Just as the Third Mizukage was fighting Yagura and Hozuki Mangetsu, in another ninja world, where the Infinite Tsukuyomi had already successfully activated—
Madara and Hashirama were still locked in fierce combat, proclaiming they could fight until the end of time itself, until the seas dried and the stones decayed.
Obito, meanwhile, was with Rin, collecting every single copy of the Icha Icha Paradise: Ultimate Invincible Limited Edition, which had only ever been released as one complete set across the entire world, and brought them into a vast God Tree space.
This space belonged exclusively to Kakashi. It wasn't just enormous, it was also incredibly comfortable.
At this moment, Kakashi was hanging from the God Tree, wearing a peaceful expression as he dreamed a beautiful dream.
Rin placed the Icha Icha Paradise set neatly on a wooden table she'd crafted with Wood Release, smiled softly, and said to Kakashi, "Kakashi, this has always been your dream. Obito and I helped you achieve it. I hope that even in your dreams, you can feel this kind of happiness."
Obito said, "Don't worry, Rin. In Kakashi's dream world, he's currently goofing off and reading Icha Icha Paradise. He's having a very leisurely time."
Rin blinked, "Obito, I remember you said that in Kakashi's dream world, he's your Hokage assistant? Doesn't that mean he's… slacking off your work?"
Obito nodded, "That's right. He's dumped all his work on some new guy and spends every day lying under a big tree outside the Hokage Building reading Icha Icha Paradise."
Rin covered her mouth and laughed, sighing, "That actually sounds kind of nice. The only pity is that Kakashi's never had a lover up to now. If possible, I'd really like to find him one."
Obito's Rinnegan eyes deepened, "I don't want to interfere with Kakashi's will. Since he doesn't want to look for someone, I won't force him. I just hope that in another world, he can find his true love."
Rin nodded, then glanced at the neatly stacked pile of Icha Icha Paradise books on the table and suddenly asked a question.
"Obito, you said Kakashi's been chasing this series for over ten years, but looking at it, there aren't that many volumes, are there?"
"Jiraiya-sama's writing speed isn't that fast; it takes him ages to finish one book."
"Are all novel authors like that?"
That question actually stumped Obito. Since he never paid much attention to such things, he couldn't answer right away.
But then a thought struck him, and he quickly came up with an idea.
"Rin, how about I take you to see an Infinite Tsukuyomi world full of novel authors?"
Rin's curiosity was piqued, and she almost agreed, but then hesitated, "Obito, that might not be good. Peeking into someone else's world is a very rude thing to do."
Obito replied, "It's fine. I'll just link together a bunch of authors' subconscious minds and recreate a shared dream space. That way, even though it reflects their thoughts, it doesn't count as invading their privacy."
Seeing that, Rin nodded, "Alright then, let's take a look."
So, Obito stepped closer, placing his hand on Rin's shoulder, and together they entered a bizarre, dazzling dream world.
Because this dream was formed from the collective subconscious of countless authors, it was filled with countless mental projections, each author manifesting as a unique individual.
Then Rin noticed something amazing: though all these authors looked different, each one had a gigantic floating tomato hovering beside them.
The authors held all sorts of tools, hammers, swords, axes, kunai, even explosive tags, all kinds imaginable.
They were violently smashing, stabbing, and bombing the tomatoes in front of them.
In short, they were doing everything they could to turn the tomatoes into pulp. And whenever a tomato was completely destroyed after enduring ninety-nine and eighty-one rounds of torment, a new one would regenerate, and they'd start the process all over again.
Rin was utterly bewildered and asked Obito beside her, "Obito, aren't these novel authors supposed to be writing novels in their dreams? Why are they all just destroying these tomatoes nonstop? It's so strange."
Obito didn't know either, so he said, "Why don't you go ask them?"
Rin nodded and ran up to one of the authors who was swinging a huge hammer down on a tomato.
She asked curiously, "What are you doing? Why do you keep destroying this tomato?" [T/N: A chinese webnovel publisher name]
The author replied, "Because this tomato is the biggest publishing company in the whole ninja world, but it's so damn stupid!"
"Little girl, do you even know how stupid?"
"One time, I was writing a new book while still working on an old one. When they came to collect my manuscripts, I accidentally gave them the new-book file mixed in with the old one."
"Then I realized the mistake right away and told them to delete the new-book file. Otherwise, it'd confuse all the readers of my old book."
"But you know what they said? They said they couldn't delete it."
"And since I'd already submitted it, I couldn't even edit or change it anymore."
"This is the biggest publisher in the ninja world, and this is their level of competence?"
"They're idiots! Complete idiots!"
The more the author thought about it, the angrier he got. He grabbed his hammer again and went to town on the tomato, shouting with every swing, "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"
Rin forced a small, uneasy smile, not really understanding the mental state of this novelist, and went to ask someone else.
"Excuse me, sir author, what about you? Why are you doing this?"
That person immediately replied, "This tomato told me that if I submitted writing every day for a whole month, they'd give me a bonus payment. So I wrote every day."
"But I like to write one day ahead and have them post it the next day. One time, I finished tomorrow's chapter today and submitted it, but because the title duplicated, they sent it back and told me to change it."
"So I changed it and resubmitted, but then they went and published it today."
"And because it was posted today, if I didn't write tomorrow, they said I'd failed to write every day and refused to pay me the bonus."
"So the chapter I was supposed to write for the day after tomorrow, I had to write tomorrow instead. Otherwise, they couldn't fix it, even though all they needed to do was tweak the posting time."
"This is supposed to be the ninja world's biggest publisher? It's worse than those tiny shops that sell Icha Icha Paradise! You tell me, isn't this tomato an idiot?"
Then that man also grabbed a sword and started stabbing the tomato viciously, shouting with every thrust:
"Idiot! Idiot! Big idiot! Tomato, you're the ultimate, super, invincible idiot!"
At that moment, suddenly, an oppressive aura swept across the sky of that world.
Everyone, Rin, Obito, and all the authors, looked upward.
They saw a figure floating above the tomatoes, one who looked just like Pain, wearing an Akatsuki cloak.
He raised both hands high above his head and chanted, "Shinra Tensei!"
And then, under that overwhelming force, every single tomato in the entire world was completely annihilated.