Aoba didn't understand why Obito remained completely unchanged. But this gave him an unusual thought.
The Sage of Six Paths revived Hashirama and also found another Uchiha. Was he trying to reunite Asura and Indra's chakra once again?
However, history had shown that the Sage had never been able to control Indra's reincarnations.
Whether it was Madara in the past or Sasuke later on, both had defied the Sage's expectations.
And now, even with Obito, it seemed to be the same.
"I know exactly what you want the Tailed Beasts for. You want to gather the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts, awaken the Divine Tree, then approach the moon and use the Rinnegan to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi. After that, every person in the shinobi world will live inside a perfect dream. Am I right?"
"You are." Obito wasn't surprised that Aoba knew about the Eye of the Moon Plan.
Through multiple encounters, he had long realized that Aoba's intelligence-gathering ability far surpassed his own.
"But to gather all nine Tailed Beasts, you would have to dismantle the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Because no village will willingly hand over their Tailed Beast, including Konoha. Do you really think that you, as you are now, can sweep through the entire shinobi world and collect all the Tailed Beasts? I admit that your presence here puts a great deal of pressure on both me and Konoha. But you need to understand one thing, unless you can kill every single person in Konoha, you will never be able to take a Tailed Beast from here."
"... Then what do you propose?" Obito wasn't actually looking for an all-out fight with Aoba.
Yes, he was obsessed, but he wasn't reckless.
He had fought Aoba multiple times. Even with the Rinnegan, he knew he couldn't single-handedly defeat Konoha.
"Have you ever considered that the so-called Eye of the Moon Plan is a lie?"
"I know."
"...?! You know?!"
"That's right. You're about to say that if someone obtains the power of the Ten-Tails and casts Infinite Tsukuyomi, it won't actually succeed. Instead, it will awaken the legendary ancestor of chakra, Kaguya Ōtsutsuki... Isn't that right?"
"..." For the first time, Aoba was speechless.
He had never expected Obito to already know the truth.
Clearly, this information must have come from the Sage of Six Paths himself.
But the most ridiculous thing was, even knowing the truth, Obito still had no intention of stopping.
"You...!"
"You're wondering why I would continue my plan even after knowing the truth?"
"... Yes. That's exactly what I'm asking."
"Because the truth isn't something you get to define. Don't think you're the only one who has studied the history of the shinobi world. I've studied it too, far deeper than you have. And I can confirm that, a long time ago, Infinite Tsukuyomi did succeed once before."
"..." Now, Aoba truly had nothing to say.
Because Obito was right.
The 100,000 White Zetsu clones buried beneath the earth were proof that Infinite Tsukuyomi had worked in the past.
"You are not the Rinnegan's original owner. You will never be able to successfully cast Infinite Tsukuyomi."
"No, I am its rightful owner now. I have completely mastered Infinite Tsukuyomi. I even know how to cast it without reviving Kaguya.... Aoba, enough with the pointless talk. No one, and nothing, will stop my plan. Not even you. So, hand over the Tailed Beasts... or we go to war and wipe Konoha off the map."
"Obito... I don't understand why you are so certain that the information you've received is true. But I can tell you this—there is still..." Aoba had originally planned to try and persuade Obito further.
But mid-sentence, he suddenly realized something.
"... You know, don't you? You know something is wrong. You know that the information you've received might be false, don't you?"
"..." This time, Obito fell silent.
And Aoba knew he had guessed correctly.
At that moment, he finally, truly understood just how deeply obsessed Obito had become.
Obito knew his plan was full of holes.
He knew the information he had received had likely been manipulated.
But he still chose to go through with it.
Because he was gambling on the slightest possibility that it would work.
For him, that sliver of hope was everything.
This was a man who, in a single night, awakened the strongest Mangekyō Sharingan through sheer hatred and grief.
To call him obsessive was no longer enough.
Obito had already descended into madness.
"In that case, I have one last proposal."
Aoba's eyes sharpened.
"Inside my body, I have gathered the chakra of all nine Tailed Beasts."
"And they are on the verge of fully merging."
"Once they do, they will become a new Ten-Tails."
"The very power you need."
"Obito... do you want it?"
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Currently on Chapter 362 - Epilogue