Obito-Sensei Chapter 99
Refuses To Turn Their Back On The Ones They Love
"I wish you'd talked to me."
Rin had to raise her voice a little; the battle wasn't too distant, and the constant crashes and explosions as six Tailed Beasts fought a single man drowned out most sound. Nevertheless, she didn't sound angry, just hurt. Obito honestly thought that was worse.
He'd gone to her without thinking. Coughing up blood and contemplating slitting his own throat to activate Naruto's seal, he'd stumbled out of the Kamui right in front of her. Rin hadn't asked questions, just treated him. But Obito could feel the tension in her and see the frown she wasn't quite able to hide away.
"I should have," he admitted, her hands rubbing across his back and ribs. Nagato's glancing kick hadn't been enough to activate the Yakushi Shiki, which still pulsed with a gentle heat on his abdomen. "It didn't feel right with you getting picked to guard sensei. Like I was trying to…"
"Coup him?" Rin asked, and Obito nodded.
"Yeah. But it still wasn't fair of me. Talk about it later?" he asked, taking her hand and pulling it away from his mostly healed ribs.
"When everything's not exploding?" she said with a laugh too quiet to be heard beneath the battle, and Obito grinned. "Sure. I'm holding you to that."
"You're mad?" he asked, unable to help himself.
"Furious," she shot back. "But I could use that now. Things are a mess." She squeezed his hand, urging him to use the Kamui. "C'mon. Let's go."
"You're coming?" he asked, surprised, and Rin rolled her eyes.
"Of course I'm coming. And if you say it's too dangerous, I'm re-breaking your ribs."
"Wouldn't dream of it." Obito smiled, and pulled them both out of reality and back towards the battle.
###
Yugito Nii had been the first to join Fuu, and she was also the first Jinchuriki to fall.
Fuu was feeling confident again. She was mantling Chomei to a degree she had never believed possible before; a thick exoskeleton had grown across her joints, dust constantly poured from her mouth and nose and filled the air with her and Chomei's chakra, and her wings had grown to the same size as her body, driving her across the sky with more speed and power than she'd ever imagined. She and the other Jinchuriki had settled into a strategy of hit and runs against Nagato, desperately trying to keep him off balance as his stamina ran out.
Because Nagato was getting tired. He grew paler by the second, his body shaking from all the chakra exploding out of it. Whatever process he had that stole chakra and turned it into his own, it couldn't give him infinite energy. His muscles were still burning; his lungs were still laboring.
But he wasn't the only one getting exhausted, so when Nagato suddenly had a second wind and knocked Yugito Nii right out of Matatabi's avatar with a spur of earth that erupted from beneath the snow, none of them were quite fast enough to rescue the Nibi Jinchuriki. Matatabi faded in a wash of blue flames as Nagato picked Yugito out of the air, flinging several black rods up out of a magnetic mechanism that had grown from his shoulders. Yugito was pierced six times and fell, her chakra going wild as she screamed and bled.
"Yugito!" Fuu swept in to grab her from the ground and almost became Nagato's next victim; he flew across the ground on jet-powered steps and crashed into her, hungrily devouring her chakra despite her lashing out with an elbow that should have shattered his ribs. Nagato caught it and Fuu lost all strength and all momentum.
She would have lost right there if it weren't for Han and Roshi, who attacked Nagato from both sides with Earth jutsu, forming massive twin walls that rushed together to crush him. The stone was real, pulled from the ground instead of created by chakra, and so Nagato was forced to leap away, leaving Fuu to be smashed in his place. He couldn't absorb real material, only chakra; despite how short the battle had truly been, the Jinchuriki had already learned to capitalize on his few vulnerabilities.
The walls smashed together, but Fuu wasn't even bruised; her body was unbelievably tough, and the stone buckled where it struck her, leaving her in a Fuu-shaped niche. She breathed out, trying to recover her strength.
"Kushina!" she rasped out, her voice carrying through the connection burning between all the Tailed Beasts. "Kinda dying!" Outside, she felt Utakaka recoil in agony as Nagato spat molten oil across Saiken's form, vaporizing her toxins and reducing her size by half.
"Almost there!" Kushina sounded as confident as Fuu had felt.
DON'T TAKE YOUR TIME, Kurama rumbled. YOUR BODY ISN'T USED TO MY POWER; IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HANDLE IT FOR LONG. PERHAPS FIVE MINUTES.
"Five minutes is plenty!" Kushina and Fuu said it at the same time, sharing a laugh as well. Fuu punched her way out of the stone prison and flew towards Nagato as he ripped Utakata out of Saiken, his hands on the kind boy's soul. He was getting attacked from every side by ink clones Gyūki had spat up and lava clones created by Rōshi, but both kinds disintegrated at his touch. Utakata struggled, a terrified expression on his face as he grabbed hold of his true self and tried to keep it from being torn away.
Fuu hurled two handfuls of stones she'd grabbed, and while Nagato turned away the first, the second caught him in the side, doubling him over. His focus wavered, and Utakata's soul sank back into his flesh.
"Yeah-!" Fuu let out, breaking the sound barrier as she leveled a kick at the back of Nagato's head that would crack his skull, and then the Amekage screamed.
It was a physical explosion of frustration, a lightning storm, gravity wave, wall of fire, hurricane, earthquake, and freezing tempest all at the same time. It flung Utakata away so fast that Fuu didn't even see him disappear; it hit Fuu as a physical wall of burning white agony and flung her straight down into the earth, slamming her through ice, snow, and stone, and burying her more than thirty feet down, staring up at a channel she'd dug through solid rock.
'Fuu!' Chomei sounded concerned. Things started to go dark. Fuu couldn't feel anything.
Ow, she tried to mutter, her mouth not able to form the words. Did I break my back again?
She could still feel the other Jinchuriki and their struggles, but Fuu couldn't move. She could sense unconsciousness probing at her, like parts of her brain were shutting down one by one. Sound, touch, hearing, and taste disappeared one by one, leaving her a pair of eyes at the bottom of the pit and nothing else. Chomei was doing something, using her chakra to keep her body together, but she was really hurt. Probably about to go into shock.
Fuu didn't mind, though.
She saw a crimson-gold rocket soar over the hole.
Like she was there at Kushina's side, she watched as Nagato turned, eyes wide, hand coming up for another incomprehensible jutsu. She felt Kushina's fist like it was her own punch as it slammed into Nagato's face at significantly more than the speed of sound, the way his nose broke with a crumpled snap. The Amekage flew backwards, bounced, and crashed into the mountainside, triggering yet another small avalanche of snow and stone.
Kushina came to a stop, shaking her fist out, and Fuu laughed in her head.
"Kick his ass, okay?" she chuckled, and then she passed out.
