Chapter 11 – A Sharingan as the entry fee? I accept this gamble!
"Hahaha!"
Yahiko's laughter cut off, amber eyes brimming with mockery.
He strode to the wheelchair, slung an arm around Nagato's thin shoulders, and let his gaze stab like a blade at Obito's mask.
"Looks like you've misunderstood something."
"Nagato is my brother, not one of your disposable tools." Yahiko's lips curled in a wild grin. "If we're betting, let's raise the stakes—I'm adding a wager of my own!"
Obito narrowed his lone eye. "You want to die?"
"This vendetta won't use Nagato's Rinnegan. Just me and Konan!"
Yahiko's voice detonated in the warehouse, every word a heavy chip slammed onto the gaming table.
"Ten days! If I kill Hanzou and take Amegakure—"
He thrust a finger at Obito's nose, articulating each syllable.
"You'll not only hand over the Rinnegan cultivation method, you'll serve under me! Mask off, on your knees—whoever you claim to be, Uchiha Madara or not, you'll speak to me like that!"
Boom!
Behind Yahiko the red-and-white silhouette of King Crimson flickered; its tyrannical aura thickened the very air.
"You want a new world? Then brace yourself to be devoured by the old one!"
Madman.
A complete and utter madman!
Obito glared, mind racing.
No Rinnegan? Just that odd taijutsu and a paper-wielding woman seizing ground from a demigod of the Ninja World? Lunacy! Without a deterrent like Shinra Tensei, how could they subdue the Rain shinobi?
A sure-win scenario.
Victory would win Nagato's loyalty and gain him a powerful pawn.
"Deal!"
Obito hissed the word through clenched teeth, voice as cold as a fiend crawling from Hell. "I'll wait for the day you kneel and beg."
Space twisted, the black-robed figure swallowed away… In a gloomy cavern somewhere in the Land of Rain.
"Pfft!"
The instant Obito landed he collapsed to his knees, tore off his mask and hurled it at the rock wall!
Rumble!
Stone shattered, a crater erupting in the wall.
Obito gasped, his once-intact left eye now clamped shut.
Izanagi.
In that split second he'd sacrificed a spare three-tomoe Sharingan to rewrite reality; without it his heart would have been burst like a balloon.
"Damn it! Damn it!!"
Fingers brushing the empty socket, his killing intent nearly crystallized. "A mere Yahiko… forced me to waste an eye?!"
The ground rippled and Zetsu surfaced, voice trembling. "Obito… that ability's too bizarre; I can't fathom it. What in the world is that 'King Crimson'? Should we change the plan?"
"Change nothing!"
Obito drew a deep breath, quelling the tempest inside. He lifted his mask again, hiding a face twisted with jealousy.
"If he wants to play, I'll play to the end."
A glint flashed in his remaining right eye. "If he really crushes Hanzou without the Rinnegan, let him stand in the spotlight. As long as Nagato stays on our track… these eyes will be mine again sooner or later."
"We need to speed things up in Konoha. I require a new eye."
…Back in the warehouse, deathly silence.
The lingering smell of blood clawed at their nerves. Konan was still stunned by Yahiko driving off the foe, while Nagato's knuckles whitened as he gripped the wheelchair arms.
Creak.
The metal armrest bent under his grasp.
"Yahiko!!"
Nagato finally erupted, voice trembling with fury. "Who let you decide for me?! Why don't you need my strength?!"
He jerked his head up; bloodshot Rinnegan eyes blazed with outrage—and deep dread.
"Do you think I'm just a cripple now? A burden?!"
"Nagato, he didn't mean—" Konan started.
"Shut up, Konan! I want to hear him!" Nagato roared.
Yahiko turned, silent for a moment, then walked over and crouched until their eyes met. His usual smile was gone, replaced by a chilling calm.
"Nagato, have you lost your mind?"
The blunt scolding froze Nagato.
Yahiko pointed at the withered legs, voice harsh.
"First, look at yourself! The Gedo Statue nearly drained you dry. Jump into another fight and you expect Konan and me to collect your corpse?"
"Second, still don't get it? That 'Madara' has wanted only one thing from the start—your body, or rather, your eyes!"
He rose, pacing, voice colder with every step.
"He approached you before that valley incident, right? He knew Hanzou would strike, so why no warning? Why no action?"
Nagato's pupils shrank.
"He's raising Gu." Yahiko drove the point home. "He cornered you, made you watch us die, forced you to slaughter with those eyes. Once you rely on the Rinnegan, you're his Puppet!"
"If we don't Seal your eyes, we've already lost this gamble."
The words poured over Nagato like ice water.
So everything—rage, vengeance, despair—had been calculated. If Yahiko hadn't Awakened that power, if Yahiko had died… he himself would now be dancing on the Masked Man's strings.
Seeing the fear and regret on Nagato's face, Yahiko's gaze softened.
He bumped Nagato's chest lightly with a fist, grinning with absolute confidence.
"Don't worry, my best friend."
"Rest these ten days. I'll show that frog-in-a-well with the mask—"
Yahiko clenched his fist, knuckles cracking.
"—that even without so-called 'god-eyes', I can flip this old world's table upside down!"