Madara!!!

"You should have realized it by now, right? The Cursed Seal inside your heart. Since you can guess that Madara was behind it, you should be able to figure out what he has planned."

Yun casually caught a leaf drifting past his face between two fingers. With a change in the nature of his Wind Release Chakra, the leaf split in two.

If this space weren't only accessible during a transaction, it would make the perfect place to train.

Obito, standing nearby, pondered Yun's words. If Madara was the one who—

Yun continued, "The Cursed Seal inside your body restricts your actions to a certain extent. For example... removing it from your body. Or... killing yourself."

"Come to think of it, it's pretty pathetic—and infuriating—that you can't even control whether you live or die."

Obito waved a hand to cut Yun off. "I don't need your opinion. The only thing our contract covers is a way to remove this Cursed Seal!"

Yun shook his head slightly. "Sometimes I think the Second Hokage was right about the Uchiha Clan. Given the conditions required to awaken the Sharingan, it really is easy for them to develop mental disorders."

"The method for removing the Cursed Seal is actually simple: risk your life! The seal can suppress your actions, but it can't stop someone else from acting."

As he spoke, Yun looked at Obito, then at Nohara Rin's Memorial Stone nearby.

"Do you... have anyone left in this world you can trust?"

When Yun finished speaking, Obito looked at the Memorial Stone.

That's right... Was there anyone in this world he could still trust?

To bare his heart and let someone else tamper with it—that kind of trust... did he still have it in him?

Zetsu? One was an idiot, and the other was Madara's will. He'd have to be a fool to trust them.

Nagato and Konan?

How could he trust the people he'd dragged into hell? Even during his fight with the Uzumaki Sora standing before him, hadn't he been wary of them?

Uchiha Obito looked toward the Memorial Stone again. Rin, if it were you...

After falling into hell, both Minato-sensei and Kakashi had become his enemies.

And Rin... was gone, too.

Did he have anyone he could trust now? Who could he trust?

Yun's voice rang out. "How pitiful... I've always thought of people as social creatures. You, burying yourself underground and seeing the world as hell, are sick."

No one could stay alone in the darkness forever. No one. The few who could were all crazier than the rest.

In his memories, Pain was always comparing himself to a god and talking about making the world feel pain.

Obito ranted about destroying the world and making everyone dream with him—a dream where everyone got what they wanted, then quietly kicked the bucket in their sleep.

Madara had spent years underground. The moment he showed up, he'd laughed wildly and declared that he would save the world. His solution was to have everyone go to sleep together. Well, there was nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix.

Danzo believed, day in and day out, that if he became Hokage, Konoha could unite the Shinobi World. Where that old dog got his confidence was anyone's guess.

Yun looked at Obito and asked, "Now that you know the method, what are you going to do?"

Obito, no longer daring to look at Rin's Memorial Stone, turned toward Yun and said in a low voice, "You don't need to worry about what I'll do. There really isn't anyone I can trust in this world, which has been dead to me for a long time. So what?"

"It's just a matter of risking my life! That old man's only worried I won't follow his plan. When he comes out, I'll make him regret it."

Yun smiled. "That old man was incredibly strong in his youth. He was called one of the Two Heroes of the Shinobi World and was one of the strongest people of his time."

"Come to think of it, there's something I've always wondered about. The place where Nohara Rin died shouldn't have been very close to Konoha. So why did her body return to the village?"

Obito's expression turned mocking. "Do you have something to bargain with me, too?"

Yun felt a little awkward, but Madara's bargaining chip really was important.

Hashirama's Sage Body, Madara's Eyes of the Sage. Nagato would probably be difficult to deal with now, so all he could do was make a play for the dead.

"You've always believed that Konoha was the best place for Rin, haven't you? If you took her body away, Rin, who's already in the Pure Land, probably wouldn't be happy, would she?"

Obito's face darkened. "Uzumaki Sora, next time we meet, I'll kill you!"

Yun let out a breath and spread his hands. "You'll have to be able to do that first. If you don't change, I might be the one to kill you."

After a long while, Yun received no reply.

The scene began to shift.

The transaction was over...

In the dark cave, Obito came to his senses in a daze and shook his head slightly.

"Zetsu, was I here the whole time?"

The White Zetsu beside him nodded. "You were. What's wrong? Did you sneak off to take a dump without telling me?"

"Obito! You went to take a dump without me? I wanted to know what it felt like to need to go!"

Ignoring White Zetsu's nonsense, Obito untied the bandages around his right arm, which was made of Hashirama Cells.

An eye slowly opened on his arm. The Three Tomoe in its iris turned and connected, eventually forming a different pattern.

This eye was one of Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan.

The truth behind Rin's death? To understand the whole from one piece, he'd use this as his starting point and look into the future!

As the thought crossed his mind, the Mangekyō Sharingan in his arm began to spin rapidly, releasing an immense amount of ocular power. For a moment, even Obito, with his Hashirama Cells, felt drained.

The ability activated. Blurry images flashed past so quickly that he couldn't make out a thing.

At last, a scene appeared in Obito's mind.

Madara, with one Rinnegan, was in the Kamui Dimension. The person he was gripping by the throat with one hand... was himself?!

"I placed Cursed Seals inside your bodies. Naturally, you can't kill yourselves, because you're important pieces on my board."

"You?"

"Yes, you! I don't know what kind of cause and effect led to it, but you used exactly the same method to remove them. How interesting!"

"Rin?"

"That's right. I came up with the plan to make that girl a Three-Tails Jinchuriki and have her rampage in Konoha."

The scene slowly faded from his mind, but Obito's fists were clenched tight.

Madara!

The Cursed Seal inside him, and the truth behind Rin's death—both of them were Madara's doing!!!

How foolish...

Heh... Just as he'd manipulated Nagato, Madara had manipulated him in the same way.

If you wanted someone to fall into hell and plunge into darkness, all you had to do was take away the person most important to them.

How could there be so many coincidences?

Everything! Everything had been done to make him follow Madara's plan...

Madara!!!

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