Chapter 552: Kirigakure’s Lady Siyang

"Can we talk now?"

On the screen, after Ao arrived, Obito once again tried to get Uchiha Madara to speak with him.

"No."

Madara refused without hesitation.

He ignored Obito entirely and turned instead toward Ao.

"I can give you your payment in advance. But you'll have to use that payment to complete one final task for me. Once it's done, you'll be free."

"What task?"

Ao's emotions immediately stirred.

"As long as it doesn't require betraying Kirigakure, I'll do it!"

"You said it yourself."

Madara gave him a sidelong glance, then beckoned toward White Zetsu.

White Zetsu fiddled with one of the tubes connected behind Madara and removed something.

The moment Obito saw it, his eyes widened.

Wasn't that…?

Yes.

It was exactly the thing that real-world Obito no longer possessed, yet the Engraved Tsukuyomi version did.

Obito stared at Ao in astonishment.

Could it be…

Had this man with a transplanted Byakugan suffered something similar to what happened to Obito in reality?

As it turned out, he had guessed correctly.

While White Zetsu installed the "upgrade" onto Ao, Uchiha Madara casually explained Ao's history.

Because Obito had interfered early and sealed the wild Three-Tails inside Rin, history had changed dramatically.

The incident had caused an enormous disturbance, and Kirigakure eventually discovered what had happened.

By the time they arrived, however, it was already too late.

Kirigakure suddenly found itself under tremendous pressure.

One of its Tailed Beasts had effectively vanished.

When the Three-Tails had merely been roaming in the wild, Kirigakure could tolerate it.

The village had isolated itself from the outside world anyway.

As long as nobody beyond the Land of Water knew that neither the Three-Tails nor the Six-Tails was under Kirigakure's direct control, the deterrent effect remained intact.

Now things were different.

Konoha not only knew Kirigakure did not possess the Three-Tails—

They had outright taken it.

Would the Six-Tails be next?

Uchiha Madara, who was secretly controlling Yagura, was equally annoyed.

One of his future Tailed Beast assets had disappeared for no reason.

And so both sides arrived at the same conclusion.

Find the Six-Tails first!

Ao, as the owner of a Byakugan, was perfectly suited to tracking down its jinchūriki.

He succeeded.

Unfortunately, something went wrong during the encounter.

The Six-Tails' jinchūriki lost control, and a Tailed Beast Bomb obliterated Ao's lower body.

That was right.

Obito had once been crushed apart from left to right.

Ao had been separated from top to bottom.

Seen from that angle, perhaps Ao really did have some strange connection to Kakashi.

After all, Obito was originally the one who got split sideways, while Kakashi corresponded to Gojo Satoru—two-and-a-half Gojo, split across the middle.

Yet somehow Ao had inherited the defining trait of Kakashi's alternate-world counterpart.

One had to admit that Ao possessed remarkable talent for attracting Tailed Beast Bombs.

In the original timeline, he had also been blasted by the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb and somehow survived long enough to become involved with a villainous organization in the Boruto era.

Madara rescued him.

Mostly because Madara needed someone capable of doing certain jobs White Zetsu could not.

Ao's Byakugan happened to suit those needs perfectly.

Until Madara found an appropriate Uchiha successor, Ao would serve as a temporary pawn.

Madara not only used cultivated Hashirama cells to reconstruct the lower half of Ao's body, but also had White Zetsu recover several lost Kirigakure ninja swords and swordsmanship manuals.

All of it was meant to increase Ao's combat power.

However, Madara's relationship with Ao was nothing like his relationship with Obito in the real world.

Madara never told Ao about the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Nor did he expect Ao to inherit his will.

Which meant Madara needed another way to ensure his obedience.

So while reconstructing Ao's body, Madara gave him four extremely unfortunate "extras" without installing the corresponding equipment needed to make them normal.

Only after Ao completed his assigned mission would Madara restore his body properly.

That left Ao with little choice.

If he did not want to remain a freak for the rest of his life—and if he wanted to recover his dignity as a man—he had to obey.

Ao had originally assumed Madara would control him for many years, perhaps even until the day he died.

Yet now, Madara had suddenly promised that one final mission would earn his freedom.

Ao remained suspicious.

But he could not stop himself from hoping.

White Zetsu finished installing the new attachment, though Ao's four troublesome "extras" remained exactly where they were.

Ao did not question it.

He assumed this was simply another precaution Madara had taken.

Once the final mission was complete, Madara would naturally remove them.

"Go, Ao."

Madara looked calmly at the newly equipped shinobi.

"Obito will arrive soon.

"You need to make sure he sees that scene."

"Yes."

Ao casually put on a mask to hide his face.

Then he reached behind himself and drew the long blade Nuibari.

Step by step, he began walking toward Obito.

Only now did Obito finally realize something was terribly wrong.

Madara's sentence—Obito will arrive soon.

That was what finally made everything click.

Obito suddenly understood the problem.

He was not Obito anymore.

And Madara did not merely need some loyal disposable pawn.

He specifically needed an Uchiha pawn.

"Wait…"

Obito suddenly recognized something familiar about the masked figure approaching him, and his expression turned horrified.

"Don't tell me he's that demon from the recent Kirigakure rumors—Lady Siyang?!"

Ever since the Three-Tails incident, Obito had repeatedly ordered Danzō to send operatives into Kirigakure to collect intelligence.

The entire purpose had been to prepare for a day like this, when he would eventually need to find Uchiha Madara.

During those investigations, Root brought back several strange rumors.

Kirigakure had recently developed an urban legend known as Lady Siyang.

Much like the infamous Eight-Foot-Tall Woman, Lady Siyang had become a nightmare whispered about within Kirigakure's heavy fog.

According to the stories, Lady Siyang possessed four bizarre "marks" but lacked the corresponding equipment.

Her eyes were pale white.

She carried an unnaturally long blade.

And no matter where someone tried to hide, she would always find them before subjecting them to inhuman torment.

Obito had originally assumed it was just some ridiculous horror story.

He had never imagined Lady Siyang was real.

And that she was actually Ao!

Now everything made sense.

No wonder the rumors claimed hiding was useless.

With a Byakugan capable of seeing through obstacles, there really was nowhere to escape.

Wait.

Was now really the time to be thinking about that?

He was the prey.

Lady Siyang was coming for him!

How the hell was he supposed to get away?

"Madara, I came here intending to cooperate with you."

Obito gritted his teeth and spoke harshly.

"And this is how you treat me?

"Besides, do you seriously think this guy has already beaten me?"

If this had been his real body, with Kamui's intangibility available, Obito could have killed a hundred Aos a day without much trouble.

But now…

All he had was this body.

Still, Ao did not possess any particularly strange ninjutsu.

He had a Byakugan.

A sword.

And mostly relied on direct physical combat.

Obito might still have a chance.

"…"

Madara did not respond at all.

He simply sat there, watching with complete calm.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

With no other choice, Obito spat out a massive fireball to force Ao back, then immediately retreated.

Even if he had to fight, there was no way he was doing it here.

At first glance, this place seemed favorable.

Madara was old and physically weakened, while the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood behind him, which might discourage anyone from going all out.

But there was another way to look at it.

Even if Obito defeated Ao here, Madara and White Zetsu could simply intervene afterward and restrain him anyway.

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