Young Obito Uchiha stared at his new mission, a slight numbness creeping over him. He rubbed his short hair.
"The problem is, I haven't figured out what to do with that guy yet!! And fighting him for fifteen rounds? That's just asking for trouble!!"
Sasuke shot back, "You'll have to kill him sooner or later. Getting a feel for his strength now can't hurt."
"First off, can we even find him?" Young Kakashi asked.
Rin's expression showed slight unease as she looked at young Obito.
"Is it possible... that Obito is already nearby? Just hiding in a space we don't know exists?"
Minato Namikaze nodded. "I share Rin's concern, but he's unlikely to show himself while we're all present. So Obito..." He turned to the young Uchiha. "Be extremely cautious when you're alone, especially at night."
Hidden within Kamui's Dimension, the adult Obito thought: "..." He was embarrassed to the point of curling his toes, as if that comment meant he was planning a nighttime ambush!
"Though we still can't fully activate your Dōjutsu space to send outsiders in or pull insiders out, but..."
Adult Kakashi suddenly spoke up.
Naruto asked, "But what?"
Adult Kakashi pushed the forehead protector covering his left eye up onto his brow and closed his right eye. His left eye—the crimson Sharingan belonging to this world's Obito Uchiha—focused intently on the cup of hot tea before him.
Everyone else watched him, seeing his left pupil dilate enormously, filled with bloodshot veins. After several seconds, the three black tomoe within the crimson pupil slowly rotated, transforming into a windmill pattern composed of three scythe-shaped blades.
"Mangekyō?!!"
Sasuke's eyes widened in shock! Kakashi had actually mastered Obito Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan!
"Just as I thought, it's identical to my own eye!"
The young Obito Uchiha opened his own Mangekyō Sharingan.
Adult Kakashi didn't speak but kept staring at the cup of tea.
Immediately, a tiny space-time vortex slowly appeared before the cup. The vortex twisted, sucking the cup into another dimension...
"Dōjutsu space!" the others exclaimed in surprise!
After completing this, Adult Kakashi collapsed onto the table, panting heavily as if he'd just fought a fierce battle. He corrected the young Obito's words haltingly, "It's not... identical to your eyes... This kind of Dōjutsu... is indeed difficult..."
"But identical to my own eyes...."
Within Kamui's Dimension, the young Obito held the very cup of hot tea that Adult Kakashi had transferred with his Dōjutsu.
Minato Namikaze observed Adult Kakashi's condition. "It seems using this technique is far more difficult than either of us anticipated."
"It appears so..." Adult Kakashi struggled to steady his breathing. "But at least it worked."
"While I want to praise your effort and talent, even Itachi Uchiha couldn't sustain the Mangekyō Sharingan long-term without harming his body. You absolutely must limit its use. Only employ this technique when absolutely necessary," Minato sighed.
"Yeah, I know."
Sasuke asked, "So, currently, you can only put objects inside, not people?"
Adult Kakashi gave a bitter smile. "Only small things like teacups or vases. Even that is already pushing the limits."
The young Obito worried for him. "You really shouldn't use this technique. You're already low on chakra. Using the Mangekyō Sharingan is like burning through your resources."
Chakra deficit...
Thanks to White Zetsu and Wood Release, Obito's current chakra reserves were far beyond what he had in his Ninja Academy days. In contrast, Kakashi's chakra reserves had seen little significant growth, constantly strained by the "rent" he paid to his left eye, leaving him perpetually in a state of chakra deficit.
"I don't want to be criticized by you, deadlast." Young Kakashi remained just as sharp-tongued toward Obito as ever.
Young Obito argued with Young Kakashi for a moment. "By the way, Minato-sensei, should we also put Kimimaro in the Missing-nin guesthouse?"
They had all grown accustomed to calling the Yamato house "the Missing-nin lodge." The defectors currently staying there weren't truly bloodthirsty psychopaths. Unless forced by circumstances or mission requirements, they wouldn't willingly choose to live as machines of war.
Captain Yamato had sealed their chakra, dōjutsu, and other abilities, but hadn't restricted their personal freedom within a certain radius. Both Itachi Uchiha and the Kirigakure Missing-nin were content with the current situation. In fact, Haku seemed to quite enjoy this life, and Zabuza was rather indulgent toward him.
Additionally, Nawaki and Dan Katō currently resided there. Compared to their own group, the team over there was steadily growing. According to Nawaki, it was quite lively. Everyone had their own personality, and communication wasn't difficult at all—nothing like the difficult coexistence one might imagine.
Minato Namikaze stroked his chin, hesitating for a moment.
The young Kakashi looked at him. "Is there something troubling you, Minato-sensei?"
