists against him.
"It's funny that you were so quick to give me orders when you're taking them yourself," the corpse said in an eerie, toneless demeanor as he stood over the whimpering man, the blazing chakra dying down as he no longer had a use for it. "But you should know, that I take orders from no one. Not anymore. So let me put you out of your misery." He raised his right hand and extended it towards the man. His expression may have been blank but the meaning in his words and actions were as clear as day.
"No! No! Please! I didn't mean to make you mad! I'm sor-" his words were cut off as a spear of wood shot through his skull and the man dropped bonelessly to the ground - dead - for the earth to soak in his blood.
The corpse made a 'tsk' of disgust and stepped back to avoid the blood-spray that was still slowly spurting from the man's wrists. He then turned to face the three genin who could hardly believe what they had just seen. They wouldn't be able to face him head-on and although they had no idea what his abilities were, they were certain he was not someone to trifle with; dead or not. But strangely, the corpse didn't seem too concerned with them as he began to examine his own person, removing his gloves to look at his mismatched hands, muttering something too low to catch under his breath.
"Boruto, what do we do?" Sarada asked the blond who was just as terrified as her. The shock had finally registered and each of their tiny hearts were hammering in their chests. Even the calm, cool Mitsuki.
"We'll have to make a tactical retreat," the blond answered, swallowing thickly.
"What?" she squeaked quietly, whipping her head towards her teammate.
"Do either of you have any better ideas?" Neither of them did of course, so the three of them ran, tearing through the woods as fast as they could with their low chakra. They hated having to chance something like this, but the fight with that Kara member had taken a lot out of them. "Mitsuki, is he following us?"
The blue-haired snake sage used his sensor abilities to feel around for the corpse. "I can't detect him anywhere," he answered, baffled, and the three of them stopped.
"He's gone?" Sarada asked, just as confused. "Did he go back to the summoning realm after killing his master?"
"I'm not sure," he answered, so the boy put on a determined expression and tried to reach out with his senses once more. Nothing. "I still can't detect him anywhere. It's almost as though he-"
"Vanished into another dimension?" came the dark voice of the corpsely Uchiha from a high branch above them, his Sharingan giving off an intimidating glow as he peered down on them from the canopy. Team Konohamaru took fighting stances once more as the man easily hopped down to a closer branch only a few meters away, watching them with what looked like amusement.
"Who are you?" Boruto snarled, ready to attack if it came down to it. Then after a brief pause, "What are you?"
The corpse looked thoughtful for a moment before ignoring his questions altogether to ask his own. "What do you know of Kakashi Hatake?"
"Why don't you answer our questions first?" Boruto inquired, his blue eyes blazing as he focused on the strange being. He clutched his kunai tighter, his stance tight and measured.
The corpse flitted its eyes between the three of them before chuckling almost mirthfully, like one would when recalling a fond memory. "Do you really think you should be the ones asking questions if you aren't holding any of the right cards?" he asked before turning his attention to track the source of a sound behind him. "Hm?"
Two shadow clones each with their own whirl of chakra at their palms ran towards him at full speed. "Rasengan!" the pair shouted as they touched down on the branch the corpse stood upon. The balls of roiling, fierce wind-chakra pressed against the corpse, but both the attack and the clones went harmlessly through him, hitting each other instead to create a large explosion. Immediately, Team Konohamaru took advantage of the corpse's distraction to escape.
"What was that? Your Rasengan went right through him and he didn't even move," Sarada commented as they ran as fast as they could through the trees, looking for a place to hide. Boruto didn't answer. He was still trying to consider himself why his attack didn't connect, or rather how the corpse was unaffected entirely by it.
"Maybe it's his Sharingan?" Mitsuki suggested offhandedly.
"What do you mean?" the young Uchiha asked curiously, listening carefully to her teammate.
"You told us about fighting Shin Uchiha and his ability to control weapons. Maybe this person has the ability to let things pass through him?"
"That doesn't explain how he managed to disappear completely like that," Boruto pointed out, mulling over the snake's suggestion.
Mitsuki frowned as he thought before making another inference, "It could be one of his abilities. Maybe certain Sharingan allow for multiple abilities or it's just a part of the main dojutsu?"
"Alright. I'll keep my Sharingan active just in case he tries to sneak up on us again," Sarada declared, her crimson orbs spinning to life. "If it's a jutsu, I should be able to see him coming!"
Boruto and Mitsuki nodded. With this they couldn't lose!
But things didn't go according to plan.
