"Uchiha Obito."
When Gamakon spoke that name, the air inside the barrier froze.
Jiraiya's gaze went blank, filled with disbelief. In his mind, Uchiha Obito was the student Minato had lost years ago—the hero who died for his comrades during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
How could a dead man seek revenge against his own teacher and village?
'Uchiha Obito...'
'Uchiha!'
"...That's impossible."
It was Minato Namikaze who spoke. His voice was faint, as if he were trying to convince himself. His body swayed imperceptibly, and those blue eyes, usually so calm, lost their focus. Everything around him—the lights, the silhouettes of the furniture, his teacher's worried face—became a blur.
'Obito?'
'The boy who was always late, always full of excuses, yet would throw himself in front of his friends in a crisis?'
'The student who, pinned under those rocks, entrusted his Sharingan and his future to Kakashi?'
'The name I personally carved onto the Memorial Stone?'
'How could it be him?'
Jiraiya's thoughts were equally chaotic. A fallen hero had become a villain hell-bent on destroying the village and murdering his mentor? It was absurd. Yet, considering the Uchiha name, it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility. Among the village elders, the potential of the Uchiha bloodline was well-known.
"Minato, stay calm..." Jiraiya tried to offer comfort, but he realized his own voice was trembling.
Gamakon watched the agony on Minato's face and threw out a simple question. "Did you ever... find his body?"
That single sentence plunged both Minato and Jiraiya into silence. Minato's breath hitched.
They hadn't. After the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, the cave had completely collapsed. They had found nothing but countless shattered rocks. Everyone had simply assumed that Obito had been crushed beneath the boulders, his body lost forever.
"An Uchiha whose body was never recovered..." Gamakon's voice remained flat. "Haven't you heard of the things that happened afterward?"
"If Uchiha Obito witnessed 'that' scene with his own eyes, it would only be natural for his eyes to change, wouldn't it?"
Gamakon's words illuminated a long-ignored corner of Minato's mind. The eyes of the Uchiha clan and those peculiar abilities... What if Obito hadn't died then? What if, beneath those ruins, he had awakened the Mangekyo and been saved by someone?
A thought bored into Minato's mind. If that 'someone' had told Obito to call himself "Uchiha Madara"... could it be that the person behind the curtain was the real Uchiha Madara?
He had saved the dying Obito and then used some method to twist his will, turning a hero into a weapon aimed at his own teacher and village. Everything connected.
The enemy used the name 'Madara' to mask his true identity. What the enemy needed was the Mangekyo Sharingan ability Obito had awakened—the one Gamakon called Kamui!
Minato's body stopped swaying. He slowly straightened up. The pain and confusion on his face gradually vanished, settling into a deeper, more profound calm. He accepted this cruelest of realities. This unsolvable game of chess finally had a path to victory.
Seeing Minato pull himself together so quickly, half the weight on Jiraiya's heart lifted. He hadn't fully processed all the details yet, but seeing Minato ready to face it allowed his own agitated heart to settle.
Just then, the kitchen door was pulled open. "Dinner's ready! Come and eat!" Kushina's cheerful voice rang out.
The aroma of food and her unique warmth instantly rushed into the deathly silent barrier. Jiraiya instinctively formed a hand seal.
"Release!"
The invisible barrier quietly dissipated. Kushina walked out carrying a large, steaming platter of food. Seeing the two men still standing in the living room with inexplicably serious expressions, she looked confused. "What's wrong with you two?"
"No—nothing!" Jiraiya waved his hands hurriedly, forced a strained smile onto his face. "We were... we were just discussing the plot of my new book!"
"Really?" Kushina shot him a suspicious look before turning to her husband.
Minato had already returned to his usual gentle self. He stepped forward, naturally taking the platter from Kushina's hands, and smiled softly. "Teacher was telling me a wonderful story. I just got a bit lost in it."
Only then did Kushina relax, giving them a playful, reproachful look. "Go wash your hands and eat!"
At the table, the lavish dishes were piping hot. Kushina was in high spirits, constantly piling food onto Jiraiya's plate while chatting about village gossip and her hopes for their future child. Minato responded with smiles, occasionally giving Kushina the food she liked best. Everything looked like any other happy family dinner.
But Jiraiya had no appetite. Holding his sake cup, he silently mouthed a question to Minato: 'Tell her?'
In the brief moment when Kushina lowered her head to drink soup, Minato gave him an almost imperceptible shake of the head. That one look contained too much: refusal, persistence, and a hint of a plea.
Jiraiya understood. If they told Kushina now that the person coming to destroy her family was the same Obito she had once been so fond of... the blow would be enough to shatter her spirit.
The world's cruelest truth would be carried by Minato Namikaze alone.
Jiraiya sighed inwardly, raised his cup, and downed the strong liquor in one gulp. Minato sensed his teacher's emotions. He discreetly placed his hand over Kushina's hand on the table, squeezing gently.
Kushina felt it. She looked up and gave her husband a bright, happy smile. Minato smiled back, his expression as warm and sunny as ever.
However, deep within his eyes, in a corner where the sunlight could not reach, he had already made his decision. He would find Obito before everything happened. He would stand before his former student as Minato Namikaze, not as the Fourth Hokage.
'Obito.'
'I failed to save your past.'
'This time, I must save your future.'
'Before it's too late.'
...
Meanwhile, deep within a cold, damp underground cave, the massive Demonic Statue of the Outer Path stood silently with its nine eyes tightly shut, emitting a heart-palpitating pressure. A figure sat quietly on one of the statue's fingers, his expression shrouded in shadow.
"Obito."
A pitch-black, fluid-like shadow emerged from the rock wall behind him, coalescing into a form. Black Zetsu's raspy voice echoed through the hollow cave. "It is time to retrieve your other eye. Only with both eyes is Kamui complete. To ensure the plan goes without a hitch, you need that full power."
The man behind the mask, Uchiha Obito, remained motionless, as if he hadn't heard.
Black Zetsu seemed accustomed to his silence and continued in its emotionless tone. "It is right there on Kakashi, is it not? As long as you—"
"Shut up."
Two cold words cut Black Zetsu off. Obito didn't even turn around, speaking in a near-indifferent, Brooks-no-argument tone. "I have my own plans. You just do your job."
Black Zetsu's body stiffened for a moment before returning to its fluid form, as if the interruption had never happened. It tactfully changed the subject.
"In that case," its voice remained devoid of emotion, "we should focus on the key moment at hand. According to my observations, the day the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki gives birth is very near."
This sentence successfully caused Obito's gaze to sharpen.
"Based on your plan, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Black Zetsu continued. "When a Jinchuriki gives birth, the seal weakens, and the village's defenses will surely have gaps. As long as we master the exact time and location, we will succeed."
It slowly sank into Obito's shadow, its voice appearing to come from all directions.
"Obito, it is time to infiltrate Konoha."
"Go confirm the final intelligence, and then... take back what belongs to us."
The cave fell back into a deathly silence. After a long while, Obito turned around. Through the single hole in his mask, that three-tomoe Sharingan spun quietly, transforming into a cold Mangekyo pattern.
"This fake world... it's time for it to end."
He whispered, his figure twisting like a phantom before vanishing into thin air, leaving only a chilling sentence echoing in the cave.
"Rin... soon, we will be together forever in a world without pain or loss."