"This doesn't…"
"Make sense?"
Before Sasuke could finish voicing his confusion, the words from behind him sent a chill through his already battered heart.
…Impossible.
He had already crossed dimensions.
There was no way Obito could have—
With great difficulty, Sasuke tried to turn his head, but now even that much was a luxury.
"…Don't look so surprised. You've been helping me this entire time."
"Haa… haa… how did you get here? And what did you do to me?" Sasuke's brows tightened. Even though those words unsettled him, he still wanted to know what had actually hit him. He was certain Obito had not landed any powerful blow against him, and he had been cautious the whole time, so why?
"…You really don't understand?" Obito asked indifferently as he stood over him, his boots sinking into the snow below.
"At that moment," Obito continued calmly, "when I grabbed your wrist…"
"…I left a mark."
Sasuke looked up at him, his mind flashing back instantly. This Obito was completely different from the one in his memories.
"…The Flying Thunder God…" Sasuke finally forced out.
Clap. Clap.
"…Exactly." Obito clapped his hands and admitted it without hiding anything. In truth, when Sasuke had tried to escape, there were multiple ways he could have stopped him.
Kamui was the most obvious one. He could have easily twisted the space Sasuke was trying to flee through…
So why had he not done that?
"…Then why did you let me run away in the first place…?" Sasuke asked.
He was not just looking for answers. He was also trying to recover his chakra while lowering Obito's guard.
Of course, Obito knew that.
He simply did not care.
Obito's lips curved faintly as he spread his arms, as though it were obvious.
"…Why wouldn't I want to chase prey that already belongs to me?"
There was too much Sasuke did not know about him. In the face of that much uncertainty, every plan Sasuke had made was bound to fail.
Obito was in a strangely good mood, and he did not mind talking to Uchiha Sasuke. In this world, Sasuke might have been his stepson, but the adult Sasuke was not. Still, since Sasuke had entertained him enough, Obito was willing to give him something in return.
Obito raised his hand, then extended two fingers under Sasuke's puzzled gaze.
"There are two reasons."
"…Don't look at me like that. Truly, I only meant to test something on you. The results were splendid indeed."
"…So thank you, Sasuke."
"And what exactly did I help you with?" Sasuke asked coldly.
"Fate really does play a lot of games. It's almost fascinating," Obito said in a low voice.
Then he ignored Sasuke and thought back to some time ago, when he had wanted to introduce the younger Sasuke to Akatsuki.
At the time, if he wanted Sasuke to have a partner and not be reduced to some disposable extra, he had needed to eliminate one of the current members. That was when his eyes had fallen on Hidan, and suddenly, years of neglect in Obito's own thinking became obvious.
Back then, Obito had almost wanted to smack himself on the head. All those years, and he had ignored a walking immortal with one of the most absurd hax abilities in the entire shinobi world.
Damage transfer.
So naturally, Obito did what anyone with a brain and enough will would do.
He packed Hidan into a coffin and devoured him whole, obtaining not only Hidan's immortal body, but also his damage transfer ability.
That was what had hit Sasuke.
Obito had simply used him as an experiment, to see whether he could snipe someone across dimensions with his current mastery over space and power.
The original Hidan could never have done that.
But Obito had succeeded.
Even across different dimensions, as long as he obtained someone's blood, he could simply kill them, even if they possessed greater power than his own.
As for the second reason…
Obito looked away from Sasuke, examining the snowy dimension around them before chuckling to himself.
"Hahaha…"
Of course, it was for the coordinates of this other dimension.
With his current power, he could not exactly locate other dimensions on his own. But if someone showed him the way, then reaching them became entirely possible.
Still…
'It consumed a massive amount of chakra.'
Even in the original course of events, Obito had barely been able to open such portals, and that was with Sakura's immense chakra supporting him.
'Still… it was worth it.'
Sasuke's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"…You knew about the Ōtsutsuki. You knew about me… about everything."
"…What exactly are you?"
"I'm Obito Uchiha…" Obito replied simply, glancing at Sasuke indifferently without explaining anything further.
Sasuke smiled coldly, blood running down the side of his face.
"…You're not fooling anyone."
"…But remember one thing. Every action… everything you do… has a price behind it."
"…One day… be careful it doesn't come for you."
"…"
"…This is so unlike you, Sasuke. Since when did you get so good at prophecies?"
Obito's voice carried a faint trace of amusement, though his gaze remained steady. For a brief moment, he was actually a little surprised, but it did not reach his heart. Words like those…
He had heard them countless times before.
They meant nothing to him now.
Still…
A fleeting thought passed through his mind.
Those words were strangely similar to what Momoshiki had said to Boruto before he died.
But Obito quickly shook it off and looked at Sasuke, who, despite being battered and on the verge of death, still looked fierce, his will burning brightly.
"…From the moment you swung your sword at me, your end was already decided."
Then, all of a sudden, Sasuke opened his Rinnegan. The chakra he had desperately gathered tried to ripple through his body—
But the moment it did, his entire body stiffened as black markings spread across him.
Seeing those strange yet familiar markings, Sasuke's eyes widened in shock.
"This is…"
It was the same kind of technique Danzō had used on him long ago.
To think that after all this time, he would experience it again in a place like this.
"…You've done enough. This is where you stop, Sasuke. Your struggle… your pain… it ends here."
Obito observed everything with a calm expression. Sasuke's final resistance was exactly what he had expected.
In that cold dimension, his voice echoed with a strange finality, making the frozen air feel even heavier.
Then he raised his hand.
A black orb formed quietly in his palm as he looked down at Sasuke's collapsing figure.
"…Rest."
"Devouring Coffin."
Darkness spread at once, wrapping around Sasuke without resistance before sealing him inside the Devouring Coffin.
"…So this is how far I go…"
As the darkness closed in, Sasuke's thoughts began to drift, slower than ever before.
For a moment, he saw it—
Team 7 standing together again.
Naruto laughing like an idiot.
Sakura scolding him.
Kakashi watching from behind with that lazy eye of his.
A life that had once felt impossibly distant now suddenly seemed almost within reach.
Then the image shifted…
Sarada.
She was looking up at him with those same eyes, stubborn and bright, refusing to fall behind no matter what.
His fingers twitched weakly against the snow beneath him, but there was no strength left to move.
He had walked this path his entire life, chasing power, chasing answers…
And in the end, he had found friendship and companions.
He had found love too.
Even family.
…Sorry… looks like I'll be leaving first, you guys.
He could already imagine it—the anger, the frustration, Naruto's voice refusing to accept it—
But there was nothing he could do now.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips as the darkness closed in. The Devouring Coffin swallowed him completely, leaving nothing behind.
"Boruto… carry it forward… my ninja way."
Obito stood in the snowy land with his head lowered.
The Devouring Coffin had already vanished, leaving behind only silence and an empty stretch of snow.
For a moment, he simply stood there unmoving, his gaze lifting slightly as the snow continued to fall.
White flakes drifted through the air, slow and weightless, carried by a quiet wind that brushed past him without resistance. One of them landed against his cloak…
Then melted just as quietly.
His head tilted up toward the sky above, and his eyes lingered there as he took a deep breath.
Then he revealed those cold, indifferent eyes.
As if nothing had happened.
As if everything had already been decided long ago.
"…Hmph."
A faint breath escaped him.
Then, without another glance, Obito lowered his gaze and turned away, his figure gradually fading into the falling snow.
"…You should've stayed in your time, Sasuke."
"…It would've saved you the trouble."
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