"Watch out!" Sarada shouted as she saw a whirl of chakra in front of them, but it was far too fast for them to avoid it in time. The corpse rose up from the branch, flowing through it like water and grinning mockingly as the three genin tried to divert their path. "Boo!" he shrieked and began to laugh ravingly as the children passed through his incorporeal body with shouts of both surprise and fear.
The children managed to pass harmlessly, turning back to see the corpse grinning at them as he faded into the distance. It infuriated the young Uzumaki and he scowled deeply as the man got further away. "What the hell? He's messing with us!" Boruto snarled angrily.
"And he's too fast for my Sharingan! I didn't think anything could evade my dojutsu!" Sarada exclaimed, all three of the genin now even more aptly spooked. This guy seemed to be playing a game and with how quick and powerful he seemed to be, he could have killed them already. It wasn't a thought they wanted to relish or dwell on, but the sport was growing tiring and wasn't much fun at all. "Boruto, what do we do?"
"We don't have a choice. If he's that fast, he'll either kill us when he's bored with us or he's just going to follow us until we're exhausted until so he can kill us without any trouble that way. We're practically sitting ducks either way," Boruto explained, before gritting his teeth. "And we'll have to stop sooner or later."
"So what's the plan?" Mitsuki asked his brow furrowing.
"We find a place to take our stand," the blond advised before a thought occurred to him. "He was summoned, right? Maybe we can seal him."
"What if he passes through the seals? He'll kill us for sure," the kunoichi commented her eyes darting through the trees to catch sight of the creeping corpse.
"We'll just have to try and find an opening. If he can't activate his jutsu, he can't do anything about it," the young Uzumaki pointed out. It was worth a shot. Hell, anything was worth a shot if it meant avoiding certain death.
The genin managed to find a grove hidden among the trees and leapt down before they quickly wrapped a few wires around the tree trunks surrounding them. The three of them were now caged in a tight space with a predator prowling just beyond, wanting to seek them out for whatever nefarious means he held. But they had a plan and they were going to execute it, hopefully before the corpse executed them. The unflappable, Uchiha kunoichi looked back and forth among the trees while the cool, serpentine boy used his sensor abilities to try and pick up the corpse's position.
"I think he's onto us," Mitsuki murmured, as he twisted his head toward the direction they last saw the man. "He's sitting just outside of range. I think he can sense us too." He turned to his teammates who both seem worried by this new information. But if he was a sensor, why didn't he detect the shadow clones Boruto had thrown at him beforehand? It didn't make much sense, but before they could dwell on it anymore, Mitsuki jolted. "He just vanished again," he announced before readying himself for the incoming attack.
"On it!" Sarada began looking around the wires to see where the corpse had gone to, but she couldn't see anything indicative of the man's reappearance.
"There! Above us!" Mitsuki cried, whipping his head up towards the disturbance, but before the three of them could react, they were surrounded by a whirling inferno that scorched away the wires surrounding them. The three genin only barely managed to protect their faces from the heat with their arms in time, but strangely the fire hadn't touched any of them. They hastily assessed themselves and then their teammates before looking up to see the corpse standing upside down on a tree branch, watching them with a smug smile, his mantle tucked down against in a defiance of gravity; a testament to his advanced chakra control.
"Hey! What's the big idea? Why don't you get down here and fight us already?" Boruto shouted at him, hoping to lure him in and spring their trap.
The Uchiha eyed them and released a small huff of amusement. "And risk setting off that more than obvious trap you set for me? I'll pass." How did he know?
"Who are you?" the blond demanded, more than irritated with the undead Uchiha's games.
"I'm but a benevolent ghost of the Uchiha," he answered with the utmost confidence, his arms splayed out as he shrugged before allowing them to settle at his sides. "Who are you?"
Boruto put his lips together in a tight line as he glared up at the man, his distaste plain on his scrunched up face.
Sarada decided to try her luck, her curiosity playing a role. "You're an Uchiha? What's your name?"
The undead looked upon her with a glint of amusement gleaming in his sharp, garnet eyes before replying, "I'll answer your questions only if you answer mine."
"And what if we don't?" Mitsuki asked.
The Uchiha turned their attention to the snake sage. "Then we can play this game of ours - like a cat to mice - until I get my answers or until you all faint of chakra exhaustion. If that happens, I'll get my answers out of you whether you like it or not, but I can be patient." The three of them didn't care much for that answer and the dubious context, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. They were days away from Konoha and no one would notice them here in the wilderness of Earth country if they were to pass out here. They'd simply die.
