"That's it! Exactly! That makes perfect sense!"
"No, no, no! It makes absolutely no sense!"
After hearing Matsuri's final conclusion, Chōjūrō desperately wanted to argue back, but no matter how hard he racked his brain, he could not immediately find an angle from which to refute it.
And just like that, the tragic love-hate saga between Ao and Kakashi was officially established as fact.
"I've figured it out!"
Yukata suddenly raised her hand.
Chōjūrō weakly lifted his head toward her.
Seriously?
What the hell had these women figured out now?
"There's another possibility. Kirigakure is famous for pretty boys who look like girls, right? What if Ao met Kakashi when Kakashi was still a teenager, and because Kakashi wore a mask, Ao mistook him for some tomboyish pretty boy?"
"And from that day forward, Kakashi became Ao's unforgettable first love!"
"…?"
"No, wait!"
Chōjūrō finally could not take it anymore and interrupted her loudly.
"A tomboy is a girl who looks boyish, while a femboy is a boy who looks feminine! How can someone be both at the same time?!"
"So in Ao's eyes, was Kakashi supposed to be a man or a woman?!"
Uh…
Everyone fell silent.
Chōjūrō had a point.
But now there was a new question.
Up until now, Chōjūrō had always acted shy, innocent, and painfully inexperienced.
So why did he know these definitions so clearly?
Good grief.
Another closet pervert just like Kakashi!
The looks everyone gave Chōjūrō gradually became contemptuous.
"Why can't someone appeal to both?"
Pakura was a little annoyed that Chōjūrō had argued her disciple into silence, and for the first time, the older woman personally joined the gossip offensive.
"Your ninja sword Hiramekarei can split into two halves, can't it?
"Maybe Ao likes both types. Young Kakashi looked just boyish enough and just pretty enough to hit both of his preferences at once."
Sorry, Hyūga clan.
Your Eight Trigrams Palm was too weak.
The true secret art was the Eight Trigrams Mouth.
Pakura then turned toward Naruto and Konohamaru, who had been quietly listening from the outer edge of the group.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Konohamaru. What do you two think?
"You're from Konoha. What kind of person is Kakashi?"
"Huh? Us?"
Naruto scratched his head.
"Well… at first we thought Kakashi-sensei was kind of weird. Always talking in that smug, roundabout way."
"Kakashi-sensei is definitely a closet pervert, just like Ebisu-sensei!"
Konohamaru declared.
"See?"
Pakura turned her gaze back toward Chōjūrō.
"Learn something from them."
"When Konoha discovers one of its own shinobi is a pervert, they admit it openly and without shame."
"But you're still standing here making excuses for yours."
"Can't you show a little responsibility and courage?"
Being stared down with contempt by an older woman, Chōjūrō looked like he was about to cry.
Finally, he hardened his resolve.
He clenched his teeth.
Clenched his fists.
Stomped his foot.
"That's right!"
Chōjūrō shouted.
"Ao-senpai likes tomboys and femboys, and Kakashi became his unforgettable first love!"
"And now, after seeing Zabuza confess to Kakashi and Granny Chiyo come looking for him too, Senior Ao finally felt threatened enough that he couldn't suppress his feelings anymore and had no choice but to confess!"
Not only had Chōjūrō accepted every accusation against Ao, he had even expanded the theory himself.
Wonderful.
Now that a fellow Kirigakure shinobi had personally confirmed it, the evidence against Ao was ironclad.
Strangely, after forcing himself to say all of that, Chōjūrō suddenly felt light and refreshed.
Even his mental state seemed noticeably healthier.
"Oh, right."
Naruto suddenly remembered something.
"Konohamaru and I were bored earlier, so we borrowed this from Kakashi-sensei and watched it for a while."
"I think that Ao guy's name came up inside."
Naruto hurried back and picked up a small device before bringing it over.
It was the display Kakashi used to monitor Obito inside the Engraved Tsukuyomi.
Since Naruto and Konohamaru had nothing better to do earlier, they had borrowed it from Kakashi and treated Obito's experiences like an episodic drama.
"What is this? Some new movie?"
Everyone stared curiously at the images on the screen.
"It's not a movie. Kakashi-sensei said it's… uh… it's…"
Naruto struggled for several seconds without managing to finish the sentence.
"Anyway, it's real. The person inside is real."
"It's something called Engraved Tsukuyomi."
Konohamaru stepped in and explained for him.
"It's a new thing developed over in Amegakure. The person inside is real. He was thrown in there to test Engraved Tsukuyomi."
"We don't really know all the details."
"Kakashi-sensei keeps this screen so he can monitor the guy inside."
The others looked between Naruto and Konohamaru strangely.
Something felt off.
Were their ages reversed?
Forget it.
That was not important right now.
"You said Ao's name appeared in there?"
Pakura immediately became interested.
"Engraved Tsukuyomi… Is it something like Limited Tsukuyomi?"
"Quick, put it on! Maybe we can find out what really happened back then!"
Everyone crowded around Naruto as he placed the display in the center, then gathered in a circle to watch.
After all, Limited Tsukuyomi corresponded in strange ways to events from the real world, allowing people to deduce all sorts of hidden historical information.
Perhaps Engraved Tsukuyomi worked the same way.
Maybe it was even more useful.
Limited Tsukuyomi had one major problem:
Everyone inside it was far too suspicious.
"Oh, right, everyone."
Konohamaru quickly gave them a warning before they started.
"The guy inside named Obito is actually Kakashi-sensei."
"And the one named Kakashi is actually the real Uchiha Obito—the guy they threw inside to test Engraved Tsukuyomi."
"…"
That was confusing as hell.
Still, everyone understood the basic idea.
Ignore the names.
Just look at their faces.
The identities had swapped, but their appearances had not.
And right now, the man called Uchiha Obito, who was actually filling Kakashi's role in this world, was fighting Kirigakure shinobi.
Whether because history had changed dramatically or for some other reason, "Obito" had been assigned several of Uchiha Shisui's subordinates.
As a member of the Uchiha clan, he had been sent on a mission into the Land of Water.
Meanwhile, the real Obito noticed that the Third Hokage was deliberately trying to separate the two former teammates now that their relationship had deteriorated.
Even so, Obito secretly followed them.
One part of his plan still required an assistant.
Whether that helper came from Kirigakure…
Or from Uchiha Madara, who might currently be somewhere nearby…
Either would work.
So Obito hid in the shadows, followed the main force, and eventually watched Kakashi come face-to-face with Ao.
"Huh?!"
Chōjūrō suddenly cried out.
"Why is Ao-senpai using Nuibari?!"
On the screen, Ao was holding a long, incredibly thin sword.
It was unmistakably one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist—Nuibari, the Sewing Needle.
Had history really changed that drastically?
Or had Ao genuinely used Nuibari during the Third Shinobi World War?
Chōjūrō had not lived through that era, so he honestly had no way of knowing.
"Ao-senpai, those are Uchiha shinobi on the other side. What do we do?"
One of Ao's subordinates asked from within the screen.