###
Sage versus sage. It was only the second time Jiraiya had experienced it, and he hoped never to again. There was something uniquely perverse about it, that two people could both achieve the kind of cursed enlightenment that was unique to Ninjutsu and then turn it against one another; perfectly in line with the principles of ninja, but anathema to the mutual understanding and peace sages were supposed to embody.
He and Yahiko hunted one another through the spines of the Sanbi. Konan rained explosives from above, and Karin's chains occasionally broke off from the Beast to harass him, but Yahiko was the main threat. Battles between sages were ugly things, dominated by brute force. Neither of them could penetrate the other's defenses, so they had resorted to slamming against another like wild animals.
It was the kind of fight that the fiction of shinobi would never show and myths would never tell, a tooth and claw scrap that more resembled two dogs chained together than trained professionals. Jiraiya had done his best to take advantage of his size, focusing on grapples. If he could pin Yahiko in place, a sealing jutsu could bind even a sage, but Yahiko had a well earned reputation as a vicious fighter and wasn't making it easy. A blade of wind had burst from his wedged fingers, and it had made countless shallow cuts across Jiraiya's body.
It wasn't a quiet, focused battle. The whole time, Yahiko and Jiraiya were screaming at one another and Konan.
"Should I drag one of the bodies up here for you?!" Jiraiya roared, smashing Yahiko into one of the Sanbi's spines and dragging his face along it as the wind-blade cut into his shoulder, arm, and side. "It's a false flag!"
"That's just how desperate he is, Konan!" Yahiko laughed, his blind face contorted with spite. "Telling such blatant lies! The other villages can see this is the end! They've sent everything they can!"
"Would you both shut up?!" Konan shouted down. Jiraiya couldn't help but feel her explosives were getting a bit more indiscriminate; probably because she'd realized Yahiko wouldn't be harmed by them, but maybe there was something more. "Yahiko, you need to hurry this up!"
"Oh, my apologies!" Yahiko said with a sneer as he shoved Jiraiya away, the both of them panting and bleeding. "I'm sure sensei will just lay down and die for me, Konan!"
Jiraiya didn't throw himself back in. He circled, and Yahiko did the same, the both of them appraising each other's injuries. Konan did the same above, the three of them spiralling around each other.
Spirals, recursions, betrayals. Everything swirled around in Jiraiya's head, the countless connections overwhelming him as he stared into Yahiko's rage. He felt tears pricking at his eyes, and wished there was one thing he could say, the perfect words that would bring this all to an end, but those words didn't exist and never could. They were a fantasy, untouched by reality.
He went for something more shinobi.
"Nagato's losing," he pointed out, and Yahiko's head snapped to the side as he probed out with his sixth sense. Jiraiya attacked in the same moment, and Yahiko caught the kick on his arm.
But he didn't catch the Frog Kata strike following it, which blew him straight through one of the Sanbi's spines. The Beast let out a roar of discomfort, but was still completely bound by the Adamantine Chains. Instead of taking the advantage, Jiraiya looked up towards Konan, speaking as clearly and as urgently as he could. They could both see the Tailed Beasts fighting in the distance, and heard the scream of frustration and pain from Nagato a mile away.
His student was the greatest ninja alive, but against everything Yahiko had forced him to face…
"Don't you see?" Jiraiya said, pouring his soul into it. "Even he can't fight the whole world."
Konan stared down at him, arms spread, explosive tags writhing in her wings.
"Karin!" she said, making a sudden decision. "Go help Nagato! Bind the other Beasts!"
Was that even possible? Jiraiya had no idea, and he had a feeling the young Uzumaki didn't either. Nonetheless, the girl obeyed. He sensed her down below as the chains withdrew from the Sanbi and she began running towards the battle, her chakra sharpening.
She was terrified. Jiraiya could feel it.
"That's not what I meant," he said with a sigh. Below him, the Sanbi began bucking once more. Now that it was free, it would probably start running again.
But to Jiraiya's surprise, it started to turn around, facing back towards the battle. Yahiko lurked nearby, hoping to ambush him from behind one of the spines. Konan descended, her face expressionless.
"What then, sensei?" she asked somewhat cruelly. "Do you really think you can turn us from our path now?"
"Konan," Jiraiya said, "I've spent this whole fight trying to figure out just how to do that. You won't believe that Yahiko brought his own ninja here to betray you; you won't believe that Rain's plan will only cause unimaginable suffering in the long run." He spread his arms. "And now, you won't even believe that Nagato is losing, when you've literally made him fight the whole world! Of course he would lose; your plan was foolish from the start!"
"We still have the Cannon," Konan insisted, and Jiraiya laughed.
"Really? Wasn't Nagato defending it? You haven't split your power with clones, so I doubt you are!" He looked back towards the Fortress, feeling different chakras scrambling across it. "In fact, it feels like some of Obito's team is set to take it at any second."
He felt Yahiko tense; his student had been too focused on the fight to pay attention to his expanded senses.
"And now you're in checkmate. You know you can't get past me to get back to the Cannon. Nagato's in trouble, but the same problem applies there. You've placed yourself in an unwinnable situation through your own arrogance." Jiraiya grimaced. "If it hadn't been Obito and his team, it would have been someone else. You compressed all the great powers of the world into one place and believed you had the means to control them with violence alone. Could you really be that naive?"
"It would have worked!" Konan insisted. "If it weren't for Obito-!"
"Then someone else would have pulled the same damn thing!" Jiraiya shouted, losing any shred of patience he had left. "Even if the Bijuu were gone, people would still chafe, shinobi or not: they would resort to poison, bombs, suicide strikes, anything and everything to break your hold on the world! One person isn't enough, even one person like Nagato, and the same goes for one weapon!" He laughed. "And Yahiko knew that! He's right! If you really do want to rule the world like that, you can't take half-measures! You have to kill everyone who could possibly oppose you now, all together, not piecemeal later on! If you wanted to be judge, jury, and executioner, you should have been ready to become the greatest mass murderers in history!"
His students were struck silent as Jiraiya continued to rant. "But that's not you, Konan! It never has been! You were always the balance between Yahiko's ambition and Nagato's power, and now they've both failed you, become unbound from you, lost themselves to their greatness and forgotten what made them great! Here you are, letting yourself be strung along by them, and for what?! A friend who will die and leave you alone? A lover who's done nothing but lie to you, gotten your ninja killed, turned whatever sincere attempts you made at this Summit into a war zone?!"
Yahiko was saying something, but Jiraiya couldn't hear him. His vision had gone red; all he could hear was his raging heart, and all he could see was Konan's slowly shifting face, like a glacier melting and revealing sorrowful stone beneath. "Wake up! It's over! You did your best, and regardless of our disagreements, I'm proud of you for that! But you have to understand: the most you can do now is save what's left!"
