Chapter 197: Will You Kill Me?
Uchiha Obito's body was suspended midair, hovering less than three meters from Uchiha Dali.
His body was twisted in an inverted position, but he remained completely immobilized—a strange and unsettling posture.
Judging from the flickering frequency of the eye beneath his mask, it was clear the scene he'd just witnessed had shaken him deeply.
"That's one of my Mangekyō's abilities."
"You should be able to tell whether it was a genjutsu or not."
Uchiha Dali replied.
At those words, the man across from him fell silent.
Because Obito knew very well—what he had just seen couldn't possibly have been an illusion.
Genjutsu had little to no effect on him.
In other words, the vision he had seen through Uchiha Dali's Mangekyō Sharingan… was real. A glimpse of a possible future.
For a moment, he was at a complete loss.
Only after roughly ten seconds did Obito finally catch his breath. "No wonder you said what you did."
"Changing your mind now?" Uchiha Dali asked with interest, watching him.
Everything was within his grasp now.
Under the constraints of his gravitational law, Obito had no chance of escaping from the palm of his hand.
Now it was up to Obito—how would he choose, after learning the truth?
Their conversation within the Kamui space was entirely unknown to the outside world.
Black Zetsu and White Zetsu still had no idea that Obito had learned the entire truth.
At this moment, the fused Zetsu had arrived swiftly at the Hidden Cloud Village from outside the village.
Killer Bee and the Fourth Raikage were still fighting together against the Deva Path Pain, and the battle was extremely intense.
As a perfect jinchūriki, Killer Bee had already unleashed the full power of the Eight-Tails. Working in tandem with the Fourth Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode, the two of them were still managing to go toe-to-toe with the Deva Path.
However, the village itself had paid the price.
Just before the clash involving Uchiha Dali and Obito, the Deva Path had unleashed a Super Shinra Tensei on the village.
That single move completely destroyed the once-prosperous Hidden Cloud Village—flattening it entirely.
All that remained was barren land. Not a single structure stood more than ten centimeters above the ground.
Of course, delivering such destruction had not come without cost for the Deva Path.
The fused Zetsu, capable of merging with nature and sensing its energies, clearly detected Nagato Uzumaki's chakra was dangerously depleted.
He was reaching his limit.
From here on out, the outcome of the battle was far from certain.
"If that Obito guy fails, then we'll need to act immediately," thought Black Zetsu, as he activated the Mayfly Technique and began moving toward Nagato's location.
Inside the Kamui space, Obito remained silent.
He hadn't expected everything to be a lie.
Even someone as powerful as Uchiha Madara—someone he had looked up to—had been deceived by an inconspicuous figure for so many years. Even until his death, he had no idea he'd been used.
"So if the Eye of the Moon Plan was really just a tool Black Zetsu used to resurrect that woman named Ōtsutsuki Kaguya… then even after she's revived, the Infinite Tsukuyomi will still be cast, right?"
"At that point, the world would still be able to bask in a dream of eternal peace…"
Though Obito already knew the plan was a lie, he still couldn't help clinging to that faint glimmer of hope as he asked Uchiha Dali.
But the latter merely let out a snort. "Still can't see things clearly? Or are you just refusing to accept the death of your dream?"
"The Divine Tree feeds on chakra—more precisely, on the chakra of all humans across the world. Ōtsutsuki Kaguya views humanity as fertilizer to cultivate the Divine Tree, accelerating its growth so that she can harvest the Chakra Fruit."
"If that woman is revived, the Infinite Tsukuyomi will result in every living person being drained dry. No one will survive."
"You and Rin might continue living happily in that illusionary world—but in reality, your bodies will be sucked dry by the Divine Tree and become just another 'White Zetsu.'"
"If that's the kind of 'peace' you're after, then sorry—I can't agree. I'll kill you here and now, then go deal with Black Zetsu."
Uchiha Dali's words were firm and absolute.
Hearing this, Obito once again fell silent.
A moment later, he lowered his head. "So you've been collecting the Tailed Beasts to stop Black Zetsu from resurrecting Ōtsutsuki Kaguya?"
This time, it was Uchiha Dali's turn to stay silent.
The answer was so obvious that he found it beneath him to even respond.
Obito, having received the unspoken confirmation, fell into silence once more.
"Make your choice, Obito."
"This is your final chance."
"…Why?"
His opponent suddenly asked.
As he spoke, he slowly lifted his head to look at Uchiha Dali again.
Seeing the confusion in Dali's eyes, he elaborated, "I mean—why give me a chance at all?"
"Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill me?"
That plea for death carried with it the despair of shattered beliefs.
So peace in the Shinobi World was just a lie all along.
This world could never become what he had dreamed of.
Everything had been a conspiracy, concocted by the son of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
With all hope lost, Uchiha Obito now wished for nothing more than to close his eyes, lie down, and go meet Rin in the afterlife.
To forever escape the web of schemes and lies.
And luckily for him, he was still in this more vulnerable state.
Having only recently been brainwashed by Madara, and repeatedly humiliated in short order by Uchiha Dali, his confidence had been shattered.
Now, having seen the truth laid bare before his eyes, and without the mental imprint being locked in place, the psychological impact was tremendous—his beliefs were falling apart.
Had this been the older Obito, things might have gone very differently.
"If you want to die, that's easy. One strike from me and you're done."
"But if you stay alive, you could do so many things that truly matter—things of real value."
"Maybe, after I unify the Shinobi World, I can even arrange for you and Rin to meet again."
Uchiha Dali looked at him with a faint, knowing smile.
Sure enough, Obito's entire body jolted at those words.
He looked up, stunned. "You… you can let me see Rin again??"
"I don't know. Maybe."
Uchiha Dali shrugged.
But just as he thought Obito was about to agree and abandon his old ways, the other man lowered his head once more.
"…Even if you're willing to accept a sinner like me, the people in the village won't."
"Besides, I'm already someone who should've been dead."
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