The hidden dimension was silent.
There was no sky, no ground, no sun. Only endless black pillars of varying heights stretched upward and downward, their material unknown, swallowing light without reflection. The space felt dead. Frozen. As if time itself had chosen not to exist here.
On one of the pillars stood a man in a black cloak patterned with red clouds, a spiral mask covering his face. At his feet, a dark puddle slowly shifted and pulsed.
Uchiha Obito and Black Zetsu.
Obito scanned the surroundings. No sign of Konan. No sign of Nagato.
That alone told him everything.
The plan had failed.
Originally, Zetsu was meant to restrain Konan, force Nagato into exposing the Rinnegan, then activate the prepared seal and drag all three of them into this dimension. Once trapped here, starvation and isolation would finish the job. Konan was dangerous, but even she couldn't survive forever without water or food.
But now, only Zetsu had arrived.
Obito turned his masked face slightly. "Did you get them?"
"I did," Black Zetsu replied as a pair of eyes surfaced from the black mass.
Only then did Obito relax. He took the Rinnegan without hesitation. Capturing Nagato and Konan would have been ideal, but this was the true objective. Without these eyes, Nagato was finished.
If they had failed even this, Obito wasn't sure what he would do next.
He had watched the battle between Fujimoto Tōma and the Six Paths from start to finish. Pain's power was terrifying by any normal standard, yet against Tōma it had looked almost childish. Worse still, Obito could tell Tōma hadn't gone all out. Some of his most infamous techniques hadn't even been used.
If the Rinnegan had fallen into Tōma's hands…
Obito didn't even want to imagine it.
"Tell me what happened," Obito said.
Zetsu explained everything in short order.
Obito snorted. "Figures. Nagato's not as easy to corner as he used to be."
The old Nagato would have broken. This one had learned too much.
Zetsu shifted. "What about the Nine-Tails?"
"Impossible," Obito said flatly. "Not while the Sixth Hokage is alive."
He reached into his cloak and produced a small sphere.
Zetsu stiffened. The chakra inside was unmistakable.
"Nine-Tails chakra?" he asked. "Where did that come from?"
"Found it," Obito replied.
"…Found it?"
"It fell during the fight. When Deva Path used that gravity technique."
Zetsu fell silent.
Was it really coincidence?
Obito had wondered the same thing. But no matter how he looked at it, Tōma had no reason to hand this over intentionally. In the end, Obito classified it as a mistake and moved on.
"I checked," he added. "No Flying Thunder God markings."
"…Interesting."
Zetsu hesitated. This much chakra would be enough to activate the Demonic Statue. Not at full strength, but possibly enough.
Still, unease lingered.
Even with everything in place, Zetsu couldn't shake the feeling that Fujimoto Tōma was a variable that refused to stay within any plan.
Eventually, he dismissed the thought.
Surely, no one could truly rival Six Paths–level power.
Surely.
Outside the hidden dimension, Tōma felt it.
The bead he had been monitoring was gone.
"So he was here after all," Tōma thought calmly.
He had left it on purpose. At this point, the Eight-Tails' chakra had likely already been taken as well. Pushing events forward didn't bother him.
With Jiraiya beside him, he stopped in front of a massive hollow tree.
The smell of blood lingered in the air.
Both men frowned and entered together.
"You're late, Sixth Hokage," a weak voice echoed from within.
"Jiraiya-sensei," Konan said quietly, unnervingly calm.
They saw her standing beside a strange life-support device. Inside it sat Nagato, eyes closed, blood still seeping from empty sockets.
Jiraiya froze. "Nagato… your eyes…"
Tōma narrowed his gaze. Obito shouldn't have been capable of this. Not cleanly. Something else had happened.
"What happened after I left?" Jiraiya demanded. "And… Yahiko?"
"Does it matter now?" Nagato replied coldly. "I lost. Do what you came to do."
Then his voice changed.
"Please… spare Konan. She followed my orders. She never harmed Konoha."
"I won't live if he dies," Konan said immediately. "There's no point."
Nagato sighed.
He turned his head slightly. "Sixth Hokage. You're also his student, aren't you?"
"Yes," Tōma replied. "Should I call you senior?"
Nagato gave a bitter smile. "I don't deserve that."
"I only ask one thing," he continued. "When I'm gone, stop her from following me."
Tōma nodded. "That's what you want."
Before Nagato could continue, Jiraiya snapped, anger flashing in his eyes. "Enough. Konan. You talk."
Tōma added calmly, "Your lives are in his hands now."
Jiraiya glanced at Tōma, gratitude clear in his eyes. This decision mattered.
Konan hesitated, then bowed her head. "I'll tell you everything, Jiraiya-sensei."
She spoke of their beginnings. Of Yahiko's dream. Of Akatsuki before it was twisted. Of Hanzo's betrayal. Of Danzō's involvement.
When she reached Yahiko's death, her voice trembled.
Jiraiya clenched his fists.
Of course it was Danzō.
Again.
Konan continued. Of Pain. Of ruling the Rain. Of the masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara.
"That man," Tōma said quietly, "isn't Madara."
Konan nodded. "We know that now."
Their goal had changed. Fear. Weapons. Control through suffering.
When she finished, silence fell.
"Is that really peace?" Jiraiya asked hoarsely.
"People don't understand each other," Nagato replied. "If they did, Yahiko would still be alive."
Jiraiya had no answer.
Then Tōma yawned.
"This conversation's dragging," he said casually.
Everyone stared at him.
"World peace is a dead-end topic," Tōma continued. "You'll never reach it. Talking won't change that."
Nagato's voice shook with rage. "You dismiss everything we suffered as meaningless?"
"I don't," Tōma replied evenly. "I just don't pretend the world works differently than it does."
The room fell silent again.
And this time, the silence carried weight.