"Next time, it'll be two fingers." Naruto's voice was calm, as if he were doing something utterly mundane. "Why did Nohara Rin die?"
"I regret... not killing you back then!" Obito spat.
CRACK! CRACK!
The sound of two bones breaking.
"Why did Nohara Rin die?" Naruto asked again.
"Do you know how your mother died?" Uchiha Obito laughed miserably.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
"AAAAARRRGH!!!"
After Obito had calmed down.
"Three fingers left." Naruto grabbed Obito's head, forcing him to meet his gaze. "Why did Nohara Rin die?"
"Ptui!" The bloody spittle Uchiha Obito launched hung suspended in mid-air.
Naruto calmly extended his right hand, intertwining his fingers with Obito's left hand, and squeezed gently.
CRACK!
The last three finger bones snapped in unison.
"Have you ever heard the saying 'the ten fingers are connected to the heart'?"
"Hhhooo..." Uchiha Obito glared at him with eyes full of hatred.
Naruto didn't expect an answer and explained matter-of-factly, "It's because every finger has meridians that run through the limbs directly to the head. That's why it's said the ten fingers are connected to the heart. You have a total of twenty fingers and toes. I'm a merciful person; I'll give you four chances."
"Come!" Naruto lifted his left hand slightly, prompting Obito to focus a little. "Answer me. Why did Nohara Rin die?"
"..." Uchiha Obito looked at him with contempt.
"Very good." Naruto pinched one of Obito's toes between his right thumb and forefinger and squeezed hard. The shattered toenail mixed into the flattened flesh.
"AAAAARRRGH!!!" The pain, exceeding his brain's threshold, directly caused Uchiha Obito to lose consciousness of the outside world.
"You still haven't answered my question." A sliver of Yang Release energy was injected into Obito's head, forcing him to maintain clear awareness of his surroundings.
Tch! Tch!
Question after question, silence after silence.
Finally, after Naruto had crushed Obito's last toe, he received an answer.
"It was because... I was too weak..."
"A clear understanding." Naruto nodded with satisfaction and tossed the barely conscious figure in his hand to the ground.
"Heh heh... hehehe..."
Naruto, squatting down, heard the eerie laughter and looked at Obito with keen interest. "It seems you can still dance."
Just like that, Uchiha Obito's figure blurred into an afterimage and vanished from his sight.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
From behind Naruto, several sharp-tipped chains shot towards him at terrifying speed.
"Izanagi? It seems you still haven't understood." Naruto sighed faintly. "No matter how many chances an ant gets to resist, it is still, ultimately, an ant."
With a thought, six Truth-Seeking Orbs materialized behind him. Just as the chains were about to pierce him, one Truth-Seeking Orb suddenly expanded, forming a hemisphere that enveloped him. Though the Truth-Seeking Orb's defense was as thin as a cicada's wing, the chains' attack could not advance an inch.
Shwoop!
Uchiha Obito, seeing his attack was ineffective, retracted the chains and produced two black receivers in his hands. His left eye had also permanently lost its sight.
Naruto slowly stood up, facing Obito. The expanded Truth-Seeking Orb reverted to a sphere and floated behind him once more.
"Those things, did Uchiha Madara leave them for you?" he asked, looking at the two black receivers in Obito's hands.
"You know a lot." Uchiha Obito looked at the Truth-Seeking Orbs spinning behind Naruto, a grave expression in his visible eye. He could clearly sense that the substance composing these black spheres was the same as that of the black receivers in his hands. He knew firsthand how powerful the black receivers Madara had left him were.
"What you know, I basically know. What you don't know, I also know." Naruto slowly walked towards him. With a light flick of his fingers, four Truth-Seeking Orbs transformed into arrows and shot towards Obito.
"What?!" Uchiha Obito's expression changed drastically. His Sharingan couldn't even capture the trajectory of the attack.
Pfft!
The black arrows pierced his limbs, pinning him firmly to the ground. The sealing power of Yin-Yang Release rendered all his struggles futile.
Naruto squatted beside Obito's head. "As I said just now, you are too weak."
"..." Uchiha Obito gave up struggling. As Naruto had said, the difference in their strength was simply not on the same level.
"I didn't expect Kirigakure and Sunagakure to make such choices..." Through his clone's shared vision, Naruto had already seen the outcome of the battle in the main world. It was somewhat different from his expectations; not all Akatsuki members left on the battlefield had perished. Hoshigaki Kisame and Sasori had been captured by their respective villages.
"Apologies, I can't play with you any longer." Naruto expressed his regret, then placed his right hand on Obito's head. Powerful spiritual energy instantly scanned through all of Obito's memories. From Uchiha Obito's birth until now, everything he remembered, and everything he didn't, flashed before Naruto's eyes like a revolving lantern.
"Urgh... urgh..." Uchiha Obito's expression became vacant and idiotic, completely devoid of his earlier cunning. This was the consequence of having one's memories scanned.
Naruto suddenly lifted his right hand, and following it was Obito's materialized soul.
"Regrettably, based on the things you've done, it's impossible for me to let you go to the Pure Land and reunite with your beloved Rin. Atone for your sins in endless darkness." Naruto didn't believe this kind of person would feel remorse for his actions.
"Sekiro is the Deva Path... You shall become the Naraka Path." Refining the Six Paths puppets was a unique ability of the Rinnegan. Perhaps Otsutsuki Urashiki felt that these "ignorant natives" were unworthy of becoming his puppets, which was why he hadn't used this ability.
"Preserve his right Mangekyo, replace his left eye with a Rinnegan to serve as the control hub..."
As Naruto pondered the manufacturing plan, his hands were already performing the practical steps. Having had experience creating Sekiro, his handling of refining Uchiha Obito into a Six Paths puppet was much more proficient.
Several hours later.
The Naraka Path - Uchiha Obito, his right eye still a Mangekyo and his left now a Rinnegan, stood up.
"Naraka Path, are Uchiha Obito's memories clear?" Naruto asked, examining his creation. When creating the Naraka Path, he had also molded its soul. This time, however, he hadn't used himself as a template but had borrowed from Obito's memories. After all, the Naraka Path bore a heavy responsibility: to infiltrate Akatsuki.
"Some parts are lost, but it won't affect the plan."
"Then I'll be counting on you." Naruto nodded slightly, then turned and stepped into the Yomotsu Hirasaka, leaving the alternate dimension.
The Naraka Path - Uchiha Obito glanced at the unconscious behemoth in the distance, then continued towards its destination.
Land of Waves.
A country with almost no ninja, a poor economy, and impoverished citizens. The Five Great Shinobi Nations didn't even consider it a proper country. For Akatsuki, who were wanted throughout the shinobi world, this was, however, a rare and excellent hiding place.
In an unremarkable forest.
The Naraka Path - Uchiha Obito, wearing a grayish-white, single-eyed mask, appeared. He formed hand seals, and space rippled. A passage abruptly appeared in the giant tree before him.