Yakushi Nono opened Uchiha Obito's chest cavity near his heart and found the seal wrapped around it.

Now Yakushi Nono finally understood why they had to open Uchiha Obito's chest cavity, which had looked perfectly fine.

Uchiha Obito weakly said, "Kakashi, please."

Kakashi's forehead was already sweating with tension. "I understand."

Kakashi reached out and grabbed the seal, trying to pull it off, but the seal was too firm; he could only pull it a short distance, unable to remove it.

At the same time, the tightening of his heart made Uchiha Obito finally groan in pain.

Kakashi immediately panicked, "What should I do now? This seal won't come off!"

Chiba sensed the strength of the seal and determined, "Kakashi, pull the seal out a bit, then use your Chidori infused in a Kunai to forcibly cut it."

Kakashi frowned, "What if I miss..."

Chiba sternly told Kakashi, "Now is not the time for you to hesitate. If you give up now, Obito's life will still be in their hands. He trusts you, so you must trust yourself, Kakashi."

Uchiha Obito gritted his teeth and said, "Kakashi, I trust you, come on!"

Kakashi took a deep breath, mentally prepared himself, and pulled out a Kunai. He infused the Chidori lightning into the Kunai, and the operating room was instantly filled with flashing lightning.

Then Kakashi once again grabbed the seal on Uchiha Obito's heart, pulled it out a short distance, and then a flash of lightning cut through. The Chidori Kunai precisely severed the seal, successfully pulling it off.

Seeing the seal in his hand, Kakashi let out a long sigh. When he swung the Chidori Kunai just now, he was completely stunned.

And Uchiha Obito also fainted.

Yakushi Nono immediately sutured Uchiha Obito's wound.

Inside the ward.

Uchiha Obito lay on the hospital bed, still unconscious.

Kakashi sat by Uchiha Obito's side, ready to take care of Uchiha Obito at any moment.

Chiba said to Kakashi, "Stay in the village for now."

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, that's what I plan to do. Naruto Uzumaki is currently training with Jiraiya, so I don't need to go there anymore. Oh, right."

Kakashi took out Minato Namikaze's letter. "Sensei, this is what Minato Namikaze wanted me to give to Miyuki Uzumaki. Please hand it over for me. I don't want to leave Obito right now."

"Okay, I understand. Obito has Hashirama cells, so he will recover very quickly. You don't need to worry too much. I'll take my leave now."

After Chiba left the Ninja Hospital, he went to the Hokage Building office and found Miyuki Uzumaki.

Miyuki Uzumaki saw Chiba and asked, "Chiba? You came to see Kushina, didn't you? Kushina went to the third floor."

"No, I came to see you." Chiba took out the letter Kakashi had given him and handed it to Miyuki Uzumaki. "Kakashi is back from Konoha. This is a letter he asked Kakashi to give to you."

Although Chiba hadn't read it, he could roughly guess the contents of Minato Namikaze's letter just by guessing.

It was nothing more than longing, regret, and a plea for forgiveness.

Miyuki Uzumaki was stunned and almost immediately guessed who Chiba was referring to when he said 'he'.

Miyuki Uzumaki took the letter with a solemn expression, opened it, and began to read.

Chiba raised an eyebrow, a slight smile playing on his lips.

He really had something up his sleeve.

Minato Namikaze, far away in Konoha, was about to go see Naruto Uzumaki when he suddenly stopped.

Minato Namikaze murmured, "So it's in the Hidden Sound Village. I didn't expect it to be right under my nose. Chiba, you hide things well."

The letter Minato Namikaze gave to Miyuki Uzumaki contained a triggered Ninjutsu.

As soon as the letter was opened, the Ninjutsu within it would automatically activate, sending the location back to the caster.

Because this Ninjutsu was a Ninjutsu related to space-time, Miyuki Uzumaki was not sensitive to space-time and therefore did not notice it.

However, Chiba, who was very sensitive to space-time, felt it even with the weakest fluctuation.

Miyuki Uzumaki quickly finished reading the letter, casually placed it aside, and forced a smile, saying, "Thank you, Chiba, but his letters are no longer needed. I don't care, nor am I interested."

"Alright, but I don't think it will be a letter next time. Well, I won't disturb your work. I'll be going now."

Chiba waved at Miyuki Uzumaki and left the office.

Miyuki Uzumaki found Chiba's words a bit strange but didn't pay much attention to them.

As Chiba had guessed, Minato Namikaze's letter was filled with his longing for Miyuki Uzumaki, his regret over what happened that year, and his hope of gaining Miyuki Uzumaki's forgiveness.

However, what happened that year was a nightmare-like memory for Miyuki Uzumaki. To this day, Miyuki Uzumaki would still dream of Minato Namikaze taking the infant Naruto Uzumaki from her hands, and then she would suddenly wake up.

How could this allow Miyuki Uzumaki to forgive? As long as this memory existed, she would never be able to treat Minato Namikaze the same way as before.

...

Five days later.

Uchiha Obito's injuries healed very quickly, not only due to the regenerative power of Hashirama cells but also because of Yakushi Nono's excellent medical Ninjutsu. He was now fully recovered.

In the conference room of the Leader Building.

Chiba, Kakashi, and Uchiha Obito were holding a small meeting.

Chiba asked Uchiha Obito, "So, what do you plan to do next? Stay in the village?"

Uchiha Obito shook his head, "No, I've already notified Hikari and Yihiko to come to the Land of Rice Fields. After that, I'll go meet Hikari and Yihiko with you. However, Yihiko, that guy, it's best to kill him because he extremely idolizes Uchiha Madara. After that, I plan to return to the Akatsuki as Uchiha Obito."

Chiba and Kakashi both looked at Uchiha Obito in surprise.

Kakashi asked in confusion, "Your seal has been broken. Wouldn't returning to the Akatsuki be very dangerous?"

Chiba thought for a moment and said, "This doesn't seem impossible. The current Akatsuki is no longer controlled by Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara. Also, since Obito broke the seal on his heart, they can't do anything to Obito now."

Uchiha Obito agreed, "That's right, going to the Akatsuki now is not dangerous; on the contrary, it's very safe. Black Zetsu and Uchiha Madara will not act rashly once they discover that the seal on my heart has disappeared. You should also need an undercover agent who can always know the Akatsuki's movements, right?"

Chiba nodded, "We do indeed need an undercover agent who can always know the Akatsuki's movements. So, Obito, we'll be relying on you from now on."

Uchiha Obito smiled at Kakashi and said, "Don't worry, Kakashi, if I want to get out unscathed, no one can stop me."

Kakashi sighed, "Alright then."