"What should we do? Madara-sama~~"
White Zetsu's voice echoed.
Obito Uchiha, the Masked Man who had somehow become the true Madara Uchiha, remained silent for a long time.
He still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing Rin and Young Kakashi again.
Only when White Zetsu reminded him once more did he react.
"Madara-sama, that kid is about to wake up~"
The "kid" White Zetsu was referring to was Obito Uchiha of this era.
Because he had carelessly used the S-rank mission reward—Hashirama's cells—his entire body was now suffering a violent backlash from Wood Release chakra, leaving him on the brink of death.
"Madara Uchiha" walked over and stared at this other version of himself in this almost illusory world.
The teenage Obito wore a dark blue tracksuit, orange goggles resting over his Konoha forehead protector. Supposedly meant to protect the precious eyes of the Uchiha Clan, they were more often used to hide his tears and his embarrassing moments.
Was this weak, useless version of himself really worth saving?
The body was that of the aged Madara Uchiha, yet the soul within was Obito Uchiha from another world—the Masked Man.
Thinking of the despair that awaited him in the latter half of his life, he found himself hesitating over the question of whether to save him.
Because death…was far kinder than what he would go through later.
A hand like withered branches slowly closed around the unconscious boy's throat.
With just a little more strength, it would all be over.
"What are you doing, Madara?"
The soul of Adult Obito inside Madara Uchiha's body recognized the voice instantly.
This time, it was Black Zetsu.
"You're trying to kill him?"
Black Zetsu stepped up beside the young Obito, looking down at the pitiful boy whose body had been half-destroyed by Wood Release.
"Isn't this the successor you chose? If you kill him, who's going to carry out your plan?"
If he hadn't truly sensed Madara's killing intent, Black Zetsu would never have stepped in. To avoid arousing suspicion, he usually let White Zetsu serve Madara while he himself observed the entire ninja world, ensuring the thousand-year plan progressed smoothly.
Seeing Madara hesitate like this, and watching the carefully chosen successor nearly die, how could Black Zetsu—who had schemed for over a millennium—not feel anxious?
And it was precisely that anxiety that made the "Madara" whose soul was Adult Obito realize something was wrong.
Madara…
Had been watching him for a very long time?
Wasn't it supposed to be that Madara only found him near the Kannabi Bridge mission, half-dead, and brought him back then?
No matter what, Adult Obito controlled his current body and slowly withdrew his hand.
He never trusted Black Zetsu, but he intended to help Madara Uchiha achieve Infinite Tsukuyomi.
For him, everything was about creating a peaceful, happy world—one where heroes would no longer need to repent before the Memorial Stone.
Yet the fact that Madara had long arranged for Black Zetsu and White Zetsu to monitor him set off alarm bells once again.
What else had Madara been hiding from him back then?
Pulling his hand away from the neck of his counterpart from another world, Adult Obito dragged his aged body back to the tree-stump chair and collapsed into it.
He wasn't even thirty yet, still in his prime, and had never experienced how burdensome old age could be. Just walking that short distance left him utterly exhausted.
He stared at the young Obito lying on the bed.
What exactly had happened to Obito in this world?
Why had Wood Release erupted?
Why hadn't he "died" beneath the boulder?
Why was Kakashi's left eye unharmed?
Why could Rin summon slugs like Tsunade, the Slug Princess?
The intensity of his gaze made Black Zetsu increasingly uneasy. He was afraid Madara no longer intended to save Obito.
If Obito wasn't saved, where would he find another pawn to use?
In truth, this "Madara Uchiha" had no idea how the original Madara had saved him back then. He only knew it involved part of White Zetsu and Hashirama Senju's cells.
But asking him to perform surgery on another version of himself?
Ridiculous.
Still, Adult Obito noticed something unsettling.
Black Zetsu's desire to save "Obito" seemed even stronger than Madara Uchiha's.
Seeing that he wasn't responding, Black Zetsu actually took matters into his own hands, ordering White Zetsu to help repair the young Obito's body and neutralize the First Hokage's cells.
It felt like a huge inconsistency, yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
With no better option, Adult Obito recalled how Madara used to act and said,
"You handle his treatment. I'm going to sleep for a while. Don't disturb me."
His thoughts were a mess, and his body was genuinely exhausted.
…
When he woke again, it was White Zetsu's noise that dragged him out of sleep.
"Madara-sama, that guy's awake~"
"Is that so."
So… the other me has awakened…
Leaning on a scythe, the aged body slowly made its way to the wooden bed where he himself had once lain.
The youth on the bed slowly opened his eyes.
Unlike his past self, his eyes held the three-tomoe Sharingan.
They had even advanced to the Mangekyō.
What had he gone through?
"Am I… dead?" Obito murmured weakly, almost out of instinct. "What about Rin and Kakashi…"
As his blurred vision finally focused on an aged face—
"!!!!!"
The soul of Adult Obito, hidden within Madara Uchiha's body, repeated the words Madara had once spoken to him:
"This is the space between the underworld and reality, child of the Uchiha."
He even knew exactly what Young Obito would say next.
"Ancestor?! How are you here?!"
Yes. That was right. The other him should be saying that—
No.
That was wrong.
Back then, he hadn't known Madara Uchiha at all.
"Ancestor! So you're the one who saved me!!"
Obito wiped his tears and snot with his still-movable left hand, crying as he laughed.
"You must've saved Rin and Kakashi too, right?! Thank you! Thank you so much!! I'll never call you a rotten old man again! And when we fight, I'll definitely hold out for a few more moves! Waaaah… sniff… waaah…"
If this were the Madara Obito imagined—the one they met during Konoha's founding era—he would definitely have said:
"You want to be my opponent? You're not even qualified. In this world, only Hashirama is worthy of standing against me. You lot are nothing but punching bags, and cheap ones at that."
