Land of Grass, Fire-Earth Battlefield.
On this day, because Minato needed to carry out a special mission, he temporarily left his three disciples at the camp.
Among these three, Kakashi was already a jonin, while Obito and Rin were both chunin. They actually already possessed the ability to act independently. Minato had to handle some more dangerous and troublesome missions alone, and really had no way to take his three disciples with him all the time.
Having lost their teacher's leadership, Rin and Obito naturally looked to Kakashi as their captain. The three of them began a series of new missions.
The young Kakashi had good strength and was very confident. Even though their team lacked Namikaze Minato, he still dared to accept some dangerous missions. Even though Jiraiya intended for the Hokage's son to take on relatively safer missions, he could not stop Kakashi's determination to take risks and advance.
And so... Team Kakashi soon encountered trouble!
The weaker Nohara Rin was captured by several Iwa-nin. They grinned threateningly and forced Kakashi to kill Obito. And so, a tragic scene reminiscent of 'Nagato killing Yahiko' was repeated on this battlefield. The plot was not exactly the same, but it was absolutely not far off...
"Did these White Zetsu get their inspiration from Nagato's group..." A Ryun clone hiding in the shadows could not help but mutter. He was sure White Zetsu had definitely seen how Yahiko died.
"Kakashi, please... take care of... Rin!"
Blood gushed from his mouth. After Uchiha Obito said these words, the whole world grew dark.
After Uchiha Obito was struck by a blade and fell, a grief-stricken and furious Kakashi, after a fierce and difficult battle, barely managed to kill those Iwa-nin and 'narrowly' succeeded in saving Rin. The cost was him permanently losing his left arm.
The commotion from their location quickly attracted many enemies. Nohara Rin, at this moment, could not even manage to 'recover Obito's body', and did not even have time to pick up Kakashi's severed arm. The two of them fled the battlefield in a panic.
Not long after, the ground where Uchiha Obito lay suddenly sank. What disappeared along with him was Kakashi's left arm.
"The first half of the eye-opening act is over..."
Coldly watching Uchiha Obito disappear from the ground, Ryun slowly turned around, using the lush trees to conceal his figure.
Two days later.
An underground room within the Land of Grass.
Uchiha Obito, who should have been dead, slowly opened his eyes.
"Am... I dead..."
The moment he opened his eyes, Uchiha Obito saw a white-haired old man with a cold expression.
"Where is this..." Uchiha Obito asked instinctively.
"The gap between the pure land and the mortal world, clansman of the Uchiha..." Uchiha Madara spoke indifferently.
"Your eyes... Old man, are you also from the Uchiha clan?" Uchiha Obito asked with surprise.
"That... you can guess..." Uchiha Madara neither admitted nor denied it.
And so... the ever 'clever' Uchiha Obito began to let his thoughts run wild again.
"You said this is the gap between the pure land and the mortal world, so what exactly is this place? It's too dark, I can't see anything clearly..."
"And, old man, who exactly are you..."
Uchiha Obito had many questions, but Uchiha Madara remained silent.
"You aren't the god of death, are you? The one who takes people to heaven or hell..."
Uchiha Obito suddenly joked, but when a glint of cold light appeared, he actually saw a gleaming scythe of the god of death in the white-haired old man's hand!
"No! I don't want to die yet! Help!!!" Seeing this, Obito was almost scared out of his wits...
"I saw the scythe, you are definitely the god of death, the one in charge of the Uchiha family's god of death..."
"All my life, from childhood till now, my principle has been to help elderly people in need. Although I have indeed done many bad things and broken many promises, it probably shouldn't cancel out all the good deeds..."
Uchiha Obito cried and spoke to himself, finally even struggling to get up and beg, "Please, don't take me to hell..."
In his agitation, the wound on his abdomen was pulled, causing him immediate, excruciating pain that covered his head in sweat.
"Can you still feel pain? That means you are still alive..."
"However, your survival is also fortunate. To have endured such a severe piercing injury and still hold on..."
Before Uchiha Madara could finish, Obito interrupted first, "So it was you, old man, who saved me!"
"Thank you..."
Faced with Obito's sincere thanks, Uchiha Madara's face remained cold. "Do not thank me so quickly... I will have you properly repay this favor."
"You just said that helping the elderly is your life's principle, correct?"
When Obito heard this, he looked slightly embarrassed. "Yes, I did say that just now. So, old man, what do you need me to do..."
Seeing Uchiha Madara remain silent, Obito asked tentatively, "Be a servant and take care of you?"
"That will do." Uchiha Madara responded indifferently.
"Sorry, I cannot stay here forever. Since I am still alive, I must return to Konoha. We are at war now. I finally managed to awaken the Sharingan. This time, I can finally protect my comrades better..." As Obito spoke, images of Rin and Kakashi immediately surfaced in his mind.
"Protect your comrades better..." Uchiha Madara repeated in a low voice.
The atmosphere fell into an eerie silence for a while. After a long moment, Uchiha Madara let out a faint sigh.
"Face reality... The world is full of things that don't go as one wishes. The longer I live, the more I feel this. What permeates reality is only gloom, pain, and loneliness..."
'What is this old man talking about...' Obito was completely confused for a moment.
"Listen well. All things in this world are the same. Where there is light, there must be darkness. As long as the concept of a 'victor' exists, there must inevitably be the existence of a 'loser'. The will to protect peace, this egotistical desire, invites war. To protect love, hatred is born. This is a causal relationship. The two cannot be separated..."
Uchiha Madara's long speech made Obito's head spin.
'Old men are all like this. Once they get started, their mouths just don't stop...' Obito thought to himself with disdain.
"By the way, where exactly is this place?"
Obito asked again. But the next moment, Uchiha Madara changed the subject. "Some people were perhaps saved precisely because of your sacrifice. Am I wrong..."
Hearing this, Obito's pupils contracted sharply. The scene of him throwing himself onto the blade finally surfaced in his mind. But Obito asked himself, could such an action really save Rin?
Remembering this, Obito immediately reacted and spoke urgently, "That's right! How are Rin and Kakashi?"
After talking nonsense with the old man for so long, he had actually forgotten to ask such an important thing!
"You mean your comrades? I did not find the bodies of any other kids besides you there. However, I picked this up next to you..." Uchiha Madara said, pointing to an arm casually discarded to the side.
"This should be a part belonging to your comrade. I suspect their situation might not be too good."
Looking at that youthful arm, roughly the same size as his own, Obito's entire body trembled uncontrollably, and tears streamed down his face unchecked.
"Ka...Kakashi..."
His sacrifice could not buy Rin's safety after all. In the end, it was Kakashi who shouldered everything!