"Hey, Madara! Are you still with us?" A man's voice called out.
Madara opened his eyes to see his younger brother Izuna, his friend Hikaku, and Madara's uncle Daisuke. Madara was in an Uchiha clan meeting, "Hmm. Oh, yes." He must've dozed off for a moment.
Izuna seemed concerned about his older brother, "Are you okay, brother? Are you sleeping well?"
Madara shrugged the question off, "I'm fine, Izuna. Let's just return to the matter at hand."
Hikaku cleared his throat, "I've been scouting the Senju compound for the past three weeks and have some disturbing news. The Senju have been garnering support from the Sarutobi, Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka clans. They outnumber us five to one."
Daisuke seemed to scrunch his chin, "If that's the case the next battle will surely be a bloodbath in the Senju's favor. There's no hope for victory."
Madara looked at the war table, the map showed the land of fire. He was looking at the known locations where any notable Shinobi clans lived but none he could think of would be enough to even compete with the Senju's new alliance.
Izuna knew his brother well and could tell what he was thinking, however, after some deep thought he had an idea that his brother would never think of.
"What if we garnered support from the Uzumaki clan? They're the biggest clan behind the Uchiha and Senju."
Daisuke seemed to like the idea, "If we could get the Uzumaki on our side then for sure we would have an advantage."
Madara was curious about it, "Yes, it would change the outcome of the next excursion. But the Uzumaki and Senju are distant cousins, they wouldn't want to battle with each other."
Izuna chuckled, "While true, they could still be coerced. They couldn't possibly resist your negotiation skills."
Madara closed his eyes and smirked, "Very well. I shall venture to Uzushiogakure and... ...convince them to help us." Madara reopened his eyes and looked at Izuna, "You're to take charge in my stead, little brother."
"Damned old man's memories," Obito spat out.
Obito's eyes struggled to adjust to the light still, he had been searching for Gato by himself. The three had separated to search for Gato in the surrounding area near Tazuna's village, he'd been searching since sunrise and it was nearly noon. He was most certainly annoyed, how could a crime lord be so hidden? Obito knew that he would have to use his Sharingan if he was to have any hope of finding Gato.
But his Sharingan saw a strange man walking down a path and he seemed out of the ordinary for this area. Obito was going to follow him from the shadows.
Konan was struggling to find anything or anyone that wasn't a fisher, she was tired of nothing relevant to Gato. She just wanted to relax, maybe buy some food from a chef inside Tazuna's town.
However, something was promising ahead of her, a man with slicked-back white hair carrying a three-bladed red scythe. He wore an open jacket with fur lining without a shirt. A necklace hung around his neck, go figure. He seemed to see Konan at the same time, he smiled at her.
"Hey, toots. How are you on this fine day?"
"Oh great, he's one of those men." Konan thought to herself. She feigned a smile as Konan approached the man on the dirt path, "Hello." She nervously replied. Konan attempted to walk past the man but he grabbed her arm, "Hey, I've got a question. Do you believe in Jashin?"
Konan was startled, she wasn't expecting someone to touch her. "No. I'm not the religious type." Konan replied trying to jerk her arm out of his grasp.
The man sighed, "Shame. You were so pretty too." He lifted his scythe ready to strike Konan. She prepared for it by readying herself to substitute out with a paper clone. However, the man stopped halfway through his swing.
"That's quite enough," a cold and remorseless voice said from behind the man. Konan had a chill go down her spine as she always found that voice to be eerie but was glad he was here nonetheless.
Madara Uchiha held onto the man's scythe with his right hand, his Sharingan blazing with hatred.
The man didn't seem bothered by Madara's intervention, he began laughing. "I'm not sure you know who you're dealing with. I'm the last follower of Jashin, Hidan."
Madara just gripped the scythe so hard that he broke it in half, Hidan was surprised at the raw strength that the yellow-masked man possessed. Hidan stumbled backward and looked at his now broken scythe, he grabbed a hold of his bladed half. All he needed was to hit him once and he would be dead.
