Deep within his consciousness, Hatake Kakashi sank into an endless abyss.
"I was supposed to become your eye and witness the future, but it looks like this is as far as I go. I couldn't protect Rin. I kept breaking our promises. Forgive me, Obito. Rin. Sensei."
The souls of those he had lost transformed into streams of light, guiding Hatake Kakashi's spirit toward the Pure Land.
Before he could enter the Pure Land, however, he saw his father waiting for him.
The White Fang of Konoha.
"Kakashi…"
Namikaze Minato's voice was low and heavy with grief.
He didn't know what would happen next, but watching his student die filled him with unbearable pain.
No, more accurately, he had witnessed the deaths of two students.
Not only Hatake Kakashi, but Uchiha Obito as well.
Uchiha Obito had entrusted one of his eyes to Hatake Kakashi before his life had completely faded. Through that eye, he had continued to witness the road ahead alongside Kakashi.
Now, as Hatake Kakashi exhausted the last of his life force and died, the Uchiha Obito who had remained with him through that eye died as well.
And then there was the girl named Rin, whom both of them had held so dearly in their hearts.
In other words, all three children from the first team Minato had ever led were gone.
Uchiha Obito and Rin were still alive in the present, and Hatake Kakashi's sacrifice would not happen until the distant future.
But to Namikaze Minato, who could see the diary, it felt as though they had died right before his eyes.
A crushing sense of failure settled over him.
He finally understood a little of what Jiraiya must have felt earlier.
When Jiraiya learned of his own future death, he must have suffered just as much.
"I really am a failure. I couldn't protect a single one of my three students."
A bitter smile tugged at Namikaze Minato's lips.
He had been hailed as the Yellow Flash of Konoha. Countless people considered him the fastest shinobi in the entire Shinobi World.
So what?
What good was speed if he couldn't save his dead students?
"This time will be different. I will never allow this tragedy to happen again."
Namikaze Minato silently made his vow.
"Kakashi…"
Tsunade sighed.
There was no question that Hatake Kakashi had become an ideal example of what a shinobi should be.
At the beginning of Kaede Kitahara's diary, Kakashi had possessed all kinds of flaws. Yet over the three years described in the diary, he had grown at an astonishing rate.
By the time of his death, he had become a truly exceptional shinobi.
The way he died closely resembled Jiraiya's final moments.
Both had sacrificed their lives to deliver vital intelligence.
"Am I really this useless? If Great Grandfather or Second Great Grandfather were here, would things have been this difficult?"
Tsunade let out another weary sigh.
She was the Hokage, yet she could do almost nothing.
Jiraiya and Kakashi had both been forced to trade their lives for intelligence.
That information weighed more heavily than a mountain, pressing down on her chest until she could barely breathe.
As a shinobi, she was already extraordinarily powerful. There were few people in the entire Shinobi World who had reached her level.
But as a Hokage, she was still too weak.
She had only just crossed into Kage Level. Among Kage Level shinobi, her strength was hardly remarkable.
When her Hemophobia had flared up, even Kabuto had managed to humiliate her.
"If I can't even protect the village, can I really call myself Hokage?" Tsunade murmured. "Shouldn't the Hokage naturally be the strongest?"
For the first time, Tsunade began to doubt the very meaning of her own position.
From the First Hokage, her Great Grandfather, to the Second Hokage, her Second Great Grandfather, then the Third Hokage, the Old Man, and finally the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, every Hokage except her had essentially been the strongest shinobi in the village during their era.
The future Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, would also be the strongest person in Konoha at the time.
Tsunade understood that her status as the princess of the Senju Clan and the direct disciple of the Third Hokage made her an excellent candidate for Hokage.
But what use was a weak Hokage who couldn't protect the village?
And the future was clearly going to be filled with danger.
For a moment, she almost wanted to abandon everything and walk away.
She had spent decades running from her problems. Escaping had become almost instinctive.
But she immediately crushed that thought.
The weak Tsunade of the past no longer existed.
Konoha was caught between generations. The older shinobi were aging, while the younger ones were still too immature.
Hatake Kakashi, the man who would one day carry the village on his shoulders, still lacked experience. Uzumaki Naruto was nowhere near ready.
The Old Man was already old.
If Tsunade refused to step forward, Konoha could only rely on Jiraiya.
But Jiraiya's lazy and carefree nature made him completely unsuited to become Hokage.
That meant Tsunade had no choice but to shoulder the burden herself.
It wasn't because she wanted to become Hokage.
There was simply no one else.
A wild idea suddenly flashed through Tsunade's mind.
