Chapter 318: Obito: I feel like something I cherish has been snatched away?

"A Contract, what a miraculous ability."

Nohara Rin's face flushed slightly, and she boldly said, "Are you trying to make me your personal Summoned Beast, Mr. Kakashi?"

Under normal circumstances, given her personality, she would absolutely never say something so slightly flirtatious.

But after having died once,

everything became unimportant, leading Nohara Rin to realize many things; if some things aren't spoken aloud, they might very well be forgotten.

Nohara Rin, Kakashi, Obito.

They were all close friends who could entrust their lives to one another, willing to sacrifice themselves for the other.

But Nohara Rin knew very clearly that although they were all close friends, Kakashi was different; beyond the bond of friends who could entrust their lives to each other, there was also a faint, lingering trace of affection.

He was the genius she had admired since Ninja Academy, and to catch up to his footsteps, she had made unimaginable efforts.

It was just that she had always buried this affection deep in her heart, never telling him.

"I just... want to protect your safety, Rin."

Kakashi was inexplicably a bit flustered.

Even when they were young and he hadn't noticed Nohara Rin's attitude toward him,

now that he was of age, looking back, he could naturally perceive the subtle differences in how Nohara Rin had treated him versus Obito back then.

It was just that,

Kakashi's gaze fell upon the newly resurrected Nohara Rin; her gentle face, her smooth, fair skin—no matter how he looked at it, she was a loli who had just graduated from Ninja Academy not long ago.

Although she was indeed his close friend,

the two of them were now at such an age that Rin could be his daughter. This kind of thing—"You should rest well first. I still need to continue hunting monsters. If you have any questions, we can talk after I log out of the game."

Kakashi felt rather like he was fleeing in a panic.

Nohara Rin narrowed her eyes, smiling like a little rabbit that had teased someone.

Without hesitation, she consumed the Thunder Seed, signed the Hunter Contract, and became an existence that lived and died with Kakashi.

Just at this moment,

a Game Invitation emitting a faint black glow suddenly drifted along with the breeze and landed on the table inside the room.

In the eastern part of the Land of Rain, at the Akatsuki secret base, inside a pitch-black and dim cave, burning candles were lit one by one.

"Leader, are you planning to abandon the plan to capture the Tailed Beasts?"

On the wall, a giant Venus flytrap opened, revealing Black Zetsu's yin-yang face.

Nagato controlled the Puppet corpse, turned his head, stared at Black Zetsu on the wall, and said, "Now that there are Samsara Game players everywhere, and ninjas capable of rivaling me have appeared in the Four Great Ninja Villages, we can only temporarily halt the Tailed Beast plan."

This Deva Path that was speaking was no longer in the image of Yahiko.

The current Yahiko had already been resurrected and was the leader of the Dawn Organization, just on the other side of the Land of Rain.

He no longer needed a cold Puppet to continue deceiving himself.

If he wanted to, he could go to Yahiko and Konan at any time and become the iron triangle once again.

However, Nagato firmly rejected Yahiko's invitation, and even when Konan came to persuade him, it had no effect.

He was no longer the weakling who needed Yahiko to sacrifice himself for protection.

The current him possessed the fully controlled Rinnegan, was the God of the ninja world, and was a reformer who could reorganize the order of the ninja world.

He no longer believed in Yahiko's naive theory of peace.

Instead, he was firmly walking on his own path.

Only by tasting pain would humans wake up, only then could war stop, and only then could the dawn of peace finally arrive.

"The plan to capture the Tailed Beasts cannot stop!"

A masked figure appeared silently within the cave.

"Although I am unwilling to admit it, even I do not have the confidence to defeat some of the ninjas who have received gifts from the Samsara Game."

Nagato turned his head, looked at the appearing Masked Man, and said indifferently, "In this situation, if we continue to forcibly capture the Tailed Beasts, the members of the Akatsuki will definitely all defect."

Aside from Hidan and Kakuzu who died in the Land of Waves, the rest of the Akatsuki members were still there,

but their mentalities had long since changed.

Because the appearance of the Samsara Game had changed the landscape of the ninja world,

causing the Akatsuki, which should have been a gathering place for powerful rogue ninjas, to become an ordinary second-rate organization. The Akatsuki members had also gone from initially doing their best to being perfunctory and just getting by.

