Chapter 191: The Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki Descends (Patreon)

Uchiha Obito, "Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki"?

Now that he knew his next challenge target, Uchiha Ayato was over the moon.

Uchiha Obito was the other main culprit of the night of the clan massacre. He had personally joined the fray and helped Uchiha Itachi wipe out the Konoha Military Police Force.

Go back a few more years…

Back then, it was this bastard who had single-handedly engineered the Nine-Tails Attack.

And because the Sharingan's traces were exposed during the Nine-Tails Attack, the Uchiha Clan's position under Konoha's high-ranking suspicion had grown more precarious by the day, like walking on thin ice. The waterlogged-brained old men of the clan had been driven into a corner, and that was when they turned their eyes toward the dead end of a coup.

If you had to put it that way, Uchiha Obito was one of the sources of the sin. Even setting aside personal vengeance, killing him would count as self-defense for Uncle Ayato.

What's more, the one the system had spawned this time was Uchiha Obito in his Ten-Tails jinchuriki state.

Uncle Ayato had only just been plotting to slaughter a Six Paths-level being and feed it to the Divine Tree as nutrients, and right on cue the system had delivered a ready-made test subject to his door. It couldn't have been more thoughtful.

At the thought that in forty-eight hours he could personally stuff that jerk into the tree's roots and put him to good use, Uchiha Ayato was so delighted he wanted to pop champagne on the spot.

But…

The next moment, an astonishing sensation against his chest and a scalding heat through his clothes yanked his thoughts back.

He could only blame the system's timing for being so good. Uchiha Ayato had been so busy mentally arranging Uchiha Obito's funeral that he'd forgotten to dodge Yorozu, and now she was hanging off him like a koala.

Yorozu's gorgeous face was less than three inches from his, her flushed cheeks burning hot. Her misty eyes were fixed on his lips, and scorching, sugary breaths spilled from between her slightly parted red lips:

"Mm… I never thought your body would be this solid, or that you'd smell this good…"

Seeing the scene, Togawa Sakiko instantly flew into a panic.

What's going on, what's going on? Trying to pull this right in front of Saki's eyes? Unacceptable!

Spinosaurus form, activate! Togawa Sakiko, permission to huff!

The girl's little face flushed bright red as she rushed forward. Grabbing the arms Yorozu had wrapped around Uchiha Ayato's neck with both hands, she yanked with all her might and scolded in a fluster:

"What do you think you're doing, you shameless woman!? Get off Ayato this instant! Don't do such presumptuous things, desuwa!"

Even though Little Togawa had the superhuman physique of a Heavenly Tyrant, how could she easily shake arms reinforced by cursed energy? On top of that, Togawa Sakiko was afraid of accidentally hurting Uchiha Ayato and never dared use her full strength, so the outcome of this contest was decided from the start.

Sakiko tugged for ages, but Yorozu clung to Uchiha Ayato without budging an inch.

The girl was so worked up she was nearly shedding little pearls of tears. Gripping Yorozu's wrists, she accused her loudly, embarrassed and furious:

"Auntie! You look at least thirty, don't you? At that age, how can you be shameless enough to have feelings for Ayato? When you get old, you should accept it. No old cow grazing on tender grass! Behave yourself, Auntie, and go find some old uncle to match with!"

Hearing this, Yorozu, who had been rubbing her face back and forth in the crook of Uchiha Ayato's neck, finally stopped. She turned her head and eyed the beet-red Togawa Sakiko sidelong, then scoffed with perfect self-assurance:

"Hah? What would a half-grown little brat like you know? Love conquers all! As long as the love is burning enough, no problem is a problem!"

The more Yorozu talked, the more she felt she had the high ground. Her arms tightened around Ayato's neck, and she argued glibly:

"Besides, who gave you permission to call me 'Auntie'? I just look a little more mature and sexy! Strictly speaking, I'm someone who already died once a thousand years ago. Since I borrowed an incarnation to start a brand-new second life, naturally my age should be recalculated from when that second life began."

At this point, Yorozu puffed out her chest and announced smugly:

"I only woke up two months ago. Which means…"

"I'm actually only two months old!"

"What's a baby who's only two months old supposed to do, if not eat tender grass? Gnaw on old tree bark? I should eat tender grass!"

Togawa Sakiko: "?"

Uchiha Ayato: "?"

You're invincible.

That said, mature women really do have a flavor all their own. Even Soyo fell a few notches short of Big Sis Yorozu in that respect.

It's just…

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but why did it feel like there was a faint dampness coming from Yorozu's trousers?

Rather than indulge in beauty, Uchiha Ayato would much prefer to put an end to this little commotion.

