Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura fell silent.
They had watched everything Kakashi went through inside the scenario.
None of them had experienced anything like that themselves, but seeing their teacher suffer still left a heavy feeling in their chests.
A system notification appeared before Itsuki.
Scenario: Obito’s Death — Complete Mission: Save Obito — Completed Evaluation: B Mission: Hidden Truth — Failed Final Reward: Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work Distribute reward?
Itsuki issued Kakashi’s reward, then looked at him calmly.
“You want to know why it ended?” “Because the scenario ran out of time.” Kakashi stared at him.
Itsuki’s expression hardened.
“I gave you more than enough time, but you became so absorbed in seeing your old teammates again that you completely forgot why you entered the scenario in the first place.” “I even made the clues more obvious so you could discover the hidden truth.” “And you still noticed nothing.” “Kakashi, I’m disappointed.” Itsuki genuinely meant it.
After entering the scenario, he had already detected White Zetsu’s chakra.
White Zetsu had been secretly monitoring Obito the entire time.
Normally, its method of surveillance was extremely difficult to detect.
That was why Itsuki had deliberately amplified White Zetsu’s chakra fluctuations to give Kakashi a chance to notice.
He had even altered the recreated events to make the clues more obvious.
Yet Kakashi had still missed everything.
Kakashi opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The scenario had simply been too real.
Without realizing it, he had stopped treating it like a mission and allowed himself to become lost in the past.
He closed his eye.
Then he began replaying everything that had happened.
Rin’s abduction.
Chasing after her with Obito.
Rescuing her.
Their escape.
The sudden appearance of the Iwa shinobi.
The battle.
Something about it had felt wrong.
But what?
Kakashi frowned deeply and chased that lingering sense of unease.
After a long silence, his eye suddenly opened.
“The timing.” He exhaled slowly.
“The timing of the Iwa reinforcements was wrong.” Itsuki said nothing.
Kakashi continued, his voice growing more certain.
“They appeared almost immediately after we rescued Rin.” “That means someone had been watching us the entire time.” He looked directly at Itsuki.
“I want to enter that scenario again.” “Sorry.” Itsuki spread his hands.
“Each person can only enter a scenario once per day.” Kakashi stared at him.
His voice became hoarse.
“Is there any way around that?” “I’ll pay whatever it takes.” Something about Obito’s situation was deeply wrong.
Kakashi could feel it.
The thought frightened him.
And yet beneath that fear was a faint, almost unbearable hope.
A possibility had begun forming in his mind.
If that possibility was true…
Then he needed to know.
Now.
He couldn’t wait until tomorrow.
“Whatever it takes?” Itsuki looked at Kakashi’s pleading expression and sighed.
“Fine.” “I’ll use one of my privileges and allow you to enter a second time today.” “But it’ll cost you one B-rank coin.” “No problem!” Kakashi agreed without the slightest hesitation.
For once, genuine gratitude showed in his eye.
Itsuki nearly laughed.
The so-called once-per-day restriction was something he had imposed himself.
The system belonged to him.
Naturally, he had a great deal of control over its rules.
And as for Kakashi promising to pay any price…
Just complete more missions and clear more scenarios for me.
That’s the best payment you could possibly give.
Still, Itsuki maintained a serious expression.
“But remember this.” “You won’t get a third attempt today.” Kakashi’s gaze sharpened.
“Don’t worry.” “I won’t miss it this time.” He was determined to uncover the truth.
Kakashi immediately exchanged the Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work scroll he had just received for a B-rank coin, then spent that coin to enter Obito’s Death once again.
This time, he left Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura behind.
He wanted no distractions.
He needed to focus entirely on the scenario.
Itsuki, however, entered with him.
There was no way he was going to miss Kakashi’s reaction when the truth finally came out.
Scenario begins!
Rin was taken away once again.
Obito immediately started after her.
“Wait, Obito!” Obito stopped and spun around.
“What is it, Kakashi?!” His face was filled with confusion and urgency.
Kakashi stared at him.
His thoughts raced.
Every decision he made from this moment onward could cause him to miss an important clue.
Calm down.
I’m here to uncover the truth behind what happened.
If someone really was watching us, then as long as I search carefully enough, I should be able to find something.