Madara stared impassively, "Hidan, was it? Well, I'm not sure if you know this but gods don't exist. Though I can assure you that I do."
Hidan bit his lower lip and rushed toward Madara with no hesitation, he swiped his blade at the man but he just went through him and fell face-first on the ground. Hidan swore that the man didn't move, how could he have not been hit?
Madara turned around and grabbed Hidan's jacket collar, "If your god is real then give him my regards." Hidan was about to swipe at the masked man again but was thrown into the air several hundred meters away.
Konan had never seen Madara fight but she wasn't disappointed, he dispatched Hidan in no time. Madara looked at Konan, "Are you alright?" His voice was harsh but some sincerity was behind them.
"Yes, my lord. Thank you for your help, but I could've handled him on my own."
Madara turned around, "I know." He seemed to have been smirking from under the mask.
"Let's continue our search for Gato."
Kakashi Hatake was searching the southwest of Tazuna's village, he'd luckily found a small walled off house in the middle of nowhere. Kakashi crouched on a tree and surveyed the complex. It had roughly twenty-eight armed guards with swords and daggers wandering the complex around it. Kakashi couldn't give the mercenaries information without having confirmation of Gato's presence. Kakashi summoned his companion Pakkun, he seemed upset with being summoned out of nowhere.
"Kakashi, what've you summoned me for this time?"
"I've got a task for you," Kakashi said.
Obito and Konan returned to Tazuna's village after two hours of finding nothing Jack and Squat. They walked into a cafe that was serving seafood, Obito hated fish but tolerated shrimp and crab, hopefully, they would have one of the two.
Konan sat down at a table first and Obito was slowly behind her, annoyed with the wasting of his time. A young man probably fifteen came out and placed two menus on the table before bowing and walking away, he seemed nervous. Obito chalked it up to him being nervous around Konan or being around mercenaries, Obito couldn't truly say. As Obito looked at the menu he frowned, there was nothing but fish to eat. He sighed, thinking at how horrible his luck was. Obito started thinking about Kakashi and hoped he had better luck than he did.
Konan seemed to be excited at looking at the menu, she loved seafood and was happy to see a wide selection of it. But that's what you get when you're in a fishing village.
When the boy returned he asked politely, "Are you ready to order?"
Konan continued looking at the menu, "Yes. I would like the grilled salmon and cheese." She folded the menu and placed it on the table.
The boy wrote her order, "Alright, and you sir?" He looked towards Obito.
Obito folded his menu and spoke as Madara, "Two baskets of breadsticks, please."
The boy seemed surprised by Obito's deep voice, especially after he witnessed the yellow-masked man act like a clown yesterday night. He wrote Obito's order right under Konan's, "Anything else?"
"No. That'll be all. Unless she would like something else."
Konan nodded, "No, I'm quite alright."
The boy bowed, "Okay then, your food will be ready in a jiffy." He returned to the kitchen with their order.
Obito chuckled, "Jiffy..." He continued chuckling.
Konan didn't understand what was so funny about the word to him, but then again he was an eighty-year-old man with an immortal body. He probably was somewhat senile.
"Why did you only order bread? There was plenty of fish on the menu."
Obito tapped his fingers on the table, "I find the taste of fish revolting."
Konan chuckled, "How unfortunate that we're in a fishing village of all places."
He just grunted as he continued waiting for his breadsticks, "Hmm."
Kakashi laid down on the tree and waited until Pakkun returned with any news, he read his book make out paradise until nightfall. Pakkun climbed up the tree and stared at Kakashi, he was bored from searching for what Kakashi hoped was Gato's home.
"Oi, Kakashi. That short guy you were looking for is in there."
Kakashi closed his book, "Thanks, Pakkun. That's all for now."
Pakkun accepted that his mission was done and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.
Kakashi now with confirmation that Gato was at this complex headed back for Tazuna's village to meet up with the others.
