"????"
Upon learning that Rin had placed red bean cakes before Konoha's Memorial Stone after discovering he was still alive and had become the enemy of the world, the masked man looked confused.
Another person understood, yet didn't quite grasp it fully.
Suddenly, amidst a chaotic cry of "Ah! Aaaah!!," another Obito Uchiha tumbled out of the swirling vortex in the void.
Dressed in a navy blue tracksuit with a large Uchiha fan crest printed on the back, the boy radiated youthful energy, with just a hint of goofiness.
"Who?!" Konan looked over warily, then her eyes widened slightly.
"A kid?"
Adult Obito was left speechless. "How did you get here too?"
Startled by Adult Obito's words, Young Obito had forgotten he was peeking through Kamui's Dimension using his Mangekyō Sharingan. In his surprise, he accidentally exerted too much force and tumbled out.
With a slightly disheveled appearance, he stood up and dusted himself off, beginning to speak in a tone that was both deadpan and nonsensical.
"I came to tell you that the Konoha people are all back to life. This world's Kakashi doesn't need to lie in his coffin anymore."
Embarrassed at being overheard, Adult Obito replied, "...Didn't anyone tell you that Katsuyu already informed us about everything happening in Konoha? And you're slower than this guy, who just crawled out of his coffin, whose chakra is perpetually low, and who would have to risk his life just to fight Pain. What's the point of you running here to spread the news?"
The mentioned Kakashi: …
Young Obito stomped his foot in frustration. "I told you!! Kakashi has become you, and you've become Kakashi! Look at you now, your mouth is so sharp!!! No wonder you never became Hokage! I got here ages ago and've been eavesdropping on you guys in Kamui's Dimension!!"
"....."
Naruto was speechless. This kid, who seemed to be from the same clan as Sasuke, felt strangely familiar—almost like him or Konohamaru?
He turned to the numb Kakashi. "Sensei, who is this kid?"
"That's young Obito Uchiha." Kakashi answered Naruto's question while still in a dazed state.
The three Obito Uchihas appearing before him had already driven him to the brink of mental collapse.
He could still tell them apart: the masked one was the Masked Man Obito from their world, the unmasked one was supposedly the Adult Obito from another world, and the third was the Young Obito from the Kannabi Bridge era.
Logically, he should favor the Masked Obito from their world. But recalling how that masked man had teased them that day, the scales in Kakashi's heart tilted directly toward the young Obito—a hot-blooded fool just like Naruto.
Noticing Kakashi's gaze on the young Obito, Masked Obito snorted coldly, "Silly."
Naruto: "...."
Even he knew that was basically him calling himself stupid?!
As the saying goes, "I'm not embarrassed—you guys are the ones who should be."
Facing the awkwardness of someone cursing themselves, others might feel uncomfortable, but all three Obito Uchihas acted as if nothing was amiss.
The masked Obito, seeing his younger self inexplicably appear here, picked up the previous conversation. "You said Rin knew about what we did. What did she mean by placing... offerings at the Konoha Memorial Stone?"
Well, for the mastermind behind Akatsuki to have a sweet tooth and crave red bean cakes? That was just too embarrassing to admit.
Young Obito looked back at the adult Obito. "You mean Rin, right? My Rin?" He gestured toward the "Rin" from their world.
But the petty adult Obito couldn't resist nitpicking his words. "Rin is yours? How ridiculous."
Young Obito flushed instantly, likely a mix of embarrassment and anger.
The masked man watched their interaction, his expression darkening.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
Young Obito explained, "Me, Minato-sensei, Kakashi, and Rin all come from another parallel world at the start of the Kannabi Bridge mission. Due to some very specific circumstances, we interrupted the mission and time-traveled to this guy's..." He pointed at the adult Obito. "...their parallel world."
Adult Obito nodded in agreement. "Our timeline is a few years ahead of yours. It's the 60th year of Konoha, and the Chūnin Exams haven't concluded yet."
At the mention of the Chūnin Exams, Naruto's eyes lit up.
"Then..."
Young Obito smugly rubbed his nose. "Haku and Zabuza, Itachi and Kisame, the Third Hokage, Hayate—everyone's still alive."
Adult Obito saw the emotion stir in Naruto's eyes after his brutal battle.
Without the mission scroll, this world before them would be their future. Konoha destroyed, Nagato turned traitor, everyone abandoned him, yet he still relentlessly pursued the Eye of the Moon Plan...
"At first, I thought Rin placing red bean cakes at the Memorial Stone meant she saw me as dead. That masked man who committed so many despicable acts was nothing but an enemy of Team Minato from that point on."
The masked man remained silent. Even hearing this possibility was hard to accept.
"But later, I thought deeply about Rin's intentions..." The adult Obito continued, changing the subject. "Her act of placing red bean cakes before the Memorial Stone likely stemmed from a wish for the 'Masked Man' to revert to the Obito Uchiha she had always watched over—the one from Team 7, the one she protected, the comrade who dreamed of becoming Hokage."
The adult Obito's tone was calm, but to the masked Obito, it resonated like a buzzing hum. It reminded him of Rin's tolerance whenever he arrived late.
Images flooded his mind: Rin handing him the Ninja Academy enrollment documents, reciting the graduation speech alone in the auditorium for him, sheltering him under an umbrella during relentless training in the rain, bandaging his wounds after he'd acted impulsively during missions...
