On the mountaintop, Kurō looked at the masked man before him, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
His tangled fate with this guy had started before either of them was even born.
Back then, both families had happened to go to Konoha Hospital around the same time to wait for childbirth.
Their due dates were close, and they were from the same clan.
After chatting for a while, the adults found that they got along quite well.
So the parents discussed it and simply decided to move closer together.
That way, the children would have someone to play with.
Thus, when Kurō was around one year old, his parents in this life planned to move next door to Obito’s family.
However, not long after they moved in, Obito’s parents died during a mission.
While Kurō’s parents felt regret and sadness over it, they also decided to look after the family next door as much as they could in the days to come.
After all, only Obito’s elderly grandmother and the baby Obito were left.
As for Kurō’s reaction back then?
When he learned that the baby next door, the one he had been teasing for fun, was the same Uchiha Obito who would later take Madara’s name, awaken the Mangekyō for the sake of his beloved, unleash the Nine-Tails, fight the Fourth Hokage, control the Mizukage, deceive Nagato, unify the Akatsuki, gather the tailed beasts, start the Fourth Great Ninja War, become the Ten-Tails’ jinchūriki, gain the Rinnegan, fight Sasuke and Naruto, and spend his whole tragic life chasing after Rin, Kurō was completely stunned.
Wait.
Who?!
His first reaction at the time was to stay as far away from him as possible.
Putting aside all the outrageous things this guy named Uchiha Obito would do later, just the possibility of being noticed by that half-dead old schemer, Uchiha Madara, was enough to make Kurō break out in a cold sweat.
He did not have an awakened system.
Before he had time to develop, even a half-dead Madara could toy with him to death.
For the sake of his privacy and personal safety, baby Kurō made an extremely firm request.
Move houses.
Then… there was no then.
His parents in this life had the typical Uchiha way of thinking.
They did not listen to the opinion of a baby.
I don’t care what you think.
I care what I think!
After that, although he was somewhat unwilling, Kurō’s childhood and adolescence really were spent together with Obito.
At first, he did think about keeping his distance from Obito.
But he had to admit, before Obito fell into darkness, he really had been a very good person.
When Kurō was six, his parents died during a mission.
And during that dark period of his life, the one who stayed by his side the whole time was the Obito from back then.
Young Obito’s warmth and kindness slowly wore away Kurō’s initial wariness over the long years.
He was, after all, living in a real world.
After more than ten years together, Obito had become something like family to him.
Kurō had once firmly resolved to try changing Obito’s fate.
But because of all kinds of reasons… he failed.
In the end, Obito still became the man Kurō knew.
The one whose Kamui could not hide his tears.
I… didn’t change anything.
Thinking back on everything from the past, a faint trace of dejection flashed through Kurō’s eyes.
But on the surface, he instantly switched back to that exaggerated persona.
It was a disguise he had created years ago because he had been afraid that old bastard Danzō might start eyeing him.
He had taken inspiration from the two absolute oddballs around him, Guy and Obito, the kind of talents Root would never value.
Over time, that act had become a mask.
It was both a way to hide his true thoughts and a method to release pressure.
Kurō let out a loud breath and snapped at Obito irritably, “You bastard, would it kill you to walk normally?!
There are only two of us here, so why are you hiding your presence?
Showing off like this is seriously getting old!” He put on an annoyed expression and angrily swung the sword in his hand at Obito a few times.
The blade flashed.
The edge passed through that phantom-like figure, and naturally, nothing happened.
Tch.
This intangibility really is way too disgusting.
Both envious and irritated, Kurō sheathed his sword.
Then he asked in a bad mood, “So why did you come looking for me?
If there’s nothing important, I’m going back to Kirigakure.
There’s still a pile of work over there waiting for me.” “…It’s nothing major.” Obito looked at Kurō and spoke calmly.
“I only noticed that when you met Itachi earlier, you seemed to be in a bad mood.” His tone became meaningful.
“Such obvious provocation.
That really isn’t like you.” “…Should I be in a good mood right now?” Kurō looked at Obito, and a shadow flashed through his eyes.
Although he did not feel much attachment to the Uchiha clan itself, and although he fully understood that the extremists among the Uchiha were indeed a bunch of lunatics who could not see reality clearly, most of the ordinary people in the Uchiha compound had been innocent.
He had grown up in the Uchiha compound.
The neighbors who had watched him grow, the people around him, more than ten years of life there… how could he have no feelings for that place at all?
After failing to stop Obito from walking into darkness, Kurō had realized that the Nine-Tails’ attack was coming.
But even if he knew that future, what could he do to change it?
Talk Obito out of it?
Don’t be ridiculous.
Who knew whether that obsessed man would still recognize him as his former senior?
Based on Kurō’s understanding of Obito, there was a good chance he would not kill him.
But Kurō did not dare gamble his life on that possibility.
As for leaking the relevant information to someone else in advance… What?
You’re saying there’s a masked man calling himself Uchiha Madara who knows the Nine-Tails jinchūriki’s delivery date and plans to attack Konoha?
Whether that’s true or not, let’s first talk about how you, an Uchiha, know that the Nine-Tails jinchūriki is about to give birth.
No!
No need to explain!
Yamanaka Squad, come out and search his mind!
Kurō: “…What can I say?” At that time, although Kurō was already stronger than Kakashi, who had fallen into isolation, the gap was limited.
At most, he was at the level of an elite jōnin.
How was he supposed to get involved in that mess?
Even with the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the person he trusted most at the time, he could only try to give vague, indirect hints.
After all, while Minato Namikaze was indeed a kind man, Kurō had lived in the ninja world for many years.
He knew very well that when it came to the village and his wife Kushina, that man would not be careless in the slightest.
Minato would definitely try to confirm whether the information was true.
Even if that meant searching Kurō’s memories.
In the end, reality still moved along its original path.
The Nine-Tails’ attack broke out.
The Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails jinchūriki died in battle.
The only thing different was that afterward, their bodies mysteriously disappeared… Kurō looked at Obito in front of him, pulling his thoughts back to reality.
Then he put on an exaggerated expression and said, “I’m working myself half to death in Kirigakure cleaning up the mess you left behind, and now you’ve dragged me here to attend Itachi’s induction ceremony.
Is it really that hard to understand why I’m in a bad mood?” Obito fell silent for a moment.
Moonlight fell on his orange spiral mask, casting its patterns in shifting light and shadow.
His voice lowered.
That hoarse tone carried the kind of obsessive words Kurō had already heard far too many times.
“You don’t need to care too much about the Uchiha.” He paused.
His exposed right eye looked through the hole in the mask toward the full moon on the horizon.
“In that dream world, they will all live happily… just like Rin.” Kurō rolled his eyes inwardly.
He had long since gotten used to this guy’s rhetoric.
He had heard this whole “dream world” speech at least eighty times, if not a hundred.
“So what exactly do you want from me?” Obito looked deeply at Kurō.
This was the only friend still left by his side.
The person who had grown up with him, knew all his secrets, and still had not left.
Obito slowly opened his mouth and spoke calmly.
“I want you… to become Itachi’s partner.” Kurō: “…What the hell?!!” His voice exploded across the mountaintop, startling several crows perched in the distant trees.