Konan paused, her sorrow becoming clear. She started to speak. "Sensei-"
And Jiraiya, so caught up in the moment, didn't notice his Sage Mode fading until his sixth sense vanished.
Konan's eyes went wide; Jiraiya started to turn, already knowing in his soul what was coming.
Yahiko hit him from his missing eye's blind spot, driving the whirring wind blade through his chest and ripping it out his side. Jiraiya had turned just enough to keep his heart from being destroyed, but he felt his rib cage collapse, a lung explode; it was still a fatal wound, just not an instant one.
Jiraiya collapsed with a groan and a spray of blood, falling without control to the Beast's back as cold shock tore through his body. He scrabbled in his pockets, searching for a weapon on instinct, but they were long gone; even his storage seals had been exhausted.
Yahiko stood over him, blood dripping off the invisible blade emanating from his fingers. Jiraiya's spinning mind was sure his student would deliver a coup de grace, but after a second Yahiko shook his head and waved his hand, dismissing the blade. Hot blood splattered everywhere as it whipped away, its persistent whine vanishing and leaving behind the sounds of the distant battle.
"There," he said. To his credit, he didn't gloat. Jiraiya wheezed as he tried to pull himself away, arm shaking and chakra spasming as he failed to grab the Beast's shell. "It's done."
Jiraiya grunted, blood pouring from his mouth and drowning out his words. Yahiko knelt down, squatting over his dying teacher as Konan watched everything with plain horror. "What?" he asked. "Some last words of wisdom, sensei?"
'That was a…'
He couldn't get the words out; just one, if he was lucky. Jiraiya looked into his student's blinded eyes, feeling his heart start to fail, and hissed out from between blood-stained teeth.
"Mistake."
Jiraiya's gut caught fire.
The Yakushi Shiki, which he'd spent several sleepless nights helping Naruto develop and had been the first test subject for, activated.
Steam burst from Jiraiya's body, the blood in his mouth evaporating from the heat of Naruto's chakra, and Yahiko jumped back. Maybe he expected a suicide jutsu, the same kind Danzo had nearly claimed Jiraiya's life with. That might have been the more tactical decision, even.
But the distance just gave Jiraiya the time he needed to surge to his feet, a giant Rasengan in hand, and smash Yahiko through another of the Sanbi's spines.
It finally did damage; even through Sage Mode's reinforcement, Jiraiya felt something inside Yahiko break from the force of the jutsu.
Yahiko caught himself, spinning to a halt before he could fly off the Beast's back. He was all bared teeth and unsuppressed rage; he'd worked himself up to land the killing blow, Jiraiya knew, and now anticipation and acceptance had been wholly replaced by anger and frustration. "What the hell is this?!"
"Don't cry too hard, Yahiko," Jiraiya grunted, reaching up. He ripped his eyepatch away.
For the first time in decades, he looked out onto the world with two eyes.
"You still took ten years off my life with that stunt."
"What…?" Yahiko muttered, at a loss for words. A trickle of blood leaked from his mouth, unnoticed. He had to feel what Jiraiya felt, how every lingering wound had been healed, his chakra restored; striking him down had just made him more powerful than ever.
"So, wanna kill me again?" Jiraiya asked, his fury lent a surreal clarity by his near-death. "How many times do you think we need to go through this?"
"That was a one-time deal," Yahiko said after a moment. "I can feel that. Whatever that was, it's gone now. A seal? I didn't know you were that skilled, sensei."
"It was Naruto's, not mine," Jiraiya said, the bittersweet metaphor of his life and death both coming from a student momentarily overwhelming him. "I just helped him out."
Yahiko tensed, ready to jump back into the fight, but Konan's voice brought the both of them to a stop.
"Yahiko," she said quietly. "We should stop here."
Yahiko whipped on Konan in a rage; Jiraiya could feel the ground rumbling under them as the Sanbi started moving, advancing towards the battle with Nagato. A golden bullet chased the Sage Reborn around the mountains, cutting thousands of tons of stone to pieces with its speed.
"Now?!" he spat. In one of Jiraiya's books, Konan would have flinched, but his student was made of sterner stuff than that. She stayed resolute in the face of her lover's rage, determination plain.
"Sensei's right. If we keep fighting here, we'll lose everything," she said, drifting down towards him. "We need to get Nagato and retreat. Destroy the Cannon, and fall back to Amekagure. We'll lose most of the country, but we can at least keep the Akatsuki alive. The other villages will-"
"Fall upon and destroy us!" Yahiko said. He was screaming, his anger a physical force that pushed Jiraiya and Konan back a step. "Just as they have time and time again! Just as they're doing right now!" He stepped forward, looming over Konan; he grimaced so fiercely that blood leaked from his blinded eyes. "There's no more going back, Konan! I came here to make sure of that! The other villages must be erased; the rest of the countries must be destroyed! There has to be just us! That's the only way to make sure that Rain wins, that the Akatsuki wins! If you're too cowardly to see that through, leave! Leave it to someone that will get the job done!"
Jiraiya wasn't as wise as he wanted to be, but he was wise enough not to speak. He let Konan put the pieces together herself as Yahiko screamed in her face.
"Sensei was telling the truth," she said, her voice a whisper against his storm. "You didn't come here alone."
"Of course not!" Yahiko declared, so arrogant that Jiraiya could have wept. "You and Nagato may not have acknowledged it, but you needed me here! The other villages would never have accepted the detente, just like Jiraiya said! If it weren't for me, our home would be attacked again! I brought the fight to where it needed to happen!"
"You betrayed me again," Konan said, colder than ice could dream. "Me and Nagato both."
Yahiko laughed, arms spread wide. "I saved you from yourself!"
Before Jiraiya's heartbroken eyes, Konan hit Yahiko harder than he could have imagined.
She punched him center mass with all her might. At the moment the blow struck, her entire arm exploded, a shaped charge that erupted into Yahiko's chest with enough force to destroy a town. He was flung off the Sanbi, smoking and bleeding, tumbling down into the snow far below like a bloody rag.
"Konan-!" Jiraiya reached out, and she nearly did the same to him before restraining herself. Her arm regenerated, paper stacking upon itself again and again until her form was whole.
"It was all a waste, sensei," she said, sounding dead. "Your time with us, the Akatsuki; there was a poison at its heart from the start."
"You're wrong," Jiraiya said with a shake of his head. "Yahiko was your strength, not a poison. I never wanted-!"
"It's too late," Konan said. "I did what we should have done the second he attacked the Hidden Leaf." Her dead eyes shifted towards the ravaged mountainside. "I'm going to go help Nagato. I may die. I hope you can forgive our countless failures."