"Pop!"

White smoke burst up at the center of the deck. Uchiha Ayato, who had been pinned by Yorozu, used the Substitution Technique and appeared three steps away.

At the same time, what Yorozu held in her arms turned into a rough, half-man-tall log.

She noticed the change in sensation instantly. After looking down and seeing the lump of wood in her arms, she let go at once and let the log roll across the deck.

Yorozu pursed her lips and glared at the boy in the distance, thoroughly displeased.

Uchiha Ayato patted the front of his clothes, rumpled from all the rubbing, and sighed, his head aching:

"Big Sis Yorozu, don't you think your love came on a bit too suddenly? I don't recall doing anything that would make you love me to death."

Yorozu planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin in rebuttal:

"That's just what you think. In my eyes, every part of you and every word you say shines. Besides, does love even need a special reason?"

In response to Yorozu's rhetorical question, Uchiha Ayato shook his head seriously and said:

"Quite the opposite. In this world, love is the thing that needs a reason most. Something that springs up for no reason is called a physiological impulse, or hormones going to your head. Only a bond built on knowing each other day and night, on salvaging each other and on shared experiences, can bear the weight of the word 'love.' The fervor you feel for me now is simply your instinct to admire the strong at work."

Yorozu was, of course, not persuaded. She shot back with a burning gaze:

"So what if I admire the strong? Absolute strength is absolute love! Yearning for the very peak of power, longing to merge with the strongest existence, that's life's purest, most primal instinct! Impulse is the cry of the heart. Piling up reasons to talk yourself into something, that's the real self-deceiving affectation. You attract me, I'm swept away by your bearing and your magnanimity, and I'm willing to give you both my life and my body. If that isn't love, then what in this world deserves the name?"

Uchiha Ayato fired back, cutting straight to the heart of it:

"If someone even stronger than me suddenly turned up tomorrow and twisted my head off, by your logic, wouldn't you turn around and fall in love with the person who killed me? If you take worship of power for love, the one being worshipped can be replaced at any time. I have no interest in being a trophy hung on the wall just because my fists are hard enough."

"Hah?"

Yorozu pulled an exaggerated funny face and craned her neck, raising her voice:

"Do you have some kind of prejudice against me? Don't underestimate a feudal woman! If you accept my love, then the two of us are one body. If you die, this old lady will be buried with you!"

Seeing how impervious Yorozu was, Uchiha Ayato quickly realized that arguing with her was purely a waste of breath.

A madwoman from a thousand years ago, and so strong.

He bluntly gave up on reasoning, sighed heavily, and raised a hand in a stop gesture:

"Fine, fine. Your hands and feet are attached to you, and your thoughts are your own. I can't stop you from liking me one-sidedly, but at least I have the right to refuse."

Meeting Yorozu's eyes, which were full of defiance, Uchiha Ayato pointed toward the distant Divine Tree without changing expression and bluffed with a perfectly straight face:

"To be honest, I'm a slow-burn kind of person when it comes to feelings. Right now I only want to focus on the work at hand, and I've got no thoughts of romance for the time being. So…"

"Let's talk about this after I've fought the good fight and walked the path I was meant to walk."

Yorozu: ???

Yorozu's eyes went wide. She stared in disbelief at the righteous-looking Uchiha Ayato, then at Togawa Sakiko swaggering at his side, and felt like she was about to crack in two.

Do you even believe what you're saying? Slow-burn, my ass!

*

Two days later. Tokyo. 3:40 p.m.

Tokyo's sky fell silent.

Rumbling trains, the clamor at the crossings, the wind howling between the skyscrapers… every sound was forced to a halt in the same instant by some indescribable, crushing pressure.

Thick lead-gray clouds rolled in from every direction. The firmament looked as if an invisible giant hand had wrung it into a funnel, the outer clouds gathering into a vast vortex with muffled thunder churning in its depths. Dazzling light from anomalous energy collapsed madly inward along the folds of warped space, finally forming a pitch-black singularity.

Puddles and fine gravel on the ground defied gravity, trembling as they floated into the air. Under the pressure of a level of life far above that of mortal species, the low-grade cursed spirits wandering the streets vaporized and vanished on the spot.

"Thud—"

A muffled boom like the heartbeat of a primordial titan-god burst across the atmosphere. A ring-shaped shockwave swept the sky and smashed the gathered sea of clouds to pieces.

The weather returned to clear. The warped singularity high above slowly dissipated, and a figure in a pale white robe, with nine black Truth-Seeking Orbs floating behind him, appeared in the sky.

