Uchiha Yuan didn't tangle with Qing for too long. When he saw there was no way to "convince" Qing, he looked for a chance to slip away.
Very soon, a White Zetsu clone within the Land of Water confirmed that Uchiha Yuan had already left the country.
Upon hearing this news, Obito shifted his attention back to the Hidden Mist Village. He ordered the White Zetsu clones to keep close watch on the Fourth Mizukage and Qing.
After returning to the Mist Village, Qing followed Uchiha Yuan's orders and made no unusual moves. She even took measures to erase traces of her departure.
Qing's behavior made Obito let down some of his guard toward her.
At this point, all of Uchiha Yuan's arrangements had taken effect. Now it was up to Yagura to act.
Meanwhile, the Fourth Mizukage Yagura, who had broken free from genjutsu control, was secretly and openly investigating the things he had done during that time. At the moment, he was reviewing some of the decrees he had issued since becoming Mizukage.
Yagura was fairly certain he had been controlled by genjutsu twice.
The first time was by an old man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara. That time the control didn't last long. Just like now, the illusion suddenly lifted one day.
This was actually because Uchiha Madara had died. Once he passed, his control over Yagura naturally ended.
Regaining control of his body, Yagura didn't reveal that he had been controlled. Instead, just like this time, he quietly investigated what commands he had issued during the period of control.
According to Yagura's earlier investigation, the old man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara had executed a bizarre plan while controlling him.
The plan was to seal the Three-Tails into a Leaf ninja's body, then send that ninja back to the Leaf Village to release the Three-Tails and wreak internal havoc.
To Yagura, this plan was absurd. Could the Leaf be shaken by just the Three-Tails? Even Three-Tails plus Six-Tails likely wouldn't be enough.
The only merit of the plan was that the chosen vessel was a disciple of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.
In the end, the plan failed. That female disciple of Namikaze Minato was killed by his other student, Hatake Kakashi. Once the Jinchuriki died, the Tailed Beast naturally perished with her.
After that, Yagura left the village to look for clues about the one who had controlled him—only to run into the masked man. After being defeated, he was once again controlled.
Now that he had suddenly regained his freedom, Yagura's instincts told him those people hadn't let him go, but were instead still hiding in the shadows, eyeing him closely.
Yagura certainly wouldn't sit around waiting to die. He needed to understand what had been done while he was under control in order to find a weak point in their schemes.
After all, Yagura was a Kage of a village. He had some talent.
Soon, he roughly pieced together what had been done using his body, and also discovered that his controller was paying close attention to the Akatsuki in the Rain Village.
After learning that, during his controlled state, he had orchestrated a large-scale massacre of bloodline limit clans in the Mist Village, Yagura was devastated. There was no doubt now that he had become a great criminal in the village's history, and would be remembered with shame.
Because of this, Yagura kept thinking—should he sneak into the Rain Village and investigate the Akatsuki, find out who was behind everything, and try to redeem himself?
After much deliberation, Yagura finally decided to take the risk and find out the truth.
This time, his departure from the village was partly to investigate Akatsuki in the Rain Village, and partly to see if he could lure the enemy out. Now that he was the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki, he believed he no longer needed to fear their illusions.
Yagura then entrusted village affairs to a trusted aide and instructed them to nurture ninja capable of succeeding him as Mizukage. Afterward, he departed.
But Yagura didn't know that every move of his was being watched by White Zetsu from the Mist Village. As soon as he left, White Zetsu immediately reported to Obito, who was lurking in the Land of Water.
White Zetsu emerged from underground and said, "Obito, Yagura has left the Mist Village. He's now heading toward the Land of Rain."
Obito's eye behind the mask lit up upon hearing that: "Heh! As expected of a village leader. He caught onto our weakness so quickly. But that weakness is also his death sentence."
"Let's move! Yagura clearly suspects us. He's moving fast."
"Heh… No matter how cunning the fox, it can't escape the hunter." With that, Obito used Kamui and disappeared along with Black Zetsu.
Yagura sped toward the Land of Water's border, while Obito and the others had already used space-time ninjutsu to reach the border ahead of him and set up a barrier, waiting for him to walk into the trap.
An hour later, Yagura arrived at the border. After walking a few steps, he stepped into the barrier.
White Zetsu immediately activated the barrier, trapping Yagura, Obito, and a few clones within it.
Facing the white barrier, Yagura looked calm, not panicked at all. This composure made Obito feel a sudden unease.
But he quickly suppressed that feeling and spoke in a tone imitating Uchiha Madara: "Yagura, we meet again!"
Hearing this, Yagura smiled slightly, then mockingly replied, "So you really came. Are you the one who controlled me last time?"
"You'll find out soon enough!" Obito replied while taking out the chains he used in the original story against Namikaze Minato, locking them around his hands.
"Fine. Once I catch you, I'll know whether or not you're the one who controlled me!" Yagura wasn't about to back down, and red Tailed Beast chakra began to emerge from his body.
After learning he was the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki, Yagura had decided to draw the enemy out. So when he saw the barrier, he wasn't flustered at all. With the Three-Tails, he had plenty of confidence.
But unfortunately for him, today he was up against Obito!
Yagura's confidence stemmed from the Three-Tails, but Obito had Kamui, which made him nearly invincible.
Yagura's chakra attacks passed right through Obito's body.
Yagura's face grew grim. Last time they met, Obito hadn't used this technique!
He knew that dragging things out like this wouldn't let him win—he simply had no way to counter Kamui.
So Yagura decided to transform into his Tailed Beast form, using the Three-Tails' power to break through the barrier and escape.
But when Obito saw this, he laughed loudly and used his Mangekyō Sharingan to control the Three-Tails' mind.
Once controlled, the Three-Tails began to resist Yagura. Originally, it hadn't wanted to fight back, preferring to stay sealed inside Yagura rather than be manipulated.
But under Obito's eye power, it had no choice. It began resisting Yagura, and he couldn't hold on for long.
The transformation broke. Yagura collapsed to the ground, and Obito took the opportunity to cast a genjutsu, once again controlling him.
White Zetsu, seeing that Yagura had been subdued, immediately lifted the barrier.
Obito guided the dazed Yagura toward White Zetsu.
Then he ordered Yagura to return to the Mist Village and continue acting as the Fourth Mizukage.
But because of Uchiha Yuan's test, Obito didn't dare make any big moves for now, and the Mist Village temporarily returned to peace.
And that was exactly what Uchiha Yuan wanted. That way, Qing would have the chance to expose the Fourth Mizukage's control and seize the opportunity to become Mizukage.
Uchiha Yuan had done all this just to make Qing the next Mizukage.
(To Be Continued...)