"Stop!" Jiraiya said, reaching out once more, but Konan flew from the Beast's back with a supersonic burst of speed that nearly knocked him over, set on the distant battle.
Jiraiya stared after her, paralyzed by tragedy. But after a moment, he shook off his self-pity. Konan had made her decision; he could be proud of that decisiveness, at least. He turned and leapt off the Sanbi, plummeting down into the snow towards where Yahiko had fallen.
He found his student staggering through the rubble and ice, coughing blood and still partly on fire. Konan's attack had compounded the existing internal damage, Jiraiya realized with a shock. It had been an explosive blow that could undo even a Sage: had it been conceived of to deal with him?
"I'll kill her," Yahiko mumbled to himself, his sightless gaze swinging to Jiraiya. His Sage Mode was beginning to fade, and there was no sign of more Natural Energy pouring in. Whatever trick Yahiko had used to extend his Sage Mode, it had finally started to fail in the face of back to back battles with Obito and Jiraiya. His face paled, his vitality fading fast. "I can't believe…"
"That's really your first thought?" Jiraiya said, crossing his arms. He wanted to feel enraged on Konan's behalf, but all he could muster was despair; as high as Obito had climbed, Yahiko had fallen even farther. The joy he'd felt at the Summit's shattering had proved temporary in the face of this brutal reality. "Seriously?"
"It's just another betrayal!" Yahiko wetly coughed, limping forward. He swayed, unsteady on his feet, and made several hand-signs: another wind blade appeared between both hands, held like a longsword. Blood ran down his chest and arms, mixing into the sword and turning it into a crimson whirlwind. "I came here to build a new world, and she repays me like that?!"
"You never asked her what she wanted," Jiraiya said, a morbid calm stealing over him. "Or Nagato, for that matter." Yahiko paused, the last of his Sage chakra fading as it rushed into the bloody wind sword he'd created. "You decided what was best for them, even after they'd made their own decision."
"I know what they wanted," Yahiko sneered. He rushed forward with sudden energy, blade held high. "But what they wanted was a fantasy!"
He swung down, and Jiraiya slid past the blow. They dueled for several seconds, Jiraiya avoiding the invisible sword but not counterattacking. As they danced, Yahiko kept ranting, but both his movements and his voice grew weaker by the second.
"Removing weapons doesn't remove motives!" he said. "It only makes them worse! If they wanted this, they needed to be ready to create a new world, one where there was no question as to their superiority! They needed to kill every enemy and create a blank slate! You said so yourself, Jiraiya!"
"I did," Jiraiya said, tripping Yahiko and slamming an elbow into his back. The blind man stumbled, swung backwards, and fell, rolling to his feet with a snarl. He coughed again, a great gush of blood staining his chin. "But it's never been a problem of whether you're correct or not, Yahiko."
"So why stop me?!" Yahiko said. "It can't just be another boring debate about means and ends! It can't be that childish!"
"You were always like this," Jiraiya said somberly. "Calling simple things childish because they get repeated. But all of history is just the same words again and again. Simple things aren't childish; they're just fundamental." He started going on the offensive, and despite Yahiko trying to fend him off he caught a punch to the jaw and a kick to the gut, almost going down once more. "Returning the world's sins against Rain to it won't fix anything."
"It would!" Yahiko insisted. "If we went far enough!"
"But you never could, because the people fundamental to that plan don't agree," Jiraiya said. He kicked out, and one of Yahiko's knees broke; he went down with a grunt of pain, and scored Jiraiya with a deep slash across the leg in return. Jiraiya went to one knee, blood rushing into the snow. "Which you know, which is why you tried to force them."
Yahiko grunted weakly, but Jiraiya cut him off before he could speak again.
"You could have had it all, right from the start," he said in a quiet tone that even Yahiko couldn't interrupt. "And I don't even mean at Mount Myoboku. Everything that's happened to Rain since you took over has been self-inflicted. And yet, you still play the victim. But it was you who imprisoned the Daimyo instead of letting him go free; it was you who started the policy of poaching other villages' ninja and accepting their rogues; you who undermined your neighbors with intentionally cheaper missions; you who meddled in the Land of Lightning and got that idiot of a Daimyo installed; you who delivered Katasuke Touno into their hands to build the Cannon; you who attacked Konoha instead of being genuine with them; you who betrayed Nagato and Konan even after they showed their love for you was unlimited; you who truly destroyed this Summit instead of giving Konan and Nagato a chance to follow through with their dream. And now, you've been abandoned by everyone, even the people who would have died for you without a second thought."
Yahiko tried to stand up and fell again as his broken knee buckled; he instinctively tried to prop himself up on his sword of wind, but it was a Ninjutsu, so it could only kill, not support. Yahiko collapsed into the snow. Jiraiya sighed.
"The dream of Rain is dead. You killed it."
He thought Yahiko would shoot back again; his student had always been the kind to lash out when he was hurt or insecure, and he hadn't shown any signs of improving on that. But for the first time, Yahiko stopped and listened instead of speaking, and Jiraiya joined him.
The sounds of the battle poured over them, distant crashes and roars and sonic booms shaking the mountains. Yahiko trembled, more blood leaking from his pale lips.
"You're wrong," he said weakly.
"I wish I was," Jiraiya said.
"I can't believe…" Yahiko said. Jiraiya limped over and sat next to him, his wounded leg stretching out as he tucked the other under him. His student had lost enough blood that he barely posed a threat. The damage Konan had done would have been incredibly impressive in any other circumstance: today, it was just tragic. "I can't believe she hit me. We never hit each other."
"You didn't give her a choice," Jiraiya said firmly. "She loves you, Yahiko. But after what you've done, even someone who loves you couldn't stand by any longer. You've gone full blown megalomaniac."
Yahiko stayed quiet for a full minute, wheezing and coughing up blood. Jiraiya didn't move from his side.
"I feel like you're judging me," he eventually said.
"I am."
"I didn't live up to your expectations."
"You did not."
"Couldn't you lie, and make me feel better?" Yahiko said with the ghost of a laugh. Jiraiya didn't find it very funny.
"I'm never going to lie to you, Yahiko," he said quietly. "You were a great shinobi. I may have made you too great a shinobi. That was probably the problem from the start." He looked up into the blue sky, the weather cleared by the force of the battle. "You never looked to make a world without shinobi; just one where yours were the only ones."
"You're the one always saying that shinobi were here to stay," Yahiko said faintly, and Jiraiya shook his head.
