"It really is you…" Muttered Minato absentmindedly while staring at Obito's familiar face… Even though he expected this since he fully trusted Bakorio's words, it was still a huge shock to him that this student of his was still alive…

"It seems like you already knew about my true identity before you even removed my mask… Was it that Uchiha kid?" Asked Obito calmly despite his terrible situation.

Minato realized that he slipped up just now and revealed too much information but it didn't even matter as he simply shook his head and said "Where were you all this time? How did you survive back then? Kakashi and Rin were both sure that you died…"

Obito remained silent before he replied "It doesn't matter anymore, I lost everything, but I also gained strength, strength to reach far beyond what you can imagine" Responded Obito and suddenly, 10 white Zetsu appeared from the ground under him taking Minato by surprise as he deactivated his sage mode and wasn't able to sense them…

And the terrifying thing about this is that they each held countless explosives and were ready to obliterate Obito…

'This is bad, I won't be able to stop them in time, what should I do?' Wondered Minato but suddenly, a white ray of light passed through each white Zetsu and turned them into mere particles, before a voice echoed from the distance

"Trying to rely on Izanagi to save yourself? That won't work as long as I'm here" Minato and Kushina turned their attention to the source of this voice only to see Bakorio along with some of his normal shadow clones dragging a few chained people along with him and they included Nagato's true body and Kisame…

'This… Impossible! How could he beat all of them so quickly? What kind of monster is this?' Obito couldn't help but stare at Bakorio's eyes and all he saw was an emptiness that could swallow souls…

Minato nodded at Bakorio in appreciation before he turned his attention to Obito and asked "Answer me! What happened back then?"

However, Obito simply closed his eyes and remained silent prompting Bakorio to approach Minato and say "He won't answer… Or to be clearer, he can't answer"

Obito's eyes opened quickly and he couldn't help but stare at Bakorio in astonishment "You… who are you?"

Bakorio tilted his head at him before he said "Just an unlucky soul dragged into a huge mess…" Then Obito's eyes widened in horror, and it was shared by Minato and Kushina as they watched Bakorio raise his finger, and they could see light-condensing on it to the point that it became blinding to the eye

"What are you doing Bakorio-kun?" Yelled Kushina and tried to stop him but Minato suddenly held her back and watched silently.

Meanwhile, Bakorio suddenly aimed his finger at Obito's heart before he shot a very thin laser ray that penetrated directly through his heart and came out of his back…

Coughing up blood, Obito felt like he was going to die and was prepared to activate his Izanagi but he waited patiently to see what was going to happen next 'There must a reason for him to aim at the seal that Madara secretly put on me to control me…'

And his guess wasn't wrong as the moment Obito was about to fall to the ground, Bakorio caught him and cast a regeneration spell on him that quickly started healing his inured heart as well as back…

"How did you know about the seal?" Asked Obito not trying to fight since he knew he had no way to escape this situation with Minato's mark still on his back…

"What's going on Bakorio-kun, do you know anything?" Asked Minato who released Kushina that tried to save Obito which didn't go unnoticed by Obito and he felt a weird sensation in his heart… guilt.

This of course didn't escape Bakorio's notice as he calmly replied to Minato "Back during that incident more than 10 years ago, Obito was saved by an old man… and that old man was none other than Madara Uchiha"

Minato and Kushina felt like a bomb was dropped on their heads as they always thought that Madara was killed by Hashirama but now they were hearing a completely different story…

"Impossible, wasn't Madara supposed to be dead?" Asked Kushina to which, Bakorio simply stared at Obito and it was Minato whose eyes lit up and responded to her "Don't tell me… Did he use Izanagi to trick lord Hashirama?"

Bakorio nodded at Minato before he pointed at Obito and said "After saving Obito, he put this seal in his heart to control him, but it seems like you already discovered it, right Obito?"

Obito didn't respond to Bakorio and only stared at him in shock as he thought 'Did black Zetsu betray me? What's going on? How does he know all of this private information?'

Meanwhile, Bakorio was contemplating something else after remembering what he found out after analyzing Obito's seal from a distance using his Byakugan…

'Don't tell me… Did Madara figure out something about the dark seeds and actually created a seal based on their working… I guess I'm starting to understand a little bit about his purpose… He probably already knew that fighting that darkness was impossible, and seeing himself and the people of this world getting corrupted slowly by it, he decided to put them all in the eternal Tsukuyomi to free them from all that misery… I guess I'm not the only one who had the Jikininki ability, he probably had it as well…' This realization surprised Bakorio a lot, especially to think that someone had a similar ability to his…

All of these thoughts just took a second for Bakorio to process, and seeing Obito remain silent, he suddenly spoke "I will let you guys catch up, I'm sure there are plenty of things you need to ask him…"

"Where are you going?" Asked Minato suddenly which brought a smile to Bakorio's face as he said "I need to talk to a sneaky guy"

Then he instantly disappeared with a terrifying speed as he activated his snake sage mode and rushed at a nearby tree and broke through it revealing black Zetsu hiding inside!

With a panicked look on his face, black Zetsu prepared to run away but Bakorio instantly caught him and froze his lower half with ice release before he said

"Don't be afraid, I just want to talk, plus you already saw my fight with pain… Running away isn't an option"

"W-What do you want from me? I'm just a low-ranking member of the Akatsuki, I can tell you anything regarding the organization"

'Quickly selling your comrades huh? as expected of the person that would easily betray anyone to achieve his goal…' Thought Bakorio as he checked his surroundings before he summoned 2 clones and each of them created a different type of barrier, the first used a magnet release to block any sound from entering or leaving, and the second used the light release to completely block the view on the area and even the Byakugan wouldn't be able to see through it.

"Now that this place is isolated, we can talk freely" Spoke Bakorio and black Zetsu meekly replied "S-s-sure, what do you want to know?"

Bakorio had a wide smile on his face as he spoke "How's your mission to revive Kaguya currently going?"

Black Zetsu's meek appearance suddenly disappeared and was replaced by a cold and calculating one as he asked "Who are you?"

Bakorio stared at the moon that was slowly rising in the sky which further increased black Zetsu's wariness before he said "Just a drowning man trying to help another drowning man…".

Black Zetsu saw the empty look in Bakorio's eyes and an image of Kaguya suddenly superimposed with his face which made his heart shake slightly as he thought 'Why am I feeling this way, is this some kind of Jutsu?'