CH 578

“My name is… Uchiha Madara!”

“Uchiha Madara?!” muttered Kuroto with widened eyes as he vigilantly looked at the figure that suddenly appeared in his room, and internally his mind was going haywire, he couldn’t help but think, ‘What the hell is Obito doing at my house? Could it be… my identity has been exposed? But if so… then how…? Just how in the hell did Obito and Akatsuki figure out that it is me?!’

But before Kuroto had any time to properly consider whether it is exactly as he was thinking and if Obito’s purpose is really related to that, Obito spoke, “No need to be alarmed, I am not here with hostile intentions… This time, I am here… only to make a deal with you… Hyuga Kuroto!”

“Huh… A deal you say?!” Kuroto was taken aback, and narrowed his eyes trying to figure out Obito’s intentions behind his words, ‘Deal? What kind of deal? And why would he want to make a deal with me? Moreover, the way he is talking, it doesn’t seem…’

From Obito’s casual manner of approaching him, Kuroto felt that Obito shouldn’t have discovered his secret identity as the leader of Amatsukami, because if he had, Obito wouldn’t have dared to come before him so casually.

So, after calming his mind, Kuroto looked at Obito with a vigilant expression, and asked tentatively, “Why do you think I will make a deal with the likes of you?”

“I don’t know… maybe for the sake of ensuring the safety of your dear disciple, Hyuga Neji?” said Obito, with a chuckle, then added with a serious tone, “You should be aware that he is in our hands… And you see, the thing is, I am not interested in killing him as there’s no benefit in doing so, so here I am to make a deal with you… If you wish to keep him alive and also have him return to Konoha then you will do as I say…”

Kuroto blinked twice upon listening to Obito’s words… he didn’t really expect that Obito would be here to make a deal regarding such a matter, and couldn’t help but think, ‘He is an idiot, right? He specifically came to my house just to blackmail me using Neji as a hostage?’

After realizing some extent of Obito’s purpose of coming here, Kuroto immediately came up with a plan and started to enact a performance using his vast acting experience in order to figure out what exactly is that Obito wants to blackmail him into doing…

At the mention of Neji, Kuroto showed an expression filled with surprise and burning anger, and slowly reached out his hand into his vest where a Kunai is supposed to be hidden as per the Anbu standards…

Seeing Kuroto’s ‘little actions’ Obito’s tone darkened, and said, “You should make every move after thinking wisely because each of your ‘little actions’ might result in the death of your loved ones…”

Hearing the warning issued to him, Kuroto’s hand stooped midway, and the intense anger was clearly visible on his face.

Obito felt satisfied looking at the helpless expression of Kuroto and chuckled inwardly…

And while Obito was chuckling inwardly, Kuroto who was externally showing an expression filled with helplessness, anger, and intense hatred, internally analyzed the possibility of the success rate of a sneak attack on Obito.

Kuroto has many ways using which he can ‘kill’ Obito, but because of the Izanagi that Obito must have Transcripted in the spare Sharingan that he has implanted in his body, he will not die, so each of Kuroto’s killer moves will become ultimately useless… The assassination will succeed, if and only if, Obito’s chakra is in a disrupted state.

If Obito’s chakra is in a disrupted state, he will not be able to use Izanagi, and then Kuroto can kill him, but looking at Obito, as well as the surroundings using his Byakugan vision, Kuroto felt that the success rate is very low.

The reason for the low success rate is the fact that Obito’s body is not present in the Shinobi World, he is only maintaining a physical appearance in front of Kuroto, in reality, Obito is still present inside the Kamui Dimension, so, even if Kuroto attacks Obito, it would be useless as the attack will not connect with Obito’s body, and just phase right through him.

What’s more, Kuroto is still present inside Konoha, and using that particular method would mean exposing his identity as the leader of Amatsukami, which is something Kuroto doesn’t want to risk at this point considering that the possibility of success is zero, so he decided not to play along with Obito for the time being.

After letting go of the thought of attacking Obito, he thought about how to answer his proposal.

Seeing that Kuroto was busy thinking, Obito added, “You should understand that Hyuga Neji, in particular, has no value to the Akatsuki… and even a moment of delay in compliance can result in his death. If you wish for him to stay alive you would do well to agree…”

After pondering a little, and getting repeatedly ‘blackmailed’ Kuroto nodded, “Alright” but then added with a helpless expression, “I am not sure if you are already aware of this or not, but I am a member of the branch division of the Hyuga Clan, as such, the things I can do for you are limited… If you expect me to betray the village, then you are expecting too much out of me…”

“No… no…!” Obito shook his head here while waving his hand casually, “Firstly, I have no interest in Konoha’s secret intelligence… so, by doing as I say, and working for me, you are not technically betraying the Konoha Village, so you don’t have to worry about becoming a traitor, and secondly, even if I asked you to do that, you can not deny it, as you are not in any position to negotiate here… you would do well again by keeping that in mind as well…”

Kuroto was startled by Obito’s words, and nodded in realization, “Alright, I suppose…” then he questioned with a confused gaze, “But if you don’t want Konoha’s intelligence, then what do you want me to do?”

At this question, Obito’s expression under the mask became extremely serious, and he said in a deep tone of voice, “I want you to collect intelligence on Amatsukami for me…”

“Amatsukami…?” Kuroto was again taken aback, and for a moment he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Obito’s bad luck…

Obito came to threaten and blackmail him, the leader of Amatsukami, for what? To investigate Amatsukami’s intelligence and report it to Akatsuki? Kuroto had to really commend Obito for making such a bold decision…

Seeing that Kuroto was silent, Obito thought that he was hesitating, and said, “I know everything about you, everything about your abilities and history, to your relations… so you don’t need to make excuses, because doing so might cause you heavily… I know that you are the team leader of the elite Anbu unit, Team-Ro… so you have access to the entire intelligence network of Konoha Village… And since you are the guy who managed to locate Akatsuki’s base in the Amegakure, so don’t go denying that you are not capable of investigating Amatsukami’s intelligence, you are pretty capable of… and even if you are not, you will find it no matter what, if you want your loved ones to not die suddenly…

I am also aware of the fact that Konoha and Amatsukami have started to cooperate, so finding intelligence on Amatsukami shouldn’t be that difficult for you… Hence, you will do as I say, if you do not want your dear disciple to die…!”

“I… I see…” Kuroto agreed with a nervous expression, but internally he couldn’t help but stare at Obito blankly and think, ‘This guy… is really an idiot…! No doubt about this!’

At the same time as Kuroto was looking blankly at Obito, Obito also looked at Kuroto, but Obito’s gaze was different… he looked at Kuroto as if he has Kuroto dancing in the palms of his hands, and thought to himself, ‘No matter what… you don’t have the option to refuse me… Hyuga Kuroto!’