Chapter 95: Obito's Endpoint
A wisp of white smoke rose from the gun muzzle, on a stretch of Gobi desert five kilometers from the battlefield.
Scattered across the Gobi desert were broken wooden fragments and pits of varying depths.
Boom!
The longsword in the hands of the Complete Susanoo slashed down onto the massive wooden fist of a giant wooden figure. Dark green wood chips flew as the fist was shattered, but in an instant, the wooden hand regenerated and grabbed hold of Susanoo's shoulder.
"Madara, this is completely meaningless. We've both been dead for years. Why must we fight to the death? Our battles back then were also out of necessity."
Hashirama Senju had no desire to fight Madara at all.
"You... are still lecturing me."
Madara was somewhat enraged. He had always been fixated on one thing: when he fought Hashirama, the latter had used a Wood Clone to distract him, then stabbed him in the back.
If anyone else had stabbed him in the back, Madara would have only thought it was due to his own negligence in defense. But Hashirama was different—this was his former friend, and in Madara's view, Hashirama was simply incapable of doing something like stabbing him in the back.
"We're... both dead already. Why bother about whether I'm lecturing you? The past is over, and those people from the past are gone. I know you've always cared about Izuna's..."
"Shut up!"
This time, Madara was truly furious.
"Back then, I should have made you taste the pain of losing a loved one. If it weren't for the clan, I would never have built Konoha with you, built that hypocritical ninja village that makes me sick."
This time, Madara struck Hashirama's sore spot. For Hashirama, there were three important things, and one of them was Konoha.
"Since that's the case, let's continue fighting. It won't be long before the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki is defeated. I believe in them—whether it's Tobirama, the Monkey, or that young boy, they all carry on my will, the Will of Fire."
"Ridiculous."
Though Hashirama and Madara were locked in a life-or-death struggle, destroying the terrain for nearly a kilometer around, neither could overcome the other.
While sniping from a distance, Su Xiao was also waiting.
About half an hour later, the ground began to tremble. Su Xiao looked into the distance and saw a twisted, towering tree shooting up into the sky.
This tree was at least a hundred meters tall, spiraling upward, giving off a strange and ominous feeling.
"So the Divine Tree has finally been summoned. Looks like Obito won't last much longer."
Su Xiao adjusted his scope and looked at Hashirama and Madara. The two had temporarily ceased fighting, and the surrounding ground was a mess, as if an earthquake and typhoon had just struck simultaneously.
Both were resurrected through Impure World Reincarnation and couldn't die, but the cracks on their faces had noticeably increased, and some parts were peeling off like clay dolls.
Boom!
A deafening roar came from afar. A purple Susanoo stood in the distance, and beside it was a massive golden energy fox. Both the purple Susanoo and the golden fox were pulling at something.
Su Xiao adjusted his scope and saw the situation clearly.
A few kilometers away, Obito, in his half-Six Paths state, floated in midair. The phantom images of eight tailed beasts appeared, with one end merging into his body and the other end being grasped by Naruto, Sasuke, the Second Hokage, the Fourth Hokage, and others.
Clearly, Obito was in trouble. He had fought too many ninjas, and in his haste to complete the Moon's Eye Plan, he had hastily summoned the Divine Tree, creating a opening.
Obito was now contesting with Naruto and the others for control of the eight tailed beasts. Once these beasts were pulled out of his body, his half-Six Paths state would immediately vanish.
Seeing this, Su Xiao sighed. Although he could return to the Reincarnation Paradise at any time, he couldn't act recklessly on the battlefield. There were some battles he couldn't participate in; he wasn't strong enough yet.
However, everything Su Xiao was doing now was to become stronger quickly. He didn't have the bloodline or destiny of Naruto and Sasuke that allowed them to grow strong without much effort, so he risked his life to fight.
Either die in battle or become stronger. Strength is freedom; strength is doing as one pleases.
After observing for a moment, Su Xiao felt that Obito probably couldn't hold out much longer.
Su Xiao stood up, put away the Spider Empress, and headed toward the battlefield of Hashirama and Madara. It was time for him to step in.
Hashirama and Madara stared at each other, both waiting for their bodies to recover.
