In this moment, it was as if the entire world had lost its color, leaving only shades of gray and white across the expanse.
All that remained was that glaring streak of crimson red—and the pink pierced through by a black rod.
Sasuke, who had cautiously approached the battlefield's edge alongside Shikamaru and the others, lifted his head only to witness a scene that rooted him to the spot.
His muscles felt as though they had locked together, rendering him utterly immobile.
To Sasuke, it was as if he had been abruptly transported from flat ground to ten thousand meters in the air, the sudden weightlessness filling him with dread.
Sakura…
The Sharingan's exceptional vision allowed him to see every excruciating detail of that black rod piercing the girl's body.
The rod's sharp tip effortlessly tore through Sakura's clothing, then her skin, sinking into her flesh, piercing her organs, scraping against her bones, and emerging from her back…
In his ears, he seemed to hear Sakura's pained groan, along with the sickening sound of the rod cutting through her body.
Sakura…
His mind flashed back to their days at the Ninja Academy. Even now, Sasuke could vividly recall how, after a grueling fifty-lap training session on the field, she had shot him a fierce glare.
Then, after Uchiha Itachi massacred their clan and Sasuke's psyche shattered, he had wanted to defeat Sakura to prove his strength—only to slink back home alone after her "gentle and kind" care.
From that point on, Sasuke threw himself into training—day and night, relentlessly.
At some point, his goal shifted from killing Uchiha Itachi to surpassing Sakura.
This didn't mean his vengeance had faded—hatred wasn't the entirety of a person's life.
To be consumed by revenge for a lifetime would make one's existence far too tragic.
Memories, long sealed and gathering dust, flickered through his mind like a revolving lantern.
The ninja tool he had given Sakura—
Her tending to his wounds in Kusagakure…
The two of them squeezed together on a carriage…
Until just a month ago…
After the failed ambush on Kumogakure's rear logistics, the four of them struggled, and Sakura carried him step by step through the snow. Gravely injured, he had wanted to stay behind, refusing to be a burden.
But Sakura soothed him, reigniting his will to survive.
Yet now, that flash of pink seemed on the verge of vanishing.
This pink-hued world was about to turn utterly gray, stained red with blood—blood that dyed Sasuke's eyes crimson.
Why? Why must this world strip away even my last shred of hope?
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
"Sakura!"
Don't die! Don't die! Don't die!
Live! Live! Live!
Sasuke thrashed wildly, desperate to break free from the comrades pinning him down. Blood and tears mingled as they streamed from his eyes, an indescribable agony surging from his heart.
This world was too cruel!
Why? Why must it torment me like this?!
Father's gone, Mother's gone—everything is gone!
And now Sakura too?!
This world is hell!
Please, live!
I'll create a world with Sakura—
"Huh?"
Sasuke froze as he watched the girl casually send the masked man flying with a single punch. Under the gaze of his Sharingan, the wound on that pink-haired figure healed at an astonishing speed.
"Obito…"
Kakashi stared in disbelief at the man rising from the snow, his entire body rigid with shock.
The sudden appearance of a third-party force plunged both Kumogakure and Konohagakure into an eerie silence.
Only Kakashi trembled as he gazed at the man, half his face marred with scars.
Uchiha Obito's expression darkened as he glared at Sakura, who had caught him off guard and sent him sprawling with a fist.
Why? Why hadn't the black rods—born of Yin Release and Yang Release, capable of disrupting chakra flow—affected this Haruno Sakura?
In Uchiha Obito's calculations, piercing Sakura's body with a black rod should have rendered even the so-called Yin Seal useless under its influence.
Yet what had just unfolded slapped him square in the face.
Sakura glanced at the black rod she'd tossed to the ground, then eyed the man before her warily.
She understood the principle behind the rods.
In the original story, Pain had used them to successfully subdue Naruto.
But that was an ordinary Naruto, after his Sage Mode had run its course.
Yin Release and Yang Release? She was proficient in them too.
By countering the rod's effects with her own Yang Release and Yin Release, she neutralized it.
Don't mistake her for a reckless brute—she'd thought this through carefully beforehand!
Even letting Uchiha Obito give her that piercing strike!
"Obito?"
"You're Uchiha Obito?!"
At Kakashi's words, Jiraiya finally recalled that his late beloved student, Namikaze Minato, once had a dead-last disciple by that name.
"Didn't you die long ago?!"
Jiraiya's face hardened as he barked at the suddenly appeared Uchiha Obito.
According to Konoha's ninja records, this man had perished years ago. Yet now, not only was he alive, but he wielded a bizarre technique and had ambushed Sakura!
This alone was enough to brand him a rogue ninja!
No—even without attacking Sakura, failing to return to Konoha all these years despite not being dead already made him a traitor!
"Heh… Haha."
"Hahahahaha!"
Uchiha Obito's body shook as he burst into manic laughter.
The exposure of his identity had indeed caught him off guard.
Until now, he'd deceived Nagato and Konan by masquerading as Uchiha Madara.
He no longer cared much about the consequences of his unmasking.
Right now, Kakashi's expression—shocked, crestfallen, disappointed, pained—successfully stirred the emotions he'd buried deep within.
"Kakashi!"
"Wipe that dead-man's look off your face!"
"It makes me sick!"
Uchiha Obito's words made Sakura's brow furrow slightly.
"The Uchiha Obito from back then is long dead!"
"The me standing here is no longer that same Uchiha Obito!"
What was he getting so worked up about?
Kakashi had only said his name.
While keeping her guard up, Sakura slowly edged closer to Terumi Mei and Kakashi.
"Judging by your outfit, you're with the same group as Zetsu, aren't you?"
The Raikage's sudden interjection made Jiraiya's ears perk up.
"Indeed. Right now, our priority is dealing with Haruno Sakura."
The Raikage's words earned a slight nod from Uchiha Obito.
That statement turned Jiraiya's expression ice-cold.
As expected—this man had betrayed Konoha!
Kakashi, hearing this, was overwhelmed with anguish.
His long-dead comrade had turned against the village, making all his years of suffering feel like a cruel joke.
"Obito, can you tell me why?"
Kakashi clung to a desperate hope, seeking an answer from Uchiha Obito that contradicted everything he'd just heard.
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