After Death

On the vast and tranquil Pure Land Grassland, two swift figures streaked across the sky, heading towards a specific direction with all their might. They were none other than the brothers Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna.

After the Sage of Six Paths revealed the shocking truth, even Madara, a battle maniac who loved fighting to the death, had no desire to continue fighting Hashirama.

Shock, anger, the shame of being fooled... all sorts of intense emotions churned in his chest, eventually settling and compressing into a chilling, bone-chilling murderous intent.

One must always look forward—this was the belief that Izuna had conveyed to him when he pulled him back from the abyss of self-doubt.

For Madara at this moment, the first step forward is to find the mastermind behind the manipulation of his fate— Black Zetsu.

That black worm, hiding its head and tail and spewing lies... Ban had made countless enemies throughout his life, but he had never felt such pure, such boiling, and intense killing intent towards any being, wishing he could completely erase its very existence!

Of course, according to the Sage of Sage of Six Paths ' additional explanation, in this Pure Land, souls cannot be truly killed by worldly means.

They are somewhat similar to the bodies Impure World Reincarnation; even if they suffer damage or even fatal wounds, they will gradually recover over time.

However, unlike the numb and sluggish physical sensations of the Impure World Reincarnation, the pain and torment brought about by the attacks suffered by the soul are real, undeniable, and clearly act upon consciousness!

This was exactly what Ban wanted.

What he wanted was not simply annihilation. What he wanted was for that despicable being who dared to fool Uchiha Madara to personally experience what purgatory and eternal torment were like!

He wanted Black Zetsu to deeply understand the terrible price that deception could pay, and to make its complete annihilation an unattainable dream! Unable to live, unable to die—this was Uchiha Madara's way of treating him.

"Boom--!!"

With a shockwave, Ban's sudden descent created a ring of air on the grassland. He had finally locked onto his target.

On the grass not far ahead, a strangely shaped, semi-transparent soul lay quietly. It had not yet fully solidified and awakened, and it would obviously need a considerable amount of time before it could regain a clear consciousness and form like Madara and Izuna.

The soul remained as it was at the last moment of its life—a body made of a thick, asphalt-like black liquid, on which the outlines of eyes and mouth could be barely discerned.

At this moment, the frozen expression in that hole was still one of resentment, anger, and terror; the posture of the entire soul was frozen in a moment of desperate struggle, trying to escape.

Because of the characteristics of [Rasengan: Sun Core], it probably doesn't know that it is already dead beyond any doubt.

Madara did not make a move immediately. He suppressed his violent aura and sat cross-legged directly in front of Black Zetsu's soul form without saying a word.

Izuna stood silently behind him, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Madara's Rinnegan remained fixed, unblinking, on that ugly, black soul. Within it surged a hatred powerful enough to freeze the soul, and a cruel patience.

He's waiting.

Wait quietly.

Like a hunter, waiting for the moment when the prey opens its eyes from its ignorance.

He wanted to give Black Zetsu a surprise he would never forget, no, he wanted to give him an "eternal" surprise.

Consciousness struggled to rise little by little.

Uchiha Obito felt as if he had been floating in that void of darkness for far too long, so long that he had almost forgotten the meaning of time itself.

And when perception finally breaks through the chaos and re-coalesces into the first thought of "self" cognition, it clearly emerges.

I am already dead.

Yes, his life was ended by that Uchiha girl standing next to Uzumaki Naruto with an irresistible Dojutsu. So... is this the afterlife?

... Someone like me will definitely go to hell.

This was the second thought that followed, tinged with a numb composure. Obito had an incredibly clear understanding of his current situation.

When all the lies and self-deceptions were ruthlessly torn apart by the truth, he could no longer conceal himself beneath the tragic and twisted shell of the Moon Eye Savior.

He saw himself clearly: a sinner who had committed countless crimes, whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent people.

Lin... so pure and kind, who ultimately chose to sacrifice herself to protect the village, she will surely go to a warm and bright paradise.

Obito wasn't afraid of death itself, nor did he care about his destined descent into hell. All that surged within him was a humble longing—if this truly was the afterlife, even just a glimpse would suffice; he longed to see Rin again...

However, when this longing became real, when the possibility of "meeting" was right before his eyes, a chilling fear suddenly gripped his heart.

He was afraid.

I was afraid to see Lin's still clear and bright eyes.

I was afraid that those eyes would reveal disappointment, confusion, or even... hatred towards him.

He was afraid Rin would question him, "Obito, why did you become like this? Why did you do those terrible things? Why did you cause so many people to suffer?"

The fear was so immense that it overwhelmed the desire for reunion.

So, even though his senses had returned and he could "open his eyes" to see and confirm, Obito, like a timid snail, deliberately withdrew his consciousness, which had just emerged from its shell.

He chose to escape, immersing himself in a hazy, half-awake state, afraid to face the impending judgment, or rather, the judgment his own heart was about to deliver.

Time slowly slipped away at the edge of consciousness.

until--

A soft voice, tinged with hesitation and uncertainty, rang out not far from him.

"Obito... are you... Obito?"

This sound struck Obito's entire soul as if he had been struck by lightning, instantly freezing him in place!

It's Rin! It's Nohara Rin's voice! There's no way I could be mistaken! It's the voice that echoed in his memories countless times when he was on the verge of collapse, supporting him through the darkness, yet ultimately, the voice whose meaning of sacrifice he himself tainted!

Then, he heard Lin's words continue, still soft like a young girl's, yet filled with confusion because of what she saw before her.

"Am I... dead? Is this the afterlife? Obito... you've grown so much..."

There was no questioning, no fear in her tone, only a sense of bewilderment at the current situation, and... a gentle, apologetic conjecture.

"Could it be... that you've been waiting for me here all this time?"

Nohara Rin, she's awake.

Her current understanding was like a blunt, barbed knife, piercing Obito's heart and bringing him suffocating pain.

In Nohara Rin's world, at the moment her life ended, Uchiha Obito —that clumsy, kind, always-late Dead Last, the comrade she was willing to protect with her life—had already died as a "sacrificed hero" in the Third Shinobi World War, arriving in this afterlife world even before her.

Therefore, what she saw was not the "successor of Uchiha Madara" who had committed heinous crimes.

In her eyes, the man before her, whose features were already mature but whose temperament was shrouded in heavy gloom, was "Little Obito".

She thought he was her companion who had died long ago. She thought he was alone in this strange land of the dead, waiting for her, the latecomer.

(Obito and Rin... The author doesn't know how to write about them yet... Readers are welcome to offer their opinions, but the author doesn't really want to write a happy ending with dumplings for these two, since Obito in this timeline.)

(Also... regarding Shisui and Yuzu... the author is also unsure whether this pairing should become a reality. Although it's Yuzu's one-sided depravity, this kind of plot is just too perverse, and the author doesn't know whether to write it...)