Thank you to everyone for their patience, and to the readers who kindly left feedback for the last chapter.
Chapter CXIII
Love is a vice, love does ensnare,
Every fool who abandons care,
Who slips into its honeyed trap,
Between deadly jaws poised to snap,
Love that blinds, and that compels,
Returning hearts to empty shells.
~x~
"For you. Everything I did… every command that I followed… all that I endured… it was… all for you. The only way I could… the only chance I had… to see you again."
They were the last words to fall brokenly from Obito's lips, before the chasm between them plunged into a hollow, devastating silence. One punctuated only by the rustling of the grass and leaves swaying in the vespertine breeze.
He had been served stone-cold retribution. Forced to endure the cruellest of encounters in a place both peaceful and sacred, within enchanting fields brimming with boundless delights that dazzled each of the five senses. Yet the heavens themselves had become the location of Obito's personal, living hell, torturing him with the one he had cherished more than anything else in the world.
The very same precious thing that had kept him from yielding to endless despair and relinquishing his sanity entirely.
Eyes downcast, he anxiously awaited Rin's response, smothered by hopelessness, drowning in his own wretchedness. Heavy unease and apprehension coiled tighter and tighter within his chest, taut wire emotions that were moments away from severing, a catastrophic explosion seconds away from detonating.
He waited, his pulse a wildly hammering thing at the base of his throat, for further chastisement, further interrogation, further sobs and tears. Every single drop that he had already witnessed falling from Rin's grief-stricken eyes had given way to a rising pool of acid within Obito's lungs, further corroding the tattered remnants of the pitiful organ confined within his ribcage.
The organ that had only ever beat for her, was bleeding anew, reducing him to a depth of agony that made him want to scream. For the replies Rin had strickenly supplied following his appalling confessions, were singed permanently within his skull. Scalding, burning brands that he knew would haunt him until his last dying breaths.
"No. This cannot be. I do not understand. Why…?"
"Why did you abandon yourself to despair? Why did you give up fighting, and allow yourself to serve a being so evil? Why did you damn your soul in this way? That is not… that is never what I would have wanted for you!"
Everything had gone awfully wrong. It wasn't how Obito had intended for them to meet again. He had tried to make her understand that he'd had no other options. That he had held on and endured every horror, not out of any true loyalty and love toward Cronus and his cause, but so that he would continue to exist, so that he might someday avenge Rin's death. And, eventually, find a way to reunite them.
But to his despair - although it was evident that Rin acknowledged his pain - she had struggled to accept his explanations.
"The Obito I knew would have never brought harm upon innocents. He was kind and brave. He was most dear to me."
Her spoken words replayed, over and over, pelting against his mind like cutting stones that drew blood.
"Never… he would never have become a monster! He would have sooner faced death, than betray his most precious people! I cannot believe it. This is not you. How could you justify spilling even a single drop of blood in my name? Are human lives so meaningless to you? Was I not also human…? My soul is not worth more than the life of even one innocent!"
Sorrow had overcome him at the condemnation in her voice, the open dismay in her earnest gaze.
"How could you turn against Kakashi, whom we both cherished…? He was your closest friend. All he ever wanted was to honour your wishes. He did what you asked of him. The war could not be averted. He tried to protect me. He is not to blame that I perished. He was reluctant to change me. It was my choice… I knew the risks. I convinced him to try. Because I feared I would be parted from him too, the way I had been parted from you. I believed a chance at immortality was the only way to prevent that, that one chance would be better than none at all."
The shattering realisation that all along, Kakashi had been telling him the truth about Rin's demise, that Cronus had preyed upon his vulnerability and poisoned Obito's mind into believing a false narrative, had stabbed through Obito like a hundred serrated knives impaling him through the chest. The floodgates of clarity had burst open, throwing into sharp relief the true extent of just how deeply he had wronged Hephaestus.
He ought to have known better. And yet, he had not. He hadn't been able to see past the blinding veil of his own rage and loss, of negative emotions that had skewed all sense of reality as he had known it.
"You told me your dreams, Obito. Dreams and hopes that we shared together. Kakashi shared them with us, too. Have you forgotten? You did not desire war. You respected King Zeus and the Olympians. Were they not friends to you? Did you not tell me that the Lord and Lady of Olympus welcomed you to their court as though you were one of their own?"
"You say you did this all for me… but how could you think this would be what I wanted? Obito… what have you allowed yourself to become…?"
Her voice was a honey-dipped, double-edged sword, both his salvation, and his damnation. A voice he had ached to hear for millenia, a voice he wished to never part from again. It had the ability to soothe his fractured soul - or to destroy him beyond all hope of repair.
Slumped on his knees before the invisible barrier that prevented him from reaching her, Obito pressed his forehead against the cold, unseen divide. When the seconds turned into minutes, when the deafening silence began to stretch on for far too long, he dared to glance back up at her.
His heart plummeted. Rin had frozen, and was staring directly behind him, eyes wide, afflicted with fright. Her lips had parted, as if she were trying to form an answer - but was all at once incapable of doing so.
He recognised that conflicted expression, the look of one captured within a form of mind control. Which could only mean-
"Intriguing. I must admit, I am somewhat surprised; I expected that you would attempt to resist, and lie to this woman at least the once." The casual voice came from behind him, and Obito immediately tensed.
Something twisted violently within his stomach. Had they returned to take him away from her?
No. The word was an earthquake tremoring through his bones. He was not yet done speaking with Rin. He knew in his heart that he would never be prepared to part with her again.
"She shan't answer you, now. Or rather," Hypnos paused, before continuing, "she is at present incapable of doing so unless we permit it. Rest assured, however, the girl will continue to hear every word that is exchanged here."
Obito's hands curled into fists as he rose rigidly to his feet. Rin's free-will had been stripped from her in a heartbeat. Rage flooded through his blood, a liquid, inextinguishable flame coursing through his veins that left destruction in its wake. They were handling Rin as if she were little more than a mannequin. A mere accessory that they could control and manipulate at will and upon whim, with no respect for her deceased soul, the sanctity of it. As if Obito's precious bond was nothing but a source of entertainment for them.
What gave them the right? Even as the infuriated thought raced through his mind, he could not silence the whisper within him that reminded him of his own hypocrisy. Had he not toyed with countless mortal lives himself, assigning no care and meaning to them? Had he not broken the laws of the Underworld by following Cronus' bidding, forcing the King's hand and committing treason against the throne?
Had he not held Sakura captive before a horrified Sasuke?
"What do you want?" he questioned frostily, keeping his gaze locked on Rin, his back turned disrespectfully toward his fellow clansmen, actively seeking to avoid being further ensnared by the perilous effects of their Sharingan. Though unbound, Obito was still caged within the barriers that had been erected around him. Which meant, to his chagrin, that he had no option except to listen.
"Tell us. Has this sentimental reunion returned some semblance of clarity to your mind?" Shisui questioned. "Recognise you now, the error of your ways? That you have blindly been serving a common enemy?"
When Obito remained stubbornly tight-lipped, Hypnos prompted, "Perhaps it is time to reconsider your choices."
Obito fought the urge to sneer. Hypnos spoke as if he truly were in possession of choices, which he decidedly was not. They had devastated him, violated and deprived him of his powers, of his own Sharingan, of his very dignity. Did they believe that permitting him to meet with Rin would sway his fealty so easily? That it would heal the deep rifts of psychological and emotional damage he had suffered over the many centuries his mind had spent rotting in hatred and wrath and ruin? That it would encourage him to reconsider, and suddenly become open to fighting for their cause?
