radicalducati Page 103
Page 103
Obito, panting heavily, suddenly burst into laughter. "I won't admit it! Come at me again if you dare!"
You paused for a moment, then chuckled softly, "What a stubborn fool."
You crouch down and reach out to poke the swollen, red cheek covered in dirt, which immediately makes the other side grimac and cry out.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Can't you be a little gentler?"
"How will you learn if you're gentle?" You withdrew your hand, but the coldness in your eyes had melted considerably.
Obito lay on the ground, gazing at the jagged stalactites on the cave ceiling, and suddenly said, "Actually... I know you meant well."
Your body visibly stiffened for a moment, but you quickly regained your dazed state. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm just bored and using you to pass the time."
"You're lying." Obito turned his head, looking directly into your eyes. "You could have easily ignored me and let me fend for myself, but you came to train me every day, even if it was very violent..."
You were silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and pinched Obito's face, pulling it forcefully to both sides. "Looks like I didn't hit you hard enough, leaving you with the energy to spout nonsense."
"Ouch! Let go! Let go!" Obito struggled, but there was a smile in his eyes.
"You're still laughing even after being hit?" You let go of her hand with disgust.
Obito sprawled out in a starfish shape, staring at the cave ceiling and grinning foolishly, "Because you'll take me to see the meteor shower."
A sigh came from the depths of darkness, "Youth is truly wonderful..."
"Meteor shower..." Obito murmured to himself, a smile unconsciously creeping onto his face. Although he was beaten black and blue every day, he felt a sense of presence he had never felt before.
Some people care about his progress, some are willing to goof around with him, and some even promise to take him to see a meteor shower.
This feeling, perhaps, is what is called "bond".
Deep in the cave, you lean against a stone pillar, arms crossed, gazing at the distant firelight with a complex expression.
You can hear Obito's silly laughter, which both annoys and inexplicably reassures you.
"Foolish..." you muttered under your breath, unsure whether you were referring to Obito or yourself.
The area of the freckles is always filled with a suffocating sense of oppression, but some ominous intuition pulls you along.
Whispers seeped from around the corner, slithering into your ears like the flick of a viper's tongue.
"...Let that little girl die at the hands of that silver-haired brat..."
Blackie's sticky voice will make your fingertips tense instantly.
"...Obito, that kid, can only unleash his true power in the deepest despair..." Madara's low laughter was like a dull knife scraping against bones.
Your kaleidoscope suddenly contracts in the darkness, and chakra overflows uncontrollably—you're hallucinating.
Blood, lots of blood. Obito kneeling in the rain, screaming, shards of his goggles embedded in his bleeding eyes...
"Come out yourself."
Ban's voice suddenly shattered the illusion, and you realized that your fingernails had dug deeply into your palms, and tiny beads of blood were seeping from under your pale skin.
You slowly stepped out of the shadows, your black hair falling down and obscuring your eyes.
Madara's Rinnegan gazes calmly at you. "You've arrived earlier than expected."
The shadows on the stone wall began to distort, and your lips twitched. Suddenly, you let out a low, husky chuckle. "So... you want to dirty his hands?"
Your voice suddenly rose, "With Lin's blood?!"
The cave began to tremble, and rubble fell in a flurry, but Ban only took one step forward, and the terrifying pressure pinned you to the spot like a tidal wave.
“This is a necessary sacrifice.” He reached out and touched your cold cheek, his touch as gentle as wiping ninja tools. “You know very well… only darkness can give birth to light.”
Your pupils trembled violently as you saw Obito's smiling face appear behind Madara. The boy was holding a burnt fish and grinning at you, with the bump on his forehead from yesterday's beating still on it.
Black Zetsu suddenly wrapped his arms around your ankle. "Anyway, you're a demon who crawled back from hell... so why pretend to be merciful?"
"Shut up." Your chakra exploded, shattering Black Zetsu into several puddles of slime.
The spots on the stone chair resembled those of a decaying god, and the channels of the heretical golem writhed on his withered body like countless greedy snakes.
