Hello people of . I bring you a new Overlord x Naruto crossover.

For those of you who might've known me before my "retirement" I couldn't stay away from writing for long. So here I am, back with a new project that I fully intend to make one of the best Naruto x Overlord Fanfictions out there. A bold claim, I know.

Beta Read/Edited by Mad-Dan90 & i4md347h. I give many thanks to the both of them.

I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I have writing it :)

Chapter One: Curtains of The New World

The inky blackness of death was substituted for a beautiful night sky, twilight cloud tops, and biting winds. Obito's weakened body shivered, like an infant deprived from the warmth of its mother.

He struggled, straining to move his muscles. Each of them stiffened like rubber, his mind was wide awake, but his body was not yet ready for rebirth.

'W-what?' He thought in a daze.

To him it felt like an eternity since he last had a conscious thought, yet his departure from the old world was so recent.

His vision fully returned to him, crisper than ever before. He wore nothing but black trousers, and beneath him was a vast mountain range. The Uchiha was barreling towards a massive opening on the side of the mountain. At this rate, he would surely die for the second time.

Forcing his rubbery muscles into action, Obito formed a series of hand signs.

"[Mokuton: Kaika Gurōbu]!"

Large tendrils of wood sprang into action, reaching out of the Earth like great fingers. Obito slammed into one of the tendrils, which helped reduce his velocity substantially, but not enough to save him from a rough landing. His nearly limp form careened into the cavern, his body smacked against solid rock, bouncing against the walls. He could feel white hot pain in his left shoulder, blood trickling down his arm.

He then realized that he once more possessed both of his eyes. This would be his only chance for survival. Ironically, he had less experience with his original left eye than Kakashi did. But he hoped this would be enough.

"[Kamui]!"

From his left eye, a massive steel spear linked with a chain was propelled out of the Kamui dimension. Obito swiftly wrapped himself around the chain, as the spear dug into the cavern wall. An ear-splitting noise of steel against rock consumed his surroundings, as his velocity lessened.

But in spite of his efforts, he was still falling rapidly, a fall at this speed would kill any normal man. The Uchiha kicked off the sides of the cavern, falling face first to the hard stone surface.

"Ackk!"

Over a decade of intense training, in addition to the cells of the First Hokage, mitigated damage that would've killed most Jōnin. Even so, he could feel the bones in his left shoulder shatter, and several ribs fracture.

He fought against the pain, pushing up on his right arm, he rolled onto his back. He exhaled sharply, straining to breathe, his chest feeling like it had the weight of the very mountain above him pressing down.

Even before his violent crash, his body felt strange. Every muscle in his body felt rubbery, drained. Even the slightest movement produced an unbearable tingling sensation. That, and he could not open his right eye.

It was still there... but its chakra felt unstable, in flux. As if it was incubating, transforming into something new.

He pushed his bodily condition aside for now. How was he even alive? He didn't remember going to any afterlife. The last thing he remembered was saying his goodbyes to Kakashi... next thing he knew he was falling from the sky.

'This is no dream...nor a genjutsu...' He thought in his bewilderment.

It felt too real. And his vast knowledge on Genjutsu debunked the notion he could be in one.

He was alive, albeit barely. Whatever process revived him left him with so little latent chakra, he almost died from chakra exhaustion, like he would've sooner if not for Black Zetsu. Using a simple Wood Release technique, and a single Kamui felt like he was casting Chibaku Tensei back to back.

'What's going on?' He thought to himself in worry.

As he laid there, staring up at the cave opening hundreds of meters up. He mulled over the possibilities for him existing.

Obviously, he wasn't revived with Edo Tensei. His heart was pumping, and every movement hurt. There was only one other possibility for him being back, but that was equally implausible. The Rinnegan's Outer Path can return the long dead to life, without the need of a corpse, or even a sample of DNA. But that would kill nearly anyone who used it. Unless someone had a ridiculous chakra pool like an Uzumaki, or was the Jinchūriki of the Ten-Tails. Otherwise, you were guaranteed to lose their life to the Outer Path.

