The space around the missile warped violently!
Chōji Akimichi spun around. The smoke trail from the missile still lingered behind him, yet the missile chasing him had miraculously vanished?!
He instinctively glanced toward Kakashi-sensei, only to see the teacher using his last ounce of strength, his very breath now a desperate gasp...
Glancing at Kakashi-sensei, then at his father lying nearby, Chōji Akimichi clenched his teeth, tears streaming down his face as he charged toward the Hokage Tower!
...
In a distant, mysterious stronghold, darkness enveloped a man radiating malevolence. Wearing an orange-yellow swirl mask, he contemplated the steps to realize the Eye of the Moon Plan.
An inexplicable flutter struck his heart, and chakra instinctively flowed toward his right eye. Through the orange mask, he slowly traced the contours of the Sharingan.
"What is it, Madara-sama?"
White Zetsu shifted his body.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Had he ventured into his Kamui's Dimension, he might have discovered someone had bestowed a great gift upon him. He might also have realized that his last remaining bond was vanishing from this world.
...
Amidst the silent ruins, the silver-haired ninja gazed up at the pale sky. His weary eyelids slowly closed...
Until the eye his hero had given him could no longer perceive even a glimmer of light.
'Obito...'
'It seems the future I could help you see ends here.'
'I too...'
'At last, I can join you.'
'Obito, Rin, Minato-sensei...'
His heaving chest gradually steadied. Until it rose and fell no more.
"I failed to protect Rin."
"I broke our promise."
"Forgive me..."
"Obito."
"!!!"
The Adult Obito who time traveled spun around abruptly! Had he heard Kakashi's voice?!
It couldn't possibly be the young Kakashi currently trapped in his space—it was the adult Kakashi, the jōnin sensei to Naruto and Sasuke! That voice, weary as if bearing the weight of the world's guilt, he could never mistake it!!
"What's wrong?" The Konoha ninja beside him froze at his sudden stillness. "You should hurry to the shelter too! An enemy of this caliber is beyond our ability to fight!"
"Where's Kakashi?"
"Huh?" The Konoha ninja he questioned froze. "You mean Jōnin Hatake?"
"Yeah. Where is he?"
"He's one of the village's elite. If he's not on a mission, he should be on the front lines fighting the enemy right now."
After saying this, the ninja also ran off to help evacuate the ordinary villagers who couldn't fight.
Obito Uchiha scanned his surroundings. Smoke and dust filled the air everywhere. Which front line was the actual front line?!
Suddenly, he spotted slugs crawling over the bodies of the wounded. He recalled overhearing Rin and that girl Sakura mention it earlier while eavesdropping. After summoning slugs, the person who summoned them could connect their optic nerves to the slugs.
He looked up at the Hokage Tower in the distance. Once he reached there, he would know.
A pagoda-like chariot raced toward him from afar?! It roared, revving its engines to full throttle. Seeing it about to collide with him, Obito instantly activated his intangibility.
At the same moment, Chōji slammed on the brakes, wiping tears from his face while profusely apologizing to the man he nearly hit.
Obito Uchiha: ...
"You got somewhere to be?" he kindly asked the little... well, big guy.
He was so distraught he'd forgotten to cry, his face twisted with anguish, sorrow, and sheer panic.
"Yes! I still need to report Pain's intelligence to the Hokage-sama!!"
"Oh, then you better hurry."
What intelligence could there be? Just the Rinnegan and those corpse substitutes. The real Pain—Nagato—was probably holed up in some pitch-black cave somewhere.
Oh, maybe he even had Konan fold him some paper to make fake mountains and trees to hide in…
Old tricks, I know them all too well.
"Mm!!"
Chōji Akimichi grunted in response, charging forward again like a miniature locomotive. Obito Uchiha stared at him speechless.
As they neared the Hokage Tower, Chōji glanced back.
"Why are you following me?"
"Tsk, I have business at the Hokage Tower."
"Oh."
The next instant.
"BOOM!"
A deafening crash echoed as Chōji Akimichi and Obito Uchiha watched a stone wall on the top floor of the Hokage Tower shatter from a single punch.
"It's Tsunade-sama!" Chōji Akimichi exclaimed.
Obito: No matter which parallel world, that old hag's temper remains the same.
Chōji didn't have time for that. "Tsunade-sama!" He leaped onto the Hokage Tower platform. "We've identified one enemy's ability!"
Obito Uchiha followed suit, jumping up after him.
Tsunade: "Jiraiya, and...?"
Her gaze shifted to the man behind Chōji, his face half-covered in wrinkled scars. "Who are you?!"
Obito: "Who I am is irrelevant. You should focus on resolving the immediate crisis first."
Tsunade stared intently at him, finding no signs he intended to harm Konoha.
Besides, their greatest enemy was Pain.
"I'll question you later," she turned to Chōji Akimichi. "You speak first!"
"Gender: Male. Age range: 25 to 30 years old."
Chōji: "Distinguishing features: six nose rings, seven earrings in each ear, orange short hair, and Rinnegan. His ability involves manipulating gravitational pull and repulsion for attack and defense. He can draw objects, people, or even ninjutsu toward him with gravity, or repel them with force!"