"Alright," Sarada answered, stepping forward to her team's defense, "we'll answer your questions." That earned a wide grin from the Uchiha and an amused, throaty chuckle. "My name is Sarada Uchiha of the Hidden Leaf Village and these are my teammates Mitsuki and Boruto Uzumaki. We're Team Konohamaru."
"Uzumaki? Uchiha?" the corpse Uchiha hummed thoughtfully before dropping from his post and maneuvering in midair to land on his feet atop a closer branch to peer down at the genin more easily. "Ah. I assume you're Naruto's and you're Sasuke's then?" he asked pointing to the children respectively before turning his gaze to Mitsuki. "And you? I'm not sure about you, but you strike me as Orochimaru's. Am I right?"
"I'm a synthetic human created by Orochimaru, but yes. He is my father," Mitsuki answered flatly earning a nod from the corpse.
"Ah hah... I knew it." He tapped his chin for a moment and then stood up once more from his crouch. "Since you've all introduced yourselves I guess there's no other choice," he made a show of shrugging his shoulders once more, his hands splayed up to add to the gesture before giving his own introduction, "Yes. I am an Uchiha and my name is Obito. It's a pleasure to meet the newest generation of Konoha genin meant to die in service of their village."
"What do you mean by that?" Boruto asked, his brows furrowed in frustration as he tried to assess their opponent.
Obito waggled a finger while 'tutting' at them like a disappointed parent, "I just answered your questions so I would think it's my turn now." Boruto pressed his lips together, biting the inside as he waited quietly for the next question. "So my next question is: what do you children know of Kakashi Hatake?"
"He's-" Sarada started before being cut-off by the blond.
"He's a well-respected, important shinobi to the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" Boruto answered vaguely, making Obito raise a brow at the boy's actions, the undead's set smile revealing nothing of his thoughts. "Now what the hell did you mean by that?"
"Interesting," Obito murmured, watching them even more closely with his thumb and forefinger now nestled against his chin, rubbing thoughtfully against his scarred lower lip. He was strangely emotive for a dead man. "Young genin are so naive," he began. "You don't realize that the same village you respect and live for would easily send you all - children that is - to your deaths for the sake of old men with money and power. But I suppose I'll let you hold onto your naivety for now. But grasp it tightly as you can, because this life will rip it from you mercilessly the first chance it gets."
"But the village has changed," Sarada input. "Children aren't permitted to be promoted past chuunin until they reach-"
"Is that right?" Obito chirped mockingly, effectively silencing her and any response the other two might make. "You know how they say that 'people change?'," the corpse asked, making air quotations to stress the phrase, "Well, villages don't change. They are unyielding in their ways."
The Uchiha leapt down to stand directly in front of the girl, barely half a meter away. "Tell me, child," he asked in a much darker undertone, "have you ever wondered what happened to the rest of your clan? To the rest of the Uchiha? Or maybe why the war happened in the first place? Or maybe you've wondered what that look is in your father's eyes when he looks at you? That is all the doing of the village. This village. Not some outward, no-regard place like Wave or Sound. No. It's the Leaf. And if you three are here, with no Sensei to guide you and with an S-Rank monster, like me before you, who was told to rip you apart, then nothing - nothing - has changed."
He turned his back on her and walked over to a conveniently placed moss-covered boulder, carefully dodging all the hidden seals planted around the grove to take a seat on top of it before murmuring softly, "It never will."
"Then maybe you could tell us what happened?" Sarada coaxed softly, although certain she didn't want to hear the answers he was able to bestow upon them.
"Are you really so eager to lose your youthful ignorance of this world?" Obito chuckled mirthlessly before laying across the boulder and crossing his legs with a deep sigh. He seemed oddly comfortable for a corpse. "No. You may be old enough to kill a man, but I doubt you're old enough to fully comprehend just why your village - actually why all of the villages are bad," he said with nothing more than indifference.
"We're young. Not dumb!" Boruto barked in response. "Just tell us, old man!"
"Old man?" Obito murmured, testing the phrase out on his own tongue and letting out a resulting huff. "Has anyone told you that you're a lot like your father? I think he takes after your grandmother though?" He seemed to mull that over in deep thought before adding more surely, "Yeah, he does. She was nice."
"I am not like my father! And how did you know my grandmother?" Boruto asked, his amusement peaked even though his temper ran hot towards the apathetic Uchiha.