Konan finished eating her salmon and looked at Madara. Obito ate his breadsticks by facing away from Konan, he worried that someone besides would see his face but he was too starved to care at the moment.
He finished both baskets of bread and readjusted his mask and saw Kakashi in the corner of his eye. Kakashi made his way toward the two and grabbed a chair and pulled it toward their table so he could sit.
"I found him, to the southwest at a small complex. I will provide support whenever you wish to attack his complex." Kakashi said.
Obito turned to him, "I think we should do it tomorrow night. Tobi is tired." He said in his Tobi voice.
Konan didn't know why Madara wanted to wait to attack, he always seemed eager for battle. But why wait, was he planning something? "I agree with Tobi, we've been searching all day and could use the rest before our assassination attempt."
Kakashi wasn't expecting that decision but he wasn't the one in charge so he had to go along with their decision. "Alright, I'll follow your lead."
After retiring to Tazuna's guest bedroom, Kakashi read his stupid book while Obito was awaiting for Kakashi to fall asleep. Obito hated how Kakashi was being a pain to him even after team Minato was disbanded. "Does he ever go to sleep anymore?"
"Apparently not," Madara's voice said. "Oh, what's this? The book is... ...erotica? Intriguing..." The spectral Madara read from Kakashi's book. "Oh my..."
Obito was really willing to smack his head against a wall or hit himself with his pillow just to make Madara's voice go away but of course, it wouldn't.
"Though I'm a little lost but it's not half bad. You know Obito, you should start reading books like this."
That was the final straw. Obito created a wood clone and phased through the house. He was going to go kill Gato by himself, it wasn't like he couldn't because he definitely could. Obito was the strongest Shinobi alive and there wasn't anyone who came close.
Obito rushed through the forest to reach the complex Kakashi spoke of. Obito made it to the front gate of said complex, there were four guards. Obito merely walked up to them and activated his Sharingan. "Kill each other," He said in his Madara voice as he cast them under a genjutsu. The four guards begin to fight and kill each other, Obito walked past them and into the courtyard of Gato's home. Twelve men surrounded Obito, all he did was smirk from underneath the mask. "Oh my, so many enemies. Whatever shall I do." He said in his Tobi voice. He chuckled and spoke in his Madara voice, "Well no matter."
The guards rushed at Obito two at a time, each attack he dodged effortlessly. None of the guards were Shinobi so Obito didn't have to use ninjutsu, but he thought it would be fun to use something interesting. "Wood style: silent strangle jutsu." He called out and summoned multiple tendrils made of wood out of the ground that skewered all the guards attacking him.
As blood dripped from the wooden tendrils, Obito continued walking until he made it to the house.
Unfortunately for Obito however, Kakashi was watching from a distance in a tree. He was surprised that there was another wood-style user besides Tenzo, and more proficient with it as well. He wondered who was under the mask, was he a descendant of the First Hokage? He needed to learn more but judging by his lethal rampage he would probably kill Kakashi on the spot. Kakashi decided to stay in the tree and keep an eye out for Gato in case Tobi failed to kill him.
Obito walked through Gato's house and was attacked by more of his guards, some hid behind corners and tried committing a surprise attack on Obito but with a simple activation of Kamui, they were nothing.
Obito opened the sliding doors of Gato's bedroom and saw him surrounded by four more of his guards, the short man wearing shaded glasses seemed petrified by Obito's presence.
"What do you want, money, women, power? I can give you any of it, all of it, just name your price and we can forget about all this." Gato tried negotiating with Obito.
"Well, you see. I've no need for any of that. I have a much bigger goal than the immaterial things you've offered. But I've been assigned to kill you and I've no intention of failing my mission." Obito said in his Madara voice.
Gato panicked as Obito spoke, an enemy like him couldn't be dealt with words alone. "Please, man. I've got a family." Gato pleaded.
Obito laughed, "I've already killed my father figure, just what makes you think I care about family?"
