The clouds tore open in the sky like a veil of fire. From within them, dozens of Minatos emerged, each wielding an incandescent Megarasenkashuriken. The projectiles descended like a divine rain upon Mōryō, who had barely had time to recompose his own body.
When he raised his eyes, the creature saw not just one, but countless colossal Rasenkashuriken — of fire, wind, and lightning — plunging toward him.
Despair pierced him like a blade.
Mōryō regretted, bitterly, having come to that village… and, above all, having crossed the path of that ninja. The dream of the Thousand-Year Kingdom, which for centuries had sustained his existence, now seemed a cruel mirage. He had believed himself so close, freed at last — but everything collapsed before that impossible storm.
The Megarasenkashuriken struck him head-on.
The impact was apocalyptic.
A colossal gale exploded across the battlefield, ripping the ground apart, shattering rocks, and unleashing waves of energy that made the very air scream. When the fury ceased, nothing remained where Mōryō had been. No form, no echo, no sign of existence.
Minato landed softly among the debris.
He walked to the point where the enemy should have been and observed the emptiness in silence. His shoulders relaxed. If that had not been enough, he was already prepared to seek the priestess and perform the final seal.
But he did not notice…
That, among the last fragments of dispersed energy, an almost invisible thread of purple light slithered through the air and penetrated his body.
Minato felt nothing strange within himself, nor the presence of the energy that entered his body, which vanished as if it had never been there.
He was relieved. He thought that, if it had not died, he would still have had to resort to plan B, which was to bring the priestess to seal the creature — but seal it where? Minato did not think a host would like having that being inside their body.
Minato did not even know if that was possible, but everything had ended there. Now all that remained was to deal with the stone soldiers that should have been destroyed when their master died.
---
"Come on, we have to hide and plan," Black Zetsu said to Obito beside him in a neutral tone. He was surprised by what he had seen and would have to change several plans; apparently, they would have to go after the other weaker creatures.
Black Zetsu began sinking into the ground, but stopped when he saw that Obito was standing still, with no intention of leaving.
"Hey!"
"Why?! You had all that power, so why… why did you let her die? You could have saved everyone!"
Only murmurs came from Obito's mouth. He was no longer listening to what Zetsu said; there was only one thing in his mind now: revenge!
"This is not the time for that, let's go!"
Zetsu's words had no effect. A vortex formed in the opening of the mask, and Obito vanished.
"Incompetent!"
Those were the last words to leave Black Zetsu's mouth before he disappeared as well.
---
Minato was about to activate the Flying Thunder God Jutsu, but felt something wrong. He did not know what it was, but it seemed like an instinct rising within him, forcing him to move, while a sound of something tearing came along with an abysmal pain that, in his past life, the shot that had led to his death could be considered a massage by comparison!
Having taken a small distance, Minato looked at his arm, which hurt like no pain he had ever felt. It was not as desperate as death approaching, but worse than when he saved Kushina. Several twisted pieces of wood had appeared in his arm, piercing the flesh; blood ran down his arm, dripping onto the earth.
Minato turned his gaze to the one who had caused that attack. The masked man stood before him, his blood-red eye visible through the hole in the mask, but he did nothing else.
"Wasn't it fast enough?"
Obito commented with a certain anxiety in his voice, but did not attack again. He still wanted to know one thing.
Minato merely remained silent and answered nothing. Sweat ran down his chin, his face calm as if there were not four wooden spikes crossing his arm.
He swallowed, while several drops of sweat the size of beans ran down his chin.
"Answer me one thing, why? Why did you let the Third War happen? With the power you showed today, if at the beginning of the war you had acted, thousands of lives would have been saved! Why didn't you do it?! Huh!"
Pure hatred, coming from Obito's soul, poured from his mouth beneath the mask, leaving his voice muffled and hoarse. Even his breathing became heavy, his chest rising and falling.
"Or do you not care about the lives that were lost? Your students who died because of the war, you feel nothing! You have no guilt or remorse!? Don't you feel ashamed that one day your students thought their teacher would save them, only to learn that the teacher they admired so much did not come!"
A silence crackled between the two, Minato's eyes showing pity and sadness. He knew Obito's story from the anime, but hearing what he said, he imagined how desperate his situation must have been.
The pity in Minato's eyes was seen by Obito. That feeling was not what he wanted.
"I'll take that look from you and change it, make you feel despair."
"Even though you attacked the village twice, there were no injuries. Your sentence will be light, you'll spend a few years in prison, but that's better than continuing on the dark path you're walking."
"Seriously? This has to be a joke…" Obito muttered as he let out a laugh. "Hahahahaha, this has to be a joke! Why would I go to the side of hypocrites like you? You have the power to change things, but what do you do? Nothing! And the worst part is that you preach about wanting to change the world, this and that, but you never take any action to solve anything."
"I prefer to continue with my goal, without lies and false promises!" Obito finished while catching his breath.
"I am not a god, nor a savior. And I don't even know what I truly want, but I know that the only task I have may show me, little by little, what I want," Minato said loudly, extending his hand. He was not the Minato of that world, but if he could, he wanted at least to try to help his student as much as possible. Minato finished his words:
"Join me. I can't guarantee that I will change anything, but we can try."
Obito had a brief vision: he, Kakashi, and Rin beside Minato while smiling; he had just teased Kakashi, who was talking with Rin, and out of jealousy Obito tripped Kakashi and saw his teacher's hand extend to help him up.
For a brief moment, Obito thought: why don't I stop? Why don't I go back to Konoha? It was only a brief moment before it vanished. He already had the answer: Rin was not there.
"You interrupted me. I don't want your mercy. As I said, I will make you feel despair by taking your beloved from you!"
Obito expected to see panic, even if only a little. He was anxious. However, what he saw was a firm look; the pity that had been there before had vanished.
"It was not mercy, it was a choice. I planned to help, but your choice made me change my mind," Minato replied, while taking his kunai from his ninja tool pouch. On Earth, he had always wanted to leave his mother happy and safe, tried everything for that. He died knowing he had left her there, but he was calm knowing he had his brother to help her.
Now, there, he had a family, an obligation, and Minato would be lying if he said he had not felt some attachment to that family, especially because of Kushina. And this time, he would not die nor lose that family.