Obito was stunned. "The masked man will come that soon?! Minato-sensei!"
"Idiot," young Kakashi shot back sharply. "We've basically detained Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki here. Of course that guy won't be able to sit still!"
Naruto looked over at his dad. "But Sasuke, Sakura, and I have the second stage of the Chūnin Exams tomorrow."
"Mm," Minato said. "That's exactly why you can't neglect your training during the exams. You also need to stay extra alert and watch out for the masked man's sneak attacks."
Young Kakashi spoke up again. "Then what about us, Minato-sensei?"
Adult Kakashi answered first. "I'll help you modify Raikiri, turning it into a version that can be used without the Sharingan."
He never wanted those events to happen again. He would rather his counterpart in another parallel world never truly master Raikiri, never possess the Sharingan for his entire life.
Minato nodded, then turned to Obito. "I've already spoken with Itachi. He'll help train your Sharingan. I want you to try to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"!!!!"
That one casual sentence made everyone stare at Obito in shock.
Unlike Itachi Uchiha, a once-in-decades prodigy of the Uchiha clan, Obito was a well-known underachiever. Awakening the Sharingan was one thing, but the Mangekyō Sharingan wasn't something you could just switch on whenever you wanted.
Obito himself, however, was practically bursting with excitement.
Adult Kakashi sensed something was off and glanced at Minato Namikaze.
"Sensei…"
"Come here, Kakashi. I have something to talk to you about as well."
Being called in for one-on-one talks like this was never a good feeling.
At the very least, adult Kakashi felt tense, and that tension spread to young Kakashi and Obito, even though they hadn't been called over.
"It's already past a good child's bedtime," Minato said. "The next round of the Chūnin Exams starts early tomorrow morning. You all need to rest and recover."
He smiled as he reassured Sasuke, who still looked tense because of Itachi. "It's already past curfew in Konoha. You and Naruto can stay here tonight. Remember to take a bath before going to sleep."
"Got it," Sasuke replied without objection.
Naruto, meanwhile, was thrilled at the idea of staying overnight with his friends, even if it was at Kakashi-sensei's house.
Itachi Uchiha's dark eyes lingered on Sasuke, making the hairs on Sasuke's neck stand on end. Sasuke asked him what he was staring at.
What Sasuke didn't know was that beneath his brother's cold expression, one that looked as if he might be considering fratricide at any moment…
…Itachi was actually thinking—
I wonder if Sasuke still needs the little dinosaur to keep him company when he bathes now.
There probably isn't anything in Kakashi-senpai's old house that could replace it.
…
Because there were so many people, the bathhouse at the Hatake residence wasn't enough to accommodate everyone at once, so they had to use it in shifts.
Zabuza, Haku, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Itachi Uchiha were assigned the later slot.
Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, and young Kakashi used it in the middle slot.
As the only girl present, Rin naturally received priority.
...
Meanwhile, adult Kakashi and Minato Namikaze returned once again to the room where Minato and Itachi had spoken earlier. Just like before, Minato set up a sealing barrier around the room.
Even at twenty-six years old, Kakashi's respect for Minato hadn't diminished in the slightest.
Combined with his earlier willingness to shoulder the blame, he was now even more humble than Itachi had been. He knelt on the old tatami mats, his right eyelid lowered. He had even removed his forehead protector and set it aside. His entire posture radiated dejection, like a loyal dog waiting to be abandoned by its owner, pitiful to look at.
Minato, wanting to comfort him, let out a quiet sigh. Even though he was a few years younger than Kakashi at this moment, he still reached out and patted Kakashi on the shoulder, telling him not to overthink things.
"I'm sorry…"
For some reason, the scene felt like…
A blond comforting a Samoyed dog that had just been kicked out of the house.
"Don't think too much about it, Kakashi," Minato said. "The masked man overhearing you back then was just a coincidence. If he showed up in Konoha at that time, he must have already known roughly when Kushina was going to give birth."
Kakashi remained silent.
"Honestly, you can be incredibly stubborn sometimes," Minato said with a sigh and a wry smile, seeing that Kakashi still wasn't letting it go. "Do you remember Black Zetsu and White Zetsu? Their abilities are special. When the masked man claimed he had a unique way of knowing everything happening across the ninja world, it definitely wasn't just relying on his space-time dōjutsu."
Even with Shadow Clones and that bizarre space-time dōjutsu combined, it would still be impossible to grasp all intelligence across the entire ninja world.
That explanation finally eased Kakashi a little.
"But I still… feel sorry," Kakashi said quietly. "I failed to protect Kushina, failed to protect Obito and Rin, and failed to protect Naruto…"
"Hey, I've already told you," Minato replied. "Kushina was my wife, and I was right beside her when she gave birth. The one who truly failed to protect her and Naruto was me, the me of this world. As for Obito and Rin, they were my students. Their deaths on the battlefield in this world are also the responsibility of me, their sensei."
Kakashi nodded, noncommittal.
Everything that could be said had already been said. In the end, Kakashi would still have to forgive himself.
With that, Minato knew it was time to move on to the real reason he'd called him here.
"All right, Kakashi. I didn't call you here just to comfort you," Minato said. "There are two questions I need you to think back on carefully and answer honestly."
His expression shifted, losing the gentleness he'd shown earlier. Seeing Minato's serious face, adult Kakashi immediately straightened his back and waited for the questions.
"How much do you know about Shisui Uchiha's death back then? Did you see his body afterward? And where is his body now?"
"!!!"
Kakashi was startled, his red eye widening so much that the scar running across his eyelid and lower lid stretched taut.
"Sensei… are you saying…?!"
Itachi had once been Kakashi's subordinate and junior when Kakashi was in ANBU. Kakashi had also heard about Shisui's suicide back then, and he knew that Shisui meant just as much to Itachi as Obito had meant to him.
