Mai and Tobi landed in some cave. Mai couldn't tell where they were located precisely though.
"So... What are your plans for the war?" Mai asked the man bluntly.
"You are really straightforward..." Tobi noted.
"I hate wasting my time. I like to get straight to the point every time I do something."
"That's a very good quality."
"So...?"
"Just wait for now. We'll see everything tomorrow. You should go get some sleep now. Today has been a really eventful day..."
"... And where am I supposed to sleep?"
"Here."
"You mean... On the ground...?"
"Oh yes, right. I've forgotten to tell you... Here, it won't be as comfortable as the place you lived in. But you'll get used to it soon."
".... I guess so."
So Mai sat on the ground swiftly before laying down on the dirt.
She could already tell that this was going to be a long night...
"Good night..."
Tobi went to sit not that far from her, leaning against the wall of the cave, and kept observing her back for a while.
Mai spent most of the night (and when I say most in fact it means all night long) thinking about Kakashi and their daughter. She was feeling bad now for having been mad at him earlier... She just wished she could go see him and make sure he was okay. It's not as if she could have told him what she really had in mind. Once again, everything had happened too fast... She had made her decision on the spur of the moment. That was probably not the best decision she had made in her life but now she had to stick to it. Anyway, had she told Kakashi he would have never let her do it...
She just hoped now that he wouldn't do something... stupid...
His father had committed suicide... So now she was just imagining the worst...
Maybe she was just overreacting....
In the early morning, she went outside to watch the sun rise. She had always loved watching sunrises and sunsets; She found them so pleasant and beautiful.
"Already up, eh?" Tobi said as he appeared behind her as the sun was now high in the sky.
"Yes... I could hardly sleep..."
"I know how it feels..."
"So..."
"Don't be too hasty, Mai. I'll tell you soon enough. But first...."
".....?" Mai looked at him expectantly.
"I need to make sure that you won't betray me..."
"....Why would I take such a risk? I'm not stupid," she pointed out, even though her instincts were telling her that something bad was about to happen.
"I know. You are very, very far from being stupid, my dear Mai. And that's why I should distrust you even more..."
"......What are you planning on doing to me?"
"Nothing.... For now.... Just know that....." he trailed off before grabbing her throat with his hand, taking her off guard. "If you dare betray me... You'll regret it.... Am I being clear....?" he asked her as his sharingan was spinning.
"........"
"I... won't... We.. have the same objective..."
Tobi took a good look at her before letting go of her.
"Well, now let's go back to the cave."
"Just one thing. We should be careful and not stay at the same place for too long..." Mai pointed out. "I'm sure Kakashi will be looking for me. Knowing him, he must be already gone by now to track me with his dogs...."
"Don't worry about that, I've planned everything already...."
------
Later, when Kabuto appeared to meet Obito (I don't exactly know how long it happened after the Summit, so sorry if it's not really accurate... also, I don't remember the exact accurate dialogs, so, sorry about that too.)
This chakra.... Mai thought, It's Kabuto's....
"Kabuto.... What is he doing here?" Mai wondered aloud as she was looking up at him.
"You...." Tobi said.
"I just thought... I would come greet you, Tobi."
"Tobi?" Mai wondered aloud once again.
His appearance has changed.... Mai noticed
"Excuse me.... You go by Madara these days, don't you?"
"...."
But why Tobi?
"I didn't expect to find you here with him though, Godaime Hokage. What a surprise..."
"....."
"I'm impressed you even found me," Tobi stated.
"Remember, I served as a spy in numerous countries and spent some time working for Akatsuki myself. Don't underestimate what I might now."
"Yes, you were one of Sasori's spies... and a traitor to Akatsuki."
Next thing Mai knew, Tobi was attacking Kabuto.
But Kabuto ended up being okay.
"Don't get so ahead of yourself... There's something I'd like to show you..." he said to Tobi. "So just stay still and enjoy the sight..."
And then, next thing Mai knew this time, six coffins emerged out of the ground.
".....?"
What are these?
The doors of the five coffins opened all of a sudden, making Mai's eyes widen in stupefaction.
"It's...."
Here they were. Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori, Itachi.
"Edo Tensei....?"
The forbidden technique that was invented by her great-granduncle himself.....
"And... the best for last...."
Mai's eyes widened even more once the door of the last coffin was opened.
".........."
"Did you think I came here without an ace up my sleeve?" Kabuto stated.
Is this.....? No, it can't be him....
"That's right, now you can't refuse my offer!"
"You bastard...! Where did you get that?!"
"It's... Complicated... Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about this."
"The real.... Uchiha... Madara...."
Mai had never seen him for real, nor had she ever seen a picture of him before. But the man was so legendary that no one couldn't not recognize him when met with him...
So she had been right... This man next to her wasn't the real Madara... Since the real one was right before them..
"What's the meaning of this...? What do you want, Kabuto?" she asked.
