"What a monster... Could this guy also be a descendant of the Otsutsuki Clan and inherit an exceptionally strong Kekkei Genkai?" Sensing the disconnection with the Ultimate Summoning Beast, Obito's face immediately grew unpleasant.
After extensive nurturing, the Ultimate Summoning Beast had almost mastered the abilities of most summoning beast species in the Shinobi world, becoming an unrivalled warrior with almost no weaknesses.
Even without intelligence, its ridiculous strength could completely ignore this demerit.
However, things did not go as Obito had planned. Shortly after releasing the Ultimate Summoning Beast, it died.
If it were a head-on fight, Obito felt that even three of him would not be able to kill the Ultimate Summoning Beast.
Such a powerful Ultimate Summoning Beast was easily dealt with. What was with that ridiculous strength?
Upon analysing the information about Nagasawa, Obito felt that Nagasawa's abilities were nothing like the Otsutsuki Clan. At most, perhaps the similarity lied in the substantial Chakra levels and powerful physique.
However, those two aspects weren't exclusive to the Otsutsuki lineage.
Obito also ruled out the possibility that the one who defeated the Ultimate Summoning Beast was not Nagasawa. After all, Konoha didn't have that many strong Shinobi.
Obito took a deep breath didn't dwell on it too much. For safety reasons, the moment the Ultimate Summoning Beast was released, he used Kamui to leave. He did not risk watching in the vicinity.
After a while, a black-and-white figure slowly emerged from the ground. It was Zetsu.
Zetsu possessed the most potent stealth abilities, so Obito assigned him to collect the information about the fight secretly, while he himself fled as far as possible.
"Obito, I have two bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Zetsu said to Obito.
"Two bad news? Aren't they the same? Just say it quickly." Obito frowned upon sensing that something was off with Zetsu.
"The first bad news is that Fujiwara Nagasawa is even stronger than we thought. He practically turned the Ultimate Summoning Beast into smoothie with a single punch. When he punched, it was as if space shattered, the earth split, and the clouds ruptured... If it weren't for its extremely potent healing ability, the Ultimate Summoning Beast would have died from that punch alone. Even so, the Ultimate Summoning Beast pay a hefty price for healing its injuries," Zetsu described the terrifying scene of Nagasawa's punch.
"Space shattering, the earth splitting, and the clouds rupturing?" Obito was momentarily stunned, and suddenly an image of an old and muscular figure with a peculiar white mustache flashed in his mind.
At that time, he was still setting up his plan in the Land of Rain, not long after deceiving Nagato.
He made a deal with Nagato: he would help Nagato kill Hanzo, and Nagato would assist him in collecting the Tailed Beasts. Of course, Obito didn't reveal the Eye of the Moon plan.
At that time, Obito had just merged with the Hashirama Cells within him, and Nagato hadn't mastered his Rinnegan, so they planned to wait for quite some time before dealing with Hanzo to ensure everything was in order.
But then there was an interesting accident. A powerful figure was rampaging in the Land of Rain, and Amegakure issued a wanted order for that person. That person was Whitebeard.
Whitebeard left a deep impression on Obito because he was so strong that Obito had to attack him from his blind spot while he was severely injured to have a chance to kill him.
Obito was certain that Whitebeard must be an unbelievably strong person in his prime.
Although it was abnormal that such a powerful figure was relatively unknown, Obito considered it normal when dealing with the mysterious Land of Iron.
'Is it simply because they are both very strong?' Obito didn't think too much. After all, Nagasawa was a Shinobi; how could he have the same ability as Whitebeard, who was a Samurai from the Land of Iron?
"Well, that move is not even the scary part. Although it was powerful, it couldn't eliminate the Ultimate Summoning Beast with a single blow. What's terrifying is what came after. Suddenly, Nagasawa Fujiwara's body erupted with bright golden light. Bright golden flame shrouded him, forming a cloak that draped over him. Then, with just a swing of his sword, the Ultimate Summoning Beast instantly perished," Zetsu's voice became somewhat low.
Unlike Obito, Black Zetsu was more knowledgeable and knew more powerful people.
Upon seeing Nagasawa in his Radiant Sun Mode, Zetsu truly felt the horror of Nagasawa. He even felt as if he was seeing Hagoromo.
It was not that Nagasawa resembled Hagoromo, or that their abilities were similar, but their strengths were both extremely terrifying, far surpassing those around them.
Although Nagasawa was not as powerful as Hagoromo at the moment, he was still young and would become even stronger. In Zetsu's eyes, it was no coincidence that Nagasawa was this powerful; he was the biggest obstacle to Kaguya's resurrection!
"How to deal with a living Hagoromo? Black Zetsu's answer was to start with the people around him because fighting him head-on is impossible."
"That strong? I underestimated him." Obito frowned and then asked, "Is there a way to get Hyuga Clan out of Konoha?"
Although Nagasawa was formidable, Obito believed that once he completed the bloodline integration, completed the Otsutsuki bloodline, he would be stronger than Nagasawa.
"It's impossible. That guy's Sensory ability constantly covers Konoha. If I make any move, he will sense it." Zetsu shook his head.
His stealth skill was potent, but the opponent was too strong. Black Zetsu wouldn't take risks for Obito's mission.
If there was no other way, Black Zetsu would likely choose to lurk in the shadows until Nagasawa died. If Nagasawa died, there would be no one to get in his way to resurrect his mother. Even if Obito disappeared, Black Zetsu could just find the next candidate, although the process might take a while.
But that was only if there was no other option. This time was the closest Black Zetsu had gotten to resurrecting Kaguya. He didn't want to let it slip away.
