"Simple," Obito said. "I can help you temporarily transfer this new Ten-Tails into my Kamui dimension. There, its connection to this world will be cut off, and your rule chains will naturally lose effect. That way, you can analyze it more easily, can't you?"
"As for the exchange…"
"I know reviving the dead may require certain rules, or a massive cost for you," Obito said first. "I don't need you to revive her. You only need to do what you did to Naruto earlier. Create a world for me. A world with only me and Rin. Then lock me inside it forever. That shouldn't be difficult for you, right?"
It was a devil's bargain.
Using his last strength to help an even greater devil, all for the sake of one small, selfish dream.
"Obito…"
Kakashi painfully closed his eyes.
He no longer knew how to judge his old friend.
Obsessed?
Stubborn?
Perhaps.
But that longing that had crossed life and death—who could truly cut it away so easily?
Kai fell silent.
He seemed to be seriously considering the offer.
"Your proposal is very interesting," Kai finally said. "An independent space I don't fully control... it would indeed make a fine laboratory."
He glanced at the struggling Ten-Tails.
"And using despair as a driving force can indeed produce unexpected power. Very well. I accept."
"But…"
Kai's tone suddenly changed.
"How do I know that after you transfer the Ten-Tails inside, you won't immediately destroy that eye and trap it in your space forever, dragging me down with you? After all, you are a desperate man. You're capable of anything."
Obito smiled miserably.
"You're overthinking it. If I die, the Kamui dimension will collapse with me. The Ten-Tails inside will only return to this world."
"What I want isn't destruction."
"It's just a place where I can see her."
"Very good."
Kai nodded.
"Then the deal is made."
He released the Ten-Tails' tail, and the golden rule chains vanished with it.
"Do it."
Obito took a deep breath.
He turned and looked at the newborn Ten-Tails, which was staring at him warily.
"Sorry," he whispered. "For Rin… I can only sacrifice you."
The Mangekyō in his right eye began spinning wildly.
A massive spatial vortex appeared behind the Ten-Tails, erupting with powerful suction.
The newborn Ten-Tails released an uneasy cry.
It instinctively sensed danger.
Its ten tails thrashed violently, trying to resist the pull.
"Don't move!"
Naruto instinctively tried to rush forward and stop it.
But a hand blocked him.
It was Sasuke.
"Don't go," Sasuke said in a low voice. "Can't you see it?"
"See what?" Naruto froze.
"That man, Kai, has been far too calm from beginning to end."
Sasuke's Rinnegan stared fixedly at Kai.
"He's like a chess player watching every piece on the board move. Whether we resist or someone like Obito chooses to make a deal… it all seems to be within his expectations."
"You mean…"
"He's waiting," Sasuke said, emphasizing every word. "He's waiting for a variable. A key variable that will allow him to fully analyze this world, and fully analyze unreasonable existences like us."
While the two spoke, Obito's Kamui had already been pushed to its limit.
The newborn Ten-Tails' enormous body was being drawn little by little into the spatial vortex.
It was working!
A flash of ecstasy appeared in Obito's eyes.
Rin.
I'm about to see you…
But just as the Ten-Tails was about to be completely swallowed—
A hand suddenly pierced through Obito's chest without warning.
In that hand was a still-beating heart.
Obito's body stiffened.
He lowered his head with difficulty and saw the hand that belonged to Uchiha Kai.
At some point, Kai had appeared behind him like a ghost overlapping with his body.
"Why…"
Blood poured from Obito's mouth.
"I did agree to the deal," Kai's cold voice sounded beside his ear. "But the contents of the deal are defined by me."
"Your despair. Your Kamui dimension. And your obsession with that girl named Rin…"
"All of these are extremely valuable data."
"Especially this obsession. It seems to be the core code that drives you humans into committing all sorts of irrational acts."
"I searched for a long time."
"And finally found a perfect sample."
Kai slowly withdrew his hand, holding the heart in his palm.
"So the contents of the deal are this: I take everything from you. Your eye, your space, your obsession."
"And in return…"
"I will let you see her with your own eyes."
Thud.
Obito's body collapsed powerlessly onto the ground.
The light in his Mangekyō Sharingan went out forever.
Even in death, his face still carried that incomprehensible shock.
"Obito!"
Kakashi's eyes nearly split with rage.
"What a wonderful performance."
Kai admired the heart in his hand as though gazing at a work of art.
"Now, all of these things belong to me."
He pressed the heart directly into his own chest.
The next instant, Obito's extinguished right Mangekyō appeared in Kai's right eye socket out of thin air.
Kai's body had perfectly accepted everything that belonged to Obito.
"Kamui."
He whispered the word.
The spatial vortex that had been about to close instantly stabilized.
Then it erupted with suction a hundred times stronger than before.
The newborn Ten-Tails, which had already managed to pull half its body free, let out a mournful cry.
It could no longer resist.
It was completely swallowed into the Kamui dimension.
Only after finishing all this did Kai turn around in satisfaction and look at the stunned Naruto and Sasuke.
"Good."
"The laboratory and the experimental subject are both in place."
"Now, let us discuss the final variables."
His gaze fell on Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"That power of yours that makes everyone believe in you, that even turns enemies into allies…"
"That so-called bond."
"That will which even made the Nine-Tails bow its head to you…"
"What exactly is it?"
Then his gaze shifted to Sasuke.
"And you, Uchiha Sasuke."
"That contradictory spirit of yours, wavering between hatred and protection…"
"A spirit that can sever everything, yet also connect everything."
"You two are the greatest and final bugs in this world."
"Now…"
"It is time for the final debugging."
He spread his arms.
Behind him, a blurry figure of a young girl slowly appeared.
She had short brown hair, two purple markings on her cheeks, and a gentle face.
It was Rin Nohara.
But her eyes were hollow.
There was no light in them.
She looked like a puppet being controlled.
"Obito's obsession truly is a useful tool."
Kai smiled.
"Then…"
"Let us begin from here."
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