Kagami's hands began to tremble. Watching Obito in his previous life hadn't felt like anything special, but now that he was facing Obito himself, knowing everything about him, all of it combined into the most direct form of fear Kagami had ever felt—fear of death!
"Who are you?"
Kakashi was the first to speak.
Obito looked at Kakashi, and the eye beneath his mask narrowed slightly. That scene once again surfaced before him: the dazzling lightning, and the glaring blood at the corner of Rin's mouth.
Obito said nothing. Instead, he looked at the three people behind Kakashi. He had appeared here because he had heard that Kakashi had become a Jonin instructor, and he hadn't been able to resist coming to take a look.
As it happened, he had recently been constantly entering and leaving the Uchiha clan grounds to study the Uchiha clan monument, so he had been active around Konoha for quite some time. Finding out the target of Kakashi's team's mission had not been difficult.
When Saito Daisuke saw that the masked man remained silent, he immediately spoke with disdain.
"Hmph! You actually took care of our mission target without permission. Damn it. Hey, I say, what country are you a ninja from? I don't see a Konoha forehead protector on you either. Don't tell me you're a ninja sent by another country to spy on Konoha?"
The masked man still said nothing.
Saito Daisuke immediately grew angry.
"Why aren't you answering me? Are you a coward? You won't run, you won't fight, and you won't even speak. What are you trying to do? If you don't say anything soon, I'm going to attack! I'll show you just how powerful I, Saito Daisuke, am!"
The masked man looked at Saito Daisuke and spoke silently in his heart.
He really is like me. Just like I used to be.
To be honest, if Kakashi had become a Jonin instructor a little later, after he had stopped wandering around the outskirts of Konoha, Obito would not have cared what happened to Kakashi. He had long since regarded this world as a false one. Nothing mattered anymore.
But as it happened, Kakashi had become a Jonin instructor a little earlier than expected. So Obito had really wanted to come and see Kakashi's team. He wanted to see how Kakashi treated his students. Was he the same as Teacher Minato?
The same as Teacher Minato—unable to save anyone?!
Suzuki Genji grabbed Saito Daisuke and shook her head slightly.
"Daisuke, don't be impulsive. This person in front of us is no ordinary man."
Kagami, meanwhile, could only keep smiling bitterly. Saito Daisuke truly was fearless through ignorance. Kagami knew very well that no one present could stand against Obito!
Not even Kakashi. The current Kakashi would probably need half a day just to awaken the Mangekyo, while Obito could activate his at will—and he also possessed that cheat-like Mangekyo ability. Without exaggeration, from the moment Rin died, Obito had already become a boss-level figure.
Kakashi shook his head. Keeping his eyes fixed on the masked man, he called out to the three people behind him.
"You three, leave. This place isn't safe. I'll deal with him."
Although Kakashi did not know how strong the person before him was, he had thought of something. Recently, someone seemed to have been repeatedly breaking through the barrier and entering and leaving Konoha. They had never managed to find out who it was, but Kakashi now had a feeling. Could it be this person?
Anyone who could freely enter and leave Konoha was no ordinary character. To be safe, Kakashi had to make sure Kagami and the other two withdrew first.
Saito Daisuke was deeply dissatisfied and was about to say something, but Kagami grabbed him without ceremony and spoke coldly.
"Go! Daisuke, this isn't the time to act on impulse! Come with me!"
Saito Daisuke opened his mouth, but under Kagami's frighteningly cold expression, he ultimately gave in. He said nothing and followed Kagami as they retreated.
Suzuki Genji was unlike Saito Daisuke. She said nothing and wisely withdrew with them.
The masked man extended a hand and drew the blade at his waist.
Kakashi, I'll show you how useless you are. You're just as useless as Teacher Minato! You can't protect anything! You can't protect anyone! I'll teach you that lesson!
Seeing the masked man draw his sword, Kakashi's pupils contracted, and he rapidly formed Hand Seals.
"Lightning Cutter!"
Kakashi could sense it. The person before him was a formidable enemy!
Konoha.
In the Anbu, Itachi found Shisui and arranged to meet him in an empty place.
"Shisui, Kagami went out today to carry out her first C-rank mission. You know about that, right?"
Shisui nodded.
"Of course. What is it? Did something happen?"
Itachi moved closer to Shisui and spoke in a low voice.
