Thud.
The kunai pierced straight through White Zetsu's forehead, sinking in up to the hilt without the slightest resistance.
A figure flashed into existence. Senju Tobirama appeared before White Zetsu, his fingers clamping down on its head. With a sharp pull, he yanked half of White Zetsu's body straight out of the ground.
"Trying to survive by severing yourself?" Tobirama muttered coldly.
He turned his gaze to the side.
The man who had been slammed into the ground moments ago—Obito—was already gone.
Minato Namikaze stood silently beside Rin's grave, his expression flickering rapidly between shock, fury, and disbelief.
Whoosh!
Tobirama vanished again.
The scene shifted. In the vast hall where the enormous crystal sphere floated, Tobirama reappeared—and with a soft poof, his form transformed into Naruto.
A few breaths later, Minato arrived as well.
"Naruto," Minato said gravely, "you placed a Flying Thunder God mark just now. That means… you already know who he is."
"With a Sharingan, offering flowers to Rin like Kakashi once did," Naruto replied calmly. "Father, you already know the answer."
Naruto nodded lightly. He stored away White Zetsu's body, then continued:
"While he was materialized, wiping the gravestone, we used Flying Thunder God together. I placed both a Flying Thunder God seal and two curse-binding marks on the back of his neck."
"Now let's bring Mom and Kurama along and see what really happened to your former student."
In the Mirror World, Minato found himself standing beside Kushina, while Naruto exchanged a few words with Kurama. A massive translucent interface window unfolded in midair.
On the left side of the display, a familiar face appeared.
Minato's heart clenched.
Though the right side of that man's face was deeply scarred, Minato recognized him instantly.
Uchiha Obito.
Kushina and Kurama stared in shock as well. Neither of them had imagined that the mysterious figure from years ago would turn out to be Obito.
Naruto dragged the memory timeline directly to the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
Everything before that moment was familiar.
After Kakashi and Rin said their tearful goodbyes to Obito, who lay crushed beneath the boulder, the screen faded briefly into darkness. Obito's consciousness became hazy, disordered—
Suddenly, Kurama's expression changed sharply. All nine tails bristled.
"Uchiha Madara!"
Elsewhere, in a laboratory.
Danzo Shimura lay unconscious on an operating table. Beside him stood Sasuke, holding a glass container that housed a three-tomoe Sharingan.
Sasuke's expression was solemn, as if weighing a critical decision.
After a long silence, he set the container down and began forming hand seals.
"…?"
A trace of confusion crossed Sasuke's face.
He had tried to contact Naruto via the Phantom Projection Technique, but the signal received no response.
"He must already know what I plan to do," Sasuke thought.
Given Naruto's unfathomable abilities, Sasuke was certain Naruto understood his intentions. Since Naruto hadn't replied, it meant tacit approval.
With resolve hardened, Sasuke created two shadow clones, then sat down on another operating table.
Several minutes later, he stood up again.
When he opened his right eye, the three black tomoe fused rapidly, transforming into a four-bladed shuriken pattern.
"Shisui's eyes… both can use Kotoamatsukami," Sasuke muttered coldly.
"Short-term manipulation of a person's will without their awareness… or permanent control, turning them into a puppet. Permanent control consumes far more ocular power. Without Hashirama cells, the cooldown is extremely long. Even with them, recovery still takes months."
A mocking sneer crossed Sasuke's face.
"Danzo once planned to enslave me with Kotoamatsukami… and even considered using it on Naruto."
Sasuke stepped to Danzo's table, pried open his left eyelid, and poured every ounce of chakra he had into Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Blood streamed from the corners of Sasuke's right eye as exhaustion washed over him.
In a dark, boundless space, Obito sat on the ground with his eyes closed.
His upper garments were torn. The orange, single-eyed spiral mask lay discarded nearby. Rectangular stone platforms of varying heights stretched endlessly in all directions.
After a long while, Obito opened his eyes and formed seals, creating a shadow clone behind him.
"I can't locate the mark," the clone reported.
Poof.
The clone dispersed into smoke.
"So the Flying Thunder God mark doesn't disappear," Obito growled. "Just as expected of my teacher."
He donned a black cloak with red clouds and replaced his mask. A warped vortex engulfed him.
When the space twisted again, Obito stood atop the colossal skeletal remains of some ancient creature.
This was the Graveyard of the Mountains.
Two trembling Venus flytrap leaves emerged from the ground below as Black Zetsu, now fully merged, appeared.
"You alright?" Black Zetsu asked hoarsely.
"Have you located the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails?" Obito replied flatly.
"Yes. The Two-Tails is in the Nibi Bamboo Forest of Kumogakure. The Eight-Tails is hiding in the Valley of Clouds and Lightning."
