The underground cave ran deep, sealing off all sound and light from the outside world.
Uchiha Obito sat on an icy stone platform.
Several white tubes extending from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path were connected to his back, steadily feeding chakra and life force through them to repair the damage his body had taken in the previous battle.
All Akatsuki members were either dead or captured, and Nagato's Rinnegan had fallen into the Divine Court's hands.
The entire plan was on the verge of collapse.
"Madara's plan… the Eye of the Moon Plan… it can't fail here."
If it failed here, everything would be over. Years of effort would be destroyed in an instant—something he absolutely could not accept.
As he was thinking—
A shadow with no fixed shape rose from the darkness behind him, eventually condensing into a half-formed human figure.
"Obito, impatience will dull your judgment," Black Zetsu whispered near his ear. "This is only the final test. The people of Konoha think they've won, but they don't understand what true victory is."
Black Zetsu leaned toward him.
"Think about it—once Infinite Tsukuyomi is activated, every failure can be erased. All pain will disappear. You'll create a brand-new world… a world where Rin exists. She'll be waiting for you in that world."
Rin.
That name was Obito's weakness.
For this day, he had endured endless suffering and committed countless unforgivable deeds.
But he no longer cared. As long as he reached his goal, everything else was secondary.
A world where Rin existed—that was what mattered most.
To him, a world without Rin was the real hell.
If there was no heaven in this world, then he would build one with his own hands.
That mad obsession crushed all his unease and the bitterness of failure.
Yes. As long as Rin existed, everything was worth it.
And at that moment—
The space in the center of the cave changed.
With no warning, the air twisted on its own, forming an inward-collapsing spiral.
A sign of spacetime ninjutsu.
So they couldn't hold back anymore—they were choosing to attack directly.
"Kakashi," Obito said with contempt and disgust. "That useless trash who can only use my eye… he thinks he can harass me like this?"
The Mangekyo pattern in his right eye began spinning rapidly as he prepared to activate his own Kamui—either to transfer Kakashi's long-range attack into the other space, or cancel it out with the same power.
Chakra surged within him, aiming at the ever-expanding spatial vortex.
But what happened next completely exceeded his expectations.
Not only was the vortex unaffected by his ocular power—
A totally different chakra burst out from inside it.
A golden flood of chakra surged from the vortex's center, forcibly propping open the entrance that should have collapsed at any moment, stabilizing it into a firm doorway.
A figure stepped out from that golden portal.
He wore Konoha's jonin flak jacket, and his blond hair remained striking even under the cave's dim light.
Namikaze Minato.
Teacher… how could he…
Then a second figure walked out.
White hair, a forehead protector tilted to cover the left eye, the familiar jonin attire.
Hatake Kakashi.
His appearance didn't surprise Obito.
What truly shook him—
Was the person who walked out last, behind Kakashi.
A girl.
She wore a purple combat outfit Obito had never seen before, and long brown hair fell over her shoulders.
Those two purple markings on her cheeks—
Obito could never forget them, even in a lifetime.
All his plans.
His hatred for the world.
The madness and obsession he had maintained for more than ten years.
The fake identity of "Uchiha Madara" he had built to hold himself together—
The instant he saw that face…
It all lost meaning.
Like a castle made of sand, collapsing completely with one gentle push of the tide.
"Rin…"
He thought he was hallucinating.
Had Infinite Tsukuyomi activated early?
Or was this some vile illusion the enemy created to shake his mind?
But what he saw was too real.
Black Zetsu reacted far faster than Obito did.
The moment it saw Nohara Rin, the conspirator that had lived for a thousand years instantly judged that the situation was fully out of control.
Resurrecting the dead—this was power only the Sage of Six Paths should have possessed.
The enemy's intelligence and methods far exceeded its predictions.
This wasn't an accidental ambush.
It was a carefully prepared, inescapable trap.
It didn't even look at the chess piece whose mind had already collapsed—one that no longer had any value.
Obito was finished.
Black Zetsu abandoned him without hesitation.
Its body softened like liquid, slipping free from Obito's shadow and sinking toward the ground.
As long as it could burrow deep underground and use the earth as cover, no one would be able to catch it.
"Trying to run? Can you run?" Minato's cold voice rang out.
Right before Black Zetsu fully merged into the earth, Minato vanished from where he stood.
A flash of golden light flickered at the far end of the cave.
Minato appeared at the spot where Black Zetsu was sinking.
He didn't form a single hand seal.
The moment he appeared, he delivered a precise kick to the patch of ground that was turning black.
The force—infused with senjutsu chakra—pierced straight through the rock layers.
Black Zetsu let out a shriek, tumbling through the air before slamming hard into a distant stone wall.
It slid to the ground, becoming a puddle of black slime that couldn't move.
The entire sequence happened in the blink of an eye.
Obito didn't care anymore.
In his eyes, there was only the girl walking toward him, one step at a time.
Rin.
It really was Rin.
She hadn't died.
She was standing right in front of him—alive.
Then what had he done all these years… for what?
To create a world where she existed—
He had personally destroyed the world where she had once existed.
This hatred and despair, this resolve to make an enemy of the entire world—
Now, at this moment, it became a ridiculous lie.
Obito's body began to shake uncontrollably.
He instinctively took a step back, but his foot caught on the remains of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path behind him.
He fell awkwardly, collapsing onto the ground.
He wanted to flee.
To use Kamui to escape into the cold space that belonged only to him.
But he couldn't.
Under Rin's gaze, he couldn't even gather the will to activate his ocular jutsu.
The girl who had once given him warmth—
And who had also sent him plunging into hell—
Stood before him now, completely overturning the entire world he had built with lies and hatred.
(End of Chapter)
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