Over on their side, Adult Kakashi, Adult Obito, and the entire Team Minato from their youth had been in a low mood ever since watching Obito's past experiences.
The ninjas who had lived through the Warring States Period could guess, just from watching that footage and hearing what the aged Madara Uchiha said, that the little brat named "Obito Uchiha" had most likely been used.
In fact, judging by the brutal nature of people in the Warring States Period, it was very likely that the other party had deliberately staged the whole thing, making Obito Uchiha the unwitting lead actor and causing him to hate the entire world.
"Got any anger in you, brat?"
Madara Uchiha's words were the exact wrong thing to say. They instantly set off Obito Uchiha, whose heart was already bursting with negative emotions.
That rage had always been suppressed deep in the heart of Adult Obito Uchiha, the former Masked Man. Now that he had seen the footage, Madara Uchiha's words were like a surge of chakra igniting six hundred billion explosive tags, and there was no stopping it.
No matter what, Adult Obito had played the role of Madara Uchiha for more than ten years. Now, with a dark expression, he locked eyes with Madara Uchiha. While he could not be said to have inherited every bit of his ancestor's essence, he did carry some of the same aura that Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha had when they looked down on the entire Ninja World during the Fourth Shinobi World War.
"Do you think you can beat me?"
Young Obito tried to ease the tension, but even with the Mangekyō Sharingan awakened and Wood Release at his disposal, he was nothing more than small fry in front of his future self and Madara Uchiha.
He looked toward Minato-sensei, the First and Second Hokage, and even young ancestor Izuna Uchiha, but none of them seemed inclined to stop the two.
"At a time like this, it's better to let them fight," Minato Namikaze said. "If that resentment doesn't get vented, keeping it bottled up will only make things more troublesome later."
Naruto thought the same. "But don't fight here. Find somewhere farther away, dattebayo."
Madara Uchiha gave a cold snort. Dark-blue chakra rapidly formed bones and grew into muscle. The appearance of Susanoo shocked the commoners of the Warring States Period badly.
It was almost as if he were mocking Adult Obito Uchiha for having only one eye and being unable to use Susanoo.
Madara Uchiha did not even look at Adult Obito. He had his Susanoo spread its wings and soar into the sky, searching for a place where he could move freely and use Fire Release to his heart's content.
When Obito, who had secretly controlled the Akatsuki for more than ten years, darkened his expression, he was truly terrifying. A spiral of air appeared in his right eye. Using Kamui's Dimension to move would not make him any slower than Madara Uchiha's Susanoo.
"Smack."
A hand wearing half a glove landed on his shoulder.
"Kakashi?"
There was no doubt that the hand belonged to Hatake Kakashi, Naruto and the others' Jōnin instructor.
"You can have Susanoo too."
Those words reminded Adult Obito of the pale-blue Susanoo he had once seen while experiencing the life of Naruto Uzumaki from another parallel world.
The Susanoo that had appeared around Hatake Kakashi.
From Naruto's point of view, it had been heroic and impossibly cool, like a miracle descending before his eyes.
Kamui, Raikiri, Intangibility.
"Don't forget, that is the most special Dōjutsu, the one even Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was helpless against."
"Kakashi..."
The two stood side by side, forming a complete pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
Blue-green chakra, just like Madara Uchiha's earlier, formed the bones, muscles, skin, and armor of a gigantic tengu.
Unlike Madara's dark-blue Susanoo with four arms, Obito and Kakashi's Susanoo was slimmer, yet even sharper and more heroic.
Seeing Obito Uchiha and Kakashi's Susanoo with their own eyes for the first time made everyone familiar with them cry out in amazement.
"It's Kakashi-sensei!! Kakashi-sensei's Susanoo! It's so cool, dattebayo!!!"
Naruto jumped up and down, his blue eyes shining especially brightly.
Young Obito was even more excited. "Damn it! I'm so jealous!! I want to use Susanoo soon too!!" Just imagining himself standing in Susanoo's cockpit, seeing Rin's admiring gaze, and seeing Kakashi so jealous he could die but too embarrassed to beg for a chance to come in and experience flying through the sky.
Ohhh!!
That would feel unbelievably amazing!!!
"Let's go watch the fight!!"
Hashirama Senju was getting excited. He was no different from kids like Naruto and Young Obito, and lifted his foot to chase in the direction Madara had left.
"Wait! Hey, buddy!"
At that moment, another hand landed on his shoulder.
Hearing that voice, Hashirama Senju froze and slowly turned his head.
Sure enough, it was the uncle from the gambling den.
"You still haven't paid off your gambling debt. You can't just leave like this."
Smack.
That was the sound of Tobirama Senju helplessly and speechlessly slapping his own forehead.
"That idiot big brother!! Hmph!!"
Minato Namikaze smiled awkwardly, thinking that although the Second Hokage spoke like that, he seemed quite tolerant toward the First Hokage.
