Chapter 396: Obito Uchiha's Decision: His Target is Kakashi
"That is your eye."
The raspy, grating voice slithered through the dim cavern.
"It is a piece of your own flesh and blood."
Black Zetsu drifted closer to Obito, the shadows clinging to his form like a second skin. His tone dripped with venomous temptation.
"Now, we are facing Uchiha Akira. With only a single eye, you cannot even hope to manifest the Perfect Susanoo. Tell me... how exactly do you plan to win?"
A sharp tremor ran through Obito's arm as he suddenly clenched his fist.
"Shut up."
The words ground out from between his teeth, heavy with suppressed anger.
"I don't need you to tell me what to do."
That eye was a gift given to Kakashi. It was the very last trace he had left in this world as 'Uchiha Obito'. To take it back? That would mean completely denying his past self. It would mean erasing the boy who would gladly sacrifice everything for the sake of his comrades.
"Hehehe..."
Black Zetsu let out a grating, hollow chuckle that echoed off the stone walls.
"Are you still clinging to the past? Don't forget who caused Rin Nohara's death. Who failed to keep their promise? That eye, placed in Kakashi's skull, will only force him to witness more tragedy."
Obito's body jerked, a violent shudder wracking his frame.
Rin Nohara.
Those syllables acted like a physical switch. The mere mention of her name instantly shattered all of Obito's mental defenses, tearing open wounds that had never truly healed.
"Think about it," Black Zetsu coaxed, circling him like a vulture. "As long as the Eye of the Moon Plan is completed, you can create a world with Rin Nohara in it. In that perfect world, you can personally give the eye to Kakashi again. You could give it to him a hundred times if you wish."
"But before that..." Black Zetsu's voice sharpened, cutting through the heavy air. "You need power. The complete Kamui. The complete Susanoo. This is the necessary price to defeat Uchiha Akira and realize your dream."
Silence descended upon the cavern. Obito remained entirely still for a very long time, the shadows hiding the fierce war raging behind his mask.
Only then did he slowly stand up.
The agonizing struggle and raw pain that had just flooded his single visible eye were now completely gone. They were replaced by a deep, suffocating indifference.
"You are right."
His voice was flat, hollowed out of all humanity.
"There is nothing in this false world worth clinging to. So-called bonds, so-called promises... they are merely stumbling blocks on the path to despair."
He reached up, his gloved fingers tracing the cold surface of his mask.
"For Rin Nohara, I can transform into an Asura. Just a mere eye..."
The crimson glow of his Sharingan flared, turning incredibly sharp.
"I'll just take it back."
As long as he could create that world of dreams, the current plunder was all for the sake of future perfection.
Black Zetsu grinned, his jagged teeth gleaming with dark satisfaction.
"That's right. Intelligence shows that Kakashi Hatake is currently not in Konoha Village. It is said he is stationed at the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass to guard against Iwagakure infiltration. That location is far from Konoha, making it a golden opportunity to retrieve the eye."
Obito turned around. The space directly behind him began to twist and warp. A black vortex slowly spun into existence, pulling the ambient light into its center.
"The Land of Grass, huh," Obito whispered softly.
That was where the Kannabi Bridge Battle took place all those years ago. The starting point of all his tragedy.
"Perfect. Right where it all began. Let's end all of this."
The spatial vortex instantly swallowed Obito's figure, leaving no trace behind.
Only Black Zetsu was left alone in the suffocating darkness, letting out a terrifying snicker that bounced off the cavern walls.
The border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Fire.
The sky hung low and heavy, a bruised gray expanse that looked ready to collapse under its own weight. The relentless downpour turned the ground into a treacherous mire. Years of endless warfare had poisoned the earth here, leaving the trees gnarled and crooked, twisting upward like the agonizing fingers of the dead.
A streak of silver-white blade light severed the heavy curtain of rain.
Immediately after, hot blood sprayed bright and violent into the gloom.
An Iwagakure scout collapsed into the thick mud, his hands desperately clutching his ruined throat, his eyes wide with fading disbelief.
"Cleanup complete."
Kakashi flicked his wrist, shaking the fresh blood off his short sword. Cold rain slid down his silver-white hair, washing away the crimson splatter on his dark uniform.
"Captain!"
Several Konoha Anbu materialized behind him in a blur of motion, using the Body Flicker Technique.
"All Iwagakure scouts who infiltrated the perimeter have been eliminated. There are no traces of a main force nearby."
