Wasn't Obito-senpai Already Dead?

"Senpai Kakashi!"

Before long, a purple-haired Anbu Ninja rushed over. First she saw Sasuke lying facedown on the ground, then she noticed Kakashi covering his face.

"Senpai, your eye..."

"Quick, take me to the Third."

Kakashi grabbed her and spoke as quickly as he could.

"Right!"

The Purple-haired Anbu didn't dare hesitate. She hoisted Kakashi up and raced toward the Hokage Building.

Shadow Space.

"I didn't expect things to go so smoothly this time. Arashi, how did you know it was him?"

Izumi asked curiously.

The attack had come out of nowhere. Uchiha Arashi had only decided on it not long ago. At first, Izumi hadn't understood what was happening, but the moment she saw the eye, everything clicked.

Hatake Kakashi—the only outsider publicly permitted by the Uchiha Clan to possess a Sharingan.

And with his reputation as a Konoha genius, there weren't many people who didn't know him. The Uchiha in particular had at least heard his name, even if they'd never seen him.

"Because I sensed his Sharingan."

Uchiha Arashi said.

"You can do that?"

Izumi was a little surprised.

"Yeah. Ever since he entered the range of Shadow Space, I've felt the unique chakra signature of the Sharingan."

It was rather amusing.

Uchiha Arashi could be sure that Kakashi hadn't left Anbu at this point in time, but he'd long since forgotten what Kakashi's mask looked like. Aside from the masks, many Anbu Ninja wore identical outfits, and white hair wasn't exactly unique either. So the truth was, he'd recognized Kakashi thanks to that mysterious sense of his.

He didn't know exactly where it came from, but it was highly likely to be connected to his eyes.

Even if he hadn't even reached One-Tomoe yet, geniuses were often different from the rest—chakra sure was amazing, wasn't it?

"With an ability like that, you'll never have to worry about being ambushed again."

Izumi said with a sigh.

"That's not all. I can also sense that this isn't an ordinary Sharingan."

Uchiha Arashi said offhandedly, making it up as he went.

"You mean..."

Izumi's eyes widened slowly.

"Yeah. It's a Mangekyō."

Uchiha Arashi nodded.

"A Mangekyō outside the Uchiha Clan? How... how did he manage that?!"

Izumi was utterly shocked.

Many Uchiha went their entire lives without even awakening the Sharingan, and those who did usually stopped at Three-Tomoe. On average, a pair of Mangekyō might not appear even once in twenty years.

Now a Mangekyō had appeared in an outsider's possession. It was a good thing the Uchiha were practically all dead; if word got out, who knew how many clan members would die of shame?

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. He is the famous Hatake Kakashi, after all... Izumi, get ready for the surgery."

"We're changing eyes again?"

"We are!"

"But if we change eyes, what will happen to your original eye? Are you going to keep using someone else's eye from now on? What about your own dōjutsu..."

"I might not even be able to awaken my own eye. Let's change it for now. Once things settle down, we can switch back. Konoha Ninja have already found this place, so dealing with the immediate problem is more important."

Uchiha Arashi handed the eyeball to Uchiha Izumi.

Izumi bit her lip, then finally agreed to Arashi's decision.

"My Medical Ninjutsu has improved by leaps and bounds lately, all because I've been changing your eyes..."

Arashi lay down with a smile.

"That's a good thing. Medical Ninjutsu isn't just for changing eyes. If anyone among us gets sick in the future, we'll be counting on you to take care of them."

Izumi asked as if it were nothing, "You trust me that much? Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?"

Arashi smiled. "Of course not. You're my big sister Izumi."

Izumi's hand trembled almost imperceptibly. "Is it really okay to keep changing eyes so often? I'm worried something might happen to your body."

Arashi shook his head. "Don't worry. Other people might have problems, but we're Uchiha. Pulling eyes out and putting them back in as we please is something only the Uchiha can do."

"...That's true."

It made sense. She couldn't argue with that.

The surgery was a little bloody, but his younger siblings didn't back away. Instead, they gathered around and watched the entire procedure through gritted teeth.

Arashi hadn't asked them to. It was their own decision.

As ninjas and avengers, if they couldn't even stand the sight of blood, they'd be useless.

The surgery was soon complete. After the wound had been repaired, Uchiha Arashi sat up.

He blinked, and his left eye suddenly shifted into its Mangekyō form. Its pattern was completely different from the one in his right eye.

"Huh?!"

The moment the change was complete, he cried out in surprise.

"What's wrong? Does it hurt?"

Izumi immediately grew anxious.

His other younger siblings also looked alarmed.

"No, the eye's fine... It has nothing to do with the eye. I'm surprised by the dōjutsu. This eye actually has a Space-Time Ninjutsu ability."

Arashi said.

"Isn't that great? Space-Time Ninjutsu is the hardest kind to deal with."

Izumi relaxed, then reached out and smacked Arashi lightly, grumbling that he'd scared her into thinking she'd messed up the surgery.

"No, it's not that simple. This eye is connected to another space. Do you remember? Not long ago, we met a Mangekyō with a Space-Time Ninjutsu ability."

"I remember. That Masked Man... Wait, are you saying...?!"

Izumi caught on at once.

"Exactly. They should be a pair. Their abilities are the same, and they feel very similar to me."

Arashi began guiding her toward the conclusion again.

Izumi looked confused. "But if I remember correctly, this eye belonged to Obito-senpai. Wasn't he already killed in action?"

Arashi grinned. "He was only declared dead. A Mangekyō Sharingan, someone extremely familiar with the Uchiha and suspected to be one of them... If he happened to awaken the Mangekyō before his apparent death, he could very well have survived thanks to its Space-Time ability."

Izumi was even more bewildered. "Then why didn't he come back? And why didn't he take his eye back?"

Uchiha Arashi shook his head. "I don't know. I'm only guessing... Anyway, let's leave that aside for now. The eye is fine, so stay here and keep opening the passage in the direction we planned. I'm going out for a while."

"Where are you going?"

Izumi asked instinctively.

"Taking hits without fighting back isn't my style. The passage is almost finished. Before it is, I'm going to leave Konoha with a little memento. Besides, the Daimyo is in the village, and we'll need him for our next move."

Arashi flexed his arm.

"Don't do anything reckless. He's the Daimyo..."

Izumi watched him nervously.

Uchiha Arashi smiled and gently touched her cheek.

"Don't worry. I'm not reckless."

Without waiting for Izumi to respond, Uchiha Arashi activated his ability and left Shadow Space.