"Uzuki Yūgao? How do you know my little sister's name!" Upon hearing Obito's words, the woman before him let out a shocked question.
"Hmm?"
Obito came back to his senses and looked more carefully at the woman before him. The resemblance to Uzuki Yūgao was indeed striking, yet there were subtle differences.
Right, Uzuki Yūgao at this time would only be nine years old, just the age of graduating from the ninja academy, not yet having joined the Anbu.
The woman before him looked to be seventeen or eighteen, so was she Uzuki Yūgao's older sister?
"What is your name?" Obito asked.
"My name is Uzuki Yuki. I am Yūgao's older sister. Who exactly are you, and what are you after!" Yuki demanded.
Obito raised his head and gazed at the evening glow in the sky.
'Uzuki, Yuki. She never appeared in the Naruto storyline, but that doesn't mean she doesn't exist, just as Kishimoto never depicted a ninja using the bathroom doesn't mean ninjas don't. Well, that's a topic zetsu likes to bring up.'
'Kishimoto was very fond of weaving a person's fate into their name.'
'Like Gekkō Hayate, who perished on a night when the moon hung high, swift as the wind.'
'Then Uzuki Yuki, who would sink like a setting sun before the fourth month's arrival, a name that implies a beauty whose life is cut short.'
A scene had already formed in Obito's mind. The older sister on whom they depended for everything, losing her life on an Anbu mission. Young Uzuki Yūgao, choosing to inherit her sister's will, striving toward the goal of joining the Anbu.
A breeze passed, and Obito looked once more at Uzuki Yuki. What waited ahead of her was a fate of death, if he had never crossed over, if he had never met her.
"I am asking you a question, answer me!!" Uzuki Yuki said anxiously.
"Will you come with me?" Obito answered with a question of his own.
"What kind of nonsense is that? Are you trying to get me to betray Konoha!" Uzuki Yuki said indignantly.
Obito reached out and gently placed his hand against Yuki's pristine cheek. Yuki instinctively wanted to pull away, but her body would not move, and her eyes filled with a humiliation that made her want to end her own life on the spot.
"I simply do not want to see a woman like you become a sacrifice to this cruel shinobi world."
Obito's words were inexplicable, but his gaze was unfathomable.
It even gave Uzuki Yuki the feeling that this man before her was not speaking nonsense, that he must have some basis for saying what he said!
Even so, Yuki remained completely unmoved. "From the day we joined the Anbu, every one of us had already written our will! Not even death would make us betray Konoha!"
Obito smiled faintly and lightly pinched Uzuki Yuki's delicate chin, tilting her head up slightly. "Then what if I told you that if you don't come with me, I'll kill your companions?"
Uzuki Yuki's eyes trembled as she looked at the two companions collapsed on the ground, and she said through clenched teeth, "They are also Anbu members. Like me, they have long since put life and death behind them!"
"Then, what if it were your nine-year-old little sister instead." Obito said, in a dangerous tone.
Uzuki Yuki's pupils froze in an instant. "You are despicable!"
"Answer me. Will you come with me or not." Obito gave no further explanation.
Uzuki Yuki's expression shifted through an intense struggle, but thinking of her little sister who had lost both parents and depended on her alone since childhood, she made her agonizing choice and relented. "What, do you want me to do?"
Obito reflected inwardly, 'As expected. No matter how resolute a ninja's convictions may be, it is impossible to cast personal feelings entirely aside.'
'Even Uchiha Itachi, who was willing to wipe out his own clan for the sake of the village and peace in the shinobi world, was the one person unwilling to raise his hand against his little brother, because in his heart Sasuke mattered more than the village.'
'In Uzuki Yuki's heart, the safety of her little sister Uzuki Yūgao mattered more than the village. That is simply human nature.'
Obito had no intention whatsoever of harming Uzuki Yūgao. He had only wanted to break through Uzuki Yuki's psychological defenses.
He released her chin and said calmly, "I don't need you to do anything in particular. Just leave Konoha and come with me."
Uzuki Yuki was briefly taken aback, then said, "Fine, I will come with you. But if you ever make me do anything that harms Konoha, I will end my own life then and there, even if you threaten me with my sister's life. And furthermore, I want you to spare my subordinates."
"Deal." Obito had no intention of killing them to begin with.
"Release the Golden Binding Genjutsu. I won't run." Uzuki Yuki said.
Release!
Uzuki Yuki removed her forehead protector, drew a kunai, bit down hard, steeled herself, and carved a horizontal line through the center of the protector. This act signified that she had parted ways with Konoha, becoming a missing-nin.
"Let's go." Obito withdrew his gaze, dragged Hokusuke's corpse, and walked ahead.
"Where are we going now?" Uzuki Yuki followed behind.
"The exchange house." Obito said without looking back.
"Are you of the Uchiha clan?"
"In a way yes, and in a way no." Obito said with an air of mystery.
Yuki thought to herself, 'So, a missing-nin from the Uchiha clan then.'
"What was your purpose in killing Hokusuke? Was it solely for the money?" Yuki asked again.
"Otherwise, would someone like him even be worth my personal involvement?" Obito replied with a question.
Yuki thought to herself, 'It seems he is not in league with the Root.'
"As for that messenger scroll in your possession, I suggest you put it away." Obito said.
Yuki startled sharply and withdrew the scroll she had been about to retrieve.
Her intention had been to at least relay Obito's information back to the village. It seemed that too was no longer possible.
'With this person's ability, he could easily use the Sharingan to forcibly control my mind. So why hasn't he done so?'
Yuki gazed at Obito's back, puzzled in her heart, and could not help but feel a growing layer of curiosity toward him.
'Whatever the case, he poses a potential threat to the village. I'll stay close to him for now, find out what he's really about, and kill him the moment I find an opening!' Yuki thought to herself quietly.
She did not notice the faint smile at the corner of Obito's mouth as he walked ahead.
'He might not understand the mind of a three-dimensional woman, but the mind of a two-dimensional woman he could read like an open book.'
'She was never going to succeed.'
'Back then, Konan had prepared six hundred billion explosive tags to kill Tobi, and in the end she still failed.'
Obito did not think Yuki would be stronger than Konan, nor did he think himself weaker than Tobi.
'And besides, in the world of two-dimensional fiction, examples of those who started out wanting to kill the other and ended up completely captivated in heart and soul were countless. Yuki would be no different.'
Not long after the two departed, Root members clad in black cloaks and wearing masks arrived at the scene and took in the wreckage.
"Hokusuke's presence has disappeared. He is most likely dead." The sensing-type ninja in the Root squad said.
"Captain, these two are not dead, but Uzuki Yuki is nowhere to be seen." A Root member checked on the two unconscious Anbu on the ground.
"Kill those two and frame Uzuki Yuki for it." Up in the trees, the Root squad captain dressed in a white robe said.
"But, they are still members of the village."
"Remember, the Root's creed is to support Konoha's great tree from the shadows by any means necessary. Only Lord Danzō can lead Konoha forward. The deaths of these two are nothing more than a necessary sacrifice!" The captain said in a sharp tone.
"Yes! Understood!"
Crack! Crack!
Blades mercilessly pierced through the chests of the two Anbu.
How ironic. These two Anbu ninja had narrowly escaped death at Obito's hands, only to fall victim in the very next moment to the blades of their own comrades.
In truth, Obito had seen through all of this long ago. That was why he pursued power. With power came the right to enjoy freedom. With power came the ability to pursue more of what he desired.