Only Sasuke wielded a Rinnegan to his knowledge. And he had no reason to resuscitate Obito. If Madara's weren't destroyed, they'd surely be kept under tight lockup.

'But why? That's the real question.'

The means for his return were irrelevant now. As he fell, he didn't recognize any landmarks for dozens of kilometers. Maybe he was dropped in some remote corner of the world?

He laid on the ground for several minutes, waiting for the First Hokage's cells to revitalize him. But even his enhanced healing factor was slowed.

Sitting around wouldn't get him any answers. With strained effort, Obito pushed himself onto his feet, bracing himself on a wooden spear he produced.

He scanned the cavern around him, praying that he wouldn't have to claw his way out. With the enhanced vision in his left eye, he spotted an irregularity in the wall. A hidden door. Were it not for his Sharingan, he never would've discovered it.

"This way." He wearily muttered, hobbling over to the hidden door.

He scanned the door, searching for a hidden mechanism to open it. Not finding anything, he shrugged.

"[Kamui]"

Rock swirled and warped around an infinitesimal point, carving a perfectly circular hole in the door, large enough for a man to crawl through. Obito crawled through it, hoping that the tunnels on the other side would lead to the surface.

Of course, under normal circumstances, he could easily teleport out, or scale up the walls. But with his body borderline catatonic, neither were options.

As he exited out the other side, he was greeted by an enormous structure. The next cavern he found himself in was titanic in scale. Tall enough to accommodate some of the larger tailed beasts with room to spare. And enough elbow room for a moderately sized village. Where he stood was a tall rocky platform overlooking a highly impressive structure.

"Hmm..." Obito hummed, impressed.

What was below him was a gigantic castle. It stood as tall as the Ten-Tails, and was many dozens of meters wide. Three central towers stood above the rest of the structure. Obito could see many opaque windows. Thanks to the darkness, he was unable to make out any colors.

'Who could've built such a place?' He thought in awe.

A cavern of this size, with such an impressive structure did not exist to his knowledge. Obito carefully descended a lengthy stone staircase running down the length of the cavern walls. After a few minutes, he reached ground level of the cavern.

He still couldn't open his right eye. He didn't know what was going on with it. Even if he could use it, he barely had any chakra to use Kamui with anyway.

He stumbled towards the entrance of the castle, now visible in greater detail. The front gates were four times his height, and nearly as wide. Its appearance was that of a worn wooden mass, with dusty steel bindings binding the planks together.

'Should I go inside?' He wondered.

It wasn't like he had anything else to do. With the structure's ancient, and foreboding appearance, he figured this could be the gate to hell.

"They must be eagerly awaiting my arrival." He muttered to himself in self-deprecation.

Obito sighed, gathering up what little strength he possessed, shoving the gates open. The creaking, and grinding of ancient wood, and metal echoed across the cavern.

Obito entered the castle, and a long, tall hallway greeted him. He could faintly make out dark walkways up high on either side of the hall. Statues of monstrous creatures, and normal humans alike adorned the walls, glaring at him with their lifeless eyes.

Frankly, Obito got goosebumps... This wasn't what he was expecting from hell. He expected fire and brimstone, frightening demons, and every torture contraption imaginable as far as the eye could see.

Though even now, he could sense that he wasn't alone. He felt eyes on him. With his Sharingan, he caught a flicker of movement on the walkway to his left, fifteen meters high. He stopped, scanning around.

There was nothing. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Obito continued walking, a larger chamber finally coming into view. This was the base of the central tower he observed earlier.

This structure was truly a sight to behold. If the environment wasn't so bleak, the castle and the cavern it occupied could be one of the many wonders of the world.

Hairs stood up on the back of his neck, a tingling sensation only those who've seen many battles experience overwhelmed his senses.

