Kakashi had wanted to say something, but when he saw the figure standing over there, he froze.
A girl stood across from him with her back to him.
"...Rin?"
Then another figure appeared in front of the girl, one hand piercing through her body.
And the child who had pierced through the girl was unmistakably a younger Kakashi.
A cute female voice sounded from behind Kakashi. "The third principle of ninja: Genjutsu."
[Reversing the Heavenly Stems 23333] [This is insane!] [That's little Kakashi, right?] [Did he kill his wife to attain enlightenment?] [A frontal view? I'm in!] [Why not have the couple together? Little Kakashi, I'm in too.] [???] [Netizens these days are way too insane.] [This is the information Sparkle looked up.] [Damn, Kakashi completely lost it 2333]
Kakashi really did lose it.
With a wave of his hand, "Sparkle" behind him turned into mist and vanished.
"Genjutsu, Hell Viewing Technique. Teacher Kakashi, what kind of hellish scene did you see?" Sparkle appeared smiling atop a tree, looking down at Kakashi.
The Hell Viewing Technique was a Genjutsu that made people see scenes of hell.
Yet Kakashi did not feel as though he had fallen under the Hell Viewing Technique at all.
"Hell Viewing Technique? When did it happen? Is this what a Genjutsu prodigy is like?" Kakashi finally grew serious.
Kakashi did not know that he had not actually fallen under Genjutsu.
The scene before him was actually the result of Sparkle transforming with Thousand Faces of the Fool.
Sparkle had recreated a scene from more than ten years ago. Kakashi's teammate, Rin Nohara, had been controlled by Kirigakure ninja and implanted with a Tailed Beast. They had intended to take her to Konoha and release the Tailed Beast to wreak havoc there, while Rin Nohara had ultimately chosen to die by Kakashi's hand.
The younger Kakashi and Rin Nohara here were both played by Sparkle.
In other words, this was a "reality show" directed and starring Sparkle, with Kakashi as its sole audience member.
Quite a show.
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Tears Could Not Be Hidden by Kamui, and Everywhere He Looked Was Rin
For Sparkle, her audience could be the viewers beyond the Dimensional Popularity Stage, Kakashi before her, or anyone else.
Being ready to put on a good show for them anytime, anywhere was a basic quality of an idol.
A true idol would never go dark, stab herself, then fall into the sea alongside the mastermind to perish together, all while making the people she cherished feel pain.
"You didn't use the Hell Viewing Technique, did you?" Kakashi found this rather troublesome.
Against a prodigy on Sparkle's level, even using ordinary Genjutsu to fight her would probably be difficult.
Unless he used the Sharingan.
But the Sharingan had a problem too.
Most Sharingan Genjutsu required him to see the opponent's eyes. The awkward part was that Sparkle had no eyes.
Forget ordinary Genjutsu—even Tsukuyomi would be useless here.
After dispelling it several times, Kakashi still felt that nothing around him had changed, nor did he feel as though he had fallen under Genjutsu.
As for the other side using someone he knew for a mental attack, Kakashi did not deny it. Or rather, gathering intelligence on the enemy and striking at their weaknesses was precisely what ninja were supposed to do.
"Transformation Jutsu? No, that's not it either..." Sparkle currently looked like Rin Nohara. Yet Kakashi did not think she had used the Transformation Jutsu.
That was also why Kakashi believed he had fallen under Genjutsu.
"Well now, is it~?" Sparkle was in no hurry to attack.
"You're not coming at me? If time runs out, you'll be the ones expelled." Kakashi said.
"What are you talking about, Kakashi?"
--!!!
In an instant, even Sparkle's voice had changed.
"...Rin?" At that moment, Kakashi even felt that the person standing opposite him truly was Rin Nohara.
Just then, a Mist Ninja appeared behind Rin.
Danger!
Kakashi screamed inwardly.
But reason told Kakashi that the person before him was fake.
As they said, tears could not be hidden by Kamui, and everywhere he looked was Rin.
"Some kind of special transformation technique, or some Genjutsu I don't know about?"
But information about him was not something just any ninja could obtain. If it was the Hell Viewing Technique, capable of seeing the darkness hidden in his heart, then it made sense.