"What I want...? Well, I guess I can tell you too since you don't seem to be here as his enemy... I want to help your new ally in the oncoming war, Godaime. Wait, this name isn't really appropriate any longer, is it? So what should I call you?"
"Just call me Mai. That will be enough."
"Well, Mai... I have a question for you now... How come you've come to betray your own village?" Kabuto asked her with a sly grin.
"Do you even care about it?" Mai replied sharply.
"Well... I am just curious... I mean... You... The daughter of the legendary Sannin Tsunade, the granddaughter of the Shodai Hokage, and of Dan Katō that dreamt to become Hokage... Chooses to betray her own village while she is the Hokage... That's really unusual... What would your father think if he were alive..? To see his own daughter join the enemy in a crucial war...? And your great-grandfather....? I'm sure he would be really disappointed and... angry...."
"I don't care. They are both dead, so it's not as if they could see me," Mai retorted.
She hated the tone he was using and the malicious smile which he had while speaking. But she restrained herself from beating him down. It looked as if he wanted to uncover her real intentions...
Bastard, Mai thought as she was frowning.
"Well, they may be dead, but I can easily revive your father.... As for the Shodai, it would be much more complicated...."
"Revive him?"
"Of course. What did you think? These are not the only corpses I possess, Mai."
"......."
Would he really dare do that? (Of course, Mai, he would.)
This... Was really bad.....
She hadn't expected Kabuto to offer his help to this 'Tobi' guy... Now, she had twice as much trouble to deal with....
And it was far from being easy....
------
Some time after that, before Obito goes get Nagato's Rinnegan.
"Are you really going to accept his offer?" Mai asked Tobi.
"Well... It's not as if he were leaving me a choice...."
"But why do we even need him anyway? Isn't what you've planned for the war enough?"
"It should be."
"We don't even know why he wants to help."
"So, are you saying that I shouldn't trust him?"
"Well, I didn't trust him when I was still faithful to Konoha, and now I still don't trust him. And given how himself and Orochimaru betrayed the Akatsuki in the past, you should be wary of him. Now, he seems to be even slyer than Orochimaru himself... But that's just my opinion. You do what you want of it."
"Don't worry, Mai. He'll think twice before wishing to double-cross me."
Mai just nodded.
"What do we do now? Will you finally show me what you have planned to fight against the Five Great Nations?"
"I will. But before I do there's something I need to do."
"May I ask what it is if you don't mind me asking? Unless you don't trust me enough..."
"I'm going to go... get back what belongs to me..."
"....."
What a vague and unclear answer...
"That is...?"
"You'll see it soon enough. Just wait for me here. I'll come back quickly."
"Alright..."
But now that he supposedly trusted her, now was the right time to try to find out his real identity since she was sure that he wasn't the real Madara.
"Wait! Now that we are officially allies you could show me your real face."
"Why do you want to see it so much, Mai?"
"Because I like to know who I am working with. Now, I know that you are not the real Madara, so why do you still need to wear this mask?"
"..... I'll show you later if you really want to see it. Whether you see it or not now doesn't matter anyway. But I have to go now. See you later."
"Why not now if it doesn't matter? It'll just take one second to remove your mask," Mai insisted
"......"
Tobi sighed.
"If you insist..." he said before removing his mask and revealing his true identity.
Mai froze as if time had just stopped. She was suffocating now and it wasn't that long before she actually passed out.
"......"
Obito had not expected her to react like this.
Suddenly, White Zetsu appeared out of the ground.
"What happened to her?" he inquired.
"She's just fainted."
"Fainted? Ooohhh..."
"Please, look after her while I am away."
"No problem."
Quickly after that, Obito put his mask back on and disappeared to go get Nagato's Rinnegan.
------
When she woke up, Mai noticed she was in a cave.
"You're finally awake," Obito stated with his fake voice.
Mai stared at his face but he still had a mask on. But this was not the same orange mask this time. She also noticed that he was wearing different clothes. But she was in such a state of daze that she couldn't even utter a word.
"....."
"You've remained unconscious for a very long while," he stated.
".... I... I had a very bad dream..."
"Don't worry, Mai. Your bad dream will soon be over."
"......"
"Now it's time to show you what I have planned for the war. Come on."
"......"
Mai was feeling completely dazed. She really thought that what had happened was only a bad dream...
She stood up nonetheless and followed behind Obito. When Obito finally showed her what he had planned, Mai's eyes widened in stupefaction.
"This is it. An army of White Zetsu. 100,000 Zetsu to be precise."
"........"
"So... What do you think?"
"...White... Zetsu....? But... What are those things exactly...?"
"These... are artificial humans that were created thanks to Hashirama's DNA and the Gedō Mazō."
"The Gedō Mazō?"
"That's right."
"......."
They were so numerous.... There were probably enough of them to fight against Konoha and the other nations....
"And so.... That's all...?"
"Why, did you expect something greater?"
"No.... Just... Will you sure it will be enough...?"
"If we add Kabuto's Edo Tensei it should be quite enough."
"Yeah..."