He wasn't alone.

Swiveling around, Obito's Sharingan utilized what little scraps of ambient light there were to picture his surroundings. But even so, it was too dark to make out anything that wasn't just his imagination. Still, seeing shadows move out of the corner of his eye caused him great anxiety.

That however paled in comparison to the agonizing silence that had enveloped him. The ringing in his ears almost caused him pain, distracting him from his extreme fatigue.

After another minute of stumbling, he came to a halt roughly in the center of the chamber. He exhaled sharply.

"Who's out there?" He cautiously spoke, his words ricocheted around the chamber a few times.

Moments later, his call was answered. The silence was disturbed by a deafening rumble that nearly caused him to fall over. He braced himself against his wooden support, cringing in pain. He now regretted speaking, thinking he'd just awoken some ancient evil, or perhaps the Devil was coming to take him down to hell.

Through his limited vision, he could see enormous sections of the floor oscillating, kicking up a miasma of ancient dust, like opening a vault sealed for eons. Sections of the floor in front of him broke free of the layered brick pattern, rotating counterclockwise. With an ear-splitting screech of heavy stone on tone. Columns of varying sizes ascended high above him. The smallest were 5 meters high, and 3 wide. The largest were 15 meters tall, and 6 meters wide.

'Me and my big mouth.' Obito thought grimly.

Obviously, he triggered some defense mechanism of this place. Silence fell over the castle once more as the columns finished their ascent.

The only option that made sense to the Uchiha would be to retreat. But due to the sorry state of his body, there was no way he'd be able to outrun whatever was about to greet him.

Alternatively, he could attempt to pull himself into Kamui with his left eye. He quickly debunked that option as well. The chakra in his right eye was still in chaotic flux, and he couldn't open it. Kakashi could teleport in and out of Kamui with it, but only with extensive practice, which Obito did not possess. Though his low chakra reserves discouraged the idea.

Whatever was coming his way, he had no choice but to face it head on.

The five smaller columns opened, a grinding noise could be heard as a panel leading to the interior of the object was pushed open. Obito could hear clicking scuttling noises. The sound of bony feet, and dozens of hardened little legs against stone.

What he saw were dozens of animated skeletons armed with rusty clubs and swords. They were accompanied by putrid, rotting centipedes that moved impossibly fast for their size.

He needed to make his tiny pool of strength count. Forming a few hand seals, Obito's chest expanded with burning intensity, like his body was churning up a literal firestorm.

"[Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku]!"

Obito expelled a literal sea of flames from his lips explosively, bathing the near-pitch dark chamber in a brilliant orange hue. The monsters charging Obito paused, momentarily shocked at the display in front of them, before being washed away by the sea of flames. Black soot kicked up into the chamber, the only remains of charred bones and carapaces. In the wake of the jutsu, half of the massive chamber's floor was now seared black.

'I've got one more of those tops.' Obito thought in frustration.

Were he at full strength, he'd possess a level of endurance surpassed only by the likes of the Uzumaki clan, and Gods of Shinobi such as Hashirama Senju.

The smaller combatants were dealt with, but now his eyes turned to the three larger columns that had yet to open. Obito glared at the imposing structures, adrenaline overriding his weakness.

One by one, the massive stone panels clattered to the floor, massive gauntleted hands gripped the edges of their respective tombs. Emerging from their slumber, their bodies were grotesquely misshapen in ways Obito didn't care to describe. They had an overall appearance of a bloated corpse, that had then been sucked dry of all its moisture.

By far, it was one of the most disgusting things he'd ever seen. One of the beasts lumbered towards his position, throwing a downward fist at Obito. The Uchiha narrowly avoided the strike, which cratered the seared tile he previously stood at.

With all of his available might, Obito thrusted the stick he previously used for support at the beast, sticking halfway into its putrid flesh.

