"Can't even commit suicide…?"
Suicide?
That single, jarring thought froze Obito in place. His hand twitched toward a shuriken, but another impulse in his mind kept stopping him again and again.
When? Since when had this been the case?
Shion looked at him calmly.
"So then… will this piece of information be worth a single offering from you?"
Information…
The word, repeated again and again, suddenly snapped Obito to full awareness. His gaze fell on the shadowed figure before him—and an unpleasant memory surfaced.
"…Uzumaki Sora?"
Tch—
The sudden accusation left Shion inwardly uncomfortable. Things had been going smoothly, but somehow Obito had cut right to the heart of it.
Obito didn't wait for an answer. He gave a humorless laugh and continued:
"Exchanging information for offerings, gaining talents or abilities from others… so that's how it works? You used my information to trade for the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God, didn't you?"
"Flying Thunder God alone wouldn't come cheap. Two years ago, had I succeeded, Kushina would be dead and the Nine-Tails would have destroyed most of Konoha. Under those conditions, any trade with Namikaze Minato would have been hopelessly unbalanced. So how many offerings did you wring from him? How much power did you gain?"
A gust of wind swept past, scattering the leaves before pulling them back together. The shadowed Shion remained composed as he replied:
"Because this is an intelligence exchange… you assume I must be Uzumaki Sora?"
Obito sneered. "Not only that—there's also the matter of my severed arm. Two years ago, with the situation as it was, you must have risked much to obtain it."
"After all, with Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Fugaku, and even Kakashi wielding the power of a Mangekyō… even with Flying Thunder God in your hands, it was a gamble. Hashirama's cells are not so easy to handle."
Silence hung between them.
After a long pause, Shion finally shook his head.
"You ask too many questions. Without an offering, I am under no obligation to answer you."
"So, Obito—standing as you are only on the second layer of this game—do you want to know the truths I mentioned earlier?"
The clouds above gathered into the character for [Truth].
Obito raised his head, scoffing.
"Now that I know you're Uzumaki Sora, do you really think I'd still give you an offering?"
His Mangekyō spun in its socket.
"What you're really after… are these eyes, isn't it?"
Shion regarded him evenly.
"As things stand, yes. Before me, that's the only thing you possess that sparks my interest."
A breeze carried several leaves onto Rin's name etched into the Memorial Stone. Shion crouched down and brushed them away.
Then, in a low voice, he said:
"Will you truly avenge the real Nohara Rin after learning the truth? Or will you continue to cling to illusions? You fill your emptiness with falsehoods, yet shy away from facing true hatred."
"Burying your head in the sand—will that make you forget? Or have you already forgotten everything that girl did for you? The only one who believed that the failure, Uchiha Obito, could become Hokage."
At those words, Obito's expression grew darker still. His hand, pressing against his hidden left eye, tightened unconsciously.
The truth about Rin… the truth about his own body…
That eye's ability… its cooldown was too long.
The power to pierce through the future. Fugaku had used it once. Even with Hashirama's cells sustaining him, Obito had drained himself dry, and for the next ten years he wouldn't be able to use it again.
Two pieces of information. He'd been cornered.
But regarding his own body—was it Madara?
The truth of hatred, the illusion of purpose. Rin… apart from Kirigakure, who else was responsible for your death?
Obito clenched his fists, lifting his gaze to lock onto the shadowed Shion.
"One offering. Tell me how to undo the shackles Madara placed upon me."
The answer caught Shion by surprise.
"You've already guessed? Well, it isn't hard. You lived alongside Madara for a time—figuring out his tricks wasn't impossible."
"But Rin's true death… you still intend to uncover that yourself? It seems Fugaku's eyes really did produce some unpredictable results."
Obito's eye narrowed.
"You've guessed it too, haven't you? Thanks to you selling my information, by chance I ended up with those eyes. Otherwise, I might never have noticed."
So it really was the butterfly effect…
Originally, Shion hadn't been sure if Fugaku truly had Mangekyō eyes. After all, the anime and manga diverged in places. Had the Fourth hidden the truth as well?
Shion exhaled slowly. So much was becoming clear.
Fugaku, secretly bearing Mangekyō power, had always been torn in two. His ability to see the future had to be deliberately activated, and the powers of his two eyes differed slightly.
One of them was the ability Obito had just used in Amegakure—to foresee an opponent's movements one or two seconds ahead, with a cooldown like Kamui's intangibility, usable once every five minutes.
The other…
Painting from a single point.
From one starting mark, extending the entire canvas of the future.
Such a power could not exist without restrictions. Even with Hashirama's cells, Obito was willing to trade one offering for a way to free himself. That meant the cooldown or the cost of this power was crushingly high.
"Phew…"
Shion let out a long breath. Fugaku… even in death, the man had left Obito with something dangerous.
This was why active abilities were always riskier than passive ones. With the ability to glimpse the future, and yet still be killed by surprise?
"Let's make a contract."
As Shion's words fell, a scroll appeared before Obito.
Obito studied it carefully, then looked up at the shadow.
"If I hadn't witnessed your abilities in that battle before, I would never have believed such a space could exist. A place where information becomes trade, yet the original owners lose nothing—their powers only replicated."
"This… this is the power of rules themselves."
Shion glanced at him.
"Are you wondering if it can resurrect the dead?"
Obito shook his head.
"I already know of the Rinne Rebirth. But Rin… she wouldn't want that. She was too kind. And I… I already dwell in hell."
The air grew heavy as Obito signed the contract.
Only then did Shion mutter, almost to himself:
"Though I do think your fate is pretty miserable, there's a saying that fits you well right now."
Obito's eye narrowed dangerously.
"I need no one's judgment. Even if I had succeeded two years ago, it would only have been because this world itself is broken…"