"So many questions…" he grumbled with faint annoyance. "But then again, of course I did. Everyone knew the Red Hot-blooded Habanero. Hah! Didn't wanna get on that woman's bad side," the corpse mused while recalling his memories, letting his raised ankle lull back and forth. "She was the most fierce woman you could possibly meet; too bad she died." The movement stopped for several seconds at that but continued up again almost immediately.
"Just ask your question already!" Boruto huffed. He didn't know what he was expecting the corpse to say, but he felt that he deserved the ridicule he was getting for his trouble.
"Alright," Obito said in a toneless morose than the one he carried only seconds before, then he began humming thoughtfully before voicing his own query. "Are you... missing-nin?"
"No," Sarada answered. "We were simply here to bring home our teammate."
"Who became a missing-nin?" he prodded further.
Sarada hesitated and Mitsuki looked away so Boruto answered. "No. They were never a missing-nin. They just needed to find their own path!" he sent a reassuring grin to his teammates which made the snake sage look to him gratefully and return him a small smile and a nod, the former of which Boruto did in turn.
"Interesting..." the corpse mused, not missing the exchange with his eerie Sharingan eyes.
"So..." Sarada took a moment to compose herself in preparation to ask her own questions. She might as well while the opportunity presented itself; it isn't like her mother or father were going to give a straight answer and Obito was technically family, in a way. The kunoichi proceeded to push her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose and asked, "What do you know about the Uchiha clan?"
"Practically everything there is to know, but are you sure that you want to know?"
The kunoichi looked back to gauge the reactions of her team and seeing them both nod gravely, she set her gaze back on the corpse before giving her answer, "Yes. I want to know everything I can."
"Alright. Where to start... where to start… Ah, I know where," the corpse murmured to himself before coming to a conclusion. "A handful of years before our deaths, your uncle and I killed them. All of them except for your father, of course. Itachi was insistent upon that."
The three genin didn't react at first, making no sound to indicate the terror and shock that spread among their faces so Obito lifted his head up and peered from around his legs. "What now? Did I say something wrong?"
"You and my uncle killed the clan? Why?" Sarada asked, swallowing hard. She didn't know anything about her uncle - not even his name - despite him being part of her namesake. Why would her parents name her after a murderer? In fact, why bother naming her after him at all? It made no sense.
"Yup," Obito answered lazily, popping the 'p'.
"Why?" she repeated. She had too many 'whys' in-mind to ask just one and it made her dizzy as her mind strained to go through each and every one, assessing any possibility she could.
Once again, the corpse didn't miss this and smirked at her, nodding in approval. "Now you're asking the real questions," Obito commented. "Do you want the official version or the truth?"
"The-" Sarada couldn't answer. Whenever she had asked her mother about her uncle - about Itachi, she only had nice things to say about him. Not much, but only nice things. The kunoichi was aware that the corpse could be lying, but she knew her mother had been keeping something from her by the look on her face whenever she asked about their clan. She decided then that she'd listen and decide the truth for herself, but she couldn't open her mouth to speak. It hurt too much.
"The truth," Boruto replied coolly in her stead, giving her a moment's rest from the undead's constant stream of banter and inhumane remarks.
Obito took a deep breath, tired breath as though he had already grown tired of telling the tale. "Many many years ago," the Uchiha began, "there was a man named Madara Uchiha who was highly respected for his fighting prowess and abilities among his clan and he had a rivalry with the man who would become the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju. And after years - now centuries - of battle both Madara and Hashirama declared a truce and created the Village Hidden in the Leaves."
"Is there a point to this? Every genin knows the story of the Founding Fathers," Boruto muttered to prompt the Uchiha to hurry it along, or at least make a better narrative.
"I wouldn't be telling you if there wasn't," Obito grumbled. "So anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted," he continued pointedly, "they became friends, made a village, and ran it together, but the village council didn't like Madara. He was very powerful and so was his clan - our clan. They didn't trust the Uchiha, so Madara tried to convince them to leave, but no one would listen or pay him any mind. Feeling the brunt of his peoples' and the village's betrayal, Madara defected until eventually he fought Hashirama to the 'bitter death,' being brought to an end by his closest friend and rival." He seemed rather bitter himself when he said 'bitter death', but the genin didn't care to read into it as the corpse began rushing through the next part.
"So years pass, Hashirama dies in a war and Tobirama makes Hokage. But Tobirama was one of the people who hated the Uchiha so he decided to make them officers of the peace, only making citizens weary of them. Tobirama dies in battle and Hiruzen took over with his peers leading the council, including this one person named Danzo. None of them really trusted the Uchiha either, but Hiruzen was willing to give them a chance, until the Kyuubi attack. That was so long ago..." Obito trailed off as if recalling the event.