Minato-sensei wouldn't bring up Shisui Uchiha for no reason. Could it be that he suspected the masked man might be Shisui?!
Thinking about how Minato had just spoken with Itachi, Kakashi felt uneasy. But the truth was, he didn't know much about what had happened back then…
At the time, in order not to provoke the Uchiha clan further, he had deliberately avoided getting involved with anything related to them, afraid that Obito's eye might be taken back.
"Because of my position in ANBU, I inevitably knew some things about Shisui," Kakashi said, summarizing what he knew. "According to Uchiha clan rules, if a clan member didn't die on a mission, they weren't buried in the public cemetery. Instead, after their Sharingan were retrieved, they were buried in private graves within the clan grounds."
Minato nodded and didn't hesitate to share part of the truth from back then.
"When Shisui's body was recovered, he didn't have his Sharingan."
"What?!"
"One of his Mangekyō Sharingan was stolen by Danzō Shimura," Minato continued. "The other was given to Itachi."
"!!!"
All at once, Kakashi remembered a conversation he'd once had with Itachi when they were both in ANBU.
'Kakashi-senpai, I heard your Sharingan was given to you by Obito.'
'Yeah. It's the most precious thing I have.'
'After receiving your close friend's eye, do you also inherit his will?'
'…That's how I see it. But I failed his request. I couldn't protect Rin. I'm useless… Itachi, you're Obito's clansman. If you ever need my help with anything, please don't hesitate to tell me.'
'No, thank you, Kakashi-senpai.'
"Kakashi! Kakashi!"
Seeing his student slip into a daze, Minato reached out and shook his shoulder.
Kakashi snapped back to reality, his eyes heavy with exhaustion. Thinking back, that conversation had happened not long after Shisui's death.
He couldn't help but regret it deeply.
Why hadn't he talked to Itachi more back then?
"Kakashi," Minato Namikaze said, "Since there are many techniques in the ninja world that can manipulate corpses or bring the dead back to life, I need you to investigate Shisui Uchiha."
Kakashi acknowledged the order.
Minato continued, "Actually, besides Shisui, there's another person within Konoha who fits the description of the masked man…"
"Huh?"
"But Kakashi, before I say what comes next, I need you to brace yourself mentally."
If anything, the earlier information about Shisui had merely been a prelude—a way to give Kakashi some breathing room to prepare for the warning about Obito. Though it might not help much, it was the only thing Minato, as Kakashi's teacher, could do for him at this moment.
"Brace myself…?"
Kakashi's expression was already weary. Minato hadn't anticipated that his earlier words would trigger another wave of self-reproach in Kakashi.
"Tell me everything. Every detail about the Kannabi Bridge mission. And everything that happened after Obito Uchiha's death."
"!!"
If Kakashi had been surprised when Minato asked about Shisui, hearing Minato-sensei now inquire about Obito made him feel a mix of shock and anger!!
"What do you mean by this?! Minato-sensei!!"
Kakashi couldn't hold back, leaping to his feet. "You suspect the masked man is Obito?! You suspect Obito killed you and Kushina in this world?! Is that it?! Minato-sensei!!"
Luckily, Minato had set up a sealing barrier beforehand, so the sound was contained.
"Calm down, Kakashi. I'm just asking about the information from back then." Minato tried to soothe him, though he, too, was heartbroken by the possibility. "Do you think I want the masked man to be Obito?"
He added, "But the Second Hokage's notebook mentions that a ninja must follow the logical laws of nature, abandon personal emotions, and remain objective and calm, free of distractions, in order to see the true path and not lose their way."
"I'm sorry, Minato-sensei." Kakashi forced himself to calm down.
"Obito… he was my hero… He was the one who believed in me most in this world. He sacrificed his life to save me, yet still called me an outstanding jōnin…"
Silence often accompanies repression. Inside the room, Kakashi slowly and hoarsely recounted every detail of the Kannabi Bridge mission. He described how he and their parallel-world Minato-sensei, along with the head of the Uchiha clan, had tried to save Obito, only to be thwarted when his body was buried beneath boulders—unable to even bring the hero's remains back to Konoha.
Obito's recognition had meant more than words could express to Kakashi. That phrase, "No matter what others say, White Fang is the great hero I respect," and "No matter what others say, you are the outstanding jōnin I recognize," had pulled the young Kakashi out of his obsessive "mission first" mindset.
At that moment, Minato Namikaze—though untouched by the past that Kakashi spoke of—felt the weight of Kakashi's emotions. His heart was heavy, as if it had been weighed down by a boulder.
From the Kannabi Bridge mission, to Obito's dying words when he gave his eyes to Kakashi, to his urging Rin and Kakashi to escape—everything pointed to the fact that Obito didn't harbor any hatred. Minato, based on his understanding of the boy, believed that Obito had left with blessings, regretful of the things left unsaid, especially his unspoken feelings for Rin.
There was no way Obito could have hated Konoha.
Kakashi continued, "Later, with your help, Fugaku-sama finally agreed to let me keep Obito's eyes. But Obito's body was never recovered. It was during the Third Shinobi World War, and manpower was extremely limited…"
"Yes…" Minato's voice was heavy with sorrow, his heart mourning the fate of several students in this world.
"So Obito's body was never recovered, right?"
The two of them talked for a long time, and by the time they finished, it was already two or three in the morning.
Whether the masked man was Shisui, Obito, or someone else entirely, no conclusive evidence had emerged to settle the debate.
What they didn't know was that the Fifth Kazekage, who knew everything that would happen in the next twenty years, wasn't far from Konoha. Soon, all the mysteries and unanswered questions would have their answers...