"Pfft—!"
A jet-black, razor-sharp wooden spike burst from the center of a palm, spraying blood.
"Pop—!"
The connection at the base snapped with a faint sound.
"Whoosh—!"
The spike shot straight for its target.
Then another "pfft—!"
It sank into that person.
...
The masked man couldn't believe it.
He stared at the wooden spike lodged in his chest.
"…What…?"
The White Zetsu shell snapped open, revealing a face inside. It was a little younger, but unmistakably identical to Adult Obito Uchiha, with the same scar. The only difference was the long hair, messy and wild.
"Heh… heh…" Adult Obito coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"The one Rin wanted to watch over… wasn't… you."
Across from him, Obito Uchiha wore the same stunned, disbelieving expression.
Adult Obito lowered his eyes, as if he could feel it in his bones.
"If this world is so unbearable for you… then why not just pretend you really died on that mission at Kannabi Bridge…"
This was probably just one of the countless regrets that came with knowing everything.
If he had known that surviving would mean Rin's death… Kakashi blaming himself for a lifetime… Minato-sensei's family being destroyed… Naruto growing up without parents… the Uchiha Clan being wiped out… the entire ninja world enduring endless suffering…
Then back then, the moment Madara Uchiha saved him, he would have chosen to die instead.
"Cough!"
"Obito!" Minato Namikaze called urgently, staring at the wooden spike buried in Obito's chest.
That spot… dead center, straight through the heart.
If Obito hadn't had Hashirama's cells, he wouldn't have lasted even this long.
The Adult Obito Minato was holding up had lived with them for a while, fought alongside them, and crossed through multiple parallel worlds with them.
But Minato was already stretched to the limit. He couldn't take care of two Obitos at the same time.
He wanted Kakashi to call over Kakuzu, the medical-nin in Akatsuki, but Kakashi's current state…
"Heh… heh heh…"
"Stop laughing, Obito!"
"Sorry… Minato-sensei… I wanted to take Nagato's eyes… and after bringing Kushina back… then die…"
"Say that to the version of me who became the Fourth Hokage! So you're not dying now!!"
"The curse seal on my heart… it's already…"
In less than half a minute, Adult Obito stopped breathing.
"..." Minato Namikaze didn't say another word.
"Thinking… that I'll be seeing Rin soon… it makes me… really scared…"
"But… also…"
Not even a full minute had passed.
And just like that, the Obito Uchiha from the mission scroll world abruptly lost his life.
Minato Namikaze was completely unprepared.
There was still an SS-rank mission and an SSS-rank mission left in his mission scroll.
How could this…
How could he just die like this in this parallel world?!
Deidara glanced at the Obito Uchiha over here, then at the Obito Uchiha who belonged to this parallel world.
He quietly leaned closer and whispered, "Sasori-Danna, did I mess up? Mm."
"Don't make a sound. Hide behind Kisame."
"Huh." Deidara scurried over and ducked behind Itachi Uchiha and Kisame.
Kisame: "..."
Itachi: "..."
Konan walked toward this world's "Masked Man," passing the stiff, vacant Kakashi on the way. Even now, Kakashi still hadn't reacted at all.
The curled White Zetsu was about to detach from the dead Obito.
Konan's paper jutsu wrapped around it, binding it in place.
"Black Zetsu being trapped in Obito Uchiha's Kamui space isn't a bad sealing method," she said calmly, her gaze sweeping over Kakashi Hatake before settling on Minato Namikaze. "I need to destroy his other eye too, to make sure Black Zetsu can never, ever leave that space."
"!!!!"
Kakashi finally moved.
No matter how hard he resisted emotionally, reason still won out. He understood what was at stake.
Maybe the Second and Sixth Hokage didn't just share similar hair. The principle they carried was the same as well: a truly outstanding ninja had to strip away personal feelings and act from what was rational.
Konan said, "Afterward, I'll have Kakuzu replace your eye with that Obito's."
She meant the one from this world, the "Masked Man" who had just been killed by Adult Obito's wooden spike.
Kakashi and Minato Namikaze said nothing.
And at that moment, the original Akatsuki members who should have died under Obito Uchiha's Wood Release: Hell Stab Technique—Kyūsuke, Daibutsu, and the others—finally caught up to them.
"Hey—!!"
From far off, Kyūsuke waved at them.
"What happened here?! A fight?! We heard explosions and hurried over to back you up!"
Kyūsuke scanned the area and immediately spotted two corpses, plus a human-shaped "mummy" that was obviously sealed by Konan's paper jutsu.
Daibutsu saw Adult Kakashi standing there stiffly, still in ANBU gear, and quickly tightened his grip on his weapon.
"It's Konoha ANBU! They really were up to no good!!"
"One's already dead?"
"Two left."
The original Akatsuki members shifted into attack stances toward Minato Namikaze and Kakashi Hatake.
Nagato lifted a hand and stopped them.
They were better off not getting involved.
This was the result of this world's "Masked Man," Obito Uchiha, and the Obito Uchiha from another world tearing each other apart.
It had nothing to do with their "Akatsuki."
Konan drew a kunai and asked Kakashi Hatake, "You going to do it yourself, or do you want me to help?"
Kakashi didn't answer.
The Obito from his world had committed unforgivable sins. Kakashi had once thought about killing him someday. But after seeing the past of Naruto from another parallel world, that stubborn resolve of his, never giving up on Sasuke no matter what, had rubbed off on Kakashi too.
He had even thought about using Obito's left eye to stay at Obito's side as they atoned together, for what they'd done to Konoha and the ninja world.
