In an instant, a rustling stir swept through the dense forest. Uchiha Obito snapped out of his reverie — that soft, gentle voice had lulled him somewhere he hadn't meant to go — and his gaze cut sharply across his surroundings.
Who's there?!
But then, that same gentle voice drifted back into his ears, laced with faint puzzlement, and pulled him right back under.
"I..." "Ah — you still can't figure out what it is you truly want, can you."
So the gentle voice continued, smooth and accommodating: "What you want is simply for her to come back, isn't it? As long as she returns, nothing else really matters — does it?"
Obito's throat worked. He was just about to say something — when, in the very next instant, he felt it with crystalline clarity: the sharp, stabbing pain of a kunai driving into the back of his heart.
In that instant, Obito's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
He spun around on instinct — no one there. Then, almost immediately, his hand flew back to feel the kunai buried in him. As he wrenched it free, he caught it in the corner of his eye —
— and on that kunai, he saw a seal formula achingly, bone-deep familiar.
But how — how is this possible?!
No — wait. If this is actually happening, then the next step should be — !
He didn't even have time to finish the thought. On pure reflex, Obito moved to throw the kunai away, even knowing full well it was already too late. And then, from somewhere deep in the distant forest, he heard a voice ring out.
"ZA WARUDO!"
Uchiha Obito: ?
Hold on — something about that seems... off?
But in the very next instant, even that half-formed thought ground to a halt. The gears of The World locked into place, manifesting behind Jonathan. He vaulted from the underbrush at Obito's side, and The World behind him threw its full strength into a punch aimed squarely at Uchiha Obito.
The World, rendered in black and white — held for a full, agonizing five seconds before it declared itself done.
The moment Time Stop ended, Obito's consciousness finally snapped back into his own body. His eyes flew wide. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Who is this?!
He wrenched his head up — and when he saw the handsome blue-haired young man standing before him, his face went blank with stunned confusion.
This guy... when did he get here?
Wait — no, don't get distracted. I still have something in my hand, I need to—
"You still haven't answered my question, you know."
The gentle voice whispered at Uchiha Obito's ear once more. In the next heartbeat, Obito's thoughts scattered again — brief, but total.
And so, in that instant, the Flying Raijin activates.
Obito's eyes blew wide. Inches from his face — the face that nearly stopped his breath — was Namikaze Minato, right there.
Namikaze Minato!
But — no, impossible, he already used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, that forbidden technique — he's supposed to be gone!
Why is he here?!
"Uchiha Obito..."
Namikaze Minato looked at the man who had once been his student. After a long, long moment, he let out a slow, heavy breath.
"So it really came to this in the end..."
An even deeper horror than before rose in Uchiha Obito's chest.
This shouldn't be. Why does Minato know his name? How could he possibly recognize him?
But Namikaze Minato was clearly not about to give Uchiha Obito any extra time to think.
The moment the Flying Raijin had activated, Minato's hands had already begun spinning a Rasengan into existence.
That Rasengan drove straight into Uchiha Obito's abdomen.
No time to work it out!
That thought flashed through Obito's mind, and on pure instinct he moved to activate Kamui. His body phased toward intangibility almost at once, beginning its shift into Kamui's dimensional pocket.
Without any interference, he would have slipped free of that hit with ease...
If without any interference.
"Finally," Anthony murmured from the undergrowth, watching it all unfold, that one thought surfacing in his chest.
Then — without even needing a reminder, because they had planned this out long in advance — Jie extended her hand. As a massive flood of points drained from Anthony's account, she drew a quiet, clean stroke through the empty air with her blade —
— and the very concept of Kamui's dimensional pocket was briefly, entirely erased.
It lasted only an instant. But the color behind the mask on Obito's face shifted again.
How — Kamui's transfer... it's like it lost its destination?
But if that's true, then that means — !
As if to answer the thought forming in Obito's mind, the Rasengan crashed into his abdomen at that exact moment.
A direct, devastating hit.
Namikaze Minato looked at his former student. Finally, he exhaled.
"Just wait, Obito... What happened with the Nine-Tails — that is unforgivable. But the one who led you down this path..." He paused. "As your teacher, I will deal with them too."
"No matter what it takes."
He spoke, and drew his kunai, preparing to deliver the final strike — when Uchiha Obito suddenly raised his head.
He tried to activate Kamui again.
Run. I have to find a way to run.
In that moment, only one thought remained in Uchiha Obito's mind. He even briefly blocked out the gentle female voice sighing endlessly in his ear.
