Identity Revealed!

Suddenly, the Masked Man felt his ocular jutsu abruptly interrupted; his intangibility ceased!

The swirling vortex of distorted space vanished instantly, leaving him face-to-face with Kakashi, who had already closed the distance.

Facing the charging Kakashi, it was now too late to evade the Chidori.

"Shing!"

Kakashi's right hand pierced straight through the Masked Man's chest. A massive spray of blood erupted from the wound, splashing onto the brown floor beneath their feet, leaving the ground stained with eerie, white blood.

The Masked Man kicked Kakashi away and retreated to the side, hunching over as he clutched the hole in his chest, his expression beneath the mask twisted in pain.

His gaze did not linger on Kakashi, who had just impaled him, but instead locked firmly onto Senya.

This guy was the greatest threat! His ocular jutsu was capable of sealing space itself; his own intangibility held no advantage whatsoever in front of him!

Nearby, Kakashi looked at the strange, grayish-white blood on the ground, his expression turning grave. This guy was still alive despite having his heart pierced!

No! The sensation in his hand had felt completely wrong—it didn't feel like human flesh at all. Compared to a human body, it felt more like some kind of plant, even the blood resembling plant sap.

At this moment, Senya lifted the blade Qianyue, which had been pointed at the Masked Man, and a scarlet flash flickered within his pupils.

"Tear him apart, Qianyue."

Seeing Senya raise his blade, the Masked Man reacted immediately.

He retreated, forming hand seals with one hand.

"Wood Style: Wood Golem Wall!"

Several massive trees erupted from the ground, weaving together to form a wall that shielded the Masked Man within.

"Crack! Hiss!"

As Senya swung his blade downward, three one-meter-long, pitch-black crescent slashes tore through the air. The resulting shockwave whipped Senya's black hair behind him.

The Wood Style defense was like paper; it was shattered and pierced by the slashes, which then struck the Masked Man's chest.

His black robe was shredded, and the gray vest—already bearing a hole from the previous impalement—was sliced open. His torso beneath suffered grievous wounds; three bloody gashes stretched from his right shoulder to above his left ribs, revealing glimpses of stark white bone.

"This is!"

Kakashi stared at the wounds on the Masked Man's chest. From the center of the torso, the left side appeared normal, but the right side was identical to the blood on the ground—a grayish-white, wood-like substance. The old scars in the center of his torso looked like stitches left behind by a surgeon.

"Obito! How could it be you!"

Senya released his right hand, and Qianyue instantly dissolved into white mist, retracting into the seal on his right palm.

"A One-Eyed Mangekyou Sharingan. It seems the intelligence Itachi provided was correct. Combined with this ocular jutsu that shifts between reality and illusion, you must be Uchiha Obito. The culprit behind the Nine-Tails Incident also possessed a Mangekyou Sharingan; I assume that was your doing as well."

Senya retreated to the window and sat on the sill, exposing Obito's crimes.

"Am I right, Uchiha Obito?"

A "kind" smile returned to his face as he fixed his gaze on Obito before him.

The Masked Man reached up with his right hand and tore off his mask. His identity was exposed; wearing it was now meaningless, and the mask had lost its purpose.

"How did you know all of this?"

His tone was calm, as if none of it had anything to do with him.

Obito's brows furrowed as he locked eyes with Senya.

Being discovered so easily left him feeling somewhat displeased.

To Kakashi's shock, the wounds on the torso were already beginning to heal at a visible rate.

His identity was revealed, and his plans had been interrupted by this Vice Clan Head of the Uchiha. He had to find a way to leave this place immediately, Obito calculated.

Unfortunately, Senya's Mangekyou jutsu was still active, and Obito could still feel a force sealing the space, preventing him from using his own ocular powers.

Damn it! If he had a complete pair of Mangekyou, he might have been able to force his way through with ocular power.

At this thought, his gaze involuntarily drifted toward Kakashi.

Kakashi stood frozen. Obito was still alive, but how had he become like this? Could it be that the Nine-Tails Incident, just as Senya said, meant that Master Minato and Mistress Kushina were also killed by Obito?

Countless questions flooded Kakashi's mind, finally erupting in a torrent of rage.

"Obito, if you were still alive, why didn't you return to the village? Why become a missing-nin! Why kill Master Minato and Mistress Kushina!"

Kakashi lunged at Obito, his right hand—still stained with white blood—clenched into a fist, and struck Obito hard in the face.

Obito stumbled back a few steps, his head snapping to the side.

"Ptoo!"

He spat out the blood in his mouth and wiped his lip with his left hand.

"If you want to address me by that name, do as you please. It has no meaning to me."

"Whether I am alive or not is irrelevant."

"Heh, as for why?"

"If you insist on a reason... it's because you stood by and watched Rin die."

"You, who killed Rin with your own hands, have no right to question me."

Obito's words, accompanied by that icy gaze, pierced fiercely through Kakashi's heart.

The image of Rin's death surfaced before his eyes once more; Kakashi raised his arm, staring at his blood-stained right hand, as the scene before him began to overlap with the memory of that day.

The shadow that would not fade reappeared, and tears streaked from the corners of his eyes.

"Yes, you are right. It was I who killed Rin; it was I who failed to protect my comrade!"

Standing to the side, Senya sighed again at Kakashi's pathetic state. This won't do, Copy Ninja. It seems you haven't reached the state of mind you'll have nine years from now; there is still much room for improvement.

"Kakashi, Rin chose to end her life using your jutsu to prevent the Three-Tails from destroying the village. Do not blame yourself, and do not betray Rin's intentions."

"Surely, Rin would not want to see you like this from the Underworld."

Kakashi wiped the tears from his face with his left hand, pulling himself together once again.

He stood up and locked eyes with the Obito before him.

"Senya, you are right. Rin is a hero of the village, and I must not betray her intentions."

Then, his tone turned heavy as he drew a kunai with his right hand, gripping it in a reverse hold.

"And I will not betray your will either, Obito. Even if you have denied your past ideals, I will continue to carry them out!"

His fighting spirit surged once more as he braced himself against Obito.

"My father's dying wish, Rin's will, and your former ideals—I will protect the village and my comrades no matter what!"

The words he spoke aloud became the strength that allowed Kakashi to rally his spirits once more!

Obito looked at the Kakashi before him and let out a roar of laughter toward the sky.

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

"Protect the village and your comrades?"

"What a joke. No matter what you say, to me, you who failed to protect Rin are a fake. To me, Rin was not meant to die, so the dead Rin is nothing but a fake! Only a living Rin is the true Rin!"

"And all of this was caused by this ninja system, by the very existence of villages and ninjas. What truly drives me to despair is this world itself! I have despaired of this illusory and rotten world!"

Obito raised both hands to his chest, placing them over the hole where his heart had been pierced, and roared at Kakashi.

"Look closely! There is nothing left in my heart! I cannot even feel pain anymore. I will reshape this ninja world and change this chaotic system!"