Kushina couldn't help but be curious about Uchiha Madara. After all, he was someone from the same era as her grandmother Mito. She had never imagined she would live to see one of Konohagakure's founders.
"Why does he look so young? Don't tell me this guy is immortal?"
Kakashi had already noticed that something was off about Madara's facial skin and answered, "That's an Impure World Reincarnation body. Looks like Orochimaru's handiwork."
But even as he spoke, his attention remained fixed on Obito.
Obito's attention had likewise never left Kakashi. This was the friend—no, the bond—he had thought about day and night.
Fortunately, at present, only Makoto, Minato and Kushina, Shisui, and Itachi knew his true identity.
Kakashi had no idea. Otherwise, the two of them would already be having quite the heartfelt reunion.
With only his right eye visible beneath the mask, Kakashi recognized him as the man responsible for unleashing the Nine-Tails on Konohagakure all those years ago. Yet for some reason, he also felt a faint, inexplicable connection between his own ocular power and the masked man's.
Why hadn't he noticed it back then?
Was it because his perception had grown sharper after training in natural energy? Or was it because he had finally mastered the Mangekyō Sharingan in his left eye?
Once Madara realized Kushina was no longer the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, he immediately lost interest in her.
He had originally intended to leave Konohagakure right away.
But the moment he saw Shisui, his interest was suddenly rekindled.
"I never expected that after being gone for so many years, a member of the younger Uchiha generation would still recognize me. You're Uchiha Shisui, the strongest of the clan today, aren't you?"
"I am. Madara-sama, as both a deceased man and the former clan head who betrayed Konohagakure, you should never have returned to this world."
"Betrayed Konohagakure? Hahaha! Hashirama and I built Konohagakure together. You can't betray something you created. Enough talk, youngster. Let me see what the strongest Uchiha of this era is really capable of. This is how shinobi communicate."
The instant he finished speaking, Madara vanished in a Body Flicker and appeared directly in front of Shisui, throwing a powerful kick.
Shisui reacted instantly, crossing both arms to block, but the tremendous force still sent him flying.
Madara immediately pursued him, intending to continue the assault.
Instead of fighting back, Shisui used the momentum to dash toward the mountains behind Konohagakure. Before leaving, he ordered the ANBU, "No one follows us. Protect Kushina-sama."
Ordinary shinobi stood no chance against Madara. Sending them after him would only be throwing away lives.
Besides, Shisui deliberately moved the battlefield away to prevent their fight from devastating Konohagakure.
Obito didn't care in the slightest that he was now surrounded alone.
He kept his eyes on Kakashi.
"What are you staring at? Aren't you going to attack me, Chief of the ANBU?"
"So it really was you who caused the Nine-Tails' attack on Konohagakure all those years ago. Uchiha Madara... although, judging by the current situation, you're obviously not Madara. So who exactly are you? One of the children Madara left behind outside Konohagakure?"
Obito: "..."
I'm not that old geezer's kid! Do you think someone whose brain has room for nothing except Hashirama would even spare another person a glance?
He's practically obsessed with the guy!
Kushina had always been the straightforward, hot-blooded type.
She had felt guilty all these years about keeping Obito's survival a secret from Kakashi.
Now that Madara had appeared, there was no longer any reason to keep it hidden.
So she blurted it out.
"Kakashi, that's Obito!"
Kakashi's eyes widened in shock.
"What? That's impossible! Obito died. I saw it with my own eyes."
Since his identity had already been exposed, Obito couldn't be bothered pretending anymore.
He tore off his mask, revealed the Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye, and sneered.
"So you really think everything you see with your eyes is the truth?"
"You're still the same worthless fool who wasted the eye I entrusted to you. You couldn't see the road ahead, and you couldn't protect anyone."
"Trash, Kakashi... no, you're even worse than trash."
His voice had matured over the years.
But that face...
That Mangekyō Sharingan bearing the exact same pattern as Kakashi's left eye...
And that familiar way of addressing him...
Kakashi's body began trembling uncontrollably.
There was no mistake.
It really was Obito.
He understood exactly what Obito meant.
His expression fell.
"You're right. I am worthless. Obito... you must still hate me because of Rin. That's why you never came back to Konohagakure, isn't it?"
"You're not worthy of saying Rin's name. Hmph."
With that, Obito activated Kamui and disappeared.
He didn't want to remain any longer in front of his former best friend and his former sensei's wife.
It hurt too much.
The only person capable of stopping him was currently drowning in self-reproach.
"Kakashi!"
Kushina shouted.
"What are you doing? Precisely because of what happened to Rin, we have to bring that idiot back from the darkness!"
Kakashi lowered his head.
"Sensei's wife... aren't you angry that he almost killed you and Naruto back then?"
"Well... Obito really did do something unforgivable."
Kushina smiled helplessly.
"But he's still Minato's student and mine, y'know. We can't just let him keep walking down the wrong path."
Hearing that, Kakashi pulled himself together.
"That's right. I can't let him keep going down this path. I'm bringing him back to Konohagakure... even if all that's left is his corpse."
