Namikaze Minato wore a sorrowful expression.
Clearly, he blamed himself for what had happened.
Even though Uchiha Kai had warned him in advance, he had still failed to save his student.
On the other side, Kai narrowed his eyes.
The development was exactly the same as in the original story. Now this was interesting.
"Brother Minato, don't be anxious.
Did you forget what I told you? Obito has already been marked by Uchiha Madara.
How could he possibly die?"
"As for recovering Obito's body—don't even think about it. If my guess is correct, White Zetsu must have already taken him away."
"Remember that night at the forward camp, when I captured that strange white creature? For it, moving through the earth is no obstacle at all."
Minato froze at those words.
Yes.
He never expected Kai to suddenly say such a thing.
As for White Zetsu…
Minato couldn't help but speak.
"That White Zetsu—I know of it. But didn't you kill it already?
From what Kakashi told me, Obito had no chance of survival.
Even if White Zetsu carried him away, how could he possibly be saved?"
He couldn't understand.
From his perspective, Obito's injuries were beyond saving. Even Tsunade herself could not have revived him.
After all—half of Obito's body had been crushed under that massive boulder.
"Brother Minato, don't let your thinking get boxed in," Kai said coldly.
"The Uchiha are not an ordinary clan. Don't be fooled by their decline—our means cannot be judged by common sense."
"Just Izanagi alone can bring back the dead.
And let's not forget—Uchiha Madara."
"You should know already that the village has long been researching Hashirama's cells, right?
Well, Madara had already integrated them into himself."
"As for White Zetsu, he has a hundred thousand of them at his command.
Killing one or two means nothing to him."
"So rest assured. I guarantee Obito is alive. He's Madara's key piece, the one meant to carry out his plan after his death.
Madara would never let him die."
Minato's gaze hardened.
So… it was that complicated.
The Uchiha.
This thousand–year clan. With just the Sharingan, they could even overturn death itself.
He didn't even know where to begin complaining.
"Now that you've said this, I feel somewhat relieved," Minato admitted with a shrug.
"So what's our next step—how do we rescue Obito?"
Kai twitched his lips.
Rescue Obito?
Ha!
Since when did he need rescuing?
Wait—
A thought struck him suddenly.
"By the way, Brother Minato. Where is Rin Nohara?
She's the key for Obito to awaken Mangekyo. There's no way Madara would leave her be.
He arranged all this just so Obito could watch her die before his own eyes."
Minato blinked.
He hadn't realized Rin was so crucial.
But thinking of how Obito usually acted, he understood immediately.
"You're right," Minato nodded. "But Rin's fine for now—she's still with Kakashi."
Hearing this, Kai exhaled in relief.
Good. Things weren't yet out of hand.
"We'd better hurry back," Kai said firmly. "As long as Rin is safe, we still have a chance."
"Of course," Minato agreed.
He grabbed Kai's shoulder, and in an instant the two vanished.
When they reappeared, they stood in a desolate field near Kannabi Bridge.
Signs of recent battle scarred the ground.
But—what darkened their faces was that only Kakashi was there.
Rin was gone.
"Kakashi! Where's Rin?" Minato asked urgently.
Kakashi fell silent. At last, he shook his head helplessly.
"Sensei, not long after you left, an Hidden Mist Village shinobi used an invisibility technique and snatched Rin away.
I'm sorry…"
Minato's brows furrowed deeply.
He had never imagined that only minutes after his departure, such a thing would occur.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
His gaze fell on the scar over Kakashi's left eye, and the firmly covered right one.
That must be Obito's Sharingan.
…
With a helpless sigh, Kai felt speechless.
Even with the butterfly effect of his presence, Minato's team was still replaying the original plotline.
Of course, it made sense.
Other changes might slip through, but no one was paying attention to whether "the story" itself was altered.
But this?
This couldn't change.
Obito was Madara's chosen pawn—there was no way he would allow fate to shift here.
As for those Hidden Mist shinobi?
Just ignorant pawns, mere extras being used by Madara.
Not even worth Kai's attention.
After a pause, he asked suddenly:
"Kakashi—where's Shisui's squad?"
Kakashi's face was pale, his expression blank.
The deaths of Obito and Rin's abduction had struck him hard.
It was his bond with the two of them that had helped him crawl out of the shadow of his father's suicide.
And now, before he had even healed, one comrade was dead and the other kidnapped.
His heart grew darker.
But—he was still a shinobi.
When Kai asked, he forced himself to answer, one word at a time.
It turned out—
After the two squads had destroyed Kannabi Bridge, they had split up to escape the Hidden Stone encirclement more quickly.
Kai let out a small breath of relief.
With Shisui's team separated from Minato's, Madara's attention would not be on them.
Against a few Hidden Mist shinobi, he trusted Shisui to handle it.
After all—Shisui had already awakened Mangekyo.
Unless Onoki himself showed up, no one else could stop him.
After a long silence, Kai finally said:
"No need to rush. Let's rest for the night.
Since Rin was captured and not killed outright, that means Hidden Stone has some scheme in mind for her.
At the very least, she won't be harmed immediately.
We should recover our strength, then investigate where she's being held.
After that, we can plan a proper rescue."
He turned to Minato.
"Brother Minato, you have no objections, do you?"
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