Gato grit his teeth, "Kill him!"
As Kakashi looked around the complex a loud boom was heard and there was a pillar of fire that reached the night's clouds. Kakashi had not seen something so destructive since he saw the nine-tails fire a tailed beast bomb during the attack.
"Just how powerful is Tobi?"
As Obito phased through the debris and walked away from his handiwork a rope dart kunai flew past Obito's shoulder, singeing it slightly. Obito jumped away and looked at his attacker.
It was the white-haired scythe-wielding maniac who intended to kill Konan earlier. However, his attire and some of his skin seemed to be scorched, and soot and dirt dirted his hair. How he survived the encounter from earlier was curious to Obito, he swore he used enough strength to throw him seven hundred meters into the air, the fall surely should've killed him.
"You! You're the freak who threw me into the air and left me for dead. Well, now I want payback!" Hidan yelled. He pulled his kunai back and licked the blood that he stole from Obito's left shoulder. Hidan began to create a demonic sigil below his feet, and Hidan's skin began to change to black with markings that resembled a skeleton.
Obito looked at the sigil and was curious what it might be, his thoughts were answered by his dead master.
"It's a sigil of Jashin. I think he intends to kill you from within, be careful. I don't want my apprentice dying from low-tier garbage." Madara said to Obito.
Hidan pulled out an extendable rod and jammed it into his left calf, Hidan didn't cry out in pain, he laughed maniacally. Obito felt a sharp pain in his left calf and was forced to kneel to inspect it, it was the exact injury Hidan performed on himself.
Madara chuckled from behind Obito, "Well, that's an interesting jutsu. Mutually assured destruction."
Obito grunted as he stood up, "You're going to have to do more than that to kill me." He said in his Madara voice.
Hidan laughed, "You're right. That was just the appetizer. Time for a full course!" Hidan jammed the rod into his right arm and awaited Obito's reaction.
...but there wasn't any.
Madara's ghostly spirit laughed, "Your Hashirama cell arm doesn't have pain receptors, you're completely immune."
Hidan was baffled that the man felt nothing, "He must have a dummy arm. Gotta avoid that."
Obito looked at his arm and then dashed toward Hidan at an incredible speed. However, Hidan jammed the rod into his right knee. Causing Obito to collapse onto the ground, he groaned in pain.
Hidan laughed, "Try walking that one off, freak."
Obito struggled to stand, it was no use in moving with a destroyed knee. The only option now was to push Hidan out of the sigil and Kamui away and rest. Obito tried weaving hand signs for a wood-style jutsu but Hidan stabbed his left arm and hand.
Obito was unable to use his left hand and thus only had one choice left, retreat.
Hidan stared at the masked warrior, "You talked big game earlier, but you're just like everyone else. Useless when pain is involved."
That irked Obito, "Pain..." He used his arms and knees to get on all fours, "What do you know of pain?" He put one foot on the ground and a hand to keep pressure on it and stood up tall. "You don't understand how much pain I've endured, boy."
Hidan was surprised by the gusto and willpower to persevere through all that pain, but just one simple stab through the heart would be enough. Hidan readied his pipe, "You're pretty good, masked warrior. But your tale comes to an end." Just before Hidan impaled himself with the pipe Kakashi kicked him out of his sigil.
Kakashi stood in front of Obito, he heard Tobi talk in a deep voice just a second ago. There was truly something going on with that one, he was hiding a lot more than he led on. But now was not the time to think about that.
Hidan got up from the ground and stared at Kakashi, "Well, another one to add to the slaughter. Come on then, Jashin awaits you." He smiled maliciously.
Kakashi pulled out a kunai and readied himself against Hidan, the S rank rouge Shinobi. Kakashi knew that he stood little chance against Hidan with Tobi injured, Hidan most likely knew this.
Hidan dashed toward Kakashi and a wall of paper appeared between them, both parties were confused. But Obito knew the truth, "Konan."
