"Your noodles are here!"
The noodle stall owner smiled and brought over two steaming bowls of ramen.
In the humid Rain Village, having a bowl of ramen was undoubtedly a fine thing.
Kairen picked up the bowl and, with his appetite wide open, slurped down the noodles.
He was planning to mess around in front of Konan a bit, but unexpectedly ended up in a strange space.
The light was dim. There were many square structures, and beside them stood a weirdo wearing an orange mask.
With a cold face, as if he'd split someone open at the slightest disagreement.
At a glance Kairen knew it was Obito. He didn't stand on ceremony, sat cross-legged on the ground, and kept eating his ramen.
"..."
Obito was a bit speechless. Was the other party not on guard, or was he confident in his own strength?
Or was he just an idiot?
Obito didn't speak, only silently watched Kairen eat.
The gurgling sound of swallowing echoed softly in the empty Kamui space, and the way Kairen ate made even Obito hungry.
Did these noodles taste like mom's cooking?
With a slurp, Kairen swallowed the last noodle.
Then he glanced at Obito and, in the tone of a village auntie fishing for gossip, asked, "Eaten yet?"
The single eyehole in Obito's mask looked like a void, staring coldly at Kairen, as if the other guy had ridden his Rin.
Obito said, word by word, "How do you know my name?"
He still remembered the previous Akatsuki meeting. It was impossible for Kairen to just blurt out his name.
He prided himself on his concealment, and his true face was known to only a very few.
Kairen smiled. "My Tenseigan can see the past and the future. On you, I saw a tragedy of the Uchiha."
Obito said nothing after hearing this.
The Tenseigan can see the past and the future? Obito didn't understand.
After all, it was only Kairen's one-sided claim. Even if he said whoever he stared at with the Tenseigan would get pregnant, Obito couldn't refute it.
The eyes were on him, after all—only he knew.
After thinking for a bit, Obito continued, "What else do you know?"
Kairen put the bowl on the ground and beckoned for Obito to sit.
Obito did so. Kairen was already in his Kamui space—how to handle him was still up to him.
Obito wanted to see what there was to talk about with Kairen.
Kairen directly laid out Obito's plan: "Your plan is the Eye of the Moon Plan. Use the power of the Ten-Tails to complete Infinite Tsukuyomi, and by that pull everyone in the world into a dream…"
The more Obito listened, the more shocked he became. Kairen knew it inside and out, as if he'd participated together with them.
His originally calm eyes turned scarlet, revealing his Mangekyō. In a rather chilling tone he said,
"You actually know this much. Can your eyes really see the past and the future like you said?"
Kairen nodded. "Of course. When you were a kid, you even wanted to take a shot at Rin's photo. In the end Kakashi caught you."
Obito hurriedly explained, "I just wanted to kiss it. It wasn't that excessive."
His palm suddenly clenched. He more or less believed Kairen now.
Even something that hidden, Kairen knew. It seemed that, as he said, the Tenseigan really had the power to see the past and the future.
Obito raised his head, his Mangekyō meeting Kairen's eyes.
"Then the future? What will my future be like? Did the world where Rin exists succeed?"
Kairen smiled and shook his head. "No. You'll be persuaded by Naruto and return to the camp."
"Me?!"
Obito looked at his own hands and suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"With these hands soaked in blood, how could I possibly bathe in the light again? The future you saw is wrong."
He had even caused his teacher's death. Who could still forgive him?
Obito stood up and, turning sideways, looked at Kairen coldly.
"What's your stance? And what's your purpose in joining Akatsuki?"
Obito began to doubt Kairen's position.
The other party could see the past and the future, which meant an omniscient being; any action would carry the considerations of a chess player.
Kairen chuckled. "Stance? I'm neither justice nor evil. I act as I please, according to my mood."
Obito snorted. "What big words."
Kairen blew on his own hand and sniffed it.
"The ramen had garlic. My breath really is a bit big."
Obito: "..."
Kairen stood up and stretched. "Obito! Why be obsessed with a dream world?"
"The Rinnegan can twist the boundary between life and death. Maybe you could use it to revive your Rin."
Obito folded his arms. "And then what? In a world like this, with endless strife, I don't want Rin to see such a world."
Kairen smiled. Obito's pursuit had never been just for Rin alone.
He had perceived the truth of this world and thought it was a wrong world, so he committed himself to creating a world of truth, goodness, and beauty.
That kind of world existed only in dreams. Obito believed Madara-sama's words, letting everyone have a peaceful and beautiful spring-and-autumn dream together.
Obito looked at Kairen. "Will you stop our plan?"
Kairen let out a full burp. He'd eaten a bit too much.
Hearing Obito's question, he waved his hand.
"Depends on my mood. But in the end, you're just a chess piece. You haven't reached the qualification of a chess player."
"Chess piece?"
Obito could sense there was more behind Kairen's words.
But he didn't pursue it. Instead, he gave a cold laugh.
"Forget it. I won't bother with your wild talk."
"This is my space. You can stay here forever and starve to death. I don't want to see variables outside the plan."
Leaving that sentence behind, he turned into a vortex and left.
...
After Obito left, Kairen chuckled. "Trying to trap me with just an alternate space? Ridiculous!"
He sized up Obito's Kamui space, preparing to leave a little gift.
"Royal bomb!"
A violent explosion rang out. Below, nothing remained but void.
...
As soon as Obito withdrew from the Kamui space, he heard White Zetsu's reminder:
"Obito, the spores I left on that kid were dealt with. He escaped."
Obito entered the Kamui space again. Scalding heat surged within it, like a huge furnace.
Obito cursed loudly, "Son of a bitch!"
...
Holding a big bowl, Kairen sat back down at the noodle stall. From disappearing to returning, it hadn't even been a minute.
Konan was a bit puzzled. "Where did you run off to?"
Kairen set the bowl back and smiled. "Some weirdo asked me to read his palm. I said he had a bloodshed disaster coming, so he tried to lock me up. I just escaped."
Konan was a little curious. "Who?"
"Uchiha Obito. A hopeless romantic who's been played around in circles."
"Uchiha Obito?!"
Konan had some impression of that name. At the meeting just now, both Kairen and Itachi had mentioned it.
Konan asked Kairen, "Who is he? Is he Tobi's true face?"
She instinctively felt that this man called Obito was hiding something very deep—perhaps the one laying out the plan behind Akatsuki.
Kairen didn't answer Konan's question and told the owner to bring another bowl.
"Coming right up! You really can eat, guest. You're almost as good as a pig!"
"Huh?!"
"No, no, even better than a pig."
"I…"
Konan tugged at Kairen's face, pulling his attention back to herself.
Kairen looked into Konan's eyes that wanted to know everything.
"Tell me already. Uchiha Obito or Tobi—what are they hiding?"
Kairen smiled. "Kiss me and I'll tell you!"
Konan's face turned cold. "Talk."
Kairen obediently answered and directly laid Obito's identity bare.
"He's Obito, he's also Tobi, and he even claims to be Uchiha Madara!"
A sharp light appeared in Konan's eyes.
"Uchiha Madara? What is Obito's objective?"
She realized she was getting closer and closer to the truth.
Kairen was slurping noodles and couldn't free his mouth.
Konan could only wait anxiously for Kairen to finish his noodles.
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