As if he were capable of being anything other than damned. He was a dead corpse walking either way. Whether he returned to Cronus, or remained a prisoner in the Underworld - he was not too far gone to realise that there was no future, no way out for him. No choices at all.
They believed they could fool him. Trap him. Manipulate him through Rin, with the certainty of execution - or worse, eternal torment - once they were done with him. Obito had not lived in centuries. His reunion with Rin was the first time he had truly felt anything other than dead inside. There was no way the King's kin would grant him any mercy, no way that Sasuke would overlook and pardon the crimes he had committed against him, against Sakura and Chiyo and Kakashi, and everybody else.
"Considering a change in allegiances would be advantageous to you," Shisui added.
"No," Obito refused curtly. "It would only allow you to take advantage of me."
"At least we would do so to further noble ambitions," Hypnos remarked. "Do you think it wise to refuse us, when you have yet to hear our proposition?"
Obito clenched his teeth, resolute in his silence. Whatever depraved game they were playing, permitting him to meet with Rin, he refused to become their pawn. The cousins were devious, scheming, and dangerous. He could not trust them, and refused to side with those he considered his enemies. Their unexpected return had stolen everything from him, including the only opportunity he'd had to ascend the Underworld's throne and finally seize control of Rin's fate. He had every reason to despise and defy them.
Hypnos released a light sigh, before a second voice spoke. Dark and foreboding in its cadence. Death incarnate.
"Your time, then, is at its end."
For a chaotic heartbeat, Obito thought Thanatos was implying that his luck had run out, that he had spent their patience. But a moment later, it became apparent that he had been mistaken. It was his time with Rin which had expired.
No! Unrestrained horror detonated within Obito's chest, a lethal bomb that sent shockwaves pulsing through him. The air in his lungs stilled, and all at once, he could not gulp down a clear breath. His surroundings bled away, until all he saw was Rin. Terror froze his blood to ice - that she would vanish before his eyes, never to be seen again, and sure enough, her form began to shimmer, growing semi-tangible.
Her eyes widened, the fear within them palpable. It was painfully evident that she was fully aware of what was happening to her. She opened her mouth, in a soundless cry for help.
The disturbing sight made Obito's heart wrench, as if it were about to be catapulted from his chest, and he launched himself forward, slamming his hands against the impenetrable barrier in mindless desperation, too distressed by the agonising thought of being parted from her forever, to keep his reactions and emotions in check.
"No!" he rasped, helpless as she lifted trembling hands to her face. "Rin!"
When she did not return to a fully solid state, he snarled, "Stop!"
"Stop?" Hypnos repeated calmly. "And whyever should we do that?"
Finally forced to acknowledge them, Obito threw a wild-eyed glance back over his shoulder - and was stunned to find that it was not only Hypnos and Thanatos who had returned to the Blessed Fields.
The Underworld's king had arrived with his kin, healed of all wounds and fully restored to strength. His coal-black gaze burned disapprovingly into Obito, glittering with unveiled hostility, his stoic features merciless, wholly unsympathetic to Obito's despair. And next to Hades, was Sakura, whom Obito had been all too willing to murder in his desire to reach the throne.
"We serve the King, and obey his royal decree. Do you believe that you deserve mercy from him?" Hypnos' tone was cut-throat. "Considering the atrocities you have committed not only against him, his lady, and this realm, but in kind against the Olympians?"
Obito's chest heaved, his focus flying back to Rin. "Do what you will with me, but she is innocent!"
"Now you assign value to a human life," Thanatos' words were chilling. Unfeeling. Calling Obito out on his shameless hypocrisy. "When no regard have you held before this for the sanctity of it. For the countless mortal souls you have maimed and massacred. Atrocities justified in this maiden's name."
"You do not deserve to breathe in this woman's presence," Hypnos continued. "Let alone utter to her another word."
"Then why bring me to her at all?!" Obito flung a spiteful glare at them. "Why disturb her rest?"
"But is not this what you have always desired?" Advancing leisurely toward Obito, Shisui gestured toward Rin. "Was this not what you intended to come to pass, upon claiming the throne? To speak with her, to return her to the living, and to your side?"
Mocking. They were mocking him. And Obito had never felt so incensed.
"Was it not your design to appear before her a hero, valiant?" Shisui went on. "To manifest yourself as her saviour, come to restore her to life? Did you not intend to conceal the truth from her, to lie your way into her affections?"
"You know nothing," Obito ground out, sickened by the awareness that Rin could still hear every word. "I did what I did in order to survive."
"At what cost?" Sakura confronted him. Her mint-green gaze simmered with anger. "Was it all worth it? Selling your soul for the chance to steal a throne you never earned in the first place? Do you even realise how many people have suffered because of everything you've done? The damage you've caused?!"
Obito gave no response. As if, he thought bitterly to himself, they would not raze the earth to protect their own precious bonds. He had no doubt that Sasuke would not hesitate to lay waste to anything or anyone that stood between him and ensuring Sakura's safety, that Shisui would not think twice about slaughtering anyone who tried to harm Itachi or Sasuke, that Itachi, in turn, would have no qualms over discarding all honour and doing the same. Obito, too, had done despicable things.
"You say the maiden is innocent. So, too, is this mortal," Thanatos briefly motioned toward Sakura. "Yet what mercy did you bestow upon her?"
"Yes, Sakura," Hypnos invited. "Do tell us. What mercy were you shown?"
Sakura shook her head. "None. He worked with Ares to possess my mind, and forced me to stab Sasuke-kun with poison. He didn't hesitate to throw me into Tartarus, or kill me."
"So, he has the audacity to ask for mercy for the one he cherishes," Shisui's keen gaze narrowed. "When he himself extended no such kindness to others."
Silent tears continued to fall down Rin's cheeks, shredding Obito apart. He wanted to rip out Hypnos' tongue for rubbing further salt into her weeping, emotional wounds, for worsening the sorrow she was enduring by witnessing such a distressing spectacle.
But Shisui was relentless. "You have only yourself to blame for this woman's entanglement in this horrid affair. And now, she sees you for what you are; an empty shell of who you once were, lacking in all honour. A murderer and a traitor, not only to your own kin - but to the faith she placed in you to protect mortals. Her people."
"And thus shall you linger," Itachi dictated. "Within this maiden's memories, for time eternal."
A foreign sense of trepidation scurried beneath Obito's skin, sending his heart plummeting straight to his feet. The thought of Rin continuing her afterlife, forced to remember everything he had done - to be parted from her before they had reached any manner of peace and closure - was insufferable.
"That is-" His lips could scarcely form words, so crippled was he by how trapped he felt. "You cannot! You cannot deny her peace. It is forbidden for a mortal to recall anything of their first life-"
Shisui's dark eyebrows arched, unimpressed. "The gall this treasonous halfwit possesses, to relate the laws of our realm to us."
"This Kingdom answers to me," Sasuke finally addressed their captive, his voice cutting glass, slicing and sharp. "Its laws are mine to uphold. Mine to alter. And mine to break, as I see fit." Without blinking, he ordered coldly, "Brother. Remove her."
Thanatos inclined his head, lifting his right hand to do as he had been bid.
Obito's pulse became a deafening roar in his ears. They were about to spirit Rin away from him forever! Blinding panic exploded inside him, splitting jaggedly through him with the force of cleaving iron.
"NO!" Without thought, without any consideration for his own welfare, his body moved on instinct, tumbling forward like a rushing river crashing toward its final destination.
He heard a distant, shocked gasp. Whether it resonated from Rin, Sakura, or from both women - Obito's mind was a frenzied storm, incapable of distinguishing the source. With an enraged howl, he lunged at the king's older brother.