"Another shitty lesson from me, then. I should have taught you to shoot for the impossible, not work with what you had," he said. "You ended up inheriting a different fantasy anyway: the fantasy of violence, or justified ends, or whatever you want to call it. Maybe if you'd had an equally impossible goal they would have cancelled each other out."
"I don't like how you're talking about me in the past tense," Yahiko said, impossibly sounding like himself again. Jiraiya wiped away a tear.
"I'm pretty sure you're dying," he said, and Yahiko grunted. "What, you don't agree?"
"No, I think you might be right," Yahiko said. "But I guess… I'm more worried about Konan than myself." He let out a cough. "I don't want her to think she killed me. I didn't realize she was that strong."
"No one ever has," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "I don't know why, but she's always underestimated. But don't worry. I'll take credit. She can lay the blame on me."
"Heh," Yahiko chuckled bloodily. "Thanks. But then, why are you still here?" He shifted, staring up at Jiraiya with empty eyes. "Didn't you tell me that if not for a miracle, I'd die alone?"
"I am your miracle, moron," Jiraiya said, the words coming without a thought.
Yahiko didn't have a response for that. They sat together for a couple minutes, long enough for the battle to start to come to an end. The echoing booms faded, and the mountains stopped shaking.
"Who won?" Yahiko asked, his voice barely audible. Jiraiya shrugged.
"Dunno. And I don't think I'll find out quite yet," he said, and Yahiko weakly shook his head.
"Answer me one thing, then," he said, and Jiraiya acquiesced.
"Sure."
"You've talked a lot about ninja and legacies, sensei," Yahiko said, each word a struggle. "But I've never gotten a straight answer out of you on one thing. Do you think a shinobi is defined by how they died, or how they lived?"
"Your legacy is gonna be tarnished either way," Jiraiya said, and Yahiko feebly banged a fist against his side.
"If you know what I mean, answer the question," he whispered.
Jiraiya closed his eyes, doing his best to crush down his emotions while still speaking from the heart.
"In one of my books, the audience would hate you too much to forgive you. And it's the same for the world." He opened his eyes and looked down at Yahiko's pitifully crumpled body. "Even if you survived today, Yahiko, you'd spend the rest of your life alone, paying for your mistakes and praying for redemption. And that's if you actually took the time to repent for everything you'd done. You've driven away all you loved. Maybe with a hundred years of good work you could make up for your sins, but you'd never be forgiven, and they'd never be forgotten."
He placed a bloody hand on his student's chest, feeling the barely-there beat of his heart. Just one burst of chakra, and it would stop forever. "Does that sound better than your story ending here?"
Yahiko pondered the question for about twenty seconds in silence.
Then he answered.
Jiraiya's chakra surged, and Yahiko was gone.
###
When Obito popped out of the Kamui with Rin at his side, they both immediately were almost crushed by a falling mountain.
"Whoa-!" Rin let out an abbreviated shout and punched the collapsing cliff into pieces, and then they were drawn into the frenzy of the battle without time for another word. They'd appeared on an icy ridge overlooking the Fortress, and Obito took in the situation with just a glance.
Fuu, Yugito Nii, Utakata, and Han were down, buried in rubble, maimed, or pierced by the black chakra-stilling rods Nagato constantly fired from a cannon that had grown from his shoulder. Killer Bee and Rōshi were still fighting, but neither were manifesting their Tailed Beasts anymore; too much of their chakra had been drained, leaving them merely human.
If that were it, the situation would be hopeless. But Kushina and Minato had arrived.
Kushina had been transformed: gold and crimson chakra cloaked her entire body, and she moved with such speed and certainty that even Obito's eyes could barely track her. She harried Nagato constantly, striking from seemingly every direction at once with unbelievably deadly punches and kicks. But Nagato refused to fall back, snatching wisps of chakra from Kushina's cloak with every glancing contact and unleashing storms that pushed her off track, sparing his life by inches countless times.
However, Minato was within that storm, backing his wife up. In just two seconds, Nagato was impaled through the palm and slashed across his heel: the Yellow Flash was a nearly invisible hurricane of blades that capitalized on every opening, bleeding Nagato more and more.
Obito threw himself into the fight, Rin right behind him. Nagato saw him coming; his face was pale, and his eyes went wide with unmistakable fear.
"Stop!" he declared, with none of the force he'd possessed at the beginning. His certainty had been replaced by dread. "You must stop this!"
"Little late for that, jackass!" Kushina roared, catching him with an uppercut that broke his guard and sent the Amekage rocketing up into the sky. Kushina flew up after him, pushing off the ground with so much force that the entire ridge shattered, an avalanche rolling back down towards the base of the Fortress.
Obito jumped along with Minato and Rin, the three of them hanging in the air for a timeless moment. He looked back and forth, and found a smile creeping across his face. He couldn't remember the last time they'd all fought together.
"Rin! Sensei!" Driven by pure instinct, the Susano'o manifested, two skeletal arms shooting out to either side. Rin and Minato flipped in the air, standing on the construct's palms, and Obito hurled them up into the air after Kushina as human projectiles. All three of them attacked Nagato from every side, breaking one of his arms and shattering his shoulder cannon, but a gravity pulse caught Kushina and sent her hurtling horizontally, shattering the peak of a mountain and throwing her out of sight.
In return, Rin landed a solid punch and Nagato was sent back down, towards Obito; it was the most ridiculous pinball game he'd ever seen.
With no time to think of anything fancy, he kicked Nagato in the face. It was like striking a rock, and Obito slipped through before Nagato could start to drain his chakra.
They made eye contact for just a second, and then Killer Bee was there, a sword crackling with lightning in his hands. Even in Nagato's battered state, he was still unnaturally fast: he caught the blade barehanded before it could pierce his chest, the lightning running out, and spat a black needle from between pursed lips that Bee barely dodged with a tilt of his head.
In response, Obito kicked him again, landing a shot on his kidneys. Nagato fell into the avalanche covered in blood and groaning in agony. Obito fell after him, but a flash of gold caught his attention.
Rōshi had been captured. Karin had left the Sanbi behind and ambushed the Stone ninja, pinning him with the Adamantine Chains despite nearly being melted by a pool of lava Rōshi had desperately spat out. And she wasn't the only new arrival; the Amekage's other honor guard, Jūgo, had shown up too. He had ignored the fight, sprinting to where Nagato lay crumpled in the rubble, barely conscious.
Obito's eyes flickered back towards the distant Cannon. Jūgo had been guarding it, last he'd seen, but the boy must have realized how badly the battle was going for Nagato with Kushina's arrival. If he was here, the Cannon was undefended; one of his team would grab it for sure, and then they'd have the means to force an end to the fight even if Nagato couldn't be put down. That was just about perfect.