But Hanabi Hyuga was a prodigy of the Hyuga Clan. It was said that both the Elder and the clan head deeply regretted her blindness; otherwise, she would definitely have been the next heir. If she came from the Byakugan clan, then perhaps it was not so strange for her to know some hidden information.
Kakashi's sense of smell was also sharp, but the whole area was filled with an unusual floral fragrance. Clearly, she had used some kind of incense to cover up the "smell" of this area.
"I can't tell. I really can't tell. Do I have to use the Sharingan?"
Kakashi felt that he could no longer distinguish reality from illusion.
And while he hesitated, the Mist Ninja's blade had already pierced Rin Nohara.
Rin looked at Kakashi with bewildered yet worried eyes. Then she coughed up blood and collapsed.
The Mist Ninja behind her removed his mask.
--It was clearly Kakashi again.
"No choice." Kakashi stopped pretending.
He lifted his forehead protector, revealing the Sharingan. Lightning also flickered around his body.
His entire presence instantly changed. As though responding to Kakashi, dark clouds began to gather in the sky as well.
[Kakashi: I can't tell. I really can't tell!] [Kakashi: This isn't funny, kid.] [This is perfectly stepping over the line and courting death.] [Those who court death will die. Kakashi's getting serious now.] [Another different kind of eye. Does Ninja Path have some kind of thing going on with eyes?] [Damn, that's insanely cool.]
"...?" Yet even after opening the Sharingan, the hellish scene before him did not change.
No, it did change.
A middle-aged man stood in the distance with a smile, looking at him with loving eyes.
"!!!!!!"
Kakashi's eyes widened, and even his breathing grew hurried.
Then the middle-aged man picked up a blade.
But the blade was not pointed at Kakashi. It was pointed at himself.
Then the middle-aged man drew the blade and prepared to thrust it into his own abdomen.
Kakashi immediately pulled down his forehead protector.
"..."
The middle-aged man before him became the smiling Rin Nohara once again.
Opening the Sharingan did not make things better.
On the contrary, Kakashi had seen the scene of his father, Hatake Sakumo, committing suicide. That was Kakashi's earliest shadow.
[Damn, why does this feel even more hellish?] [The person who committed suicide has the same hair as Kakashi. His dad?] [He killed himself?] [No wonder he has psychological trauma.] [He used his ultimate move, and his psychological trauma leveled up with it. Who could take that?] [Not just killing someone, but breaking their heart too.]
"Kid, you're playing with fire." Kakashi had a headache.
He could not dispel the Genjutsu before him, and opening the Sharingan had only made things even more hellish.
Unable to see through it, Kakashi even suspected that what lay before him was a trap. Was Sparkle right in front of him?
The best way to break the situation would be to use a large-scale ninjutsu to hit the entire area with an AOE, then temporarily retreat, hide, and observe for weaknesses and the real body's location.
But Kakashi could not do that, because his current identity was that of an "examiner." He had to wait for the others to come and steal the bells. Flipping the table would mean he could not afford to lose.
If they were enemies, he could simply kill them. But they were all on the same side.
He could neither fight nor out-argue her. It was infuriating.
"You're not attacking?"
Kakashi decided not to bicker with a kid. He pretended to yawn, then raised his head and looked in Sparkle's direction.
--As long as she needed the bells, she would definitely attack.
He could just treat this level of mental attack as if it did not exist.
He just needed to stall for time... Wait, stall for time?!
"Shimatta!"
Damn it!
Kakashi suddenly realized that Sparkle was also stalling for time. She needed time to rescue Naruto and Sasuke!
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A ball of flame shot out from behind Kakashi.
Kakashi immediately turned and moved to the side.
"--!"
The person who had used the Great Fireball Technique was definitely Sasuke, but when Kakashi turned around, he saw someone else.
Obito Uchiha.
And Kakashi's sidestep had clearly been anticipated. Sparkle had already arrived there. She had not transformed, instead appearing in her original form.
Sparkle braced both hands against the ground, her legs clamping Kakashi like a pair of scissors. Kakashi could only raise his arms to block.
But using her hands as an axis, Sparkle viciously hurled Kakashi to the other side. Kakashi traced an arc through the air before being slammed onto the ground.
Kachōsen!
Though Sparkle considered Shiranui-ryu ninjutsu to be flashy showmanship, this kind of pure close-combat technique was quite useful in a "low-level" battle like this.
Before you continue