Kakashi gave a curt nod. He smoothly slid the short sword, which still emitted a faint, lethal white glow, back into the sheath strapped to his back.
"Remain vigilant. Since Iwagakure has allied with Kumogakure, they wouldn't stop at just this much movement. Continue to expand the reconnaissance range."
"Yes, sir!"
The Anbu scattered instantly, vanishing back into the shadows of the twisted forest.
Kakashi stood alone in the pouring rain. His fingers lifted, subconsciously tracing the heavy fabric of the forehead protector slanting over his left eye.
"Obito..."
Kakashi looked up at the weeping gray sky. The revelation that the masked man was Obito had lodged itself deep in his chest, a jagged thorn that twisted with every beat of his heart.
Just then, Kakashi's gaze suddenly sharpened.
Years of forged battle instinct screamed at him, making him instantly realize the subtle shift in the atmosphere. The air pressure had dropped.
"Since you've arrived, come out."
Kakashi slowly turned around. His hand reached over his shoulder, once again gripping the hilt of the sword on his back. He lowered his center of gravity, assuming the flawless starting stance of the Hatake Sword Style.
Ten meters ahead, the space suddenly began to twist.
The falling rainwater was forcibly pushed aside by an unseen, spiraling gravity. A figure wearing a spiral mask slowly emerged from the distorted void.
A single crimson eye pierced through the heavy curtain of rain, fixing its cold gaze upon Kakashi.
"Long time no see. Kakashi."
Obito's voice was dead, utterly devoid of any recognizable emotion.
Kakashi looked at the figure standing before him. He was both intimately familiar and entirely terrifyingly strange. Kakashi's visible eye carried a heavy, complex weight, but the hand gripping his sword hilt did not move a single inch.
"It has indeed been a long time. Obito."
Hearing that name spoken aloud in that familiar tone caused Obito's body to stiffen for an imperceptible fraction of a second.
"Don't call me that name." Obito slowly walked forward, the mud squelching beneath his boots. "The Uchiha Obito who wanted to become Hokage... he died long ago beneath those piles of rubble. He died the moment you pierced Rin Nohara's heart."
Kakashi did not refute the accusation. Nor did he offer any desperate explanation. He just quietly watched the man approach, his dark eye conveying a deep sense of sorrow.
"Then who are you now? Uchiha Madara? Or a madman who wants to destroy the world?"
Obito stopped. He was now less than ten meters away from the silver-haired jounin.
"Who I am is not important. What's important is that I've come to retrieve my eye. Now, hand it over!"
Kakashi blinked, the rigid tension in his shoulders faltering for a fraction of a second. A deeply strange, almost bewildered look crossed his visible features.
"The eye, you say..."
Kakashi loosened his white-knuckled grip on his sword, his fingers drifting up to brush against the patch over his left eye.
"You came all this way... just for this?"
That careless, almost baffled attitude instantly ignited a raging fire within Obito.
"Enough nonsense!" Obito barked, the indifference shattering. "That is the power of the Uchiha! Wasting it on trash like you is an absolute travesty! Since you won't give it to me, then I will take it myself!"
Before the final syllable even left his mouth, Obito's figure vanished.
The very next moment, the air displaced violently directly in front of Kakashi. Obito materialized point-blank, his right hand hooked into a vicious claw, shooting straight for Kakashi's left eye socket.
If it were the old Kakashi, he might have subconsciously pulled up his forehead protector, desperately attempting to use the Sharingan to track the opponent's blinding speed.
But now...
A deafening, crisp metallic screech tore through the rain. Sparks erupted in a blinding shower.
Obito's clawed fingers slammed into solid steel, his forward momentum jarring to a violent halt. His palm was firmly blocked by the flat of a short sword.
It was the Hatake Clan's legendary heirloom. The White Fang Short Sword.
The blade was currently surging with a layer of highly compressed, blinding white Chakra.
Obito's crimson pupil constricted to a pinpoint.
Such terrifying reaction speed. Without the dynamic tracking vision of the Sharingan, how could Kakashi possibly block a point-blank ambush of this caliber?
"Hatake Style: Slash!"
Kakashi ruthlessly flicked his wrist. The white-hot blade light arced upward like a localized bolt of lightning, aiming to cleave Obito in two.
Obito snorted coldly. The lethal strike passed harmlessly through empty air as his body instantly phased out of reality.
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