["I don't understand what you're saying at all! I just want to go back to my comrades!"]
["I told you, didn't I? Nothing in this world goes the way people want. Sooner or later, you'll understand that. But if you really want to die, I don't care. As payment, though, I'll take your Sharingan."]
In the sky above the Warring States Period, the memories of Adult Obito and Madara Uchiha were being shown.
Madara Uchiha with all his teeth gone was a sight neither Hashirama nor many of the Uchiha Clan members from the Warring States Period could ever have imagined.
Especially when that aged Madara Uchiha said he would take Obito's eye, while parting the hair on the right side of his face and revealing a pitch-black, bottomless hollow.
["I gave my own Sharingan to someone else. This left eye you see was also transplanted from a spare eye bank. The Sharingan needs both eyes together to display its true power. You only have one Sharingan right now too, don't you?"]
["So what?! As long as I get back to my comrades and fight alongside him, won't I become stronger?!"]
Hearing the conversation in the footage, Adult Kakashi suddenly turned to look at Adult Obito.
Adult Obito seemed a little embarrassed that Kakashi knew about this, so he turned his head away and scratched his cheek.
Young Obito said, "I mean, think about it. If Kakashi and I each had one Sharingan, wouldn't we look super cool fighting side by side on missions?!"
"I refuse."
Young Kakashi crossed both arms in an X in front of his chest and rejected him cleanly.
"My chakra reserves aren't as large as yours. Implanting a Sharingan in my eye socket, and one I can't freely shut off like an Uchiha can, have you thought about how much chakra that would use?"
Those words sounded as if they had been spoken directly for Adult Obito and Adult Kakashi to hear.
Adult Obito curled his lip.
Adult Kakashi already knew how delicate the nerves of an Uchiha became after awakening the eyes, so he hurried to comfort him.
"This Sharingan has helped me a great deal. When I was in ANBU, there were many missions I only managed to complete because I had this Sharingan."
"If you think it's a burden, give it back to me."
Kakashi really had it hard. If he gave it back, it would sound like he thought Obito's Sharingan was a burden. If he did not give it back, that did not feel right either.
"Your Sharingan isn't a burden. But if you need it, we can ask Rin to perform another eye transplant surgery for us anytime."
"Shut up! You're so annoying!"
Young Kakashi and Young Obito, who were standing not far away, were mortified.
Rin could not help laughing. "No matter when it is, or which parallel timeline it is, Kakashi and Obito really do have such a good relationship~"
Just as she said that, the footage had already sped ahead to the year and a half Obito Uchiha spent rehabilitating in the pitch-black underground.
From his initial impatience, he had slowly grown used to it.
With two White Zetsu around causing trouble every day, life was not especially dull.
During rehabilitation, he could even use them as sparring partners, desperately improving his strength during the time he was unable to leave.
He was like the protagonist of a storybook who had received the main character's script and was about to begin a comeback arc.
Filled with hope for the future, he worked hard to improve his strength, looking forward to returning to his comrades, completing missions perfectly, saving his comrades in moments of danger, gaining the recognition of the entire village, and finally saving the world in style. Then he would become the Uchiha Clan's first Hokage and have both his goggles and Sharingan carved onto the Hokage monument.
And yet only Adult Obito knew...
What he had received had never been the protagonist's script.
When he had nothing else to do, Obito Uchiha in the footage would also ask about the idea Madara Uchiha had brought up.
What exactly was this peaceful world where there was only love and no hatred, only winners and no losers, and therefore no war?
["I still don't understand what he means by severing cause and effect."]
[White Zetsu: "That? Madara really doesn't seem to know how to communicate with children."]
Madara Uchiha, watching the footage, wore a dark expression and refused to look at Hashirama Senju's flattering, foolish face.
[White Zetsu: "Simply put, the Eye of the Moon Plan means abandoning the troubles of reality and escaping into a dream full of happiness."]
"What a cowardly thing to do."
Tobirama Senju, who was watching, was completely blunt.
"Tobirama..." Hashirama Senju looked helpless. "How many times has your big brother told you? Speak more tactfully. Tactfully, understand?"
"Even if I dress it up nicely, make it complicated, and talk in circles, doesn't it still mean the same thing? Besides, Big Brother, it's not like you don't know I talk to everyone this way." He was not specifically targeting Madara Uchiha.
Hashirama gestured as he argued with his younger brother. "But Madara is different. Madara and Izuna are both from the Uchiha Clan. When speaking to them, you have to be as tactful as possible and show more consideration for their fragile, sensitive nerves."
Although Madara Uchiha was displeased by Tobirama Senju's words, they were the truth, so he had not thought too much of it.
The problem was Hashirama Senju's repeated heavy blows, each one landing without warning.
