Hamura felt his eloquence had never been so lacking. This eldest son of his brother's household was truly impervious to reason.
He changed the subject. "That previous Hokage, Hashirama Senju—he seems to be your reincarnation, Ashura. And that child, Naruto Uzumaki, is the same. On the other hand, Sasuke Uchiha is the reincarnation of Indra. My eyes see this clearly."
This topic caught Indra's attention, and he raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Hmph. I do have that intention—to be entangled with Ashura, life after life, until our fate is decided."
Ashura shivered, feeling a chill run down his spine. His brother was seriously picking a fight with him.
"I wouldn't mind being brothers with you for all eternity, but wouldn't it be terrible if our conflict disrupted the peaceful coexistence of our descendants?"
"You think that's terrible?" Indra narrowed his eyes dangerously.
Ashura quickly waved his hands. "No, no, no—that's not what I meant."
Nearby, Hamura Ōtsutsuki chuckled at their banter. "Your dynamic is completely different from mine with my elder brother. Right now, you're just stuck on some unresolved issues, but one day, you'll understand each other. My eyes can see your fate. The turning point lies in Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."
Ashura, who hadn't inherited any special eyes, sighed. He couldn't understand the world that those with unique eyes could see.
"I think the reason my brother and I never understood each other is that I was a useless idiot who could never learn anything and only knew how to play, while he was a genius who could do everything."
Hamura smiled. "If we ever get a chance to travel through time, we could invite you to see my childhood with my brother, or maybe take me to witness your own youth. Why would brothers who once cherished each other become sworn enemies? Maybe it's my brother's parenting methods that are to blame?"
Hamura Ōtsutsuki had a soul that was completely different from his aloof, almost emotionless appearance. His elder brother, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, knew that his younger sibling actually enjoyed teasing others.
Although his eyes had glimpsed the future, he deliberately kept the answers hidden from his two nephews, waiting for them to discover the truth on their own.
...
The other pair in this sleepless night was the young Obito Uchiha and the adult Obito Uchiha...
The solitary young Obito Uchiha finally managed to contact his counterpart in this world.
Or rather, the adult Obito Uchiha had initiated the connection.
The location, of course, was still within the Kamui Dimension of the masked man.
Adult Obito began, "I have matters to attend to. Once they're settled, you handle that SSS-rank mission." Though for someone like him, death was the lightest punishment.
But young Obito blurted out next, "Are you stupid?! You killed Kakashi, you bastard!!"
"????" The masked man froze, his prepared lines stuck in his throat.
He had intended to tell the young Uchiha that he planned to use Pain's Rinnegan to resurrect Minato-sensei and the Kakashi from another world.
But he hadn't expected that the torrent of words from young Obito Uchiha would leave him completely speechless.
The adult Obito Uchiha standing before him wasn't wearing a mask. His expression held a hint of helpless confusion, like a child who had made a mistake and didn't know how to fix it.
What did he mean, he had killed Kakashi?
Adult Obito shouted at him, "Kakashi from the other world wasn't supposed to die! But you brought him to this world, robbing him of his chance to be revived!!"
Seeing the masked man freeze in shock, young Obito finally had the chance to explain the situation they had deduced last time.
The masked man—the adult Obito—listened, his expression shifting from numbness to astonishment, then to sheer panic.
"What should we do...?" he faltered.
Although he too planned to use the Rinnegan to revive that Kakashi, doing so would mean this world would have two Kakashis, while the other world would lose one. What if Kakashi was crucial in the Fourth Shinobi World War? Wouldn't he then indirectly alter the outcome of that war?!!
How had his mind been clouded by negative emotions back then, making him doubt the Sixth Hokage's claims as false intelligence?
But if even future Orochimaru and his son were saying so—besides that Kawaki fellow—then...
Young Obito sighed. "Minato-sensei said we should only focus on A-rank missions, hoping to time travel again to that parallel world and return the Kakashi from your dimension."
The masked man's gaze deepened upon hearing his counterpart from another era mention Minato-sensei.