Also, he had to admit that the First Hokage-sama's ability was impressive. How had he managed to rack up such a huge gambling debt in such a short time? Thinking about it made Minato feel sorry for the Second Hokage-sama and Mito Uzumaki-sama.
"We can still think of another solution, but it's already very late. We're staying at the inn next door. Can we continue this tomorrow?" Minato Namikaze tried to negotiate.
But the gambling den owner was clearly not easy to talk to, or rather, he did not want to let a once-in-a-century fat sheep like Hashirama Senju go.
As for that blond kid, with luck that good, the gambling den owner was certain they must have cheated somehow. As long as he found out how they had cheated, he would definitely be able to make them owe even more gambling debt.
"If we really wanted to run, do you think a tiny gambling den like yours could stop us?" Young Kakashi was referring to the two people who had just manifested Susanoo with chakra, and he successfully shut the gambling den owner up.
They did not know that the people from the Land of Whirlpools had already crossed into the Land of Fire, and would arrive where they were in less than two days.
Since returning would only send them back to the moment they had left anyway, they decided to stay here for the time being and experience the customs of the Warring States Period.
Because the average lifespan in the Warring States Period was only around thirty years, Obito Uchiha, who always seemed to have an old-lady buff, could barely run into even one or two elderly people who needed help in an entire day here.
But unlike the Land of Fire, where there was a military force like Konoha to serve as deterrence, human lives in the Warring States Period were extremely cheap.
Naruto and the others could even get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and run into Warring States Period ninjas carrying out an assassination mission.
Of course, the target was not them, but a certain heartless, wealthy grain merchant.
The six children from Team Minato and Team Kakashi were, after all, still children who lived in the relatively peaceful ninja village of Konoha. They did not know that the wealthy merchant currently being assassinated was actually someone even more people hated to the bone.
Naruto used a kunai to block the masked ninja's assassination attempt, effectively saving the wealthy merchant's life.
When the others heard the commotion, they immediately woke from their sleep and rushed out to help.
The wealthy merchant was so frightened that he collapsed onto the ground. "Money! I'll pay any amount!! I'll hire you right now to help me kill that person over there!! Damn it! How dare you dress up as a prostitute to lure me in!! Bastard! You're not leaving alive today!!"
Before Naruto appeared, the wealthy merchant had nearly wet his pants in fright, and as he ran, he looked like he was about to squeeze the grease out of his own body. Now that he had found someone to back him up, he immediately started throwing his weight around again.
"Huh?" Naruto held up his kunai and turned to look at the wealthy merchant. "We only helped you out in passing. We're not planning to kill anyone, dattebayo!"
The wealthy merchant immediately became displeased.
"You lowly ninjas take any mission as long as there's money, don't you?! I have plenty of money! Hurry up and kill that woman over there for me!"
Halfway through speaking, the wealthy merchant's eyes locked onto the slender figure opposite him, dressed in tight black clothing and covered from hair to face.
"No, don't kill her. Break her limbs and hand her over to me. I'll pay you double. No, I'll pay you triple!!"
It went without saying what filthy thoughts were running through that ugly, fat wealthy merchant's head.
It made the two girls among the six children feel physically repulsed.
Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, and Kakashi were the same. They had reacted on reflex earlier without understanding the situation, only to find out they had saved this rotten thing.
Naruto narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction until they looked like fox slits, then formed hand seals with both hands and used his signature move.
The cute blonde girl with twin ponytails leaned close to the wealthy merchant and blew softly by his ear. "Who did you say was a lowly ninja? Hm~?"
"Pfft."
The wealthy merchant collapsed to the ground and did not get up. Blood streamed endlessly from two of his seven orifices.
The masked ninja opposite them: "."
"Which side are you people on?"
The voice was somewhat androgynous, making it hard to tell at once whether the speaker was male or female.
But they could tell that the ninja opposite them was probably only three or four years older than they were.
Naruto said, "We're ninjas from Konoha."
The masked person glanced at Young Obito Uchiha and remembered the footage from earlier that day.
"It's you!!"
That hellish scene, and his almost deranged cry of, "Rin, I'll create another world with you in it," really made it impossible not to be wary.
"I don't want to be your enemy. Please don't interfere with my mission." Judging from the tone and attitude, the masked ninja seemed somewhat willing to back down.
Obito Uchiha was speechless. Had his fearsome reputation already spread all the way to the Warring States Period?
Bah! He was clearly a good kid in every way! He had always been enthusiastic about doing good deeds! What fearsome reputation?!
"Why do you want to kill this person?" Young Kakashi asked.
The young ninja, wrapped tightly from head to toe, paused for a moment. His black eyes stared straight at Young Kakashi as he said, "A clan mission. Someone bought his life. I can't say who, but what he's done truly deserves death."
Naruto asked, "Could it be that this greasy uncle is a bad guy?"
"You can tell without even looking, can't you?"
The exact same sentence came from two different mouths, and both voices were equally cold and detached.
Young Kakashi suddenly felt something very strange.
He was just about to ask when the other person spoke first.
"The technique you used just now. Was that Hatake-style sword technique?"