His short silver-white hair whipped wildly. His right hand hung loosely around a black staff topped with a ring, and the tomoe mark on his back radiated a cold, sacred majesty, as if a god from myth had descended across dimensions.

His heavy eyelids trembled slightly, and Uchiha Obito slowly opened his eyes.

Glaring daylight flooded his vision, yet his consciousness was still lingering in that long, desolate farewell.

He remembered clearly that his body had been pierced by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's All-Killing Ash Bones and turned to crumbs scattering on the wind. He remembered entrusting the future to Uzumaki Naruto, and he remembered giving the last of his Chakra, along with his Kamui eyes, to Kakashi as a gift within the spirit world.

After that, he had closed his eyes in relief, ready to go to the other world and confess to Rin.

But now, the serene pure land he'd expected and that familiar girl were nowhere before him.

Uchiha Obito lowered his head, a little sluggishly, and stared in disbelief at his open left palm. The body that should have crumbled to ash was not only intact, but the surface of his skin was covered by a pale, scale-like outer layer that only grew after devouring the Ten-Tails.

And inside him surged Ten-Tails Chakra, vast as an ocean. The nine black Truth-Seeking Orbs orbited quietly behind him, bobbing slightly with his breathing.

This was clearly the form he'd taken as the Ten-Tails jinchuriki when he stood against the entire Allied Shinobi Forces!

Why would he, someone who was dead through and through, come back to life in this shell he'd long since cast off?

Uchiha Obito frowned, his fingers tightening instinctively around the staff, and his gaze fell blankly to the world below.

What met his eyes was neither the pockmarked wasteland of the Fourth Great Ninja War nor any familiar hidden village. Countless steel-and-concrete towers, flat and wide asphalt roads, and dense mirrors of glass stretched under the sunlight all the way to the horizon, forming a vast and utterly alien steel forest.

Just as he looked around, trying to sort out his thoughts, a shadow that swallowed half the heavens entered his view at the far edge where sea met sky.

Uchiha Obito froze in midair.

In the middle of that shimmering azure bay, a thick colossal tree had risen from the sea, its craggy, coiling crown stabbing into the clouds. Countless streams of brilliant fluorescence drooped from the lush foliage, and the bud at the top of the trunk was slowly drawing in and exhaling the energy of heaven and earth.

The Divine Tree!!?

How could that be???

Uchiha Obito stared at the all-too-familiar behemoth on the sea, and a storm of shock rose in him.

To plant this tree in the shinobi world and launch the Infinite Tsukuyomi, he had personally pushed the entire world into a sea of blood, until Madara's failure revealed that it was all just Black Zetsu's monstrous deception.

But…

He had clearly watched with his own eyes as Naruto and Sasuke joined forces to press the battle to seal Kaguya, and the Ten-Tails' Chakra was still inside him. So why was there a second, complete Divine Tree standing in this strange world?

Having weathered half a lifetime of upheaval and cycles of life and death, Uchiha Obito quickly suppressed his surging alarm. He drew a deep breath, closed his eyes, and spread his Six Paths-level senses in all directions.

As his senses swept over the densely packed blocks below, the first thing he noticed was something extremely strange.

The millions of humans below harbored only some cold, viscous negative energy, wholly unfamiliar to him. There wasn't so much as a trace of Chakra.

In this Chakra-less world, apart from the Divine Tree in the distance, which radiated its presence like a blazing sun, his sensory net still caught three distinctly different Chakra signatures.

The nature of the first was extraordinary: a terrifying hybrid, the Nine-Tails' Chakra perfectly fused with another, unfamiliar Chakra.

As for the other two, faint ones…

Uchiha Obito's eyes snapped open, full of astonishment.

He would never mistake those two Chakras even if he were reduced to ash.

Kakashi? And Itachi?

Why were those two in this godforsaken place too, and why were their Chakra signatures so faint, as if they were about to die the next second?

Uchiha Obito didn't hesitate. The space around him exploded, and he turned into a pale streak of light tearing across the sky, shooting toward where they were.

In the blink of an eye, he was hovering above the roof ridge of the Sangedatsumon Gate.

On the ridge, Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi were bound face to face by several Wood Release vines, unable to move.

Seeing their wretched state, Uchiha Obito lightly waved the staff in his hand. Two Truth-Seeking Orbs howled out from behind him, stretched midair into sharp black blades of light, and silently swept past the two of them.

The instant they touched the orbs, the indestructible Wood Release vines were annihilated into ash.

Freed, Hatake Kakashi instinctively leapt backward the moment his feet touched the ground. He whipped out a kunai and held it across his chest, every muscle taut to its limit.

