[Uchiha Itachi: "So… everyone can still be revived?"]
[Uchiha Madara: "Obito, what are you doing? Those Rinnegan are MINE!"]
[Uchiha Obito: "Borrowing your eyes for a minute. Problem?"]
Madara practically blew a gasket.
"Obito, you ungrateful—those are my eyes!"
"Big bro, calm down," Izuna tugged him back. "He won't succeed."
Flat on his back, Obito stared up at the moon, breath thin, mind messy.
If he'd chosen Naruto's road from the start… would he be Hokage by now? Would he have avoided this ruin?
Faces flashed—Kakashi's among them.
At the same time, Sasuke raised his blade to finish a very weakened Obito—
—when Kakashi popped out of Kamui space like a jump-scare.
Sasuke almost stabbed air. "Where did this giant Kakashi come from?!"
[Itachi: "My foolish little brother, why so hasty?"]
[Sasuke: "It's called 'pulling the weeds by the root.' He's a cripple now."]
[Naruto: "Enough, Sasuke! That's Uncle Obito you're talking to."]
[Obito: "Ah, the young Uchiha named Sasuke?"]
[Sasuke: "…what."]
A ripple opened—Obito stepped out of Kamui right in front of him.
"A-a-aa—Big bro, don't kill me! Please don't kill me!"
Sasuke sprinted like his life depended on it. The smack talk? Gone.
[Obito: "Relax. I came to Konoha to revive everyone."]
[Kaguya Ōtsutsuki: "Bloop."]
[Obito: "Not you."]
[Kaguya: "Why not (ó﹏ò｡)"]
Kakashi laid a hand on Sasuke's sword. "Let me. He's my friend. I'll send him off myself."
The way Kakashi and Obito looked at each other made half the Alliance glance away.
[Kurotsuchi: "So this is Konoha 'friendship'…"]
[Darui: "Kinda intense, not gonna lie."]
[Chōjūrō: "Anyway… we just have to beat Madara now, right?"]
[Sasuke: "Hmph. So much for the legendary ancestor."]
Minato flashed in, catching Kakashi's wrist. His eyes were complicated—teacher and student on the edge.
"Back when I sensed your chakra," he told Obito, "Naruto scolded you hard. That should've been Kakashi's burden… If anyone can reach you now, it's him."
Wind whispered. The music went soft and sad.
Everyone knew the truth: Six Paths Obito hadn't really been defeated—he'd yielded.
"Remember our four-man squad?" Minato said. "Those missions?"
Obito's mouth curved. Tired, handsome, infuriatingly Uchiha. The group chat lost composure.
[Chōchō: "Okay but… Uncle Obito is kinda hot?"]
[Mei Terumī: "Told you—no ugly Uchiha."]
[Kurotsuchi: "Did hear their clan's got S-tier faces… I'm convinced."]
[Kurotsuchi: "Grandpa, thoughts?"]
[Ōnoki: "I'll… sit with it."]
[Izuna: "Behold the Uchiha heritage!"]
Obito folded his hands. "Then I'll believe in Naruto."
Chakra gathered—Rinne Rebirth primed—
—and Black Zetsu blitzed in, latching onto Obito's body.
Gasps everywhere.
What was this pitch-black gremlin?!
"Sorry, Obito," Black Zetsu purred. "To revive Lord Madara, I'll be borrowing that."
He forced the jutsu—
And far away, Uchiha Madara opened his eyes to life.
Silence. Then rage.
They'd watched Obito claw his way back to himself, choose redemption…
Seconds from bringing the dead back—
ruined by that tar-stain troll.
[Everyone: "BLACK ZETSU YOU—(thousands of censored words)"]
[New Gen: "You absolute songstress!!!"]
[Boruto: "I'm gonna lose it!!"]
[Himawari: "Uncle could've revived everyone… that meanie Black Zetsu!"]
[Madara: "Well done. I'll make you my Grand General."]
[Black Zetsu: "An honor, my lord! Obito was dead weight—lost even as Six Paths, disgraceful."]
[Naruto: "Don't you dare insult Uncle Obito!"]
Worse: with Rinne Rebirth hijacked, the chain reaction began.
Madara became the Ten-Tails Jinchūriki.
Naruto and Sasuke were pushed to death's door; Kurama torn from Naruto. Minutes left to live.
Minato lunged to transfer his Yin Kurama to Naruto—
Black Zetsu slipped in and stole it.
[Sasuke: "This thing ruins everything at clutch time."]
[Itachi: "Is Black Zetsu really 'Madara's will'?"]
[Madara: "I feel so warm and fuzzy seeing you, Zetsu."]
[Black Zetsu: "All for you, my lord."]
Four more chapters to close Obito's ledger, the narration promised.
"Who do you want next?" the sky asked, while donation pleas scrolled beneath like end credits.
But down on the ground, there was no time to breathe.
Naruto's heart was fading.
The moon was rising.
And in the shadows, something older than Madara smiled.
Next: The Heart Stops at Dusk — Who Carries the Fire When the Fox Is Gone?
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