Thud.
Seeing Minato Namikaze eliminate the last enemy, the tightly strung cord in Kakashi's heart finally snapped.
Fatigue washed over him like a tidal wave. His vision blurred, and he collapsed into the dirt.
"Kakashi!"
Rin rushed to his side, her hands glowing with diagnostic chakra. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"He's just exhausted. The Sharingan drained his reserves."
"Genma, carry him," Minato ordered gently.
Rin and Kurenai were physically weaker, and Kiyohara had just fought a one-man army. The burden fell to Genma.
"Yes, Lord Minato."
Genma hoisted the unconscious boy onto his back.
"Are we leaving now?" Kiyohara asked, wiping blood from his Kunai.
"It's too late to travel safely," Minato decided, glancing at the moon. "We'll camp here tonight. Tomorrow, we destroy the bridge."
"Is that so..."
Kiyohara nodded, but a dark thought crossed his mind.
'Why is no one retrieving Obito's body?'
Minato had just wiped out the entire enemy platoon. They weren't pressed for time.
With Minato's speed and Earth Release users like Sumashi (whose jutsu could be reversed or dug through), they could have easily excavated the rubble to give Obito a proper burial.
If they had dug him out, they would have found the tunnel. They might have even found Madara.
With the Flying Thunder God, Minato could escape any trap Madara laid. The old ghost was on life support; he couldn't chase a teleporter.
'But...' Kiyohara glanced at Minato's weary face. 'Maybe he assumes the crush was fatal. Or maybe... destiny demands Obito stays buried.'
Kiyohara decided to stay silent.
Speaking up offered no benefit. If they dug too deep and triggered Madara, Minato might escape, but Kiyohara—a Genin without teleportation—would be collateral damage.
'Priorities,' Kiyohara reminded himself.
He knelt by the corpses of the Iwa-nin Minato had slain.
While everyone else was mourning or setting up camp, Kiyohara looted.
Wallets. Weapons. Scrolls.
He didn't count it. He just stuffed it all into his seal.
Deep Underground.
In the darkness of the cavern, Madara Uchiha opened his eyes.
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun slowly, piercing the gloom.
The rock wall rippled like water.
White Zetsu emerged, carrying a broken boy.
Obito Uchiha.
His right side was a ruin. But the bleeding had stopped, sealed by a sticky white substance.
"He is here, Madara-sama."
Another Zetsu—a swirl-faced one known as Guruguru—stepped forward.
"Begin the surgery," Madara rasped. His voice was ancient, like grinding stones.
"Yes, Madara-sama."
White Zetsu produced a mass of cultured flesh—cultivated from the Hashirama Cells of the Gedo Statue. He began to graft it onto Obito's crushed side.
The white substance fused with the boy's ribs and organs instantly. The compatibility was perfect.
"This brat..." Madara murmured, intrigued. "He wasn't crushed. He phased through the rocks."
It was a rudimentary manifestation of Kamui.
"Madara-sama," White Zetsu asked, tilting his head. "Why insist on an Uchiha? That boy, Kiyohara, performed exceptionally well. Couldn't we just give him a Sharingan?"
Zetsu had been watching. Kakashi had transplanted an eye successfully. Why couldn't they just build a super-soldier out of someone like Kiyohara?
"You don't understand the power of the Uchiha," Madara scoffed.
"Above the Three-Tomoe lies the Mangekyō Sharingan. Only an Uchiha, with their unique brain chakra and capacity for emotional trauma, can awaken it."
"Kiyohara is talented," Madara admitted. "He fights like a veteran. But he is a Civilian. If I gave him an eye, he would end up like that Hatake boy—drained of chakra, unable to deactivate it. A liability."
"So, non-Uchiha are useless?"
"No," Madara corrected, a cruel smile touching his withered lips. "Kiyohara is useful. He is a tool. Just like Kakashi."
"To awaken the Mangekyō, Obito needs despair. He needs to lose everything."
Madara looked at the unconscious boy.
"Obito loves that girl, Rin. And he is jealous of Kiyohara. I saw his rage when Kiyohara touched her hand."
"We will use them," Madara plotted. "Kiyohara, Kakashi, Rin... they are the actors in the tragedy that will break Obito's heart and birth his true power."
"Oh!" Zetsu clapped his hands. "So Kiyohara is the villain in the play! Brilliant, Madara-sama!"
The Surface.
The night was quiet.
Kakashi lay on a flat rock, his body aching.
His eyelashes fluttered. He opened his singular visible eye.
'Where am I... am I dead?'
That was his first thought.
"You're awake, Kakashi."
Kiyohara sat nearby, sharpening a Kunai.
"The surgery was successful. You're a girl now."
He paused, waiting for a reaction. Kakashi didn't blink.
'Right. Too soon for jokes.'
Kakashi sat up slowly. He touched the bandage over his left eye.
The memory of the cave collapse crashed into him.
Obito's smile. The rock falling. The final gift.
Tears welled up in his right eye. He turned his head away, hiding his face in his scarf.
A man's tears don't fall easily. Unless his heart is truly broken.
"It's all my fault," Kakashi whispered. "If I hadn't been so obsessed with the rules... if I hadn't hesitated..."
"No," Kiyohara said softly. He walked over and placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.
"You did well. You saved Rin. You completed the mission Obito entrusted to you."
'There is no helping it,' Kiyohara thought cynically. 'We were set up by a ghost. Madara was watching the whole time. Obito was marked for "salvation" the moment he stepped into the Land of Grass.'
Kakashi wiped his eye. He looked at Kiyohara.
"Thank you. For having my back."
"Don't mention it."
Kiyohara looked up at the moon.
It was full and bright.
In the underground darkness, a Three-Tomoe eye was watching the same world, plotting its end.
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