"You are Obito Uchiha? The one who supposedly died in the Third Great Ninja War?" Sasuke questioned, staring at the eyeless Obito through gritted teeth.
From his contorted expression and the fury in his voice, it was clear he was struggling to suppress the inferno of vengeance burning within his heart.
"Hahaha! That's right! It's me! And I am also the one who pushed the entire Uchiha clan into the abyss of extinction! Your brother, Itachi, was nothing more than a pawn I manipulated." Obito split his lips into a reckless, wide grin.
Having lost his Mangekyo Sharingan, he realized his death was imminent, and a sense of nihilistic indifference washed over him. This shift alone revealed his fragile willpower; he possessed neither a fortified spirit nor the resolve to overcome adversity. He was merely venting his deep-seated resentment toward the world.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!"
Sasuke, never one to master his emotions, was instantly provoked into a mindless rage. His fingers blurred as he began weaving signs at a frantic pace. In less than three seconds, the piercing electric crackle of the Chidori flickered in his right hand.
Just as he raised his hand to pierce Obito's heart and avenge his parents and kin, a voice rang out near his ear.
"Universal Pull!"
In the next instant, Obito Uchiha was yanked away by an invisible force.
The one responsible was Deva Path Pain, descending from the sky. Behind him stood the other five puppets, accompanied by the core members of the Akatsuki: Itachi, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, and Hidan. The full assembly had arrived.
The Deva Path, under Nagato's control, cast a sideways glance at Obito's wretched state and mocked in a voice dripping with irony, "Should I address you as Madara Uchiha now, or Obito Uchiha?"
"Doesn't matter. Call me whatever you like." Having escaped death for the moment, Obito adopted an air of total apathy.
"Interesting! This is too perfect! To think the mastermind pulling the strings was actually Obito Uchiha, a man long presumed dead. The shinobi world truly is a place where anything can happen!" Deidara shouted, a grin spreading across his face in excitement.
"We will discuss your deception and your lies to a god later. For now, I have more pressing matters to attend to."
With that, Nagato directed the Deva Path to stand before Allen, speaking in a condescending tone: "I give you two choices. One: join the Akatsuki and surrender the Tailed Beasts sealed within you when we require them. Two: we kill you here."
"Kill me here? Who gave you such courage? Those Rinnegan that don't even belong to you?" Allen asked with a faint, knowing smile.
"Indeed! By the power of these eyes that only a god can possess!"
Nagato was clearly a severe case of "Chunibyo," Eighth-Grader Syndrome, having fully deluded himself into the role of a messianic savior.
Witnessing this, Allen pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed, "Truly, ignorance is bliss. Since that's the case, let me show you what a real Rinnegan looks like."
The words had barely faded when he fused the Wood Release representing Yang Release and the Sharingan representing Yin Release within his body.
In less than half a minute, his crimson Sharingan transformed into a pair of Rinnegan, while several black Truth-Seeking Balls began to condense around his body. At that moment, Allen's form began to radiate an aura so overwhelming that the natural energy in the surrounding air started to warp and churn.
"Another pair of... Rinnegan?!" Nagato was utterly paralyzed by the sight.
He had firmly believed these eyes were a gift from the heavens, his divine mandate and proof that he was destined to change the world. Now, another person possessed the Rinnegan, and from the raw pressure alone, it far surpassed the power of his own.
"There's no need to act so shocked. The so-called Rinnegan is simply the product of fusing Yin-Yang Release with the five nature transformations of chakra. Furthermore, those eyes of yours aren't yours at all; they are merely borrowed. I'm sure you've felt it, more often than not, it isn't you controlling the Rinnegan, but the Rinnegan controlling you. So stop with this ridiculous talk of being a god, or I might actually burst out laughing." Allen explained with a mocking glint in his eyes.
"What?! My eyes aren't my own?" Nagato sharply caught the keyword.
"Correct. For the details, you should ask Obito-san over there, the one who calls himself Madara. He knows the ins and outs of this story better than anyone." Allen pointed toward Obito, who was sitting on the ground playing dead.
Hearing this, Obito's expression shifted drastically. He scrambled to his feet, attempting to flee. However, before he could take more than a few steps, he was boxed in by the members of the Akatsuki and Nagato's puppets. Without the aid of his Mangekyo Sharingan, he couldn't defeat anyone present, with the possible exception of Hidan, that fanatical cultist simpleton.
"I believe you owe me an explanation, Obito Uchiha!" Nagato's voice betrayed a chilling, bone-deep fury.
"Your eyes belong to Madara Uchiha!"
Obito confessed the truth with blunt resignation. He didn't want to die, at least not here, at Nagato's hands.
"Madara Uchiha? The 'Ghost of the Uchiha' who supposedly ended the chaotic era alongside the God of Shinobi, the First Hokage? Didn't he die ages ago?" Kakuzu gasped, questioning loudly.
"No. He lived until the end of the Third Ninja War. And these Rinnegan... they were his." Obito slumped back onto the ground, giving up on escape. Even if he made it back, without his Mangekyo, he had lost his utility and could no longer advance the grand "Eye of the Moon" plan.
"No wonder... No wonder these eyes always felt like they had a will of their own! They never belonged to me from the start." Nagato murmured, his spirit crushed.
There is nothing more devastating than shattering the delusions of a man lost in fantasy, forcing him to face a cruel reality. To make matters worse, he had reigned over Amegakure as a "God" for so many years. The mere memory of it filled him with crushing shame.
For a moment, the entire forest fell into a heavy silence.
Only Sasuke, his crimson Sharingan burning, glared at his older brother. Through gritted teeth, he asked, "Why? Why did you make that choice back then? Did you not know how filthy and shameless Konoha leadership was?"
"I'm sorry, Sasuke. At that time, I had no better choice. If I had helped father and the Uchiha clan launch a coup, the entire Konoha would have suffered an unprecedented catastrophe. Even if the coup succeeded, it would have left a crippled village. The other Great Nations would have immediately invaded the Land of Fire, and even more people would have been dragged into the flames of war." A look of agony and helplessness surfaced on Itachi's face.
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