All Things Being Equal

By I.K.A. Valian

What if Obito had doubts about Madara's plan? How much would everything change if he put a counter plan in motion, in case the Moon's Eye Plan failed, or worse, succeeded beyond all expectations? Honestly, how does he expect one man to stop what could be summed up as the fate of the world?

Chapter Zero-Zero-One: Contingency Plan

Tobi stood on a cliff overlooking a vast valley. From one side of the valley to the other, a forest stood, swaying in the evening breeze like a river. The sun, on the horizon, cast a burned orange light upon the valley forest. The air was cooling from the mid day high, making it comfortable to just stand on the edge of the cliff and stare out at nature.

Truly, it was peaceful everywhere Tobi looked. Everywhere, that is, with the exception of inside of his own heart. Ever since Rin died, his heart has cried out in anguish. What did this world hold for him anymore but reminders of a life he could never have. A life he was denied, as if fate itself had deigned it so. And even if he denied it was fate, the system of governments that ruled the world could be blamed just as easily.

Kakashi always made him look bad. Weak. Rin never saw him, even when she looked straight at him. She only ever had eyes for Kakashi. And if he were honest with himself, he had been an idiotic and blind dreamer who really did suck at being a ninja. Now that his dream had been destroyed, ripped to shreds by reality, he no longer had any delusions.

He saw the world as it truly was now. Everywhere he looked, he saw death, despair, ugliness, and agony. Without any of his childish foolishness holding him back, he'd excelled. He'd pushed himself beyond any scope of power he'd ever dreamed of ascending to. Now, he could challenge and defeat out of hand his old teacher.

Tobi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was almost time now. His old sensei, Minato, was in the middle of the forest. He could sense the Fourth Hokage from where he stood on the edge of the cliff. After spending so much time with the man during the Third Shinobi War, he'd be able to find that man's chakra signature from the other side of the planet.

When he activates his own special Sharingan ability, he'll bypass the barriers and move straight into the inner sanctuary of the birthing chamber. Giving birth would weaken the seal holding his prize at bay, weak enough for him to 'liberate' it from captivity. When that was done, he'd set his new minion upon his old village. That cesspool of disease and suffering would be wiped from the face of the planet in a wave of violence so great that it would practically ensure that Madara's plan would succeed. With Konohagakure out of the picture, there was practically no one capable of stopping the plan.

So then… why had he stopped to stand on this cliff and stare out at the forest? It was peaceful, but the peace and tranquility of nature did not assuage the constant pain of his broken heart. His hate of this world was absolute, and yet, something had made him stop. Why? What was it about this scene that caused a man who'd hardened his heart to the atrocities of this world to pause and take notice?

He had no illusions about what he was going to be doing in the next few minutes. He would be committing mass murder with a weapon the likes of which no living human could combat, at least, not any more. His old clan might, if they hadn't lost that knowledge long ago when they abandoned Madara. The Senju might, if the Mokuton bloodline limit hadn't been lost when Hashirama died. There was no one that could stop the force of nature he was about to unleash, not even the likes of his old sensei could defeat it.

And that's when it struck him. Tobi took in his surrounding once again, considering them in a new light. The cliff, the forest, the valley, the peace. It all reminded him of Rin. The thing that had given him pause was his memory of Rin, and like a specter, a new question creeped into his mind. As if the Shinigami itself were clawing into his brain, he asked himself, what if I'm wrong?

'So what if I'm wrong?' he thought. 'Why would it matter to me?'

The answer came to him as soon as he'd thought of the question. If he was wrong, then everything he was going to do in the next few moments was going to be the greatest crime in history. If he cared, that would mean something to him, but that wasn't why this was bothering him. This was bothering him because as big as this crime would be, it would be as if he were destroying Rin with his own hands.

That mattered to him. If this plan failed, if he was on the wrong side of history and Madara's plan didn't work, then all of his coming actions will have been for nothing. All of the suffering he'd inflict on the world would have no meaning. And he'd never be able to face Rin in the afterlife when he finally died. He would be damning his soul to eternal suffering if he was wrong. It was a chance he was willing to take, obviously, but he didn't like taking chances when he had other options available to him.

So that was what had been bothering him. He was worried the plan wouldn't work. Pre-mission jitters nothing more. And yet…

And yet he couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to walk down a path he couldn't walk away from. Once he started this mission he would be committed until the very end. And if he was wrong, then committing ritual suicide wouldn't come close to making up for what he was about to do. He needed an alternative, a back-up plan, or something that would stop this plan if it didn't work… or didn't work how Madara had said it would.

