Even though he had once been praised by the First Hokage as a ninja even greater than himself, Itachi Uchiha was, in the end, still just a single person.
He was a member of the Uchiha Clan. The eldest son entrusted with great expectations by Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku. The older brother of Sasuke Uchiha. The closest friend of Shisui Uchiha. A shinobi of Konoha. Akatsuki's Member…
He carried too many identities.
So many that they had long since obscured the person known simply as Itachi Uchiha.
Kneeling before the shrine, it felt as though his ears were filled with the dying screams of his clansmen, with "Madara Uchiha's" threats toward Konoha, and with the coercion of Danzo Shimura and the Hokage advisory council.
And then…
"Itachi, promise me one last thing."
"Sasuke… I'm leaving him to you…"
...
If he had not known the future in advance, Itachi Uchiha might have believed there was nothing wrong with the path he had paved for Sasuke.
But after witnessing the sorrow in Sasuke's heart following the Fourth Shinobi World War, and after living through three other possible lives, it was as though he had awakened from the Izanami technique.
Reconciling with his true self, he came to understand that his past choices had not necessarily been right. As a result, Itachi gained a new perspective on the relationships between family, clan, Konoha, and the shinobi world.
"I'm sorry."
"Father. Mother."
"Sasuke… it seems he never found happiness on the path I prepared for him."
Itachi Uchiha was a man of very few words.
He looked at the memorial tablets inside the shrine, each one carved with a familiar name—
Fugaku Uchiha, Mikoto Uchiha, …, …, Inabi Uchiha, …, Yashiro Uchiha, …, Tekka Uchiha, …, Izumi Uchiha, …, …, Uruchi Uchiha, Teyaki Uchiha, Yakumi Uchiha…
He took pride in being a shinobi of Konoha and had no shame bearing that title.
Yet as Itachi Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan, all he had been able to do was conceal the truth behind the clan's attempted coup and preserve the clan's name for those who remained.
Just as that different illusion had shown him, perhaps he should have trusted Sasuke more—and trusted his family more as well.
When Itachi left the Uchiha clan grounds, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
The Fourth Hokage was waiting at the entrance, just as he had said he would.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
Completing the task had taken a long time, and lost in thought inside the shrine, Itachi had barely noticed the passage of time. By rough estimate, the Fourth Hokage had already been waiting for four or five hours.
"It's fine. Let's head back."
Rather than asking whether Itachi had finished that D-rank task, he asked about Itachi's thoughts on the SSS-rank mission in his hands.
"Before noon, Obito will be heading to other parallel worlds with his counterpart from another world, looking for help to complete the red bean cake mission."
Minato Namikaze said, "If you want to retrieve the Uchiha Sharingan from him, it would be best to go find him now."
"Mhm."
Itachi Uchiha nodded, agreeing with him.
They were still gathered at the old Hatake residence in Kakashi Hatake's hometown. Hearing that Itachi wanted to finish the SSS-rank mission as soon as possible, Adult Obito spoke up.
"The tricky part is avoiding Black Zetsu's surveillance. But I figure that even if we don't go looking for him, he won't be able to sit still forever and will come looking for me sooner or later."
As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward Ōtsutsuki Obito, who had come from the world of the quiz questions.
"About sealing Black Zetsu, do you have any good ideas? Without Pain's Rinnegan, I can't use Chibaku Tensei to seal him, and ordinary sealing techniques are far too weak."
Minato said, "Aside from Chibaku Tensei, the only methods that could seal Black Zetsu are probably my Reaper Death Seal and Itachi's Sword of Totsuka."
Using the Reaper Death Seal would essentially cost Minato Namikaze his life, while wielding the Sword of Totsuka would place too great a burden on Itachi Uchiha's body. It had already been strictly forbidden by his attending physician, Tsunade-sama.
So the moment Minato mentioned those two options, Naruto and Sasuke from Team Kakashi couldn't even swallow the bread in their mouths. One cast a worried look at his own father, while the other glanced anxiously at his older brother.
Sensing the resentful stares, Minato quickly waved his hands and apologized.
"Sorry, sorry. I won't actually use Reaper Death Seal or the Sword of Totsuka. There has to be another way to deal with Black Zetsu."
Adult Obito nodded.
"Or I could find a way to drag Nagato and Konan into my Kamui dimension and repeat the old trick. Have them help seal Black Zetsu."
Itachi said calmly, "If it really comes to that, I still have one of Shisui's eyes. As long as we can meet Nagato in person, I can use Kotoamatsukami on him."
"Actually, it doesn't need to be that complicated."
Ōtsutsuki Obito spoke with a mouth full of red bean cake, his muffled voice immediately drawing everyone's attention.
"How so?" Adult Kakashi handed him a cup of tea, gesturing for him to swallow first and speak properly.
Ōtsutsuki Obito said, "At his core, Black Zetsu is nothing more than a brat who never received his mother's love or care. Deep down, he listens to his mom more than anyone."
Those who hadn't experienced the illusionary world found his words hard to believe. But Young Obito and Adult Obito, who had lived through Naruto Uzumaki's main storyline, as well as Naruto himself and Adult Kakashi, who joined later, all understood exactly what he meant.
During the latter half of the Fourth Shinobi World War, when Kaguya Ōtsutsuki reappeared through Madara Uchiha, Black Zetsu had almost instantly turned into an obsessive sycophant. He clung to her, calling out "Mom" over and over, acting even more dependent than a child who hadn't been weaned yet.
