Chapter 94: The Unseen Blade
The sound was not a whistle of wind or the rustle of leaves. It was the faint, dry click of a pebble, dislodged by a weight that hadn't been there a moment before.
Kakashi's warning died in his throat, his single visible eye widening. His body was already moving, lightning-charged reflexes propelling him forward. But he knew, with the cold certainty of a seasoned killer, that he was too far away. Obito, holding a shuriken in a clumsy defensive stance, had no time to react.
"Die!"
Accompanied by a ferocious laugh, a kunai flashed with cold light, aimed directly for Obito's heart from behind.
In that fractured instant, a white and blue blur—Kakashi—slammed into Obito, throwing him clear. Rin was shoved aside by the impact. There was a wet, tearing sound.
Thud.
Thud.
Two bodies fell.
Blood, shockingly bright, sprayed across the forest floor and spattered Obito's goggles. He blinked, vision blurred by mud and crimson droplets. Before him, Kakashi knelt, one hand locked around the wrist of the now-visible Iwagakure ninja, forcing the kunai down and away. With his other hand, Kakashi had driven his own broken chokutō up through the enemy's chest. The attacker gurgled, then went still.
Kakashi slumped sideways.
His mask was slashed open. From the ruined left eye socket, blood welled and streamed down his cheek.
A wave of heat, intense and nauseating, flooded Obito's face. His nose stung. A pressure built behind his own eyes, and then tears—hot, uncontrollable—broke free, tracing paths through the grime on his cheeks and dripping onto the rotten wood beneath him.
"KAKASHI!"
Obito's scream was raw. Rin, recovering from her shock, was already at Kakashi's side, her hands glowing green with medical ninjutsu as she pressed them to the horrific wound. Her own tears fell silently, mixing with the blood.
"Kgh…"
Kakashi coughed lightly. His remaining eye, glazed with pain, found Obito's face. A faint, twisted smile touched his visible lips. "See…? Saved you… again," he rasped, his voice strained. "You're… even uglier when you cry."
"WHY?!" Obito shrieked, his face flushing a dark red, veins bulging on his temples. He didn't want this. He never wanted to owe Kakashi anything, least of all this. "Why did you save me?!"
The tears were a warm, shameful flood. His goggles were useless, fogged and stained. With a furious, tearing motion, he ripped them from his head and hurled them into the undergrowth. The cherished childhood gift, meant to protect his eyes until he awakened his Sharingan, was gone.
And Kakashi had lost what he prized most.
"Why…?" Obito whispered, voice breaking.
Kakashi's breathing was shallow. "Teammates…" he managed. "I told you… Can't protect my teammates… don't deserve to be a ninja… don't deserve to be in Team Seven."
He paused, gathering strength. "Remember… what Minato-sensei said… during the bell test?"
Obito frowned, memory failing him through the haze of panic and guilt.
"Doesn't matter… if you forgot," Kakashi murmured, his eye beginning to drift shut. "I'd save you… Just like I gave you my lunch… back then. No reason… needed."
...
"How touching!"
A voice, dripping with sarcasm, echoed from above. Obito's head snapped up. On a branch overhead, another Iwagakure ninja faded into view, standing upside down. He wore a look of utter disdain.
"So it's not the Konoha White Fang. Just a bunch of brats playing soldier," the ninja sneered. His form shimmered and vanished again.
Shunshin!
The sound of footsteps—light, rapid, disorienting—began to circle them, coming from all directions at once. Rin's medical glow wavered; she couldn't defend and heal at the same time.
Obito's world narrowed. He closed his streaming eyes. His hand rose, not to his discarded goggles, but to the Konoha forehead protector on his brow. He tightened it with a sharp, decisive pull. Slowly, he stood.
Under the terrified gaze of Rin and the fading focus of Kakashi, he drew a kunai from his pouch. He took a shaky breath, then stilled, listening.
"Go to hell, Konoha scum!"
Swish—Thud!
A spurt of blood painted Obito's cheek.
But it was not his own.
The attacking Iwagakure ninja stared in disbelief at the kunai buried in his own heart. Before him, Obito's head was raised. Around the boy's pupils, the veins in his temples pulsed. His eyes… now glowed with a strange, captivating crimson. Two tomoe spun slowly in each orb.
"Under this Sharingan," Obito stated, his voice suddenly flat and cold, "your every move is pathetic."
...
"Obito…!" Rin breathed, fresh tears spilling as she witnessed the awakening.