Konan came up from behind Hidan and kicked him into her wall of paper and it folded all around, encasing him into a statue of paper.
Obito had never been so happy to see the paper kunoichi, he breathed a sigh of relief. Madara chuckled, "Saved by the woman. How pitiful of an apprentice you are."
Hidan screamed through the paper, he couldn't move a muscle. Konan stood next to Hidan, she looked at the two boys and saw the bloody mess Madara was, "I thought you could handle him, Tobi?"
Obito adjusted his voice, "I could. He just caught me off guard, that's all."
Konan smirked, even her shadow leader wasn't invulnerable. Konan returned her gaze to the paper-encased Hidan and removed some of the paper from his face.
Hidan still didn't understand what happened to him, "You! What did you do to me, you crazy bitch?"
Konan chuckled, "I encased you in over a hundred pieces of paper. Each of which has an explosive tag on it."
Hidan's eyes were laced with terror, he was dead even with his immortality.
Konan smiled, "This is for hurting my friend." Hidan was covered back up and lifted high up into the air. Konan snapped her fingers and Hidan exploded into chunks of meat. Obito created a wooden barrier to protect Konan and Kakashi from being covered in blood. Both took notice and looked at Obito being covered in more blood.
Obito deactivated his Sharingan and eased up his shoulders, his body felt like hell. "Kakashi-senpai, I thought you were still reading your book at Tazuna's. How did you get here so fast?"
Kakashi seemed wary of Obito, cautious even. "I left a shadow clone back at Tazuna's while I stayed here to monitor Gato. But it seems the mission was a success, thanks to you Tobi."
Obito rubbed the back of his head bashfully, "Oh, it was no problem at all." As Obito moved his arm he felt lightheaded, "Uh oh. Tobi doesn't feel so good." Obito's body gave out from underneath him, he began falling. But Konan and Kakashi caught him, he saw their faces just before he passed out from blood loss.
Madara departed from the boat he'd taken to get to Uzushiogakure, he'd not expected the journey to be so long. Though it was nothing the clan leader had not done before, journeying around the world was his duty to the clan, whether he wanted to or not.
This one was not necessarily out of want. Sure he didn't want to be outdone by Hashirama but this was more than that. He needed more warriors that could at least challenge the Senju's numbers, numbers he did not have.
From the dock of Uzushio was a large stone staircase, roughly one hundred and two steps. "Well, that's one way of repelling invaders," Madara said aloud in a joking manner. He readied himself to walk up the stairs, it was just like racing Hashirama when he was a child.
One hundred and one steps later and Madara was in sight of the great Uzushiogakure gates, giant gold and red doors. There was a hole for a guard at the gate to look out. Madara walked up to the gate and a guard looked through the hole when he heard footsteps. The guard wore grey armor that had the whirlpool symbol on the chest and had red hair bundled up in his helmet.
"Stop right there," the guard ordered. "State your business."
Madara stopped where he was, he cleared his throat to sound as neutral as possible. "I sent letter of my arrival several days ago. I am Madara Uchiha, leader of the Uchiha. Your leader Ashina should be expecting me."
The guard looked him up and down and stepped away from the hole. A couple of seconds later the gate began to creak and groan as it moved. Madara found the ingenuity of the doors to be fascinating, maybe he could learn a thing or two from the Uzumaki. Whether or not they come to an agreement or not.
The guard who spoke to Madara stood in the middle of the open gate now, and there were four other guards with him that Madara had not seen previously. Two of them were women, something that surprised Madara as female warriors were very rare in the Uchiha.
"Follow me, Uchiha-sama." The guard said.
The other four guards stepped to the side as the main guard walked toward the golden city.
Madara followed after the guard slowly and looked around at all the guards, the red hair of the Uzumaki was extravagant. It was strange for Shinobi to have hair that bright, maybe there was a secret to it. Madara continued following the guard which took him to a bridge over a lake and to the golden village of Uzushio.
