Killing you is no different from killing a stray dog by the roadside.

"Who am I?"

The youth shrugged, spreading his hands with an expression of utter indifference.

"I'm Naruto, Obito-senpai."

He tilted his head, the horizontal pupils of his Sage Mode contracting slightly. The red eyeshadow around his eyes looked like two scorched, blood-red brands in the night, exuding an indescribable, demonic aura.

"You don't recognize me anymore?" He drew out his tone, his voice bordering on playful. "Didn't we destroy Konoha together back then? How heartless~"

The lazy voice fell lightly into the deathly silent forest.

Yet, it caused the expressions of both men present to shift simultaneously.

The White Zetsu tissue on Obito's body was writhing frantically, patching the bloody hole in his back blasted open by the Rasengan.

He couldn't afford to heal; the Sharingan behind his mask remained locked onto the youth's face—the blond hair, the whisker marks, and the style of that red-and-black robe...

Minato Namikaze gripped his kunai tighter. He had indeed used the Flying Thunder God to retreat several yards in an emergency, and now, staring at the familiar red eyeshadow around the youth's eyes, his heart sank heavily.

That was the Sage Mode of Mount Myoboku.

But this person before him... who was he?

[Ding! Detected intense emotional fluctuations from world core supporting character Minato Namikaze and major antagonist Obito Uchiha.]

[Progress for roleplaying Naruto Uzumaki (Blackened Version) increased by 5%. Current compatibility: 5%.]

[Please continue your efforts, Host, to unlock full permissions like "Nine-Tails Chakra Mode" and "Six Paths Sage Mode" as soon as possible~]

Lin Zi, or rather, the Naruto Uzumaki of this moment, listened to the emotionless mechanical voice in his mind. While he kept that punchable, smiling face, he was already mentally whipping the ancestors of the system for eighteen generations.

Yesterday, he was just an ordinary college student lying in his dorm binge-watching Naruto. Today, because he bound to this trash roleplay system, he was kicked straight into the Shura field of Konoha.

What was even more infuriating was how stingy this system was.

It claimed he was roleplaying Naruto Uzumaki, yet it only unlocked Sage Mode.

Things like Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, Six Paths Mode, Yang Power, Truth-Seeking Orbs... they were all locked behind permission walls, invisible and inaccessible.

At least I'm familiar with the show.

Lin Zi gritted his teeth in secret. From the moment he transmigrated until now, he had been squatting in this godforsaken forest for six full hours, absorbing natural energy without moving, all to wait for this very scene—Minato vs. Obito, the most pivotal act of the Nine-Tails' Attack.

He had to farm that progress.

When he watched the show, he was so angry at the villagers and the higher-ups of Konoha that his liver ached.

Ostracization, isolation, bullying, hiding his identity... the amount of suffering the original Naruto endured made him want to smash his keyboard just watching from behind the screen.

Well, things were different now.

Since he had become this blackened version of Naruto, the debts owed in the past would have to be collected one by one, with interest.

Lin Zi raised his eyes, his horizontal sage pupils sweeping over Obito's Tiger-skin Mask before landing on Minato's face, which was filled with vigilance and confusion.

He suddenly smiled—a smile so harmless it made the temperature of the entire forest drop by several degrees.

"Don't be so tense, Father."

He winked at Minato, his tone as light as if he were discussing what to have for dinner.

"I came here this time..."

"To clean up this piece of trash wearing a mask for you. Tell me, am I right, Obito-senpai?"

The sound of the wind, the chirping of insects, and the babbling of the creek in the forest vanished in that instant.

The sound seemed to have been forcibly snatched away by something more overbearing. Natural energy, as if summoned by a monarch, surged frantically toward the youth's feet, causing the surrounding grass and trees to wither visibly for a moment.

Lin Zi grinned, the red eyeshadow at the corners of his eyes glowing blindingly in the dark.

"Little Obito, I know you have space-time ninjutsu." He whispered, "But unfortunately."

"Your Uncle Naruto plays with natural energy, which happens to be a slight counter to that disgusting White Zetsu of yours."

"Shadow Clone Technique!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

White smoke exploded. Five or six Lin Zis lunged from all directions, each holding a swirling, deep-blue Sage Art: Rasengan in their palms, slamming toward Obito from different angles.

Obito snorted, his body turning intangible.

The shadow clones and their Rasengans passed straight through his body as if he were nothing but a phantom.

Obito was about to counterattack, but his Sharingan suddenly constricted.

Wrong.

They're all shadow clones? Where is the real one?! Where did the chakra fluctuation of that Rasengan go?

"Look here."

The voice sounded right against the back of his neck, so close he could hear the breathing.

Obito's blood ran cold. In the corner of his eye, a puff of white smoke exploded behind him—Substitution Technique!

A fist erupted from the smoke, wrapped in dense natural energy, emitting a dull, resonant sound similar to a frog's croak.

Sage Art: Frog Kumite!

BOOM!!!

This punch landed squarely on Obito's back.

His wounds, which had yet to fully heal, instantly burst open. He was sent flying as if struck by a siege ram, carving a trench over a dozen yards long through the forest before slamming into an ancient tree thick enough to require three men to encircle, finally coming to a wretched halt.

The regenerative tissue of the White Zetsu was shattered by the Sage Chakra within the punch, turning into pools of white slime that sprayed out from beneath his black robe.

Lin Zi walked up to Obito, crouched down, and looked at the half-dead masked man embedded in the tree trunk.

"Just like that."

He patted the Tiger-skin Mask, smiling, his tone sounding remarkably relaxed.

"Killing you is no different than stepping on a stray dog by the side of the road."

"The harassment is over; crawl back into your rat hole. I'm in a hurry to save someone and don't have time to play house with you."

Obito, of course, could not hear him—or rather, even if he had, he was in no state to retort.

The moment he slammed into the tree, he activated Kamui. The spatial vortex spun frantically as if fleeing for its life, and without leaving behind a single harsh word, he retreated directly into his lair.

"This Kamui ability is truly shameless."

Lin Zi stood up, brushed the dust off his knees, and curled his lip: "Running away when you can't win—I'm so envious."

He turned around and looked at Minato Namikaze, who had remained silent the entire time.

"Hey, sorry about that. I suppose this counts as our second official meeting."

He pointed to his own stomach, his smile fading slightly, the red eyeshadow around his eyes glowing faintly in the night.

"The last time I saw you was when I had just unsealed the big guy inside me."

"Minato, it's time to go back and save my mother. Your power is indispensable for sealing the Nine-Tails."

Before Minato could organize his thoughts through his shock, Lin Zi had already turned, his entire body transforming into a golden afterimage as he dashed toward the demon fox currently wreaking havoc inside Konoha.

While running, he looked down and pressed his abdomen, his voice so soft it sounded like he was talking to himself:

"Seeing you so full of energy in this world... you bastard, are your hands getting a little itchy too?"

"Come out!"

"Nine-Tails!"

BOOM!

The earth cracked, dust and smoke soared into the sky, and swathes of forest were uprooted.

Crimson chakra erupted from Lin Zi's body like a volcanic explosion, condensing, shaping, and expanding in mid-air.

A second Nine-Tailed Demon Fox made its grand entrance!

It let out a heaven-shaking roar that made the clouds tremble, its four sharp claws crushing the earth as it charged violently toward its rampaging counterpart within the village.