He could use Tsukuyomi, so he knew how it worked. Endless Tsukuyomi only differed by the fact that it was spread out over the entire world and lasted forever, instead of only a few seconds. But it was possible that Madara had lied to him. The old man was as devious as they come and had a long, long time to plan. He trusted Madara about as much as he could trust his pre-Sharingan sight in a genjutsu. All said, it was just as likely Madara had no intention of creating peace and was only grabbing for the greatest power that the world had ever known.

He needed a contingency plan in case everything fell apart. He needed to insure that this plan worked as advertised or didn't happen at all. And, fortunately, while exploring the powers of his Sharingan, he discovered surprising little holes in the fabric of space-time. Holes that only he could see and through which he could see other worlds, galaxies, universes.

Parallel dimensions is what Madara called them. Planes of existence that were copies of this one or completely different. Madara had told him to stay away from the holes. Disturbing them could cause rips in the fabric of reality, destroying everything. Of course, he still held the heart of a boy who snubbed his nose at authority figures, so he messed around with them anyway.

He discovered three techniques. Kamui, which allowed him to send things to a pocket of space-time or pull them back with just a touch. Space-time Migration, which allowed him to, essentially, fold space in half and step from one place to another, even if the destination was on the other side of the planet. And then there was the third technique, which also happened to be the most difficult to control.

His hands flew through the hand seals required for the jutsu. On the final sign, he bit his thumb, and slammed his hand down onto the ground. Simultaneously, he held the desire for a man who could do what he desired squarely in the center of his mind. When his hand hit the ground a summoning array spread out around his hand as if he'd spilled a pitcher of water. When the jutsu started to pull at his Chakra, he pushed half of his total reserve in, knowing that anything less would result in a complete failure of the technique.

"Space-Time Art: Summoning!"

There was a large explosion of smoke on the cliff. Tobi stood and took a step back to wait until the smoke cleared. When it finally was gone, he found a naked man laying on the ground before him. A naked man who looked nothing like himself, as he'd been hoping would be pulled in through the hole in space-time. He couldn't even feel any chakra in this man's body.

Despite his misgivings, the Space-time Summoning had never served him wrong. Ever. He always got what he was looking for. Even if that was an object as mundane as a golf club (he had no clue what it was for, but the word 'golf' was imprinted on the bulbous metal head of the object, and so he just called it a 'golf club'. The Zetsu clones thought it was hilarious).

When he noticed the man beginning to awaken, Tobi tilted his head and smiled despite himself. He wasn't happy, no. It was impossible for him to feel 'happy' anymore. But he was satisfied.

"Wh-where…" the man muttered.

"I have summoned you through time and space," Tobi said. The man tried opening his eyes, but he groaned and shut them again. He looked like he wanted to lift his arms, but his whole body was barely even twitching. Likely a side effect of the summoning. "You will likely be immobile for a few minutes until you have recovered from your travel. Know that you were summoned for a purpose. Your task will be made known to you soon enough. How you go about accomplishing this plan, it up to you. I am unlikely to see you again, but to ensure you survive while you adjust, I will leave a clone here to guard you. The clone will explain your mission. Goodbye."

Tobi made a few more hand signs and watched as a mud clone pulled itself out of the ground. With a nod, Tobi activated Space-time Migration and stepped straight into the birthing chamber. A crying blond baby boy lay on the floor. His old teacher and his wife not too far away. Nurses and other attendants close by. ANBU, already streaking across the room to kill him.

It was time to begin.

A/N: Another attempt at making a viable SI. In this one, I attempted to create a plausible reason for an out of world entity to enter the shinobi world. Nothing more plausible than a villain making plans, I say. And he has a purpose, too. Also, Obito always struck me as a kind of noble idiot who was shat upon by the entire world. With Madara and Zetsu pulling his strings, it would be impossible for him to do things how he would do them (probably go on a rampage with the Biju under mind control, but who knows). I think of this as poor obitobi's last gasp at independence from Madara's control. Also, the whole idea of space-time ninjutsu didn't really seem to be explored very much in the manga, so I wanted to explore that here too.

Anywho, that's this one done. Leave a review!

~I.K.A. Valian