"That boy named Kimimaro is in far worse physical condition than Itachi," Minato Namikaze considered. "The third Chūnin Exams are in a few days. If Orochimaru attacks Konoha, he'll likely try to exploit Kimimaro, Nawaki, and Dan..."
Given Orochimaru's nature, it was indeed highly probable.
The young Obito asked, "So then, I'll place Nawaki and Dan within my Sharingan space too, cutting them off from Orochimaru's control?"
"That is indeed a sound plan," Minato Namikaze nodded. "Therefore, I would advise waiting until after the Chūnin Exams before releasing Kimimaro."
Naruto felt a pang of curiosity. He turned to Obito and inquired, "What does that space inside your eye look like?" A gigantic house inside an eyeball? He couldn't quite picture what that would look like.
"I don't know about my own, but the dōjutsu space of my other self... the masked man... is a pitch-black void. It's filled with platforms, each roughly two or three hundred meters long and wide, suspended above abysses. It looks desolate, completely empty."
Hearing this description, Adult Kakashi, Young Kakashi, Rin, and Minato Namikaze all fell silent. It felt as though that space might mirror Obito's other self's inner world—utterly empty.
"In any case," Sasuke said, "whether we can complete this A-rank mission depends mainly on whether 'the masked man' appears. Or we could wait until Kakashi's Mangekyō Sharingan is more proficient."
"Mhm." Obito nodded, lost in thought.
He knew, just as Minato-sensei and Rin had said, that the other version of himself was likely nearby right now, watching their every move and listening to their conversations. And the content of those conversations was mostly what Minato-sensei was willing to deliberately reveal to him.
As for the purpose... Tonight, he would come for him.
Unlike the three unsuspecting students in Kakashi's class, tonight's Minato's class and the Adult Kakashi, though each returned to their rooms, remained vigilant against the masked man's surprise attack until late into the night.
Especially the young Obito, so tense he kept needing to urinate.
The Young Kakashi, uneasy, stayed by his side almost constantly.
By 3 a.m., Adult Obito could barely hold on any longer.
The moment that vortex appeared in the void, Young Kakashi reacted faster than Young Obito! Grabbing his hand, he switched their positions!
Obito, half a second slower to react, clung desperately to his hand. The result? Both of them plummeted into the 'masked man's' Dōjutsu space.
"Useless! And you brought backup."
Before they could react, a hoarse voice spoke from behind them.
They spun around instantly!
The masked man stood right behind them!
Just like before, he wore an orange-yellow whirlpool mask. Clad entirely in black ninja attire, with black gloves covering his hands, not an inch of skin was exposed from head to toe.
"Is this your vigilance? I could have killed you countless times already. I guarantee Minato-sensei couldn't save you." He stared at the younger Obito Uchiha.
The young Kakashi tensed his muscles, gripping the White Fang ninja blade his father had left him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of that gleaming white blade.
These past few days, Obito had been idling away his time at the Hatake family estate. By chance, he discovered a broken blade resting atop an old chest. Seeing the object stirred memories—he recalled how that silver-haired youth had once used this very blade to shield him from the Iwa ninja's attack...
...and lost an eye in the process. After a quick bandage, the two had rushed off to save Rin.
He wondered when the blade had snapped. As a relic left by the late White Fang, he should have cherished it.
Lost in thought, a shuriken suddenly flew toward him!
Instinctively, he tried to use intangibility.
Realizing intangibility couldn't be used here, the 'Masked Man' reacted a split second too late, only managing to duck his head as the shuriken whizzed past his mask.
"Hmph. Is that the extent of your vigilance? Nothing special." The young Kakashi mocked him, seemingly trying to salvage some pride for the boy, Obito, beside him.
This sharp-tongued Kakashi felt more real to the 'Masked Man,' yet that act of defending him seemed so unreal.
If, during the Shinobi Mission, the two finally reconciled and returned to Konoha together, could they continue to interact like this in the days to come?
The 'Masked Man' stared intently at the silver-haired Young Kakashi.
Obito felt a flicker of fear. He dared not gamble on Kakashi's conscience.
Shifting his feet slightly, he positioned himself as if to shield the figure beside him. Obito's hand tightened around the kunai, palm sweating with tension.
Simultaneously, his eyes activated the three-tomoe Sharingan, ready for battle at any moment.
"You think you can last 15 rounds against me?"
"How would I know without trying?"
"The mission reward for an A-rank mission is a time jump, correct?" Having lurked near them recently, he'd gathered ample intelligence about mission scrolls.
The Adult Obito Uchiha retorted, "What? You'd be so kind as to help us complete the mission?"
"Hah. Ridiculous."
The masked man—the Adult Obito Uchiha—let out a cold laugh.