There was no help for it; they were all notorious rogue ninjas, and no other forces were willing to accept them. The Akatsuki, as a place with an alliance with the Dawn Organization, allowed them to temporarily find shelter.

However, if Nagato sent them to collect Tailed Beasts and go against the Five Great Ninja Villages, that would be a death mission, and they would absolutely refuse.

The Masked Man said calmly, "It doesn't matter. As long as Madara Uchiha is still around, the ninja world cannot be turned upside down."

"It is a pity that you are not Madara Uchiha."

The Deva Puppet remained expressionless, but Nagato behind it revealed a mocking gaze and said, "Furthermore, according to the current situation, even if Madara Uchiha were resurrected, I am afraid he would be unable to contend with the Four Great Ninja Villages, right?"

After Konan became a player, she would often spar and fight with Nagato.

From being killed in seconds at the beginning, to gradually making Nagato feel pressure and needing to control three Puppets to fight.

Up until now, his battles with Konan had reached the point where he needed to go all out.

And even then, that was relying on a large number of Recovery Potions and forcibly pushing the Tier 2 Rinnegan.

If it were a real battle, Konan, knowing her own disadvantage, could simply bomb the place where his fragile real body was hidden and quickly end the fight.

And Konan, who could fight the Tier 2 Rinnegan's abilities without effort, was only ranked seventh on the Combat Power Ranking.

There were still four other ninjas in the entire ninja world stronger than her.

And they just happened to be stationed in the major Ninja Villages. Collect Tailed Beasts?

Collect them with our lives? "Hmph, it seems you don't understand the true strength of Madara Uchiha at all!"

Uchiha Obito, having been questioned, felt extremely displeased.

Ever since the rise of the Dawn Organization, Yahiko had already deduced from subtle clues that he was not Madara Uchiha, and had informed Nagato.

This led to Nagato's attitude toward him becoming increasingly insolent.

He simply stopped continuing the pretense and referred to himself as the Masked Man.

In any case, his goal was the same as Nagato's; even if his identity were exposed, it would not interfere with the Eye of the Moon Plan.

"I have seen Orochimaru's battles, and even he could not defeat Madara Uchiha in his prime."

Uchiha Obito said with absolute certainty.

The battle between Madara Uchiha in his prime and Senju Hashirama could even rewrite the map of the world.

According to the game's evaluation,

he was a super freak whose four-dimensional attributes all reached the limit of 【99】, with all skills at max level.

Even Orochimaru, currently recognized as the strongest player in the ninja world, only has his 【Physique】 and 【Spirit】 attributes at the limit, and many of his skills have not reached max level.

There is no help for it; the Samsara Game has appeared for too short a time, and even Orochimaru, who sits upon the Fire Empire, cannot compare to Madara Uchiha and Senju Hashirama, whom the consciousness of the ninja world spent decades cultivating.

However,

there was a lot of exaggeration in Uchiha Obito's words.

In a life-and-death struggle, a slight gap cannot determine the outcome of the battle.

If they were to truly fight, given Orochimaru's Undead Legion, it is unknown who would win or lose.

Furthermore,

"If Orochimaru were still a Tier 1 player, your words might be worth listening to."

Nagato's mind was very clear; he was not deceived by Obito. He sneered, "But now, Orochimaru has already transformed into a Tier 2, and I fear it would take no great effort at all to kill Madara Uchiha."

Having been defeated by Konan in successive sparring matches,

Nagato had discarded his arrogant mindset and had only recently become a player of the Samsara Game.

Therefore, he was very clear that the gap between a FirstTierLife and a Tier 2 life was like a chasm.

If it were any other Tier 2 player, Madara Uchiha might be able to defeat them, but facing the strongest player, Orochimaru, he would only be the one getting abused.

Uchiha Obito, from behind his mask, struggled to maintain a calm voice as he said, "Therefore, if Madara Uchiha becomes a player, wouldn't all difficulties be easily resolved?"

He felt extremely agitated inside; ever since just a moment ago, he had a very uncomfortable feeling, as if his most precious treasure had been stolen by someone.

This feeling, similar to an omen, made him impatient to find Nagato, wanting to continue putting the Eye of the Moon Plan back on the agenda as soon as possible.

Could it be that the trash Kakashi has damaged my Sharingan? What exactly is this feeling of a precious treasure being snatched away?

No!

I must go to the Land of Hot Water and see what the trash Kakashi is actually doing! (End of chapter)