"..."
Staring at the mission scroll in his hands, Obito Uchiha couldn't stop his hands from shaking.
"C-c-c-c-con… confession?!!!!"
The blood tears on his face had already been washed away by ordinary tears, though faint smears of dried blood still hadn't been wiped clean. That filthy face had just moments ago been full of bitterness and despair.
Now, his expression froze somewhere between "utter misery" and "complete blankness."
That on-the-verge-of-crying look kept repeating the contents of that D-rank mission over and over in his head.
It was… weirdly, ridiculously cute.
What the hell is this supposed to be?!!!
Obito rolled up the mission scroll he hadn't finished reading. For a moment, he genuinely felt like throwing the damn thing straight into the river ditch.
The gold coins scattered on the ground felt like a slap in the face to his feelings for Rin.
Besides, when did he ever confess to Rin?! When exactly?!
That absurd interruption calmed him down a little. Obito hugged his knees and curled into a small ball, sitting on the pebbles by the Naka River.
He picked up stones beside him and tossed them into the water one by one.
As if doing that could make him feel even slightly better.
His mind was a complete mess.
One moment, he thought about the fact that he himself was the Masked Man. The next, the Nine-Tails incident surfaced in his mind, the Masked Man summoning the Nine-Tails inside the village and causing Minato-sensei's family to die. And then, without warning, his thoughts jumped to one question he couldn't make sense of no matter what.
Why was the mission to confess to Rin already marked as completed?!
He clearly hadn't confessed to her yet!!
No matter how chaotic things were in his head, to an outsider, Obito just looked pitiful beyond words, a miserable figure curled up by the riverbank.
At least, that was what Minato Namikaze saw when he arrived using the Flying Thunder God.
On the wide riverbed, a small, miserable boy sat curled into himself, silently tossing stones into the water.
As his teacher, Minato couldn't help but let out a sigh.
When he walked over, Obito didn't try to run.
Minato knew Obito was aware of his presence. That defeated posture meant he had already given up resisting.
"Obito?" Minato said gently. "Let's go back. We need to talk."
Sniffling, Obito stared at the endlessly flowing Naka River.
As if talking to himself, he murmured, "How long have we been in this world, Minato-sensei?"
"If we don't count the time we spent in Konoha's founding era," Minato replied calmly, "it'll be one month in seven more days."
Obito looked quietly at the river. "Do you think… maybe we're just dreaming? That when we wake up, we'll still be on the Kannabi Bridge mission?"
Not wanting to agitate his emotionally fragile student, Minato softened his voice even more.
"Why do you think that?"
"After finding out… everything," Obito said, "this world feels fake. Like I'm stuck in a nightmare."
Minato moved closer and sat beside him. "If we can change the ending, wouldn't that be the same as rewriting the nightmare?"
"Don't forget, Rin and Kakashi from our parallel world are still waiting for you to protect them. And Konoha too." He paused. "Didn't you want to become Hokage?"
The tears that had been pushed back into Obito's eyes slid down through his tear ducts into his nose. He hurriedly sniffed, his voice thick and trembling.
"Someone like me… do I still have the right to become Hokage?"
Minato sighed helplessly. "How did you end up becoming like Kakashi, taking every responsibility onto yourself?"
"Don't forget, the Obito Uchiha of this world is the Obito Uchiha of this world. And you are you."
"Precisely because you're Obito Uchiha, you have even more responsibility to understand the truth and avoid walking the same path as the Masked Man, don't you?" Minato patted his shoulder. "Do you remember what the Kazekage said? Be careful of Black Zetsu. Be careful of Madara Uchiha. And hold on to your dream."
When someone is hurting, talking to someone who knows how to comfort others really can ease the pain.
Obito nodded repeatedly. "Mm… mm."
When he pulled his goggles down, Minato knew this big crybaby had broken down again.