The village was a large spit of civilization. Something about it reminded Madara of a warm and fuzzy time, a dream perhaps. He shook the feeling off, he had no time to think of dreams from his past. He pressed forward with the guard.
Madara followed the guard until they reached a large building that resembled a palace, it must've been the home of Ashina and his family. The guard escorted Madara to the door and knocked on it. The door opened a minute later a young man with short red hair opened the door, he wore clothes that weren't that of the main family. A servant maybe. He saw the guard and Madara, "Oh? Is this the visitor that Ashina-sama was expecting? Well, come along, Uchiha-sama. I'll take you to see Ashina-sama." The young man waited for Madara to get inside the house.
Madara took a step into the house and realized how much bigger it was than his home. "The Uzumaki are very flashy aren't they." Madara thought to himself.
The servant walked a flight of stairs and waited atop the end, "Please come along. Ashina-sama is a very busy man."
Madara sighed, "You Uzumaki love your staircases, don't you?" He walked toward the staircase.
Obito woke up with heavy breathing and panic, he looked around to his right to see wherever he was. He was in a hospital room. He felt for his mask and luckily it was still there, strange. He looked to his left and saw Konan sleeping in a chair with her face against the window. She looked so innocent and happy in her sleep, was she always like that? Obito smacked himself upside the head, "No. Stay focused." He thought to himself.
He inspected his body, his left hand and arm were bandaged up, his left calf was bandaged, and his right knee was bandaged. His body ached in all those spots, but they seemed like they were healed the best they could be for now.
Obito relaxed in the hospital bed until he looked out the window once more. "Oh, no." He said aloud. He saw the Konoha main street, which of course meant he was in the Konoha hospital.
Obito began to see Madara looking out the window, "My, that Jashin disciple roughed you up good. And here I thought I told you to always keep your guard up, especially after the Fourth Hokage punished you for being too impatient." Madara began taunting Obito without even facing him. "You should be more cautious at all times, danger is around every corner."
"I don't want to listen to your constant insults anymore." Obito barked out in his Tobi voice.
"Who's insults?" Konan asked tiredly.
"Damnit!" Obito cursed internally, he didn't think he said that out loud. He spoke as Tobi, "I'm sorry, I just had a vision from my past. It isn't anything to be bothered by."
Konan adjusted her canary yellow eyes, she saw that Madara had now looked at her. "I stabilized your bleeding before I carried you to Konoha using my paper jutsu. That was two days ago, the doctors started worrying that you'd die soon. I should note that out of respect I placed a cursed seal on your mask, so no one could take it off without me disabling the seal."
Obito attempted to move his mask but it didn't budge, he looked at Konan. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it." She gave him a sly smile.
After the nurse and doctor inspected Obito's wounds with him being awake, they called for Kakashi Hatake.
Obito was slightly annoyed that they wouldn't let them leave, he was forced to stay to talk to The Hokage. Oh, boy.
The door opened and The Third Hokage walked in with Kakashi, he had his headband back on. The Hokage sat on a bed next to Obito's. "So from what Kakashi's report says you single-handedly destroyed Gato and his men, is that true?"
"Yes," Obito responded as Tobi.
The Hokage closed his eyes, "I see. Well, I should also note that it was you who failed to learn more about Gato's criminal web. Though you did still eliminate the target, so I'll give you two-thirds of what you would have originally for success." The Hokage said.
Obito nodded, "Thank you, Lord Hokage."
Hiruzen looked at Kakashi, "But I must say I'm impressed. One against twenty-six would be suicide for any ordinary Shinobi, but you... You laughed in the face of those odds and only when you fought an S rank rouge Shinobi did you struggle, that's the will of fire coursing through you."
Madara scoffed, "The will of fire. What a pathetic piece of symbolism when no one besides myself is comparable to Hashirama. Not even you, Obito. Tell Sarutobi off and we'll take our leave."
