Here it comes.
Hidden in the treetops, the Sharingan Puppet pushed its sensory abilities to its limit. The three tomoe in its eyes spun rapidly as it locked onto Obito's body, tracking every minute fluctuation in chakra flow.
Back in Konoha, kilometers away, the recording puppet he'd left behind operated at maximum capacity. Its mechanisms worked frantically to transcribe the chakra wave patterns and energy conversion processes occurring inside Obito onto a prepared scroll.
Through his connection with the Sharingan Puppet, Kenji watched with perfect clarity.
The three tomoe in both Obito's and Kakashi's eyes suddenly accelerated. The rotation became a blur, spinning faster and faster until the individual tomoe began to fragment. The pieces shattered and merged, reorganizing themselves. Again and again they reformed, each iteration becoming more complex and refined.
Then they locked into place.
Two identical patterns materialized in their eyes. Alien designs that looked nothing like the standard Sharingan. The Mangekyō Sharingan had officially awakened.
So that's how it works.
Through the microscopic perspective the Sharingan Puppet provided, he captured every critical detail. The chakra in Obito's brain was oscillating at a frequency unlike anything he'd ever observed. His spiritual energy surged uncontrollably, causing the ratio of spiritual energy to physical energy in his chakra to become massively imbalanced.
Under normal circumstances, that kind of imbalance would cause the chakra to collapse entirely, becoming unstable and potentially dangerous. But right now, the special oscillation pattern created a unique type of chakra inside Obito's body. This new chakra carried with it the spiritual energy that had been twisted and mutated by strong emotions. All of it poured directly into the Sharingan, flooding the eyes.
That was the trigger. That specific combination of extreme emotion, chakra imbalance, and the unique properties of Uchiha physiology. That was what caused the evolution into Mangekyō.
Kenji committed every detail to memory, knowing the recording puppet was capturing it all for later analysis.
Just as he finished mentally cataloging the awakening process, the last wave of pursuing Kiri ninjas arrived at the scene.
Kakashi had already expended massive amounts of chakra in the previous battles. His reserves were depleted, his body exhausted. And now, without Uchiha blood to support the sudden transformation, he couldn't withstand the physical burden that came with Mangekyō awakening.
His eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.
"AAAHHH!"
Obito's scream tore through the forest. Violent chakra erupted around his body in visible waves. The White Zetsu material grafted to his right arm suddenly sprouted dozens of wooden tendrils. His newly awakened Mangekyō glowed blood-red in the darkness.
The Kiri ninjas skidded to a halt, weapons raised warily.
"Where did this freak come from?" one of them muttered. "Is he Konoha backup?"
Another ninja, less patient and more reckless, didn't wait for answers. He threw a shuriken at the strange figure kneeling over the girl's corpse.
The weapon passed straight through Obito's body and embedded itself in a tree trunk behind him.
"What kind of jutsu is that?!"
Panic rippled through the Kiri squad. Nothing in their training had prepared them for an enemy whose body was intangible.
Obito didn't acknowledge their shock. He stood slowly, Rin's blood still wet on his hands. Then he moved. His form flickered like a ghost, using Kamui's intangibility to phase through the material world. He walked straight toward the Kiri ninjas, and when they tried to strike him, their weapons met no resistance. Kunai and swords passed through empty space where his body should have been.
The wooden tendrils from his arm lashed out. They wrapped around limbs and torsos. One ninja tried to dodge, but a tendril caught his ankle and yanked him off his feet. Another attempted to use a substitution jutsu, but the wood moved too fast, piercing through his chest before he could complete the technique. Combined with his phasing ability, Obito was untouchable. He could attack at will while remaining immune to counterstrikes. Within seconds, every Kiri ninja in the pursuit squad lay dead in pools of spreading blood.
He stood there for a moment, staring at his hands. The wooden tendrils retracted slowly back into his arm. Then he turned and walked toward Kakashi.
His feet stopped moving, but he didn't kneel down or check on his former teammate. After a long moment, he continued walking past Kakashi toward Rin's body.
He knelt beside her corpse. His hands trembled as he reached out to touch her neck. The skin was cold. No pulse or breath. The reality was inescapable.
Blood tears seeped from the corners of his eye and traced lines down his face. He lifted her body into his arms, cradling her.
"Rin," he whispered. "I will create a world where we can be together again."
The words drifted through the forest. That sentence would change his life, reshape his entire worldview, and eventually lead to a war that would nearly destroy everything.
Kenji waited until Obito completely disappeared from view, phasing away through Kamui. Only then did he drop from his hiding spot and hurry toward Kakashi's unconscious body and Rin's corpse.