He could feel his connection to Kamui's dimensional pocket slowly returning. If he could just get there, he could escape...
Sensei has been revived — reason unknown. This is significant. It could have an enormous impact on the plan going forward. I need to deal with this somehow...
But why?! How?!
A storm of unanswered questions churned inside him — but in this moment, he had exactly one goal.
Escape!
The only one who couldn't stand it anymore was Carmen, buzzing away in Obito's ear.
She had been sighing at him for ages. At this point she was starting to genuinely wonder if Uchiha Obito was simply blind.
Would it kill you to take one more look?
That dimensional pocket you're so desperately trying to flee into — is it actually Kamui's space? Would it hurt you to look twice?
And then, as if in answer to Carmen's exasperation, the gateway to that dimensional pocket swung open before Uchiha Obito — like the gates of heaven thrown wide.
But behind that gate, there was a ghost sitting on a toilet, holding a fishing rod, gazing at Obito with an expression brimming with excitement and delight.
"Hey — you finally took the bait, huh?"
And with that, grinning from ear to ear, the ghost stood up from the toilet, turned slightly sideways, and gave a little bow:
"One VIP guest — right this way into the Primordial River!"
Without giving Obito any say in the matter whatsoever, the gate pulled Uchiha Obito inside. And only now — only in this moment — did Uchiha Obito finally grasp the truth of the situation.
This was no Kamui space. This place was an absolute dump.
Staring at the swirling, prismatic currents of the Primordial River before him — and the ferocious torrents all around him, roaring and churning and already eating into his body and his will — Uchiha Obito's eyes went wide.
What the hell is this place?!
Why did Kamui connect here?!
And so, just like that, Uchiha Obito — dumped into the Primordial River by Anthony — began to struggle with everything he had. On the bank above, Anthony and Carmen, one man and one ghost woman, stood and watched the fool thrashing around in the current below.
In truth, pulling off what had just happened was remarkably simple.
After all, entering a dimensional pocket is, when you strip it down, functionally identical to teleportation.
And if it's a teleportation — well, Anthony had quite a bit to say about that.
By using his Soul Strength — now as high as 14 — to reach into the teleportation formula, and under the twin conditions of Jie having already briefly erased the concept of Kamui's pocket and Obito having been critically wounded by Minato, Anthony simply cast his fishing line and hooked Uchiha Obito in.
From there, it was just a matter of disrupting the teleportation mid-transit and, leveraging his deep, overwhelming connection to the Primordial River, redirecting the destination here.
You like popping open portals in front of people?
Sure, maybe your phased-out body is immune to physical attacks — but The Angler can still hook your soul, can't he?
While Obito bobbed along behind the Styx-boat, Carmen turned her head and looked at Anthony. Then she looked away again.
"You already have a plan in mind, don't you."
She said it, and Anthony nodded with an air of calm that was almost too relaxed.
"Yeah. I'll give this one a relatively complete ending."
"Then I'll head back and report to Minato. Once this is wrapped up, I'm going back to the lab..."
"Waiting to see if Ein recognizes you?"
"Whether he even can at this point is still an open question." Carmen let out a quiet sigh, didn't bother rising to Anthony's teasing, gave a wave of her hand, and her spectral form vanished where she stood.
Anthony, alone now, watched Uchiha Obito below — and as he felt the River working the man over quite thoroughly, something quietly reflective stirred in him.
He had to hand it to the Primordial River. That thing had force.
As a soul who'd been weathering its currents day in and day out for who knew how long, Anthony understood better than anyone just how powerful the River's erosion really was. He survived here on a trickle of soul energy each day, and that was only possible because of the group chat's divine protection plus the River essentially treating him like a favored child.
Any outsider who fell in without those advantages? The River would give them a very personal demonstration of what 'torn apart atom by atom' felt like.
Still — checking the time in his head — it was probably about right.
With that thought, Anthony gripped his fishing rod and swept it downward. The line caught Uchiha Obito and slowly reeled him up.
Behind Anthony, the Primordial Furnace let out a low, resonant roar.
"You're..."
When Uchiha Obito opened his eyes, he found the ghost from before watching him. For a moment, he could only stare, blankly.
"Hm? I'm your great-uncle's third cousin's brother's nephew on the paternal side."
Anthony raised an eyebrow, then said with great enthusiasm: "You don't remember me?"
Watching the bewilderment deepen on Obito's face, Anthony laughed twice more — but then, his expression slowly, steadily settled into something serious.
"Forget it... On reflection, there's not much I need to explain to you anyway."
