At that very moment, inside Kakashi’s home, the white-haired young shinobi was tossing and turning, unable to sleep.
Earlier that day, he hadn’t told Hiruzen Sarutobi what Shinya had shown him inside the genjutsu.
But if something could disturb Kakashi—a man whose heart had grown as cold as someone who had spent ten years gutting fish—it obviously wasn’t anything trivial.
His thoughts drifted back to the scene he had witnessed inside the illusion.
His father.
Sakumo Hatake.
Surrounded by the whispers, accusations, and contempt of the villagers, Sakumo had eventually been unable to endure the humiliation and committed suicide.
That incident had left an enormous psychological scar on the young Kakashi.
For a long time, it had even shaped the way he lived his life.
A shinobi who fails a mission is trash.
At one point, those words had practically become one of Kakashi’s guiding principles.
Before meeting Minato-sensei, Obito, and Rin, Kakashi had lived like an emotionless tool whose only purpose was to complete missions.
Whether they came from ANBU or elsewhere, he executed every assignment with exceptional efficiency.
Of course, most of the people who died by his hand were shinobi who had betrayed or deserted the village.
But during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, after Rin was captured, one sentence from Obito had shattered Kakashi’s old beliefs.
A shinobi who breaks the rules is trash…
But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.
Kakashi still didn’t know which belief was truly correct.
Not long after that, Obito had died.
And Rin had eventually died by Kakashi’s own hand.
Under normal circumstances, using psychological warfare during a shinobi battle wasn’t considered dishonorable.
But during a spar between shinobi from the same village, deliberately tearing open someone’s deepest emotional wounds was still going a little too far.
Yet Kakashi didn’t resent Shinya.
Because in the final instant before the genjutsu broke—
Shinya had passed a message to him.
If you want to know the truth behind your father’s suicide, come find me.
Logic told Kakashi that Shinya was only trying to deceive him.
Everything inside a genjutsu was false.
Besides, Shinya was around the same age as him.
When Sakumo had died, Shinya might not even have graduated from the Ninja Academy yet.
How could someone like that possibly know the truth behind his father’s death?
The Uchiha clan was even less likely to know.
Konoha’s leadership had always been deeply wary of the Uchiha and deliberately excluded them from many important affairs.
And yet…
That single sentence had become like a seed planted inside Kakashi’s mind.
Once planted, it began taking root.
And the harder he tried to ignore it, the deeper those roots seemed to grow.
If Shinya was only bluffing and intended to tell him some ridiculous lie, that would be one thing.
What Kakashi feared was the possibility that Shinya genuinely knew something hidden from everyone else.
Feeling increasingly restless, Kakashi finally got out of bed and dressed.
Under the moonlight, he wandered aimlessly through Konoha’s quiet streets.
Before he realized it, he had arrived at Konoha’s memorial cemetery.
At the grave of his closest friend—
Obito Uchiha.
Obito’s body had been buried beneath a collapsed mountainside.
Before supposedly dying, he had even given Kakashi his Sharingan.
Afterward, they had returned to search for Obito’s remains, hoping to bury him properly among Konoha’s fallen heroes.
But they found nothing.
With half his body crushed beneath the rocks, there was simply no possibility that Obito could have survived.
Of that, Kakashi was absolutely certain.
So he had gathered what few belongings Obito had left behind and created a cenotaph for him beside Rin’s grave.
Kakashi reached out and gently touched the cold stone.
Confusion once again appeared in his exposed eye.
He wasn’t sure when he had developed this habit.
Whenever he couldn’t find an answer to something, he came here and talked to his fallen friends.
“Obito…”
“I really wish you were still here.”
“The war is finally over.”
“Minato-sensei became Hokage.”
“Kushina’s baby will be born soon.”
“If only you could have lived long enough to see all of this…”
Kakashi fell silent for a moment.
“The relationship between the village and the Uchiha is getting worse.”
“If you were still alive, you probably could have acted as a bridge between the village and your clan.”
“There’s someone who claims he knows the truth about my father’s suicide.”
“He’s one of your clansmen.”
“What do you think?”
“Should I go meet him?”
…
Kakashi remained leaning against Obito’s grave for a long time.
He said many things he had kept buried inside himself.
Things that should be said.
Things that probably shouldn’t.
Everything came pouring out.
Normally, Kakashi was nowhere near this talkative.
Eventually, when he finally ran out of things to say, he fell silent again.
He placed a bouquet of flowers in front of Obito’s grave.
Then, just as he always did, he turned and walked away.
He had made his decision.
Perhaps he should meet Shinya.
At the very least, he wanted to hear what Shinya had to say.
Because of Obito, Kakashi was different from most people in Konoha.
He did not hold any particular prejudice against the Uchiha.
The Uchiha were a clan defined by love.
And when they lost that love, their grief gave birth to extraordinary power.
They were not inherently evil.
But if Shinya intended to use Sakumo’s death merely to toy with him…
Then Kakashi would make sure he paid for it.
…
It had originally been nothing more than another quiet visit to speak with his dead friend.
Kakashi had done the same thing countless times before.
But after he left—
the space beside the grave suddenly twisted.
A strange distortion appeared in midair.
Then a man materialized from nothing.
He wore a black cloak patterned with red clouds, while a spiral-patterned mask concealed his face.
He glanced briefly at the flowers placed before “Obito’s” grave.
Then he looked away.
As far as he was concerned—
Obito Uchiha was already dead.
The moment he had personally witnessed Kakashi kill Rin, the person known as Obito had died completely.
What remained was nothing more than an empty shell that had lost all hope in this world.
A shell determined to create another world—
one in which Rin still existed.
Behind Obito stood another strange figure whose body was divided into black and white halves.
Compared to Obito’s silence, Black Zetsu was barely able to contain his excitement.
“Obito, who would’ve thought we’d hear something this interesting during this visit to Konoha?”
“Tsk, tsk…”
“The Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki is about to give birth.”
“That’s enormous news.”
“The seal restraining the Nine-Tails will be at its weakest during childbirth.”
“If everything is handled properly…”
“Konoha could be destroyed in a single night.”
Obito gave a cold snort.
“I don’t need you telling me what to do.”
Although Obito intended to make use of Black Zetsu—the supposed manifestation of Madara Uchiha’s will—he remained even more wary of him than he was willing to admit.
Black Zetsu found himself rebuffed but merely shrugged.
He wasn’t angry.
Human emotions weren’t something he truly possessed in the first place.
Obito looked toward the countless lights illuminating Konoha in the distance.
Behind his mask, his expression twisted.
“This world was always nothing but an illusion.”
“Why is Rin gone…”
“While all of you are still allowed to enjoy such peaceful lives?”
His voice grew colder.
“I will create a world…”
“A world where Rin exists.”
…
The Hokage Building.
It was already extremely late.
Even Minato had finished work and returned home.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, had been dragged out of bed.
He had previously given the ANBU explicit instructions—
if Shisui came to see him, he was to be notified immediately, regardless of the hour.
After throwing on some clothes and heading to the Hokage Building, Hiruzen saw Shisui waiting for him.
A gratified smile appeared on the Third Hokage’s face.
A descendant of Kagami…
If only every Uchiha were like Shisui.
Then perhaps the clan would never have become such a threat to Konoha.