Sakura woke up to the sound of loud voices arguing; trapped in a perpetual void of darkness of her own making, she hadn't even realised she'd fallen unconscious at some point. The last thing she remembered was immense relief when she realised Orochimaru had for some obscure reason changed his mind about taking them, and…
"You MUST listen to me! It is your duty as the last of the Uchiha! Did I not tell you the truth that first instant we met, on the rainy anniversary of the Uchiha Massacre? Everything has unfolded exactly as I described, has it not?"
"How dare you talk to me of the Uchiha Massacre!? Itachi told me he had a co-conspirator, you masked bastard! You helped him kill everyone!"
Sakura's blood seemed to turn to ice in her veins. Sasuke was arguing with Obito!
"Take this, you freaky spirals man!" Naruto shouted. "And this! And this! And this… oof!"
A loud bang followed the sounds of exertion; Sakura could only imagine that Naruto had taken a few fruitless swings at Obito, before tripping and falling through his body and then dropping his Rasengan, causing a small explosion as it hit the ground.
"You could stand to listen to what I've got to tell your friends as well, Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki," said Obito. "Need I remind you… you're all exhausted, and you can't hurt me… but I can."
Obito's words finally gave Naruto and Sasuke pause.
"I know I must seem untrustworthy to you— wearing a mask to conceal my identity, popping up randomly with cryptic warnings," he continued. "But I assure you, I only want what's best for you— for the world, even."
"You're Akatsuki, a terrorist," Naruto harrumphed. "Why should we listen to you, ya know?"
Obito chuckled.
"Terrorist, freedom fighter… same difference," he said. "Why do you think the Akatsuki was formed in the first place? Do you believe your Hidden Leaf Village beyond reproach? People don't attack others for no reason, you must know this… and though the cycle of hatred is an eternal wheel, it does have a beginning. It is just a matter of perspective as to where it starts, really."
Naruto didn't know the word sophistry, or he'd have used it there and then; but even so, he couldn't deny there was truth in the masked man's words.
"Fine, we'll listen," Sasuke said coldly. "But mark my words, after you're done telling your story, you're next after Itachi."
How desperately Sakura wanted to silence Obito before he exposed the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre! But as the Hokage's direct disciple, the last thing she could do was hint to Sasuke that she was an insider who had known everything all along. Even Tsunade, the current Hokage, remained ignorant about the truth behind Itachi's crimes, and it was this ignorance that granted her innocence.
"Why do you think your brother left you alone alive, all those years ago?" asked Obito.
"He said so himself," grunted Sasuke. "I was meant to be his spare set of eyes."
"Not quite," Obito explained. "It's because you alone were the one he could not bear to kill. His beloved little brother."
Sasuke glowered at him. Or at least, that's what Sakura would have done in his place; she couldn't see anything.
"You're lying!" Sasuke roared. "Mother and father are dead because of him, and he didn't just stop at our parents; the civilians, the men, the women, and the children too, he killed every last one of them! And you helped him slaughter them all! Like animals!"
"That much is true," said Obito quietly. "But Itachi did not do it for the fun of it, nor to test the extent of his powers, nor even to awaken your Sharingan. He did it on behalf of the Hidden Leaf Village."
Sakura could feel Naruto trembling in anger beside her.
"Yes, Naruto," said Obito, a hint of mirthfulness in his voice. "Before you interrupt, Konoha did this to your friend's clan, it is the truth."
"That doesn't make any sense," Sasuke hissed. "The Uchiha clan was the pride of the Hidden Leaf, its greatest and strongest noble clan. Losing us crippled the village in a way it's never recovered from since."
Obito chuckled.
"Rose-tinted glasses, as they say," he laughed. "You were but a child back then, the adults shielded you from the harsh cruelty of their troubles."
This gave Sasuke pause.
"Hmm..." Obito continued, glancing briefly at Naruto. "I'll spare you the details of how the Uchiha fell from the village's ruling structure, despite being one of its two founding clans..."
The long version of the story would require lying about the reasons behind the Nine-Tails' repeated attacks on the Hidden Leaf. Obito knew the Demon Fox hated Naruto more than anyone, but he was quite certain that it loathed him and the real Madara even more for daring to subjugate it. It might be listening in on their conversation, for all he knew.
No need to give the beast cause to expose the holes in his tale, he told himself.
"The Uchiha clan was admired, to be sure, but power beyond the norm breeds fear," Obito continued. "The discrimination began with the Second Hokage, who bestowed the so-called 'privilege' of policing the village upon our clan, which required us to move further away from central Konoha. This achieved three things at once: stunting our growth by denying us the missions and tragedies our skills and eyes needed in order to grow; shunting us to the village's margins, physically and metaphorically; and eroding public goodwill towards our plight."
After all, nobody likes being policed— especially when they're in the wrong.
"Things only got worse sixteen years ago, when the Uchiha clan was once again displaced to the very edge of the village… right next to the Hyūga clan," Obito went on, agilely dodging the topic of the Nine-Tails. "As a clan renowned for producing beautiful people, this was the last straw, as I'm sure you'll understand."
"I see," said Sasuke, nodding. "I suppose that makes sense."
"That's the part you're okay with!?" Sakura shouted, sitting up straight.
Sasuke had endured the perverted, peeping gazes of housewives and schoolgirls his entire life, so he understood all too well the Uchiha's anger at being relegated next door to the most voyeuristic clan. The Hyūga creeped out most people with their milky white eyes; it made them look like aliens from outer space, the freaks.
"Oh, and you wouldn't know it just by looking at me," Obito added with his silly, lilting voice, "but I'm quite handsome beneath this mask~!"
"On what grounds should we believe you?" asked Sakura hotly. "Just take off the damn mask already!"
"That's the part you're not okay with, Sakura-chan!?" Naruto deadpanned.
Obito laughed.
"Sorry, but for various reasons, the mask doesn't come off during foreplay!" he said light-heartedly. "Besides, you're blind. What good would seeing my face do you?"
"Urgh…"