The sound of feet scraping against the ground made Team Minato, Team Kakashi, and the renegade ninja squad all come to a halt.
The figure in the distance stopped as well.
From afar, the person's silhouette looked strange. Something around the neck made it seem as if they were being possessed.
"Minato-sensei? Is that you?!"
"Obito?!!"
Like a ghost, the figure passed straight through the obstacles between them and appeared in front of the group without any resistance.
The outfit was strange, but there was no doubt about it.
It was Obito Uchiha.
"Rin! Kakashi!"
Seeing Rin Nohara and young Kakashi safe and sound, Obito finally let out a long breath.
"Thank goodness… you're both okay."
All the way here, Curly White Zetsu had kept telling him that four powerful Kirigakure ninja were chasing Rin and Kakashi. He had practically pushed his intangibility to the limit, racing here as if his life depended on it.
Minato was just about to explain the situation when Obito suddenly started muttering to himself.
"Couldn't you explain it more clearly?! You kept saying Kiri enemies were chasing Rin and Kakashi! Those guys were with us! And Itachi is from Konoha! How does he look anything like that bandage guy or that shark face?!"
Shark Face · Kisame: "..."
Bandage Guy · Zabuza: "..."
"Obito," Minato Namikaze asked, "who are you talking to?"
"Oh, this is White Zetsu," Obito said, pointing to the pure white armor-like layer beneath his clothes.
Itachi and Kisame both knew that White Zetsu could split off from Black Zetsu like spores, but this was the first time they had seen it transform into something that could be worn like clothing.
"Minato-sama," Yamato said, "this area is suitable for concealment. Should we hide here for now?"
Minato nodded.
Yamato formed a series of hand seals.
"Wood Release: Four Pillars Technique – Modified!"
For the sake of camouflage, he deliberately altered the structure. From the outside, it now looked like nothing more than a slightly thicker tree.
The renegade ninja squad stayed outside on watch while everyone else entered the interior of the tree.
When Minato mentioned checking Rin's condition, young Obito immediately brought up the Three-Tails.
"You know she was turned into a Jinchūriki by Kirigakure?!" Sasuke asked Obito.
Obito's expression shifted slightly.
"…Yeah."
"You ran into the 'Masked Man' again?!" Sasuke pressed.
Obito nodded. More accurately, he had encountered Madara Uchiha, with the Masked Man's soul residing inside.
When Obito repeated what the Masked Man had said, Adult Kakashi's face clearly showed his shock.
"He… knows?"
He knows that I killed Rin. He knows Rin was turned into the Three-Tails' Jinchūriki by Kirigakure. He knows they planned to use her to harm Konoha?!
Young Obito explained to Adult Kakashi,
"That me… anyway, he knows all of it. His head is full of the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan. He says he wants to build a world where Rin is still alive, and where you don't have to stand in front of the Memorial Stone repenting every day."
"..."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi is just a massive genjutsu, isn't it?" Naruto snapped. "What is he even thinking?! He'd rather hide in an illusion like a coward than face Kakashi-sensei, who's still alive, dattebayo?!"
"Naruto…" Sakura shook her head, stopping him from going any further.
On the other side, Minato Namikaze, who had been quietly thinking about how to remove the curse mark on Rin's heart, suddenly stood up.
"How did that Obito describe Rin's death by Kakashi's Chidori?"
Young Obito thought for a moment, then did his best to repeat his other self's exact words.
"He said Rin realized she was being used, and that's why she refused to return to Konoha with Kakashi."
Minato rubbed his chin.
He had a strong feeling that there was still crucial information hidden in this story, just waiting to be uncovered.
The Curly White Zetsu attached to Obito suddenly spoke up.
"Obito is an idiot! Madara clearly said—"
It exaggeratedly mimicked Adult Obito's tone from earlier.
"Because Rin loved Kakashi, she would rather die by Kakashi's hand! That's why she rushed forward and ended her own life when Kakashi used Chidori against the enemy!!"
