"Obito..."
Kakashi's expression was complicated as he looked at his former friend, now twisted beyond recognition. Guilt gnawed at him.
If only back then...
"Is that... Obito?"
Kushina, weak and pale, looked at the boy laughing maniacally. A wave of sorrow overtook her.
How could the cheerful, kind boy she once knew have become like this? He had even attacked Rin, the girl he once loved, without hesitation—and nearly killed her.
Minato said grimly,
"Kushina, don't talk for now. I'll get you out of here and explain what happened to Obito."
As he spoke, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport his wife away.
"This guy's completely lost it. Shisui, did your genjutsu fail?"
"Yeah, but luckily, even if it failed, it's still usable."
Since Kotoamatsukami had been interrupted, the technique no longer had a cooldown period—which, oddly enough, turned out to be good news.
Kiyosuke said,
"Figure out a way to remove Shisui's eye from Obito. Then we can use Kotoamatsukami."
The reason Obito had interrupted the genjutsu was because his left eye originally belonged to Shisui. Just like in the original story where he disrupted Kakashi's Kamui—same principle. All they needed to do was get that eye back, and the whole problem could be resolved.
As he spoke, Kiyosuke threw a shuriken.
Obito didn't even try to dodge.
The blade passed straight through his body.
Kiyosuke chuckled.
"Just as I thought."
So Obito's Mangekyō ability was still Kamui.
Obito said,
"That kind of feint doesn't suit your style, Kiyosuke. Were you testing my ability?"
"You guessed it."
Kiyosuke smiled.
"I've figured out your ability now."
He turned to Kakashi and Shisui.
"His power comes from the Mangekyō Sharingan—it's a space-time jutsu, and a highly advanced one at that. At the moment of attack, he shifts the part of his body being targeted into another dimension. It's similar to my elementalization technique, but it definitely has weaknesses. There's got to be a time limit. We need to catch the exact moment he becomes tangible to strike."
When Kamui is used with just one eye, it has about five minutes of invulnerability before a weakness appears. But so far, only one person had ever caught that window:
Konoha's richest kunoichi, Konan.
And she had needed six hundred billion explosive tags to do it.
Six. Hundred. Billion!
Even if they sold Kiyosuke off for sixty thousand tags, they probably still couldn't afford that.
Sustained bombardment was out of the question. First, they didn't have that many explosive tags. Even if they did, the collateral damage to the village would be catastrophic. Not to mention, Kiyosuke hadn't learned the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tag technique...
No, first thing after this—he needed to go learn that jutsu.
"Only that one window during the attack? That's such a tight condition!"
Kakashi took a deep breath. This was far too difficult.
Why did an idiot like Obito awaken such a high-level dōjutsu?!
Shisui nodded too. The required timing was insanely fast. They... might not be able to pull it off.
"If only Kakashi could use the Mangekyō. Then it wouldn't be so troublesome."
Unfortunately, Kakashi hadn't yet figured out how to activate Obito's Mangekyō. Just being able to use the regular Sharingan without exhausting himself was already pushing it, let alone Mangekyō.
Otherwise, they could send either him or Shisui into the Kamui space and trap Obito with a surprise attack—keep him there, and let him go back to being a loud, lovable idiot.
"No wonder you're you—figuring out my ability with just a single shuriken?"
Obito clapped mockingly, but even he had to admit Kiyosuke's strength.
This guy was definitely going to be the biggest obstacle in his path.
"By the way, Obito... why are you trying to get revenge on Konoha?"
Kiyosuke wanted to understand what kind of memory Madara had planted in his head with Kotoamatsukami.
At the question, Obito's expression turned cold.
"Because you and Kakashi killed Rin."
Kiyosuke: ???
Kakashi: ???
Shisui said,
"If I remember correctly, Kakashi-senpai's teammate—Miss Rin Nohara—was just sent to the hospital a little while ago, wasn't she?"
"Obito! Rin isn't dead! You almost killed her just now!"
"Hmph! That was just a fake—someone who looked like Rin! On the battlefield in Kirigakure, I saw it with my own eyes—your attacks killed her! Rin... she was your friend! Why would you kill her?! I've had enough of this fake world!!"
"...Ah."
Kiyosuke suddenly understood. That old bastard Madara had calculated even this—was this revenge for when they raided his base?
"Obito, snap out of it! That was Madara's genjutsu!"
Kakashi shouted.
"Genjutsu? No, Kakashi... I've never been more clear-headed. This fake world disgusts me. I'll destroy Konoha... and Kirigakure!
Kurama! Go! Kill them first!"
"ROAR—!!"
The Nine-Tails let out a deafening roar as a storm of wind and force slammed forward.
"Go!"
Kiyosuke didn't waste a word. He quickly formed hand seals, drawing in natural energy and entering Sage Mode.
"Inorganic Reincarnation!"
A surge of stone spears erupted from the ground, ramming into Kurama's belly. They didn't pierce him, but they knocked him backward.
Kakashi and Shisui charged at Obito.
Their attacks passed straight through his body.
He stood completely still—no matter what they did, nothing could touch him.
Whoosh!
A new figure appeared—Minato, now wearing his Hokage battle cloak.
Seeing him arrive, Obito finally dropped the act.
He stepped back and activated Kamui, vanishing as his body was absorbed into the other dimension.
Kiyosuke kept attacking the Nine-Tails with everything he had.
Flames engulfed the beast, burning large wounds into its body—but Kurama's chakra quickly regenerated them.
Just as the beast prepared to counterattack—bam!—it vanished.
Kurama?
Where the hell was the Nine-Tails?!
"...Oh no—the village!"
Kiyosuke instantly understood what Obito was planning: an assault on the village using the Nine-Tails.
He had been brainwashed by Madara's Kotoamatsukami, filled with hatred for Konoha, and wouldn't rest until he destroyed it.
Tonight would be a brutal battle.
Minato appeared beside them.
"No time to explain—let's go! Back to Konoha!"
Without waiting, he took all three and teleported away.
...
At the same moment—in Konoha.
"ROAAAAAAR!!!"
The massive beast unleashed the full force of its inner madness.
A storm of violent chakra swept through the village.
Its claws tore through buildings like paper.
Its tails swung wildly, leveling everything around it.
And yet—there were no screams.
That was thanks to Kiyosuke. To avoid casualties, he had asked Minato to preemptively teleport most of the civilians away.
By sheer luck, the Nine-Tails had appeared right where people had been evacuated.
A disaster, no doubt—but at least no one had died yet.
Konoha's shinobi quickly began relocating the remaining civilians, leading them to safety.