Mai needed to do something now before it was too late. She knew it was very risky since she was very likely to be observed all the time, making it impossible for her to stay on her own and freely.
"Sorry, but I'm not feeling really well. I have a very bad headache. And I'd like to get some rest on my own... if you don't mind..."
"Of course."
Obito accompanied her and once she was alone she took the only opportunity which she had to act. She kneeled on the ground and then took a scroll that was blank out of her back pouch and unrolled it swiftly.
But then she realized that she had nothing to write on it...
So she took out a kunai out of her pouch before slicing her left wrist with it.
She had to be really quick.
She let some of her blood trickle on the blank page before using her index finger to write with her own blood.
She wrote:
Infiltration - Kabuto use Edo tensei - new ally - army of white zetsu - 100,000."
That's all she wrote on the scroll.
Once she was done with that, she used her Creation Rebirth to heal her bleeding wrist. And afterward, she rolled the scroll back as it originally was so one could read what was written on it and applied some seal on it.
And now she just had to send it to Konoha...
"What do you think you are doing with this scroll, Mai..?" Tobi said as he appeared right behind her.
Mai flinched. She had guessed that this kind of thing would happen, just not so soon...
"........"
"I thought I had warned you... Wasn't it enough?"
"No. You know what? If you didn't want that to happen you should have never offered me to become your ally in the first place..."
"Hn."
"I know why you did that. If you managed to convince me to come with you, it was a good opportunity for you to weaken significantly the Five Great Nations... But... there was a simpler way to do that... You could have just kidnapped me and taken me with you by force..."
".....You've just made a big mistake, Mai. This scroll will never reach its destination."
"....You bet...?"
She did a hand seal swiftly and before Obito could get the scroll from her, it disappeared instantly.
"Huh? What did you do?!"
"This... Is not just any scroll..." Mai said to him. "Besides... I never leave the village without being fully equipped to face any kind of situation... As the Hokage, I can't afford to get caught out..."
Obito just grunted in response.
"You..."
Mai stood up swiftly and was ready to kick him with her feet but he blocked her attack. Then he caught her leg and made her fall to the ground. Afterward, he approached her and grabbed her throat before lifting her off the ground.
"What should I do with you now... Mai? Should I kill you on the spot, or control you with my sharingan so you won't betray me again...?"
"........"
Mai feared that if she tried to kick him with her foot again, her leg would pass through him... So it was no use to try...
"Do... You really think you can control me so easily... I am... quite skilled in Genjutsu..."
"But that's what a traitor like you would deserve."
"The only traitor I see here is you," Mai retorted, frowning.
"Hn. I thought that if I showed you my real face, you wouldn't dare betray me... But it seems that I was wrong..."
"Real... Face...?"
What...
"But you are just like Itachi... You like your village too much... Too much to understand that it was what triggered all the wars between the different nations... and all the pain..."
"The pain and conflicts existed long before the creation of Konoha...!"
"Whatever. It just made things worse."
".... What about you fight me for real without using your sharingan..?" Mai suggested defiantly.
"Hmm... No, sorry, I don't want to waste my time with you now. But I'll deal with you later, since you want to fight me so much."
After that, he let go of Mai before making her disappear in his Kamui dimension, once again.
She landed on her butt, and looked around her. This time she was alone.....
And he would probably not let her out anytime soon....
🌸🌸🌸
Hello everybody!!! I hope you're all doing well!!! :)
As you can see, I was very inspired for the title 😂 OMG, I can't even of myself...
So... About this chapter... I wasn't sure about it when I wrote it and I am still not sure now... I had to rewrite a part of it.
So, I'm sorry if it's not good and if some things were not really clear... but it was complicated for me to write with the time passing and all, if you know what I mean. (I'll still be able to edit it in the future anyway..)
I just wished to begin with the war arc quickly (which is gonna be so, so long....). Just about Mai's search, as you could guess it was unsuccessful, which is part of the plot. The thing is that they kept switching places so they couldn't be found (that didn't prevent Kabuto from finding Tobi though, but Kabuto is... Kabuto...).
And so, I'll explain that more in detail in the next chapter, but basically what's gonna happen is what happened in the original series and manga.
Also, about Mai not being able to stop Obito on her own, it just makes me so sad because it gives me the impression that she's useless.... But she tries so hard...
Yet, like Itachi said if you try to do everything on your own you'll fail...
Anyway, please vote and/or comment if you liked it!!!
Also, just out of curiosity, I'd like to know where you guys are from. I don't mean to pry or anything, but let's say that it's a way to know my readers better, you know! If you've already checked my profile, normally you saw that I was French, that's why my English is not always very good... (Btw, I apologize to english-speaking readers if there are any grammatical, tense mistakes or anything).
This is one of my big flaws, I'm way too curious about everything. My other big flaw is that I am very disorganized... But I guess I am not the only one...
Just, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I won't mind if you don't, you know! :)
Thanks for reading!! 😘💜
Lots of love xoxo