On the mountaintop, Kou stared at the masked man before him, feeling like his blood pressure hadn't gone down all night.
He took a deep breath and asked again, just to be sure:
"Partner? Uchiha Itachi?"
Obito nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Kou's face darkened instantly.
"Uchiha Runtu, if you want me dead, just say so! Is me being alive getting in the way of your insanity or something?!"
"...At work, use my title. Outside of work, you should call me Uchiha Madara."
"Your title can go get struck by lightning!"
Kou's voice rang out across the mountaintop:
Three Tomoe against a Mangekyo? Are you kidding me? How did you even come up with that?!
Obito watched him bristle. There was no hint of emotion in his one visible eye.
His voice remained firm.
"I know how strong you are. Itachi... won't be able to do anything to you."
Kou's mouth twitched violently.
Was he afraid of Uchiha Itachi? He was afraid of the eye Itachi had—the strongest genjutsu, Kotoamatsukami!
What if that lunatic got it into his head to hit him with a hypnosis app? Who could he complain to then?
Obito didn't seem to notice the turmoil in Kou's mind and continued:
"That guy Itachi is very likely a spy from Konoha who infiltrated Akatsuki. To keep him from interfering with our Eye of the Moon Plan, I need someone strong enough and completely trustworthy to keep an eye on him."
He paused, his one visible eye fixed on Kou.
"And you're the perfect person for the job."
Feeling the "sincere" trust in Obito's words, Kou's handsome face twisted.
"This bastard... He makes it sound like I'm willingly helping him with all this."
After the Nine-Tails Incident, Kou had still held on to a sliver of hope for the Uchiha Clan's future.
After all, the Uchiha Clan's eventual annihilation hadn't been caused by their attempt to stage a coup. The real reason had been their severe lack of high-level combatants.
Setting aside Shisui's death and Itachi, who hadn't yet awakened his Mangekyo, if only the clan head Fugaku and Body Flicker Shisui—two top-tier Mangekyo users—had stood together,
Konoha, weakened to an unprecedented degree after the Nine-Tails Incident, would never have taken such drastic action against the powerful Uchiha Clan.
...Even if, in their eyes, the Uchiha Clan had been deeply implicated in the Nine-Tails Incident.
But unfortunately, Shisui had been brainwashed by the Will of Fire. He was a die-hard Konoha loyalist.
Even the Hokage's personal Anbu weren't as loyal as he was! It was downright infuriating...
His own main damage dealer had gone off to do his own thing. How was he supposed to play?
Even worse, after Shisui had fed the other side a kill, he'd sacrificed himself and summoned an even more absurd big boss for the Uchiha.
Traitor, spy, anti-Uchiha, lunatic, surrendering faction, mastermind, gang enforcer!!
Uchiha Itachi, also known as Senju, the strictest father in the Uchiha Clan, and the holder of the highest kill count in Uchiha history—a record no one, past or present, could ever beat!
You could say Shisui's death was like a nuclear weapon failing to go off. That bastard Itachi, on the other hand, was like having the enemy mash the button on your own nuclear arsenal until it detonated right there!
And there was no doubt that Shisui's suicide had played a major part in pushing Itachi down such an extreme path!
So, really, Shisui was the one who brought about the Uchiha Clan's downfall!
In Kou's eyes, as long as he could straighten Shisui and Itachi out, everything would be fine!
Although Uchiha Obito was proof that his attempts at education could fail, Kou still had plenty of confidence in his teaching skills.
If a kid had a problem with his intelligence, how could you blame the teacher?
This time he had two smart ones. Surely nothing would go wrong!
He would win!!
...But the result was obvious. His teaching had failed again.
The two of them were young, but each was more stubborn than the other. They wouldn't listen to a word he said!
But this definitely wasn't a problem with his teaching methods. The evil Will of Fire had to be behind it!
The Will of Fire was awful!!!
In the end, after he'd done everything he could and watched events still follow their original course, his pent-up frustration finally erupted during an argument with Shisui.
After cussing Shisui out in that argument, he resolutely chose to defect.
By then, he'd already been beaten down numb. He'd lost all his fighting spirit and wandered around in a daze like a stray dog, planning to find some little village and spend the rest of his life lying low.
He was done with this! Let it all go to hell! His abilities had their limits; he couldn't save the Uchiha Clan!
Saving his own life was already the most he could manage.
But just as he was looking for a place to retire, he'd "happened" to run into Obito, who had already put on the murderer's mask.
He'd been completely stunned. He'd only wanted to give up and enjoy a quiet retirement, not die and get reincarnated early!!
The guy standing before him wasn't the naive, sweet Uchiha Obito who used to let him ruffle his hair. This was a lunatic who killed without batting an eye!
Who knew if he'd start yelling, "You're nothing but a fake! The world of Infinite Tsukuyomi is the real one!" and then stab him to death?