Minato appeared out of nowhere, obviously having Hiraishin'd down out of the sky. The Hokage had excellent instincts, and went to free his ally first; he appeared behind Karin and slammed the hilt of his knife into the back of her head, a nonlethal strike. The Uzumaki went down weightlessly, unconscious for a moment, and Rōshi tore his way out of her fading chains.
But in the same moment, Jūgo reached Nagato; he screamed wordlessly and dove forward, plunging his arms into the Amekage.
Obito blinked, observing the movement of both their chakra as only he could. Jūgo had some sort of Kekkei Genkai; in the same way Nagato had transmuted Itachi's flesh into his own, the boy transmuted his flesh into Nagato's. Obito had a subdued epiphany: it was likely from Jūgo himself that Nagato had figured out that technique, Rinnegan or not. Understanding of chakra didn't necessarily provide inspiration by itself; the Sharingan had taught Obito that lesson many times.
Jūgo shrunk with comical speed, becoming the size of a toddler in the time it took for Obito to hit the ground. Nagato's chakra erupted with as much force as a volcano. He floated to his feet, unearthly power striking at the ground around him in miniature lightning strikes and blowing everyone nearby back a step. Karin blinked awake from the rush of chakra, crawling away from Minato: he ignored her, all his focus on Nagato.
"Well," Obito said, crossing his arms. Rin landed on the other side of Nagato, looking over everything with a grim expression; Rōshi and Killer Bee circled; Kushina arrived with a sonic boom, her golden light spilling over the battlefield as she alighted on top of a massive boulder nearby. Nagato was at the center of the six of them, wary but strong beyond strength once more. "I guess that's fair play."
"Don't waste your words," Nagato said. "We're beyond them at this point."
Obito felt a final, immaculate pressure pour over him. He met it with a grin. "Alright then, Nagato," he said. He couldn't help it; he raised his hand towards Nagato, clenching it into a fist. His chakra crackled and snapped, an afterimage of his Susano'o superimposing itself over him. Everyone tensed, preparing to charge. Nagato gave him an incredulous look.
"Then let's speak with our fists."
They moved simultaneously, but Kushina was faster than was physically possible and led with a full-body punch that Nagato couldn't hope to dodge, only block. Molten earth raised up around him, forming lava armor that coated his entire body. Kushina's punch broke half of it off and sent him skidding across the ground, but she was burned in return, leaping away with a hiss of pain as one arm fell slack.
Minato disappeared and returned almost instantly, hurling knives at Nagato from three different angles and teleporting between them with unbelievable speed; the Amekage began to accrue fresh cuts, his lava armor spewing counterattacks but never quite catching the Hokage. Nagato made a familiar hand-sign, the signature of his modified Hiraishin… and Minato gently caught his hands between his own, clutching them almost tenderly even as his palms burned. His chakra started to drain away instantly as Obito, Rin, Killer Bee, and Rōshi desperately rushed in to save the Hokage.
"Oh!" Minato said, his tone frighteningly light. "So that's what you did."
Then he popped out of existence, carried away without transition. Nagato was left clutching at empty air.
Rin hit him from behind, having formed a spear of fire in between her hands: she preferred to fight with her fists, but any Jonin needed some elemental jutsu in their repertoire. It was purely meant as a distraction. She slashed it across Nagato's back, further superheating his lava armor, and didn't quite dodge his counterattack, taking a burning backhand that seared her shoulder and sent her hurtling away.
However, the attack gave Rōshi the opening he needed to leap onto Nagato. The Jinchuriki rushed into a full-body bear hug, wrapping his arms and legs around the Amekage. The lava armor seared him, but he grinned even as his mustache caught fire.
"Don't think you can use my element against me, Amekage!" His body was glowing, chakra raging through it even as Nagato drained it away with precipitous speed. Obito stopped, focusing on his ranged Kamui.
Rōshi exploded: literally exploded, his body and chakra transformed into a flaming bomb that knocked Nagato flat with a crack and completely destroyed his lava armor. The blast broke several of the Amekage's ribs, but Rōshi was left even worse off. Drained of chakra and overwhelmed by his modified suicide jutsu, his skin smoldered and blackened from his own heat as he lay vulnerable on the ground.
"Rin!" Obito shouted, and his eyes darted back and forth between Rōshi and Rin as Nagato shakily reached over to rip the Jinchuriki's soul out. He raced forward, praying he would be fast enough.
Space twisted and collapsed, and Rōshi was sucked away into the Kamui. Nagato shakily grasped out at the dimensional tear, but Obito leapt forward and stomped down on Nagato's hand, feeling his chakra drain away from the momentary contact as the Kamui faded. He focused and ejected Rōshi from his eye; the Jinchuriki popped out right next to Rin, who immediately began treating him even as her own wound continued to sizzle.
As Obito sank through Nagato's hand, safe in the Kamui once more, Killer Bee and three of his ink clones arrived from above, each wielding a stolen samurai sword. They all collapsed on Nagato at once; three blades missed their mark, but the fourth went right through his side, piercing a lung.
Nagato snarled, and gravity twisted in the air around him just like the Kamui had. Obito felt a thrill of both fear and excitement. The Amekage continued to grow over the fight, taking more and more inspiration as he was struck by new jutsu. Instead of flinging Bee away, space contorted: the Jinchuriki and his clones were mashed together into a miniature black hole, the clones collapsing into ink as Bee shouted in pain. His limbs twisted, bending at impossible angles: an arm and a leg broke, and Killer Bee collapsed into a heap.
"Nagato!" Obito looked up to find that yet another ninja had arrived: Konan soared in from above on wide wings of unblemished paper, her face set in rage. If she was here, did that mean Jiraiya was dead? Was Yahiko coming too? No time to wonder, just to act.
"Kushina!" he shouted, pointing. "Take care of her! I've got him!"
He didn't see Kushina nod, if she did; there was just a gold and crimson streak of light, and Konan was struck down out of the sky by a shining bullet. Adamantine Chains began filling the air: Karin had returned to the fight, putting Kushina up against two opponents at once.
But by some resonance, Kushina's Chains burst out as well, dueling Karin's as she chased Konan across the sky and tried to tear the woman's paper wings from her body. The air grew thick with chakra as Obito turned back towards Nagato, watching his opponent rise, bleeding over Bee's crumpled body.
Just the two of them now, with sensei running off to wherever he'd gone and Rin keeping Rōshi alive. But the Stone ninja's sacrifice hadn't been for nothing. Nagato breathed heavily, much of what Jūgo had repaired undone.
"Wanna see something cool?" Obito asked, bouncing lightly from one foot to the other. He smoothly drew the White Fang from his back, overwhelmed by the moment. He didn't even know if what he was about to do was possible, just that it felt right.