Kakashi’s sensory abilities had never been poor.
And with Itsuki deliberately amplifying White Zetsu’s chakra fluctuations, it didn’t take long before Kakashi noticed something.
His expression changed.
Chakra…
inside a tree?
His eye narrowed.
So that’s why I never sensed it before.
What kind of technique is this?
At last, he had found his first real clue.
But simply detecting the hidden chakra wasn’t enough.
The presence was far away, and whoever was responsible clearly possessed extraordinary concealment abilities.
How do I force them to reveal themselves?
Kakashi’s gaze shifted toward Obito.
If their target really is Obito…
His expression changed.
Itsuki, watching from behind, raised an eyebrow.
The Kakashi standing here wasn’t truly the inexperienced boy from the past.
Inside that younger body was a veteran shinobi with years of missions—and ANBU experience—behind him.
Once Kakashi decided to be ruthless, even Itsuki found the change unsettling.
“We complete the mission first.” Obito froze.
“What?” Kakashi forced down the pain in his chest.
“Our mission takes priority.” He spoke each word deliberately.
From behind, Itsuki’s eyes widened.
Impressive.
He hadn’t expected Kakashi to go this far.
Kakashi was deliberately forcing history back onto its original path.
He was willing to relive everything exactly as it had happened if that was what it took to expose the truth.
From there, events unfolded almost exactly as Itsuki remembered them.
Obito and Kakashi argued.
Obito eventually went after Rin alone.
When Obito was attacked by the enemy, Kakashi appeared at the critical moment.
He paid the same price as before—his left eye was wounded—but managed to severely injure their opponent.
Seeing Kakashi injured caused Obito to awaken his Sharingan.
Together, they defeated the enemy.
Then the two entered the cave to rescue Rin.
This time, however, Kakashi deliberately held back.
He made sure the surviving Iwa shinobi lived long enough for the next part of history to unfold.
The cave began to collapse.
Rocks thundered down from above.
Kakashi deliberately allowed himself to be caught in danger.
Then, just as before— Obito shoved him clear.
Kakashi gritted his teeth and forced himself not to interfere.
He watched as Obito threw him out of the collapse zone.
“OBITO!” Rin screamed.
Kakashi’s hands trembled.
But he forced himself to remain cold.
He listened to Obito’s final words.
He allowed Rin to transplant Obito’s Sharingan into his damaged eye.
Every second felt unbearable.
Then the enemy attacked again.
“Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction!” The earth shook violently.
Massive rocks collapsed over Obito’s position.
Kakashi watched him disappear beneath the rubble.
Veins stood out across the back of his clenched hand.
“Obito…!” More Iwa shinobi closed in.
But before Kakashi needed to fight— A golden flash appeared.
Minato Namikaze arrived.
There were too many enemy shinobi, however, and even more were rapidly converging on the area.
Minato had no choice but to take Kakashi and Rin away.
This time, Kakashi refused to lose consciousness as he had originally.
He forced himself to remain awake.
“I’m sorry, Kakashi.” Minato’s voice was heavy.
Obito’s death weighed on him as well.
Kakashi took a slow breath.
“Minato-sensei.” “I want to recover Obito’s body.” His body was trembling.
Not from exhaustion.
From fear.
He was terrified of what they might—or might not—find.
Minato fell silent.
Returning was dangerous.
After a moment, however, he nodded.
“All right.” The two returned to the place where Rin had been rescued using the Flying Raijin mark Minato had left there earlier.
Then they began clearing away the rubble.
Stone after stone was removed.
The closer they came to where Obito’s body should have been, the more tense Kakashi became.
Finally, they moved the last boulder.
Kakashi stared down.
His pupil contracted violently.
There was nothing beneath it.
No body.
No remains.
Nothing.
“Where’s Obito’s body?” Minato was just as shocked.
Judging from the traces around the area, the Iwa shinobi clearly hadn’t removed it.
Kakashi’s mind went blank.
His heart hammered against his chest.
A possibility he had barely dared to consider suddenly became impossible to ignore.
He looked at Minato, completely stunned.
“Minato-sensei…” His voice trembled.
“Could Obito…
still be alive?” The entire world froze.
Scenario complete.