And when Team 7 finally sealed Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, Black Zetsu's cry filled with worry had been genuine.
"But what does that have to do with dealing with Black Zetsu?" Sasuke asked. "Are you saying you can persuade Kaguya, or Black Zetsu, just by talking?"
"How is that possible?! I'm not Naruto," Ōtsutsuki Obito shot back confidently.
Naruto blinked.
"You mean I'm really good at convincing people? Even so, I don't think I could talk Black Zetsu or Kaguya into anything."
"That's not what I meant. Earlier, didn't you ask what was so special about 'six hundred billion'?"
Adult Kakashi scratched his head. "Ah, that was just a casual question. You don't need to worry about it."
"No, I care a lot!! Because I'm always the one who gets hurt!!"
"Huh?"
Adult Kakashi froze, and the Adult Obito beside him immediately sensed danger.
Sure enough, Ōtsutsuki Obito seemed to be possessed by 'Tobi' once again and launched into another unrestrained performance.
"In our parallel world, the quiz questions almost exposed my entire identity and background. When other people answered questions, they usually got rewards like reviving dead relatives or comrades. But me…"
"Huh?" Naruto was burning with curiosity. "So what did the quiz give you?"
Young Kakashi looked at his expression and couldn't help teasing, "Don't tell me it was six hundred billion explosive tags?"
Faced with the teasing, Ōtsutsuki Obito's expression instantly turned aggrieved.
"Just moving them all into my Kamui space took me more than an hour…"
He really was rewarded with six hundred billion explosive tags?!
"Pfft—"
The burst of laughter immediately drew everyone's gaze to the Second Hokage.
Wasn't it a bit much to laugh at the younger generation like that?
Tobirama Senju rubbed his face.
"This old man is trained. I don't laugh that easily."
"..."
The others all looked at him with doubt.
"Unless it's not wartime, and… it's just too ridiculous."
He was definitely holding a grudge.
Ōtsutsuki Obito decided that next time, he would prank them by swapping the Second Hokage from the gender-swapped world with the Second Hokage from the main world.
[Side Story Alert]
Ōtsutsuki Obito said angrily, "The worst part was that the quiz even made us guess who killed Kakashi and who killed Konan!! Only people from that world would come up with questions that nasty!"
That world…
Based on what Obito had said earlier, it should be another dimension where humans treated their world as nothing more than a story written in a book.
Itachi paused slightly. "Konan? You mean…"
"That's right, the one you know. The one who had those rather unclear, ambiguous relationships with both Nagato and Yahiko." Ōtsutsuki Obito raised his little finger to illustrate the point.
Back during the Q&A footage, everything had been laid bare. Yahiko's feelings for Konan, and how Konan's relationship with Nagato had gradually grown closer, all of it had been exposed.
Naruto copied the gesture, sticking out his own pinky. "You're saying someone actually dared to kill Pain's woman? Who'd have a death wish like that?"
Young Kakashi, clearly aware of Pain's strength, let out a cold laugh. "Wouldn't Pain just turn around and kill the person they loved in retaliation?"
"..."
Damn it. With that coming from idiot Kakashi, there was no way to continue the conversation.
Seeing the awkward look on Ōtsutsuki Obito's face, Adult Obito asked, "So who killed Konan? I'll go warn Nagato in advance."
Even Minato, who had more or less guessed the answer, didn't know how to help the student from the other world save face.
And the Second Hokage, blessed with both high intelligence and emotional insight, had also pieced it together.
He spoke bluntly. "That Q&A session didn't happen to show footage of you killing Konan to the entire ninja world, while at the same time showing footage of Pain killing Kakashi, did it?"
"Eh?"
Everyone was struck by the Second Hokage's sharp insight.
But the sheer amount of information was… a little overwhelming.
Key points—
1. Obito killed Konan.
2. The entire ninja world was shown footage of Obito killing Konan, forcing Pain to witness it.
3. The entire ninja world was shown footage of Pain killing Kakashi, forcing Obito to witness it.
4. What the hell kind of hellish showdown is this?! How messed up can it get?!
5. Did people from another dimension seriously cast their votes this hard for Obito and Kakashi?!
What kind of lethal comparison even was this?!
After fully processing it, Adult Kakashi still wore his usual dead-fish expression. Ever since Obito returned to Konoha, he had already resigned himself to being dragged into socially fatal situations like this.
Young Kakashi, on the other hand, wasn't at that level yet. Red-faced with embarrassment and anger, he nearly grabbed Young Obito by the collar and started swinging.
Both the young and adult versions of Obito Uchiha were beyond mortified, wishing they could dig a hole and bury themselves alive.
As antiques from the Warring States era, the Senju brothers, Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, exchanged a glance and shook their heads. They truly couldn't understand what kids these days were thinking.
Minato Namikaze said, "But what does any of this have to do with six hundred billion explosive tags?"
"Because Konan never truly trusted 'Madara' or Black Zetsu," Ōtsutsuki Obito said, looking at Adult Obito. "She started stockpiling explosive tags a long time ago, hiding them in the sea of the Land of Rain. By now, even if it isn't six hundred billion, it should still be four or five hundred billion…"
Uh…
After learning that, Adult Obito seriously began to wonder whether he should go back.
Going back would just be suicide.