He understood exactly what state Obito was in now. Rin's death had shattered whatever sanity he'd possessed, transforming him into a deranged fanatic. And the tragic irony of it all was that the more unhinged an Uchiha became, the stronger they grew. Even if Rin were somehow resurrected at this very moment, she could no longer pull back the man who'd already fallen into the abyss. If Obito retained even a shred of rational thought, he would have tried to convince Nagato to use the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique after Madara's death. Instead he'd become obsessed with creating a false reality through the Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Only a madman would choose to meet the dead within an illusion.
He moved quickly and lifted Rin's body onto his shoulder, then grabbed the unconscious Kakashi and hoisted him up as well. Both of them secure, he took off running toward the hidden cave he'd scouted earlier.
The cave was exactly as he'd left it. Deep enough to provide concealment. He'd prepared everything in advance.
Two unconscious Kiri ninja prisoners lay bound in the corner, captured specifically for this purpose. His Transparent Release puppet stood ready. The support puppet he'd constructed using Samehada's tissue waited beside a simple operating table he'd assembled from salvaged materials. Transport puppets lined one wall, their compartments loaded with medical supplies.
He dumped Kakashi in the corner, then placed Rin's body on the operating table. He stepped back and assessed the situation.
First priority: make sure they weren't being watched.
Kenji settled into a crouch and slowed his breathing. He formed the hand seals and began drawing in natural energy, carefully balancing it with his own. Only when the equilibrium was perfect did Sage Mode take hold, black markings spreading across his face as power flooded his system. His sensory perception expanded dramatically, filling the entire cave and extending outward into the surrounding forest.
No White Zetsu signatures or foreign chakra at all except for himself, the puppets, Kakashi, and the two prisoners.
He moved to Rin's body and placed his hand on her chest, channeling senjutsu chakra into her remains. If there were any hidden spores or surveillance techniques, the natural energy would react to them.
Nothing.
He repeated the process with Kakashi, checking thoroughly for any trace of White Zetsu implantation or tracking methods.
Still nothing.
"Looks like Madara thinks the mission is complete. He couldn't even be bothered to leave surveillance."
That made sense. From Madara's perspective, everything had gone exactly according to plan. Rin was dead, Obito had awakened his Mangekyō and been pushed into despair. There was no reason to waste resources on continued observation.
He released Sage Mode and moved back to the center of the cave. His Sharingan Puppet maintained its position near the entrance. If anyone approached, he'd know immediately.
Time to get to work.
Tailed beast chakra began seeping from his body, responding to his will. The support puppet moved forward immediately. It pressed its palms against Kenji's torso and began drawing out the chakra.
The sensation was uncomfortable but not painful. Like having something pulled from deep inside your body.
The process took several minutes. When it finished, the puppet's internal storage chambers glowed faintly red from the collected tailed beast chakra. He checked his reserves and confirmed he'd transferred enough for what needed to be done.
He turned his attention back to Rin's body. Using his sensory abilities, he examined her thoroughly with chakra. The damage was extensive but localized. Kakashi's Chidori had pierced straight through her heart and lungs, destroying both organs completely. But everything else remained intact.
The curse seal formulas the Kiri ninjas had implanted were gone, dissolved when she died. The Three-Tails' chakra had also vanished, dispersing when its host's life ended. That was standard for jinchūriki deaths. The tailed beast would reform elsewhere years later. That meant no complications from foreign chakra or seal interference.
"Begin the restoration process."
The puppet moved to Rin's side. Its hands placed themselves on her chest directly over the fatal wound. The chakra began flowing into her body. Tailed beast chakra was incredibly potent, carrying properties that normal chakra lacked. In living hosts it provided massive power boosts but also risked overwhelming the body. In dead tissue, it could theoretically stimulate cellular activity.
That was the theory he was testing. Whether it would work remained to be seen.
He watched as the red chakra spread through Rin's corpse. Her cells had been dead for maybe thirty minutes at most. Not long enough for significant decay to set in. If the tailed beast chakra could jumpstart the cells back into activity, repair the damage at a cellular level...
It was working.
Color slowly returned to her skin. Inside her chest, tissue began regenerating. The shattered heart reconstructed itself piece by piece, muscle fibers knitting back together. Her lungs reformed, alveoli rebuilding their structures. The wound in her chest, the gaping hole Chidori had torn through flesh and bone, gradually closed. Skin grew over exposed tissue, sealing the injury until only a faint scar remained.
By the time the last traces of tailed beast chakra were exhausted, Rin's body had been completely repaired. She looked like she was sleeping rather than dead. A faint hint of warmth had returned to her skin.
But she still wasn't breathing.
He stared at the body on the operating table. This was the critical moment. Physical restoration was one thing. Bringing back life was another matter entirely.
"Now comes the most critical step," he said quietly. "Let's see if she can be revived."
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40 Advance Chapters!
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