"You should have noticed it just now, shouldn't you? The curse seal engraved near your heart. If you can already guess it was Madara's doing, then you should also be able to imagine the kind of arrangements he's made for you."
Yun casually caught a drifting leaf between his fingers. Channeling wind-nature chakra, he sliced it cleanly in half.
If not for the fact that this place only manifested whenever a trade was made, it would have been the perfect training ground.
Beside him, Obito's mind churned over Yun's words. If it really was Madara…
Yun continued:
"The curse seal inside your puppet body restricts you to some extent. For example… removing it yourself. Or even… suicide."
His tone dropped into mockery.
"To think you can't even control your own life or death—how pitiful, and how hateful."
Obito cut him off sharply with a wave of his hand.
"I don't need your judgment. The contract's terms are clear—what I traded for is the method to remove this curse seal!"
Yun shook his head slowly, as if pitying him.
"Sometimes I think the Second Hokage's words weren't without merit. Because of how the Sharingan is awakened, the Uchiha really are prone to… producing lunatics."
He gestured toward Obito.
"As for removing the curse seal, the method is actually very simple: gamble your life. The seal may suppress your own actions, but it can't suppress the actions of others."
Yun's gaze shifted toward Obito… then to Rin's memorial stone.
"So tell me… in this world, do you still have someone you can trust?"
Obito froze. His eyes lingered on the memorial.
Trust? In this world… who could I possibly trust?
To bare his heart, and allow someone else to strike at it—that kind of trust… did he still possess it?
Zetsu? A fool and Madara's will incarnate. Only an idiot would believe in them.
Nagato, Konan? He had already dragged them into hell; how could trust still exist between them?
Even when facing this so-called Uzumaki Sora, hadn't he been full of suspicion?
Obito's eyes returned to Rin's name etched in stone. Rin… if it were you…
But he had already fallen into hell. Minato-sensei and Kakashi had become his enemies. Rin… Rin was gone.
Now, who was left for him to trust? Could he trust anyone at all?
Yun's voice pierced the silence.
"How tragic. I always believed humans were social creatures, but you—burying yourself underground and viewing the world as hell—you're already sick."
"No one can survive alone in darkness forever. No one. And the rare few who try? Each is more deranged than the last."
His mind flashed through the images:
Pain, constantly comparing himself to a god, insisting the world must feel pain.
Obito himself, raving about ending the world, about casting everyone into an eternal dream where they could quietly die content.
Madara, lurking underground for decades, bursting forth with crazed laughter, claiming he would save the world—by putting everyone to sleep. Sure, why not—dreams have everything.
Danzo, that old dog, endlessly convinced that only by becoming Hokage could he unify the shinobi world. Where did he even get that kind of confidence?
…
Yun's eyes returned to Obito.
"So now that you know the method, what will you do?"
Unable to keep looking at Rin's grave, Obito turned his head away, his voice low and heavy.
"What I do is none of your concern. In this world, which in my heart is already dead, there truly is no one I can trust. But so what?"
"I'll gamble my life! That old man is only worried I won't follow his plan. When he returns, I'll make him understand the consequences."
Yun chuckled lightly.
"That 'old man' was terrifyingly strong in his youth. He was hailed as one of the Twin Pillars of the shinobi world, a force that stood at the very ceiling of power in his era."
He tilted his head, curious.
"Though there's something I've always wondered… Rin died far from Konoha. So why did her body end up back in the village?"
Obito sneered.
"What, are you offering me a chip in exchange for that answer?"
Yun's expression stiffened. Madara's "medium" was indeed an important piece.
Hashirama's Sage Body. Madara's Sage Eyes. Nagato was already difficult enough to handle; if that failed, dead men's remains would have to do.
He spoke softly.
"You've always believed Konoha was Rin's true home, haven't you? If her body had been taken elsewhere, do you think Rin—already at peace in the Pure Land—would have been happy?"
Obito's face darkened. His voice came cold and sharp:
"Uzumaki Sora, the next time we meet, I will kill you!"
Yun exhaled, spreading his hands in mock surrender.
"That's if you can manage it. And if you don't change, who knows—I might be the one to kill you first."
Silence followed.
The scenery began to blur and shift.
The trade was complete.
In the darkness of a cavern, Obito stirred, regaining his senses. He shook his head faintly.
"Zetsu… have I been here the whole time?"
Beside him, White Zetsu nodded eagerly.
"Of course, you've been here all along. What's wrong? Don't tell me you snuck off to take a dump without me!"
His grin widened.
"Obito! How could you take a dump without calling me? I've always wanted to know what the urge feels like!"
Obito ignored the nonsense. He unwound the bandages from his right arm—the one reconstructed with Hashirama's cells.
Embedded in the flesh, an eye slowly opened. The three tomoe rotated, then linked together, forming a new pattern.
It was none other than one of Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan.
The truth of Rin's death… If I can break open the surface with a single point, then let this be that point. Let me see the future.
His thoughts settled. The Mangekyō in his arm spun violently. Immense ocular power surged forth, so intense that even with Hashirama's cells stabilizing him, Obito felt as if his body was being hollowed out.
The ability activated. Blurred images flashed one after another, too fast to discern.
At last, a single scene burned itself into his mind:
Within the Kamui dimension, Madara—his lone Rinnegan glowing—had one hand wrapped tightly around Obito's throat.
"I placed curse seals within your bodies. Suicide is impossible. You are my precious pawns."
"Your… bodies?!"
"Yes, yours! It's funny, isn't it? By coincidence, you both tried the exact same way to erase it. How amusing."
"Rin?"
"That's right. The plan to make that little girl the Three-Tails' jinchūriki and force her to rampage through Konoha—that was my design."
…
The vision faded, but Obito's fists were clenched tight, his nails biting into flesh.
Madara.
The curse seal within his body. The truth of Rin's death.
Everything—it was all Madara.
How utterly foolish he had been.
Just as Madara had manipulated Nagato, he had manipulated Obito as well.
If you want someone to fall into hell, to embrace darkness, then take away the one they cherish most.
Coincidence? No. Nothing was coincidence.
Everything—everything—had been arranged so he would play Madara's game.
Madara!!!
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