The Kamui Dimension.
Madara thrust his hand straight through Obito's chest, lifting him up into the air as he spoke with complete indifference:
"The puppet curse tag I placed in your heart has vanished. How did you manage to remove it?"
"You shouldn't have been able to harm yourself."
Obito let out a raspy, mocking laugh, staring defiantly at Madara.
"Kakashi pierced through my chest... and destroyed the seal."
"If I wanted to become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, I had no choice but to get rid of that thing. I bet my entire life on that gamble."
"I'm not like Kanon. I refuse to let things go your way, and I am definitely not your pawn!"
Hearing Obito's words, Madara merely let out a sinister, echoing laugh.
"Hahahahaha! Obito, you have it completely backward. Kanon has always acted entirely on her own free will, her ideals just happen to align perfectly with mine."
"She is not my pawn, nor have I ever wished to treat her as one. For her, I possess only mentorship and a deep admiration."
"But you? You are a text-book pawn. Every single one of your actions has perfectly conformed to my design."
"In fact, your actions have completely exceeded my expectations."
"What... what's so funny...?" Obito asked, his expression contorted with confusion and agony.
Madara wasn't lying. Given the choice between Obito and Kanon, he would choose Kanon without a single moment's hesitation. The cooperation between Obito and Kanon had always been a gamble, and now that negotiations had broken down, Obito stood no chance of matching her. In Madara's heart, Obito would never be anything more than a tool.
Madara began to explain the truth behind the grand scheme:
"If you attempt to remove the puppet curse tag from within your own body, the seal reacts by suppressing your movements."
"You already knew that, didn't you, Obito?"
"Since I placed those curse tags inside your bodies, you naturally cannot commit suicide. After all, you are my vital pawns."
Obito's eyes widened in horror. "You... 'bodies'? Plural?!" he stammered, his body trembling.
"I don't know what kind of twisted fate binds the two of you, but it is deeply amusing that you both used the exact same method to erase it."
In that next microsecond, Obito's pupils shrunk to absolute pinpricks. The final realization completely broke his spirit.
Back when he was still a young boy at the Academy, helping elderly citizens cross the street, Madara had already locked onto him.
"Rin...!"
"Correct. Turning that young girl into the Three-Tails Jinchuriki and orchestrating her rampage within the Hidden Leaf Village was a plan formulated entirely by me."
"The Hidden Mist Village had nothing to do with it. Her choosing to leap into Kakashi's incoming attack, sacrificing herself to preserve the village, fell perfectly within my calculations as well."
"All of it was designed to plunge you into darkness, to forge you into my pawn."
Obito's entire frame shook violently, his face twisted in absolute torment. "You bastard... you intentionally made me—"
"I specifically chose a time when Minato was deployed on a different mission, leaving Kakashi entirely isolated. I arranged for Rin to be abducted and manipulated the Mist shinobi to hunt them down. It was all my grand design."
"It was also an experiment to see just how much power you could unleash. The White Zetsus manipulating you to leave the underground at that exact moment... do you honestly believe that was all a coincidence?"
"While I was deeply satisfied with the explosive power you displayed, the moment I laid eyes on Kanon, I realized she was the one I truly needed, and I was the person she needed."
"Her descent into darkness was never manipulated by anyone. It was this rotten world that dragged her into the abyss, just as it did to me."
"That is why I understand her, but it seems she understands me even better. Standing shoulder to shoulder with her makes me feel as though I am fighting alongside Hashirama once more."
"To me, Obito, you are nothing but a stepping stone. In fact, I originally intended to have puppet shinobi kill her as well."
"I believe I taught you this: if you want to control people's hearts, you must exploit the darkness within them."
"If there is no darkness, you simply manufacture it. Did you honestly think you were special? How laughable."
Obito's mind completely shattered. As a searing agony flared from his pierced heart, he let out a desperate, echoing scream:
"Why?! Why did it have to be me?!"
"Because from the very bottom of your heart, you were overflowing with kindness and love for others, just like Kanon. No, if anything, Kanon's capacity for love was even stronger than yours."
"Weren't you always excellent at looking after the elderly? Rin, your comrades, the Hokage, the shinobi... you loved them all so deeply."