"Think carefully."
Though three years prior to this moment's masked Obito, the adult Obito in the mission scroll world had already awakened. Speaking as one who had walked this path, he addressed his counterpart in this reality.
"Think carefully about who Rin always wanted to watch over. Or rather, are you still that Obito Uchiha from Team Minato—the one she wished to protect?"
After the initial shock, the masked Obito seemed to grasp something.
"What can I possibly do now?"
This was a whisper to himself. Returning to Konoha meant a capital offense for plotting the Hokage's assassination, and the entire Ninja World held no place for him to stand.
To say nothing of the distant future, the enmity between Naruto and Sasuke already included him.
"We should head back to Konoha. We can talk on the way."
The group set off toward Konoha. Nagato, hindered in his movements, had no desire to return. Yet the suggestion from young Obito—to seek treatment for his legs from the First Hokage and Tsunade-sama—had struck a chord with Yahiko. Even as the leader of the Ninja World's most formidable Missing-nin organization, Nagato remained as shy and obedient before Yahiko and Konan as he had been years ago.
The masked man, Obito, also resolved to return and face the consequences after hearing the words of both the adult Obito and the teenage Obito. Even if forgiveness was no longer deserved, learning that the Moon's Eye Plan was a lie, understanding Rin's true character, and discovering that Kakashi had also perished in this battle finally allowed him to see the path before him clearly once more.
Like Adult Obito, they had peeled back layer after layer of fog to discover that their so-called path to building a harmonious Ninja World was nothing more than a dead-end road leading straight to a cliff. Comparing the two, one was merely a little further from the edge, while the other had already stepped right onto the precipice.
On the journey, Naruto was severely overloaded from consecutive battles. The usually most energetic one seemed listless. This allowed the young Obito Uchiha to take over the title of the team's most boisterous member.
"Kakashi, what was it like when you died before? Did you completely lose consciousness until you were revived? Was it like falling asleep?"
Kakashi Hatake replied with solemn seriousness: "A ninja must remain vigilant even in sleep. Obito, you should be more cautious and avoid such recklessness. Even if the mission at the Kannabi Bridge is successfully completed, you must remain vigilant for future missions. Powerful enemies won't necessarily grant you time or opportunities to grow…"
He meant no harm, truly. It was simply because he had experienced Obito Uchiha's 'death' and spent eighteen years at a fake grave, leaving a shadow on his heart.
Obito Uchiha didn't activate his Sharingan. The Uchiha Clan's dark eyes resembled those with colored contacts, their pupils appearing larger than average.
Right now, he deeply regretted casually asking a question to cover up the awkwardness of three versions of himself appearing in one world—two of them being major villain bosses.
"I was just asking casually. Why are you acting like a nagging old woman? But you really do have a knack for teaching. Of course, I won't lose to you either. Once we return to our own era and grow up, if you... I mean, if Kakashi from our world insists on joining ANBU, then Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura should be taken under my wing or Rin's, right?"
Recalling how Rin always doted on Naruto like a beloved nephew or niece, the young Obito thought to himself, If it doesn't work out then... Fair competition, right?
He'd never imagined he'd one day compete with Rin. A flicker of dread already stirred within him—what was he to do?!
"I..."
As Young Obito wavered internally, Adult Kakashi suddenly spoke up: "I met my father."
"White Fang-sama?!!" Young Obito blurted out.
The other two Adult Obitos also turned their heads to look.
Nagato and Konan had heard of the title "White Fang of Konoha," but their understanding mostly centered on him being the killer of Sasori's parents.
Naruto, whose consciousness was beginning to fade from exhaustion, turned his head upon hearing Kakashi-sensei mention his father for the first time.
Kakashi: "Thanks to Obito, I had a long talk with him."
Adult Obito: "..."
"I'll take that as gratitude, not sarcasm."
Young Obito's eyes gleamed with earnestness. "I deeply admire the White Fang! His passing was undoubtedly a great loss to Konoha!"
"Thank you." Kakashi smiled at the younger Obito. "I told him many things about you. It's just a shame I only realized you were still alive after I woke up."
Young Obito: I'm not the one feeling awkward—it's the two versions of me behind me.
"A fragment of my father's chakra seemed to linger within my consciousness. When I finally met him and told him I no longer blamed him, that I was proud of him, he could finally leave this place to join my mother." Kakashi's voice was gentle, tinged with a sense of release.
Beside him, Naruto Uzumaki hadn't expected his sensei Kakashi to have gone through an experience so similar to his own. Thinking of his father back in Konoha—even if it was in another world—he wanted to have a proper talk with him. He realized he'd lashed out impulsively over Iruka-sensei's matter before. Now, he understood they must have been waiting for this perfect ending.
He wanted to hurry back to Konoha.
But his weary body wouldn't obey.
His feet slipped, sending him tumbling forward.
Thud—
A soft sound.
Naruto found himself landing on a broad back.
White, spiky hair tickled his face.
"You've worked hard. You did well... better than I imagined..."
Naruto's eyes snapped wide open. Tears welled up, swirling in his sockets. His blue eyes gleamed brightly in the sunlight—brightly adorable, brightly pitiful.
He heard the voice say, "Truly worthy of being my disciple."
…
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