In the dim cave, only those two Rinnegan eyes still shone terrifyingly bright, like a blood moon floating in the abyss.
How much did you hear?
His throat felt like it was being choked by something invisible, and he couldn't make a sound.
After a long pause, you finally heard your own light, airy reply, "I heard everything."
The voice was very soft, yet exceptionally clear, as if it didn't come from your mouth, but rather drifted from some distant, cold corner.
Madara nodded slightly. "So, what are your thoughts?"
"...very nice."
You hear yourself answering mechanically, your voice hollow and unlike your own.
Ban raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly, seemingly somewhat surprised.
Black Zetsu immediately crawled out of the shadows, his sticky voice filled with urgency, "Lord Madara! Don't be fooled by her! She's been getting along really well with Obito lately!"
Your eyelashes trembled slightly, but your face remained expressionless. Madara ignored Black Zetsu, simply raising his hand and beckoning you closer.
You hesitated for a moment, but in the end you took a step and walked over, your steps as light as a wandering soul.
His withered, bony fingers gripped your chin, the pressure light yet rendering you immobile. His Rinnegan stared directly at you, his voice low and seductive, "Let me see... your loyalty."
You allow Madara's chakra to invade the depths of your consciousness.
In the illusion, crimson moonlight shines down, and you stand on a desolate battlefield, with shattered ninja tools and dried blood beneath your feet.
Before me stood a young Madara Uchiha.
He wore a high-necked blue robe, his black hair cascaded down his back, and his scarlet Sharingan stared coldly at you. His posture was as straight as a knife, and he exuded an arrogant and domineering aura.
"Your affection is nothing but a joke to me." Ban crossed his arms, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "I don't trust anyone."
"I know love is my business, whether you accept it or not is your business!" You took a step forward. "Does your distrust of anyone stop me from loving you?"
Your fingertips sink into the folds of the spotted blue robe, the taut muscle lines beneath the fabric reminding her of a drawn sword.
The young Uchiha clan leader neither pushed you away nor hugged you back; his black hair simply concealed the surging emotions in his crimson Sharingan eyes.
"Absurd." Ban's voice was cold, but his breathing was off-beat.
You hugged me tighter. "Are you going to kill me? Like you would anyone else who gets close to you?"
You sensed a momentary stagnation in Madara's chakra.
"I have seen hell."
"What you call love is not even worth the embers there."
“We were just born in different eras; true love is fearless courage.” Your voice was gentle yet firm. “If I were to become cowardly because of these things, then it wouldn’t be love!”
Madara looked down at the girl in his arms, his kaleidoscope filled with an unbridled, burning passion.
Such feelings are so pure that they are almost terrifying.
His fingertips twitched slightly, and a rare wavering arose in his heart.
"...Is someone like me really worthy?" he questioned himself, but could not find an answer.
Countless shattered mirrors appeared at my feet, each reflecting a different future.
The voices of the demons surged from all directions, revealing the full picture of the Eye of the Moon Project—Infinite Tsukuyomi, a dreamlike world, eternal peace...
You listened quietly to the entire plan, your long black hair swaying gently in the illusory wind, your expression remaining largely unchanged throughout.
"Madara must be having a tough time." You finally just sighed softly, your voice filled with an almost tender pity.
The illusion suddenly froze, and Madara's figure stood frozen in front of you, a flicker of disbelief flashing in his eyes.
This unfamiliar word pierced his nerves like a kunai. For decades, the world called him "Shura," feared him as "Demon," coveted his power, and cursed his ambition...
You take a step forward, stepping over the shards of mirror, making a crisp sound. "How can it not be hard for one person to bear the weight of the whole world?"
A crack appeared in Ban's expression. He suddenly reached out and grabbed your chin, forcing you to look up.
This gesture, which should have been intimidating, lost its usual coldness due to the slight trembling of the fingertips.
A dangerous undercurrent surged in his eyes, "Even if I use you as a pawn, you'll still insist on loving me?"