Nagato didn't answer. He just charged forward, a vortex of lightning, hail, and razor winds held in between his hands, and unleashed it, content to force Obito into the Kamui and attack Kushina from behind.
Blinding white and black light bled off the White Fang; the unnatural sourceless light that filled the Kamui. Obito slashed out, drawing a line of nothing through the air in front of him.
'I know it.'
The sword Kakashi Hatake had given away in his final moments cut open the world.
Nagato's attack slipped into the void and vanished, and the Amekage stumbled to a stop. He blinked.
Obito didn't give him a chance to collect himself. He launched forward with a lightning fast series of strikes, forcing Nagato back as he desperately parried the gleaming White Fang with his hands, draining away the interdimensional chakra around it. He knew that if Obito landed a clean hit, chakra absorption or not, his body would be thrown into the Kamui. Or at least, pieces of it. That would be the end of the fight right there.
They dueled across the shattered landscape, countless exchanges that left the both of them panting and on the edge of exhaustion in just seconds. Obito used everything he had, every jutsu and dirty trick and display of swordsmanship he'd ever learned, copied, or stolen. His Susano'o emerged, wreathed in flames that poured into and out of the Kamui at unpredictable angles as the ground constantly collapsed around the both of them, threatening to take them off their feet at any moment.
Nagato was pushed back, and true to Obito's proposition they spoke with their fists. He could hear Nagato's voice more clearly than any conversation.
"I really thought that if I threw everything away, I'd win," Nagato said. "I gave it all up; my beliefs, my kindness, my subordinates, my morals. I was ready to kill anyone and everyone to make things right, and it still wasn't enough? Is that really fair?"
"If it's any consolation," Obito said with a smile, "if I hadn't been here, I think you would have pulled it off. Not forever, but for today at least. Does that make you feel better?"
"No," Nagato admitted. Obito leveled him with a kick that nearly fractured his skull, but the Amekage spun back to his feet and sent the White Fang flying with a gravity pulse, ripping the skin from Obito's hands in the process. "It doesn't. I don't know if this was right or wrong anymore: at this point, I think I need to just keep fighting until I win or die."
"If that's what you want," Obito said. "But I think you're wrong about that."
"Why?" Nagato asked. "What could possibly make you think that?"
"Dunno." There was a flicker of movement, but Obito barely registered it, drawn as deeply into the battle and the conversation as he was. "But we all came here for the same reason. That means there must be a compromise, right?"
Then pain rang through the connection, and it broke like a snapped bone. Obito blinked.
Minato had appeared behind Nagato in the midst of the most intense fight of his life, and stabbed him in the back.
Nagato wheezed, his hands coming up into the sign for the Hiraishin; the first chance he'd had since the battle had begun in earnest. He intended to retreat and heal, Obito realized; he'd thrown away everything, after all, so there was no shame in that. Nagato could keep running away and coming back at close to full strength until all of his opponents were ground down, knife in the back or not. Obito reached out, trying to interrupt the sign, but was too slowed by his own exhaustion and injuries.
But nothing happened.
"You should have realized that so minor a change wouldn't be enough," Minato said quietly, twisting the knife and pulling it out. Nagato groaned, stumbled forward, and collapsed, blood pooling around him.
The ceaseless energy animating Nagato didn't vanish, but it began to slip away like a storm coming to an end. Minato had pierced his core and severed his spine, one of the surefire ways to make molding chakra more difficult. Nagato writhed on the ground, bleeding from dozens of wounds, and seemed unable to pull himself together. The accumulated stresses of the battle had finally overcome him; his chakra ramped down in intensity, leaving him more human by the second.
"What happened?" Obito said, cautiously stepping closer. Minato breathed out, wiping his knife off on his already soiled Hokage regalia.
"I took care of his Hiraishin seals," he said, and Obito whistled, impressed. "We couldn't let him retreat, and analyzing the modification he made to the formula was simple enough once I got ahold of him."
Only Minato, Obito thought, would call figuring out the modifications made to a space-time jutsu in the middle of a battle only through observing the opponent's hand signs and physically feeling the flow of their chakra 'simple.' His sensei never made it possible to forget how absurd he was.
"Wow," Obito said, not sure what else there was to say. It all felt slightly anti-climactic, but that was usually how fights involving Minato went. He looked back to Kushina and her battle, but it seemed to be coming to an end. Konan was grounded, ragged and barely conscious as pieces of paper peeled away from his face and body. Karin was wrapped in Adamantine Chains, struggling to produce her own and failing. The golden cloak covering Kushina was coming apart, frittering away in ribbons of red. She looked exhausted, but when she looked back to Obito and her husband, a smile that could light up the whole world slipped across her face.
She gave a thumbs-up, and Konan's gaze was drawn to Nagato, face-down on the ground. It seemed to be the final straw. Her face cracked; Obito felt his own heart ache at the agony plain there. Hopeless, heartbroken, and beaten, she collapsed, having failed to save her friend despite her desperate last minute attempt.
How close had he come to wearing that face, Obito wondered? Standing there covered in his blood and others with the most powerful man in the world wheezing at his feet, he felt truly disconnected from his body, watching Konan shudder on the ground. Even if she'd come here to kill someone precious to him, in that moment they were one and the same.
Kushina and Minato met amidst the battlefield, crashing into a hug that nearly bowled the Hokage over as the last of Kushina's Kyuubi chakra faded away. She was left sweating and pale, overwhelmed by the energy that had been pouring through her, and sank into Minato's embrace with obvious relief. Obito watched as they held each other.
Things hadn't gone well, but they'd worked out. He could work with that.
"Obito, thank you," Kushina said, still not pulling away. "I know this couldn't have happened without you."
"Maybe," he said, not trying to sound cocky. "Though it's not quite over." He turned back to Nagato, taking a deep breath. "What do we do with him?"
"Kill him, of course," Minato said, finally pulling away from Kushina and silently approaching.
"You think so, sensei?" Obito asked, and Minato firmly nodded. He honestly wasn't sure; the ramifications of Nagato's fate were overwhelming.
"There's no choice. He's too dangerous to be left alive," Minato said, not sounding remorseful. For the first time since he'd arrived and declared war on the world, Obito really looked at his sensei, trying to take him all in instead of just analyzing his fighting style or predicting what he'd say next.
Minato looked free and unburdened. It should have been heartening to see, but for some reason it made Obito's heart skip a beat. He'd never seen his teacher so careless; even when Minato was having fun or joking around, he always had the responsibilities of the Hokage present, underlying every action and word.
But right now, he was different.
"I don't think I would take issue, normally," Obito said, struggling to articulate his feelings. It suddenly seemed very, very important. "And you're right about how dangerous he is. But I didn't come here to kill anyone, even Nagato. Kushina's safe; I think I'm done."