This was hardly an overreaction on Hatake Kakashi's part.

Uchiha Obito's whole body now radiated the pressure of the Ten-Tails jinchuriki. For the moment, Kakashi had no way to tell whether beneath this terrifying shell lay the demon who had tried to end the world, or the old comrade who had found himself again.

Seeing his best friend point a kunai at him as if facing a mortal enemy, a subtle sting of hurt rose in Uchiha Obito.

He had fully expected to catch up with an old friend in a foreign land, and this was the reception he got.

He set his face and forced out a cold smile.

"What? Kakashi, are you afraid I'll kill you here? Put the kunai away, there's no need to be so tense. I'm just as lost as you are right now. I have no idea what's going on either."

As he spoke, Uchiha Obito's gaze fell on Hatake Kakashi's eyes, now fully exposed.

The vertical scar across his left eyelid was still clear, but those eyes, which had briefly blazed with the light of Kamui in the battle against Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, had now completely reverted to ordinary black pupils.

Uchiha Obito sighed lightly, a note of a veteran's wistfulness in his voice:

"Judging by the look of your eyes… the last bit of Chakra I gave you before I left is used up, too."

Hearing this, Hatake Kakashi relaxed at once.

An Obito who could say that so casually was, without a doubt, the best friend who had seen through everything and let go of his obsessions.

Kakashi put the kunai back in his pouch, scratched his messy hair, and crinkled his eyes as he apologized to Uchiha Obito:

"Sorry, sorry, I overreacted. Though you can't blame me entirely, can you? Who told you to look so scary right now?"

To this wholly insincere joke from his old friend, Uchiha Obito merely gave a noncommittal hum.

He didn't dwell on his own appearance. He turned and cast a scrutinizing gaze to the other side of the eaves, where Uchiha Itachi was silently working life back into his numb, aching limbs.

One glance was enough for Uchiha Obito to take in Itachi's wretched condition.

His left eye had turned grayish white, clearly blind. And in the one remaining right eye, the Mangekyou Sharingan's ocular power and ocular technique had been locked away by some kind of ultimate seal, leaving them useless.

Uchiha Itachi had sacrificed one eye to launch a forbidden technique, and still been defeated, and had the other eye crippled as well. Even Kakashi, who possessed dual Kamui, had been beaten and trapped here…

The strength of whoever had done this was simply unfathomable.

Uchiha Obito's face darkened.

He tightened his grip on the staff, his gaze sweeping back and forth across Kakashi's and Itachi's faces, and asked in a low voice:

"What exactly is going on? Who is it that imprisoned the two of you here with Wood Release? And another thing, the people of this world clearly have no Chakra, so why does the Divine Tree exist here?"

[Author's Note: (.. There's censorship here ("river crabs"), so this is just filler to pad out the censored word count. ..)]

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[Author's Note: PS: Ohoho, kids, I'm all set to watch the band team take on the film-and-TV team. Yesterday people said I jinxed A-ddeung by hyping him up, so today I dropped 10 coins straight on BLG. Let's Go! 39!]

[Author's Note: Quick plug for another book.]

[Author's Note: Synopsis: Transmigrated as Gojo Satoru, he finally manages to grasp Reverse Cursed Technique, only to unexpectedly end up in the Type-Moon world.]

[Author's Note: Many years later, in order to bring back a friend who secretly joined the war, and to research whether the Greater Grail could cross worlds, Gojo Satoru travels to Snowfield and enters the Holy Grail War. Then he summons his very own Servant: Morgan le Fay.]

[Author's Note: …]

[Author's Note: A few days later, the Holy Grail War in Snowfield gradually spirals out of control. Faced with that formidable witch, some people decide on the most classic tactic: bypass the Servant and take out the Master directly.]

[Author's Note: The plan goes astonishingly smoothly. That white-haired young man is actually sitting alone at an open-air café, without so much as a decent ward around him.]

[Author's Note: Until… a sharp blade stops at the side of his neck and can't advance a single inch, no matter what.]

[Author's Note: The white-haired young man sets down his coffee and raises a hand, revealing the Command Spells on the back of it.]

[Author's Note: "You didn't get the wrong guy. I'm the Master."]

[Author's Note: "But I hope you don't misunderstand."]

[Author's Note: He takes off his blindfold, revealing a pair of azure eyes.]

[Author's Note: "In this Holy Grail War, you guys are the challengers!"]

[Author's Note: The attacker looks at Gojo Satoru, who has already stood up and started stretching his wrists, and falls into brief contemplation. Good news: found the enemy Master. Bad news: why is the enemy Master warming up?]