But now, staring at the two bodies, Kakashi felt that eye, the one that had belonged to Obito, throb with a dull ache.
Two more "Kakashis" from two different worlds had been mercilessly left behind in the world of the living.
Minato Namikaze was the same. Head lowered, he stayed silent, as if he were working through thoughts no one else could see.
Just as Konan raised her kunai toward Kakashi, and as the original Akatsuki members started to move toward their "juniors" to ask what the hell had happened—
Minato Namikaze stepped in.
He stopped Konan and asked Pain to revive Obito Uchiha.
"If it's the Rinnegan, it should be possible," he said. "I want you to help us bring Obito back."
Konan looked at Minato Namikaze. In a sense, Konoha's trump card could also be called their senior brother.
And it was his student who, back then, had killed every single member of the original Akatsuki.
She couldn't say for sure that if Kyūsuke and the others hadn't run into the "Masked Man" back then, Yahiko and the rest would definitely have survived. But for Minato Namikaze to ask Nagato to use the Rinnegan to revive Obito Uchiha… it sounded naïve no matter how she looked at it.
Minato Namikaze might be naturally a little airheaded, but he wasn't naïve.
In that brief moment of hesitation earlier, he had already prepared what he would say to Nagato.
"On the way here, we ran into this world's Konan," Minato Namikaze said. "She'd fallen into an ambush laid by Hanzō's subordinates, Amegakure ninja."
Nagato's brow furrowed hard.
"But don't worry," Minato Namikaze continued. "We defeated those two Amegakure ninja and rescued this world's Konan."
Nagato said coldly, "So you want us to resurrect Obito Uchiha as payment for that favor?"
If that was really what Minato meant, then his senior brother was even more naïve than he'd expected.
"No." Minato Namikaze shook his head seriously. "We don't need to use that as leverage, and even if we tried, that 'leverage' wouldn't let us negotiate terms with you anyway, would it…?"
That only made Konan and Nagato more suspicious, unable to tell what Minato Namikaze was trying to do.
Minato looked genuinely troubled as he went on. "My original plan was to have Naruto and the others disguise themselves as Amegakure ninja and Konan, then go back and report to Hanzō of the Salamander. The moment he tried to use Konan to threaten the version of you in this world, they'd turn on him."
It really was a good plan.
Nagato and Konan didn't say anything, but they both silently acknowledged the strategy.
Minato continued, "But Obito knows this point in time. This world's version of him will definitely appear here to kill your companions."
He looked toward Kyūsuke, Daibutsu, and the others, who were still alive and well.
If the Akatsuki hadn't arrived when they did, then the ones killed by Wood Release: Hell Stab Technique wouldn't have been Adult Obito. It would have been them.
Saving Konan, and then doing everything he could to save Kyūsuke and the others…
That was proof enough of Adult Obito's remorse, and his determination to change what he'd done.
Nagato stared at Obito Uchiha lying on the ground, a wooden spike through his chest. He had once believed this man was Madara Uchiha. "Madara" had been both mentor and friend to him, and everything he knew about using the Rinnegan had been taught by Madara Uchiha.
Every Akatsuki operation was planned and decided jointly by the three of them.
Jiraiya-sensei had once mentioned that Obito Uchiha's original dream was to become Hokage, but after being exploited by the real Madara Uchiha, he ended up like this.
Although resurrecting the dead consumes more chakra than reviving "Pain," it isn't some kind of life-for-life exchange.
Nagato was actually soft-hearted, especially vulnerable to being talked into things. Minato Namikaze hadn't even played his trump card yet, and Nagato was already wavering.
Konan looked very much like the Second Hokage when facing the First Hokage, frustrated at someone who just wouldn't learn.
"So what do you want?" she asked. "You expect us to save him just because he regrets what he did?"
"That isn't the main reason we want you two to save him," Minato Namikaze replied.
He dropped that turn so suddenly that both the old and new Akatsuki members froze.
That wasn't the main reason?
Nagato said, "Then what is the main reason?"
Minato looked awkward. "After we rescued Konan from the Amegakure ambush, for the sake of convenience during the operation, we temporarily placed her inside Obito's Kamui space…"
Seeing Konan and Nagato staring at him with eyes wide as eggs, Minato Namikaze looked apologetic. "And Kakashi currently can't use the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"So…"
He deliberately dragged out the pause.
What's the highest level of lying?
The highest level of lying isn't telling lies at all. It's telling nothing but the truth.
It's taking a series of true statements and, through selective phrasing or rearranged context, leading the listener to misunderstand everything on their own.
In reality, this world's Konan had been hidden inside the Kamui space of Young Obito Uchiha.
But Minato Namikaze had carefully left out that distinction and only said "Obito."
After all, when they spoke normally, they always just called him Obito. If they wanted to talk to Adult Obito, they looked at Adult Obito. If they wanted to give instructions to Young Obito, they looked at Young Obito while speaking.
So technically, Minato Namikaze wasn't wrong.
Konan really was inside "Obito's" Kamui space.
And Adult Kakashi really couldn't independently use "Obito's" Mangekyō Sharingan.
How you interpreted which "Obito" he meant depended entirely on your own state of mind.
All Minato did was manage his expressions and use a few carefully placed pauses to gently steer Konan, Nagato, and the others toward the misunderstanding he wanted.
Isn't that right?
A Yellow Flash whose smile blooms like a field of white lilies—how could someone like that possibly have bad intentions?
It's just that Minato Namikaze can go dark on you in a heartbeat.
Heh.
Naive?
Not a chance.