"Why… why… why did this happen?!!!"
A moment later, Yahiko finally snapped back to his senses.
He stared at Konan's body, disbelief written across his face as he cried out in agony.
"This… is reality," Uchiha Obito said, his voice filled with temptation.
"To protect Konan, you would have had to betray Nagato. But if you didn't betray Nagato, Konan would be the one who got hurt."
"You refused to choose between the two. You hesitated, you wavered, you tried to escape reality."
"So Konan made the choice herself—sacrificing her own life to protect you."
"That's how the real world works. There is no perfect solution where everyone wins."
"To protect love… hatred will inevitably be born."
Obito continued speaking endlessly, but Yahiko suddenly realized something was wrong.
"It's you!" Yahiko roared in fury as he stared at the man dressed like a Konoha ANBU.
"You're not a Konoha ANBU at all! You're the masked man who tried to deceive Nagato!"
Shock and rage surged through Yahiko's heart.
He had never expected that Obito would ignore the chaos at the Akatsuki camp and instead ambush him and Konan halfway.
Obito neither confirmed nor denied it.
"Who I am isn't important," he said calmly.
"What matters is that I've shown you the truth of this world."
"So tell me."
"After experiencing all this, do you still believe your naive ideals were right?"
"Do you still think people in this world can truly understand one another? That conflicts can be solved through mere conversation?"
"Or perhaps… now you understand me."
"Would you be willing to resolve the conflict between us through dialogue?"
"As if that's possible, you bastard!" Yahiko roared, his face twisted with rage.
"You killed Konan!"
"That's exactly the point," Obito said with visible excitement.
"The Konoha and Iwagakure ninja fighting each other on the battlefield—they've all lost comrades to the other side."
"The feelings they carry are exactly the same as yours right now."
"Now that you understand their pain… why do you still ask them to do something even you can't do?"
"Admit it, Yahiko."
"Your ideals are wrong."
"This world is beyond saving. The only correct path is to create a new world."
Even Obito himself didn't know why he had suddenly abandoned his original plan to kill Yahiko.
Right now, he wanted something else.
He wanted to drag this passionate young man over to his side.
But Yahiko only stared at him with bloodshot eyes and clenched teeth.
"Konan is dead," he said coldly.
"I no longer care about right or wrong."
"All I want now… is to kill you and avenge her."
"Water Release: Water Wave!"
Yahiko rapidly formed hand seals and spat several torrents of water toward Obito.
Obito frowned slightly.
His body instantly became intangible, letting the attack pass straight through him.
Shaking his head, he said calmly,
"You can't see the mountain because a single leaf blocks your view."
"Yahiko… is that really the limit of your vision?"
"I'm truly disappointed."
Yahiko said nothing.
He pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and charged forward, launching a frenzied assault.
But the gap between them was simply too great.
Obito didn't even bother using Kamui's intangibility most of the time.
With relaxed movements, he effortlessly dodged every strike.
Then he seized an opening.
Turning his body slightly, Obito drove a kick straight into Yahiko's abdomen.
Yahiko was sent flying more than ten meters.
"Cough…!"
Blood spilled from the corner of Yahiko's mouth.
He struggled to stand, but the wrenching pain in his stomach drained most of his strength. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rise.
Obito slowly walked toward him.
"You've been blinded by hatred," he said.
"If you were still thinking clearly, you would understand that I didn't kill Konan."
"The one who killed her… is this reality."
"People in this world are driven by hatred. They inevitably wage war against each other."
"Your Akatsuki seeks to protect peace. But ideals like that threaten the interests of certain schemers."
"They will never tolerate your existence."
"Just like Shimura Danzō's ambush against you."
"Even if Konan hadn't died here today… tomorrow or the day after, she would have died for the exact same reason."
"Trying to protect peace will inevitably lead to war."
"That is the law of cause and effect in this world."
"The world I seek to create will contain only winners—a beautiful world filled only with love."
"And it will sever that chain of causality."
"Join me, Yahiko."
"Together we can create a world where Konan will never die again."
Obito made one final attempt to make Yahiko acknowledge his ideology.
But Yahiko glared back at him fiercely.
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?!"
"The one who killed Konan was obviously you, you bastard! What does that have to do with the world?!"
"Yes, the world isn't perfect."
"But it's far from worthless!"
"There are flowers in this world. There's sunlight."
"There are kind people like Konan and Nagato."
"And there are gentle people like Master Jiraiya…"
"You bastard—just because you've experienced suffering doesn't mean you get to blame the entire world for it!"
Yahiko shouted his rebuttal with all his strength.
Unlike Obito, Yahiko was a war orphan.
He had wandered the world since childhood, witnessing the coldness of human nature again and again.
But his life had never been filled with suffering alone.
There had also been moments of happiness.
Meeting Konan and Nagato had freed him from loneliness.
Meeting Jiraiya had given him the warmth of a mentor.
Meeting Jūsuke and the others had given him the feeling of being accepted.
Perhaps it was precisely because hardship had been so common in his life…
that these rare sparks of warmth had become unforgettable treasures.
Even after seeing through the harsh reality of the world…
Yahiko still loved life.
His burning heart would never be devoured by darkness.
"Stubborn fool!"
Seeing the unwavering determination in Yahiko's eyes, Obito suddenly felt a strange panic rising in his chest.
For a moment…
he even felt ashamed.
Yahiko slowly struggled to his feet.
He stared directly into the eye behind Obito's mask.
In a deep voice, he said:
"Big Brother Ren once wrote in a book he gave me—"
'A true warrior dares to face a bleak life, and dares to confront the bloodstained reality.'"
"And you…"
"The one who keeps talking about cutting off the world's causality and escaping into some fantasy world…"
"You're nothing but a coward who's afraid to face reality!"
"You coward should just curl up in a corner and keep lying to yourself!"
"But even if I die…"
"I will never bow to the reality of this world!"
"And I will never accept your cowardly beliefs!"
Yahiko's eyes burned like fire.
The sheer force of his will made Obito unable to meet his gaze.
"Damn it…!"
"Then die!"
Furious and humiliated, Uchiha Obito lashed out and grabbed toward Yahiko.
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