The future was far too dangerous, and her current strength was clearly insufficient. There was no hope of improving enough through conventional methods.
But what if she took a forbidden path?
She remembered the abandoned research into Hashirama Cells.
At the time, she had been furious.
To her, the experiments were an insult to her Great Grandfather and a challenge to the dignity of the Senju Clan.
Yet deep down, she knew the truth.
Even if Konoha's leadership had never attempted to reproduce Wood Release, could the same really be said for the leaders of the Senju Clan?
After all those years, only one person had succeeded.
A Root member named Yamato.
One of Tsunade's old subordinates who remained in the village had told her about him.
Yamato was supposedly the only successful subject among Root's countless experiments. When the Old Man learned of his existence, he personally led the Anbu into Root and took Yamato away.
At first, everyone believed Wood Release had finally returned to the world.
But once they understood the truth, their interest quickly faded.
Compared to the legendary Wood Release that had once pacified a chaotic era, Yamato's Wood Release seemed useful for little more than landscaping.
There was simply no comparison.
His upper limit also appeared to be around Elite Jonin.
That would have been impressive for an ordinary shinobi.
But for someone who had successfully integrated Wood Release, his performance could only be described as disappointing.
The disappointment was even greater than what people felt toward Hatake Kakashi for wasting his talent.
At the time, Tsunade had chosen to look the other way.
But what if she reconsidered now?
What if she wanted to change everything?
She had already confirmed that she couldn't learn Sage Mode.
Perhaps transplanting her Great Grandfather's Hashirama Cells could change her future.
If she could recreate Wood Release and obtain even a fraction of her Great Grandfather's strength, perhaps she would have nothing left to fear.
"Great Grandfather, I don't know whether what I'm about to do is right or wrong. But you'll support your granddaughter, won't you?"
Tsunade murmured to herself.
"Kakashi…"
Jiraiya sighed.
The scene felt painfully familiar.
Once again, someone had sacrificed their life to deliver intelligence.
The terror of the Six Paths of Pain was obvious.
Two Kage Level shinobi had been consumed just to pass on information about them.
An ordinary Jonin wouldn't even have the chance to send a message after encountering the Six Paths of Pain.
"Was that the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Hatake Kakashi suddenly remembered something Kaede Kitahara had mentioned in the diary.
The Sharingan in his left eye was actually a Mangekyo Sharingan.
He simply had never discovered how to activate it.
After reading that entry, Kakashi had attempted to find a way to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
But he wasn't a member of the Uchiha Clan.
He had no idea where to begin.
His future self, however, had clearly found the answer.
So that was the dōjutsu known as Kamui?
It could distort space in an instant.
As for what had happened to the iron nail and the missile, Kakashi couldn't tell.
He didn't know whether Kamui had twisted space and crushed them, or transported them into another dimension.
The video diary hadn't revealed enough information yet.
"Kamui… So this is Kamui. Obito, you really did leave me an incredible treasure."
Hatake Kakashi touched his left eye.
It was no longer merely an ordinary eye.
It was a treasure so rare that few things in the entire Shinobi World could compare.
He remembered Obito's dying request.
Kakashi had failed to protect Rin.
"My life really has been one long failure. I couldn't protect anyone. But Obito, I'll use the eye you gave me to protect Konoha. I swear I'll never let something like this happen again."
Hatake Kakashi silently made his vow.
"So that's why Obito gave his Sharingan to Kakashi?"
Uchiha Itachi spoke thoughtfully.
He had been young at the time, but he had still heard a few things.
Back then, many members of the Uchiha Clan had strongly objected to allowing Hatake Kakashi to keep the Sharingan.
Bloodline clans generally recovered the bodies of fallen members whenever possible.
Even the body of an ordinary shinobi contained countless secrets.
A dōjutsu kekkei genkai like the Sharingan was far more valuable.
Konoha's leadership had claimed that Uchiha Obito had willingly given his Sharingan to Kakashi.
They had also offered the Uchiha Clan substantial compensation in exchange for its silent acceptance.
At the time, Konoha was at the height of its power, with several Kage Level shinobi among its ranks.
Even if the Uchiha Clan was dissatisfied, it didn't dare object too loudly.
But Itachi had heard the clan's hardliners insist more than once that there had to be some sort of conspiracy behind it.
No one could understand why Uchiha Obito would give the Sharingan, an immensely precious clan bloodline, to an outsider.
It contradicted everything members of a bloodline shinobi clan were taught from childhood.
The conflict between the village and the clan had already been growing more intense at the time.
Because of that, even without a shred of evidence, the conspiracy theory spread easily.
A great many people had believed it.