"This era's Minato-sensei has also appeared…"
"Yeah, and he found out you're the Masked Man." The young Obito sighed, hands on his hips. "Every time this comes up, it makes me sick to my stomach! What were you thinking back then?! Were you crazy? Or was it the seal on your heart, the cursed seal, controlling you?"
The Masked Man remained silent for a long time. "Probably both. Back then, I believed Obito Uchiha was dead. I was Madara. Whether it was Minato Namikaze, Kushina, the Uchiha, or even this world itself—none of it mattered to me anymore."
"I haven't been through it, so I don't know what to say," the young Obito replied. "From your perspective, I wouldn't say anything. But from Naruto and Sasuke's side…"
And from the perspective of Minato-sensei's family, from the perspective of the Uchiha Clan, this Obito Uchiha before me isn't worthy of forgiveness.
"I know. At this point, I don't know what to say either." The Masked Man's eyes were filled with sorrow. "I've been thinking these past few days…"
Young Obito looked around at the oppressive surroundings. "You've been stuck here these days. What did you come up with?"
"Nagato... I mean, Pain."
Adult Obito continued, "His Rinnegan is the chip Madara Uchiha used to resurrect himself in the future. I'll make a deal with Pain, take the Rinnegan for myself, and then use the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth to revive Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, Sasuke's family, Yahiko, and the others. It's the only atonement I can offer right now."
"So the Rinnegan can truly resurrect the dead." This matched the intelligence they'd previously obtained.
"How many people can the Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth—revive? Are there any conditions or limitations?"
"I haven't used it myself, so I can't say for certain." The adult Obito Uchiha, now mask-free, replied, "It likely depends on the amount of chakra available."
The two Obitos exhaled in unison.
"I'll do my best to help you," said the younger Obito Uchiha. "But not for your sake—for Minato-sensei, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke… them all."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I just can't stand seeing old folks needing help!"
"I'm not old yet…"
"Shut up!"
"....."
Was my younger self a bit too cocky?
Adult Obito clenched his fists.
Young Obito: "Currently, Naruto and I possess mission scrolls. The others are you, Itachi Uchiha, and Kabuto Yakushi. I wonder if Naruto's newly completed S-rank mission will generate a new scroll. Anyway, let's focus on completing as many A-rank missions as possible first."
Unfortunately, they still didn't know the conditions for triggering new missions from the scrolls.
Young Obito glanced at the corpse of Kakashi from another parallel world on a nearby platform and nodded. "Right."
Both pondered the missions within their own scrolls.
Young Obito said, "The most recent time travel should be the one Naruto just completed—preventing the Third Hokage from being killed by Orochimaru."
"My scroll is currently empty—no new A-rank missions have appeared."
Young Obito nodded, thinking he actually had an A-rank mission.
He'd initially dismissed it as nonsense, but now the First Hokage had been summoned to the present via Orochimaru's Edo Tensei. This meant playing the role of Madara Uchiha conversing with Hashirama Senju wasn't impossible after all.
He asked his younger self, "Don't you feel like the mastermind behind this mission scroll seems to know every detail of our future? As if even our smallest choices are under their control?"
"Yeah," replied young Obito. "Minato-sensei mentioned it before too. It's like this scroll knows our entire future and uses different missions to steer our actions based on that future."
Adult Obito: "You guys have one more time travel left, right? If you pull me into your Kamui's Dimension, following the previous logic, that should also transport me to that parallel world."
"Mm."
Young Obito vanished into a vortex as he was ejected from the Kamui's Dimension by adult Obito.
Simultaneously, adult Obito himself exited the space.
His figure materialized before the young Obito Uchiha, who simultaneously activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
A spiral vortex in the void sucked adult Obito into the Sharingan space, where two more White Zetsu remained.
"Whoa! Tobi suddenly grew up!"
"His scar face got even worse!"
"Wonder if he knows what it feels like to really need to use the bathroom."
"So lonely… Kimimaro, Nawaki, and Dan are all gone."
"It's okay. We won't die anyway."
"Isn't it scarier that if Tobi died and we're still alive?"
"Ah…"
"Aaaaaah!!! So terrifying!!"
Adult Obito: "......"