Bringing his hands into a "tiger" seal, the spear expanded, burrowing deeper into the beast's body. It stumbled, movements becoming jittery, it let out a horrific pained gurgle as the sounds of ripping and tearing flesh filled the chamber. Branches complete with leaves sprouted from every angle of the beast's body, killing it in a matter of seconds.

Unfazed by the death of their kin, the two others set their sights on Obito.

Obito forcefully infused his chakra, bringing his hands together into the "tiger" seal once more.

"[Mokuton: Kaika Gurōbu]"

The branches skewering the fallen monstrosity shifted into action, branches with spiky thorny flowers grew at a rapid pace, ensnaring the two living beasts. They both gurgled ferociously, the thorns digging into their rotten flesh.

'This next move will be my last before I'm out of commission.' Obito resignedly thought, then forming a new set of hand seals, his left Sharingan reshaping into his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"[Katon: Bakufū Ranbu]"

Obito expelled a maelstrom of fire from his lips, which then had their speed, and power increased threefold by his Kamui. The whirlwind rocketed towards the two restrained monstrosities, creating a brilliant orange and crimson explosion on impact, reducing them to little more than ashes.

As soon as the battle had begun, it had ended. The chamber fell into near-silence and darkness. Save for the occasional faint flickering of Obito's flames.

The Uchiha panted heavily, now pushed past his limits. He fell onto his knees, then rolled onto his back. His chest continued to rise and fall with great effort, he prayed that the enemies he'd just faced would be the last. If anyone, or anything wanted to finish him off, now was the perfect opportunity.

He didn't really care if he died right here. He deserved a fate worse than death after all. Why did he have to be back? He gave his life to save Naruto and Kakashi, even going so far as to assist the latter from beyond the grave.

'If I'm still alive after this, I need to find whoever, or whatever is responsible for this. Who knows what else they may be doing, or who else may be alive if they went through the trouble of bringing me back.'

Darkness slowly consumed Obito's vision, his consciousness fading as he fell into a hopefully endless slumber.

Before losing consciousness, he caught a blurry glimpse of an armored figure approaching him.

Suspended in the air by ethereal-green chains, Obito slowly awakened. Both of his eyes fluttered open, the right feeling much different than before. Its chakra was now stable, and far more potent than ever. He recognized the sensation, though now it felt natural and truly his own.

Somehow, his right eye had morphed into a Rinnegan! Much like Sasuke's! How was this possible? While he knew of how Madara acquired his, his situation was somewhat different. He did possess Hashirama's cells, had been exposed to the Ten-Tails, been exposed to Six Paths chakra, and gone through numerous life and death situations. Could this have had a sort of cumulative effect on his development?

Whatever the case may be, he would admire and mull over the rest later though. He still had to figure out his current predicament.

"Huh?"

He looked around. He was in a darkened dungeon, illuminated faintly by the chains that bound him at the wrists.

The texture of the walls and floor was the same as the gigantic chambers he was in earlier. Though this one was small, a little bigger than a typical bedroom. Aside from him, it was empty.

'Huh, maybe this really was hell all along.' He thought. He expected some grotesquely looking being to appear before him any moment now and start his eternity of torment.

"You're rather impressive, intruder."

He heard a disembodied feminine voice. Obito watched as someone emerged from the shadows.

It was a woman, although inhuman looking at that. Her eyes had no life, the sclera of her eyes were blank, with an intense yellow glow substituting the iris and pupil. Her skin was pale, and she had shoulder length onyx hair. Her movements were almost human, but Obito could clearly tell with his Sharingan there was a mechanical side to her, like a puppet.

She wore silver tinted dark blue armor with black trim. On her abdomen was a transparent film showing off a radiant yellow orb. With the enhanced vision of his right eye, he could tell it supplied an energy similar, but different in many ways to chakra, flowing through an otherwise lifeless body.

She had nothing resembling a chakra network. The best comparison Obito could make was to Sasori after becoming almost entirely artificial via his puppet body. Like Sasori's soul being housed within his one surviving organic component, the orb within the woman housed something similar.