After estimating the time and waiting until Obito had cried enough, Minato glanced at the gold coins scattered all over the ground and teased him lightly.
"Even when you're heartbroken, you still don't forget to finish a D-rank mission. What, are you saving up money for your future life?"
Minato meant nothing by it. He was only recalling what Kakashi had said earlier, that Obito liked Rin more than anything else.
But the moment Obito remembered that D-rank mission—
His whole body went numb.
"Mi-mi-mi-mi-Minato-sensei, what are you even saying?!" Obito panicked, flailing his hands. "I have no idea what this mission is about!! I ran straight here not long after getting back! I never confessed to Rin, c-confessed—"
"Confessed?" Minato tilted his head, genuinely confused at the worst possible moment.
Obito couldn't bring himself to say it out loud. Trembling, he handed over his mission scroll.
Minato Namikaze opened it with a puzzled look.
[Mission Rank: D]
[Mission Content: Confess to Rin Nohara.]
[Mission Status: Completed.]
He glanced back at Obito.
Obito's face was so red it looked like it was about to start bleeding, almost like a Mangekyō Sharingan.
Was this fate?
Obito's confession mission had been completed by Kakashi.
Minato remarked casually, "So it counts as completing the mission even if you didn't confess to Rin yourself."
That single sentence snapped something in Obito's head.
"Minato-sensei!! You mean someone confessed to Rin?!" Obito shouted. "Who was it?!"
"Kakashi."
"!!!!"
Obito's mind went completely blank.
"Kakashi?! He confessed to Rin?!" Obito clutched his head and squatted down in panic. "Then I don't have any chance at all anymore?! Rin must've accepted him already! Aaaaah!!"
"It was Adult Kakashi who confessed."
"What?!" Obito shot back instantly. "That Kakashi is already twenty-six! Rin is only thirteen! How could he—"
He looked ready to jump up and fight this world's Kakashi on the spot.
Minato was speechless. "You misunderstood. Kakashi confessed to Rin on your behalf."
"On… my behalf?"
Minato held back a laugh and told Obito to go back first and ask Kakashi himself later.
As he casually continued unrolling the mission scroll, he suddenly realized that after this D-rank mission, there were several more missions still marked as incomplete.
When he saw the ranks of those missions, Minato's expression grew serious.
He immediately used the Flying Thunder God to bring Obito back to the Hatake old residence.
After a bit of preparation, everyone was somewhat mentally ready, though seeing one another again still felt awkward.
The one who adapted best was Kisame Hoshigaki. He sized up Obito, who barely reached his waist, and let out a harsh laugh.
"So this little brat is supposed to be the real future leader of Akatsuki. Unbelievable."
"Don't get it wrong!" Obito shot back. "The Masked Man of this world is this world's Obito Uchiha! I'm not him! And I'm definitely not the Masked Man!!"
"Tch. Obviously," Zabuza Momochi snorted coldly. "Otherwise I'd have chopped you up already, brat." He had a deep grudge against the Masked Man.
Minato Namikaze clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"Alright. Let's take a look at the new missions on Obito's scroll."
New missions?
Everyone who knew about the scroll gathered around as Minato spread it open.
When Kisame saw the B-rank mission labeled [Impersonate the Fourth Mizukage and converse with Kisame], he raised an eyebrow, unsurprised.
Then, immediately after that, everyone saw the newly appeared D-rank mission.
[Mission Rank: D]
[Mission Content: Confess to Rin Nohara.]
[Mission Status: Completed.]
Twice in a single day.
First, the shocking revelation that the Masked Man was actually Obito Uchiha.
And now, this D-rank mission displayed right in front of everyone.
How was this any different from a public confession?!
If he had the option, Obito Uchiha would've gladly chosen social death right then and there.
Rin and Young Kakashi, whose moods had been heavy before, now felt a mix of exasperation and amusement.
They both realized how twisted fate could be. In the end, the one who helped Obito confess was Kakashi himself.