It was futile. It was senseless, reckless. Even as he gathered a surge of potent chakra into his palm, ready to unleash a monstrous ball of flame at his enemies, he knew it to be hopeless, a suicidal, losing battle. With his superior Sharingan, one nonchalant glance from Death was all it would take to stagger Obito to his knees and paralyse him in place, but at that moment, he did not care. He thought only of delaying his greatest nightmare, what he knew - from the heavy dread that weighed his bones down like sinking lead - was inevitable.
Disregarding every blaring warning in his mind screaming at him that Thanatos was dangerous, that he possessed every distinct advantage even without the assistance of his kin, Obito flung himself forward with all his might, hurtling the fireball from his hand with fury as he flash-stepped beside his adversary, fingers itching to gouge out those damned, overly-perceptive scarlet eyes-
Time itself seemed to slow down, as Thanatos' head turned, his heavy-lashed, apathetic gaze flicking briefly onto Obito. Then, with breathtaking swiftness, the fields around Obito were spinning, revolving in a head-rushing whirlwind of motion.
Before he could rightly process what was happening, Obito felt his back slam roughly against the trunk of a tree, the shock of impact rupturing the oxygen from his lungs. A split-second later, chakra-restraining chains whistled loudly through the air, winding tightly around him, locking him immovably in place, just before he felt the sharp kiss of a gleaming blade pressing threateningly against his jugular.
The fireball he had let loose was devoured within a shadow-vortex, snuffed out and harmlessly disposed of by Hypnos in a heartbeat. Thanatos had not so much as flinched, or even bothered to step out of the path of the flame's trajectory. Unruffled, he remained in place, solemn and quietly composed, wholly unconcerned by the bloodthirsty attack, his crimson gaze fixed impassively upon their prisoner. Almost as if he had expected the temperamental outburst.
But there was clear anger in Shisui's eyes that Obito had dared to attempt harm to his cousin.
"Fool," he censured with disgust.
An iron-like grip wrapped around Obito's throat. Ruthless fingers dug punishingly against his windpipe, and he blinked, finding himself face to face with none other than a livid Sasuke, who, with frightening speed, had intercepted Obito's attempt to strike Itachi.
The Underworld ruler's glare was murderous. It blistered with hatred, searing through Obito with infernal heat.
"Pl…ease…" A broken voice sobbed, cutting through the commotion running rampant inside Obito's mind. "Please… have mercy. Do not… do not hurt him. This is not his true heart. He is… not himself…"
Obito released a ragged breath. Rin was interceding on his behalf, even despite everything he had confessed. Even when he did not deserve it. His gaze darted to his left, frantically seeking her out, and relief cascaded through him when he found that she had not yet entirely disappeared, despite his ill-advised decision to throw himself at his enemy.
"Not himself, you say…?" Shisui quipped. "Then this chameleon ought to consider revealing his 'true self'. Before his recklessness gets him killed."
Rin's lips parted to respond, but it was clear to Obito that once again, she had been compelled to be silent.
"The only reason," Sasuke hissed with vehemence, drawing Obito's attention back to him, "you still draw breath, is because my kin have decided that your use to us has not yet been spent. But make no mistake." The fingers around Obito's windpipe tightened, applying enough crushing force that his vision began to grey at its outer fringes. "Should you ever attempt to lay a hand upon my brother again, I will end you."
Obito choked, as the fingers squeezing around his neck increased their pressure until he tasted the copper-tang of warm blood pooling into his mouth. He coughed, sending a thin trail of liquid trickling from his lips.
"You don't deserve to live." Sasuke's asphyxiating-hold on his neck was unyielding. The malicious aura that rippled around him was deadly, and filled with such volatile killing intent, Obito did not doubt for a moment that Sasuke would have no qualms overruling his family's advice to keep him alive.
"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called his name in alarm, noting the blood that continued to spill from Obito's mouth. They had agreed a scrupulous plan of action ahead of arriving to confront Obito, and the fact that Sasuke was appearing to deviate from it, filled her with trepidation.
But the king's eyes remained locked on his prey, swirling with open animosity.
"Kakashi should have finished you when he had the chance," he snarled.
"Sasuke," Shisui said.
"Kill… me…" Obito croaked out. "And.. y…ou… will… nev…er… find… his… bo…dy…"
A deafening silence followed his words.
"What…?" Sakura was the one to break it, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Are you-? Wait." She sucked in a sharp breath. "Are you saying you've had Kakashi-sensei all this time? That you didn't take him to Cronus?"
Obito watched, with twisted, morbid satisfaction, as clarity danced across Sasuke's face, a dawning understanding that Obito had misled them and hidden Kakashi's corpse all along. The look then quickly morphed into one of unforgiving, ice-cold fury.
But the smugness Obito felt was short-lived, for the Sharingan manifested within Sasuke's left eye. And in the monarch's right eye, was something Obito could never have anticipated.
A jolt of shock zigzagged through his body. Somehow, Hades had achieved the impossible and awoken a second Rinnegan. How? Before Obito's bewildered mind could attempt to scramble together how such an unprecedented feat was even conceivable, Sasuke had drawn his blade back, as if he had changed his mind about allowing Obito to live, and fully intended to gut him where he stood.
A ring-adorned hand caught the king's forearm, halting it firmly in place. It belonged to Itachi, who had slipped silently to his brother's side.
Sasuke tensed, the touch jarring him out of his violent intentions. Turning his head, he scowled at his kin.
"Let go," he uttered, tone clipped. But his brother only shook his head, meeting Sasuke's gaze levelly.
"Heed not his words, Sasuke. They seek only to rile you, in the hope that you will end his torment." Itachi murmured. "Recall that it is not his own demise he fears."
Pointedly, Itachi angled his head to the right, signalling Rin, who was watching the exchange in wide-eyed horror. Her lower lip quivered, and fresh tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Obito's stomach lurched. In his selfish desire to antagonise Sasuke, he had fleetingly forgotten that Rin could hear everything.
Sasuke's jaw clenched, considering his brother's counsel. Then, with painstaking slowness, he lowered his arm, and roughly released his grip on Obito's neck, before stepping back, continuing to skewer their prisoner with a withering glower.
"It appears to elude you," Shisui remarked, "that I can, with great ease, compel you to reveal to us precisely where you have imprisoned Hephaestus, now that you have confirmed that he is indeed in your possession."
"Even… if you did that," Obito coughed. "You cannot… enter his prison without my aid. Use my Sharingan to replicate Kamui all you wish… you will never locate the dimension in which I have concealed him." Lifting his head, he added, "It exists… only within a world entirely of my own chakra's making. A world… wrought into being… by my own consciousness, one only I can unlock and enter."
Another oppressive silence ensued. Sasuke's face was thunderous, and Sakura's was full of dismay. Itachi's expression, however, remained indecipherable, betraying nothing of his private thoughts.
"As expected. The hidden dimensions Kamui is capable of manifesting are unique to the owner and their chakra," Shisui surmised. "Dimensions independent of vortexes opened for the purpose of general teleportation."
"How do we know he isn't feeding us another lie?" Sakura exchanged a dubious glance with the other Uchiha.
"Each Sharingan possesses its own unique abilities, which may be imitated when transplanted into the eye of another," Itachi explained. "However, those abilities are most potent when wielded by the chakra of the Sharingan's rightful owner."
Obito's eyes swept briefly back to Rin. He could not fathom why they had permitted her to linger, given that he had just raised arms against Thanatos, yet he was desperate to keep them talking and diverted, to bargain with the only advantage he had, the only playing piece left on a chess board that had been otherwise entirely obliterated by Hypnos and Thanatos' unexpected resurrection. Yet the piece in his possession was of great value to Sasuke and the Olympians.
