Early the next morning, Ash woke beneath the warm sunlight filtering through the window. Konan, who had accompanied him the night before, was already up and had finished washing.
They had been together for several years now. Naturally, things were no longer as awkward or clumsy as they had been the first time they shared a bed.
Konan still felt shy about certain things, but it didn't burden her too much. After all, Ash was always restrained. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to get out of bed so easily the next morning.
"Brother, you're up already," Haku said cheerfully.
After washing up, Ash walked into the living room and stretched. Haku—wearing a neat white maid outfit—immediately set down the broom in his hands.
"I'll go warm up breakfast. You can sit down first."
Ash nodded and took a seat.
Konan soon approached and placed a thick stack of documents on the table.
"Ash, this is all the information on Hatake Kakashi that you asked me to investigate. Take a look."
With the organization's growth over the years, their intelligence network had become increasingly refined.
Ash accepted the documents and began reading them carefully. This information was crucial—it directly concerned the identity of the masked man.
Ash had long suspected that Kakashi's Sharingan and the masked man's Sharingan were connected in some way.
Ash possessed an extremely sharp chakra perception ability. He could sense subtle differences in the chakra of any individual. Some chakra carried a sinister aura, some were ordinary, while others bore unique mutations.
And these unique mutations were impossible for Ash to miss.
Chakra was a fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy. Because it contained the spirit, a person's emotions, obsessions, and thoughts would inevitably be imprinted upon it. As a result, no two people's chakra signatures were ever exactly the same.
"So that's how it is… Uchiha Obito."
Ash frowned as he read, his left index finger tapping rhythmically against the table.
"Then the masked man's identity can only be one of two possibilities. Either he is Obito—or someone took Obito's other Sharingan."
"When Obito awakened his eyes, they were only at the two-tomoe stage. They hadn't yet evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan. At that time, there was no record of him using space–time ninjutsu like Kamui."
"More importantly, given the value of his eyes back then, no one would deliberately dig a half-dead body out from beneath a pile of rubble just to steal them."
Ash shook his head slightly.
"That rules out the second possibility."
"The first one is far more likely. The masked man's identity is Obito—at least an eighty percent chance."
"As for why he became like this…" Ash's eyes darkened. "It's probably because of the girl Kakashi failed to save."
From the data Konan had gathered, Ash felt increasingly confident in his conclusion. Everything lined up too well.
"What's wrong?" Konan asked softly, noticing how deeply absorbed he was.
She didn't yet understand why Ash had gone to such lengths to investigate Kakashi.
"Just some deductions," Ash replied. "I believe the masked man is very likely Uchiha Obito."
"I encountered Kakashi briefly when I fought Minato, but I didn't pay him much attention at the time."
"But later, when I ran into Kakashi again during that raid, I felt it clearly. His Sharingan gave me the exact same sensation as the masked man's."
Konan's expression slowly turned serious.
"You know my space–time ninjutsu is identical to the masked man's," Ash continued calmly. "And my perception is far superior to theirs."
"I can tell that the Sharingan Kakashi possesses and the masked man's eye are a complete pair."
The room fell silent.
The masked man had hidden himself perfectly for years—but now, his shadow was finally beginning to surface.
(End of Chapter)
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