Everyone could see how much Hatake Kakashi had improved.
When he first faced Orochimaru, he had been almost completely helpless, without even the strength to fight back. Now, he had managed to take down the Asura Path.
The extent of his growth was beyond question.
Even so, none of it mattered against Deva Path Pain, who had already reached Super Kage Level and possessed abilities that were exceptionally difficult to counter.
"I know you aren't a Shadow Clone. I'm going to make absolutely certain that I kill you. This is the end. Just to be safe, I won't come any closer."
Deva Path Pain spoke without a trace of emotion.
To him, killing Hatake Kakashi was nothing worth hesitating over.
Under the pull of Bansho Ten'in, an iron nail flew into the air. Deva Path Pain aimed it directly at Hatake Kakashi.
"Hmph. Know pain."
The nail shot forward and struck Hatake Kakashi in an instant.
Kakashi had already burned through everything he had. He couldn't defend himself. At this point, even moving a finger was nearly impossible.
The nail appeared to sink straight into his body.
Everyone froze in shock.
They had never imagined there would be no reversal at all. Aside from Seventh Hokage Naruto, none of them had known this would happen.
"How is that possible? Wasn't Kakashi supposed to become the Sixth Hokage?"
Namikaze Minato shot to his feet.
"Minato? What happened?"
Uzumaki Kushina's voice came from outside the study.
"Nothing!"
Namikaze Minato answered quickly.
His pupils had contracted, and disbelief still covered his face.
Kakashi died just like that?
How could that be possible?
If Kakashi died here, then how could he later become the Sixth Hokage?
"How can this be?"
Tsunade was equally stunned.
Ever since Hatake Kakashi had entered her awareness, whether through what she personally knew or what she had learned from Kaede Kitahara's diary, he had always struck her as an incredibly resilient shinobi.
Later, she had learned that he would become the Sixth Hokage.
Because of that, she hadn't been overly worried about this battle.
Even if Hatake Kakashi lost, she had assumed he wouldn't die. That much had seemed certain.
But now, something had gone terribly wrong.
After taking that iron nail, Hatake Kakashi's injuries had to be unimaginably severe.
Even if Tsunade were standing beside him, saving him would have been difficult.
Seventh Hokage Naruto's eyes silently reddened as well.
Even as a middle-aged man, he still couldn't accept what he was seeing.
Back then, he had known that Kakashi-sensei had died, but he had only learned the result. He had never known the exact details.
Now that he was witnessing it with his own eyes, he couldn't help thinking of another teacher who had died.
Jiraiya.
Once again, Naruto had only known the outcome, not the process.
Without Kaede Kitahara's diary, he never would have learned how Jiraiya-sensei had truly fallen. He hadn't known that someone had crushed his throat before his death, forcing him to endure unbearable agony in his final moments.
Then the scene of his father, Namikaze Minato, and his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, dying beneath the Nine-Tails' claws to protect him surfaced in his mind.
Naruto's eyes grew wet before he could stop them.
The diary had previously shown that he had traveled into the past and gone to the ancient city of Roran on a mission.
He had known nothing about that.
He certainly hadn't known that he had met a younger version of his father during that mission.
Of course, in Naruto's heart, his father had always been young.
Minato had died so early that Naruto had never even been able to imagine what he would look like in middle age.
He watched his younger self travel back to ancient Roran, resolve the crisis caused by Anrokuzan, and say goodbye to his father.
He listened to Minato speak about the kind of child he hoped to have someday.
If he ever had a son, he hoped that boy would grow up to become someone like Naruto.
Looking back, how could that have been anything other than an obvious hint?
Minato had practically spelled it out.
Naruto finally understood something else as well.
Even after learning that he was destined to die, his father had refused to change the future. He had even sealed everyone's memories to ensure that Naruto would still be born.
Even if Naruto's birth ultimately led to his death, Minato had accepted it without hesitation.
Had Minato been even slightly more selfish, he could have ignored the future Naruto entirely.
Instead, he had made his decision within moments.
For the sake of his child, he had been willing to die.
Naruto was now old enough to be a father himself, and because of that, he finally understood exactly what Minato had been thinking.
For Boruto, Naruto would have no regrets even if he died on the battlefield.
"Am I… going to die?"
Hatake Kakashi murmured.
He was shocked as well.
After the initial surprise passed, however, he quickly recovered.
There had to be something he didn't know.
Otherwise, how could he become the Sixth Hokage in the future?
The scene shifted.
Ruined buildings and shattered streets stretched in every direction. There were so many dead and wounded that counting them was impossible.
Through Tsunade's perspective, everyone saw just how badly Konoha had been devastated.
It looked as though the village had endured a horrific war.