"Not even Ares… was capable of detecting the hidden dimension I created," he got out hoarsely. "You cannot search my mind for any key to unlock it. For it is… no combination of seals that will reveal it. The portal… is willed into being by my chakra. If you want to find Kakashi's body… you must return my Sharingan to me. I alone can lead you to him."
One corner of Sasuke's lips twitched, bordering on a derisive sneer, a seething response to Obito's insulting, shameless attempt to use Kakashi's whereabouts as leverage over them.
"Do you really think we're stupid enough to trust you?" Sakura glared. "After everything you've done?!"
"His stupidity clearly knows no bounds," Shisui eyed their prisoner as if he were indeed the greatest simpleton to have ever disgraced all the three realms. "For he appears to have forgotten what he stands to lose, and who amongst us is in command."
"You would have us believe Hephaestus lost," Itachi stated coolly. "Yet, had that indeed been his fate, why, then, would you choose to conceal his corpse within a hidden dimension?"
"Why hide him from Madara," Shisui agreed, "if he is already dead? Why keep such a secret from one to whom you have sworn your eternal fealty?"
Obito said nothing, refusing to meet their probing gazes.
"He lives," Sasuke's eyes widened in realisation. "Trapped within Kamui."
"Kakashi is dead," Obito snarled. "He died the moment he failed to save Rin!"
"Tell us the truth!" Sakura's hands curled into frustrated fists. "What did you do to him?!"
"We shall soon find out what has become of Hephaestus," Shisui vowed. "Contrary to what you would have us believe, you hold no leverage here, and have no choice but to cooperate with us."
Obito spat out the remainder of the blood in his mouth. An act of resentment, of open defiance.
Hypnos studied him closely. "Any semblance of loyalty you do possess, lies only with the memory of this woman." He looked contemplatively toward a visibly shaken Rin. "It would appear that she is your only weakness."
"Then we will see," Sasuke uttered ominously. "What he is willing to do, to protect her soul."
A fresh wave of panic swept over Obito, barrelling through him like a tempest. Protect her soul? Just what was Sasuke implying? He had not anticipated that the Underworld's ruler would permit any harm to befall an innocent spirit. It was strictly forbidden in accordance with the ancient edicts of their realm to disturb even a single human in their afterlife. What manner of barbaric loophole were they exploiting? Or was it truly the case that the Crown was capable of bending the rules without consequence or detriment to himself?
They were bluffing, Obito denied. It had to be a trick. Yet the hard, glacial expression etched across the king's face screamed that it was anything but a ruse.
Itachi stepped away from Sasuke and began to prowl unhurriedly toward Rin. Obito's gaze flew back to Shisui. The smirk Hypnos wore was predatory. It reassured Obito that they were very much the ones in control of the interaction, and that it would be unwise of him to believe otherwise.
Obito watched Thanatos approach Rin. Bound by chakra strings and unable to move, he struggled against his restraints, clenching his jaw tightly when Death drew to a stop directly opposite her, towering over her diminutive form.
A suffocating sense of impending dread began to blanket itself over him. Rin was no longer semi-transparent. She had fully materialised once again.
"A reminder," Shisui pointed out. "Of who here is making the decisions. Listen closely to our terms. Refuse them, and it will take us only seconds to alter her perception, to introduce her to a new reality. One entirely of our own making, in which you murder Hephaestus in cold blood before her very eyes, and raze her village to the ground, before turning your blade against her."
"A reality in which you allow her world, and all that is good within it, to burn to ash," Itachi expanded, his crimson gaze set on Rin. "A nightmare that she will witness without end, one that shall be permanently ingrained into her memories. Thus shall she live the remainder of her afterlife, in eternal torment. Punished, for your sins."
Obito's gaze jerked back to Rin in horror. She was still staring at him in fearful anguish. Helpless to move, to speak, to do a thing.
His vision pulsed, red with rage. How could they so cruelly torment the very thing they claimed to be sacred? How could they toy with a mortal soul, as if it were nothing more to them than a means to make him suffer?
"Rin!" he cried. "Do not meet his gaze-!"
But his warning was in vain. For Rin was an inhabitant of the Realm of the Dead, which meant she answered only to its King - and to the irresistible sway that True Death continued to hold over her spirit in the afterlife.
"Maiden," Itachi murmured, the gentle call an invitation, tempting her to direct her eyes to his.
With a soundless shudder, she began to turn her face toward Thanatos.
"No." Obito's heart careened wildly within his chest. "Stop. Stop!"
"Every memory she holds of you, shall turn to pain," Shisui continued, unrelenting. "Every encounter, to hatred, to betrayal. She will be unable to distinguish illusion from reality. And when my cousin is done painting his design upon her psyche, I will permanently erase any warmth this woman ever bore toward you. She will gaze upon you only in repulsion. You will know her hatred, before you are parted from her forevermore."
Obito wrestled against his unyielding restraints with all his might. "Leave her alone!"
Rin had met Thanatos' gaze. The pinwheel contained within his glowing Sharingan spun, a sure sign that he was starting to weave a web of illusion over Rin's senses. The panic that clawed at Obito became feral, and the next words he spoke spasmed in his throat, as if they were a struggle being torn from his lips.
"Stop! I- I will take you to him! I will take you to Kakashi! You have my word!"
"A word given," Itachi remarked, not relinquishing his gaze on Rin, "by one who lacks honour, is naught but a lie."
Cold sweat dripped down Obito's back, and with terrifying certainty, he finally acknowledged that it was no bluff on their part. They truly meant to ruin Rin, to wield her against him, to annihilate him. He did not care what happened to his damned soul. But knowing that her afterlife would be filled with agony because of the actions he had chosen to take, that she would exist in torment because of him, that her memories would be warped and manipulated so that she forgot all the special times they had ever shared together - that their precious bond would be mauled apart - was something he could not endure.
"A blood contract!" He rasped in desperation, hating the next word that fell from his lips. All pride and sense abandoned, when he stood upon the brink of losing his love for eternity. Shakily, he choked out, "Anything-"
Sasuke raised a hand, prompting Itachi to pause. Finally breaking eye contact with Rin, he looked toward his younger brother. Waiting.
"Anything?" Shisui repeated, testing the authenticity of the word. "Fascinating, how swiftly a squawking songbird can alter its tune. Have you now decided that you are prepared to cooperate?"
Obito inhaled sharply, his heart a thundering pendulum swinging wildly between the confines of his ribcage. Tremors racked his body, overcome by waves of jittery adrenaline. It took him several attempts to speak again.
"If you spare her," he ground out, "I… will do as you ask of me."
"Pretty words," Shisui studied him intently. "However, it will suffice not to simply force your compliance in leading us to Hephaestus. You would only serve us in spite, and seek to betray us. We require your assured loyalty. A true change of heart. There is one other path you might take. One where you take up arms against Cronus in earnest."
Obito glowered at him. His only alliance was to himself and Rin. He told himself that he would sooner dismember his own limbs, than truly align with Hades, his kin, and the Olympians. The world could rot for all he cared, for all the favour and justice and mercy it had shown to him.
"The war does not concern me," he spat out bitterly.
"Are you really that deluded and selfish?!" Sakura berated him, irked. "Do you still not get it? The war affects us all! If Cronus succeeds in rewriting history, there won't be an Underworld left! What do you think will happen to Rin's soul then? To every single soul in this Kingdom?!"
Obito was silent. Then he answered, "It is futile. You cannot stop Cronus." He paused, fighting to steady his breaths. "Once the Ten-Tails is resurrected, he will become unstoppable. Even without my tailed-beast and the Nine-Tails, the Titans have chakra enough amongst them to break the seals that contain him, and once they do, he will not be denied."
