In the Parallel Naruto World, inside an underground laboratory, a faint radiance rose and a purple spatial vortex opened at the very center.
A moment later, a woman with horns in her hair, snow-white hair cascading like a waterfall, pale skin and Byakugan eyes stepped out, her face tense with vigilance.
Behind her, Vegapunk and Boa Hancock followed into the room.
"Principal, you're finally back!"
The speaker was a blond teenager operating the machinery in the lab; looked at closely, he was identical to Vegapunk.
Vegapunk glanced at him and asked, "Where's Obito?!"
"Gone to see the girl of his dreams! Geez... helps out but won't show his face—this guy's taken being a simp to the limit. He's practically cuckolding himself!"
"What on earth are you talking about?" Vegapunk was speechless; without context, he couldn't make sense of his clone's rambling.
"Forget it, let's just merge fast! Feeling like I'm missing a chunk of myself drives me nuts!"
The clone muttered, reached out, and slapped Vegapunk's shoulder.
Eerie black patterns instantly spread from his hand over Vegapunk's body. The clone itself collapsed, its form withering into a completely unrecognizable desiccated corpse.
Vegapunk closed his eyes, accepting the flood of memories from the clone. Moments later he understood what the babbling had meant.
For some reason, the Obito from the original world had begun identifying with the young Obito of this world (nicknamed Little Obito) and was actively playing matchmaker between him and Rin Nohara.
"He can't seriously believe that if Little Obito here gets together with Rin, he'll go home to an instant Rin-wife, right?"
Vegapunk murmured, though he knew Obito wasn't that stupid; he must realize events in this past wouldn't affect his own timeline.
Still, transference like this was normal. Obsessed as Obito was with Rin, once he regained his senses he felt crushing guilt over his crimes—almost self-destructive.
In that state, the sunny, kind, righteous Little Obito became his surrogate self; helping the boy was, in a way, wishing he could have had that flawless life.
You can't undo some things. Big Obito had unleashed the Nine-Tails on Konoha and killed his own teacher and teacher's wife—no amount of remorse could erase that.
"Whatever, I don't care what the guy does; it's none of my business anyway."
Vegapunk shook his head and turned to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya and Boa Hancock: "This experiment is simple... what happens if the parallel Ōtsutsuki Kaguya is possessed and fused by Black Zetsu?"
Would the original Kaguya reincarnate by seizing her parallel self? Would the two merge? Or would the Kaguya from his own world devour this one?
Whatever the outcome, it promised fascinating research.
Kaguya's body trembled, her eyes pleading: "I... I'll be devoured and replaced!"
"Yes, that's the worst-case scenario," Vegapunk said flatly.
"In that regard you'd be no different from Uchiha Madara—just high-grade material. Still, I doubt someone of your caliber would be swallowed so easily."
Seeing her shaking like a death-row inmate, Vegapunk sighed and offered a scrap of comfort lest psychological collapse ruined the experiment.
"Look on the bright side: after fusing with your parallel self, your power might skyrocket."
Kaguya forced a weak smile, then lowered her head again, plainly unconvinced.
Vegapunk didn't care; she was only a test subject—he'd offered a pat on the back, not a guarantee.
After that he laid out the next task for Boa Hancock: "We'll go capture the Tailed Beasts."
"We also need to locate Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu."
"First we can ask Obito; Madara's hiding spot shouldn't escape him. We can ignore Madara, but Black Zetsu is essential for the experiment—he must be caught."
"The Rinnegan... doesn't matter. In theory our Kaguya can possess this one without it."
Hancock considered: "Then Madara and Black Zetsu come first; if we move on the Tailed Beasts and alert them, Black Zetsu might flee."
"Good," Vegapunk nodded. "We'll wait for Obito to return."
"Idiot! Was I really this dumb before I awakened my Sharingan?!"
A translucent Uchiha Obito stomped in cursing, then froze.
Vegapunk looked no different, but beside him stood a stunning black-haired beauty and a timid white-haired Hyuga woman.
Obito's gaze flicked over the trio, lingering on the black-haired beauty clinging to Vegapunk, and his expression flickered: "Vegapunk... your original self?"
Hancock had once beaten Obito into a shut-in; of course he remembered her. And in his mind she never strayed from Vegapunk's main body.
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