Whoosh~
A sound of wind breaking approached, and Su Xiao stood on a large rock.
"Reinforcements from a subordinate, huh."
Hashirama didn't really care about Su Xiao. He could tell that Su Xiao's strength was slightly above that of a Kage, but to Hashirama, Su Xiao wasn't a threat. Thus, he assumed Su Xiao was one of Madara's subordinates.
"Madara, Obito's about done over there."
Su Xiao spoke, and Hashirama couldn't help but frown. He suddenly felt that Su Xiao's tone didn't seem like that of a subordinate to Madara.
"Yeah, then let's start on our end too. It's time to switch players, whether here or over there."
Madara was in a good mood—no, he was overjoyed, because he was about to feel this world again.
Hashirama's gaze swept over Su Xiao and Madara. Their conversation made him sense that something was wrong.
On the main battlefield.
With a thud, Obito, who had lost his Six Paths state, fell to the ground. His aura rapidly weakened; this was the aftereffect of having the Ten-Tails extracted.
Two figures appeared before Obito: Naruto and Minato Namikaze.
"So, that's how it is."
Naruto's expression was somewhat downcast. His feelings toward Obito were similar to those he had toward Pain. During the struggle for the eight tailed beasts, their thoughts had intertwined, allowing him to learn some things about Obito, and Obito had learned some things about him.
Both suddenly realized that their past experiences were very similar, only with different outcomes.
"He's no longer a threat. Having eight tailed beasts extracted at once, even if he survives, he'll lose his combat ability within a few months."
Minato Namikaze looked at Obito and sighed.
"Sensei, if Rin saw me like this now, she..."
Obito's weak voice came through.
"She might... not even look at you again. The Rin who fought to protect was Uchiha Obito, not the you of now."
Minato's voice was calm. He was Rin's squad leader and naturally knew something about her.
"Yeah, the Rin in the illusionary world was just my own fantasy. That wasn't Rin. Rin is dead, died at Kakashi's hands. But that doesn't matter anymore."
Obito suddenly couldn't understand what obsession had driven him to this point.
Obito didn't know that what had driven him to this point wasn't obsession, but an escape from reality, anger, reluctance, delusion, and a seal on his heart.
Lying flat on the ground, Obito struggled to turn his head and looked at the corpses scattered across the battlefield. All of them had been killed by him.
"I finally understand why Nagato betrayed me back then."
Obito let out a bitter laugh. His mind was now very clear—in fact, since he was crushed under that boulder, his thoughts had never been as clear as they were today.
"Naruto,"
Hearing Obito's extremely weak voice, Naruto didn't speak, waiting for him to continue.
"Be careful of Uchiha Madara and Bai Ye. I might have been used. As for those two, one hates this world, and the other doesn't care about it at all."
Obito struggled to raise his arms. Minato frowned, but Naruto placed a hand on his father's arm. Minato looked at Naruto in confusion, and Naruto shook his head.
"Madara's weakness is..."
Obito gasped for breath. For him now, even speaking was a strenuous task.
"His weakness is that he's in the Impure World Reincarnation state. If you can defeat him together, you can seal him. As for Bai Ye, never get close to him. Even though I was once his collaborator, whenever he got within five meters of me, my hair stood on end. Also, be careful of the ninja dog by his side; its ability to conceal its aura surpasses even Zetsu or the Second Tsuchikage.
Never let Bai Ye escape. This entire ninja war was instigated by him. He seems even more eager for this war than I am. Killing seems to be his pleasure. He can sit calmly on a pile of corpses and enjoy a meal—that's something no ordinary ninja could do."
Obito clasped his hands together, then reversed them, slowly forming hand seals with a smile on his face.
"I must atone for the wrongs I've done."
"You're going to..."
Naruto saw the hand seals Obito was forming, and his mouth opened and closed. He had seen this sequence before. Obito intended to revive the ninjas who had died on the battlefield.
"Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique."
Once Obito used this technique, he would die. However, this wouldn't really make up for anything.
A mass of black substance suddenly flew in, appearing almost out of thin air. Neither Naruto nor Minato sensed it.
With a splat, the black mass landed on Obito. Only then did Naruto notice it. In fact, they had been misled by some ability earlier, thinking the black mass was just air or gravel.