"As long as I resurrect my mother, it won't matter who the opponent is."
"You don't necessarily have to go after the main family. As long as they're at least a Jonin, their Byakugan should be good enough. Some who aren't in the main family are not because their Byakugan isn't pure, but due to the Hyuga Clan's rules." Black Zetsu said.
He didn't want Obito to continue hesitating. He wanted Obito to become stronger while Nagasawa hadn't truly reached Hagoromo's level.
As a creature that had lived for so long, Black Zetsu obviously knew about Hyuga Clan's twisted rules and successfully persuaded Obito to shift his focus from the main family to the promising members of the branch family.
Kidnapping Hyuga Clan Main Family might be hard, but that was not necessarily the case for the branch family. After all, Hyuga Clan Shinobi still had to carry out missions.
"Report this information to Akatsuki, and don't hide anything. That will put more pressure on Nagato." Obito said after a brief thought.
Originally, he didn't want Nagato to fall into despair due to how powerful Nagasawa was. However, upon careful consideration, Nagato probably wouldn't care given his personality. Moreover, with so many members, Akatsuki probably would find out eventually even without Black Zetsu informing them.
He didn't want Nagato to be overly wary of Zetsu due to the information.
"What's the other bad news?" Obito remembered there were two bad news.
"Fujiwara Nagasawa wants to hold Five Kage Summit to make the world peaceful once again. You probably won't be able to manipulate the Land of Water for long." Zetsu replied.
Obito nodded. It didn't sound as bad as he though perhaps because he was already depressed by the first bad news.
He manipulated Land of Water for various reasons. He wanted to recruit powerful Shinobi for Akatsuki, weaken the Five Great Shinobi Countries, and paid Kirigakure back for what they did years ago.
At this point, most of his goals had been achieved. Shinobi like Juzo Biwa, Raiga Kurosuki, and Kisame Hoshigaki had been recruited into Akatsuki. Due to the Fourth Minato's policy, Kirigakure fell into serious internal strife, weakening its power. With that, he had exacted his revenge.
Even if he lost control over the Fourth Minato now, Obito didn't care. However, he wouldn't let go of the opportunity to cause trouble for the Five Great Shinobi Countries.
He decided to exploit the Fourth Minato until the last second to trigger conflict between Kirigakure and Konoha and weakened both sides.
After giving some final instructions to Zetsu, Obito used Kamui to leave and prepared for the upcoming plan.
...
Except for the sudden appearance of monsters attacking on the third day, the last two days of the Forest of Death stage were unusually peaceful until the exam ended.
The candidates who passed the exam entered the rooms in the central tower and then reached the huge square inside the tower.
After five days of intense battles, the number of candidates who finally passed the exam was sixty-six, most of them looking quite disheveled and injured to some extent.
However, they felt that the five days of battle were worth it because there were four Kage that congratulated them for passing the stage. If the retired Third Hokage were included, that would be five Kage in total.
"Each Kage is revered and admired by the Shinobi of their respective villages. It's truly something to have a Kage congratulate you after a hard-fought victory. If it weren't for the serious atmosphere now, there might be people shouting slogans like 'Will of Fire' or 'Will of Stone' loudly."
"You are all outstanding Genin, proving your excellence with strength," Minato smiled at the Genin that lined up in front of him.
Being able to get this far after such intense battles just went to show that they were undoubtedly elites. Even if they were physically and mentally exhausted, they remained disciplined.
Seeing many Shinobi with Konoha forehead protectors below, Minato was even happier. They were the future of Konoha.
Minato gave them a few words of encouragement before sitting with the other Kage.
After Minato stepped back, Nagasawa stepped in and said:
"First of all, congratulations on passing the exam. In the upcoming third stage, you will have the opportunity to be promoted to Chunin."
The third stage is different from the first two stages. While the first and second stages were conducted in groups, the third stage was an individual battle.
"In the third stage, give it your all to showcase your abilities. Win as many battles as possible to show the examiners truly understand your strength. If you perform exceptionally well, you can still become a Chunin even if you lose a battle during the fights. On the contrary, even if you win all the way to the end, if you're deemed not skilled enough, you won't become a Chunin. There's even a chance that no one will be promoted to Chunin if no one meets the criteria."
The Chunin exam was not about ranking but selecting those who qualified to become Chunin, so the rules were strict.
Nagasawa was the main examiner for the third stage.
Since the main examiner for the second stage was the Sannin, the main examiner for the final stage had to be an even more famous one.
The most suitable person aside from him should be the Third Hokage. However, the Third Hokage, who wanted to enjoy his retirement, asked Nagasawa to take over.
Nagasawa readily accepted. It was a reasonable choice since he had planned the Chunin Exam.
"You have seven days to rest. During this time, you can recuperate or choose to advance further. After seven days, the final stage, the Chunin exam arena battle, will begin."
"If there are no questions, you may leave now." Nagasawa concluded his speech.
As someone who detested long speeches by school principals, Nagasawa kept his words short. He vividly remembered his naive self in elementary school, thinking that when the principal said a brief two minutes, it would indeed be two minutes, only to be forced to stand there until his legs were sore.
Since then, he vowed that if given the chance, he would speak briefly, truthfully, and stick to the promised time. So, Nagasawa's speeches were always concise.
He made the instructions clear, and the participants knew the specific procedures. No one asked questions; they all shook their heads, indicating they had no question.
"If that's the case, you may leave." Nagasawa dismissed the participants.
After that, Nagasawa, along with Minato and others, left. He had many things to deal with next. Others might not know the truth about Kirigakure, but Nagasawa did.