Rin... she was once my only light.
After losing Rin, the world I saw turned into nothing but pitch-black hell.
This world is filled with ashes and devoid of hope. Even though I wore Madara's name and wandered the lands, everything I witnessed only made me believe it more deeply:
I'm living in hell.
A world soaked in despair has no value in existing.
Even with the Sharingan in my eyes, I saw nothing, gained nothing. That's why I'll create a new world—a world filled with love, filled with peace… a world where Rin still exists!
Obito no longer kept up the act of being Uchiha Madara in front of the girl. He revealed his true face—and his true purpose.
Clearly, it had an effect.
Someone who had been treated as a weapon since childhood—shackled by her clan, her era, the world, and reality—when placed into a new environment, what would she seek?
Freedom?
No… she sought to be needed.
Just like Kimimaro once met Orochimaru, now Obito had met this girl.
Disappointment with reality and denial of one's own life—paired with a new goal—Obito's tragic idealism, spoken like a melodramatic teen drowning in anguish, was, to the girl, a fatal kind of resonance. A sense of kinship she had never known.
"To think… you, once immortalized in the history books as a legend of the Uchiha Clan, would show such an expression…"
"Seems you too have your own story," Obito said, watching the silent girl, taking the initiative within the Tsukuyomi space.
"If you'd let me… I'd like to hear it."
She trembled slightly but didn't respond.
Instead, the scenery of the Tsukuyomi space began to shift.
The once-dull, dusky landscape took on color—the scenes of her childhood resurfaced. Uchiha Hikari, still a girl, laughed and played with friends. Her parents smiled at her. She helped old elders cross the road…
That warm time passed all too quickly.
She saw the mangled corpses of her parents. And it was then—Uchiha Hikari awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
From that day forward, those cursed eyes became the strongest weapon of the Uchiha Clan.
To counter the Senju, the girl—just a child—was thrown onto the battlefield.
But as Zetsu had said before, age was never her weakness.
Those eyes held powers that could shake nations.
Yachihoko (Eight Thousand Spears).
A terrifying ocular ability that could mark a target and link chakra and consciousness across any distance, allowing her to transmit chakra to herself or others, and control others remotely once marked.
To strengthen her further, her clan began implanting other dojutsu into her eyes—Tsukuyomi for supreme genjutsu, Amaterasu for lethal offense, and even Kotoamatsukami and Kagutsuchi for supplementary mastery over the battlefield.
The depth of her power made Obito's expression shift.
Her eyes could steal chakra, even steal other dojutsu. It made him anxious.
Compared to her, even his vaunted Kamui seemed trivial.
Worse yet, if he wasn't careful, his own power could be absorbed by her—and added to her own arsenal.
No wonder she was called the Uchiha's Ultimate Weapon…
If she keeps evolving… collecting the power of all Mangekyō…
Who on earth could possibly stop her?
Obito's heart pounded.
Yes—this was a monster worth betting on.
Pair her with Nagato's Wood Release Rinnegan… and maybe, just maybe, he could crush the myth of Yuki Yoru's invincibility.
Even if they couldn't defeat him outright, they could stall him long enough to steal the Shikotsumyaku.
Obito grinned internally.
Within the Tsukuyomi space, her memories kept replaying.
Over time, the girl lost even her name. To the Uchiha, she was no longer a person—just a blade, a tool against the Senju.
Her name, Hikari, faded in countless battles and missions, replaced by a mocking title: "Nameless."
Battle after battle, war after war, hatred driving her until she became numb—just a puppet on the front lines of endless slaughter.
Until, at last, she was sealed by the strongest of the Senju, alongside the Uzumaki and Sarutobi Clans.
The memory faded.
"...What a despair-filled life."
Obito's Sharingan glowed from behind his swirling mask.
"A world like this really has no value in existing. Only pain remains."
"That's why I have a plan—one that can change everything. Erase all the pain. Overturn this cursed reality."
"A plan?" Hikari's eyes shimmered with disturbance. "What plan?"
"The Infinite Tsukuyomi."
Obito's voice carried a tinge of madness, his excitement unmistakable.
"Like your own Inscription Tsukuyomi… I'll reflect my dōjutsu off the moon. All who are touched by the moonlight will be marked—even if they're indoors or avert their eyes, the mark will still take hold."
"But unlike your technique, mine will be cast over the entire world."
"Once I gather all nine Tailed Beasts and resurrect the Ten-Tails, I'll become its jinchūriki and awaken the ultimate eye—the Rinne Sharingan."
"Then I'll project its power onto the moon, casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi!"
"A world of dreams will descend… a world with no sorrow, no pain, no hatred."
"A world of perfect happiness."
"A dream world… a genjutsu?" Hikari frowned. "Isn't that… fake?"
"Fake?" Obito chuckled. "No—that's the future we truly desire!"
"You, with your Mangekyō Sharingan, should know better than anyone… what we can accomplish in a genjutsu world."
"Just like in this Tsukuyomi space—you are god here."
"Because you're the caster, you instinctively resist it. You instinctively call it 'false.'"
"But the Infinite Tsukuyomi… it fuses illusion with reality. You'll live in a world where only love exists, and no pain ever touches you."