"You should also know that someone has recently been repeatedly breaking through the barrier and entering and leaving Konoha. I discovered that person was probably a mysterious man wearing a mask. I noticed his presence before, but I didn't report him to the village higher-ups. That person is very strong. I could feel that making him an enemy of the village at this point would be a terrible choice. But that's not what I wanted to talk about today.
"Just now, I discovered traces of the barrier being breached. It should have been done by that masked man. More importantly, the direction in which the barrier was breached seems to be the direction of Kagami's mission."
Shisui shook his head and said with a light laugh,
"No, Itachi. Why would someone like that attack a Genin like Kagami?"
Itachi grabbed Shisui's shoulders tightly.
"Shisui! He's a merciless killer! You know—do you know how I awakened my Sharingan? It was because I encountered that man. My entire team was wiped out. If—if Kagami encounters that man, what will happen? Do you really want Kagami to suffer what I did?"
Shisui's face instantly darkened.
"No! I promised Kagami that I wouldn't let her awaken eyes like our demonic ones! Where is the location?"
"In a dense forest not far outside the main gate. Follow me."
The two figures vanished from the spot without a trace.
Looking at the Lightning Cutter in his hand, Kakashi's eyes widened.
It passed right through him?
Wait!
Kakashi abruptly turned and looked at the masked man behind him. Although he did not know why his attack had passed through the man's body without causing any damage, he had to keep him here somehow and buy time for Kagami and the others to escape.
The masked man did not turn around. He spoke without the slightest trace of emotion, uttering his first words since their meeting.
"Who can you protect?"
His voice was imposing and domineering. It was not Obito's original voice, but the voice of Madara Uchiha, imitated by Obito with the help of White Zetsu.
As he spoke, the masked man started walking toward Kagami and the others.
"You can only kill them."
It sounded as though he was condemning Kakashi. Was he saying that Kakashi had brought harm to Kagami and the others, or was there another meaning behind his words?
"Stop!!!"
Seeing the masked man pursue Kagami and the others, Kakashi roared furiously.
Recalling that painful experience from the past, Kakashi knew the masked man might not understand him, but he still raised his Lightning Cutter and spoke with fury on his face.
"This time is different. I'm not the Kakashi I used to be. I've become a Jonin, and I've become a teacher! I've become someone like Teacher Minato. This time, I'll protect my comrades!"
As he spoke, Kakashi charged at the masked man again, Lightning Cutter raised in his hand.
"Although you probably can't understand what I'm saying, you only need to know one thing: don't even think about taking the life of any one of my students right in front of me!"
The masked man's voice carried a hint of mockery.
"Is that so? Hatake Kakashi, should I call you Kakashi the Copy Ninja—or Kakashi, the killer of his comrades?"
The Lightning Cutter passed through the masked man's body once again.
The masked man snickered.
"Powerless. Weak. Oh, right, those children should have gotten far away by now. With that much distance between us, you probably won't be able to catch up for a while, will you? Heh."
With that, a vortex appeared, and the masked man vanished from the spot.
After hearing the masked man's final words and seeing his strange method of disappearing, Kakashi instantly realized what was happening. He chased after Kagami and the others like a madman.
In the distance, a vortex appeared, and the masked man blocked Kagami and the others' path.
Kagami knew that when Obito entered or exited the Kamui space—when that vortex existed—he was tangible and could be attacked. But did Kagami have the right to attack him? Facing Obito, Kagami knew very clearly that she could not exchange blows with him, so she did not dare to act rashly.
Perhaps I should have stayed beside Kakashi? But with Obito's Kamui, he could completely ignore Kakashi's attacks and then continue attacking them.
"Senior, do we have some grudge between us?"
Kagami spoke first, cutting off Saito Daisuke's rashness before he could make the situation worse.
Kagami found it strange that Obito harbored such immense killing intent toward them. They had already run so far away, yet he had still pursued them. Logically speaking, after Kakashi stopped him, given how disappointed Obito was in this world, he should have been too lazy to bother with Kakashi and simply left on his own.
If Kakashi had not been there, Kagami would not have found it strange if Obito had killed them as an afterthought. To Obito, that would have been nothing more than a casual act. It could not be considered killing intent.
But after being stopped by Kakashi, Obito had still chased after them. That was naked killing intent.
Obito wanted to kill them!
The masked man pointed his blade at Kagami.
"Would you speak with the dead?"
Before you continue