"And Pain?"
"I only saw the girl," Black Zetsu said, puzzled. "Right after you left, Deidara and Sasori used the Phantom Dragon Nine Consuming Seals to head skyward. Pain seems more eager to find Orochimaru than to capture the Tailed Beasts."
"He's right," Obito said darkly. "We must find that bastard Orochimaru as soon as possible!"
He suddenly grabbed his mask, furious.
"You said Kakashi was where?!"
White Zetsu answered hesitantly:
"Jiraiya said he sent Kakashi to meet someone named Might Guy, to help bring Tsunade back to Konoha…"
In the Spring Country base, Naruto stood before a mirror.
His left eye was crimson, a black pinwheel-like Mangekyō pattern reflected within it.
Foreign energy detected. Absorb?
Foreign energy detected. Absorb?
The mechanical prompts abruptly ceased.
After becoming an Eighth-Level World Lord, Naruto could finally mute system notifications.
"I already erased the foreign will," Naruto murmured. "Yet the eyes still resonate. The question is whether cloned eyes retain the same properties."
As he stared at his reflection, Naruto recalled seeing a vast forest when he activated the Mangekyō earlier.
That had to be Obito's location.
Checking his Flying Thunder God marks, Naruto decided it was time to alert his father.
"I wonder… did Obito see Orochimaru through the resonance?"
"Rest assured, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said eagerly from the side. "Cloned eyes are identical to the originals. According to my experiments on Shin, the original eye's abilities can even be selectively distributed through clones. They can also share vision."
Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Oh?"
He recalled the canon Shin Uchiha—multiple clones, identical Mangekyō, yet different abilities.
"Let's test it."
Naruto sat down. Two shadow clones approached, one holding a glass jar containing a Sharingan.
Moments later, Naruto opened his left eye again.
The three tomoe fused instantly into the same black pinwheel Mangekyō.
Naruto turned toward Orochimaru and issued a command through the Mirror World.
Orochimaru stiffened—then created a shadow clone.
In the next instant, the clone was swallowed by a twisting vortex.
"No blood loss… no noticeable chakra drain," Naruto observed with satisfaction. "You were right."
Then he chose Absorb Foreign Energy.
Orochimaru forced a stiff smile.
Absorption successful. Parsing data…
Congratulations! Permanent Space–Time Dōjutsu acquired: Kamui.
Foreign dimension coordinates detected. Parasitic infiltration initiated…
Naruto's eye turned gray, yet he could still use Kamui freely.
The Mangekyō's power had been stripped from the eye and integrated into him directly.
And at the bottom of the description:
(Sustainably amplifies foreign energy.)
"…Interesting."
At the Graveyard of the Mountains, Zetsu watched as Obito flickered in and out of existence.
Suddenly, Obito froze.
"Orochimaru has obtained my other eye."
Zetsu froze. "Then… your identity has been exposed?"
"That damn snake—!"
Before Obito could finish, a terrifying sense of danger surged.
A figure appeared behind him, passing cleanly through his body.
Obito lunged to counterattack—then stopped abruptly.
His upper body was severed cleanly at the waist.
"Fourth Hokage!" Zetsu shouted in horror. "He followed the mark!"
Zetsu immediately burrowed underground and escaped using Mayfly.
"Madara's thousand-year plan… ruined by Orochimaru," Black Zetsu snarled.
"Not necessarily," White Zetsu argued weakly. "Obito still has Izanagi—"
"He's finished!" Black Zetsu snapped. "Only someone inside Kamui can do that. His secret is exposed!"
Inside the Kamui dimension, Orochimaru smiled faintly at Obito.
Behind him stood Tobirama and the Third Raikage.
"You don't need the mask," Orochimaru said leisurely. "I know you're Uchiha Obito."
Obito tore off the mask and glared.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Waiting for your Izanagi to expire," Orochimaru replied smoothly. "You can't phase here. Consider surrendering."
Obito formed seals—
—and froze.
A flash of steel. Blood erupted.
His head flew.
Another intact Obito appeared seconds later, fury blazing in his eyes.
"Marked… just as I thought!"
Again and again, Tobirama decapitated him.
When Izanagi ended, Obito was forced out of Kamui—
—and instantly met Minato's Rasengan.
Boom.
Obito crashed through trees, coughing blood.
Mockery twisted his face.
"You show up fast now, sensei… after everyone's dead."
Minato silently placed sealing marks.
Obito's Sharingan transformed—
—and Minato's arm passed straight through his neck.
Inside Kamui, Orochimaru's enlarged magma-coated hand crushed Obito's throat.
Outside, Obito's head smoked, flesh burning away.
His severed head rolled across the forest floor.
Obito Uchiha was dead.
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