He paused briefly, then pointed at the Primordial Furnace off to the side, considered for a moment, and spoke:
"The River didn't wash your memory away, did it? Uchiha Madara — do you still remember him?"
"—!"
In an instant, Obito's eyes went wide behind his mask. He stared at Anthony, poured everything he had into trying to activate Kamui again, or throw some ninjutsu, anything —
— but this space refused him.
The Primordial River, in its singularly savage way, rejected every outside force that didn't belong here. Every scrap of power he reached for moved not even a hair's breadth.
"He's just using you to serve his own ends... Ah — though to be fair, from your perspective, I'm probably not much better."
Anthony spoke without urgency, then partway through caught himself, changed direction — and Uchiha Obito stared at him, lost.
"What exactly are you... trying to say?"
"I'm only saying this: I know your future. I know your past. Uchiha Obito — if you follow Uchiha Madara, you will end up with nothing. Betrayed at the end, stripped of everything. A tool, and nothing more."
"But to avoid that outcome — there is another path open to you."
As Anthony spoke, the Primordial Furnace roared again behind him. Uchiha Obito's pupils contracted slightly, and before his eyes, Soul Flames began to rise and burn.
Then those flames began to char his spirit and flesh alike.
Soul Forging — begins!
Anthony's tone remained unhurried: "I'm not like Uchiha Madara. I'm a man who keeps his word, more or less... so at minimum, I will find a way to bring Rin back to life."
"There's a chance you'll even get to see her again someday — that much I can at least dangle in front of you as a possibility. But as for the sins you've already committed —"
Anthony was quiet for a beat, then gave a small smile. "It wouldn't be my place to say this — but someone still has to pay for them, doesn't it?"
And so, a soul already ground down by the Primordial River was fed, once more, into the Primordial Furnace's grinding.
Soul Forging began in an instant, then ceased with a thundering groan from the furnace. When roughly ten minutes had passed, Anthony waved his hand, and a test tube appeared in his palm.
[You have obtained: Hashirama Cell Compound]
[Recycle Value: 36,577 points (High-energy material — elevated recycle weight)]
[You have obtained: Mangekyō Sharingan]
[You have obtained: ...]
Anthony did a quick scan, then traded everything except the Hashirama Cells for points. In an instant, his balance — which had taken quite a hit — swelled back, landing at roughly two hundred and ten thousand.
Damn... farming one shadow-rank target in the Naruto world really does pay out. He sighed wistfully. Shame there aren't many people as loaded as Uchiha Obito left.
Though it did make him kind of curious — if he ever managed to melt down Uchiha Madara, how many points would that yield...
Ahem. Don't let your thoughts slide that far down the slope.
He reined his mind back in.
The matter of reviving Rin — he was actually planning to try. Partly because even if he didn't, Namikaze Minato would almost certainly have that hope himself. And besides, even though Uchiha Obito had been melted down, Anthony had kept the barest sliver of his soul in reserve, just in case he needed it later.
If the day ever came when it was useful — dangle Rin like a carrot in front of a horse, and that would be a remarkably effective leash.
Something to consider once he had more resources.
As for the toilet situation — the current Angler's Throne was temporarily at capacity. The two souls already inside were showing signs of something resembling diminishing returns, which Anthony found a little painful to look at. He'd wait until the next one was built before thinking about adding anyone else.
Probably not too far off, honestly.
Finally, Anthony pulled his thoughts together, and opened the group chat.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: OK, I've wrapped up on my end.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Good work, everyone. That's a wrap on our first team outing. Unless anyone feels like sticking around to sightsee, you're free to head back to your respective worlds.]
As those words left him, a quiet flicker of anticipation rose in Anthony's chest.
Right then. The primary objective was now resolved.
What came next was for everyone — each freshly reanimated across their separate worlds — to return home and face whatever awaited them there.
Even Anthony found himself genuinely curious about what was going to happen next.
At the same time, he couldn't help but type something into the group chat, tagging Himmel out of sheer curiosity.
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: @Frieren's Warrior of the Twilight Age — hey, by the way, did you manage to eat well this round?]
[Frieren's Warrior of the Twilight Age: ?]
[Frieren's Warrior of the Twilight Age: What kind of thing is that to say?!]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Ahem, ahem. Never mind that for now — I'm going to go sort out the follow-up business here in the Naruto world with Minato. I'll check in later to see how everyone's Reanimation is playing out back in their home worlds.]
[Lord of the White Holy Throne: Keep at it, everyone.]
After typing out that last string of messages, Anthony let out a long, slow breath.
Right then. First up — start with Namikaze Minato.
____
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