Within the Kamui Dimension, an eternal dark red hue enveloped everything.
The distorted cube floated in the void, like a vortex forcibly solidified by some force.
The ground is like countless shattered mirrors, reflecting different fragments of memory.
Minato Namikaze's smile, Kushina Uzumaki's gentleness, Kakashi's indifference, half of his body crushed by a boulder, the bloody hole piercing Rin's chest...
Obito Uchiha sat on a protruding rock, his fingers unconsciously stroking the edge of his mask, his gaze fixed on Black Zetsu, who was bound by chains not far away.
The dark mass was imprisoned by dozens of Sealing Jutsu, and the runes, acting as glowing chains, pierced through its body, pinning it to mid-air.
Occasionally, Black Zetsu will struggle a little.
The chains emitted a piercing buzzing sound, like countless insects gnawing at metal.
Don't waste your energy.
Obito Uchiha's voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time, "These seals were designed jointly by Tobirama Senju and the Uzumaki Clan; you can't escape them."
and...
This is the Kamui Dimension. Even if it manages to break free, where can it run to?
If I can just stall for a little time, reinforcements will arrive and seal Black Zetsu back in, and things will only get worse then.
" Obito, are you content with this? Being treated like a watchdog by Hoshino, hiding in this dark and hopeless place all this time..."
Black Zetsu's eyes shifted slightly, and a hoarse laugh escaped his throat.
"Don't forget, I know the Uchiha Clan very well. The Kamui Dimension was born from your suffering; this place is not a safe haven for you, but a source of pain."
"Why don't you let me out and rescue my mother! You know my mother's abilities; she can grant any wish you have."
Hearing the seductive words whispering in his ear, Obito Uchiha did not reply.
Black Zetsu had said this more than once or twice, but he had never agreed.
Rin has now been resurrected and is in Konoha, by Kakashi's side. Her past wishes have been fulfilled.
My only remaining obsession is to create a peaceful world for Lin, so that she can live happily and not be like before.
Therefore, Otsutsuki Kaguya must not be released, not even before the Shinobi Alliance is confident of victory.
Thinking of this, Obito Uchiha raised his hand, and a faint flame appeared in his palm. The Kakkō illuminated half of his disfigured face, making the scars appear even more grotesque in the shadows.
Lin's phantom appeared in the flames, smiling and reaching out her hand to him.
"Lin..."
The illusion vanished.
Obito Uchiha, crushing the flames and sending sparks flying.
Perhaps there is resentment!
However, compared to his puppet life controlled by Black Zetsu, his current situation gave him a twisted sense of peace.
At least, he is no longer anyone's pawn.
In the Kamui Dimension, there is no distinction between day and night; the passage of time can only be perceived through fluctuations in Chakra.
Obito Uchiha would occasionally practice Ninjutsu, and the flames of his Fire Style would briefly illuminate the dark red space.
More often than not, he simply sat there, staring at Black Zetsu, or blankly staring at those fragments of memory.
Deep in space.
There, Obito Uchiha built a simple wooden hut using Wood Release techniques, and placed a few items inside.
A worn-out pair of goggles, a rusty Kunai, and a yellowed photograph—a group photo of Team 7, featuring Minato-sensei, Kakashi, Rin, and himself as a child.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Obito Uchiha suddenly sensed the anomaly in the Kamui Dimension. He quickly put on his mask and looked up, seeing ripples spreading across the edge of the space, and a figure slowly emerging.
Long, gray hair, hollow eye sockets, and four-colored marks shifting between her brows.
Hoshino.
"It's time," Hoshino said calmly. "I need you to come with me."
Obito Uchiha his eyes. "Where to?"
"Meet someone..."
Hoshino didn't explain further.
The barriers of the Kamui Dimension began to distort, allowing outside light to penetrate and causing Obito Uchiha instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he was standing on a floating meteorite, with endless darkness beneath his feet and a vast starry river above him.
The Shinobi World slowly rotated in my field of vision, with the azure ocean and verdant continent intertwining to form the veins of life.
The moon, meanwhile, floats on the other side, its grayish-white surface covered with craters, like a cold, indifferent eye watching everything.
The Shinobi World and the moon are seen facing each other from afar.