Evidently, she wasn't a proxy of some sort, otherwise Obito would see energy leading to the master.

"What are you?" Obito blurted out in a firm tone.

"Hmm? You figured it out so soon? That's curious." Placing a finger on her chin, she contemplatively spoke. "Those eyes of yours must provide excellent sensory capabilities."

"Umu... But you didn't answer my question."

"You're in no position to be making demands, human!" Angrily raising her voice, she then unsheathed a transparent golden tanto shimmering with energy from a pouch on her belt. She pointed the weapon at Obito's neck.

"How you found this place, let alone breached it is beyond me. So what is your business here?"

Obito hesitated, knowing he ought to choose his words carefully. Although he could escape his bindings with the utmost ease, he didn't want to reveal the full scope of his newly blossomed abilities just yet. Besides, he needed answers.

"I didn't come here by choice. To be frank with you, I'm not even supposed to be alive."

"Then I'll assist you with your predicament should your answers be insufficient." She stated in a flat, yet commanding tone.

"..."

If he had to be honest, Obito didn't care too much if she killed him right here. He'd been hoping he could finally get some alone time with Rin in the great beyond, and face all the people he'd wronged. But somewhere on his journey to the Pure World, his spirit was abducted, and spat back out into the cold impure world of the living.

But he wasn't going to let himself die a third time so easily. He knew Rin, and Minato-Sensei would be disappointed if he did.

"I'm supposed to be dead. The last thing I remember is parting ways with an old friend. Next thing I knew, there was a bright flash of light, and then I was falling from the sky."

The mechanical woman glared at Obito with a lifeless, scrutinizing intensity, before causing her tanto to dissipate into tiny golden energetic flakes.

"You're not lying... Yet it's incredibly unlikely for such an event to occur. Let me ask you something, are you from YGGDRASIL?"

"Come again?" Obito blinked, having no knowledge of the strange word.

"Fascinating…" She muttered, nodding in understanding. "So, you're not from this world, or YGGDRASIL."

"I'm not following." Obito said in confusion. "What're you talking about?"

"I'll explain that to you later. But first, what is your name human?"

Obito hesitated for a moment, before giving in. It wasn't like he had anything else to lose.

"...Obito Uchiha."

"I see. My given name is Haia Chisaki, but just call me Haia. I'm the sole guardian of this place, and the only child of my creator."

"Umu." Obito nodded. "Pleasure to meet you... But, you don't recognize my name?"

"No. Should I? I thought you weren't from either world?" A puzzled look flashed on her face, as she slightly tilted her head.

"Uhhh..."

Obito's mouth fell agape. After the conclusion of the great war, everyone should've known of his involvement, and his crimes. He started running the possibilities through his mind.

Haia could've been a sophisticated puppet crafted by an incredibly talented, yet unknown individual, housed in some distant corner of the world. In addition to this place being deep underground, that would explain why she didn't know of him, or the ninja world. She was literally living under a rock.

But what was this "YGGDRASIL" she spoke of? Obito theorized that if she was trapped underground for long enough, she may be flat out delusional, believing she's from some other realm.

However, that didn't resolve the reason for him to be truly alive like now. Only someone with a Rinnegan could've brought him back. And even in the infinitesimally tiny probability that Sasuke would revive him, he sure as hell wouldn't drop Obito from the sky at some unknown corner of the world.

He didn't even know how long he's been dead from the living world's point of view. For all he knew, Haia was some highly advanced puppet with near-human characteristics, and he could be hundreds of years in the future. Someone could've easily developed a new jutsu capable of resuscitating the dead.

Obito's gut told him he may not be in his own world anymore, but he needed to confirm it.

"...do you have a map somewhere?"

He needed to know where he was relative to major villages like Konoha, if he even was in his own world.

"Sure."

