Back in the hall, Kakashi stood in silence, his thoughts in complete disarray.
Obito didn’t die?
The possibility had shaken him to his core.
If Obito had survived, then why hadn’t he returned to Konoha?
Where had he been all these years?
And if Obito really had died, then who had been targeting him back then?
What secret had Obito been carrying?
The loud, foolish, painfully straightforward teammate Kakashi remembered suddenly seemed shrouded in mystery.
The more Kakashi thought about it, the more uneasy he became.
“Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?” Sakura approached him with concern.
Her voice finally snapped him out of his thoughts.
Kakashi looked at his three students and saw the worry on their faces.
He quickly took a deep breath and forced down the turmoil inside him.
“I’m fine.” He gave them a reassuring look.
“Sorry for worrying you.” Only then did Kakashi turn his attention back to Itsuki.
Itsuki clearly had no intention of volunteering an explanation, so Kakashi opened his Scenario Panel instead.
Mission 1: Save Obito — Incomplete Note: Once a scenario mission has been completed successfully, completing the same mission again will result in an evaluation one rank lower.
The more times the same mission is completed, the lower subsequent evaluations will become.
Mission 2: Hidden Truth — S-rank Evaluation: Through your investigation during this scenario, you discovered that Obito’s supposed death may have been part of a larger conspiracy.
You suspect that Obito may still be alive.
Perhaps your Guide can point you toward the next direction of investigation.
Mission Evaluation: A Final Scenario Evaluation: B Congratulations.
Reward obtained: B-rank Physical Enhancement Potion.
Claim reward?
“Only a B-rank final evaluation?” Kakashi frowned.
“And the Hidden Truth mission only reached A-rank…” So there’s still something I failed to uncover.
This time, however, he didn’t lose his composure.
He also noticed the hint attached to the second mission.
Ask Itsuki for guidance?
Kakashi looked toward him.
Good.
I have plenty of questions for him anyway.
His voice turned serious.
“Were the events inside that scenario real?” “Of course.” The corner of Itsuki’s mouth curved upward.
He still remembered Kakashi’s expression when they uncovered the rubble and found no trace of Obito’s body.
At the same time, Itsuki had to admit that Kakashi’s ability to regain his composure so quickly was impressive.
Kakashi had already reached the same conclusion himself.
But hearing Itsuki confirm it still caused his emotions to surge.
“Then is Obito alive or not?” He immediately pressed on.
“And who was plotting against him?” “That, I can’t tell you.” Itsuki quickly raised both hands.
Giving away the answer outright would ruin everything.
And Itsuki had absolutely no intention of spoiling the truth for him.
“But the mission panel specifically says I can ask you for help!” Kakashi’s patience finally cracked.
“Help doesn’t mean I hand you the answer.” Itsuki rolled his eyes.
Then, seeing that Kakashi was practically desperate for an answer, he raised an eyebrow.
“I could tell you where to look.” “But I’m not sure you’d actually be willing to follow my advice.” “I will.” Kakashi answered immediately.
“I already told you.
If it means uncovering the truth, I’m willing to pay any price.” Itsuki chuckled.
He neither agreed nor disagreed with that declaration.
“Fine.” “If you really want the answer, you’ll find your next clue in another scenario.” Kakashi’s gaze sharpened.
Itsuki continued.
“The scenario is called—” Rin’s Death.
Kakashi’s entire body stiffened.
“Rin…?” His expression changed instantly.
Rin’s death was one of the worst nightmares of his life.
Being forced to experience that day again…
To Kakashi, it might have been more painful than dying.
But Itsuki had just told him that the scenario contained clues about Obito.
That made the decision infinitely harder.
After a long silence, Kakashi finally spoke.
“I understand.” His voice was hoarse.
He didn’t question whether Itsuki was telling the truth.
After everything he had already seen, Kakashi had come to believe that someone with Itsuki’s abilities had little reason to deceive him about something like this.
Still weighed down by what he had learned, Kakashi eventually left with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura.
The three Genin were visibly reluctant to go.
But regardless of what they had discovered here, their mission in the Land of Waves still had to be completed.
Itsuki watched them leave.
Then he fell into thought.
“It probably won’t take Kakashi much longer to confirm that Obito survived.” He rubbed his chin.
“The real question is how I should guide him from there until he discovers that Obito is the masked man.” Itsuki had no doubt that Kakashi would eventually enter the Rin’s Death scenario.
What interested him more was what came afterward.
How should he continue guiding Kakashi?
And perhaps more importantly, how could he draw even more shinobi into the system?
After considering it for a while, Itsuki waved his hand.
A palm-sized card appeared between his fingers.
It was dark blue and covered in intricate, mysterious patterns.
Three words were written prominently across its center.
Invitation Card Itsuki had previously consumed one of these cards to invite Zabuza.
That was what had opened the portal leading directly to him.
The system had originally given him five Invitation Cards.
He now had four remaining.
Additional cards could be purchased from the system, but their price increased as more were used.
Because of that, Itsuki had become increasingly cautious about wasting them.
After thinking for a moment, he put the card away.
“No need to rush.” “Kakashi will definitely report what happened here to Konoha.” “I might as well see how the village responds first.” Itsuki smiled faintly.
“Hopefully, he’ll bring me more people capable of triggering system missions.” “I’m still too poor to keep issuing missions out of my own pocket.” The Quest Giver System had two different types of missions.
The first type was automatically triggered by the system.
For those, the system itself paid the rewards.
The second type consisted of missions personally issued by Itsuki.
For those, Itsuki had to provide the rewards himself.
That made self-issued missions considerably more expensive.
Itsuki opened his personal status panel.