From Kakashi's and Rin's angle, they could clearly see the clothing on Obito's back torn open by the wooden spike, along with shredded skin stretched up with it. Flesh was unnaturally peeled back and curled outward.
The blood and bits of flesh clinging to the spike were all Obito's.
Rin wanted to use Medical Ninjutsu to treat him, but there was nowhere to start. To heal the wound on his back, she would first have to remove the wooden spike. Yet that spike had grown directly from Obito's bones and internal organs. She didn't dare act rashly, fearing that even the slightest mistake would cause irreversible damage to his body.
The Iwagakure ninja across from them were completely stunned.
To them, the three Konoha kids had emerged from the collapsed stone pile like ghosts.
And then the most battered-looking one among them…
Wood was growing out of his body?!
"What the hell is that?! A monster?!!"
"Is that a ninjutsu attack, or is it growing out of him—"
"That looks like wood, doesn't it?"
"Other than the legendary God of Shinobi, is there really anyone else in this world who can use Wood Release?!"
The Iwa ninja sized up the three young Konoha ninja, calculating their strength.
After exchanging looks, the leader finally decided to gamble.
"We can't let them leave so easily! Capture the kid in the middle for research. Kill the other two!"
"…"
Kakashi, Obito, and Rin weren't particularly surprised by the Iwa ninja's decision.
This was simply how cruel and merciless the shinobi world was.
"Rin."
Kakashi slowly lowered Obito to the ground and spoke to Rin at his other side.
"No matter what, you have to protect Obito."
"Kakashi?!!"
Panic surged through Rin's chest. She heard a sense of finality in Kakashi's words.
"Didn't we agree to change the future together?!!"
She shouted at the silver-haired figure standing between her and Obito, her voice unconsciously breaking with tears.
Obito, already half-unconscious, lifted his head weakly.
"Kakashi… cut the thing off my back. I can still fight them…"
But the young Kakashi, who knew the future, refused to walk down the same path as his other-world self.
"Don't worry. I'm not that easy to kill."
He said quietly.
"Otherwise, the other world wouldn't have ended up with just 'Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake.'"
It was a straightforward statement, yet there was a faint trace of resentment in his tone.
In truth, ever since the two versions of Team Seven had met, the one who had spent the most time with young Kakashi was the adult Kakashi from the other world.
That adult Kakashi had poured all his regret, helplessness, and vulnerability into the young Kakashi.
In order to change the fate of his other-world self and abandon the title of "Copy Ninja Kakashi Hatake," he had long been developing a technique specifically for young Kakashi—
A Lightning Release ninjutsu that didn't require the Sharingan at all.
"I'm still not very proficient with it…"
As he spoke, young Kakashi slowly formed hand seals.
"But it's still better than that Chidori that needs Obito's eye."
"Ka… Kakashi, that's—" Rin began.
By then, the hand seals were complete. An intense concentration of Lightning-attribute chakra gathered in Kakashi's hand.
He rushed straight toward the Iwagakure ninja who were already prepared to attack.
"Shiden!!!"
Pale violet arcs of lightning crackled and lashed out, illuminating the ferocious expressions of more than a dozen Iwa ninja.
"Earth Release! Earth Wall!!"
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
This was destined to be a brutal fight.
…
On the other side, Minato Namikaze, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Zabuza Momochi, Haku, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Itachi Uchiha were still racing toward Kannabi Bridge.
There was less than a day left before Minato could sense the Flying Thunder God marks he had placed on the three of them.
And something they could never have imagined…was unfolding in the narrow boundary between hell and the living world.
"Madara?"
"Madara-sama?"
"He probably fell asleep again. He is that old, after all."
"Without the God Tree sustaining him, it's already a miracle his body has lasted this long."
"But if he had God Tree nourishment, wouldn't he be just like us? He's probably forgotten what 'the urge' even feels like, right?"
The familiar voices were grating to the ears. The white-haired old man, so aged he seemed on the verge of death, slowly opened his eyes halfway.
"Shut up, White Zetsu."
"Ah! Madara-sama woke up!"
"That's great! Madara-sama isn't dead!"
As the noisy chatter continued, the owner of the body gradually regained consciousness—and immediately sensed that something was wrong.
His eyes snapped fully open. He even activated the Sharingan.
Something was wrong.
Why was his body so weak?
Every breath felt like his lungs were an old bellows about to fall apart.
Something was wrong.
His memories stopped at the moment he had left the Akatsuki base and headed for Konoha.
As he remembered it…
He should have already crossed the border of the Land of Fire.
Using intangibility to travel, at most another day and a half should have been enough to reach Konoha.
Something was wrong.
The only one who would immediately call him "Madara" was Black Zetsu.
Those White Zetsu always needed to be reminded before they stopped calling him Tobi, "Obi," or "Obito," and switched to "Madara" or "Madara-sama."
"Madara-sama stopped talking again."
"What is he thinking about?"
"Who knows. We'll never guess."
"Humans are such a hassle. If only they could share thoughts like us."
"Then I'd finally know what 'the urge' feels like!"
Their voices buzzed like flies, but the owner of the body didn't even have the energy to scold them.
He slowly realized he was sitting on a wooden stump-like chair, inside an enormous space.
Empty. Dark. Cold.
That was all the information he could gather.
If there was anything unusual here…
…it was the wooden bed across from him.