Facing the silent Obito before him, Kou's mind went into overdrive.
In the end, he made the riskiest decision he'd made since arriving in this world—he revealed his identity outright!
Box weapon, activate!!
After a "deeply moving" reunion between brothers, he managed to survive.
But after that, the Uchiha Kou who'd wanted to give up disappeared.
He, Uchiha Kou, brought his talents to Akatsuki.
Though he'd been forced into it, in a way, he was indeed safe now. And from his adopted son, he'd gained an unexpected opportunity to grow stronger—the legacy of Prisoner Madara...
Kou pulled himself out of his memories and looked at Obito.
Obito saw his reluctance and fell silent for a moment. Then he spoke slowly in a hoarse voice:
"If you don't want to, forget it."
"I'll reconsider who should partner with Itachi."
Surprise flashed through Kou's eyes.
"Had he finished venting after slaughtering the Uchiha Police Force, or had he drained the pipes in the Kamui Dimension and entered post-nut clarity? Why was he being so reasonable today?"
Normally, he might have chatted with him a bit longer, but he really wasn't in the mood.
He just wanted to leave as soon as possible. He didn't want to see Uchiha Itachi or the masked man before him.
A trace of gloom flashed through Kou's eyes, but he quickly suppressed it and put on his usual carefree air again.
"Then I'll head back to the Mist Village. Get in touch if anything comes up."
Kou turned and prepared to leave.
"Wait."
Kou didn't turn around. He paused, his voice so calm that it revealed nothing.
"Is there something else?"
Silence lingered behind him for several seconds before Obito spoke. There was something in his voice that Kou couldn't quite make out.
"...About the swordsmanship of Uchiha Izuna that you mentioned before, I found it among Madara's legacy and left it with Yagura.
"Remember to go pick it up."
Kou's body paused slightly.
After a moment of silence, he turned and looked at Obito behind him.
Moonlight fell across his face, illuminating the carefree smile he'd put on as a disguise.
"...Thanks."
As soon as the words left his mouth, his figure vanished from the mountaintop.
Only Obito remained on the mountain.
Moonlight stretched his shadow across the ground, where it blended into the dark forest behind him.
Obito stood there in silence for a long time.
A moment later, an aloe-like creature slowly emerged from underground.
White Zetsu, with Black Zetsu attached to him.
Black Zetsu stared at Obito. Its hoarse voice rang out beneath the moonlight, probing him with ill intent.
"That guy doesn't seem to agree with your ideas as much as you claimed, 'Madara.'
"You'd better keep an eye on him, just in case..."
"Shut up."
Obito didn't turn around. His one visible eye reflected the full moon on the horizon.
"Everything is going according to plan."
"Know your place, Black Zetsu.
"You... just need to do what you're supposed to."
As soon as he finished speaking, his figure disappeared in a swirling distortion of space.
Black Zetsu stared in the direction Obito had vanished, its eyes filled with malice.
"He's ultimately someone you can't rely on..."
It paused, its voice laced with greater hatred.
"Uchiha Obito, one day, you'll regret this!!"
Kamui Dimension.
Countless square platforms floated in the void like silent tombstones.
Obito stood at the center of the dimension.
His mask was off, revealing a face that was half scarred and half young.
His one undamaged eye was fixed on the space before him.
Countless bodies lay there, sealed away.
The Uchiha clansmen he had slaughtered that night, the people he had personally killed over the years—all of them lay quietly in this silent dimension.
At the very center were the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina.
Their expressions were peaceful, as if they were asleep.
Beside them lay a girl.
Rin.
Obito's gaze settled on the girl's face. He looked at her for a long time.
His lips moved slightly, but he made no sound.
His gaze shifted to another direction.
There was nothing there, only empty space.
But familiar profiles involuntarily appeared in his mind...
His younger self, laughing joyfully, with Kou beside him, grinning just as brightly.
Rin watched them quietly from the side, a gentle smile on her lips...
"You've always been just as good at hiding your emotions, Kou..."
His voice was soft, barely more than a whisper.
"But back then, I couldn't tell how much of your smile was real."
He remembered the days he'd spent in Konoha.
Kou was always smiling, carefree, acting as though he didn't have a worry in the world.
He'd thought that was just who Kou was. He'd thought that the guy who never took anything seriously was simply like that.
Only later did he realize that... it was just a mask.
Just like him now, Kou had worn a mask too.
"Now my eyes can see the darkness in this world, and they can see the real you..."
Obito's gaze passed through the void and fell upon that nonexistent face.
That guy who clearly didn't want to smile, yet always did...
His voice dropped. Beneath its low rumble was an almost insane obsession.
"You don't need to keep pretending in this false world anymore."
"In the dream world I create, Rin, Kakashi, and Kou... all of you will live happily."
"I'm going to create a world... where you can smile from the bottom of your heart, for real!!!"
Before you continue