The two are bound together by some invisible force, like the chains of fate.
Hoshino stood beside Obito Uchiha, her long, gray hair gleaming coldly in the faint starlight.
"Why did you bring me here? Is there a mission?" Obito Uchiha a low voice, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings.
Hoshino didn't answer directly, but instead pointed to the distant Shinobi World: "Look there."
Obito Uchiha looked in the direction he was pointing.
In a corner of the Shinobi World, the lights of Konoha can still be faintly seen.
He seemed to see Rin by the window of Konoha Hospital, her head bowed as she organized medical equipment, her hair falling down, gleaming a warm brown under the light.
Kakashi stood beside her, holding a notebook in his hands, seemingly taking notes.
Upon seeing this, Obito Uchiha for a moment.
"She's come back to life, and she's living in the real world," Hoshino said.
Obito Uchiha clenched his fists involuntarily. "I know."
"But you haven't truly accepted this fact yet." Hoshino's voice remained calm. "You're still locking yourself in the Kamui Dimension, just like you locked yourself in the illusion of the Eye of the Moon Plan back then."
Obito Uchiha didn't speak, but stood silently on the void meteorite, gazing at the distant Shinobi World.
The lights of Konoha flickered in the darkness, like a gentle summons.
Lin's figure appeared and disappeared in sight; she was alive, breathing, continuing her life in the real world.
This was the scene he had always dreamed of.
But at this moment, his heart was filled with complex emotions that were hard to describe.
Why is he afraid to get closer?
This question was like a thorn, deeply embedded in his consciousness.
He once thought that as long as Lin was resurrected, all the suffering would end.
But the reality is that even though Lin has returned to this world, he is still trapped in his own shadow. The Kamui Dimension is his cage, and the key has always been in his own hands.
"You're still locking yourself in the Kamui Dimension, just like you locked yourself in the illusion of the Eye of the Moon Plan back then."
This statement is like a mirror, reflecting the truth he was most unwilling to admit: he had never truly let go of his sins.
Lin's death was once the reason for his madness, but her resurrection became the shackles that prevented him from facing reality.
He was afraid to see her.
It wasn't that I was afraid of her scolding, but rather that I was afraid of her forgiveness.
If Lin looked at him with those gentle eyes and said, "It's okay,"
Then what about everything he's done over the years—stirring up wars, creating suffering, and even trying to destroy the world?
His sins should not be easily forgiven, and his pain should not be easily erased.
He needs to punish himself.
Therefore, he chose to continue hiding in the Kamui Dimension, tormenting himself with loneliness and silence.
This was a twisted way of atonement, but for him, it was the only reason he could continue to 'exist'.
Hoshino stood quietly to the side, neither urging nor judging.
Obito Uchiha needed time to confront his true feelings, so he was Obito a choice: continue to wallow in the sins of the past, or truly move towards the future?
Obito Uchiha slowly loosened his fist, then clenched it again. His gaze shifted from the Shinobi World to the moon on the other side.
Inside the gray planet lies Otsutsuki Kaguya, Black Zetsu's 'mother', and the being he once tried to liberate.
How ironic.
" Obito, what did you see?" Hoshino's voice suddenly broke the silence.
Obito's body stiffened slightly, his subconscious wanting to avoid the question.
After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper rubbing together. "... sin."
Whose sin is it?
"Mine." Obito Uchiha's fingers tightened unconsciously, his nails digging deep into his palm.
Those images flashed uncontrollably through my mind.
The Kirigakure, driven by its frenzied revenge; the Hidden Konoha, ablaze by the Nine-Tails ' roar; the carnage at the Uchiha Clan Compound... every scene stabbed at his heart like a knife.
Hoshino shook his head, his long, gray hair shimmering in the starlight. "No, what you see is only the result."
He raised his pale hand, Chakra flowed in the void, condensing into a giant mirror.
The mirror surface rippled like water, reflecting countless images.
At the age of 13, his body was crushed by a boulder Battle of Kannabi Bridge, and his left eye was transplanted to Kakashi.
At the age of 14, he witnessed Rin's death, awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan with Futatsudomoe, and slaughtered all the surrounding Kirigakure Anbu.