"And that is your answer? To yield to despair? To do nothing? You would condemn your sweetheart's people?" Shisui raised his eyebrows.
Obito looked forlornly at Rin. "It is too late…" he said hoarsely. The remainder of his unspoken words were clear. Too late for forgiveness. Too late for redemption. Too late to do anything at all.
"That's what a coward would say." Sakura accused. "You're wrong. It isn't too late. Better to die fighting, than to give up hope! You don't owe that monster anything! Do you really think Cronus intended to let you keep the throne and stay here with Rin? He would've killed you the second he's freed!"
To that, Obito said nothing.
"An alternative choice stands before you," Itachi said. "Align with our cause against Madara in earnest. Protect the balance of life and death from the blight of chaos."
"And in return," Shisui continued, "we will erase every trace of memory she has of this encounter. Aid us, and the King gives his word that he will offer to restore this maiden to the world of the living."
Obito froze, stunned into speechlessness. His heart seemed to stutter within his chest, and his mind blanked. The offer was so unexpected, and caught him so off guard, that for a dreadful minute, he wondered whether he had somehow hallucinated the words. Whether they had succeeded in trapping him within another cruel illusion.
"One last chance at glory and redemption," Hypnos' smooth, mellow tones were irresistible in their persuasiveness. "A hero and saviour of humankind, her people. Fight for a second chance for her to live. Find within you the honour you discarded long ago. Become what she once knew you to be, and earn her forgiveness. Only then, will your soul know peace."
Obito's chest heaved. Redemption was no more than an impossible dream. Why were they now trying to coerce him with a glimmer of hope? Had they not just threatened to shatter Rin's recollections of him, to force his compliance? Somehow their unpredictable shift in strategy was even more devastating. The emotional whiplash sent his mind reeling. It was nothing but a mirage. He couldn't allow himself to be reeled into their syrup-coated, venomous trap. He could not.
His heart galloped regardless, shaking him to his very core. An inexplicable longing filled his chest.
"You…" he whispered, unwilling to accept that they would offer him such a thing. Not without making him pay a horrific cost. "You lie. You seek to deceive me. Why would you offer me this…?"
"This is no ruse on our part," Shisui assured him gravely. "She will indeed have the opportunity to live again - should she desire it. Mortal, or immortal, the choice shall be hers. Regardless of which, she will have another chance at life, unburdened by the pain and shackles of the past."
"You have not been pardoned," Sasuke warned coldly. "I give no promise of guaranteeing your life. Nor the promise that you will live to see her returned."
"She will be restored, only if the war is won." Itachi clarified. "For it is only the Underworld's king who possesses this power."
A cunning plan to force his hand, Obito realised. A way to compel him to fight on their side in earnest.
"Unlike you, our word given holds steadfast," Shisui's cat-like eyes narrowed. "The king is prepared to seal the oath in blood."
A blood-seal, a binding contract. Obito's pulse hurtled faster as he glanced at Sasuke.
The King's expression was frosty. Reluctant compliance simmered in his eyes. Their offer was sincere.
"Well? What say you, Obito?" Shisui questioned. "Will you fight for the chance that this woman might have a future? Will you fight alongside your blood, against the tyrant who has manipulated you for centuries, who willingly chose to sacrifice our clan? Or will you do nothing, and instead consign yourself to a meaningless demise?"
Obito swallowed thickly, his thoughts sprinting to find the catch to their offer. Compared to the barbaric first option of allowing Rin to suffer in eternal anguish in order to punish him, the alternative proposition was a surprising mercy, one that was too good to be true. Certainly too good to pass up. He had obeyed Cronus only for the purpose of advancing his own goal to be reunited with Rin, believing the taking of the Underworld's throne to be the only way to achieve that aim.
Yet he was now being offered another route. His heart ached with yearning. To have a chance at redemption in Rin's eyes, to have a chance at restoring her - however small that chance was, was surely better than no chance at all.
All he had to do was consent to help them, to fight sincerely alongside Hades and his kin. To switch allegiances, and fight for a future that suddenly, unexpectedly, had become aligned with the future his enemies envisaged. A future that served Obito's own desires and interests.
He eyed his clansmen with mistrust, still refusing to bite. "And should she not desire that…?"
"No mortal offered such a boon has ever refused the opportunity to return to the surface," Shisui dismissed. "Even if she were to choose to remain here, I ask you; is not the chance at achieving redemption in her eyes incentive enough? To fight for her afterlife - to protect this realm from Cronus' intentions to obliterate it - is that not reason enough to stand against him? It is not yet too late for you to make the right choice."
Obito was silent. He had no loyalty to Sasuke and his brothers. No loyalty to any of the surface gods. His devotion was to Rin alone. But his unexpected meeting with Rin in her afterlife, after believing he had lost the opportunity to see her forever, had thrown into sharp relief that Sasuke and his kin were indeed all that stood between the woman Obito loved and the certain eradication of the Underworld.
For what reason would Cronus have to sustain it? What care had he for humans, for the dead? His interest lay only in controlling and terrorising the living, feeding off their fear to strengthen his own chaos.
The crossroads Obito stood at were clear; to do nothing, and lose his life, never knowing what became of Rin, or to take a stand, to use the possibility of her living again to fuel him to fight to make such a future possible.
The anger Obito felt at allowing himself to be directed as a puppet once again, to fulfil whatever tasks they had in mind for him, dimmed beneath the rising dawn of a tentative, terrifying hope. He was a survivor, through and through. He had, for millennia, switched off his emotions, endured unimaginable suffering and psychological torture, done everything required to prolong his miserable existence.
But beneath the cold, empty hollowness, it was his love for Rin that had carried him this far. It hit him like a tsunami, the alarming, sweeping realisation that it was love, and not hatred, that had allowed him to survive up until then. That the emotion had not been his weakness - but in fact, his strength.
Only minutes earlier, Obito had been adamant that he would never join them. But the proposal they had made to him had changed that, had turned everything upside down on its head, displacing every certainty he had known. Obito wanted Rin to have another chance. More than anything, he wanted to give that to her. And if he could not ensure that, then at the very least, her afterlife needed to be protected. Even if it cost him his own life. And if there was even the slightest hope that she could forgive him for every horrendous crime he had ever committed - if there was the slightest chance that she would look upon him kindly again, that he might live to see her truly restored - then how could he refuse?
"She will know your decision," Thanatos' words broke Obito out of the daze of his rushing thoughts.
His gaze shifted to Rin, whose body suddenly relaxed, as if she had been released from the restraints Death had placed upon her. She blinked, and turned freely toward Obito, her eyes wide, brimming with fresh tears, with unspoken words that shimmered within.
"A chance to protect her soul," said Shisui. "What say you?"
The chains around Obito loosened. Shocked, he looked down to find them dissolving harmlessly into thin air. He blinked, falling to his knees, conflicting emotions rendering him incapable of bearing his own weight. He knew that they would not have removed his restraints, were they not already confident of his answer. Confident in the knowledge that they had him trapped.
Self-loathing crashed over him like the tempestuous waves of an ocean, threatening to drown him. Once again, he was allowing others to influence and dictate his actions. When would he ever be truly free to forge his own path?
The warm, trembling brush of fingertips at his left cheek caused him to startle. He flinched, head jerking sharply back up at the unexpected contact.
His heart leapt into his throat. The air in his lungs fractured, and he forgot how to breathe. Doe-brown, pained eyes met his own, shining with tears. Rin had been permitted to approach him, and was kneeling right before him. Touching him.
