NIP Chapter 477 After Death
Chapter 477 After Death
"Brother, is that the right direction?"
On the vast and tranquil Pure Land Grassland, two figures, swift as the wind, streaked across the sky, racing towards a specific direction. They were none other than the brothers, Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha.
After the Sage of Six Paths revealed the shocking truth, even Madara, a battle maniac who loved fighting to the death, had no desire to continue fighting Hashirama.
Shock, anger, the shame of being fooled... all sorts of intense emotions churned in his chest, eventually settling and compressing into a chilling, bone-chilling murderous intent.
One must always look forward—this was the belief that Izuna had conveyed to him when he pulled him back from the abyss of self-doubt.
For Madara at this moment, the first step to looking forward is to find the mastermind behind the manipulation of his fate—Black Zetsu.
That black worm that hid its head and tail and was full of lies... Ban had made countless enemies in his life, but he had never felt such pure, such boiling, and such murderous intent towards any being, wishing he could completely erase its existence!
Of course, according to the Sage of Six Paths' additional explanation, in this pure land, souls cannot be truly killed by worldly means.
They are somewhat similar to the bodies resurrected through the Impure World Reincarnation technique; even if they suffer damage or even fatal wounds, they will gradually recover over time.
However, unlike the numb and sluggish physical sensations of the Impure World Reincarnation, the pain and torment brought about by the attack on the soul body are real, undeniable, and clearly act upon consciousness!
This was exactly what Ban wanted.
What he wanted was not simply annihilation. What he wanted was for that despicable being who dared to fool Uchiha Madara to personally experience what purgatory and eternal torment were like!
He wanted Black Zetsu to deeply understand the terrible price that deception could pay, and to make its complete annihilation an unattainable dream! Unable to live, unable to die—this was Madara Uchiha's way of treating him.
"boom--!!"
With a shockwave, Ban's sudden descent created a ring of air across the grassland. He had finally locked onto his target.
On the grass not far ahead, a strangely shaped, semi-transparent soul lay quietly. It had not yet fully solidified and awakened, and it would obviously need a considerable amount of time before it could regain a clear consciousness and form like Madara and Izuna.
The soul remained as it was at the last moment of its life—a body made of a thick, asphalt-like black liquid, on which the outlines of eyes and mouth could be barely discerned.
At this moment, the frozen expression in that hole was still one of resentment, anger, and terror; the posture of the entire soul was frozen in a moment of desperate struggle, trying to escape.
Because of the characteristics of the [Rasengan: Sun Core], it probably doesn't know that it is already dead beyond any doubt.
Madara did not make a move immediately. He suppressed his violent aura and sat cross-legged directly in front of Black Zetsu's soul form without saying a word.
Izuna stood silently behind him, his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Madara's Rinnegan remained fixed, unblinking, on that ugly, black soul. Within it surged a hatred powerful enough to freeze the soul, and a cruel patience.
He is waiting.
Wait quietly.
Like a hunter, waiting for the moment when the prey opens its eyes from its ignorance.
He wanted to give Black Zetsu a surprise he would never forget, no, he wanted to give him an "eternal" surprise.
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Consciousness struggled to rise little by little.
Obito Uchiha felt that he had been floating in that void of darkness for far too long, so long that he had almost forgotten the meaning of time itself.
And when perception finally breaks through the chaos and re-coalesces into the first thought of "self" cognition, it clearly emerges.
I am already dead.
Yes, his life was completely ended by that Uchiha girl standing next to Naruto Uzumaki with an irresistible eye technique. So... is this the afterlife?
...Someone like me will definitely go to hell.
This was the second thought that followed, tinged with a numb acceptance. Obito had an incredibly clear understanding of his current situation.
When all the lies and self-deceptions were ruthlessly torn apart by the truth, he could no longer conceal himself under the tragic and twisted shell of the Moon Eye Savior.
He saw himself clearly: a sinner who had committed countless crimes and whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent people.
Lin... so pure and kind, who ultimately chose to sacrifice herself to protect the village, she will surely go to a warm and bright paradise.
Obito wasn't afraid of death itself, nor did he care about his inevitable descent into hell. All that surged within him was a humble longing—if this truly was the afterlife, even just a glimpse would suffice; he longed to see Rin again…
However, when this longing became real, when the possibility of "meeting" was right before his eyes, a chilling fear suddenly gripped his heart.
He is afraid.
I was afraid to see Lin's still clear and bright eyes.
I'm afraid that those eyes will reveal disappointment, confusion, or even... hatred towards him.
He was afraid Rin would question him: "Obito, why did you become like this? Why did you do those terrible things? Why did you make so many people suffer?"
The fear was so great that it overwhelmed the desire for reunion.
So, even though his senses had returned and he could "open his eyes" to see and confirm, Obito, like a timid snail, deliberately withdrew his consciousness, which had just emerged from its shell.
He chose to escape, immersing himself in a hazy, half-awake state, afraid to face the impending judgment, or rather, the judgment of his own heart.
Time slowly slipped away at the edge of consciousness.
until--
A soft voice, tinged with hesitation and uncertainty, rang out not far from him.
"Obito...are you...Obito?"
This sound made Obito's entire soul feel as if it had been struck by lightning, instantly freezing him!
It's Rin! It's Nohara Rin's voice! There's no way I could be mistaken! It's the voice that echoed in his memory countless times when he was on the verge of collapse, supporting him through the darkness, yet ultimately tainted by his own hand, making the meaning of his sacrifice meaningless!
Immediately afterwards, he heard Lin's words, still soft like a young girl's, yet filled with confusion because of what she saw before her.
"Am I... dead? Is this the afterlife? Obito... you've grown so much..."
There was no questioning, no fear in her tone, only a sense of bewilderment at the current situation, and... a gentle, apologetic conjecture.
"Could it be... that you've been waiting for me here all this time?"
Nohara Rin, she's awake.
Her current understanding was like a blunt, barbed knife, piercing Obito's heart and bringing him a suffocating bitterness.
In Rin Nohara's world, at the moment her life ended, Obito Uchiha—that clumsy, kind, always-late loser, the comrade she was willing to protect with her life—had already died as a "sacrificed hero" in the Third Shinobi World War, arriving in this afterlife world even before her.
Therefore, what she saw was not the "successor of Uchiha Madara" who had committed heinous crimes.
In her eyes, the man before her, whose features were already mature but whose temperament was shrouded in heavy gloom, was "Little Obito".
She thought he was her companion who had died long ago. She imagined him alone in this strange afterlife, waiting for her, the latecomer.
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(Obito and Rin... the author doesn't know how to write about them yet... readers are welcome to offer their opinions, but the author doesn't really want to write a happy ending with dumplings for these two, since Obito in this timeline is indeed a counter-skiller.)
(Also... regarding Shisui and Yuzu... the author is also unsure whether this pairing should become a reality. Although it's Yuzu's one-sided depravity, this kind of plot is just too perverse, and the author doesn't know whether to write it...)