"I doubt he'll learn a lesson from this," Minato said coldly, still approaching Nagato. "I won't let this happen again. I won't let anyone try to take Kushina from me." Behind him, Kushina tilted her head with a curious look, looking stuck between flattered and surprised.
"Sensei, you know that even if you kill Nagato…" Obito cautioned, and his teacher came to a stop just a couple feet away.
"I know, Obito. Kushina will still be in danger, so long as she's a Jinchuriki," he said, crossing his arms. Nagato's blood dripped from his sleeves, staining long red rivulets down the pristine white of his cloak.
"That's why we have to kill all the Kage."
Obito and Kushina froze. About a hundred feet away, Rin poked her head up, Rōshi unconscious beside her.
"Huh?" Obito asked, sure he'd misheard.
"They're all still here," Minato said, looking back towards the fortress. "Some are already injured; all are fatigued. The best way to keep Kushina safe is to kill them all. They agreed to this execution, and they're fundamentally untrustworthy." He spoke calmly, clearly, the voice of the Hokage that Obito trusted with his life. "With the other Villages decapitated and their Bijuu here, we can form a new order. It doesn't necessarily have to be founded purely on Konoha's strength, but they won't be able to oppose us. Kushina…"
He turned back towards his wife with a grim look. "You'll finally be able to have a peaceful life. You'll never have to sacrifice anything ever again."
Obito blinked, shaking his head and trying to wrap everything Minato was dreaming of up into a coherent vision. His teacher was right; now that Nagato had fallen, there was nothing stopping the Summit from becoming a complete slaughter. The two of them working together could kill the other Kage and leave Konoha an undisputed, unchallengeable power between the two of them and the Cannon.
But that was the exact same trap Nagato had fallen into. Minato wasn't stupid, so he had to know that; he was only thinking of his wife's security, not the Leaf's and not the world's. Slowly but decisively, Obito shook his head.
"That's not why I came here, sensei," he said, and Minato turned to him with a patient smile.
"The village system is fundamentally flawed, Obito. There could be no greater proof than this. Didn't you come here to overturn it?" he asked.
"I just came here to prevent an injustice, not create a new one," Obito said. "I hope that makes sense. The system is rotten, but murdering the other Kage won't solve anything in the long run, especially at a diplomatic summit." He stepped forward, holding both his hands out in an entreating gesture. "It's just like you told Madara. Becoming the focus of every grudge will end in mutual destruction. That's exactly what happened here already." He glanced at Nagato, and Minato gave a firm nod.
"That's very possible," Minato said. "But I'm sick of taking things slow. I'm tired of fearing the consequences of my actions. I know I can keep Kushina safe; I know this is the right way."
"Do I get a say in this?" Kushina asked, and Minato looked back at her. The three of them had formed a rough triangle, invisible electricity crackling between them. Rin was approaching, looking equally baffled and alarmed at the standoff.
"You mean everything to me, Kushina," he said. "Of course you get a say in this."
"Then I don't think I want this," she said with a frown. "Minato, I can't be someone that so many people died for. I was…" She stopped, but breathed out and finished the thought. "Well, I was made to be just the opposite, y'know?"
"Then we'd be at an impasse," Minato said with a sad smile. "All these years, I was a fool. I told people again and again with a sure heart and a steel mind that a shinobi was one who sacrificed. You, sensei, my parents, Kakashi… everyone I ever knew was my model." He turned back to Obito. "But you proved the truth of it from the start, Obito. I should have looked to you and Rin, not Kakashi. A shinobi should be someone who refuses to turn their back on the ones they love."
"But you'd turn your back on my wishes?" Kushina asked. Minato still looked unburdened, Obito realized. He was speaking entirely from the heart, just as Obito himself had.
"I would," he confirmed. "I've made up my mind; I've realized it was silly to play this game so long when there was never a way to win. So I'm going to end it." He shuffled his feet, almost childish. "I hope you can forgive me, but I can't stand the thought of you being used like this again, Kushina. Like I told you: if it was you or the village, or you or the world, I'd pick you every time."
Kushina looked angry, but Obito could see in the way she relaxed that there was no way she'd fight her husband. They'd argued in the past, but never come to blows: that wasn't the sort of couple they could ever be.
But of course, Minato disrespecting her wishes had never involved mass murder before. Obito breathed deep, feeling hungry chakra cycling throughout his body. Even if his mind was reticent, his body was still filled with an eerie battlelust. He had an overwhelming premonition he'd been born for this day, and the day wasn't over yet.
The instant arrived without ceremony. Minato lashed out, moving for the prone Nagato and preparing to drive a knife into his brain.
And Obito did the same, his eye ripping open a gash in space that Nagato plummeted through in the blink of an eye, vanishing out of sight.
Minato stopped, knife digging into the snow where the back of Nagato's head had been. He looked up, and Obito looked over his shoulder.
Konan, too injured to move, fell into the Kamui as well.
"Obito," Rin said, coming to his side and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're sure?"
"I'm sure," he said.
"Obito," Minato said, slowly standing up. Another knife slipped from his sleeve, falling into his blood soaked hands. "Don't do this."
They were all struck silent by the impossibility of the moment. Obito gestured at his headband and the slash that transfixed it.
"Too late," he said. "I'm doing it."
"Why?" Minato said. "I know you love Kushina too. You have to understand this won't keep her safe."
"I think if I've learned any lesson these last couple years, Minato, it's that I can't keep everyone safe. And that's okay," Obito said, and Minato's face hardened. "I like you a lot more than Nagato. I think you're doing this for the right reasons. But I didn't come here to install a different tyrant in his place." He grinned, feeling his whole body shake in anticipation. "If you really want to kill all the Kage, I'll have no choice but to save them from you."
A freezing wind tore across the mountains, stirring the snow and whipping Minato's white and red cloak around, splattering dripping blood in the glittering ice. Obito gingerly reached up and touched Rin's hand, whispering to her.
"Would you keep them alive?" he asked, and to his infinite gratitude, she nodded. He drew her into the Kamui too, trusting her to keep herself safe. Kushina watched everything with narrow eyes, obviously still trying to make a decision.
"Well," Minato said, and to Obito's surprise a similar grin spread across his face. He was excited too: the both of them were pushing towards a resolution they'd never dreamed of, the climax of all they'd learned and struggled towards. His hand came up.
He made the Seal of Confrontation, opposing Obito as an equal.
Obito returned it, deja vu raising goosebumps all across his body.
"Good luck, then."
Minato disappeared in a flash, and Obito was gone too as they both hurtled back towards the Fortress.
To slay or spare the Kage, and to shape the world to come.