To Be Lost On The Road Of Life (Continuation)

Chapter 30 - Full Circle

Chapter 30 - Full Circle

The Gedo Mazo.

It was the key so to speak, even more so than the tailed beasts, in Madara and Black Zetsu's plans.

For even without the tailed beasts themselves, it was possible to revive the Jūbi with the presence of a few and the chakra of the rest-at least, until the beast captured the remaining bijū itself. Whereas having the tailed beasts alone would do nothing (aside from result in a headache of epic proportions to keep them detained), having the Jūbi's husk was everything.

With a single technique, not only would Obito remove the key to the world's end, but he would be severing Madara's lifeline. A single technique, and one of the world's greatest threats would be dealt with indefinitely, while the other would be delayed greatly.

And yet, Obito still had one last thing to make sure of.

With a calm he didn't quite feel, the Uchiha placed his hand on the gnarled surface of the statue, his eye boring a hole into it's affixed spot. He drew a steadying breath before focusing, honing his chakra and sense to the husk before him.

Obito could not say it enough. He was no sensor, never was, and would never be cut out for the position no matter how much he tried to hone his senses. His minor sensing ability was only slightly greater than that of the average Jōnin, and that was due to the nature chakra that swelled within him.

And yet, as he probed the shell with his chakra and strained his senses, he knew that the chakra he was looking for was absent. That void-like, all-encompassing, almost suffocating chakra that he had felt during the Fourth Shinobi War was not there.

Black Zetsu was not within the statue.

Obito abruptly severed the connection with a sour grimace. He had been right in his earlier assumption, then-Black Zetsu could and had exited whenever he wished. Clearly not to Madara's knowledge, for the man had been convinced that Black Zetsu was his will when he introduced the being to Obito prior to his death.

But what did it mean for the past? The future? Neither Obito or Madara actually knew of the shadow's true motives until it was too late; had Black Zetsu been absent at this point before? Had there been a time before Obito was "rescued," that Madara had been unable to "create" the Zetsu clones? Or had something he had done in the current timeline changed this?

Shaking his head, Obito ignored the faint thrum of confusion (hope?) within him that left him reeling. Instead, he refocused his thoughts outwards and his chakra shifted to accommodate his morphed eye. He held his chakra tightly reined as he used it on the statue, but this time, for a different purpose. Slowly, agonizingly so, the faint lines of distortion appeared as the Gedo Mazo was being transported. It twisted and shifted, swirling into the focal point where Obito's eye was transfixed. It took herculean effort to accomplish on such a large object with depleted chakra stores, but with a final push the statue finally twisted out of existence.

'... There,' he thought quietly as he steadied his breaths, slightly winded. He blinked back the dryness of his eye and fought against the encroaching headache. 'Even if I don't make it out of here, their plans will be delayed greatly.'

It was a true enough statement. As it stood, only three people in existence could summon or retrieve the Gedo Mazo, one being Obito himself. Unless he left remains for Black Zetsu to come back and identify, his identity would be safe-therefore meaning that Kakashi, who held his other eye (and one of the methods of regaining the statue) was safe as well, especially since he likely wouldn't realize the full extent of the gift until later on in life. Never, Obito would hope, because gaining the Mangekyō would consequently mean the loss of someone important to the both of them, again.