After assigning the ANBU to escort Kushina safely to the dojo, Kakashi immediately gave chase. He knew Obito would head straight for Madara.
...
In the mountains behind Konohagakure, far from the village itself, the two strongest Uchiha of their respective generations were locked in a fierce battle.
The clash of a ninja sword against a war fan echoed relentlessly through the mountains. The sound rang out again and again, yet neither combatant could be seen.
Shisui fought with his signature Body Flicker style. More than a dozen seemingly illusory afterimages darted across the battlefield, any one of them capable of instantly becoming his real body and delivering a lethal strike.
Madara's eyes spun rapidly.
Completely at ease, he effortlessly intercepted every blade that appeared from impossible angles, even pressing the attack against Shisui's constantly shifting movements. Tricks like these were no trouble for him.
An ordinary shinobi wouldn't even be able to follow their movements.
Anyone caught on this battlefield would be cut down in a single stroke.
After another violent clash, the two separated.
Each formed only a single hand seal before unleashing a jutsu.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique ×2
A simple C-rank Fire Release technique became something utterly terrifying in their hands.
The two fireballs, each resembling a miniature sun, collided head-on, scattering blazing sparks across the sky.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation ×2
Even larger spheres of fire hurtled toward one another like twin meteors.
The instant they collided, a thunderous explosion erupted, transforming into an inferno of searing flames that spread across the entire forest like a natural disaster.
Anything caught within that sea of fire would be reduced to ashes.
Yet neither combatant suffered so much as a scratch.
Madara possessed the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, had fused Asura's chakra to awaken the Rinnegan, and now existed as an Impure World Reincarnation with an immortal body.
Although Shisui only possessed a normal Mangekyō Sharingan, his Natural Energy Training had already reached its third stage—Constant Sage Mode. His physique was incredibly resilient, and his stamina seemed inexhaustible.
At the same time, both activated their Susanoo, sealing the raging flames outside their bodies.
Seeing how effortlessly his junior maintained Susanoo, Madara immediately expanded his into its Complete Body form.
He wanted to see how Shisui would respond.
Without the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, reaching the Complete Body Susanoo was incredibly difficult. Even if someone managed it, they would soon go blind. It was practically suicide.
Shisui responded by unfolding his own Susanoo into its Complete Body form as well.
And he did it just as effortlessly.
Not even a single drop of blood trickled from his eyes.
He had already tested it.
Genjutsu was completely ineffective against this predecessor of his.
Even Kotoamatsukami made no difference.
The only option left was to suppress him through overwhelming force.
Seeing this, Madara's interest suddenly surged.
He burst into his trademark booming laughter and charged forward once more.
In his entire life, the only opponent at this level he had fought was Hashirama's Wood Golem.
He had never battled another Complete Body Susanoo before.
The thought alone filled him with excitement.
Being summoned back through Impure World Reincarnation this early wasn't so bad after all.
The shinobi world had become far more interesting than he had expected.
Shisui, on the other hand, wasn't in the habit of laughing maniacally.
Remaining perfectly calm, he controlled his Susanoo and met Madara head-on.
One blue.
One green.
The two colossal chakra giants, towering like titans that seemed capable of holding up the heavens, slammed into one another with earth-shaking force.
Their every movement resembled a natural disaster.
A few casual steps crushed entire mountaintops beneath their feet.
Each swing of their enormous weapons unleashed devastating shockwaves that obliterated everything in their path, even when the attacks themselves were blocked.
Entire peaks were sheared flat.
Against ordinary humans, such destructive power was nothing less than a walking catastrophe.
Destroying nations and leveling cities would be effortless.
Shisui quickly realized the situation couldn't continue.
If they kept fighting like this, the land beneath them would become nothing but ruins, placing everyone in Konohagakure and the surrounding towns in grave danger.
He deliberately took the battle into the sky.
Madara followed immediately behind him.
Inside Konohagakure, the village had already entered a state of emergency the moment the sounds of battle reached them.
When the two colossal chakra giants appeared overhead, everyone immediately realized that an unimaginably terrifying battle was unfolding in the mountains behind the village.
The green Susanoo clearly belonged to Uchiha Shisui. Every member of the Uchiha Clan recognized it.
But no one knew who the blue giant belonged to.
Itachi's Susanoo was crimson.
Sasuke's was purple.
There had never been a blue one.
Could another member of the clan have awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Temporarily overseeing the village, Hiruzen did not dispatch reinforcements.
There was no point.
Instead, he immediately ordered every shinobi in the village to maintain the highest level of alert, preventing any hidden accomplices from causing trouble inside Konohagakure.
Standing atop the Hokage Tower, the former "strongest" Hokage silently watched the two towering giants soaring through the sky, his pipe clenched between his fingers.
This era truly no longer belonged to him.
He couldn't intervene in a battle of this magnitude.
Behind him, his two old friends felt exactly the same.
The power of the Uchiha Clan truly was terrifying.
Fortunately, the village no longer had to fear such power.
Their responsibility now was simply to maintain order within Konohagakure.
As for enemies this powerful...
The younger generation, who had grown far stronger than they ever had, would deal with them.