"This whole love triangle feels really weird, you know?" Naruto said, poking at the White Zetsu wrapped around Obito. "Just a few days ago, Kakashi-sensei said Obito liked Rin, and today Obito says Rin liked Kakashi-sensei..."
"Ehehe!" White Zetsu giggled as it teased Naruto's fingers. "Then who does that dumb Kakashi like?"
Sasuke casually threw out a remark.
"So the Memorial Stone he spent half his life repenting at for Obito was fake after all."
He'd been training with young Kakashi a lot recently, and without realizing it, he'd picked up quite a bit of Kakashi's sharp tongue.
Originally, he meant to mock Kakashi for failing to notice that Obito was still alive, but to White Zetsu, it sounded more like—
"Oh, I get it now! Obito likes Rin! Rin likes dumb Kakashi! And dumb Kakashi likes Obito! That's a perfect love triangle!!"
"....."
The air suddenly went quiet as several pairs of eyes swept back and forth over the people involved.
Rin felt embarrassed and couldn't help wanting to laugh at the same time. Young Kakashi was thinking about how many times he could poke that "clothing" on Obito while practicing Shiden. Adult Kakashi already had the look of a dead fish in his eyes.
Obito snapped in embarrassment and anger.
"Don't use that empty shell of a brain to think about human emotions! Idiot!! What love triangle?! Kakashi and I are like fire and water!"
Yamato glanced at Adult Kakashi, feeling a bit of sympathy for his senior.
Adult Kakashi shot him a look.
"What's that look supposed to mean? Don't think about things you shouldn't."
Having been bullied by him for years, Yamato instantly backed down. He quickly helped change the topic by asking Minato Namikaze,
"Did you notice something unusual?"
Minato nodded.
"That Obito said Rin chose to die by Kakashi's hand because she loved him. That line makes me think he might not know about the curse seal on Rin's heart."
Obito immediately turned to Rin, panic flashing across his face.
"There's something strange on your heart?! Rin!!"
"There is something quite troublesome," Minato said calmly. "But we'll talk about that in a moment. Before that, I want to confirm something."
"Confirm what?"
Minato nodded again.
"Did the other Obito ever mention anything about a cursed seal?"
"A cursed seal?" young Obito shook his head without hesitation. "I'm sure he never brought up anything about a cursed seal."
"Just as I thought," Minato said, stepping in front of him. "Take off your clothes."
"Eh?!" Obito instinctively glanced toward Rin and Sakura. "H-here?"
Minato paused, confused.
"Were you not wearing anything under the White Zetsu armor?"
"Huh? Of course I was," Obito replied quickly. "The same clothes I was wearing before I came here."
Only then did he realize Minato-sensei meant removing White Zetsu itself. He'd thought it was just the outer robe. Wearing only White Zetsu would've felt like being naked, which was why he'd panicked.
Obito hurriedly had White Zetsu detach from his body, then took off the outer robe and changed into a neat navy-blue athletic outfit.
After separating from him, White Zetsu transformed into a humanoid shape.
Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Rin, and young Kakashi all stared at it with unmistakable curiosity.
"Um…" White Zetsu suddenly spoke up, its expression unusually serious. "Do any of you know what the urge to poop is?"
"..."
"Don't ask such weird questions!!!" Obito snapped.
Minato Namikaze looked at White Zetsu, now separated from Obito.
"I'm sorry, but for certain reasons, I don't trust you. Next, I'll use Flying Thunder God to remove you from here."
Hearing that, the others finally realized something.
Because Obito's body contained White Zetsu's components, and because White Zetsu was the only thing capable of neutralizing the First Hokage's cells, they had subconsciously overlooked the possibility that this thing had been sent to monitor Obito.
"Ah, there's no need to go through all that trouble, Minato-sensei," Obito said suddenly, flashing a wide grin. He clearly wanted to show off his new dōjutsu right in front of Rin and Kakashi.
"Watch closely!"
He closed his left eye and fixed his right eye firmly on White Zetsu.
Without White Zetsu's chakra boost, using Kamui was clearly much harder.