No, not even the previous Shinobi World Wars had caused destruction on this scale.
During the first three wars, the front lines had never reached the Hidden Leaf Village.
In truth, the Five Great Nations had always shared an unspoken understanding. No matter how fiercely they fought, they tried to use smaller countries as battlefields whenever possible.
Those smaller nations weren't even qualified to become pieces on the board.
They were the board itself.
Even when fighting reached the borders of the great nations, it rarely advanced directly into their villages.
Doing so would mean both sides had reached the point where only complete annihilation could end the conflict.
Since its founding, Konoha had never suffered anything this terrible.
Even Orochimaru's invasion of the Hidden Leaf Village with Sunagakure, shown in the previous video, hadn't caused destruction this absurd.
Most shinobi possessed the ability to kill, but only those at Kage Level could unleash attacks capable of devastating entire sections of the landscape.
Even then, they had to be among the strongest at that level.
Not every Kage Level shinobi could do such a thing.
Yet nearly every one of the Six Paths of Pain possessed that kind of destructive power.
That alone revealed how brutal this battle had been.
It was completely unprecedented.
In the video, Akimichi Choji finally regained consciousness.
He saw Hatake Kakashi kneeling nearby.
Kakashi no longer had enough strength even to collapse.
"If you can still move, go report Pain's abilities to Tsunade-sama," Kakashi said in an extremely weak voice. "We need to develop a countermeasure immediately."
Kaede Kitahara often mocked him as the weakest Hokage.
Yet even on the verge of death, Hatake Kakashi was still thinking about how to defeat Pain.
"K-K-Kakashi-sensei!"
Tears streamed down Akimichi Choji's face.
He hadn't even had time to grieve for his father, whose fate remained uncertain.
Yet Hatake Kakashi, trapped in such a hopeless situation, still refused to give up.
This was what a true shinobi should be.
"We can worry about that later," Hatake Kakashi said weakly, one Sharingan eye still open. "Go. Run."
"But… but I…"
Akimichi Choji couldn't stop sobbing.
Hatake Kakashi's voice sharpened with urgency.
"Don't let Choza's death be meaningless."
"What a troublesome group."
As the two of them spoke, the Asura Path, whom everyone had assumed was dead, suddenly stirred and forced itself upright.
A missile grew from the flesh of its body and locked onto Akimichi Choji.
Choji is the target?
Hatake Kakashi understood instantly.
"Run, Choji!"
Akimichi Choji swallowed the unbearable grief in his heart.
"Dad, thank you for everything. Just watch me."
He forced himself to his feet and ran into the distance.
As danger closed in, Hatake Kakashi opened his Sharingan and began calculating.
With the Chakra I have left, I can't affect his entire body. If I use it one more time, every last bit of my strength and Chakra will be exhausted. My life will…
Hatake Kakashi struggled to think.
The trump card he had used earlier had consumed an enormous amount of Chakra the instant he activated it.
If he used it again, his Chakra would be completely depleted.
With injuries this severe, that would mean certain death.
Akimichi Choza, whose durability was extraordinary, had been killed after taking Shinra Tensei head-on.
Hatake Kakashi was in even worse condition.
There was no telling how many of his organs had ruptured or how many bones had broken.
The battle had already pushed him beyond his limit.
He had nothing left.
But there was no more time.
The missile had already launched and was chasing Akimichi Choji.
Worse, it was a heat-seeking missile.
There was no way to dodge it.
"Entrusting the intelligence to a survivor is the best choice I can make to save Konoha."
Hatake Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan suddenly opened.
At the final, desperate instant, he warped the missile away.
Only then did the fallen Asura Path remember something Deva Path Pain had failed to notice.
Earlier, Deva Path Pain had tried to pierce Hatake Kakashi's skull with an iron nail.
But the attack hadn't succeeded.
Hatake Kakashi had used Kamui to warp the nail away.
"So that was accomplished with this dōjutsu too?"
The Asura Path finally understood.
No wonder Hatake Kakashi had still been able to save Akimichi Choji after being struck by the nail.
The moment it finished piecing everything together, the Asura Path died.
Across from it, Hatake Kakashi lay gasping for breath.
The unique pattern of the Mangekyo Sharingan still filled his eye as he stared up at the sky, countless thoughts passing through his mind.
"Looks like this is as far as I go."
"Obito. Rin."
Memories from Hatake Kakashi's youth surfaced in his mind.
Uchiha Obito lay trapped beneath a massive boulder, half his body already crushed.
He looked at Hatake Kakashi.
"I don't care what anyone else in the village says. You're an incredible Jonin. I'm going to die, but I can become your eye. I'll help you see the future clearly. Take care of Rin for me."