"How can that be fake?"
"Besides… what even is reality?" Obito's voice turned cold.
"The longer you live, the more you see… and the more painful it becomes."
"There is light—but wherever there is light, shadows will follow."
"To preserve peace, war will be waged. To protect love, hatred will be born."
"This cycle of cause and effect can never be severed. That is reality."
"Reality… is hell. But the Infinite Tsukuyomi will erase it."
"In that new world… there will only be victors. Only peace. Only love."
"That's the world I want to create!"
He looked straight at her.
"Weapon… no, Uchiha Hikari."
"Will you help me?"
"To become your weapon?" she asked.
"No." Obito shook his head. "To become your own weapon."
"I've seen your past. I understand your pain. I've witnessed your strength."
"You already know this world is a lie—how many unspeakable missions you've done, how much blood you've spilled…"
"And now, a hundred years later, you awaken in a world you don't belong to. A weapon built for war, reborn into a world that no longer needs war…"
"What are you now?"
"What is your goal? Where do you stand? What will bring you peace?"
"How do you find purpose… in a world made of pain?"
Hikari's lips parted.
But she had no answer.
Those terrifying eyes—eyes that held monstrous chakra—were now filled with uncertainty.
Where should I go?
Where can I go?
"So," Obito extended a hand toward her, "let me help you."
"Let me free you from this false world and give you a place where you truly belong."
"I…"
"You were always a weapon for your clan."
"But from now on… you'll be my comrade."
She closed her eyes.
After a long pause, she exhaled softly.
The icy expression on her face melted into something warmer.
She smiled.
"I am Uchiha Hikari."
"And I am… Uchiha Obito."
...
Land of Fire – Final battlefield between Kumogakure and Konoha.
Even though everyone present could tell this was only a chakra projection of Yuki Yoru, not a real body—no one dared move.
His name alone was a shadow that loomed over the entire shinobi world.
Especially Konoha.
Even though Konoha and Kirigakure were now allies—practically "bros," as some would joke—thousands of Konoha shinobi had died at Yuki Yoru's hands.
His name struck fear deep enough to make children stop crying just hearing it.
Naturally, Konoha—already on the defensive—had no reason to reject a ceasefire.
But Kumogakure…
"Mizukage…" the Fourth Raikage's voice was tense, his chakra-cloaked Lightning Armor sparking wildly.
Behind him, countless Kumo shinobi gripped kunai, hands poised to form hand seals. Two jinchūriki were ready to release their Tailed Beasts, their chakra already bubbling…
But in the end, the Fourth Raikage unclenched his fists.
The lightning around him faded.
Far above, on a massive tree in the distant forest—
A vortex of space twisted open.
Obito and Hikari stepped out, gazing toward the battlefield where a single man's projection had ended an entire war.
Hikari looked surprised.
Her gaze lingered on Yuki Yoru's fading image.
"That wasn't even a clone, was it? Just a chakra image… yet that alone held such power?"
"Yeah," Obito said. "That's our greatest enemy. The strongest person in the shinobi world."
"I've fought him several times—even after using every trump card I had, I couldn't bring him down."
"If we want to complete our plan… he's our biggest obstacle."
"Is he the one who destroyed your eye?" Hikari asked, eyes flicking to Obito's single Mangekyō behind the mask.
"Kamui… that technique was rare even among the clan. Only in ancient records. One of the strongest Mangekyō abilities."
"And if you, with both Kamui and strongest Susanoo, couldn't beat him—and even lost an eye…"
"Then yeah. He's a problem."
"..."
Obito fell silent.
Strongest Susanoo? Dual Kamui?
Heh… he didn't even have that.
Despite having the Mangekyō for years, he still didn't know what it felt like to "summon the Gundam."
He wasn't even a proper Uchiha at this point.
His other eye had once belonged to Kakashi. But after the battle at Higashimatsuyama, that eye had vanished.
And Kakashi had died at Yuki Yoru's hand.
So most likely, the eye had been destroyed—or taken—by him.
Damn that bastard.
"So what now?" Hikari asked, itching for a fight.
Even among the battle-hardened Uchiha, her thirst for combat ran deeper than most.
The thought of someone as powerful as Yuki Yoru had her blood surging.
"Since he's stepped in to stop the war, that means it's over."
"Once it's officially done, I'll announce a Chūnin Exam under the name of the Fourth Kazekage."
Obito's eyes glinted darkly.
"At that time, our organization's public leader will attend—and you'll go with him."
"Together, you'll target Yuki Yoru."
"An assassination mission?"
"No. A distraction. To give me the chance I need."
In recent years, Yuki Yoru's strength had only continued to grow.
The battle at the Land of Iron had shattered Obito's confidence.
Even with Uchiha Hikari and Nagato on his side, Obito didn't feel secure.
And who could blame him?
Even when Nagato summoned the Gedo Statue at full power, Yuki Yoru had one-shotted him.
Even without personally witnessing his combat prowess, just hearing Zetsu's description was enough to feel the overwhelming pressure.
Adding to that the Nine-Tails' Rampage that night, that world-shattering chakra attack...
This time, the goal remained clear:
Steal the Shikotsumyaku.