In a dark room in the Akatsuki Hideout.
The wound that had pierced Obito's chest and back had been filled with tissue from White Zetsu's body.
His back was bare now, with two Flying Thunder God Marks placed symmetrically on either side.
Minato and Naruto had left them there.
Since Minato was already dead, Obito had never worried too much about his mark. But the one Naruto had left would, just as he had said, rob Obito of any peace!
He had to remove it immediately, even if it meant mutilating himself!
Obito said, "Tobi, please!"
Behind him, Tobi held a kunai and said uneasily, "Let's use some anesthetic."
"No. Do it as is! I want to remember the humiliation of this defeat...!"
Obito folded a towel and bit down on it.
"..." A complicated emotion lingered in Tobi's hollow eye sockets. He raised the kunai and began scraping away at Obito's back!
"Mmmghhh...!!!" Sweat instantly drenched Obito's deeply creased face, and his veins bulged. He bit down on the towel with all his strength, keeping his muffled cries confined to the dark room.
This pain wasn't even one ten-thousandth of the pain of losing Rin!!
Slice...!
Only when all the skin on his back had been scraped away, exposing stark white bone, did Obito bend forward in utter exhaustion. Blood pooled across the floor...!
Tobi disinfected the wound, applied medicine, and bandaged it, then disposed of the discarded flesh.
"Hah, hah, hah..." Obito removed the towel from his mouth and breathed heavily, staring at the wall before him as he sank into thought.
There was no mistake. Naruto had mouthed, "Watch out for Black Zetsu!"
*Black Zetsu was Madara's will. I was already wary of him, and in terms of strength, driving a wedge between us wouldn't accomplish much.