But the danger wasn't over. More footsteps, many more, were converging on their position. Kakashi was incapacitated. Rin was a non-combatant. Obito, with his freshly awakened dojutsu, was untested and alone.
"We need to move!" Kakashi gritted out, forcing himself to try and rise with Rin's support. "There… a cave under that ledge!"
Obito didn't argue. He slung Kakashi's arm over his shoulder, and with Rin supporting the other side, they half-dragged, half-leaped down a short embankment, disappearing into the dark mouth of a small, hollow cave.
It was a poor refuge—open, barren, and a dead end. But it was the only option. Obito's Sharingan scanned the darkness, the twin tomoe spinning as he tried to adjust, to understand this new flood of visual information. He had no time to master it.
Fwoosh. Fwoosh. Fwoosh.
Silhouettes blotted out the sunlight at the cave entrance. Three, then five, then more Iwagakure shinobi stood there, peering into the gloom.
Kakashi, leaning heavily against the cold stone wall, turned his head with effort towards Rin. "I'm sorry…" he whispered hoarsely. "I failed… to protect you both."
His apology was a knife twisting in Obito's gut. "No… It's my fault! I was too slow, too weak! I… I never even got you a proper congratulatory gift for making chūnin, and now…" Obito's voice hitched, new tears glistening in his red eyes. In the face of death, all their petty rivalries dissolved into ash.
BOOM.
A deafening explosion from outside the cave swallowed Obito's words. It was followed by a chorus of cut-short screams and the sound of crashing bodies.
Heavy, casual footsteps crunched on gravel. A familiar, lanky figure appeared in the entrance, backlit by the sun, holding two unconscious Iwagakure ninjas by the scruff of their flak jackets like sacks of rice. He squinted into the darkness.
"Obito? Rin? You guys in this hole? Damn, it's dark as a closet in here."
"Liumu!" three voices cried out in ragged unison.
"Hm?" Liumu casually tossed the two ninjas onto the growing pile of groaning bodies outside. He stepped into the cave, blinking rapidly. "Seriously, I can't see a thing. You all okay?"
As their eyes adjusted to his silhouette, they could see him genuinely rubbing his eyes, peering around myopically. Obito scrambled forward, and as he got close, he caught a distinct, unexpected scent—the savory aroma of charcoal-grilled fish.
He guided Liumu over to where Kakashi slumped against the wall. By now, Liumu's vision had cleared enough to see the damage. The shattered mask. The ruin of Kakashi's left eye, still leaking blood that soaked Rin's sleeve and arm.
"Tsk," Liumu clicked his tongue, crouching down. "Got yourself disfigured."
Kakashi's legendary hidden face was now a mystery partially revealed, and marred by a grievous wound. Liumu didn't seem concerned with the reveal. He simply reached into a small pouch at his side and pulled out something wrapped in a leaf—a perfectly grilled fish, still steaming and fragrant. He thrust it toward Kakashi.
"Don't ask questions. Don't refuse. Open up and eat. Now."
The trio stared, nonplussed. Was he seriously offering food at a time like this? Liumu's expression, however, was uncharacteristically severe, etched with what looked like… pained urgency?
When Kakashi remained still, too weak or too stunned to comply, Liumu's patience vanished. "Fine. The hard way."
With startling gentleness but firm resolve, he tilted Kakashi's head, hooked a finger under the remnants of the mask, and pulled it down. Before anyone could react, he pinched Kakashi's jaw open and stuffed the grilled fish into his mouth.
This was no ordinary fish. It was prepared from the flesh of one of the ten bodies of the Heluo—the mythical creature whose template Liumu had drawn. Its properties were potent.
The moment the food touched Kakashi's tongue, it seemed to dissolve, transforming into a warm, liquid energy that slid down his throat of its own accord.
The bleeding from his eye socket stopped instantly.
Under their astonished gazes, a soft, golden light emanated from the grievous wound. The torn flesh and shattered bone seemed to rewind, knitting together with impossible speed. In moments, the wound had vanished, leaving behind only smooth skin and a closed eyelid. The scarring around it faded to nothing.
Kakashi gasped, his remaining eye flying open in shock. He felt a surge of vibrant energy coursing through his chakra pathways, washing away the fatigue and pain, leaving him feeling more alert and powerful than he had in weeks.
"Don't say a word," Liumu ordered, his usual lazy demeanor returning as he sat back on his heels. "Just… try opening it. The eye."
Hesitantly, Kakashi raised a hand to his left eyelid. He took a deep breath, and slowly, he opened it.
A perfectly healthy, grey eye looked back at them, clear and focused.
(End of Chapter)
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