It wasn't ordinarily possible. It was forbidden for a soul residing in paradise to have physical contact of any kind with the living. But Thanatos, Obito realised, with permission from Sasuke, had temporarily permitted it, removing the veil that kept them apart.
A moment of tantalising temptation, a demonstration of what might come to be, to reel him in.
Obito's heart ached and swelled. A choked, ragged sob tore from his chest, and he forgot all about the fact that Sasuke, Shisui, Itachi and Sakura were still standing there, watching him.
He forgot all about knowing that it was a precise, deliberately-set trap. He forgot about everything else. The tentative touch filled his frozen veins with a warmth he had not felt since Rin had last smiled at him. Only days before they had been parted.
Her lower lip quivered as she met his gaze. Obito exhaled, unable to keep his body from trembling, barely able to stand looking into her beautiful eyes from the guilt that was ravaging him from within.
She was real. She was real, and he had a chance to restore her to the life that had been robbed from her far too prematurely. To restore her to a world free of war. A world where she could grow and laugh and live as he had always wanted her to live.
"I know your true heart, Obito," she whispered, cupping his cheek in the palm of her right hand. "I know you will make the right choice."
~x~
"It's empty. Well, that's just peachy." Suigetsu kicked at the small power generator on the ground of the poorly-illuminated laboratory, sending it toppling sideways with a loud crash.
Karin frowned at the contents of the room. Equipment had been left behind, and even some species of dormant animals, remnants from the experiments that had once been undertaken at the hidden compound. But from the looks of it - and the damp stench of decay that filled the air - the place had been abandoned for several weeks, already.
It had taken her and Suigetsu two days of travelling through dense forests to hunt down the nearest facility from the village which they had departed. During that time, Suigetsu had asked Karin a great deal of questions - how she'd made it back to the Underworld to raise the alarm to Sasuke that he had been captured by Obito, how she'd been healed from the Zetsu spores, what it'd felt like returning to the Shadow realm, what had happened in the battle after he'd lost consciousness?
The fastest way to keep Suigetsu from driving her up the wall, she'd decided, was not to ignore him - because then his queries would become even more aggravating - but to answer him. And so she had, as concisely as possible, summarised all the events he'd missed.
It was much to her confusion, when her own tongue asked for information in return. How had it felt being possessed? Had he actually died? How exactly had he been restored?
And so their journey had continued, following the lead Karin had picked up on. Her sensor abilities had informed her only of chakra anomalies in the area, rather than tracking Orochimaru's distinct signature itself. Clearly he had adapted his tactics, making his hideouts even more difficult to identify following the destruction of his other facilities, which Karin and Suigetsu had taken out together with Sasuke and Jugo.
"How many more red herrings d'ya think this freak's planted to throw us off course?" Suigetsu tapped at a plant locked inside a glass box. It unfurled its large, spiky leaves in response, clearly sentient.
"Eww," he remarked. "Creepy."
"Shut up a minute and let me concentrate," Karin muttered, pressing her index fingers against her temples as she focused on their surroundings, mapping out the local terrain. Vast forests in every direction for many miles. She needed to look farther out than that, needed to pick up on Orochimaru's slimy chakra specifically. If he had found a way to conceal his own trail even more carefully by layering it beneath others to throw any seeking trackers off course, then it was going to become decidedly more difficult for Karin to distinguish between decoy hideouts and the real deal.
And that was likely precisely what Orochimaru wanted. To send them on a wild goose-chase, a merry hunt that wasted their time and energy.
Think, Karin, she willed herself. Think.
"Can't you like filter these bogus chakra signatures out?" Suigetsu mulled. "Get a stronger signal, or some shit?"
Karin's eyes opened. That's it! The idiot's words, for once, were of actual use. She simply needed a stronger medium in which to project her sensory abilities. Her mistake had been searching on the surface itself.
But the strongest medium she had, was the one she shared an elemental affinity with. Water.
"Suigetsu," she said sharply.
"Yeah?" he drawled, pulling faces at his own reflection in a glass panel, behind which was a lifeless dog.
Karin shot him an unimpressed glower. "Quit messing around and take us back to the ocean."
A slow, sly grin graced his lips. "Oooh. Missing home already?"
She drew her fist back threateningly, prompting an amused chuckle from Poseidon.
"Alright, alright, geez. You really are the crankiest bitch, y'know that?" He rolled his eyes, and sauntered toward her, amethyst irises glowing ethereally in the darkness. Once he was close enough, he reached out brazenly with his left arm, and hooked it around her waist, yanking her shamelessly against his side. As if it were no big deal. As if she might belong there.
The unexpected physical contact caused every muscle in Karin's body to tense, and heat flooded into her cheeks. Her heart unexpectedly jumped into her throat. The only salvation that kept his eyes from discerning the blazing hue of her skin came in the form of how dim their surroundings were.
Before she could ask him just what the hell he thought he was doing by taking the liberty to touch her so freely, Suigetsu flashed her a toothy grin, and quipped, "Best hold on tight."
Seconds later, they materialised in the water, where a pair of sea-horses was already waiting for them. Karin swiftly shook off her embarrassment, telling herself she would pulverise the idiot's face later.
Mounting the steeds, they followed the ocean current, and Karin reached out once again with her sensory abilities, searching for the strongest chakra signature she could find, ignoring the lesser ones that pulsed through her mind's eye. Likely more vacated locations, she thought to herself, judging from the similar signals she'd picked up at the hideout they'd just vacated. She needed to hone in on a solid source of energy.
With amplified abilities underwater, it did not take Karin long to notice something more noticeable. The more she focused on it, the more overwhelming it grew in its potency and force, drawing her internal tracker in like a magnet pulling metal.
She gasped out, "I think I've found something!"
"Alright," Suigetsu enthused. "Lead the way!"
They altered course, Karin's abilities pinpointing the exact location of the chakra. It wasn't simply potent, she realised chasing it, heart pounding as she read its precise nature. A water-type. Monstrous in its reserves, which meant it belonged to no mortal or natural creature. Whatever it was, it was on the move.
You're not getting away! Karin ground her teeth in determination.
"We need the horses to move faster!" she yelled.
"You got it!" Suigetsu held out a hand, and the ocean's current became a violent, rushing jet-stream, hurtling them at breathtaking speed toward Karin's target.
But the target was moving just as quickly.
Behind Suigetsu, Samehada began to bristle, its interest piqued. Surprised, the ocean king glanced over his shoulder at the sword strapped to his back, and frowned.
"What's with ya?" he demanded. The sword only grew increasingly agitated, and by the time Karin had finally managed to pinpoint the elusive chakra source, Samehada was practically buzzing with excitement.
Their horses surfaced from beneath the waves, and Suigetsu used his dominion over the element to cloak them from sight, a wall of water rippling around them.
"Why's that stupid sword acting so weird?" Karin regarded the blade with distaste. A static sound was emanating from it, and its spikes hummed, as if eager to feed from the energy in the air itself.
Samehada might have helped her out in the past, but that didn't make the weapon any less disturbing and unpredictable, in Karin's opinion.
When Suigetsu didn't respond, she urged her horse forward to draw in line with his steed. But Suigetsu's hand shot out, immediately halting her from moving any further.
'Stay put', his voice echoed in her mind.
Karin frowned in confusion.
'But the chakra-signature I've picked up on-' she began to telepathically retort - only to then break off, glimpsing the intent manner in which Suigetsu was staring straight toward the shoreline in the horizon.
His eyebrows were furrowed, as if he were listening for something, as if he were seeking some form of confirmation. Karin watched him in bewilderment, uncertain of what was happening, worried that the signature she'd picked up on would move on again.
The next words to fall from Suigetsu's lips made her stomach coil with unease.