But this wasn't that Madara.
The soul of Adult Obito sank into silence again.
"…"
Meanwhile, Young Obito finally noticed something odd.
"Ancestor, you've really lived a long time," he said seriously. "Could it be you still haven't awakened the Rinnegan? Or maybe Tobirama-sama hasn't invented Edo Tensei yet, so you still haven't revived your brother?"
Adult Obito: …
"…I have no idea how to answer that."
This was completely outside the syllabus.
"By the way, Ancestor, where is this place? And how did you save me?"
Finally, a question he could answer.
Using Madara Uchiha's voice, Adult Obito replied,
"I already told you. This is the gap between the underworld and reality. Most of your body was nearly destroyed by Wood Release. Being able to save you at all was a miracle."
He vaguely remembered Madara saying something similar back then. The difference was that, at the time, he didn't have Wood Release, so there had been no talk of it destroying his body.
"Oh!"
Young Obito touched the right side of his body that had burst apart earlier, then instinctively gave "Madara" a solid knock on the head.
"You used White Zetsu components, right? Sigh… I really am unlucky! Why did I have to open my mouth and mention using Hashirama's cells? Without White Zetsu to neutralize them, wasn't I basically asking to die?!"
Then he looked at "Madara" with shining eyes.
"Thank you, Ancestor! Once Rin, Kakashi, and I really return to this world, I'll take good care of you and see you through your old age!"
Return to this world?
That single sentence jolted Adult Obito's thoughts.
Just not long ago, he should have been crossing the Land of Fire, heading toward Konoha to investigate what had happened. Why hadn't Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki returned to the organization? Why had even Zabuza Momochi run off to Konoha and hidden there like a coward?
"It's too early to thank me," he continued smoothly, following Young Obito's words. "I'll make you repay this favor properly. You like taking care of the elderly, don't you?"
No one knew better than Adult Obito what kind of person he used to be.
Young Obito, fully convinced that this "Ancestor" was the Madara they had met during Konoha's founding era, nodded without the slightest doubt. He even thought the Ancestor must have noticed how he used to take care of the clan's elders back then.
"But, Ancestor," Young Obito shook his head quickly, "you don't want me to stay here with you now, right? No, no, not yet. I still haven't dealt with the problems in Naruto's world…"
As he said that, Obito's expression suddenly dimmed.
Finally seeing his Ancestor again had given him someone he could pour his heart out to.
"Ancestor, I finally know who the SSS-rank mission target in Naruto's scroll really is."
"???" Naruto? That name sounded strangely familiar…
A memory suddenly surfaced from twelve years ago, on the night of the Nine-Tails incident. Back when he had plastered Minato-sensei's son with explosive tags, he'd heard people shouting that name in panic—Naruto.
But how could this version of himself know Naruto? The timeline had to be messed up. Even waiting until Naruto was born, there should have been several years between them!
And what was this SSS-rank mission anyway?
Awakening the Mangekyō early and now you don't even know who you are anymore?
SSS-rank mission… look how proud you are.
Of course, all of that was merely the inner thoughts of Adult Obito, whose soul now occupied the aged body of Madara Uchiha from another parallel world.
At this moment, "Madara" simply stared silently at the young Obito standing before him.
Young Obito clenched his fists, then loosened them, repeating the motion several times as he steadied himself before finally speaking.
"I already know who the Masked Man is."
Looking at the version of himself from another world, Adult Obito felt a wave of impatience rise inside him. There were plenty of people wearing masks. Which one exactly was he talking about?
"Ancestor!"
Young Obito suddenly grabbed hold of "Madara's" robe, tears streaming down his face.
"You'd never guess!! That damned Masked Man! The one who killed Naruto's parents, the one who made Naruto lose Minato-sensei and Kushina-san the moment he was born and turned him into a jinchūriki— that Masked Man is me! It's Obito Uchiha from Naruto's parallel world!!"
"Madara's" eyes flew wide open.
Deep inside, the soul of Adult Obito felt as if it had been struck by a massive blow, leaving him dazed and unable to recover for a long while.
Why…
Why would a thirteen-year-old version of himself in this world…know all of this?!
"And there's more," Obito continued. Ever since learning that he himself was the Masked Man, all the pressure he'd bottled up finally found an outlet upon seeing his ancestor. "The one who killed Itachi's companions and used Konoha as leverage to force Itachi into joining Akatsuki—that was me. No, it was Obito Uchiha from another world!"
"And because of the Nine-Tails incident back then, Konoha's higher-ups were also at fault. That only made the conflict between the Uchiha and the village worse and worse. Minato-sensei died, and no one was left to help Fugaku-san mediate between the clan and the village. That's why Shisui and the others were left so helpless."
If there were a way to describe the state of Adult Obito's soul at this moment, it would be complete shock—eyes wide, mind drifting far away.
Meanwhile, Young Obito was still gripping his clothes tightly. He wiped his tears and continued.
"Ancestor, once I deal with the problems in that world and change our future, I'll definitely come back and take care of you properly, all the way to the end. Rin and that idiot Kakashi are definitely waiting for me. I need to hurry and get you healthy again so I can go back and find them."
The aged voice asked slowly,
"Change… the future…?"
"Yes!" Young Obito answered firmly. "I don't want to die, and I can't die. And I absolutely won't become the Masked Man. I want to protect Rin and protect Kakashi. You saw it too, Ancestor. The future Kakashi is miserable. After he finds out that the Masked Man is me from their world, his whole expression looks like he'd rather that version of me just kill him to vent his hatred."
"I will never accept a future like that!"
The future I live in— that cruel hell— you absolutely refuse to accept it?
An indescribable fury surged up from deep within him. A jealousy he couldn't put into words erupted violently inside the soul of Adult Obito.