"Back then, Kakashi was really a bastard."
In the timeline of the Third Hokage, Obito had just returned from a mission to the Fifth Hokage's timeline.
He was in a great mood.
Because Jiraiya had given him an S-rank mission reward.
Although it was the lowest kind of S-rank reward, it still meant a lot to Obito.
As time went on, his relationship with Rin kept improving, but his dark past had become a barrier between them.
So Obito was desperate to earn money. He wanted to wait until the light screen connected to the Fourth Hokage's timeline, so he could bring back the people who had died during the Nine-Tails' attack.
Reviving that many people would obviously cost a huge amount of money.
Fortunately, he managed to convince Jiraiya that using the Rinnegan's Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique for resurrection was possible.
All he needed to do was pay Orochimaru to create a cloned body of himself, and then offer a large amount of compensation to those being revived — a way to make up for his sins.
"Well~ everyone has their younger, stupid days."
Kakashi shrugged indifferently and continued, "You have to understand, Obito, I was at a low point back then. I was desperate to prove myself."
"And your way of proving yourself... was abandoning Rin?"
Even though so many years had passed, Obito still couldn't let that go.
There was nothing he could do about it — whenever it came to Rin, Obito's IQ just dropped straight to the floor.
"Rin, control your Obito. It's been so many years, and he's still stuck on that."
Kakashi rolled his eyes, clearly not wanting to argue anymore.
"Obito, just let it go."
Rin's cheeks flushed slightly as she tugged at Obito's sleeve, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Alright then, since Rin said so, I guess I'll reluctantly let you off the hook," Obito said with a grin.
Kakashi: ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ
[Seeing the girl he liked being taken away, Obito panicked for a moment. He tried to convince Kakashi to help, but his talk-no-jutsu failed. So Obito made up his mind to go rescue his teammate all by himself.]
[Before leaving, Obito said what would later become one of the most iconic lines in the series: "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash."]
[As soon as the words left his mouth, Obito turned and walked away, leaving Kakashi standing alone—just a solo squad captain with no one by his side.]
[In the end, Kakashi realized he wasn't just a cold-hearted tool. Only when he experienced the same kind of pain his father, Sakumo Hatake, once did, did he finally understand that his dad had been right—and had died unfairly.]
At that moment, Sakumo from the Third timeline looked emotionlessly at the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage averted his gaze, avoiding eye contact with Sakumo.
Maybe deep down, he knew that the way things were handled back then wasn't exactly right.
Looking at the results, after Sakumo's death, Konoha lost a top-tier ninja, nearly broke the genius Kakashi, and even gave the outside world a terrible impression.
For a long time afterward, no one could replace Sakumo's position.
It was a huge loss.
[After thinking it all through, Kakashi finally moved out to rescue Rin and Obito. He decided to go all-in on the reckless route—rules and missions were temporarily tossed aside.]
[When he arrived, Kakashi helped Obito block a critical strike from the enemy. But their first opponent was an invisible guy, which made things tricky.]
[During the fight, Kakashi lost his left eye. But the invisible guy Taiseki, who thought victory was his, ended up getting stabbed to death by Obito—who had awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan right then and there.]
[Next, Kakashi and Obito faced off against their final enemy in a mountain cave—Kakkō.]
[Kakashi, who had lost one eye, teamed up with Obito, who had just awakened his Sharingan. The moment they caught the enemy, they unleashed a brutal beatdown.]
[But because the two didn't finish the enemy off in time, as they were rescuing Rin, Kakkō suddenly got up at lightning speed and used Earth Style to bring the cave down.]
[As the three of them ran toward the exit of the cave, Kakashi—already in bad shape—fell behind.]
[And right at that moment, a giant boulder came crashing down toward Kakashi. Obito, without hesitation, pulled him out of the way—but in doing so, half of his body was crushed by the boulder.]
[In their farewell, Obito gave his freshly awakened Sharingan to Kakashi as a gift to celebrate his promotion to jōnin.]
"If I hadn't gone to save you back then… would all those things that followed never have happened?"
Fifth Hokage timeline.
Staring at the glowing screen, watching the moment where he was crushed by that boulder, Obito fell silent, filled with emotions.
"Don't be stupid. You were chosen by Madara. Even if you hadn't gone to save me, Madara and Black Zetsu would've just created another 'accident' to make sure you'd willingly work with them."
Obito nodded.
Of course he knew what Kakashi said was true.
It was just an obsession he couldn't let go of.
If he hadn't saved Kakashi back then, maybe he wouldn't have been rescued by Madara. Maybe Rin wouldn't have died.
He knew it was all just wishful thinking. But whenever he missed Rin… he couldn't help but fall into that line of thought.
"Obito-kun, rather than sitting around brooding over unrealistic thoughts, why not think about how to make some money instead?"
"Money?"
Hearing Orochimaru's words, Obito paused, confused.
Given the state his body is in now, just staying alive is already a miracle. And you still want him to go earn money?
"Reviving Nohara Rin requires a lot of money. You're not thinking of freeloading, are you?"
"Nag nag... Of course I won't freeload. I'm not that kind of person."
Obito mumbled a weak defense, though Orochimaru clearly didn't buy it.
"Orochimaru-sama, with Obito's current physical condition, asking him to go make money might be asking too much, no?"
"Then Kakashi, are you planning to pay for the cost of reviving Nohara Rin in his place?"
"I have no problem with that."
With that, Kakashi looked toward Obito, waiting to hear his opinion.
Obito, of course, disagreed.
"There's no need for Kakashi to pay. I'll prepare the money to revive Rin myself."
Obito: The money to bring Rin back must come from me, Uchiha Obito. If anyone tries to take that from me, I'll fight them for it.
"Then what about your body?"
Obito shook his head and turned to Lady Tsunade. "Hokage-sama, can you heal my body?"
Tsunade paused in thought for a moment before answering, "Your body is too worn down. It's only thanks to Naruto's Yang power combined with my medical ninjutsu that you're even alive. A full recovery… that's likely impossible."
Seeing that Tsunade couldn't do anything more, Obito turned his gaze to Orochimaru.
"I could clone a body that's a perfect match for you using your cells, but that would take time—and money."
"That's good enough."
After nodding, Obito turned to Kakashi and said, "Kakashi, we need you right now. Hurry up and send money to Orochimaru."
"Huh?"
"Huh what? Just think of it as me borrowing from you."
"...Fine. But let me make this clear first, I expect a nine-to-thirteen return."
"What the hell do you mean, nine-to-thirteen? After all we've been through, you're charging me interest like a loan shark?"
"Don't talk to me about friendship. Talking feelings just hurts the wallet. Just answer—are you borrowing it or not?"
Gritting his teeth, Obito growled, "Fine! I'll borrow it!"
*********
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