"Heh."
Even bound in layers of sealing, Black Zetsu let out a cold laugh.
"Don't celebrate too early. Uchiha Jin's appearance may have been unexpected… but your life is still mine to take with a single thought."
Though immobilized, the Binding Curse Seal buried in Obito's heart had already been activated. One mental command—and Obito would die.
"Is that so?" Jin's eyes sharpened.
"Fire Release: Firepoint Lance."
In a flash too fast to follow, Jin raised his hand and thrust a finger toward Obito's chest.
A thin flame, no thicker than a finger, spiraled violently at his fingertip. It compressed into a blazing orange cone—like the tip of a burning spear.
Black Zetsu stiffened.
For an instant he thought Jin was attacking him.
By the time he realized the target was Obito—
It was too late.
—or rather, even if he had realized sooner, he had no way to stop it.
Puchi.
The flaming spear pierced Obito's chest.
It paused—just long enough—
Then twisted.
The heart—
And the curse seal engraved upon it—
Were shredded together.
Obito coughed up blood.
Yet he was smiling.
"Can you still control me now?"
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, but his grin only widened.
Even if he died—
He had severed Madara's and Black Zetsu's chains.
From this moment onward—
The sea was vast enough for fish to leap.
The sky wide enough for birds to soar.
Black Zetsu said nothing.
His final bargaining chip was gone.
Obito collapsed.
Beneath his mask, the spare three-tomoe Sharingan in his left socket quietly lost its light.
Izanagi.
The forbidden art that rewrites fate.
In the original timeline, Obito had used Kakashi's hand to destroy the curse seal, then immediately became the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki, relying on its regenerative power to survive.
But now?
He had no Ten-Tails.
No godlike regeneration.
He could only sacrifice a Sharingan.
Izanagi works by recording the user's state at activation. Within its duration, any injury—even death—can be reverted to that recorded state.
But there was a complication.
Madara had planted the curse seal in Obito's heart long before Obito ever learned Izanagi. If he simply revived himself, the curse seal would revive with him.
Timing was everything.
Jin's chakra control had to be precise to the extreme.
Obito needed to record the exact instant—
The moment the curse seal was destroyed—
But before the damage to his body became fatal.
Moments later, the corpse on the ground dissolved into illusion.
In its place stood Obito—clutching his chest, coughing blood.
"You alright?" Jin asked.
"Cough… I'm fine. Jin-sensei, your timing was perfect."
Obito straightened slowly. When he removed his hand from his chest, a scorched black scar marked his heart.
Jin's Firepoint Lance had not detonated immediately. It had first crushed the curse seal completely—then released its destructive force.
Obito activated Izanagi at the precise instant the seal was gone but before irreversible damage set in.
The Binding Curse Seal had been deeply rooted. It could even sense Obito's intent and suppress attempts to remove it. Any hesitation would have meant failure.
Jin had needed to strike decisively.
And though he minimized the damage, injury was unavoidable.
Fortunately, Obito's body—enhanced by Hashirama cells—possessed considerable healing ability.
He could endure this much.
Obito wiped the blood from his mouth and looked toward Black Zetsu.
"Jin-sensei. What do we do with him?"
Kill him?
Jin studied Black Zetsu in silence.
Everything that had happened—revealing the truth, turning Obito, capturing Zetsu—had unfolded in the heat of the moment.
Now came the harder part.
Decision.
"Obito," Black Zetsu said evenly, though tension flickered beneath the surface.
"Madara-sama will not forgive this."
He wasn't afraid of death.
He had existed for a thousand years.
But—
The Rinnegan had awakened.
The Demonic Statue of the Outer Path was secured.
The revival of his mother was within reach.
To fail now—
After millennia—
Was unacceptable.
Obito gave him a cold smile.
"Stop pretending, Black Zetsu."
"You think I don't know?"
"You're not Madara's will."
"Your will belongs to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."
"And Madara… was just another piece on your board."
"If Madara were revived and learned the truth, who do you think he'd hunt first? Me—or you?"
Black Zetsu's eyes widened.
Shock flashed across his dark face.
"That's impossible…!"
He didn't doubt the claim.
Kaguya's name was nearly forgotten in this era. For Obito to speak her full name so precisely—
It meant he knew.
He truly knew.
Obito stepped closer, savoring the rare reversal.
"The Uchiha stone tablet was altered by you."
"Kaguya was sealed by her sons—Hagoromo and Hamura."
"And the so-called Moon's Eye Plan… was never about peace."
"It was about freeing your mother."
He smiled thinly.
"Black Zetsu. Your schemes—your secrets—I understand them all now."
Each revelation struck like thunder.
Black Zetsu felt something unfamiliar.
Vertigo.
His millennium-long concealment—
Exposed.
Completely exposed.
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