The Truth of the Kaleidoscope, Attack of the Masked Man!

"So that is how it is..."

Kakashi fell silent, standing in place to contemplate as he mourned his father in his heart.

Uchiha Senya picked up the forehead protector Kakashi had just discarded and handed it to him.

"Look at your left eye."

Kakashi took the forehead protector and, using the moonlight, held it up to use the polished surface as a mirror to examine his left eye.

"This... this is!"

He saw that the three tomoe in his left eye had transformed into the shape of a shuriken, and Kakashi's pupils could not help but tremble.

"That's right. For some reason, you have awakened our Uchiha Mangekyou. But tell me, why did your Mangekyou awaken so naturally? Could it be that you had already awakened it before?"

Uchiha Senya planted another question in Kakashi's mind, waiting for him to deduce the answer that would surely shock him.

Kakashi shook his head, directly denying Uchiha Senya's suggestion.

"Impossible. When Obito entrusted his Sharingan to me, it was only two tomoe. Later, because of Rin... because of Rin's death, it became three."

The memory brought a look of grief to Kakashi's face.

However, Uchiha Senya, standing to the side, refuted Kakashi's denial.

"You are wrong, Kakashi. The Sharingan only evolves when an Uchiha experiences extreme emotional sorrow, causing the brain to secrete a special type of chakra. You do not possess Uchiha blood; your Sharingan should have remained at two tomoe forever. But there is another possibility..."

"What other possibility!?"

Kakashi made no effort to hide the urgency in his voice. This was the will Obito had entrusted to him; he could not afford any mistakes!

Uchiha Senya looked at Kakashi with a meaningful gaze, intending to push him step by step toward the final conclusion.

"In theory, if Uchiha Obito was nearby at that time, and you were both stimulated by the same event, pushing you to the depths of despair, the chakra burst from Obito's awakening of his Mangekyou could have formed a connection with your left eye. At the same time, the shared grief kept your chakra and emotions in a state of extreme agitation. Your brain used the leaking chakra from Obito as a seed, and in order to evolve into a Mangekyou, the Sharingan drained your chakra. That is how you and Obito would have awakened the Mangekyou simultaneously."

"If I'm not mistaken, you passed out immediately afterward, didn't you?"

Kakashi looked incredulous, a whirlwind of complex emotions—excitement, doubt, and more—surging into his heart.

Obito might still be alive! But if he were alive, why wouldn't he return to Konoha? What exactly happened afterward?

Just as Kakashi was deep in thought, Uchiha Senya suddenly sensed something. He shoved Kakashi aside and his hands moved in a blur of seals.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

Clang!

A massive Fuma Shuriken flew out from the woods and embedded itself into Uchiha Senya's Earth Wall.

A figure slowly emerged from the forest, revealing a scarlet Sharingan to Uchiha Senya and Kakashi. What greeted them was an orange-red, tiger-striped, single-eyed mask.

"As expected of the Vice Clan Head of the Uchiha. It seems you have some skill."

The Masked Man's tone was cold, carrying a hint of mockery.

The opponent's sudden appearance interrupted Uchiha Senya's plan, but it was perfect; with the "Masked Man" here, he might be able to seize the opportunity to get his hands on the "Hashirama Cells."

After all, Uchiha Senya knew that the posturing Masked Man before him was none other than Obito. Attacking him now meant either that he and Kakashi were close to figuring out Obito was alive, or that his interference in the plan involving Danzo and Itachi had made him a target.

None of that mattered. While Uchiha Senya's current strength was not yet a match for Uchiha Madara or Hashirama in their prime, defeating someone at the peak of Kage-level like Obito was easy, especially with his heavily enhanced ocular power. Furthermore, his ocular techniques, "Word Spirit" and "Illusion Weapon," were simply too broken.

Add in the fact that Obito only had one Mangekyou, limiting him to phasing through attacks with a five-minute restriction, and Uchiha Senya could take him down right here if he wanted. But that would consume too much ocular power and was unnecessary; after all, the "plot" still needed this guy to move forward.

Uchiha Senya stepped forward, unsealing the "Seal" on his left wrist. "Qianyue" appeared, and he gripped it with his left hand.

On the night he awakened his Mangekyou, Uchiha Senya had fused the spiritual weapon "Qianyue" with his chakra blade, using his "Illusion Weapon" technique to allow "Qianyue" to shift into any form he required.

He drew "Qianyue" with his right hand; the blade was now pitch-black, shimmering with a cold light.

"I don't know where you got that Sharingan, but to dare to attack me—your courage is commendable."

In Uchiha Senya's eye sockets, three thick, equidistant black lines extended from the center of his pupils to the edges, connected by a black circle.

He would go all out and defeat his opponent immediately. Uchiha Senya wouldn't waste time like those characters in anime, dragging things out and exhausting his own strength. For a ninja, the key was a swift, decisive victory.

"What! You've actually awakened the Mangekyou!"

The Masked Man's tone was filled with astonishment.

He quickly drew the ninja sword from his back, and the three tomoe in his eye sockets spun rapidly, transforming into a Mangekyou Sharingan.

Obito was currently cursing the White Zetsu he had killed not long ago. The Uchiha Vice Clan Head had awakened a Mangekyou! How could White Zetsu have failed to gather such vital intelligence? What had he been doing? Thinking about nothing but "dung" all day? Although he had Hashirama Cells to recover his ocular power, he only possessed one ocular technique. Facing a complete pair of Mangekyou, he knew he couldn't take the opponent down in a short time.

This meant the plan to assassinate Uchiha Senya was doomed to fail, and it would only make the man wary of him.

Most importantly, this impressive-looking fellow had already guessed that he might still be alive! Damn it! And he couldn't even kill Uchiha Senya!

No, he had to leave immediately. If he stayed in a stalemate and there were other Mangekyou users in the Uchiha clan, he would surely be finished today.

The space around the Masked Man's right eye began to distort, centered on his pupil.

"Hmph, I'll let you off this time. The next time we meet will be the day you die, Uchiha Senya!"

After delivering his threat, Obito prepared to slip away.

"Wait! Why do you have Obito's eye! What did you do to Obito!"

The moment Kakashi noticed the Mangekyo in the Masked Man's eye socket, he discovered that the pattern of this Sharingan was identical to the Mangekyo pattern in his own left eye!

This meant that Obito might very well be in the hands of this person! Having had his final eye stolen, he was likely in grave danger now.

The Masked Man looked toward Kakashi; his expression beneath the mask was somewhat complex, yet he still spoke with cold indifference.

"Obito, you say... that guy is already dead."

!!!

Kakashi charged directly at the Masked Man, having lost all composure. The final glimmer of hope in his heart had been extinguished; he no longer cared about anything else, wanting only to kill the "Masked Man" before him to avenge Obito!

His body lunged forward as he gathered blue lightning chakra in his right hand. The high-concentration lightning-attribute chakra condensed into a visible mass in Kakashi's palm, sounding like the chirping of a thousand birds!

"Chirp...!"

"You bastard! Pay for Obito's life!"

"Chidori!"

The Masked Man let out a cold snort.

"How truly foolish. It's useless."

Obito was currently in a state of intangibility, preparing to depart; it was impossible for this attack to harm him.

At this moment, Senya drew Qianyue from the side, pointed the blade at the Masked Man, and looked at him with a playful expression.

"Become the shackles and bind him, Qianyue."

The two ocular techniques, Word Spirit and Illusion Weapon, were activated simultaneously!