"My apologies."
Tobirama owned up to his mistake without hesitation, then cracked a faint satisfied smile.
"This Kakashi kid is actually pretty good. He's got the Will of Fire... The Sharingan is exactly the kind of tool that should be used to store trash."
"..."
Kushina and Tsunade were left speechless.
It seemed the first part was just fluff—the part about the Sharingan being a glorified garbage can was what the Second Hokage really wanted to say!
"Oh right! Lord Second, you mentioned the Uchiha clan being wiped out with only Mikoto's two sons left, but I just remembered something—there's actually another survivor. On the day the Nine-Tails attacked, it was actually Uchiha Madara who showed up. He unsealed the Fox from me and controlled it to wreck the village. Minato even fought him! He said the guy used space-time ninjutsu, just not as skillfully as his, so he managed to sever the contract between Madara and the Nine-Tails..."
"Wait, hold on a second." Tobirama raised a hand, cutting Kushina off. "You're saying that 'Madara' knows space-time ninjutsu?"
"Yeah." Kushina nodded innocently.
"Then describe what this Madara looked like."
Tobirama didn't shut it down immediately.
He'd just learned that the real Madara actually survived the Valley of the End and even awakened the Rinnegan.
Who knows? Maybe space-time ninjutsu was one of the Rinnegan's abilities.
But was the Fourth Hokage seriously that strong?
He only learned Tobirama's Flying Thunder God technique, yet he fought a Rinnegan-wielding Madara to a standstill?
"Madara wore a spiral orange mask with only one Sharingan visible through the eyehole..."
"Stop right there. That definitely wasn't Madara." Tobirama declared with absolute certainty.
"Eh? Why?" Kushina looked lost.
How could he be so sure just from a fashion description?
The guy was wearing a mask, after all.
"Because if the real Madara came back to Konoha for revenge, he would absolutely never wear a mask to hide his identity. Knowing his ego, he'd probably want to strip naked just to make sure everyone saw it was him doing the destroying..."
"Ahem! Tobirama, you're going too far."
Hashirama coughed loudly, interrupting Tobirama's nonsense!
They were speaking with a female ninja, and a junior at that.
He needed to watch his mouth and stop with the blatant Uchiha discrimination for five seconds.
"Anyway, Madara would never be that sneaky. Besides, like you said, he only showed one Sharingan. That implies he'd already given the Rinnegan to that Nagato kid by then. But based on my—and my brother's—extensive knowledge of that clan, there is absolutely no Mangekyo Sharingan recorded that has space-time abilities..."
Tobirama paused mid-sentence.
He suddenly froze, his eyes widening before he inhaled sharply through his teeth.
'Hiss...'
"Second Grandpa, what's wrong?" Tsunade asked, confused.
"There is one." Tobirama frowned deeply, his gaze locking onto Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Teacher, you mean..."
Seeing his teacher's look, Sarutobi froze for a second before realizing exactly who he was talking about.
If they had to name someone whose Sharingan ability involved space-time ninjutsu, wasn't it precisely Kakashi—whom Sarutobi had just mentioned using Kamui to clean up a septic tank?
"That Kakashi only has one Sharingan. And the masked man who attacked Konoha also only had one Sharingan. That is way too much of a coincidence."
Tobirama snorted coldly. "Monkey, did you recover the body of that Uchiha kid who gave his eye to Kakashi?"
"No. According to Kakashi, the rocks collapsed and buried everything before they left." Sarutobi shook his head.
"Could someone have stolen the eye from Obito's corpse afterward?" Kushina guessed tentatively.
"Stolen? Are you suggesting that Uchiha Obito had already awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan by that time?" Tobirama countered.
"Uh, probably not. He was just a kid."
"Then that settles it—he didn't." Tobirama scoffed. "Since he hadn't, even if a scavenger took the eyes, they would only be ordinary three-tomoe Sharingan."
"We can't rule out that possibility entirely. But then, how was the Mangekyo awakened? Awakening those cursed eyes requires an Uchiha to lose their love one, generating a special chakra in the brain that blasts through the optic nerves."
"After transplanting the Sharingan, the eye still carries the Uchiha's spiritual imprint. Perhaps the recipient could also awaken the Mangekyo through extreme emotional stimulation. But here's the kicker—the Sharingan needs both eyes to unleash its true power."
"But there's an extension to this theory: through my... extensive research on their corpses, I found that the Sharingan has a strong binding synergy. Take the tomoe for example—when one eye evolves, the other usually syncs up and follows suit immediately. If the basic Sharingan works like that, then theoretically, the Mangekyo should be even more connected."
As the world's leading expert on dissecting the Uchihas, Tobirama analyzed the situation with clinical calmness before dropping the conclusion.
"In other words, if someone took the Sharingan from the corpse, they would need to experience intense trauma at the exact same time as Kakashi for them to resonate and awaken the Mangekyo together."
"Simultaneously?" Kushina tried to rack her brain, lining up Kakashi's greatest emotional hit timeline.
"The White Fang's death—that happened in Kakashi childhood, so it ruled out."
"Obito's death—that's when Kakashi got the eye, also ruled out."
"Rin's death? When Kakashi came back, he still only had two tomoe. How could he possibly skip three tomoe and go straight to Mangekyo? Ruled out."
"Minato's death? Minato was killed by that masked man, who already had the space-time eye. Ruled out again."
"And what identity could that masked man possibly have to empathize with Kakashi and feel emotional fluctuations over these specific deaths..."
"Heh. Haven't you already figured it out? Why lie to yourself?" Tobirama sneered coldly.
"Figured it out?"
"The timing of obtaining the eye and the specific power of the eye is confirmed. The only variable is the person. As for why there's empathy?"
"That's because from start to finish, you've selectively overlooked one fundamental truth."
"Overlooked?"
"Exactly! You overlooked the law of nature that Uchiha are inherently evil! You subconsciously assumed the eye was picked up by some stranger, rather than considering the obvious: Uchiha Obito survived and chose to take revenge on Konoha!"
Tobirama slammed down his final judgment like a judge holding a gavel!
"Obito... taking revenge? How could that be? We have no bad blood between us! That kid used to help grandmas cross the street every day! His dream was to become Hokage..."
"Madara also pretended to be nice to kids and once dreamed of becoming Hokage. Look how that turned out."
"..."
"Enough. Our speculation here is pointless. Makoto definitely knows the answer to this. Let's just go ask him."
As Kushina fell into a confused silence, trying to process that her sweet little Obito might be a terrorist, Tobirama waved his hand, breaking the awkward mood.
"Let's go, Tsunade. To your office, Makoto and the others should be waiting for us."
Tobirama stood up and pushed open the door frame—literally the only thing left standing after Kushina had kicked the door into splinters.