Tenji's perception travelled through darkness. He allowed himself to be pulled, since he felt his wife, or at least, something that reminded him of her. It wasn't the same, but so close, that it almost killed him. He felt as though he travelled through the night sky, which he had observed so often with Kaguya, until he finally came to a stop.
In front of him, he saw a female figure, hunched forward, with her arms raised to the sides. Her head hung weakly, with her white hair falling and hiding most of her features. But Tenji knew; he knew her very well.
"Kaguya... KAGUYA!!"
Tenji screamed and wanted to move forward, but an invisible wall stopped him from reaching her. He tried to smash his fists against this 'wall', to use jutsu and chakra, but it was of no use. It wouldn't budge. Tenji grew angry—all the emotions of disappointment, anger and sadness he had been repressing spilt out now.
Kaguya seemed to feel something and slowly lifted her head. Tenji froze as their eyes met. The time they spent together was enough to make them able to communicate without words. He saw her pain, basically the same emotions he was feeling right now. But the moment their eyes met, something seemed to spark within her.
Tenji saw her lips move.
'Tenji...'
Not able to take it anymore, Tenji began moving his chakra. His time looking into the Cursed Seal of the Hyuga clan made him skilled enough to know what he was looking at. Kaguya was sealed, just like Gamamaru had told him. But it was on an entirely different level compared to the Cursed Seal. There was an incredible amount of power contained within the seal, and a very special chakra even fed and strengthened it.
Tenji didn't care. His time had been spent well. In the short time he had been awake, he had studied Nature Energy and developed a method to circulate it through his chakra pathways and body to nourish, feed, and strengthen his cells. His cells had evolved with every mitosis. He was a Sage in the truest sense, and he was growing stronger.
Tenji pulled back his fist and pumped it full of his special Sage Chakra. He focused it on a single point. The energy seemed to create a sphere of power around his fist, shrinking as he concentrated it more and more. And then, he punched forward.
In the moment that his fist hit the seal, instead of exploding and breaking, something else happened. A powerful wave travelled across the entire seal. It looked like the start of a tsunami, which travelled around the outside of the seal and then returned to Tenji with exponential force. All of this happened in a matter of seconds, and when it finally reached Tenji... it was pandemonium.
The explosion blasted Tenji back. In the moment that it happened, Tenji looked at Kaguya again, seeing her lips move once more. Then he was ripped out of there and landed back on the battlefield of Amegakure.
"Haaa... haaah..."
"Tenji!"
Sasori shouted and approached him. He looked at his right side with worry.
"Your arm."
Tenji's right arm had been blown off by the seal he had tried to break forcefully, and his entire right side was full of burn marks. The soul affected the physical body after all. But Tenji didn't care. He had seen Kaguya's lips move, but he didn't know what they meant.
"Who on earth is Kaguya's will?" Tenji asked.
.
"What is going on?" Obito Uchiha asked Black Zestu.
He had seen the way he shook a moment before, and so he asked him. Zetsu understood that there was no hiding this, even if he wanted to. The fact that Nagato was involved couldn't be hidden; he was far too important, and Obito would find out if he lied. But for the first time in over a thousand years, Zeta's priorities didn't revolve entirely around the plan. They still did, but there was now something else he desperately needed to do.
And that couldn't wait.
"Something happened with Nagato," Zetsu said.
"What?! What happened?" Obito asked.
"I only know that they were ambushed by Hanzo the Salamander together with the Root ninja from Konoha. Apparently, Yahiko died, and it seems that Nagato used the Rinnegan's power to summon the Gedo Statue and kill all shinobi there, except Hanzo."
"This is perfect. We can use this to get him on our side. Let's go!"
Obito's single Mangekyo Sharingan activated, and he disappeared from the underground cave. A moment later, he reappeared at the battlefield in Amegakure. He saw the three leaders of the Akatuski and two more men standing there. One of them was severely wounded on his right side.
"Madara," Konan was the first to see him.
She was no longer lying on the ground but standing next to Nagato and Yahiko. But that didn't interest Obito as much as the newcomer, who seemed terribly injured. He had introduced himself to them as Madara, to give himself a name and an image people could fear.
"I see that things didn't turn out very well on your own," he said.
"What are you doing here, Madara? We already told you that we didn't want your help!" Konan said.
"Who are you?"
Obito turned to the injured man and looked between him and his companion.
"Sasori of the Red Sand, what are you doing in Amegakure? I thought you were fighting against Konoha," the masked Obito said.
"..."
Sasori ignored him.
"Hmm... and who are you?" he finally asked.
"I'm known as Tenji, and who are you?" he asked.
"I am Madara Uchiha."
"Madara?"
"Yes."
"Madara Uchiha."
"That's what I said."
"You're lying."
"What?"
"Madara Uchiha would be a very old man and most likely dead by now. You are clearly changing your voice, and from the looks of it, you were injured quite badly. Now you're hiding your face, out of necessity because of your injury, which would strengthen my point that no 80-plus-year-old man would still move as you do, or you're hiding your face to make sure no one can see your face and know that you're a liar."
"..."
"..."
"I AM Madara Uchiha."
"Whatever. What is it you want?" Tenji asked.
His arm looked like someone had sucked all the life out of it, and it hurt a lot. His immense healing and vitality were working on regenerating, but it took a while.