She nodded, holding her hand up. Three ethereal-looking green circles materialized inches away from Haia's palm. Consecutive rings of transparent energy lined with odd runes that Obito couldn't decipher.

"[Create Item]"

In her hand, there was a flash of green, followed by the appearance of a scroll.

'What is that?'

He raised a brow at the odd power. It definitely wasn't any jutsu he'd ever seen. She opened the scroll, showing it to Obito. His world then came crashing down upon seeing the map.

"Impossible!" He gasped in shock.

"What is it?" Haia asked, taken aback by his reaction.

'How can this be?' He thought, almost in a panic.

The world before him was completely unrecognizable. There wasn't a single name on the map he was familiar with, nevermind the completely new layout of the world.

"..."

Obito was speechless. While the concept of other worlds wasn't totally alien to him, to have it actually happen to him was beyond his expectations.

"...All I'll say is that you are correct. I'm not from this 'YGGDRASIL' you referred to, nor this world."

"That explains the strange magic you used against some of my sentries."

"Umu..." Obito limply nodded.

"So what now? Will you kill me? Or will you release me?" Obito knew he could easily escape, but needed to know of her intentions.

"No. You clearly don't have any malicious intent." She calmly replied. "For now I'll let you live, if only because you're so interesting."

"Hmm. So, in that case, would you be willing to answer some of my questions?"

Haia curtly nodded.

"For starters, what are you? You're definitely not Human."

"Ah. I'm an Automaton, the highest level of my kind as well. Essentially a machine with a living mind."

"That's new." Obito muttered. His guess for her being a puppet wasn't terribly far off.

"And what exactly is this place? I only wandered in here because I had nowhere else to go."

"Ohh." She smiled slightly, a sliver of human emotion breaking her otherwise mechanical mien.

"This is the great home of my creator, Lord Alten. I apologies if it's a little... bleak. He asked me to make it look abandoned should anyone ever find it."

"I see. Who is this Alten? He built you?"

She nodded before replying.

"I'm his one and only child, and to my knowledge he's the only one to come from YGGDRASIL."

Obito nodded in acknowledgement. "Sounds like an interesting man...where is he?

He had to wonder why the creator of Haia didn't show himself. After all, he did bust up his home a little.

Haia's expression slowly twisted into a frown.

"Gone."

"What happened to him?"

"Not long after we emerged into this world, he told me that he would venture out on his own to gather information. He ordered me to stay here to keep watch, hide the castle, and make it undesirable to thieves."

"Go on." Obito said, intrigued by her story.

"That was a century ago... He's yet to return." She said, a sliver of simulated sadness in her voice.

Obito's eyes widened.

'A century? What the hell?' The fact that she wasn't completely bonkers impressed Obito greatly.

"I see... He never sent you any messages?"

Haia simply shook her head.

"Hmm. I'm sorry to hear that. But now that I'm here, what will you do now?"

Without speaking, The Automaton swiped her hand through Obito's chains, causing him to fall onto his knees.

"While it would be the logical course of action, I cannot kill you... To be honest, I could use the company."

"You're all alone here?" Obito asked, struggling to stand up.

Haia nodded before her expression soured.

"Have you ever been trapped underground for a century?" She asked in a deadpan.

Obito shook his head. That kind of isolation would do wonders for anyone's sanity. Perhaps that's why Madara was so insufferable as a person.

"Thankfully not." Obito said while standing and dusting himself off. "So, there must be more to wanting me alive than a desire for company, right? I feel like you have an agenda with me."

"Hmph, you're much sharper than you look human. So, I'll get right down to business. I think we would work with each other."

"Oh?" Obito was now intrigued. "Go on."

"I've got a feeling you want to find whoever or whatever brought you into this world, right? I'd be willing to help you... If you will help me."

Obito nodded in understanding. He still didn't trust this "Automaton", though she of course felt the same way of him. With the enhanced visual prowess of his Rinnegan, he could somewhat accurately gauge her strength. She had power relative to some of the Five Kage, but nothing compared to him at his full strength.