The hard, uncomfortable-looking bed reminded him of the days when half his body had been crushed by a massive boulder, when he had been rehabilitating beside the aged Madara Uchiha.
This place really did resemble that one.
The spot where he was sitting now was exactly the chair Madara used to sleep on back then.
"Madara! Madara-sama!!"
A White Zetsu emerged from the ceiling like a tree root breaking through soil, half its body hanging down.
"The kid you told me to keep an eye on is in trouble!"
"???"
"That Obito Uchiha! And Hatake Kakashi, and Rin Nohara! They're under attack by Iwagakure! It looks like they won't be able to hold on much longer!"
"!!!!"
The moment he heard the name "Rin Nohara," he tried to force himself upright, only to realize that there were multiple things wrong with White Zetsu's report.
Iwagakure… not Kirigakure?!
And why was Obito Uchiha being mentioned?!
White Zetsu shouldn't be unaware of this.
After all, he himself was Obito Uchiha.
"What should we do? Madara-sama, should we go save them?"
"Oh, right. I heard that kid called Obito Uchiha has already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. And Wood Release has erupted in his body too. But without our bodies acting as neutralizers, if this keeps going, he might die."
Obito Uchiha… Mangekyō…
"He" stared at his own withered, desiccated fingers. Beside him was White Zetsu, and behind him was…
Hashirama Senju?!
Then the one sitting here should be Madara Uchiha?
He was stunned.
A bizarre, dreamlike confusion washed over him, like dreaming he was a butterfly.
Was "he" Madara Uchiha, or was he Obito Uchiha?!
"Madara-sama, should we go save them? That Kakashi Hatake won't be able to hold out much longer."
The one White Zetsu addressed as Madara Uchiha didn't answer. He simply stood up and walked step by step toward the depths.
White Zetsu broke into a grin that was both foolish and unsettling.
He obediently scurried ahead to lead the way for "Madara."
When Madara Uchiha, after many years and after crossing a distorted flow of time, once again arrived at the site of the Kannabi Bridge mission…
Obito Uchiha, Rin Nohara, and Kakashi Hatake had already been driven into a corner.
Young Kakashi's eyes bore neither the scar from his memories nor the crimson Sharingan.
Yet even after being beaten to the ground by the Iwa ninja, he struggled to rise again. With his chakra completely overdrawn, he continued fighting them with his Chakra Blade.
He was only twelve years old, and had just become a jōnin.
No matter how much of a genius he was, how could Kakashi possibly hold his own against more than a dozen Iwa ninja?!
Especially when he still had to worry about Obito and Rin behind him, trying to find a way to protect both of them.
If it came to that, the only option left was to gamble everything on using the Summoning Jutsu!
Young Kakashi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His arms ached so badly from overuse that they barely felt like his own. Even forming the hand seals for summoning took everything he had.
Perhaps the prolonged mental strain of the Third Shinobi World War had worn away their humanity…
The Iwa ninja suddenly lost interest in finishing the job quickly.
Instead, they took pleasure in tormenting three Konoha ninja who were only twelve or thirteen years old.
They laughed and joked, deliberately letting the helpless Obito watch, along with Rin, who had already exhausted her chakra treating him and still had to protect him.
…
They watched as Young Kakashi struggled to get back up and form seals…
Only to kick him several meters away amid cruel laughter!
What they didn't expect was that, even in this state, the kid still hadn't loosened his hands and was continuing to form seals.
One Iwa ninja, suddenly uneasy, leapt forward and kicked Kakashi's wrist, breaking it and preventing him from forming seals altogether.
A muffled groan escaped him as Young Kakashi bit down on his own arm to keep from crying out.
This time, they were truly at the end.
Obito prepared to summon a toad. Anything would do. Anything at all that could help Kakashi and Rin escape!
Rin pressed him down and shook her head hard.
If Obito distracted himself again to use the Summoning Jutsu, the uncontrollable Wood Release cells would completely crush his will.
She gently laid Obito down. From her already empty chakra reserves, she forced out a faint trace of energy, letting Katsuyu draw the enemy's attention while she pulled Kakashi back.
Soft green chakra wrapped around Rin's hands as the shattered bones in Young Kakashi's wrist rapidly healed.
Obito watched Rin and Kakashi fight desperately, watched their battered figures stubbornly standing in front of him.
The ache in his chest was so overwhelming that he almost forgot the pain wracking his own body.
"Hey, these three brats are buying time."
One of the Iwa ninja noticed something was off.
That's right. Kakashi and Rin were trying to stall until Minato-sensei and the others arrived.
"Enough playing around! Kill them immediately!!"
"Yeah. Just bring back the corpse of that Wood Release brat."
The Iwagakure ninja moved without hesitation, preparing to strike the three of them down.
Rin, despite being a girl, stood firmly in front of Obito, her gaze steady and unflinching.
What she didn't know was that a pair of eyes, upon witnessing this scene, instantly activated the Sharingan.
Rin saw a white-haired figure step in front of her, ready to take the Iwa ninja's attack in her place, and in Obito's.
The Iwa ninja's kunai was less than half a meter from Kakashi.
Rin and Kakashi were about to die under the Iwa ninja's assault…
And at that very moment, the Sharingan that had been watching them suddenly flashed with a ferocious, blood-soaked light.
"All of you…"
"…die!!"