Indomitable
- "Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."
- Mahatma Ghandi
On a plane between time and space, in the mind of a God, stood two men; one was a newly turned God, the other the Prophesized One.
"You are Uchiha Obito!" shouted the blonde Messiah. "Whether you like it or not…I'm ripping off that mask of yours!"
The newly turned God laughed, and he laughed hard. "Mask? You think Tobi is just a mask, Naruto?"
He swept up his arms in a grand gesture, "You bring up the name Uchiha Obito, as is if it still means something. It doesn't. Uchiha Obito died a long, long time ago and now that I have fused with the Juubi you could even say I have transcended it. In other words, I am no longer human."
He looked at his scaled hands, "This form of being… there is no fuller extent to the fusion of will and body than this. I am, for all intents and purposes, the second Sage of Six Paths."
Again, Naruto pointed at him. "Nope! You're Uchiha Obito!" Shining, determined, blue eyes met distinctly mismatched ones, a contest of the strongest of wills. "Your Chakra clung to mine just now, I saw your past," continued the blonde, "You and I both lived our lives hoping to become one day to become the Hokage. We really are alike… The fact we both didn't know our parents, having no one important to us. That's why loneliness was our biggest fear; we were both constantly by threatened it."
The Juubi Jinchuuriki stayed silent, letting the blonde get to his point. "All you wanted in the beginning was to be acknowledged by someone, anyone! If you really are the same as me…then that's the reason you wanted to become Hokage!"
The words he spoke were filled with conviction, but suddenly unbridled anger joined in. "But look at what you've become now! Turning the entire Shinobi World into your enemy while going on about how it's all for the sake of the world! You're just twisting things so they'll be convenient for you! You won't get any recognition from anyone...not even the most important person to you with your current dream!"
"The most important person to me," spoke Tobi with finality, "is dead."
"That doesn't change-
"That changes ever thing," shouted the, until now, calm God, lone Sharingan whirling. "I will grant you that we were similar, once, and that loneliness once scared me, but as you can see, I have embraced it."
"Why?! You're becoming everything you once espoused to not become, the exact opposite of a Hokage!"
"Quite the contrary, Naruto, the things I'm doing – all the things I have done – aren't any different from what a Hokage would do. In fact, I'd say I'm going above and beyond their duties as I intend to materialize Global Peace in this world wrought by despair. "
Naruto fell silent at that declaration, a serious expression on his face. A minute passed, and he finally replied, "Are your being genuinely… sincere? Do you truly believe that that's what you're doing?" Once again, indomitable wills that had caused many a things, clashed.
"Yes, I truly do." Naruto's brows furrowed, disappointment clear to see.
The Second Sage smiled sardonically at that, "Naruto, I have come too far along this path, done too many things, to not believe that. What kind of man, what kind of Hokage and what kind of God would I be, if I didn't stand by my convictions?" Mismatched eyes that saw everything met determined ones, "Besides, the Hokage's singular objective should be World Peace."
"It is not just the ends that matter for a Hokage, Obito, but also the means,"shouted the Kyuubi's jailor. "To be a Hokage means to endure the pain that is life, to walk out in front of everyone, destroy the obstacles in the way and carve a path forward! It means to protect and covet life, not destroy it!"
"I am destroying the biggest obstacle of all: war! I am eradicating it from existence, from thought! That is what the Moons Eye Plan is."
Naruto was unconvinced and said, "You told Kakashi-Sensei that you threw away all the memories and feelings you had for your comrades, but just when it seemed like you were about to completely taken over by the Juubi and become nothing but its host, you suppressed the Juubi didn't you? You didn't want to become just its shell."
The Prophesized One moved towards the Second Sage, "For you to win over the Juubi, a verified God, and gain control of yourself means that you didn't want to throw away anything and wanted to just stay as you are."
He was beside him now, still plowing on, "You couldn't toss away your memories with Rin, the Fourth, and Kakashi-Sensei, so you held onto your essence whilst becoming the Juubi's host. " Naruto looked at Tobi, "Am I wrong?"
"No," agreed the Second Sage, "You are not wrong. I did hold on to my essence, my memories, but not because I am Uchiha Obito, as you imply, but as Tobi, savior of the Shinobi World, God of Peace."
"Then quit daydreaming about what it would have been like if you had become Hokage!" shouted Naruto, as he threw a punch towards the self-proclaimed God of Peace.
His hand was stopped with ease. "No. I will not," replied Tobi. "You didn't ask in words, but I saw in your eyes the question, 'what of my life once the Moons Eye Plan is in the works?' That, Naruto, is the answer: I will daydream of what could have been so that I, too, will live in a world of dreams."
The two small flames that hovered above his shoulder spikes turned up, becoming long, white-hot jets. "Now get out of my head, for you do not belong in that dream!"
Out was the Child of Prophecy thrown, not just by the power of a God, but by the indomitable will of a boy with a dream.
AN: This piece was written because I was truly a fan of Tobi, who was a ruthless villain who did everything and anything to get where he wanted, and to be swayed by simple words - even if uttered by Naruto, should not have been his end. That, I believe, is the biggest pitfall that Kishi fell into: he redeemed every single one of his antagonists, which simply isn't how the world works. Sometimes, words alone aren't enough.
Cheers,
Ray the Red