At the age of 15, he became a pawn of Madara Uchiha, slaughtering the first Akatsuki and indirectly taking control of the entire organization.
At the age of 16, he controlled the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha, resulting in the deaths of Minato and his wife, Naruto becoming an orphan.
At the age of 22, he invaded the Uchiha Clan Compound, massacred the clan members, and stole Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan.
"This is your past," Hoshino's voice was calm, almost cruel, "But not all of it."
The image in the mirror continued to change.
Young Obito helped his elderly grandmother through the bustling streets of Konoha, sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled shadows on his face.
Obito of Team 7 stood at the village entrance and loudly announced to Rin and Kakashi, "I will definitely become Hokage!" His eyes gleamed behind his goggles.
Kushina Uzumaki Obito like her own son and placed all her hopes on him.
"This is you too."
Obito Uchiha's fist trembled uncontrollably.
Those memories were too vivid, so vivid they were blinding, so vivid that he wanted to escape.
"Those... no longer exist." His voice trembled with a sob he himself didn't even realize.
"No, they exist, just as real as Rin is alive now." Hoshino's voice suddenly became unusually firm, like a beam of light piercing through the darkness.
Obito Uchiha suddenly looked up, the Tomoe in his eyes spinning wildly, seemingly about to merge into one.
"What exactly are you trying to say?!"
His voice was filled with suppressed anger, but it was unclear whether that anger was directed at Hoshino or at himself.
Hoshino didn't answer directly; her pale finger pointed to the deepest part of the mirror.
What's reflected there is Obito as he is now.
The man wore an orange Spiral Mask, and despite having both eyes, he stubbornly only revealed one, his eyes filled with a mixture of pain and confusion.
"This is what you need to face."
Obito Uchiha at himself in the mirror, his breathing gradually becoming rapid. He suddenly understood Hoshino's intention.
This isn't about offering cheap comfort like "you still have a kind side," nor is it about giving empty platitudes like "let go of the past."
It's about helping him truly see himself clearly.
See clearly the self that is blinded by hatred, the self that has turned the whole world into hell.
See clearly the self that is manipulated by lies, the pathetic self that has become someone else's pawn.
See clearly that part of yourself... still alive, yet afraid to face reality.
"The choice is always in your hands! Rin is alive, the world keeps turning, and the future still exists." Hoshino pointed in the direction of the Shinobi World, where lights flickered gently in the darkness.
His finger then turned to the moon, the gray satellite silently suspended in the void.
"And you, do you want to continue being bound by the past?"
Beneath Obito Uchiha's mask, a bead of sweat trickled down his scar, his gaze lingering between the Shinobi World and the moon, his heart aching as if being torn apart.
On one side is the real world where Rin lives, and on the other is the moon that seals Kaguya, just like the two extremes of his soul, where light and darkness clash fiercely at this moment.
Move forward, or continue to run away?
This choice was finally laid bare before him.
Time loses its meaning in the void.
Obito Uchiha stood there, as if he had been contemplating for an entire century.
Finally, he slowly raised his trembling hand and placed it on the orange-red mask that had been with him for more than ten years.
His movements were slow, each moment like a fierce battle with his past self.
As his fingertips touched the cold surface of the mask, he seemed to see himself again in despair under the Kannabi Bridge. When his fingers gripped the edge of the mask, the image of Rin lying in a pool of blood flashed through his mind once more. As the mask loosened slightly, the screams of the Nine-Tails ravaging Konoha echoed in his ears.
But this time, he didn't stop.
With a soft 'click', the mask was removed.
For the first time, half of his scarred face was fully exposed to the starlight, the uneven scars bearing witness to all his pain and madness.
But at this moment, Obito's eyes were clearer than ever.
"I..." His voice was hoarse beyond recognition, but no longer confused, "I want to see Lin, and..."
The teacher, the teacher's wife, Kakashi, former clansmen, that old woman whose fate is unknown...
Hoshino's lips curled into a slight smile, "Then, let's go. They're all waiting for you to come home; they've been waiting for a long time."
In the void, a golden light shone, and the road to the Shinobi World slowly unfolded like a scroll.
Obito Uchiha took one last look at the moon, a place where his past obsessions and madness resided.
Then...
He took his first step toward the future, a step that was much easier than he had imagined.