As Obito and Keizumi locked eyes, a ripple of invisible space shimmered around Obito's right hand—slowly, a ninja blade emerged from it.
—Uchiha Keizumi must die!!!
That murderous thought completely consumed Obito's mind.
If the intel on Kamui's intangibility were to leak out, Obito couldn't even begin to imagine how many people in the shinobi world would start devising counters specifically tailored to that ability!
And the fact that 'Uchiha Madara is actually Uchiha Obito'—that information must never get out. Especially not to Nagato and Konan within the Akatsuki!
Otherwise…
At least half of everything he had worked for all these years would go up in smoke.
Within his eyes, that killing intent still carried a flicker of disbelief.
Because no matter how he thought about it, Obito just couldn't understand how Uchiha Keizumi had obtained information that no one else should possibly know.
When the bloodlust in his heart reached its peak—
Obito moved!
[Fwoosh—]
In a single instant, he had already closed the distance to within arm's reach of Uchiha Keizumi. With a one-handed seal, he created two shadow clones. Three 'Uchiha Obito' shot forward from three sharp, unpredictable angles, blades in hand, aiming straight for Keizumi's vital points.
[Thud!]
[Thud!]
[Thud!]
All three blades pierced into Keizumi's body. But the sensation—utterly unlike stabbing into human flesh—immediately made Obito realize that the intel passed along by the White Zetsu clone was true: Uchiha Keizumi possesses a Lava Release ninjutsu that resembles the Hydrification Technique of the Hōzuki Clan.
Sure enough—
Obito watched with his own eyes as the ninja blades in his hands melted outright. The searing heat of the magma made his eyelids twitch involuntarily.
And right then—
Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan, with its extraordinary dynamic vision, caught Keizumi in motion!
Keizumi's entire left arm had transformed into magma, its acrid stench thick in the air.
But instead of swinging that molten arm at Obito's head—
He deliberately aimed for the hand Obito was using to grip the blade!
Obito froze.
His expression shifted instantly.
Uchiha Keizumi knows the weakness of Kamui's intangibility!!!
The instant that thought flashed across his mind, Obito burst backward in a frantic retreat—but the searing, excruciating pain that ripped through his hand told him:
He was still too late.
Obito's eyelid twitched as he looked down—
A third of his hand was gone, and two fingers were missing!
"…How do you know that!?" he blurted, disbelief and pain dripping from his voice.
Startled, Obito stopped pretending to be Uchiha Madara altogether.
He felt that all the shocks he'd experienced over the past few years combined didn't come close to what he'd endured tonight alone.
The way he now looked at Uchiha Keizumi—was as if he were staring at a monster.
A strong sense of unease gripped him, cold sweat pouring from his body.
It had been many years since he'd lost his composure like this.
But to his surprise, Uchiha Keizumi paid him no mind—instead, he closed in at lightning speed, and his magma-fused arm, shaped like a curved blade, swept diagonally toward Obito's knife-wielding right hand!
And yet—the magma seemed to slice through air.
Molten droplets scattered and splashed across the path of the Konohagakure cemetery.
The ground ignited instantly, a wall of fire flaring up on contact.
"Kamui's intangibility... what a cheap ability," Keizumi said calmly.
Obito's face darkened so much he nearly burst out swearing.
Cheap? Kamui?
As if Uchiha Keizumi wasn't cheap himself!
A body immune to physical damage, made of molten lava—
How was that any different from Kamui!?
"You can't beat him," came a sudden, familiar whisper from behind.
A head—black and white in perfect halves—emerged from the earth behind Obito without warning.
The dual-colored head spoke: "Your 'old friend' Hatake Kakashi is headed this way. Stop wasting time on this guy. He can't touch your ability—for now—but you can't touch his either. If this drags on, more shinobi from Konoha will arrive. Drawing this much attention isn't good for our plans right now."
Obito gritted his teeth, his face clouded with fury.
"He knows my secrets!"
"Can you kill him in three minutes?" the voice asked in return—cold and direct.
Obito fell silent.
He drew in a deep breath, then cast a long, piercing look at Uchiha Keizumi.
Obito's body slowly began sinking into the ground. When only his upper half remained above the surface, he suddenly asked in a cold voice: "Uchiha Keizumi—why did you try to kill me back then?"
Keizumi answered expressionlessly: "Your 'evil of the future' was plainly visible to these eyes. My only thought at the time was to snuff out that evil in the cradle—before it could ever be born."
"Uchiha Obito, you should be grateful the Fourth Hokage saved your life. But sadly, selfish beasts like you don't harbor gratitude for those who saved them."
"Rotting to your core, stinking of decay—you've turned your blade, bloated with arrogance and selfishness, against the very man who once saved you: the Fourth Hokage."
—He even knows what happened on the night of the Nine-Tails attack!!!
—And he just called me a beast!!!
As his body sank until only his head remained above ground, Obito's face turned an ominous shade of blue-gray.
He let out a cold laugh.
"Uchiha Keizumi… I don't know how you came to possess so much intel—but there's one thing I'm sure of… You don't understand my ambition."
"You fail to see the true nature of the shinobi world. You and I—are not even on the same level. My resolve… far surpasses yours!"
"But eventually… one day, you'll come to understand. By then, though, you'll no longer have the strength to protect your so-called justice."