"And once a soul like yours falls, that love instantly twists into a deep, consuming hatred for this entire world."
"The deeper the love, the darker the hate. However, when it comes to Kanon... if I could do it all over again, I wish she had never turned into what she is now. Having fought alongside her for so long, I truly wish she could have lived a life that rightfully belonged to her."
"A life with a family, a meadow of flowers, friends, and simple dreams… that is the life she deserved."
"But those things can probably only be realized within the Infinite Tsukuyomi now."
"Therefore, casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi is the one final thing I can do for her. I, Madara Uchiha, recognize her as a true Uchiha. I will make absolutely sure she sees that beautiful meadow of her dreams."
"To make that a reality, I still require a few things. Give me back my left eye, Obito."
…
The Battlefield.
Out in the real world, Naruto had successfully pinned down Madara's invisible Limbo clone, immobilizing it completely with his Truth-Seeking Ball staffs.
"There we go! That takes care of that, it can't move anymore. I'm leaving this side to you," Naruto's shadow clone said, giving a nod to his original self.
"Got it, leave it to me."
Naruto walked back over, coming to a halt right next to Kanon. At this point, he knew deep down that Kanon wouldn't attack them anymore, and he had no intention of striking her either.
The combined strength of himself and Sasuke wouldn't even scratch her. The absolute destruction of that distant star system moments ago was definitive proof of the irreconcilable gap in their power.
Standing side by side with Kanon once more, Naruto watched as she stared silently up at the deep crimson moon. For a fleeting second, it felt as though they were back in their childhood days, standing together on that familiar cliffside to gaze at the moon.
Looking at her crimson eyes, Naruto's mind drifted to the tragic history of her people.
"Whether it's you, Sasuke, or Obito... I honestly think the people of the Uchiha clan were all deeply good at heart."
"They just... sacrificed far too much."
Hearing Naruto's words, Kanon gave a subtle nod and turned her head to look at him.
In that microsecond, Naruto froze. She was breathtakingly beautiful. A gentle breeze drifted past, catching her long black hair and carrying a faint, elegant scent right to his senses.
"After all, as an Uchiha, one must carry the absolute pride of the clan."
"During all these years away from Konoha... more than the village or Danzo, the thing I loathed most was my own past weakness."
"Why couldn't I have been stronger? Why did I have to stand by and watch the people who loved me, the ones I cared about most, leave me one by one?"
As she spoke, Kanon's shoulders began to tremble slightly. Even though she had awakened the supreme power of the Rinnegan, silent tears still spilled from her eyes.
"Why... why couldn't I have given Team Hana a proper farewell in the end...?"
To Kanon, Team Hana was the softest, most fiercely protected sanctuary deep within her soul, and her greatest source of lingering guilt. She would never allow a defiling technique like the Reanimation Jutsu to taint her memories of Team Hana; they were gone, and that was an unalterable reality.
"Kanon..." Naruto murmured. He didn't know who or what "Hana" was, but from the raw sorrow etched onto her face, he could tell it was a deeply warm and precious memory.
"I know I can't stop you anymore. But can you at least tell me... what is the driving force pushing you to execute the Infinite Tsukuyomi? Just... tell me as your best friend," Naruto asked softly.
Kanon looked into Naruto's eyes and gave a small nod, her voice dropping to a gentle whisper, as if she were confiding a sacred secret:
"If it can truly allow people to hold their lost family and friends once more... to make up for those countless, agonizing regrets... then it is absolutely worth swapping everything in existence to bring them back."
"The freedom and dreams that people cling to in this shinobi world were bought with an infinite cycle of warfare, lives, and bitter sacrifices."
"That's why you, whose dream is to become the Hokage, desperately want that title, so you can restore that lost happiness to everyone around you."
"But I believe that those who hold faith in that peaceful, perfect meadow, just like the flowers blooming within it, will never truly be alone."
"That is the conviction that has sustained me all this time, and the exact reason why I must cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"Even if nobody supports me, even if absolutely no one stands by my side... I will never abandon this dream."
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NOTE: This fic has been completely translated. If you want to read the whole story head over to my p-atre-on: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]