"What... was driving you?"
"What drove someone as young as you, with the power to destroy heaven and earth, to risk making an enemy of the entire world by planning and launching this seemingly 'impossible' war of unification, when you could have lived free of all cares?"
Enunciating every word, Obito offered several seemingly worldly possibilities that struck straight at the heart of the matter:
"Was it 'fame'? So future history books would record you as the 'Sixth Hokage who unified the shinobi world and ushered in an age of prosperity'?"
"Or was it 'power'? The pleasure of having everything under your control?"
"Or perhaps..." Obito's gaze sharpened, as though he had seized upon a possibility,
"Was it for a 'beauty'?"
As he said the word "beauty," Obito openly fixed his gaze on Naruto's face, studying his eyes and the smallest shifts in his expression. He seemed intent on testing a theory through Naruto's reaction.
And when Naruto heard "beauty" among the possibilities, the muscles in his face seemed to twitch ever so slightly.
The change vanished almost instantly, too quickly for most to catch, but Obito, who had never taken his eyes off him, keenly caught that fleeting anomaly!
Just as I thought...
Something stirred in Obito's mind, as though he had found an opening. A faintly mocking, knowing smile curled his lips. He immediately pressed along that line of thought, his voice carrying the certainty of someone who had uncovered the "truth":
"It was for... that Uchiha woman, wasn't it?"
"Her wish was to see the shinobi world united, to end war once and for all and create a peaceful world, wasn't it?"
"So you were willing to pay any price, even start a war, to fulfill her dream? To win a smile from your beloved? To prove