[Boruto Uzumaki: "Didn't know Aunt Sakura used to be this cool!"]
[Iwane Ketsunoha: "Sarada, your mom is insane—in a good way!!"]
[Denki Kaminarimon: "For real!"]
[Sarada Uchiha: "I-It's… not a big deal…"]
Hearing the new generation sing her mother's praises, Sarada couldn't help the proud tilt of her chin. Mom was a medical-nin who was rarely home. Dad was almost always away chasing Ōtsutsuki shadows. In that gap, Sarada learned early how to stand on her own two feet.
[Itachi Uchiha: "Sasuke… you don't spend time with Sarada?"]
[Sasuke Uchiha (youth): "Ahem…"]
Sasuke's cough said everything—and not in a good way. If Itachi ever learned how close a certain "first meeting" came to accidental friendly fire… let's just say Mangekyō talks would follow.
Sakura thought of Naruto—of his stubborn smile when the odds went black—and her eyes steadied.
Obito rallied too. "Then… we continue!"
Crack!
Space split like glass. A sea of dunes rolled out beyond the fracture. A lone figure walked the horizon.
Sakura's heart leapt. "Sasuke-kun!!"
But maintaining a dimensional tear guzzled chakra. The slit began to seal. In seconds, the desert would swallow Sasuke whole.
"No…!" Obito clenched his teeth, pouring everything into holding the gap. Still it shrank, a closing eye—
—and then it blinked shut.
Sasuke vanished behind sand and heat.
Silence crashed over the watchers.
"How could it—"
Sakura's Byakugō seal flickered out; her knees buckled—
and a hand caught her. Sasuke's.
They held each other's gaze for one long, impossible heartbeat, a look that felt like years.
Obito stared. "How did you get out?"
[Obito Uchiha: "The rift was gone, Sasuke. How did you cross it?"]
[Sasuke Uchiha (youth): "If I had to guess—Amenotejikara."]
[Obito: "Amenote… what?"]
[Teen Naruto: "Oi, since when do you unlock new hacks, bastard?!"]
In the village streets, grown Naruto tensed instinctively. Rival instincts don't retire; they nap with one eye open.
Seeing them safe, Obito's body finally pitched forward. He'd only just clawed back from death; what remained of his lifespan could be measured in breaths. Willpower had been the only bridge across that void.
He hit the ground hard.
"Damn it… I still have to get them back…" His voice drifted.
"Stay with us!" Sakura's shout blurred at the edges as Obito's world went pale. Was this the end?
A white glow—
and Rin stood there again, bright as childhood.
"We made a promise, remember? I'll be watching when you save the world—so go!"
Obito's eyes snapped open.
[Ōnoki: "Is this what they mean by Konoha's 'ghost-wife buff'?"]
[Fourth Kazekage Rasa: "Kinda creepy when you put it like that… Rin's always just… there."]
[Madara Uchiha: "Irrelevant. He's spent. He can't keep standing."]
[Obito: "Because I made a promise to Rin."]
He rose. Memories of soft smiles and a scarlet sunset flooded his chest, and with them, a last swell of strength.
"What needs doing isn't finished. You two—hands on me! We're going back!"
Sakura and Sasuke gripped his shoulders. Obito bit down on the pain, Kamui howling—
The world twisted—and the three of them burst back onto the ice field.
He had done it. Mission complete.
Across the nations, eyes grew hot.
[Jiraiya: "Jokes aside—Obito's a real one."]
[Fourth Raikage A: "To keep marching into death's mouth for a promise—man's iron."]
[Ōnoki: "Old man approves."]
[Itachi: "Obito's shinobi will surpassed my own."]
The chat filled with raw, simple gratitude. In the middle of it, Obito—hands already moving, mind already planning Rinne Tensei—felt a complicated warmth. So this is what it's like to be called a hero.
If he hadn't strayed… would he already be Hokage?
[Teen Naruto: "Heh… an Obito who aims for Hokage is peak cool."]
[Sarada: "He saved my dad. That makes him family."]
[Iwane: "From today, Obito's my role model. Gonna learn that spirit."]
[Aoi: "Every time Obito nearly falls, Rin's there cheering… I'm crying."]
[Himawari: "Is this… pure love?"]
[System: "There's purer. Some folks turn confessions into last words."]
[Neji Hyūga: "Who wrote that one?"]
[Jiraiya: "Maaaybe me?"]
[Tsunade: "Not even close."]
Because of Obito, the world had bled.
Because of Obito, the world might live.
He'd stepped through the gate to the afterlife more than once and slammed it shut with sheer will.
[Itachi: "Everyone's assembled. Kaguya won't win now."]
Kaguya inhaled, sleeve whispering. Space clicked—
—and the field flipped into the realm of rhombi, gravity crushing like an ocean.
Crack.
Everyone hit their knees at once, bodies pinned to stone.
Kaguya raised her hand. In her palm, All-Killing Ash Bones bloomed—
her aim locking on Naruto and Sasuke.
The air went sharp and thin.
[Minato: "Kaguya—stop!"]
[Boruto: "No—Dad! Sensei!"]
[Himawari: "What do we do?!"]
Music knotted tight. Sasuke's Rinnegan hadn't fully reset; Amenotejikara wouldn't answer.
"Move, Sasuke!" Naruto barked. They rolled—barely—while the bone-spear screamed past and spiked the floor. Gravity spoiled her angle. Narrow miss.
[Tobirama: "Feels like Kaguya's short on live-combat reps."]
[Hashirama: "Mm. I get the same read…"]
The heroes didn't cry.
So the clouds gathered overhead—
and the ice world began to rain.
Kaguya's second bone bloomed, even closer, while Obito—swaying on fumes—set his sight on one last Kamui jump. Could he defy gravity, time, and mortality one more time before the ash touched a hero's heart?
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