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Sakura stood in front of Obito. Her whole body was shaking, both hands holding her kunai inches away from Obito's rinnegan.
In a way, she reminded him of Rin. She was a kunoichi specialized in medical ninjutsu, she trained every day, to be able to protect her friends and her village. Obito couldn't deny that Sakura was strong, after all she had been the one to defeat Sasori, the infamous puppeteer from Akatsuki. But today she lacked the determination.
Sakura knew the stakes. Right now they were in Kamui, out of Madara's reach, thanks to Obito's sharingan. But it was only a matter of time before Madara found a way to this dimension and showed up to retrieve his left eye. Obito couldn't resist him. Weakened after the nine bijûs were extracted from him, he was paralyzed, using whatever strength he had left to prevent Black Zetsu from taking hold of him and delivering him to his master.
For an instant Obito wished he had Rin in front of him. She hadn't hesitated to take his sharingan. She wouldn't hesitate now to take his eye out, if that could save the world.
The portal to the other dimension opened and Obito could feel an immense amount of chakra coming his way. "He's here..." he immediately used Kamui as well and threw Sakura through the portal. The girl was no match against Madara anyway, she'd be more useful on the battlefield. And if, or rather when, things came to this, Obito preferred to have her submitted to Infinite Tsukuyomi than to have her dead before.
"This Kamui competence of yours is very useful in battle..." Madara commented. "To think that you willingly gave a sharingan to someone outside of our clan..."
"I thought I was going to die!" Obito defended himself and retrospectively, he wished Madara had just left him for dead under that rock.
"Sharingan... and rinnegan go by pairs, and I've come to retrieve mine. Now be a good boy and hand it over."
Obito knew he couldn't defeat Madara. Even in his best shape, even with Jûbi inside of him, he was no match for him. He could escape this dimension, and Madara would just pursue him outside. But still, he wasn't going to give up. Earlier Naruto hadn't given up: against all odds he had convinced him to abandon his dream. Obito could at least try the same.
"Honestly... I could have let you cast Infinite Tsukuyomi yourself. We shared this dream, it didn't really matter who did it. Staying together forever, watching over humanity, did sound quite appealing. I was ready to accept this last minute change of plans. But then you had to betray me and let yourself be defeated. All that hard work you've done for me during the last 18 years was for nothing."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi isn't a solution. Wars will stop... everyone will be happy, but that happiness will only be a lie. But we can achieve peace, through communication and trust.
Madara grabbed Obito by the throat. "Trust, you say... how ironic coming from a traitor." He shot a quick glance at Black Zetsu. "Let go of him, I'll take it from here."
Without giving it time to protest, Madara sent Black Zetsu back to the battlefield and turned to Obito again. "This world is beyond salvation. Hashirama and I founded Konoha, hoping that the conflicts would end, that never again children would be sent to the battlefield to die there. And look what happened during the 80 years that followed. Not one or two, but three ninja wars! If I allow the world to go on as it is, the ones you pretend to love will ultimately die in a war to defend their village. Your dear mentor Minato is dead, the girl you loved is dead, how many of your friends are you still ready to lose?"
Obito expected this. That same reasoning had convinced him, 18 years ago. "It's true that Infinite Tsukuyomi will allow me to see Rin and Minato again. In that reality I will be the Hokage, acknowledged by the village, and living in a peaceful world. But none of this will be real. Rin is dead, and she would be ashamed to see what I've become. She'd despise me for choosing an easy solution based on a lie. And..." he hesitated for an instant. Naruto had used a strong argument to show the flaw of his reasoning, Obito probably should do the same with Madara. "Izuna would look down on you for choosing this solution!"
"Dont you dare bringing my brother in this. Izuna knew from the start that Hashirama's dream was an utopy. There were some among the Senju and the Uchiha, who truly wanted peace, but the memory of the ones we lost, the resentment between our clans, and the mistrust still persisted. Founding Konoha did improve the situation for a moment, but it's been at war with the neighboring countries since. My mission, my dream, is to achieve durable peace and save the world, and you're the only obstacle left."
Obito grabbed Madara's free hand before it could reach his eye. It should have been easy for Madara to kill him now, by either strangling him or ripping his heart out of his chest. Then, taking back the rinnegan would be a piece of cake. But it seemed Madara wanted Obito to live, after all. And Obito decided to ask what he's been wondering about for two decades. "What am I to you?"
"My life insurance. You've revived me, you've paid your debt, and I have no more use of you. Now give me back my left eye. And as a reward for serving me during 18 years, I'll let you live and join your beloved Rin in the blissful world of Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"I don't believe you." Madara was angry, disappointed and hurt by his betrayal. He couldn't mean these words. There was only one way to find out. Obito didn't have any better idea anyway. He grabbed his hair and pulled him into a kiss.
Madara struggled for a moment, gripping Obito's throat with one hand and pushing his other hand towards the rinnegan. Obito didn't yield. He was free to move, now that Black Zetsu was out of this dimension, and he wasn't going to give up so easily. He softly bit Madara's lower lip, and slid his leg between his thighs.
Obito's head was spinning. He realized he'd been wanting for this for a while. Ever since Madara had returned thanks to Edo Tensei, Obito had unconsciously longed for physical contact. He was playing a dangerous game, standing so close to him, trying to distract him out of his Infinite Tsukuyomi dream, and trying to not completely lose it.
Madara eventually gave in, he loosened his grip on Obito's throat, sliding his hand to his neck instead. He parted his lips and let out a soft whimper as he felt Obito's tongue meeting his.
Madara moved his hand down Obito's back, pulling the other man's hips against his. It felt like heaven, and Obito stopped listening to reason. He could stay like this forever, holding Madara in his possessive embrace, feeling his heart pounding in his chest, and his body trembling against his. They were the same. Born with a kind heart, they had lost themselves to the darkness. But not everything was lost. Obito hoped he could fill the void in Madara's heart, and save him, just like he had been saved.
Obito eventually pulled away, breathless.
"Obito..." Madara whispered in his ear. "I've made my decision. Let's go back to the battlefield."
Obito complied and the portal opened, to the team 7, anxiously waiting for them. Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura stared at them, eyes widened with terror.
Obito frowned. There was something wrong for sure, he felt something was different but he couldn't quite figure out what. Until he looked into Madara's eyes, and instinctively stepped back. The ghost of the Uchiha, holding the power of the six paths sage, possessed his two rinnegan as well.
Obito felt his heart sinking in his shoes. "When... and how... did you do this?"
"Genjutsu. When you thought I had given in, you were already trapped in it."
"So... everything that happened there was a lie?"
"Think whatever you want."
Obito was expecting Madara to mock him for being so easily fooled, to brag over how nobody was powerful enough to prevent him from fulfilling his plan, in other words, to make some typical villain speech. Instead he just seemed tired, as if resigned to his fate.
"I've been betrayed or abandoned by everyone I cared about... my brother... my clan... Hashirama... you..." Madara sighed and looked up at the moon. "I can't trust anyone." His gaze lowered to Black Zetsu, waiting on the ground. "Or anything... Amaterasu."
Black Zetsu didn't have time to react before it was engulfed in black flames.
"Infinite Tsukuyomi is our only future... this hopeless and rotten world must come to an end."
Madara flew towards the moon. Sasuke activated Susano and attempted to grab him and throw him back to the ground.
As Madara was expecting, a third eye opened on his forehead. As written on the Uchiha tablet... as I come closer to the moon, the third eye opens... so that I can achieve the ultimate dream...
"Shine upon the world... Infinite Tsukuyomi."