As Chōji reported, the ANBU protecting Tsunade here had already observed everything.
"He can even repel ninjutsu?!" If it were only human bodies, one might consider effects achieved by manipulating bodily fluids or metallic elements. But if both objects and ninjutsu can be controlled...
Chōji nodded emphatically—he had witnessed it all firsthand.
Tsunade gritted her teeth. This was far more formidable than anticipated!
"That's the power of Pain's Rinnegan. Each use creates a five-second interval." Obito stood brazenly with his arms crossed, casually revealing the future world's ally like pulling the rug out from under them.
The Hokage's ANBU gasped: "Only five seconds?!"
"No, more importantly, how do you know?!" Yūgao of the ANBU demanded sharply.
Obito whistled, evasively replying, "Consider me... the most unique spy Konoha has planted within Akatsuki."
To Tsunade and the ANBU agents, every inch of this man reeked of suspicion.
But...
Chōji: "He's telling the truth! Every time the enemy uses that power, there's a five-second gap!"
Tsunade placed no doubt in the words of the young heir to the Akimichi clan.
"Good. Thank you for the intelligence!" She ordered her ANBU subordinates, "Transmit this information immediately via the slugs!"
Obito Uchiha was about to offer them more intelligence on Pain, especially regarding Black Zetsu—this was an opportunity he absolutely couldn't let slip.
But he was too late. Chōji Akimichi continued his report: "To cover Kakashi-sensei against two of the enemies, every member of Team Chōza except me has already sacrificed themselves."
The half-grown boy's eyes were filled with anguish. Naturally gentle enough to save even a butterfly, he now had to witness everything firsthand—yet in war, he wasn't even granted time for grief.
Hearing Kakashi's name from Chōji Akimichi, Obito Uchiha thought: That guy took down two Pain…
Truly living up to his genius reputation...
As for Chōza Akimichi, Obito recognized him—he seemed to be the jōnin instructor for the trio of the dim-witted Might Guy, Genma Shiranui, and Ebisu.
Sacrificed to fight Pain...
Tsunade approached Chōji: "Go back to Chōza's side."
"Huh?"
Both Obito and Chōji froze.
Tsunade said, "Hurry him to the hospital. There's still time to save him."
"Tsunade-sama, you mean... my father...?"
"He's still alive."
Obito Uchiha witnessed a 400-pound man weeping like a child.
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
"....." No matter when, Konoha never lacked for naive souls.
That tearful, mournful expression of joy actually made Obito feel a bit repulsed.
"What about Kakashi-sensei?! Is Kakashi-sensei okay too?!"
Hearing Chōji Akimichi ask about Kakashi, Obito naturally assumed the guy couldn't possibly be dead—after all, he was destined to become the Six...
"Go find your father, Chōji."
Tsunade turned her head away, hiding the sorrow in her eyes.
She didn't answer Chōji's question, didn't immediately confirm it like she had when revealing Chōza was alive.
Everyone present understood that in the world of adults, a silent refusal....was called deflection.
Obito Uchiha froze…
He watched Tsunade turn and walk away, returning to the protective formation among the ANBU.
He saw Chōji Akimichi lying on the ground, whimpering in agony.
He saw Yūgao Uzuki lower her eyelids, her face etched with sorrow.
He saw...
For a moment, he felt the world spinning. He hadn't used any eye techniques, so why did everything before his eyes feel like it was spinning? Why curse that idiot to death? He was supposed to become the Sixth Hokage!
"Halt!"
Obito Uchiha roared!
Several ANBU immediately glared at him.
"Hey! Watch your tone!!"
If not for Konoha's current situation, they would have arrested this man for rigorous interrogation! He claimed to be a special spy infiltrating Akatsuki—was that all he was?!
Tsunade turned her head, glaring impatiently at the man before her—clad entirely in black, without even a ninja village forehead protector. This man possessed only one eye, on the right side, which now fixed upon her, glowing a blood-red light.
Wait...
Tsunade looked again, more closely. That wasn't a blood-red light at all—it was a vermilion Sharingan!
"Hey! You...!" Tsunade's almond-shaped eyes widened. "Who are you?!"
She knew what Sasuke Uchiha looked like, and Itachi Uchiha had been reported dead not long ago! So who exactly was this man with the Sharingan before her?!
Obito didn't answer Tsunade's question, instead reprimanding Chōji Akimichi.
"Stop crying! You useless fool!"
His mask-man aura startled Chōji into a daze. That Sharingan eye fixed on Chōji and Tsunade.
"Speak clearly!! Where the hell is Kakashi?!"
"You know Kakashi?" Facing this unfamiliar man, Tsunade instinctively asked, "What are you to Kakashi?"
She didn't know, but as Yūgao Uzuki looked at the one-eyed man before her, a sudden possibility dawned on her.
"You are..."
"Obito Uchiha?!!"
"Could you be Obito-senpai?"
Other ANBU beside Yūgao Uzuki heard the name she uttered.
"You mean Obito Uchiha—the one who haunted Kakashi with regret for eighteen years?!"
"You're not dead?!"
"Forget that! Tell me where that bastard Kakashi is!!"
Chōji wiped away tears and pointed in one direction.
"Over there..."