Kamui.
"Ol—d… s-sor…ry…"
Inside the spiraling vortex of space-time, Obito's body was being dragged into the other dimension. The broken words still slipped out—ragged, strained.
In that instant, only Minato understood what he was trying to say.
That boy who used to help people until he was always late…
For a heartbeat, it felt like he'd returned.
But it was all built on Shisui's genjutsu—Kotoamatsukami.
Because the "seed" Shisui planted was surrender and be captured, was that why Obito suddenly "woke up" and apologized?
"Lord Hokage!" Shisui's voice snapped out. "My chakra—my connection is being cut off!"
Minato's expression changed immediately. "Kakashi—now!"
The moment the vortex tightened, Kakashi lunged forward.
"Kamui!"
A second space-time vortex bloomed—swallowing Shisui and Kakashi whole.
They vanished from the cave.
Minato and Fugaku exchanged a look, then both released their sensing, watching every ripple in the surrounding space.
…
Inside the Kamui dimension—
A thin line of blood ran down from Shisui's left eye.
Beside him, Kakashi collapsed straight to the ground.
"The chakra link is severed," Shisui said quickly. "Eat a soldier pill and recover. I'll handle him for now."
He faced the masked man—his mind already forming a guess.
The Fourth had analyzed the enemy's abilities clearly. And that Kakashi's left-eye Mangekyō countered them—also true.
Yet from the beginning to the end, Minato had never told them the enemy's name.
The abilities were obvious… but the identity wasn't.
And the enemy's space-time power was too similar to Kakashi's—like two halves of the same coin. One offense, one defense.
Kakashi might not notice.
But Shisui, an Uchiha, understood perfectly.
The Sharingan was the eye that reflects the heart.
The Mangekyō was the leap across a chasm—abilities varied wildly, but their root was always the same:
A power evolved from what the heart desired.
Hatake Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha. He had no Uchiha blood.
He could never evolve from three-tomoe to Mangekyō on his own.
Which meant Kakashi's Mangekyō awakened because—
the other eye awakened.
And if the space-time abilities matched this closely…
Then the masked man's identity was already screaming its name.
Uchiha Obito.
Minato's student.
Kakashi's closest friend.
A hero of the Third Shinobi War.
"Haah… haah…"
Obito was breathing hard—not from exhaustion. With Hashirama's cells inside him, his stamina and chakra weren't the problem.
He was breathing like that because he was afraid.
Shisui of the Body Flicker—an Uchiha around his age—
had a power this unreasonable?
Obito's single Mangekyō narrowed, but he kept his gaze low—staring only at Shisui's lower body, refusing eye contact.
"Mangekyō genjutsu…"
Obito's voice was rough, cautious.
"…can reach into a person's heart and control them so naturally they don't even realize it."
His gaze drifted upward—still avoiding Shisui's eyes.
"But even Mangekyō has limits. The difference in dimensions cut your chakra link, and your 'unsolvable' genjutsu broke."
"Shisui of the Body Flicker… In the Third War, you made your name with shunshin and genjutsu."
Obito's tone sharpened.
"Was it back then? So you've tasted pain too, haven't you?"
"This world is full of sin and war."
"My junior…"
He laughed, low and bitter.
"…are you going to betray me too?"
The moment the last word left his mouth—
Obito appeared beside Kakashi in a blur, reaching straight for Kakashi's left eye.
But the next instant—
BOOM!
Green chakra erupted.
A skeletal frame—half-formed, terrifying—stood between Obito and Kakashi.
Shisui's Mangekyō spun like a crosshair within blood-red eyes.
The green skeleton sprang forward, a massive chakra-wrapped arm slamming down.
BOOOOM!!
A floating boulder in the Kamui dimension detonated into shards.
Obito flashed away, eyes hard. "Susanoo… already at this stage?"
Blood streamed again from Shisui's eyes. The drain of Mangekyō power was carving into him.
The green skeleton dissolved.
The crosshair pattern retreated—Mangekyō collapsing back into three tomoe.
Shisui drew his standard ninja blade slowly.
He hadn't wanted to use Susanoo. Not yet.
But the situation forced his hand.
Now, based on everything they knew—
Obito's Mangekyō "intangibility" was effectively neutralized.
Minato and Fugaku were guarding the real world.
Shisui and Kakashi were guarding this dimension.
Both sides could strike at any moment.
And in the real world, Minato's Flying Thunder God formulas were everywhere.
If Obito tried to warp back out…
with the Yellow Flash's speed, he'd be walking into a beating.
Shisui's objective was simple:
Keep Obito contained within the cave's effective "boundary"—and win.
"Clank!"
Obito pulled out a length of iron chain.
"You can't protect him," he sneered. "Uchiha junior—now I'll show you the power I took from Hashirama."
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!"
In an instant, countless trees exploded upward from cracks between the stone.
Branches whipped through the Kamui space like spears, lashing toward Shisui.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Shisui answered immediately.
Flame tore through wood, buying space—just enough.
He hoisted Kakashi onto his back and vanished in successive shunshin blurs, stopping only when he reached a stable slab of rock.
"Shhk!"
A chain with a darted weight snapped toward them.
At the same time, more branches surged from behind.
"How long can you keep dodging?" Obito taunted. "Hashirama's power can play with you all day."
Shisui kept moving—never letting his tempo break.
On his back, Kakashi finally forced his right eye open.
"Without Uchiha blood, shutting Mangekyō down back to three tomoe is hell," Kakashi muttered. "Put me down. From here… you handle it."
Shisui didn't look back. "You sure? When we get out, we'll still need you."
Kakashi tilted his chin. "I can defend from the side. He's afraid I'll Kamui him out in an instant."
"Closing it is hard," he admitted, voice tight, "but firing one shot… is fast."
A moment later, Shisui set him down. He tapped his own eye once, then turned and charged back in.
Trees. Fire. Stone.
Shisui pushed his Body Flicker to the limit, weaving through everything—but every time he got close, Obito denied him the opening for genjutsu.
Left eye Kotoamatsukami had already been broken.
Right eye Kotoamatsukami—used at awakening, one-time.
The only thing that could decide this now was—
shunshin paired with conventional genjutsu at close range.
CLANG!
Blade met iron chain.
Sparks burst.
Wood surged again from behind, rolling like a tide.
And in that moment—
Kakashi yanked his forehead protector up.
"Kamui!!"
Obito didn't even bother following through on Shisui.
He dodged immediately.
Because he understood exactly what it meant if he got warped out.
If Kamui was disabled for him—
then in the real world, inside a space saturated with Flying Thunder God formulas…
Minato would kill him in a heartbeat.
SHING!
Blood-red crosshairs appeared again—Shisui's Mangekyō locking onto Obito the instant he dodged.
The illusion struck cleanly.
"Body Flicker!"