Obito focused his eye on Hiruzen, "Tobi just refuses to surrender, no matter what."
Madara chuckled, "Poor choice of words, Obito. You surrendered when that girl... What was her name? Ah, Rin. When Rin got skewered through the heart by that one right there." Madara pointed to Kakashi.
Hiruzen smiled, "Well, no matter the reason we are happy to see someone push themself for the sake of a mission. But it was still foolish to take on the burden of the mission by yourself, you're lucky your teammates jumped in to help when they did. You got off lucky."
Konan tried defending Obito's actions, "This isn't the first time he's done something like this, but it is the first time he's been injured to this degree."
Obito shrugged, "She's right, Tobi does it all the time." Obito then regretted shrugging with his left arm.
The Hokage sighed at the childish nature of Tobi, it made sense that he'd try and do the mission by himself to impress the girl. Or was there another reason he wondered?
"There is another matter that I'd wish to discuss with you. Kakashi mentioned that he'd seen you use wood style. Why?"
Obito knew this was coming, he knew he had to come up with a lie to get the geezer off his back. "Tobi was experimented on by a scary snake man several years ago. Tobi was able to escape and meet up with Kono-chan and her friends. I've been with them ever since."
Hiruzen scrunched his nose, "So Orochimaru managed to make another boy with wood style. I'm sorry for what he's done to you, Tobi."
"No need to apologize. Tobi is perfectly fine... For the most part." Obito chuckled.
Hiruzen thought he'd offer one last thing to the mercenaries, "Now I know you two aren't from here but considering that Tobi has wood style, I would be willing to make you two Leaf Shinobi if you would like. That of course would mean permanent residence."
Obito laughed mentally, of course, they'd want another mokuton user under the Leaf's control. "Thank you, Lord Hokage. But..."
Konan interrupted, "We humbly accept your offer, Lord Hokage. We haven't ever been given an opportunity like this. So we appreciate this."
Obito stared at Konan, he was surprised and annoyed that she accepted an offer he would have turned down. Konan simply smiled to not arouse suspicion, but she knew Madara was angry at her.
Kakashi noticed that there was a weird air of tension between the two mercenaries, they were conflicted in their decision. Lord Third didn't notice probably because he couldn't discern how someone was feeling because of a mask. Having worn a mask for almost his entire life that was something Kakashi specialized in.
The Hokage smiled and stood up, "Splendid. I'll arrange your residence this afternoon. In the meantime, Tobi, you should rest. While Konan, you should meet with the other jounin. Kakashi would be more than willing to take you to meet them."
Kakashi sighed, he didn't know that he was being dragged into this. But he couldn't just go against the Hokage's word, he would have to take Konan to his friends.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage. But I shouldn't leave Tobi unattended." Konan protested.
"Just go, Kono-chan," Obito said. He was still irritated by Konan choosing to stay in the hidden leaf. "Go mingle. Tobi will be fine."
Konan knew there was anger hiding behind those words but she would deal with that later.
Hiruzen began to walk out of the hospital room, "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon. Please get well, Tobi." He opened and closed Obito's hospital room door.
Kakashi stopped leaning against the window, "Alright, follow me Konan." Kakashi began walking for the door. Konan followed shortly after but she looked at Obito and saw that he activated his Sharingan. She averted her gaze and continued walking until she was out of the room, she shut the door behind her.
Madara appeared where the door was, he had a smirk on his face. "Well, now this is an interesting predicament. The Fourth Hokage's killer welcomed into the village as one of their own. I expect you'll find a way out, my apprentice. For both our sakes." Madara said.
Obito was furious that he had to stay in the village that had caused him so much pain, and Madara's pestering didn't help any. He wasn't worth answering, Obito was most likely being monitored by Anbu. Talking to a ghost would make him look suspicious or maybe mentally unstable. Either way, they would want to monitor him more. Obito just laid his head back into his pillow, "How am I going to explain this to Nagato? He surely won't be too pleased with what transpired."