Izuna Uchiha was so furious at the two brothers that his hands were shaking.
Yet Tobirama, completely unaware, added more fuel to the fire. "Are the things you say really that tactful? 'You are my Heaven Sent Revelation,' 'You are my hero,' 'We are each other's closest friends!' You're one step away from directly telling the Uchiha people, 'You are my one and only'!"
Hiss.
Hashirama: Madara is the Heaven Sent Revelation bestowed upon me.
Kakashi: Obito is my hero.
Shisui and Itachi: We are the closest of friends.
And a small number of people knew...
In another world, Naruto would say to Sasuke in the future: You are my one and only.
Why was it that when the Senju brothers argued, the entire Uchiha Clan got hurt?!
So you two brothers...
No! The Hokage themselves just clash with us Uchiha, don't they?!
At that moment, Madara Uchiha, Izuna Uchiha, Tajima Uchiha, Fugaku Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, and Sasuke Uchiha were surprisingly united in thought.
In the footage.
["Dreaming?"]
While undergoing intense rehabilitation, Obito in the footage asked White Zetsu, who was sitting on his back happily drawing poop.
[White Zetsu: "That's right! Because it's a dream, anything can go however you want! Even bringing the dead back to life is possible. You use Genjutsu to create a super huge virtual world, force everyone into that world, and make them spend their whole lives in a dream. That way, everyone can be happy!!"]
Naruto reminded Sasuke and Young Obito beside him.
"How can something within reach be called a dream? Only something you change step by step through your own efforts can be called a dream! You two had better not follow Uncle Madara's old path!"
Perhaps they had been influenced by the First Hokage and Second Hokage's rhythm.
Without realizing it, everyone had begun treating the Uchiha as a species that needed special handling, carefully warning them not to do anything dangerous.
If they accidentally harmed others and themselves, the one getting hurt would be the entire Ninja World!
Sasuke brushed Naruto's hand off his shoulder. "I'm not like them." He meant Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha. "You only need to worry about those two."
"No, in that other world, weren't you the one who launched a 'revolution' in the end?! Sasuke!" Obito Ōtsutsuki was unconvinced and wanted to defend himself.
Sasuke said, "Think about what you did, culprit." If Obito was unconvinced, he could keep it to himself.
Obito quietly shifted the blame. "The culprit is Madara Uchiha."
Madara said, "You two. Do you both need a lesson?"
Obito and Sasuke: tactical surrender.
While the two of them argued, the one who was most shocked was Fugaku Uchiha.
After realizing that the man before him was not the Fourth Hokage from his own world, he turned his head and asked, "Minato, what exactly happened after I died? Sasuke launched a revolution? What does that mean? And did Obito do something?"
One sentence, several question marks.
Sasuke and Adult Obito looked like startled black cats, their fur nearly standing on end.
Because Father/Big Brother Fugaku had always been low-key and quiet, they had completely forgotten there was such a person behind them while they were arguing!
When Sasuke turned his neck, he looked like a wind-up machine that had not been oiled, creaking bit by bit.
Adult Obito, despite being over one meter eighty tall, kept shrinking and shrinking until he seemed no bigger than Pakkun.
Their exaggerated reactions left Fugaku Uchiha completely baffled.
As for Minato, there was nothing he could do.
He could only sigh inwardly and once again mentally prepare Fugaku Uchiha.
"As for Obito, the footage will probably reach that part soon. Prepare yourself and keep watching."
That regretful yet mysterious manner made Fugaku Uchiha uneasy.
The footage played a stretch of music with a strong Konoha style, full of memories and fine, delicate sweetness.
The footage actually pierced directly into Obito Uchiha's mind, showing that while he was doing rehabilitation, his head was filled with beautiful memories of Konoha. From receiving thanks after helping the elderly, to the occasional care his clan members showed him, though most of all, it was the little details from missions he carried out under Minato Namikaze with Kakashi and Rin.
All of his foolish moments were exposed by the footage.
And the sight of Konoha truly shocked the hundred clans of the Ninja World in the Warring States Period.
But then, White Zetsu's voice suddenly interrupted the memories.
["This is bad!! Obito!"]
The willpower that had kept him going through memories of Rin and Kakashi suddenly collapsed, and Obito, in the middle of his rehabilitation movements, fell back onto the wooden bed.
["What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"]
["It's those people you're always talking about, the ones called Kakashi and Rin! They're in danger!!"]
["What?!!"]
The person whose expression changed just like Obito Uchiha's in the footage was Fugaku Uchiha, the very person who had just been asking what Obito had done afterward.
Back then, after Obito died, he had not paid much attention to Minato Namikaze's other two students.
Because of that, he had completely overlooked a major element.
Only now did he suddenly remember it.
***
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