"I am willing to do so."
The illusion began to fluctuate erratically, the sky switching between blood red and dark purple. You know, this is a sign that Ban is losing control of his emotions.
"Uchiha Nagi." Madara suddenly called her by name, his voice regaining its usual majesty, but unable to hide a hint of unease, "You've been getting too close to Obito."
“I’m just training him according to your instructions.” You lowered your eyes. “That’s all.”
"Is that so?" Madara's voice suddenly took on a dangerous, probing tone. "The meteor shower agreement is also part of the training?"
"That was just... a way to appease him."
Madara's fingertips caressed your trembling lips, and your pale lies were reflected in his Rinnegan. After a long while, he finally released his grip. "Remember what you said, Nagi."
The illusion began to collapse, and countless fragments of the mirror rose into the blood-red sky.
At the last moment, you see Ban's lips move, as if he wanted to say something, but the whole world has already vanished into nothingness.
Chapter 86·Shisui
In the shadows of the cave, Black Zetsu resembled a writhing pool of asphalt, its pale eyes fixed on Madara and you as you awoke from the illusion.
It keenly sensed the unusual atmosphere in the air; the spotted fingertips unconsciously tapped lightly on the stone chair armrest; your eyelashes drooped lower than usual; and there was some kind of undercurrent flowing between the two of them that it couldn't understand.
"Lord Madara..." Black Zetsu began tentatively, his voice sticky and greasy, "Does the plan need to be adjusted?"
Madara's gaze swept over like a blade, and Black Zetsu immediately shrank back, but the hesitation that flashed in those Rinnegan eyes could not escape its thousand-year observation.
"Proceed as planned." Madara's voice was still authoritative, but it lacked its usual absoluteness.
Something is wrong, very wrong.
Black Zetsu watched your figure disappear around the corner of the passage, his unease growing wildly like weeds in his heart.
It recalled the complex look in your eyes when you looked at Ban, and how Ban, unusually, did not immediately repel your approach.
What happened between these two? What did they exchange during the illusion?
"I hope I'm just overthinking it..." Black Zetsu silently crept into the deeper shadows. "I hope these two don't cause any trouble."
The mother's resurrection plan cannot withstand any changes; after a thousand years of waiting, it must not be ruined at this critical juncture.
In the illusion, Madara shows you the Tsukuyomi plan, Obito's future fate, Rin's death... These images spin wildly in your mind, like withered leaves in a storm.
You bumped into Obito, who was practicing shuriken. When the boy saw you, he jumped back three steps like a startled rabbit, almost dropping his shuriken.
"W-What do you want to do?" Obito stared at you warily, his Sharingan unconsciously activating.
He will never forget the 'inhumane' training he went through after the last time you looked at him like that.
You stopped, intending to say something, but found your throat too dry to make a sound.
The Obito before me is sunny, silly, and has unreserved trust in his comrades, a stark contrast to the boy in the illusion who collapsed beside Rin's corpse.
Your silence made Obito even more uneasy. "Hey...you're not up to something again, are you?" he muttered as he backed away.
"This girl is definitely up to no good, I need to stay away from her."
You should mock him as usual, or directly 'train' him, but at this moment, those usual actions have become so difficult.
"...Continue your practice." In the end, you simply said this and turned to leave.
Obito stood there, stunned, and his shuriken fell to the ground with a thud.
He had never seen you like this before—no mockery, no violence, not even that infuriating indifference.
Your eyes...it's like you're looking at a dying person.
"What's going on..." Obito scratched his head, a sudden unease creeping over him. "This is all so strange..."
You curled up in a secluded crevice, your arms wrapped around your knees, your long black hair covering you like a cocoon.
In this secluded corner, you allow yourself a brief respite from all pretense.
What would 'them' do?
In his mind, the white-haired, crazed Showa-era figure laughed maniacally, "Kill all those who stand in the way!" while his eternally cold self murmured indifferently, "Proceed according to plan."
But now, your fingertips are trembling uncontrollably.