Obito's eyes widened, brows knotting together.
"What are you talking about?"
Jin's voice remained calm.
"Yes, the village's arrangements were flawed. But under Minato's strength, Team Minato should have been relatively safe under normal circumstances."
"So the tragedies you experienced… can't really be blamed on Minato, who knew nothing."
"If you must blame someone, blame me—who knew and let things unfold."
"And blame Uchiha Madara, who orchestrated everything."
"And blame the one who deceived even Madara."
Obito's pupils contracted violently.
"You know about Madara?!"
He took a step forward.
"Wait—what do you mean you 'knew everything'? What do you mean someone deceived Madara?!"
Jin's certainty shook him more than the content itself.
Recognition of his identity was shocking enough.
But Madara?
That crossed a line.
"How much do you know?!" Obito demanded, voice trembling.
Jin did not dodge.
"It's simple. Madara had his eyes on you long before you ever knew his name."
"Everything you went through… wasn't accidental."
"It was engineered."
He continued evenly.
"At Kannabi Bridge—Rin's capture by Iwagakure shinobi, you and Kakashi going to rescue her, your awakening of the Sharingan, your near-fatal injuries…"
"All within Madara's design."
Obito's breathing grew uneven.
"On the Mist battlefield—Rin becoming the Three-Tails' jinchūriki. Being rescued. Being hunted. Choosing death before you…"
"That was also staged."
"Even Minato arriving just a little too late each time—was the result of deliberate obstructions."
"You think Madara finding you was coincidence?"
"No."
"He had been observing you for years."
"Perhaps that kind old man you once helped in Konoha…"
"Was one of his agents."
Obito's face drained of color.
Jin's voice softened—but carried no mercy.
"Even if the Third Great Ninja War had never happened…"
"Madara would have created another scenario."
"You were selected."
"War was merely the stage."
"Impossible!" Obito roared.
"There are too many variables! Too many moving parts!"
"One wrong decision—one unexpected reaction—and the whole thing collapses!"
"How could everything align so perfectly?!"
His eyes were bloodshot now.
He had never trusted Madara completely.
But to claim that every tragedy was calculated?
That felt unbearable.
Jin's gaze sharpened.
"That's precisely what makes Madara terrifying."
"He understood human nature."
"People are predictable. Guide them slightly—and they move where you want."
"And don't forget."
"He had White Zetsu."
Obito stiffened.
Jin pressed on.
"White Zetsu can impersonate almost anyone flawlessly."
"Replace a few key individuals at critical moments—"
"And the chain of events stays on course."
"That's all it takes."
Obito's mind raced.
He remembered White Zetsu's transformation ability.
Back then it had merely seemed convenient.
Now—
It was chilling.
Madara had been dying when Obito met him.
Searching for a successor.
The timing.
The coincidences.
Too many perfect alignments.
Once was chance.
Twice was accident.
Three times—
What was that?
Obito clenched his fists.
"Then what about you?!" he demanded.
"If you knew all this—how?!"
"How did you discover Madara's plan?!"
Jin met his gaze steadily.
"That…"
"Is thanks to these eyes."
Obito's breath hitched.
Before him, Jin's three tomoe began spinning rapidly—
Blurring—
Merging—
Until they transformed.
A new pattern bloomed.
Six small triangles encircling a hexagonal core.
Like a fractured six-pointed star.
Like a stylized sun.
"—Mangekyō Sharingan…?!"
Shock flashed across Obito's face.
Jin's Mangekyō vanished as quickly as it appeared, reverting back to three tomoe.
"My ability is called Kunitokotachi no Mikoto."
"It allows me to trace causality."
"To see possible futures."
"To perceive what others cannot."
Obito's pulse thundered.
"Long ago, I noticed strange beings following you."
"White Zetsu."
"Following that thread, I discovered Madara."
"And his plan."
"You, Uchiha Obito—"
"Were his chosen piece."
Jin's voice remained level.
"Everything has unfolded beneath the gaze of these eyes."
In truth—
Jin had indeed awakened Mangekyō.
But Kunitokotachi no Mikoto was fabricated.
A convenient explanation for knowledge he otherwise couldn't justify.
He couldn't exactly tell Obito he was a reincarnator.
So he adjusted the source.
The facts remained true.
Only the origin changed.
And judging by Obito's expression—
It worked.
Obito's face twisted.
"If you knew everything…"
"Then why did you do nothing?!"
His voice broke.
"You just watched Madara manipulate me?!"
"You just watched Rin die?!"
His chakra trembled violently.
Madara's manipulation was one thing.
But Jin's supposed indifference—
That cut deeper.
Especially now—
Standing before him like a calm instructor.
Like someone above it all.
Obito's rage was no longer just grief.
It was betrayal.
And it was about to erupt.
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