And as the scroll continued downward—
[Mission Rank: A]
[Mission Content: Awaken the Sharingan.]
…
[Mission Rank: S]
[Mission Content: Awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.]
…
Every single one of them was a high-difficulty mission.
The key issue was—
"Why aren't they marked as completed?" Obito said anxiously. "Didn't I already awaken the Sharingan and the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"Is it possible," Minato said slowly, "that this S-rank mission only appeared after you awakened the Mangekyō just now? And that completing these two missions requires you to use the Sharingan and the Mangekyō Sharingan once again?"
Naruto immediately spoke up. "There's an A-rank mission. Does that mean we're going to cross over again?!"
Obito turned to Minato-sensei, waiting for his answer.
Minato Namikaze replied in a low voice, "That's very likely. And I suspect…" He paused briefly. "Based on our previous experiences, these two crossings are probably related to the Kannabi Bridge mission."
Everyone looked at him. "The Kannabi Bridge mission?"
"Yes," Minato said. "The mission this parallel world experienced, where Obito sacrificed himself at Kannabi Bridge."
After saying that, Minato patted Adult Kakashi on the shoulder.
"Obito's Sharingan has already awakened. As long as everyone is ready, we can depart at any time."
Adult Kakashi's heart clenched sharply.
He took several deep breaths before replying, "I'm ready anytime, Minato-sensei."
"Are you sure?" Minato asked. "Don't push yourself too hard."
At that moment, Obito also looked at Adult Kakashi. He pressed his lips together, unsure what to say, yet feeling that he had to do something for the version of himself in this world.
After thinking for a long while, he finally spoke.
"No matter what happens, I'll never give up on my dreams like the me from this world did! And I'll never abandon my comrades!"
He continued fiercely, "The me of this world must be a coward hiding behind a mask, pretending to be someone else! I'll catch him and smash that mask to pieces!"
…
Almost fourteen years old, Obito Uchiha opened his Sharingan.
Even without awakening the Mangekyō, the three tomoe spinning in his eyes still made Sasuke Uchiha feel both envy and a quiet sense of heaviness.
If the power of the Uchiha Clan required sacrificing one's happiness, if it was gained only through extreme suffering, could that really be called the power of protection?
And if it wasn't, then the other side of that so-called protection must be destruction.
He certainly hated the Masked Man and would never forgive Itachi. But after learning what kind of gentle person his brother once was, and realizing that Obito was a hot-blooded idiot much like Naruto, Sasuke couldn't help but question the source of Uchiha power.
Obito, Itachi… both of them became increasingly difficult to get along with after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan.
So what if, one day, he awakened it too?
In that other world, Naruto had already fought through the Fourth Shinobi World War and defeated the Sage of Six Paths' mother, yet he still hadn't managed to bring the other version of himself back.
As Sasuke's thoughts spiraled—
Everyone's vision suddenly blurred.
They had arrived in another parallel world.
Before them lay a familiar battlefield.
It was here that Naruto had first witnessed his father's true strength, the Yellow Flash that made all the great nations fear Konoha.
Back then, he didn't know that man was his father. Facing the shinobi of Iwagakure, he had taken on fifty enemies alone and won in just a few minutes.
That's right.
This was the location they had been brought to after completing the A-rank mission [Impersonate the Fourth Mizukage and converse with Zabuza] in the Land of Waves.
The battlefield where Konoha shinobi, led by Hamaki Mimura, had clashed with the shinobi of Iwagakure.
Compared to the last crossing, Zabuza's followers were gone, but Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki were now here.
No—something was wrong.
Naruto quickly scanned the surroundings.
It felt like several crucial people were missing.
"Minato-sensei!!" Adult Kakashi shouted first.
His voice was urgent, filled with barely concealed panic.
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Minato Namikaze all wore grim expressions.
As for the reason—
The three members of Team Minato—
Young Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara—
Were not here.