The Yellow Flash Reappears! So You're the Masked Man?

Obito's question, filled with confusion and despair, was like a stone dropped into a calm lake, stirring silent ripples in the hearts of everyone gathered before the Hokage's office.

"Is there still hope for this world?"

The question was laden with a rejection of reality and a despair for the future.

Minato's azure eyes quietly gazed at the figure on the rooftop, offering no answer to the philosophical query.

He slowly raised his hand and pointed at the other man.

"Put down the person in your arms."

His voice was not loud, yet it clearly carried across the entire plaza, drowning out all the whispers.

"That won't do," Obito chuckled, tightening his grip on Hinata. "She's a grand gift I'm giving to Konoha, to you, Fourth Hokage."

In the crowd, Hyuga Hiashi's fists had turned white, veins bulging. If reason hadn't held him back, he would have charged forward recklessly.

"Fourth Hokage, you've disappointed me greatly." Obito's tone turned playful. "During the Nine-Tails Incident, I gave you the chance to be a hero. Yet you couldn't even protect your own wife, and in the end, you had to rely on that old man."

The "old man" he mentioned caused both Fugaku and Danzo's hearts to skip a beat.

Uchiha Madara!

This bastard was indeed connected to him!

The gentle expression on Minato's face vanished completely, replaced by an extreme calm, the quiet before a storm.

"It seems the lesson I gave you last time wasn't enough."

Before his words fell, Minato's figure disappeared from his spot.

The next instant, he was in mid-air, a Rasengan spinning rapidly in his hand, aimed directly at Obito's head!

Fast! Too fast!

Most people present didn't even see his movement, only a yellow afterimage flashing by.

However, the Rasengan passed through Obito's body without obstruction, as if striking only an illusion.

"The same trick won't work on me," Obito's voice sounded from behind Minato, who hadn't even moved.

Minato flipped in the air, landing steadily on another rooftop. He flicked several kunai with special markings, sealing off several directions around Obito in a fan formation.

"Is that so?" Minato's voice carried no discernible emotion. "You said the same thing during the Nine-Tails Incident."

Obito's movements froze.

He remembered that battle.

He had indeed been hit by the same move from this man. That time, it was because he had to control the Nine-Tails simultaneously and had been careless, distracted.

But it was different now. He was prepared, and he wouldn't be defeated by the same trick!

"This time, you have no chance," Obito sneered, forming a hand seal with one hand.

"Wood Release: Cutting Sprigs!"

Several sharp wooden spikes shot out from his arm, not targeting Minato, but the unconscious Hinata in his arms!

This move was utterly insidious!

If Minato came to save her, he would inevitably expose an opening. If he didn't, the young lady of the Hyuga clan would die on the spot, and the rift between Konoha's higher-ups and the Hyuga clan would become irreparable.

"Despicable!" Hyuga Hizashi roared.

Minato's figure vanished again.

He appeared in front of Hinata, using his body to block the wooden spikes.

Thwack! Thwack!

The sound of the spikes piercing flesh, though faint, made the hearts of all the Konoha ninja present clench.

"Lord Minato!"

"Hokage-sama!"

However, the struck Minato turned into a puff of white smoke with a "poof."

A Shadow Clone!

The real Minato had already appeared above Obito, a kunai crackling with lightning in his hand.

"I already know your weakness."

"Your intangibility has a time limit; you must become solid to attack."

A flicker of astonishment flashed in Obito's single eye, and his body immediately began to phase out.

But Minato was faster!

He didn't attack, but instead threw the kunai down forcefully, targeting the roof tiles beneath Obito's feet.

The kunai embedded deeply into the roof.

Obito's body was already half phased out.

"It's over," Minato's voice sounded in his ear.

Obito suddenly turned his head, only to see Minato appearing behind him at some unknown time, with one hand on his shoulder, and a golden jutsu instantly spreading out.

Flying Raijin, Second Stage!

"You!" Obito's pupils contracted violently.

He wanted to phase through, but Minato's palm seemed to carry some special power, causing a brief stagnation in the flow of chakra within him.

It was this pause of a few tenths of a second that decided the victor.

"Spiral Flash Super Round Dance Howl Style Three!"

Minato's voice was devoid of any emotion.

He threw countless Flying Raijin kunai at Obito in an instant, then, through continuous spatial jumps, launched a dazzling barrage of slashes from all directions.

Yellow light flashed wildly on the rooftop, each flash accompanied by the sharp whistle of blades cutting through the air and the sound of flesh being severed.

The crowd in the plaza could only see a ball of golden light completely engulfing the masked man.

When the light faded.

Minato stood quietly, holding a safe and sound Hinata in his arms.

And Obito, covered in wounds, knelt halfway on the ground, gasping for breath. His black robe was torn to shreds, and the exposed skin was covered in wounds that went bone-deep.

The most striking thing was the mask on his face.

"Crack..."

With a crisp sound, the orange spiral mask cracked in the middle, then shattered into two halves and fell to the ground.

A young, yet scarred face, with the right half of it twisted and terrifying, was exposed to everyone.

"That's..."

"Uchiha... Obito?"

Several elders from the Uchiha Military Police Force behind Fugaku Uchiha exclaimed in disbelief.

This name was not unfamiliar to them.

The hero who sacrificed himself at the Kannabi Bridge.

Kakashi's comrade.

The Fourth Hokage's student!

Minato looked at the familiar yet strange face, a complex emotion surfacing in his clear blue eyes.

"...Obito."

"Heh... Hahahahaha!" Obito clutched his bleeding right eye and let out a maniacal laugh. "You recognized me? My dear... teacher."

He slowly stood up, his scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan staring fixedly at Minato, filled with bone-chilling hatred.

"Why... why didn't you appear at Kannabi Bridge in time! If you had, Rin wouldn't have died! Why, you, the fastest in the ninja world, were slow at the most crucial moment!"

His voice was like a cuckoo crying blood, filled with questioning and unwillingness.

Minato fell silent.

He didn't know how to answer.

Rin's death was an eternal pain in his heart. And Obito's "death" was even more so a failure of his duty as a teacher.

"Obito, stop," Minato said softly. "Come back to the village with me, and let's clarify everything. It's not too late."

"Go back?" Obito seemed to hear the biggest joke. "Back to that village that killed Rin, a village full of hypocrisy and lies? Teacher Minato, you're still so naive."

"Obito, you shouldn't have become like this," Minato said, looking at his familiar yet strange disciple with heartache.

Just then.

Bang!

A giant toad appeared in the plaza of the Konoha Hokage Building.

It was a toad comparable in size to a small mountain, holding a huge pipe in its mouth and wearing a short coat with the character "Oil" printed on it.

Gamabunta!

And on top of Gamabunta, a man with disheveled white hair, wearing a forehead protector with the character "Oil" on it, and red facial markings around his eyes, was carrying a huge scroll and looking down at the battlefield below.

"Yo, Minato."

The man's voice carried a hint of playful laziness.

"Looks like I've returned at just the right time."

"Jiraiya... Teacher!" Minato looked at the familiar figure, and his tightly strung nerves finally relaxed a little.

"You're finally back!"

The legendary Sannin, Konoha's Toad Sage.

Jiraiya, has arrived!