"I already told the others about it. I am here for the Rinnegan. To guide those who awaken is the mission our organisation has been entrusted with for a long time."
"What are you talking about?" Tenji asked.
Obito pointed at the unconscious Nagato on the ground.
"He is the reincarnation of the Sage of Sixth Path who dreamt of world stability and peace."
"Madara--"
Zeutsu wanted to say something to Obito, but he continued. He wanted to tell him how stupid it was what he was telling them, and that the lies he was saying now might have fooled everyone, but it wouldn't fool the man who stood before them now.
"Only the great villages were showered in light. They got everything and took everything for themselves, leaving the smaller nations like yours to fight for scraps and live in poverty and pain. That's why you were born here in this nation, to change this fact."
Tenji continued to listen without saying anything. Sasori stood at his side, without moving.
"Wherever light strikes, there are always shadows. So long as there is a concept of victors... the vanquished will also similarly exist. The selfish intent of wanting to preserve peace initiates wars... and hatred is born in order to protect love.
These are all excuses, casual relationships that cannot be separated... Normally that is.
But a world of just victors, peace and love, such a world can be created too! I offered for Nagato and the Akatsuki to collaborate with us, in order to learn how that could be achieved. We would have taught him how to utilise the Rinnegan's full power. Now, he had to go through this pain and lose a loved one to attain this."
Tenji still didn't move, keeping a neutral expression. Konan, on the other hand, clenched her fists as she looked at the Nagato and the body of Yahiko.
"I told you that something as mutual understanding didn't exist. And I told you that I would wait for you to realise this. And so here we are."
Tenji looked at Zetsu. For a moment, he rested his eyes on him and then turned back to Obito. He sighed and shook his head.
"Who told you these things?" he asked.
"No one did. I figured them out myself."
"No, you did not. You are a child who experienced loss and, as a result, awakened the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Then you were taken in by, and I'm only guessing here, Madara Uchiha, who told you those words."
"You know nothing about me!" Obito said through his teeth.
"I know that everything you said was utter nonsense. This young man is NOT the reincarnation of the Sage of Sixth Path, and those eyes don't even belong to him," Tenji revealed.
"What are you saying?!" Konan asked. "Nagato has had these eyes since we've known him."
"That may be so, but they weren't originally his. And truth be told, they still aren't. You can't replace your eyes like a tool. Chakra doesn't work like that. The original owner of those eyes still has his chakra imprinted on them. This is the reason why it takes vitality to use its power."
Tenji then turned to Obito and narrowed his eyes.
"Now. Why don't you tell me who you really are?"
Obito's eyes narrowed as well, and his Sharingan turned. He was angry and didn't like Tenji and what he said. He felt that this man was a threat, not because of his power; he didn't see Tenji as dangerous in that regard. But in how much he knew. That couldn't stand, for their plan had to succeed.
Without warning, Obito flashed forward. He appeared right in front of Tenji and punched him in the face. Tenji, whose reaction was more than capable of keeping up, held up his hand to catch the fist. But to his surprise, the fist phased through his hand and still landed on his face.
The force hit his skull and rattled his brain. However, to Obito's surprise, Tenji didn't fall on the ground or was knocked out. His head was knocked to the side, and his upper body leaned back a bit, but that was it. His left hand punched forward, aiming at Obito's midsection. Tenji wanted to hit him and counterattack.
Tenji's fist phased through Obito's midsection again, which the Uchiha used to move through Tenji and attack from behind. A kunai appeared in his hand, which he stabbed forward. Tenji ducked underneath the attack and sent an upper-cut at Obito's face. His speed was double what it was before. And yet, he phased through him again.
A kick landed on his wounded right side, which burned his already terribly hurt nerves. Several shuriken came flying, and a scythe appeared from the left side, being swung by Obito, having calculated the angle at which Tenji would have to dodge.
But he was disappointed a moment later.
Tenji caught several shuriken mid-flight and threw them at Obito, forcing him to phase through the attack and therefore making his scythe also phase through Tenji's body. Obito landed on the ground and weaved through a series of hand seals.
"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Release Song Jutsu"
This was an advanced version of its parent jutsu, where Obito expelled several dragon-headed fireballs from their mouth to cover the frontal, left and right sides of Tenji. As the dragon-heads moved randomly, it made the jutsu much more difficult to avoid.
Tenji looked at the attack, but didn't move out of the way. Obito, who was ready with his next move, stopped as the three dragon-headed fireballs hit Tenji, causing an explosion. He looked to the side, where Sasori was observing the fight without interfering. Obito used his Sharingan and peered through the smoke. His eyes widened.
"What?!"
The smoke was lifted, revealing an unharmed Tenji.
"An impressive jutsu. Truly marvellous to be able to phase in and out like that. I don't know what you call this, but I'm impressed," Tenji said.
Obito narrowed his eyes. He knew that his Kamui was the strongest jutsu there was, or so he thought. It was a cheat, of course, but that didn't mean anything in front of Tenji, and he was about to learn that the hard way.
"However, unfortunately for you... I understand it now."
"Wha--"
Tenji's fist smashed into Obito's face, with what felt like the weight of a mountain. Obito's brain couldn't comprehend what had happened and didn't even send him a signal, leaving him unable to react in time.
Tenji stood above the knocked-out Obito and then turned to Zetsu, whom he was far more interested in.
"Now, who are you?"