In the event that diplomacy failed, Obito could either retreat into the Kamui dimension, or take her out with a single powerful jutsu. Genjutsu likely wasn't an option by virtue of her inorganic physiology.

He pushed those concerns aside for now, deciding to hear her out. Entertaining the worst-case scenario wouldn't do him any favors.

"I want you to help me find my creator Alten."

"Hmm... I see... Did he tell you where he was going?"

"No... Not precisely." She said, turning on her heel.

"Walk with me."

She beckoned to Obito, as she ascended a darkened staircase to the far left. Obito followed her as best as he could. While he'd recovered somewhat since his involuntary rebirth, his body was still ravaged by the half-baked resurrection.

"I kept part of the castle in a more lively state. Before we go into more detail, I think you should study up on both YGGDRASIL, and what little I know of this new world."

Obito nodded at her assessment.

"I agree. I'll need some time to process some of this after all. For all I know this could just be a dream."

"[Greater Teleportation]"

In a shimmer of blue light, Obito and Haia vanished, rematerializing in a very different environment. Stunning Obito from the act and sensation. As his senses adjusted from whatever Space/Time transportation method she used, he was stunned by his new environs.

It was a sharp difference from the bleak, gloomy environment he was in earlier. The room he was now in was bathed in warm light. Its source coming from a large chandelier hanging over an octagonal chamber. Obito could best compare it to the luxurious living arrangements of the Feudal Lords back home. A cross between an aristocratic conference hall, and an ancient library built by his ancestors. Only much more grand and elaborate.

"Impressive." Obito muttered in amazement, his gaze shifting to a nearby window.

He saw the large cavern outside. Why didn't he see the light from the tower earlier?

'Perhaps it was an illusion.' He thought, seeing traces of energy hovering around the entire chamber.

"[Create Item]"

Two hefty tomes materialized on a table in front of Haia.

"I prepared these to give you a rundown of all you need to know, and all I know about the world out there."

"Umu. Thanks." Obito gave a slight head-bow. "Now then... I'd like to make some things clear to you."

"Hmm?" She turned, giving Obito a slightly concerned look.

"Don't think that you can order me around freely, or keep my prisoner here... I will respect your property, so long as you show me the same respect. Also, don't call me 'human'. The name is Obito." He stated in a cold, authoritative tone.

Haia's face flashed with worry and even hints of fear for a split second, before she covered it with a fake chuckle.

"Very well then, Obito." She waved as she walked away. "So long as we're on the same page. I'll be in my study when you're ready to discuss business. Take as long as you need."

Obito smiled at this. 'Looks like she got the message.'

He waited for her to ascend up a set of stairs before making his next move. He stood still, pondering his next course of action. His fingers traced over the fine leather of the tomes in front of him, his thoughts wandering, as he admired the exceptional craftsmanship that made anything he'd seen back home pale in comparison.

"What now? What reason do I still have to live?" He whispered to himself.

Thus far, he's technically lived three different lives. First as an innocent, talentless little boy with few friends, and no real family of his own. then a murderer leading a group of S-Class criminals. And now here he was, the leftover embers of two preceding failures. Now with no friends, family, or even a goal.

Each time he lived, he had some goal at least. First, it was to become Hokage, so he'd be widely recognized and respected. Second, fulfill the Infinite Tsukuyomi to bring world peace, so no one would ever suffer like himself or Naruto, and to bring an end to the pain that ate away at him. Now both of those were long gone.

'I guess I'll figure it all out as I go.' Obito thought as he wearily sighed.

Space swirled around his right eye, like water vanishing down a steep drain. His body, and the large tomes he was given warped and distorted, vanishing into an infinitesimally small point, no longer a resident of this world. Perhaps a new, fresh start, free of the past is what he's needed all along...

And that does it for Chapter One. I hope you all enjoyed it, see you next time! :)

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: Dark Silver