As those words fell, Obito vanished without a trace.
He told himself that parting line might help him save a bit of face—
So that, in Keizumi's eyes, he wouldn't appear like a complete clown.
"Meow~ That guy's dōjutsu is just plain busted."
Tachibana Jirō grumbled under his breath in exasperation, "What is it with these lunatics? Always going on and on about their so-called 'resolve.' Like that narrow little worldview of his even deserves to be compared to Keizumi-sama's. Seriously delusional."
Uchiha Keizumi, expression blank, replied calmly: "Just another brain-damaged simp using delusions of 'ambition' as an excuse for evil."
...
"Hmm?!"
Arriving at the Konohagakure cemetery, Kakashi suddenly picked up the faint scent of sulfur lingering in the air.
A jolt ran through his mind.
It was the same scent he'd detected outside the Yamanaka Clan's compound.
Which meant—Uchiha Keizumi really had been here. And he'd used Lava Release within the cemetery as well?
Could it be that Keizumi had once again tracked down some criminal?
That efficiency was insane.
But then…
When he thought about it more carefully, it made sense.
If Uchiha Keizumi's eyes truly could see both the past and future evil within someone—
Then what villain in the shinobi world could possibly escape his gaze?
"But…"
A sudden doubt crept into Kakashi's thoughts.
He had once taken part in the Shinobi World War…
He had killed enemy shinobi.
Would someone like him—whose hands were stained with blood—be seen by Keizumi's eyes… as an irredeemable villain?
Caught in that moment of hesitation—
Kakashi spotted a figure up ahead.
Ah… they'd already crossed paths.
Too late to turn back now.
Kakashi saw flames burning behind Uchiha Keizumi, stretching in a straight line for several dozen meters.
At Keizumi's feet lay a ninja blade—only half of it remained.
This only confirmed for Kakashi that Keizumi had just been in a fight.
Wait a second—this place…
Kakashi's expression suddenly changed.
Wasn't this where Rin's gravestone was located?
His gaze quickly shifted to a headstone beside Keizumi. Upon seeing it intact, he finally exhaled in relief.
However, a fresh bouquet of white flowers placed beside the grave made Kakashi pause for half a second. A trace of confusion flickered in his eyes. When he looked at Keizumi again, it was with the startled expression of someone who had just stumbled upon a shocking discovery.
But… that didn't make sense. Rin and Keizumi weren't even in the same academic year—Rin was three years older!
And as far as he could recall, there had never been any notable connection between them.
Before Kakashi could speak, Keizumi's calm voice broke the silence: "The flowers were placed by Uchiha Obito."
Just as the realization dawned on Kakashi, his mind froze.
Kakashi: "???"
"...Obito?!" Kakashi blurted out, almost reflexively turning toward another nearby gravestone.
It was Obito's.
"Don't tell me you've forgotten Uchiha Obito, meow. Hatake Kakashi?" Tachibana Jirō's sharp and quirky voice rang out just then. "If I'm not mistaken, weren't you and he both disciples of the Fourth?"
Kakashi recognized Tachibana Jirō—that was Keizumi's ninja cat. A few of his ninken had once been soundly thrashed by that very feline.
With Obito's name now brought up, Kakashi temporarily put aside his original reason for seeking Keizumi and said: "You might be misunderstanding something. Obito... died during the Third Great Ninja War. He was killed by enemy village shinobi."
"Then let me ask you this—was his body ever buried in that grave?" Jirō's pointed question made Kakashi instinctively shake his head.
Because that was a cenotaph. Obito's remains had never been found.
Not even his ashes lay beneath the tombstone.
"Hatake Kakashi."
Jirō suddenly leapt onto Kakashi's shoulder, nearly making him stagger.
—What a fat cat!
That was the thought Kakashi kept to himself.
Jirō pressed all four paws against Kakashi's face mask and narrowed his feline eyes.
"Are you doubting Keizumi-sama?" he demanded. "Do you think someone like you is worth lying to? Are you questioning Absolute Justice?"
Kakashi froze.
Suddenly, he remembered something... Rumor had it that Uchiha Keizumi's eyes could perceive truths hidden from others. They could see the evil of a person's past—and the evil yet to come.
And tonight—
Tonight, Uchiha Keizumi had publicly demonstrated the terrifying power of his Mangekyō Sharingan before many witnesses.
That alone made the legend of his 'eyes that see through sin' all the more credible.
Kakashi was stunned.
His reason for coming to see Uchiha Keizumi wasn't some scheme or mission. He had simply wanted to thank the man face-to-face.
Even if it was long overdue, Uchiha Keizumi had at least allowed him—Hatake Kakashi—to finally glimpse the truth behind his father's death.
All these years, he'd drifted through life in a haze, closing off his heart, unwilling to even mention the name 'Hatake Sakumo' in front of others. And yet… dark, conspiratorial thoughts had always flickered at the back of his mind. He'd had his suspicions—but never any proof.
Until tonight, when one of Danzō's crimes was exposed by Uchiha Keizumi—and Danzō himself had broken down in response…
That was when Kakashi chose to believe Keizumi.
Of course.
If he was willing to believe that Danzō had played a role in his father's death, then why was his first instinct to doubt Keizumi when he claimed Uchiha Obito was still alive?
Could it be...
Was Obito truly still alive, just as Uchiha Keizumi had said?
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