Tobi laid out his reasons, and Rin and Yamato listened as the picture gradually ca into focus.
The short version: all the White Zetsu who had been drifting without purpose had suddenly felt a signal. A presence capable of commanding them had appeared in the world once more.
A newly awakened pair of Rinnegan eyes.
Six Paths-level power.
Every White Zetsu had responded like a lost child who had unexpectedly found soone to lean on -- a master to serve, a reason to exist. The directionless wandering was over. They had sowhere to go.
With one exception.
Tobi.
He had crouched nearby and listened as the others chattered excitedly among themselves -- about finding the new master, about pledging their service, about carrying out whatever commands might be given them.
And he had thought: what exactly was the appeal of that?
Wasn't freedom better?
So when the rest of the White Zetsu began rallying to move out, Tobi stayed behind.
He did, however, listen in on their planning.
The White Zetsu had collectively reasoned their way to a conclusion: the Rinnegan signature was coming from the direction of Konoha. And wasn't it possible -- probable, even -- that their new master was being held prisoner there?
After all, their previous commanders -- Uchiha Madara, Uchiha Obito, and Black Zetsu -- had all treated Konoha as the enemy.
Konoha was the enemy. Konoha was holding their new master captive.
The logic was simple enough to fit inside a White Zetsu's uncomplicated mind, and they had accepted it without question. The decision was made. They would launch a full assault on Konoha and force the village to hand over their new master.
Tobi had found this plan completely uninteresting. Fighting was exhausting. And Konoha was absurdly strong -- those White Zetsu didn't stand a chance.
But then he heard a specific detail. A detail that changed his mind.
The White Zetsu's intelligence network had established that Konoha's most powerful fighters were currently outside the village. The plan involved sending a portion of their number to intercept and delay them.
Minato Namikaze. Kakashi Hatake. And two others -- Yamato and Rin.
"So --"
Tobi stood in front of Rin and Yamato, and whatever expression his featureless face was capable of conveying at this mont was almost certainly sothing in the vicinity of "go ahead, tell how impressive I am."
"I pretended to go along with their plan. Then, after they knocked you out and drained your chakra --"
He planted both hands on his hips.
"I secretly spirited you away! You're welco! Try not to be too overwheld by your admiration for !"
Rin and Yamato were quiet for a mont. Then Rin spoke, her voice careful with uncertainty.
"So... why exactly did you save us? You had no real reason to join their plan in the first place -- but you also had no particular reason to rescue us."
"Hmm..."
Tobi's voice shifted. It dropped into a deeper register, asured and unhurried.
"Who can say. Perhaps it was long-planned. Perhaps just a passing whim."
He held this posture without moving.
He had heard Obito say those words once, years ago. He had thought they sounded genuinely impressive and had been saving them for the right occasion.
Rin looked at this display of perford gravity and wasn't sure how to respond.
Then Tobi ruined the effect entirely.
"Kidding --!"
He was back to his usual tone instantly.
"The actual reason --" he tilted his head, that blank spiral face aid directly at Rin. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Rin, right?"
Rin blinked.
"And the guy out there -- that's stupid Kakashi, isn't he?"
Rin's eyes widened slightly.
Stupid Kakashi. That particular phrasing. There was only one person who had ever called him that.
"Obito always talked about you both," Tobi said, and his voice went noticeably quieter.
"...Yes," Rin said. Her voice had taken on a faint tremor. "That's right."
"I don't understand why you're alive again, or why stupid Kakashi has gotten so old..." Tobi paused for a mont.
"But I figured -- if you died again, Obito would be sad."
His tone was the sa as always, light and unbothered. But sothing in it landed differently. Rin heard it.
"That's my reason."
Tobi finished, turned around, and put his back to them.
That featureless face was pointed toward the entrance of the cave now, toward the darkness beyond.
If he had an expression, it was probably sothing like a smile.
"Hellooo --!"
An abrupt voice exploded through the underground space, shattering the quiet that had just settled.
Rin had been looking down, the echo of Tobi's words still turning in her mind. The greeting yanked her back.
She snapped her head up. Yamato's body went taut at the sa instant.
White Zetsu were erging from the ground.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Their pale forms rose through the earth, faces orienting toward Tobi, toward Rin, toward Yamato.
"Hey, hey, hey --!" Tobi's voice carried a note of genuine alarm for the first ti. "This is not good --!"
He stepped between them and the erging creatures, that blank face trained on the newcors.
"Tobi-senpai."
The one at the front spoke. "We didn't expect this from you. You've betrayed us." A pause. "We're still friends, though. Just hand those two over."
"Waaah --!" Tobi waved his arms with visible panic. "How did you even find this place --?!"
He turned to Rin and Yamato.
"I hid the entrance! You both saw it! I hid it really well!"
He stopped himself.
"...Oh. Right." His voice went flat. "You can track people by sensing their chakra."
A flash of sothing close to despair crossed Yamato's face.
"Can we negotiate?" Tobi turned back to the White Zetsu, his tone shifting into sothing almost conciliatory. He pointed at Yamato. "You can have this one. The Yamato one. Take him."
Yamato's eyelid twitched. So he really was just the incidental rescue.
"But --" Tobi pointed at Rin. "Rin matters to Obito. Let her go. Is that a reasonable request?"
The White Zetsu were silent for a mont. Then the one at the front shook its head.
They began to advance. Slowly, steadily, closing the distance.
"Damn it..." Yamato's jaw was tight, his hands balled into fists. He was powerless. His chakra was still gone -- every last trace of it.
The trickle coming back wasn't enough to form a single jutsu. Nowhere close.
"If I just had enough chakra..."
He said it through his teeth, not to anyone in particular.
Wood Release was not sothing these low-level White Zetsu could contend with. If his reserves were even partially restored, this fight would be over. But right now --
"Hm?" Tobi swung around to face him. "Not enough chakra?"
"That's right, but --"
Yamato hadn't finished the sentence when Tobi's body simply ca apart.
Not as a figure of speech. He dissolved -- that pale, soft form of his opening outward like a flower blooming, and then surging directly toward Yamato.
"Wear ."
Tobi's voice ca from within the flowing white mass, still carrying his usual breezy, unconcerned quality.
"I don't know why, but I have a feeling we're going to get along."
Yamato had no ti to react. The white substance was already wrapping around his body.
Starting from his arms, spreading to his shoulders, his chest, every part of him -- like pulling on a fitted white garnt that moved on its own.
Then Yamato went still.
Chakra. Power. The things that had been completely empty inside him monts ago -- they were flooding in, fast enough that he wondered briefly if he was dreaming.
"You're..." Yamato looked down at the white layer coating him, disbelief in his voice. "Aren't you the sa kind of creature as them? Is this really all right?"
Tobi's voice ca from within the white covering, unchanged, entirely unbothered.
"Don't get the wrong idea! Everything I'm doing here is because of Obito!"
The tone was exactly that of a petulant child refusing to admit they had done sothing kind.
****
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