Naruto: Reborn in His Younger Self

It took two full hours to successfully seal a Tailed Beast into a Jinchūriki.

Obito wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat down, and sighed.

"Without a full team, this really is exhausting. If all the members of the Akatsuki were still around, the sealing process would've taken much less time."

Sasuke sat next to him, breathing heavily. He, too, had used a considerable amount of chakra. He was a little surprised—it turned out that extracting a Tailed Beast from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path and resealing it into a new Jinchūriki consumed such an enormous amount of chakra.

In contrast, the chakra required to control the Gedo Statue with his Rinnegan and Mangekyō Sharingan was far less.

From this alone, Sasuke felt a deeper appreciation for the power of the Uchiha clan. They truly were born to control Tailed Beasts—so much less effort than the others.

Hearing Obito mention the former members of the Akatsuki, Sasuke's thoughts shifted to his brother, Itachi.

"Obito, there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

Obito turned his gaze toward Sasuke, curious. "What is it?"

Sasuke stared at him seriously.

"I want to know—why were you so afraid of Itachi when he was alive? Honestly, now that I've reached this level... my brother's strength doesn't seem all that impressive anymore."

Obito's mouth twitched.

This kid really had no clue. He had fought Itachi personally and still didn't understand? Obito had already explained the circumstances to him before, but clearly, Sasuke still didn't get it. And now, with the Rinnegan awakened in his left eye, this guy was starting to feel invincible again.

Obito looked off into the distance, let out a long sigh, and said, "Do you want the lie or the truth?"

Sasuke frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The lie," Obito said, "is that your brother was overwhelmingly strong. So strong, I feared him."

Sasuke leaned forward, interested. "And the truth?"

Obito let out another breath.

"The truth is… yes, your brother was strong. But what really scared me wasn't his strength."

"Then what was it?" Sasuke asked.

Obito's expression darkened slightly as he recalled the past.

"Let me be completely honest with you—and don't get mad. In my opinion, your brother was a complete lunatic. Psychologically unstable. And that's coming from me. To outsiders, I probably look like a lunatic too. So does Madara."

He laughed dryly.

"It's precisely because Itachi and I are the same type of person that I was afraid of him. But his level of madness was beyond mine."

Sasuke furrowed his brow. He didn't understand what Obito meant.

Obito continued.

"When Itachi came to me and asked me to help him massacre the Uchiha clan, I thought he was joking."

He smirked bitterly.

"At the time, I thought he came to challenge me, maybe take revenge. After all, when he was still a kid, I killed one of his teammates—Tenma Izumo, I believe—and that was when his Sharingan awakened for the first time."

"But instead," Obito chuckled, "he came to me and calmly asked me to help exterminate his own clan. I was completely stunned."

He shook his head.

"Put yourself in my shoes. If Itachi were truly loyal to the Uchiha clan, he would've asked for my help to overthrow Konoha, right? After all, I'm also an Uchiha. I had the Mangekyō Sharingan. I could've helped."

"Now, if he was loyal to the village, why would he reach out to me—the masked man responsible for the Nine-Tails' attack? Even if he didn't know my identity, Anbu had already spread information about the masked Uchiha behind the Nine-Tails attack. That information was circulating among Konoha's higher-ups at the time."

Sasuke asked, "Then why did you choose to believe him?"

Obito sighed. "At first, I thought it was a trap. But Itachi had a suggestion—he said if we both activated our Sharingan and looked into each other's eyes, we'd know the truth."

"The Sharingan reflects the soul of the Uchiha," Obito said quietly.

"And when I looked into his eyes… I realized he was serious. Dead serious. That's when I agreed."

Obito gave a bitter laugh.

"To be honest, when I helped him wipe out the Uchiha clan, I felt sad. Really sad. Not just for the clan, but also for Madara."

He looked at Sasuke.

"That old man lived underground for decades, planning for the resurrection of the Uchiha name. And now… the whole clan is gone."

Sasuke sneered. "You're really something."

Obito smirked.

"I told you—your brother and I are the same kind of people. Psychos, through and through."

Sasuke pressed further. "You still haven't said why you were afraid of him."

Obito gave him a side glance and thought, Have I not said enough already? Are you as delusional as your brother?

He continued.

"Destroying the Uchiha clan had its benefits—for me, at least. I got access to lots of Sharingan, which I later used to fill my collection for Izanagi."

"For Konoha's leadership, it ensured peace and avoided a full-blown coup. For Danzō… well, he harvested plenty of Sharingan too."

"But for Itachi—he got nothing from it. No benefit. Only pain."

Obito shook his head.

"I still can't understand what the hell was going through his mind."

"I attacked the Fourth Hokage and his wife, extracted the Nine-Tails, and assaulted the village. I'm considered a monster—but at least I had my reasons. Danzō did countless evil deeds, but always under the excuse of 'protecting the village' and maintaining power."

"But your brother? He did something no sane person could ever do. Something I could never even imagine myself doing."

Obito's voice dropped.

"Especially when I saw him kill his own parents with his own hands… That's when I knew your brother was terrifying."

Sasuke's expression darkened. That memory was still an unhealed wound in his heart.

Seeing this, Obito quickly added, "But it also proves how deeply he loved you. He did everything—all the bloodshed, all the lies—to protect you."

Sasuke's mood softened slightly at those words.

Obito continued.

"From that day forward, I kept my distance from him. He was unpredictable—especially after awakening the Tsukuyomi with his Mangekyō Sharingan, a Genjutsu-type ability. My Mangekyō is space-time type."

"The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. If I let my guard down even once, I could end up being tricked by him. So, I kept my distance."

Obito turned serious.

"To be honest… when he finally died, I felt relieved."

Sasuke was stunned. He didn't expect his brother to instill that much fear in someone like Obito.

Obito met Sasuke's gaze.

"Your brother always had a way of getting under people's skin. Even with you—if I hadn't embedded multiple Sharingan and Izanagi in advance, you would've killed me when you met me. He planted Amaterasu in your eyes. I nearly died in those black flames."

Sasuke clenched his fists. His understanding of Itachi had deepened again. At the same time, his hatred for Danzō intensified.

Burning Danzō to death... would be too merciful, he thought.

But Danzō was only the trigger. What truly caused his brother to suffer was that cursed village.

And with that thought, Sasuke's hatred for Konoha flared even hotter.

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