A Thousand Years of Reincarnational Punishment

Kakashi and Obito talked for a long time.

All the emotions that had been building up for over a decade, all the words that were hard to put into words, all the guilt and self-blame that I thought I would never have a chance to express, were all pouring out little by little today.

Obito calmly recounted the path he had walked over the years, while Kakashi listened silently, occasionally asking a question or two, but mostly remaining silent.

Gradually, Obito learned why Kakashi was able to come here.

It wasn't because of death, nor because of an accident, but because he was brought here while still alive.

Because of his disciples.

Uzumaki Naruto became the manager of this Pure Land...

"By the way, Obito... in the end, who exactly killed you?"

Kakashi's voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

Obito paused for a moment. "... Let's not talk about that."

He shifted his gaze to the distant grassland bathed in sunlight. "It doesn't matter anymore."

Kakashi opened his mouth, wanting to ask more, but was interrupted by Obito's next words. "Let's talk about what's to come."

Obito turned his head, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Kakashi and Rin. He knew he couldn't go back to the past.

This was something he understood the moment he saw the scarlet number above his head. 9.3—that was the mark of the most heinous criminals, the final judgment this Pure Land bestows upon every soul.

A person like him doesn't deserve to stay here.

The Animal Path, that is his destiny.

He will be reincarnated as an animal there, using countless lives to atone for the sins of his previous life. Perhaps he will become a fish and be served on a dinner table; perhaps he will become a bird, flying in the sky for decades before dying; perhaps he will become a stray dog, wandering the streets, eventually being adopted by a kind person or freezing to death.

But he didn't care.

Kakashi didn't want Obito to be reborn as an animal in his next life.

He wanted to say something, to find some way, some reason, some method to stop it all.

But he found that he couldn't say anything, because he had no right to stop it.

Too many people cannot forgive Obito.

Those innocent people who died in the Nine-Tails Rebellion, those who lost loved ones in the war, those wounded souls—they all have the right to hate, the right not to forgive.

Even his own disciple, Uzumaki Naruto.

The child whose parents were killed by Obito, the child who grew up alone, the child who has now become the manager of the Pure Land and personally created these rules.

How could he possibly forgive Obito? How could he let Obito escape the punishment he deserved?

Obito looked at Kakashi's silent expression, then at Rin standing beside him, her eyes already red-rimmed.

A complex mix of emotions welled up within him. He wasn't afraid of being reborn as a fish and served on a dinner table, or as a stray dog wandering the streets in his next life. He had long since stopped caring about those things.

What he feared was never those things.

There was only one thing he feared—that he would never see Lin again.

That was his only fear.

During those years of wandering in darkness, what sustained him, besides that lie, was only the thought that "I will see Lin again someday." Even though that thought was distorted, corrupted, and turned into something terrible, it was still there.

Now, he has finally seen her again.

But soon, he was going to lose her again.

Obito's gaze lingered on Rin's young face for a long, long time before he turned to look at Kakashi.

"Kakashi, do me a favor."

Kakashi looked up at him. "Let your student..." Obito paused, "Let Rin return to the human world as 'Rin'."

Kakashi was stunned.

"Don't let her forget all of this," Obito continued. "Don't let her be reincarnated, don't let her become someone else. Let her return to that world in her current form."

Kakashi felt like something was blocking his throat.

"And I..." Obito continued, his voice trailing off, "Even though it's very unwilling, I have to say it—" He looked up at Kakashi. "I hope you can take care of her."

Just then, Obito suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right... there's something."

Kakashi looked up.

"The new rules of the Pure Land," Obito said, his voice carrying a barely perceptible fluctuation, "Meant that every time a human soul returns to the Pure Land, it will retain all the memories of its human reincarnations."

"All."

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly.

"In other words..." Obito's voice trembled slightly, "After I atone for my sins, even if it takes thousands of years, after I return here as a human—"

"I can also reunite with Rin as Obito."

His gaze passed over Kakashi and landed on Rin's young face, which was now covered in tears.

Obito looked at her, a slight smile curving his lips—his first genuine smile in over a decade.

"So, Kakashi," he turned his gaze back to his old friend, "Do me this favor."

"Let Lin return to the present world and live as Lin."

"Then--wait for me to come back."

Time passed peacefully for a while.

Outside, nothing earth-shattering happened. The Ninja World remained peaceful, the borders between the Five Great Nations were at peace, the daily tasks of each ninja village were carried out as usual, and the villagers worked from sunrise to sunset, everything was the same as before.

The new order established in the Pure Land is unknown to the outside world.

This was intentional.

Because if humans knew that death doesn't mean the end, but rather reincarnation and a fresh start, it would absolutely cause chaos.

Those who should have faced death with equanimity will become fearless, those who should have cherished life will become reckless and adventurous, and those with malicious intentions will become even more unscrupulous—after all, you can always come back from the dead, so what's there to be afraid of?

Therefore, the existence of the Pure Land, Pure Land rules, and everything about Pure Land are strictly sealed behind that gate of life and death.

Those who are alive only need to live well.

But some subtle changes occurred behind the scenes.

So small that it goes unnoticed by anyone, so small that only a very few people know the reason behind it.

First, at Konoha Hospital, a young medical Ninja recently arrived.

She was a girl who looked to be only about thirteen years old, with neat short hair and a gentle smile on her face.

Her medical skills were exceptionally good, and she treated patients with patience and meticulousness, quickly earning unanimous praise from everyone in the hospital. However, strangely, this girl's file was not on the list of recently graduated Konoha Genin.

She seemed to appear out of nowhere.

What's even stranger is that this girl is very close to Hatake Kakashi.

Almost every day, Kakashi would personally pick up the girl from work. In the evening, at the entrance of Konoha Hospital, you could always see that silver-haired figure leaning against the wall, waiting for the girl to come out. Then the two would walk side by side and disappear at the end of the street.

Some people privately speculated whether they were in that kind of relationship.

But it doesn't look like it at all.

Kakashi's attitude towards this girl was strange. It wasn't the way a man looks at a woman, but rather a mixture of guilt, remorse, and cautious tenderness. There was always something indescribable in his gaze, as if he were looking at a daughter he had wronged for too long.

The girl had a similar attitude towards Kakashi.

The way she took care of Kakashi was so meticulous and attentive that it didn't seem like the sweetness between lovers at all.

She would remind Kakashi to eat on time, bring him a cup of hot tea when he stayed up too late reading, and check on him to see if he was injured when he returned from a mission.

Another change occurred further away, in a little-known rumor that didn't attract much attention.

Neji Hyuga, the genius of the Hyuga Branch Family, left Konoha.

It wasn't defection.

His teammates Rock Lee and Tenten confirmed this themselves. They caught up with Neji and asked him what he was doing. Neji simply told them calmly that he was leaving the village to find someone.

His father, Hizashi Hyuga, was abducted from a caravan transported from Hidden Cloud Village by the [Jin] organization when he was a child.