Boruto cleared his throat.
"Please just continue," Sarada muttered softly, listening intently to the story.
"RIght. Right... The Kyuubi attacked the village and when it was over, the Uchiha were condemned to a tiny corner of the village and began being discriminated against by the entirety of the village," Obito explained.
"Uchiha-san?" the girl called upon him like a curious student.
"Hm?"
"What did the Uchiha have to do with that?" The Kyuubi attack was a natural disaster," the young kunoichi said. "No one could have prevented that or stopped it, right?"
The corpse chuckled, shaking his head before taking a glimpse around his folded legs. "Have they really covered this up that well?" he asked, directing the question more at himself than at the children. It was a rhetorical question, but he still meant to give them the answer. He settled back into his spot as he had been before and gave his answer. "It's been proven fact that only one clan has been able to tame the Kyuubi outside of a jinchuuriki's vessel, and that's the Uchiha. The village council were aware of this because they were old enough to remember the last battle between Madara and Hashirama before the Kyuubi was sealed away in Mito Uzumaki."
"Why would the village hide something like that?" the young Uchiha asked again.
"My dear, as I already mentioned, you don't know the village like I do. I may have died a criminal and a missing-nin, but only because I was able to open my eyes enough to see the truth," the undead explained vaguely. "But let's continue our story. It'll give you some more insight on that… hopefully."
"Naturally, the clan didn't like that so they planned a coup d'etat to overthrow the council and the rest of the village's leadership," he continued. "Now then, your uncle, Itachi was a double-agent spying from his post in ANBU on the clan, but also on the council for the clan. So he reported it to Hiruzen and the council." The genin could likely guess what happened next, but they stayed quiet as the corpse continued to explain.
"The Third didn't want things to end up in violence as Itachi had advised that it might, so he made attempts to reason with the clan, but the would have none of that and wanted to end the problem before it began." Obito adjusted uncomfortably at that and the three genin all looked troubled as well. "The main one who sought to have them all exterminated was a man named 'Danzo' - who we killed eventually, of course - but when Hiruzen didn't manage to change the foolish clan elders' minds in time, Danzo ordered Itachi to kill them all. But... he couldn't do it on his own. I think such a thing would have destroyed him, so he sought me out and..." Obito hesitated, going silent as his brow furrowed and his lulling foot stilled. The trio managed to catch a glimpse of his face and he looked angry with himself. "And... we killed them. I killed the all of the officers before murdering the women and children in their beds or as they attempted to flee and beg for their lives and Itachi took out the rest, or at least, all of the shinobi."
His admission chilled the genin to the bone. He was indeed a monster having done such a thing, but then again, how could the village? But overall how could her uncle Itachi, who had been spoken of so highly have done such a thing whether the village demanded it or not? It made Sarada's heart ache.
"Oh, you think that's bad?" Obito seethed with another of his derisive huffs. "That's not even the worst that the village has to offer. No, far from it in fact. But guess what? Remember how I mentioned Madara? He planned and orchestrated all of it as his revenge on the village and the clan; you, me, Itachi, your father, and everyone else who had to suffer, - including your family, Uzumaki," he added with a nod to the blond, "were simply collateral. But that man though... Madara, was one of the most vile things to walk this earth. Hell, so was I for being his student, but I could pity Itachi. He, at least, was redeemable and had never done anything wrong. I barely knew the man, but I could certainly tell you that unlike me. Itachi did it to save your father from Danzo's wrath and for the good of the world and the future he believed in. But me? I did it because I truly wanted to be a hero. Some hero I was, huh? But, at least I died a good death, even if I am back here in the forsaken place. But that's why I started a war; to try and grasp a future I believed in. Got to aim for the stars, right?"
"You started a war?" Mitsuki asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Heh... yeah," Obito answered bashfully. "It seemed like a pretty good idea at the time."
"Over the massacre or over the village?" Sarada inquired further.
"Both, but there was more to it than that." Obito sat up and sat with his legs crossed with his hands tucked together as he hunched over his shins. "When I was your age, I met Madara Uchiha and he convinced me that I could fix everything - our corrupt government, the shinobi system, war, and the need for death and chaos - by becoming a god. It didn't take immediately, but he had something taken from that was more important than anything else." He sighed deeply and looked down at his clasped hands.