"Oh shit." Suigetsu whispered, his eyes wide. As if he had spied a ghost. "That's impossible. There's no fucking way…"
"What?!" Karin hissed impatiently. Just what had gotten him so uncharacteristically spooked? What had him looking so unnervingly serious? "Suigetsu, what?"
Suigetsu was silent for another long moment. Then he announced, without taking his eyes off the horizon, "Change of plan. We aren't tracking a hideout."
Before Karin could open her mouth to argue, he finished, "We're tracking a fucking Titan."
~x~
"Sasuke-kun, are we sure about this…?"
Sakura stood with Sasuke a short distance away from Shisui and Itachi, who were supervising the temporary reimplantation of Obito's Sharingan, for the purpose of retrieving Kakashi.
Rin had been returned behind a barrier, close enough to watch everything that was unfolding. Sakura cast a concerned glance at the girl, still feeling dreadful that she'd been dragged into the entire mess. Yet she also recognised the wisdom behind Shisui and Itachi's difficult decision to involve an innocent soul. They'd had no other choice. Not when the fate of the world hung in the balance.
"What if he does try something?" Sakura questioned. Although Obito had been made an offer that he could not refuse, that fact did not make Sakura feel any better about trusting him.
"His chakra will be strictly controlled," Sasuke replied.
"I don't mean right now," Sakura shook her head. She was aware that the chokehold they had on Obito due to the leverage Rin provided made it impossible for him to betray them within the Kamui realm. Not unless he wanted all deals to be off.
"I mean when we send him back to Olympus. What if Cronus sees through him, despite all the measures we put in place?"
Sasuke's midnight eyes met hers, softening as they read her open anxieties.
"Do not underestimate Shisui's ability to rewrite reality," he said quietly. "His Sharingan leaves no trace of chakra or evidence of manipulation behind. Even if Obito's mind is subjected to scrutiny, the only truth that can be found will be the one Shisui implants."
"It isn't that. Cronus will expect to see proof that your body was possessed by Orochimaru, won't he?" Sakura bit anxiously into her right thumbnail. "And how are we going to convince him that Obito ascended the throne?"
"Obito's purpose is to distract Madara and the Titans," Sasuke answered. "Long enough to allow us to retrieve the Helm, Zeus and Hera. By the time he arrives on Olympus, my brother and cousin will have already infiltrated the summit."
Sakura chewed on her lower lip, shifting her weight onto her opposite foot. "I still have a bad feeling about this," she confided.
She felt a light caress against the back of her left hand, as Sasuke's fingertips brushed over her skin in a fleeting touch. Sakura caught his hand, and slipped her own discreetly into the king's. Warmth spread through her when Sasuke's fingers closed around her hand in return.
"Itachi's summons will allow us to survey the situation beforehand," Sasuke assured her.
"What if the enemy somehow picks up on those summons?" Sakura fretted.
Sasuke's eyes returned to watch his kin. The transfer of Obito's Sharingan was complete. Shisui, who had risen to his feet again, turned to glance back toward the pair. He gave Sasuke a resolute nod, signalling that they were ready to proceed.
Looking back at Sakura, Sasuke stated, "Itachi has the ability to see through his summons' eyes. Even if they are detected, we retain the element of surprise. Madara cannot contain them. He will not have the time to."
Sakura searched his eyes. Then her attention moved back to Rin, who was standing with her hands clasped close to her chest, staring at Obito, open pain scrawled upon her features.
"And Obito…?" Sakura voiced the question in a near-whisper. "What happens to him, once Cronus realises it's a setup?"
And he would, Sakura knew. Arriving on Olympus after so much time had elapsed, without evidence of Sasuke's demise, or Chiyo's, would immediately flag Madara's suspicions. The success of their plan depended upon Itachi and Shisui acting quickly to take what they needed, while Obito stalled and held the attention of the others.
It was a plan that came with great risk to his own welfare. He was in very real danger of being obliterated.
That was perhaps what alarmed Sakura the most; the fact that Obito had agreed to their terms in exchange for restoring Rin, even knowing that he was likely marching to his doom by entering Olympus to act as their distraction. Why would he accept, when it was entirely possible that Madara would end him before he'd had the chance to even fight the war? He had made it clear he did not trust them. She could not help but feel he still had his own hidden agendas. Things he was not sharing with them.
How else could he be so remarkably calm about standing before Madara and lying, surrounded by the Titans, no less?
Sasuke was silent. When he next replied, it was in Sakura's mind. 'Madara will extract the remaining tailed-beast from him and likely discard him'.
'And we'll just leave him there, if that happens?' Sakura thought back. Any sympathy she felt was for Rin, alone - for the clear torment she was so bravely enduring. 'What if we really could use his help in the war?'
Sasuke's gaze was unfeeling as it fixed on Obito. When his answer came, it was just as icy as his merciless expression. 'He is of no more use to me.' His eyes flicked back to Sakura.
Aloud, he said, "Take Eos and return to the palace. Wait for us there."
"I want to stay here, Sasuke-kun." At the questioning look he directed at her, she added, "I'd like to speak to Rin. Can you help me do that?"
Sasuke blinked, then nodded, a wordless confirmation that she would be able to converse with the soul. His dark eyes traced her features, and he reached up with his other hand, ghosting his fingers over a long, pastel-pink lock of her hair.
"When we return," he murmured, "it will be time, Sakura."
Time for him to take her to the surface, she understood. Time to bear her to the sacred spring, to begin the ritual to restore her at last. For that was their priority, before anything else - to return her to stability, to divinity, and break the cycle of rebirth once and for all.
"I'll be ready." Sakura squeezed his hand. "Be careful, Sasuke-kun," she implored. "I hope that you'll find him unharmed."
She saw the haunted shadow that passed across her lover's eyes, and felt her chest constrict. She knew how much it meant to him to find Kakashi. Regardless of the state he was in.
With that, she reluctantly drew her hand from his, and watched with silent apprehension as Obito spirited his clansmen away into a Kamui vortex.
~x~
Power. Uchiha Madara could feel the first whispers of it stirring within his veins. An ancient, destructive power that was his birthright, that had long been denied to him, robbed from him for millennia by an accursed seal that had been enforced upon him by his greatest adversaries.
Still Zeus and Hera's binds endured, even with the Titans' combined efforts to lift it. The tremendous amount of chakra required to unlock every infuriatingly complex component that made up the seal meant that the breaking of it had to be conducted over multiple attempts.
The seal, Madara knew, was the most powerful in existence. As powerful as the one that had been used to seal away the Ten Tails, itself. Yet he could feel it weakening, every time he knelt upon the ritual runes that Hidan had painted upon the ground of the throne room of Olympus, every time the Titans encircled him and worked together to wear down the next element of the seal.
Each attempt required a waiting period, much to Madara's impatience. The seal had to be dismantled carefully. Slowly. It could not be removed all at once. Such was its intricate nature. A final line of defence, intended to stall him from reclaiming his abilities.
But he was close. So close to seizing his chaos, so close to being freed from his shackles. Soon, he knew. Soon the bindings would be ripped from him. And nothing would save the world from his wrath and retribution.
He stood before Zeus' corpse, the fresh information that Ares had gleaned from Koharu's mind at the forefront of his thoughts.
Only half of the Nine-Tails had in fact been sealed within Apollo. The other half…
A dark, sadistic smirk graced Madara's cruel lips, one born of utter hatred and contempt. The other half had been under his nose all along. Locked away beneath a dormant seal that Zeus had placed within himself. A seal hidden from all eyes, except the one that Madara now possessed. The Rinnegan, from which nothing could be concealed.
