Obito Uchiha Was Alive!

The other shinobi villages looked grim at the sight, especially the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure.

After all, the Yellow Flash had earned his name on the battlefields of the Third Shinobi World War.

Then came a sense of relief. Minato Namikaze was dead, and they would never have to face such a troublesome enemy again.

But that raised an enormous question: how exactly had Minato Namikaze died?

The entire Shinobi World was curious, because from what the Canopy Screen had shown,

Minato Namikaze had defeated Obito Uchiha, the mastermind controlling the Nine-Tails, without seeming to expend much effort.

During the Third Shinobi World War, countless ninja had tried to wear Minato Namikaze down through successive attacks. In the end, they were the ones who died.

A rule had even spread: anyone who encountered the Yellow Flash on a mission could abandon the mission and flee without being held responsible afterward.

Could the Nine-Tails have killed Minato Namikaze? They had doubted that answer from the moment they first heard the news.

After all, the Third Hokage had still been in Konoha at the time, along with the Uchiha and Hyuga clans and a great many elite ninja.

The Konoha Shinobi Village's strength then had been second only to its peak in the era of Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi.

Even setting all those people aside, Minato Namikaze alone should have been capable of defeating the Nine-Tails.

No one knew Minato Namikaze's strength better than Fourth Raikage A. Even when he and Killer B had fought together, they had only managed a draw against Minato.

Killer B was a rare Perfect Jinchuriki, capable of drawing on virtually all of his Tailed Beast's power.

If the Nine-Tails could have killed Minato Namikaze so easily, A would have had Killer B do it years ago.

As countless reports were compared, all leads converged on one man: Shimura Danzō.

After all, the Canopy Screen had revealed from the start that Shimura Danzō was conspiring with a mysterious organization called Nine Nether.

The truth was now all but clear. Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze might appear to have died at the hands of the Nine-Tails, but he had actually died at the hands of his own people.

The images on the Canopy Screen continued.

[Smoke and dust blanketed the ground. Obito Uchiha suddenly flew out of the haze.]

[Obito Uchiha was in bad shape. One of his arms was melting like a candle, slowly dripping to the ground.]

["You turned the tables on me! I really can't afford to let my guard down for even—"]

[Before Obito Uchiha could finish, Minato Namikaze appeared right in front of him.]

["Flying Thunder God Technique! I see. You marked me earlier."]

[Minato Namikaze held Obito Uchiha in place with his Kunai, then slammed his right hand against Obito's chest! Black Runes instantly spread across it.]

["Damn it, the Contract Seal! You're trying to separate me from the Nine-Tails!"]

[Obito Uchiha was utterly stunned. Minato Namikaze's moves came one after another, too fast for him to react.]

["Now the Nine-Tails is no longer yours," Minato Namikaze declared coldly.]

["Hmph!" Obito Uchiha leaped back. "As expected of the Fourth Hokage. I didn't think you could injure my arm and separate the Nine-Tails from me."]

["But the Nine-Tails will be mine sooner or later. I am the one who will unite the Shinobi World. Just wait. I have plenty of ways to get what I want."]

[With that declaration, Obito Uchiha vanished through a space-time transfer, leaving Minato Namikaze behind, breathing hard.]

[Obito Uchiha was no ordinary opponent. Minato Namikaze had expended a fair amount of strength and Chakra fighting him.]

[Minato Namikaze was about to take a Soldier Pill to restore some Chakra before hurrying back to the village to seal the Nine-Tails.]

["Who's there? Come out!" Minato Namikaze spun around and hurled the special Kunai in his hand into the distance.]

The Canopy Screen's images ended there for the moment, but one piece of intelligence spread like wildfire through the shinobi villages.

In the Hokage's Office were the same four people, with Kakashi Hatake once again kneeling on one knee.

This time, however, the tension was almost tangible. Bright daylight shone beyond the window, yet the air inside seemed frozen.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his Pipe, his brow deeply furrowed. Then he tossed Kakashi Hatake a scroll. "Kakashi, read this first."

"We've cross-checked it through multiple secret channels and thoroughly reexamined the clues left by the Nine-Tails Incident. We're almost certain."

"The culprit who controlled the Nine-Tails, attacked Konoha, and caused the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife—that Masked Man who called himself 'Madara Uchiha'—"

"His true identity is Obito Uchiha, long believed to have died in the Battle of Kannabi Bridge."

"No... that's impossible!" Kakashi's voice was so hoarse it scarcely sounded like his own.

He jerked his head up toward the Third Hokage, his eyes filled with disbelief and confusion.

"It's a lie! Obito... he was already... I saw it myself..." He wanted to say what he had seen.

But the sight of the boulder crushing half of Obito's body flooded his mind, cutting off his words.

"We wish it were a lie too," Utatane Koharu said coldly and sternly. "But the intelligence has been verified repeatedly through multiple sources. The likelihood is extremely high."

"Kakashi, you were there on that mission. You were Obito's teammate. Is there anything you need to add or correct about his 'death'?"

The accusation in her question was unmistakable.

"Add? Correct?" Kakashi seemed not to have recovered from the shock.

He repeated the words without thinking, his gaze unfocused. "Obito was pinned under a boulder while saving Rin and me... Before he died, he gave me his left eye. That's the only fact I know."

"The only one?" Danzo's cold voice came from the shadows, carrying an undeniable pressure.

"Kakashi Hatake, if Obito Uchiha didn't die, why has he hidden himself all these years? Why does he harbor such hatred for Konoha? Why would he even go so far as to cause the Nine-Tails Incident?"

"And you, the man who carries the Sharingan he gave you—did you notice nothing all these years?!"

Danzo's words cut straight to the heart of it like a knife, tearing open the most painful wound Kakashi carried: Rin's death.

Kakashi Hatake swayed, his face turning pale.

He raised a hand and unconsciously touched the left eye hidden beneath his forehead protector.

That eye was proof of Obito's "last gift," and a symbol of the guilt and devotion Kakashi had carried his whole life.

Now that symbol seemed to have become a cruel joke.