Kou and Obito

Standing atop the mountain peak, Kou looked at the masked man before him, a complex swirl of emotions rising in his heart.

His "karmic entanglement" with this guy had to be traced back to when they were still in the womb.

Back then, both sets of parents happened to be at the Konoha hospital awaiting delivery at the same time; their due dates were close, and being of the same clan, they hit it off after just a few words.

The adults put their heads together and decided it would be better to move their houses next to each other, just to find a playmate for their children.

And so, when Kou was about a year old, his parents in this life decided to move in right next door to Uchiha Obito.

...However, not long after they moved in, Uchiha Obito's parents were killed in action during a mission.

While Kou's parents felt regret and sorrow, they also decided to look after the Uchiha Obito household—now left with only an elderly grandmother and an infant in swaddling clothes—as much as they could in the days to come.

As for Kou's initial reaction—

When he learned that the infant he had been teasing next door was the very Uchiha Obito who would go on to use Madara's name, open his Mangekyo for his beloved, unleash the Nine-Tails, battle the Fourth Hokage, control the Mizukage, manipulate Nagato, unify the Akatsuki, gather the Tailed Beasts, start the Fourth Great Ninja War, become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, ascend to the Six Paths, fight Naruto and Sasuke, and spend his entire life just for Rin, he was completely stunned.

No way?! Who?!!

His first reaction at the time was to get as far away from him as possible.

Setting aside the heaven-defying operations this guy named Uchiha Obito would pull off later.

Just the mere chance of attracting the gaze of that half-buried schemer Uchiha Madara while staying by his side was enough to make anyone break into a cold sweat.

He hadn't awakened a system, and before he had developed any real strength, even a half-dead Madara could play him to death.

For the sake of his privacy and personal safety, he, still an infant, had resolved to strongly demand they move.

And then... there was no "then."

His parents in this life possessed the typical Uchiha mindset and did not listen to the opinions of their infant son.

I don't care what you think, I only care about what I think!

After that, although somewhat reluctant, his childhood and teenage years were indeed spent together with Uchiha Obito.

He had initially thought about keeping his distance from Uchiha Obito, but he had to admit that before his fall to darkness, Uchiha Obito was truly a very good person.

When he was six years old, his parents were killed in a mission.

And during that dark period, the one who stayed by his side the entire time was none other than the Uchiha Obito of that era.

The enthusiasm and kindness of the young Uchiha Obito eventually wore down the defenses Kou had initially built over the long passage of time.

I am... living in a real world, after all.

Over a dozen years of being together, he had eventually become someone like family to him.

He had once made up his mind to try and change Uchiha Obito's fate.

But for various reasons... he failed.

In the end, he still became that man he knew, the one whose tears were hidden behind Kamui.

I... wasn't able to change anything.

Thinking of all the events of the past, a trace of desolation flashed in Kou's eyes.

But on the surface, he instantly switched to that flamboyant persona.

This was a disguise he had adopted back when he feared that old geezer Danzo might covet him, modeled after the two "crouching dragons and fledgling phoenixes" around him—Guy and Uchiha Obito—who were definitely not the type the Root organization would value.

Over time, this had become a mask.

It served both as a way to hide his true thoughts and as a means to vent his stress.

Kou let out a loud breath and barked at Uchiha Obito with feigned annoyance:

"Can't you walk properly without dying?! It's just the two of us here, why are you hiding your aura? Stop acting so cool, it's annoying!"

He put on an angry act, viciously swinging the sword in his hand and slashing at Uchiha Obito a few times.

The blade flashed, passing through the phantom image, and naturally, nothing happened.

"Tch, this intangibility is really... how can it be so damn annoying?!"

Kou put his sword away, feeling both envious and depressed, and then asked grumpily:

"So why did you come looking for me? If there's nothing else, I'm heading back to the Mist Village; there's still a pile of things waiting for me to handle there."

"...It's nothing major."

Uchiha Obito looked at Kou, his tone calm as he spoke:

"I just noticed that when you were meeting with Itachi earlier, your mood didn't seem very good."

His tone became meaningful:

"Such an obvious provocation—that really doesn't sound like you."

"...Should I be in a good mood right now?"

Kou looked at Uchiha Obito, a shadow flashing across his eyes.

Although he didn't care at all for the Uchiha clan's sense of identity, he fully understood that those extremists in the Uchiha clan were indeed a bunch of lunatics who couldn't see reality for what it was.

However, most of the ordinary people in the Uchiha compound were innocent.

He had, after all, grown up in the Uchiha compound, surrounded by neighbors who had watched him mature over a decade of life... How could he possibly have no feelings for that place?

After failing to stop Obito from descending into darkness, he realized the Nine-Tails Incident was imminent.

But even if he knew this future, how could he possibly change it?

Try to have a heart-to-heart with him? Don't be ridiculous; heaven knows if that obsessed guy would even acknowledge him as his former older brother anymore.

Although, based on his understanding of him, that guy likely wouldn't kill him, he dared not gamble his life on that possibility.

As for leaking the relevant information to others in advance...

What? You're saying a masked man claiming to be Uchiha Madara knows the delivery date of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and is preparing to attack Konoha?

Setting aside whether what you're saying is true or not, why don't you first explain how you, an Uchiha, know that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is about to give birth?

No! No need for you to explain!!

Come out, Yamanaka operative, and use the Mind-Body Search technique on him!!

Kou: "...What can I say?"

At that time, although he was stronger than the withdrawn Kakashi, it was only by a limited margin—at best, he was at the level of an elite jonin. He had no way to involve himself in that mess.

Even with Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, whom he trusted the most at the time, he could only try to drop subtle hints.

After all, while it was true that Namikaze Minato was a good man, Kou, having lived in this ninja world for many years, knew very well that when it came to the village and his wife Kushina, that man would never be ambiguous.

He would certainly try his best to verify the truth of the information, even if it meant searching his memories...

In the end, reality unfolded as it originally had.

The Nine-Tails Incident erupted, and the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki died in battle.

The only difference was that afterward, their bodies mysteriously disappeared...

He turned his gaze toward Obito, pulling his thoughts back to reality, and feigned annoyance:

"I've been working myself to the bone in the Mist Village cleaning up the mess you left behind, and now you've called me here to attend Itachi's initiation ceremony. Is it really so hard to understand why I'm in a bad mood?"

Obito was silent for a moment.

Moonlight fell upon his orange spiral mask, casting the patterns on it in shifting light and shadow.

His voice dropped, carrying that raspy tone filled with the paranoid rhetoric Kou had heard far too many times:

"You don't need to worry too much about the Uchiha."

He paused, his single exposed right eye peering through the hole in the mask toward the full moon on the horizon:

"In that dream world, they will all live happily... just like Rin."

Kou rolled his eyes internally.

He was long accustomed to this guy's spiel; he had heard this "dream world" rhetoric at least eighty, if not a hundred, times.

"So, what exactly do you want from me?"

Obito looked deeply at the Kou before him, the only friend who had remained by his side—the one who had grown up with him, knew all his secrets, and yet had not left him.

He spoke slowly, his tone calm:

"I want you... to become Itachi's partner."

Kou: "...What the hell?!!"

His voice exploded across the mountaintop, startling a few crows perched in the trees in the distance.