In his present state, as restricted as he was in chakra flow, Madara could not manifest the eye for longer than a few seconds. Not yet long enough to accurately discern the seal and its nature.
But once the restrictions upon him were removed, Madara vowed that he would stop at nothing to decimate every foil and ruse Zeus had put into place to deny him.
~x~
Sakura sat beneath a tree, knees drawn to her chest as she gazed contemplatively at the beauty of the Elysian Fields.
On the other side of the invisible barrier that divided them, Rin had adopted a similar posture, leaning back against the trunk of the tree behind her.
"I'm sorry," Sakura offered softly, sincerely. "That you had to be drawn into any of this. I'm sorry for the pain this is causing you."
Rin's eyes were downcast, still puffy from the fresh tears that clung to her eyelashes.
"The afterlife is supposed to be a peaceful place for human souls," Sakura continued. "I hope you can forgive us. We had no other choice, no way to make him see reason."
Rin did not respond. Sakura bit her lower lip, glancing sadly at the silent soul. She could not shift the guilt that continued to gnaw at her gut. Even if Rin was made to forget it all, it was wrong, so very wrong to manipulate an innocent spirit in death. Yet they had done it, because it was what they had needed to do. And she had been complicit in the plan. Complicit in the anguish that had been inflicted upon Rin.
"Are you human, lady…?" Rin finally whispered.
Sakura blinked, pain twisting like a knife inside her chest. "Please call me Sakura. I am," she admitted quietly.
And she was, at that moment. She didn't need to add her own troubles to Rin's, by explaining the complicated truth of her own situation. It wasn't anything that Rin needed to know.
The soul considered this information. "Then you know how it feels, Sakura," she said, her voice so quiet, Sakura had to strain to hear it over the rustling of the grass around them.
"You know how it feels to bear love for an immortal." Her warm sorrel eyes lifted, meeting Sakura's startled, vibrant green irises.
"Forgive me," she faltered. "I could not help but notice that perhaps you and The King-"
"It's alright," Sakura soothed. "I do understand. I didn't want this for you. I told them it was wrong, and it is wrong. I'm sorry, for all of this. But you're all Obito cares about. The only chance we had to make him see reason."
Rin swallowed. "He was always so gentle," she whispered, yet more tears blurring her vision. "Always so kind and averse to conflict. He would never harm a soul. I…" Her voice trembled. "I still cannot believe that he partook in such evil. His mind could not have been his own. Or else he is changed, beyond the gentle heart I once knew." She covered her face with her hands in despair.
Sakura remained silent, stifled by the deep pity she felt for the young woman.
"Forgive me," Rin sobbed. "For I have enabled this vengeance, through no will of my own."
"No," Sakura shook her head, turning to face her. "None of this is your fault. He chose to take these actions. His love for you is what led him to madness, but you had no control over any of that."
Rin continued to weep, and Sakura felt desperation bubble into her chest. Perhaps it would have been kinder if she'd asked Sasuke to return Rin to a state of unawareness before he'd left, rather than insisting on speaking to the distressed spirit instead. Sakura had foolishly thought she might be able to help, to offer her some form of comfort.
A miserable job she was doing of it. If anything, Rin's agitation only seemed to be increasing by the second.
"It is the curse upon their kind," Rin sniffled. "To love deeply, to the point of madness. Kakashi told me long ago of Obito's growing feelings. But I did not think-" she hesitated, before repeating, "I did not realise… had I but known how circumstances would unfold, I might have tried to keep my distance."
How did one keep their distance from the very thing that set their soul alight? Sakura found herself thinking of Sasuke, of all the unthinkable things he had endured for her sake; at the way she knew, for certain, that he would stop at nothing to ensure her safety and continued survival.
Had Obito not, in his own way, done the same? Fought tooth and nail for the woman he loved, to be reunited with her? Had he not battled to attain the only future he'd envisaged in which they could be together again? Even if that cause had stemmed from a broken, deluded mindset, Sakura could not ignore that the reasons behind his actions were rooted in the very same feelings that had fuelled Sasuke to throw himself into danger again and again for her sake - love.
"You didn't know," Sakura comforted her. "You couldn't have known. Once this is all over, you won't have to remember any of this. All this pain, we'll take it away."
"But what of Obito…?" Rin questioned shakily, wiping at her eyes. "What of his pain? What of his regrets…?"
A bitter taste filled Sakura's mouth, and she turned her gaze back to flowers that surrounded them. She couldn't answer that. Not when Obito had done such unspeakable things to them all. She doubted that Sasuke and his kin would let him live, even if the war was won. Provided he did not perish before then.
"Please," Rin beseeched tearfully. "I know he does not deserve any kindness for the suffering he has inflicted upon you. And I do not excuse or forgive his actions. But I beg of you; give him a chance to find himself again, his true heart. Let him attempt to atone for as long as he commands the strength to continue fighting. Not for my sake. But for his own soul. Please…"
She loved him, too, Sakura realised in dismay. Whether it was romantic, or platonic, she could not yet tell, but there was no denying that love did exist on Rin's side, too. Even despite everything Obito had done in her name, she cared deeply for him. And she was suffering for it.
Silence fell between them once more, for Sakura found she could make no such promises. The decision, after all, was not in her hands, alone.
Perhaps, she thought to herself, the right to decide Obito's fate wasn't Sasuke or his kin's either. Perhaps the one who ought to decide, was the very individual whom Obito had hurt most of all.
The same person Sasuke had gone to retrieve.
~x~
They alighted upon a solid grey block, surrounded by darkness, the gateway to the dimension swirling out of existence behind them as Obito transported them into a world of his own making.
Sasuke surveyed their surroundings with aloof detachment, nothing but deafening, oppressive silence, and endless platforms suspended within a void of shadows. Cubes and cuboids of varying sizes and heights, that stretched out further than the naked eye could perceive. Not even the air seemed to move, as if time itself was suspended.
"Your mind truly is a warped thing. Quite the bizarre, artistic vision, here," Shisui quipped dryly. His voice reverberated in a slow echo, confirming that space-time was indeed deviated within the dimension.
Obito said nothing. At his silence and stillness, Shisui stepped forward, giving him a firm nudge in the middle of the back.
"Lead on, then. The Lady Rin awaits our return."
The name was uttered with deliberation, a noose, a choke-hold around Obito's neck, reminding him of the dreadful consequences that would ensue if he even dared attempt to consider betraying them. Clenching his teeth, he walked tensely ahead, leaping from platform to platform, feeling resistance from the seal they had placed upon him to severely restrict his chakra, lending him only enough to fulfil the task required of him.
Shisui tailed him closely, with Sasuke behind him. Itachi followed last, watching all their backs.
It seemed that they passed endless blocks, in no particular order or direction, before they finally arrived at a denser cluster of them.
They drew to a stop - all except Sasuke. His eyes widened. Inside his chest, his heart pounded at the sight that met his gaze.
That of a lone figure, lying prone upon the platform ahead.
Without hesitation, without wasting another second, the King of the Dead flash-warped to the figure's side.
A lone, exhausted eye met his, bringing him to his knees. Sasuke's head bowed, the raven bangs of his hair concealing his face from the watching eyes of his kin and Obito. His hands balled into fists as he wrestled to control his emotions.
"Well, Sasuke..." A voice rasped tiredly. "It seems your old Sensei got lost on the road of life. I'm glad you finally found me."
~x~
Author's note
Thank you for reading. Please consider leaving a comment/emoji if you're unsure of what to write or shy, all feedback is appreciated. At this exhausting point of working on this story for over 10 years now, comments really DO make a difference in motivating me to actually keep writing. Thanks in advance to all who do comment.