"That's so lame! And it's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No one can become a god," Boruto scoffed derisively at the very suggestion.
"Ah, but if you can if you can contain the Juubi or obtain the power of the Otsutsuki clan for yourself, " Obito lifted his head and looked at him knowingly. "Your chakra, it feels different... kind of like the goddess Kaguya herself, but... not." His vermillion eyes fell on the young Uzumaki who hid his right arm behind his back. "So maybe it's not so much dumb as it is misunderstood?"
Sarada and Mitsuki diverted their gaze to their teammate as well. Was he talking about Kama? Boruto unthinkingly slid his right hand behind his back in an attempt to conceal it from the Uchiha.
"But that's why I did it," the corpse carried on. "To fix the things that were broken and to save my friends; Rin, Kakashi, Kushina, Minato-sensei..." the Uchiha trailed off sadly once more, his eyes falling on his hands for several moments before he took a breath and continued once more. "To harness the power of a god means that you can hold the power in your hands to change the world on a larger scale than by playing political games. You could remake the Earth in your image or bring back the long deceased in the most perfect of dreams, but it didn't work the way I planned. But, someday, soon I suspect, something like that's going to happen again, especially if that chakra of yours and my resurrection are anything to go by."
"So what are you going to do now that you're here? Are you going to try and become a god again?" Mitsuki asked, affected far less by the conversation than the other two, at least enough to continue using logic and wits.
Obito shook his head. "No. Nothing like that. Edo Tensei - which is what I am back as - should dispel when I tie up my loose ends."
"Loose ends?" Sarada asked, her expression souring further if possible.
"Yeah. I have a few of them," the Uchiha remarked as he scooted off the rock and stood up to stretch, with a loud, shuddering yawn. "Kill the council and see Kakashi again. I couldn't care less about the rest of this because it's not my problem."
"What? You can't just kill the council, even if they did order the clan killed!" Sarada exclaimed in a poor attempt to appeal to him. "Just think about it for a minute, Uchiha-san."
"My dear, they've done a hell of a lot more than that. If they're alive, they must die and I intend to deliver them to death's door," Obito answered in an attempt to placate her while he tiptoed around the hidden seals and quietly passed the genin before he stopped for a moment in thought. "Also Kabuto," he mused, "I should kill him too." Then he continued back into the woods on foot.
"We won't let you kill Lord Sixth though! He's a good leader and far better than the likes of you!" Boruto shouted after him, cupping his hands around his mouth.
The Uchiha stopped and Obito began to chuckle. In a few moments, it turned into a full-bodied laugh. He was shaking so hard with the force of it that he had to prop himself up against a tree and hold his gut while he laughed.
"What? What's so funny?" Boruto cried, outraged and confused.
"Kill Lord Sixth? Kill Kakashi? " he was still chuckling and had to wipe away tears from his eyes. "Oh! That's the furthest thing on my mind!" He was still huffing with amusement as he straightened himself and turned to the trio, just outside of the sealed area. "I simply want to see him and talk to him so I can head back to the afterlife. I had a good thing going there. But not so much here. Need to get back up there and see Rin before the idiot dies or something and gets time with her to himself!"
The genin watched his retreating back as he continued on his heading into the woods. They weren't quite sure what to do. Obito was apparently a resurrected war criminal and a mass murderer. It'd be best to leave him be, but still, he wanted to go and kill people, and as well, Kara wanted to use him for something. And if the term 'the weapon' was anything to go by, doubly so. He couldn't be allowed to do whatever he pleased like that.
"Hey, are you kids coming or what? I'm not trudging through the woods for my own health," Obito called back, tripping over a root gracelessly before huffing at them in annoyance. "Or my own not-health? I don't really know anymore," he muttered quietly, to himself rather than the trio as he looked down at his feet despite it being fully audible.
"Should we follow him?" Mitsuki asked his companions as he curiously watched the seemingly clumsy Uchiha continue on his path.
"We'll have to. We can't let him start killing people," Sarada stated, imploring the blond to come up with a plan of some kind.
"But we also can't let him start trying to kill us if Kara shows up to take him back," Boruto commented. The boy placed his hands laxly behind his head and skewed his lips in thought.
"So what do we do?" Mitsuki asked instead.
Boruto shrugged and began to follow the Uchiha's path through the woods, leading the others. "Well, if he was able to fight their control over him before, he could do it again. And if they do show up, I'd rather have him on our side to throw at them first!" That was a flawless point, so Team Konohamaru followed after the undead Uchiha, setting their course for home.