White Zetsu muttered, "Are you… constipated…?"
"Shut up! Don't interrupt me while I'm concentrating!!"
A moment later, everyone saw it.
Inside Obito's right eye appeared the same void-like vortex they had once seen used by the Masked Man.
"!!!"
Naruto stared in shock.
"You even mastered another dōjutsu?!"
The words had barely left his mouth when a massive gourd-shaped fan shot out of Obito's eye, followed by several enormous shuriken, and then the iron chains they had seen the Masked Man use before.
"Hey!!"
"Watch out!!"
Those things flew straight toward the others.
Naruto nearly got hit by friendly fire. He slammed himself flat against the wall, legs spread wide, with a giant shuriken embedded right between them.
Sasuke and young Kakashi each dodged one. Rin and Sakura managed to evade as well. Minato Namikaze caught the fan and used it to block the chains.
White Zetsu, standing directly opposite Obito, had it worst of all. If not for its flexible body, it would have been sliced clean in half.
"...."
"...…"
"Are you trying to kill us?!!!" Naruto yelled, hopping mad as he waved his fists at Obito. "Idiot! Have some self-awareness, will you?!"
Sasuke glanced at Naruto, then said to Obito, "You really are exactly like a certain dead-last."
"Who are you calling dead-last?!" Naruto shot back.
"Sorry, sorry!" Obito said quickly. Seeing that Rin had almost been hurt too, he felt utterly embarrassed.
"That's weird. I could use it smoothly before," he muttered, rubbing his head. His flustered expression made him look a little dumb.
"That's because you were wearing me~" White Zetsu chimed in cheerfully.
Minato sighed. He twirled the long-handled fan in his hand, then passed it back to Obito.
"Did you take all these weapons from the other Obito?"
"These are all Madara's things. Apparently, only the Uchiha clan head is worthy of using them" White Zetsu cut in smugly. "When Obito left, he took all of Madara's stuff. Good thing he's going back, or Madara would've been furious"
While letting Obito practice storing the weapons back into Kamui, Minato Namikaze questioned White Zetsu further.
"Why was Madara Uchiha so certain Obito would return?"
"Hmm…" White Zetsu thought for a moment. "Because Obito was chosen by Madara. That's why he'll definitely go back~"
"Why did Madara choose Obito instead of someone else?"
"Because Obito is a good kid!"
White Zetsu looked foolish, and it clearly didn't know much more than that. Minato asked a few more questions, but none of them yielded any useful answers.
Eventually, Obito finally got the hang of his new ocular power.
He absorbed the ninja tools, along with White Zetsu, back into Kamui.
Minato had once been unable to sense the other Obito due to his presence in a space-time realm. That made him certain that as long as White Zetsu was sealed inside that special space, it would be completely cut off from monitoring Obito or sending information back.
...
Obito looked tense, unsure why Minato-sensei was examining his heart.
A moment later, Minato's brows relaxed.
"There's no such cursed seal on your heart."
"Then what exactly is that cursed seal, Minato-sensei?"
Only then did Minato share his analysis.
"From what the other Obito said, I suspect he might not even know about the cursed seal on Rin's heart."
Young Obito froze.
"Why?!"
"There are two reasons," Minato replied. "First, the Fifth Kazekage once warned you to be wary of Madara and Black Zetsu. That led me to a somewhat one-sided assumption."
"A one-sided… assumption?" the others asked, curious.
"The you from the other world," Minato continued, "may have been used."
"!!!"
"And the second reason?" Adult Kakashi asked tensely. He felt that something Minato was about to say could overturn everything he believed.
"The other reason…"
This time, the one who spoke was Rin Nohara.
"I don't think it was for such a far-fetched reason like 'I liked Kakashi and wanted to die by his hand.'"
Her eyes were sharp as she looked at everyone.
"It was the cursed seal on my heart that prevented me from killing myself. The me from the other world probably had no choice but to rely on Kakashi's hand to end her life, in order to protect Konoha."
"What?!!"