Sasuke's smile disappeared. "And besides, what you just said—'despair, hell, losing everything, being betrayed by someone you trusted'—what a coincidence. I've been through all of that too. And honestly, I think my experience was even more painful than yours."
"What do you think?"
Despair… His entire clan was wiped out. His beloved older brother killed their parents and burned that image into his little brother's mind with Genjutsu, forcing him to relive it over and over again.
Hell… For Sasuke, losing his parents, his brother, and his entire clan—wasn't this world nothing but hell?
Losing everything… now that was an interesting one. Sasuke still had an older brother, but at the time, he would rather have lost him too—preferably by his own hands. That way, his brother could experience even a fraction of the despair Sasuke had suffered for so many years.
And trust… What a joke. The brother he hated the most had actually massacred their entire clan to protect him. The village he once trusted had been one of the culprits behind his clan's downfall. And the friends he believed in the most? Overnight, they became his enemies.
Just hearing this story would make it sound unreal, but Sasuke had lived through it all.
Obito had entrusted the person he loved most to his most trusted friend. He had used his own eyes to celebrate Kakashi becoming a Jonin, then left this world with hope in his heart—only to return and see that the person he trusted the most had killed the one he loved the most.
Even though, in the end, it had all been a misunderstanding…
Sasuke never had the chance to entrust his loved ones to anyone. Because his father, his mother, and his brother were all the people he loved most. And he watched as the one he loved the most betrayed the family he trusted, slaughtering everyone he held dear.
And later, he found out that it was all just a misunderstanding—one that nearly turned him against the friend he trusted the most.
"Now that I think about it, I guess I had it worse than you." Sasuke let out a self-mocking laugh. "Maybe I should've turned out like you—gone down the dark path, started carrying sacks of rice everywhere, and become some kind of noble dancer spreading the grand power of the Hanno Knights."
What kind of nonsense was that?
Obito looked at Sasuke darkly, completely unsure why he was saying all this right now.
Sasuke chuckled. "Not that I expect you to understand. People like you, who take things to the extreme, get stuck in their own way of thinking. It's almost impossible to break that cycle. And to be honest, I don't fully understand your logic either."
His smile suddenly vanished, replaced by a chilling killing intent as he locked eyes with Obito. "And what I need to do…"
"…is very simple. Kill you. Avenge my parents. Everything else has nothing to do with me."
"Yeah, just like Kurama said…" Sasuke clenched his fist. "Forgiveness is up to God. My job is just to send you to meet Him."
Sasuke didn't know if there was a God in the ninja world, but people did use that word, just like they did with Death, Hell, and Heaven.
Hearing Sasuke's words, Obito strangely felt a bit lighter. "Hatred is like the words you're saying right now—it spreads endlessly. The entire ninja world is caught in an unbreakable chain of hatred, constantly waging war, turning everything into hell."
"Heh." Sasuke let out a cold laugh. "And now you're pretending to be all noble? My hatred for you exists for one reason only—you're the one responsible for the Uchiha massacre."
Anyone else could tell Sasuke that his hatred would only bring more war, that it would turn the ninja world into hell. Anyone—except Obito. Because he was the very reason Sasuke had that hatred in the first place.
Obito understood that too, but his tone didn't change. "You can hate me. You can even kill me. But I need you to understand—killing me won't bring your parents back. It won't change Itachi's death."
"Oh?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, starting to see where this was going.
Sure enough, in the very next second, Obito raised his voice. "Join me! If the Infinite Tsukuyomi is completed, this hellish world will disappear! Everyone will be revived in the dream! You can finally have back the part of your life that's been missing!"
"Your father, your mother, even Uchiha Itachi will come back in the Infinite Tsukuyomi! And all you have to do… is stop Uzumaki Naruto from getting in the way."
If Obito still had both hands, he probably would've reached out to Sasuke in an invitation.
Sasuke's expression barely changed, but his voice was filled with confusion. "Did you eat too much or something?"
Yeah. Ate too much and got full.
He figured Obito must really be desperate to say something like that. Seriously, did he look like the kind of idiot who could be fooled with just a few words?
Obito, are you even thinking straight?
"So, I guess that's a no," Obito said, his tone carrying a hint of regret.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm actually curious—while I've been talking to you all this time to stall your Kamui, what exactly have you been talking to me for? Don't tell me you were seriously trying to recruit me."
He had been on guard the whole time, making sure Obito wouldn't escape. The only reason he kept the conversation going was to delay Kamui. But Obito's attitude was strange—almost like he was trying to stall for time too.
But what was the point? It wasn't like Sasuke was the one trying to run away.
"Just saying what's on my mind," Obito muttered. The glow of his Mangekyō Sharingan dimmed slightly, and his posture became more guarded.
Sasuke's Rinnegan spun a little, and he smirked. "Your eye power is fading. Looks like you can't keep this up for much longer. I thought you'd last an hour, but it turns out you can't even make it five minutes."
By now, about four minutes had passed since they started talking, and Obito was already struggling to hold on. That meant Kamui's limit was around four minutes.
Adding in his fight with Konan earlier, that made it about five minutes total.
Not bad, Sasuke thought to himself.
His remark about lasting an hour was just mockery—if Obito could actually sustain it for that long, that would be terrifying. Even Sasuke's Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi could only last a few minutes at full output, and that was with his Eternal Mangekyō.
Lasting five minutes was already impressive.
"So, have you decided how you want to die?" Sasuke's eyes shone with a deadly light, his killing intent suffocating Obito.
Obito didn't respond. His face was hidden behind his mask, making it impossible to read his expression.
He was panicking, but he couldn't show it. Silently, he used his secret technique to contact White Zetsu and Black Zetsu, trying to figure out a way out of this. Sasuke's current power was beyond what he could handle—he had no chance of…
"Sasuke?"
From a distance, Naruto waved at Sasuke, his face full of excitement. "Sasuke! I'm here to help you!"
Both Sasuke and Obito froze for a moment, watching as Naruto ran toward them.
Obito's lips curled into a smirk—
But before he could even laugh, a massive crimson blade came crashing down from the sky.
A three-stage purple Susano'o rose from the ground and, without hesitation, swung its sword at Naruto.
Naruto's face changed instantly, but as he saw the blazing red sword coming down, he quickly waved his hands in a panic. "Sasuke, what are you doing? I came to help you! Why are you attacking me? Don't tell me you've joined Obito—"
The blade cut through, and before he could finish his sentence, Naruto was gone.
With White Zetsu's level of strength, there was no way he could dodge a full-power swing from a three-stage Susano'o.
Sasuke retracted his Susano'o and looked at Obito like he was a complete idiot. "Kakashi doesn't have Six Paths power, so we might have trouble telling, but Naruto? You think I wouldn't notice if he had it or not?"
Ridiculous.
"Did you actually think this trick would work? Or do you just think I'm stupid?"
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