"Obito…"
Naruto World — Konohagakure
Kakashi Hatake stared, stunned, at the screen as Uchiha Obito's chest was pierced through by his own Chidori—straight into his heart.
He was in shock.
Why?
Why would Obito do this?
Kakashi's eyes clouded with confusion.
All this time he had thought Obito was dead. The footage promised a sliver of hope—Obito was alive.
But the next frames plunged Kakashi into an abyss.
Obito was alive, yes—
but he was different.
No longer the hopeful, spirited boy Kakashi once knew.
The man on the screen stood opposite Kakashi, and it was Kakashi who had just driven Chidori into Obito's chest.
Seeing the terrible mirror of that rain-soaked night again, Kakashi's mind reeled.
Rin—his teammate—had once stepped forward and been pierced by his Chidori too. The similarity between then and now sent a cold panic through him.
"No… no!!!"
He could not accept it.
He had killed Rin.
Now… he was killing Obito too?
Kakashi watched his double on-screen, eyes wide, searching for answers in the face that mirrored his own.
But Obito staggered back, wobbling with blood leaking where Kakashi's blade had struck.
"I know the truth about Rin's death… so what?
No matter what, you who failed to protect Rin are a fraud!
The dead Rin… she was a fraud too!"
Obito's voice erupted—raw, violent.
"That which caused all this—this system of shinobi—is disgusting! It breeds despair!"
"The world is beyond saving; it is despair!"
Obito poured every ounce of his anger into Kakashi.
Kakashi placed a trembling hand over his heart.
"Obito… the worst pain is not the death of comrades, but not having true comrades at all."
"See clearly!!!" Obito snapped.
He pressed his hands against the wound where Kakashi's blade had pierced him, face contorted.
"My heart is empty now. I can't even feel pain anymore.
You don't need to feel guilty, Kakashi."
"This hole?" he spat, "It was ripped open by this hellish world!"
"I know you've suffered all these years—burdened with regret—"
"But in the dream-world I will create, all that will vanish."
As Obito spoke, two shadowy figures appeared beside Kakashi—images of his former teammates: the smiling boy, the gentle girl.
They were Obito and Rin—the memories Obito had twisted into a living delusion.
Kakashi reacted instantly. He swung the Chidori and sliced the illusions—severing the ghosts of his past while glaring at Obito.
"Obito… that fantasy won't fill the hole in your chest!" Kakashi said, voice firm.
Raising his hand, he formed a seal—one they used to perform in mock battles.
A sign of confrontation. But this time it would not be play.
"No longer a staged duel. This ends in death."
Kakashi's resolve hardened. He could not save the friend who had slipped into darkness—but he would not let him hurt others anymore.
Obito's lips curled. He too made the opposing seal.
"So will I."
The hand seals acted like a starting pistol.
They vanished—teleporting into each other's range—and the fight erupted.
Punches and kicks collided. Each strike was all-out; their taijutsu matched blow for blow. Former comrades were now mortal enemies.
Millions watched in silence as the two traded technique and will. The spectacle lacked Madara's earth-shaking theatrics, but its emotional force resonated deeply. It was the cutting of a past into two: life and death.
Sudden, fierce exchanges—palm strikes, elbows, sweeping throws—kept the combatants level.
Then Obito snatched Kakashi's hand and began to form seals using Kakashi's hand as his own. Kakashi's eyes widened. He kicked his friend away to break the hold.
But the jutsu was readied.
"Fire Release — Great Fireball Technique!!!"
Scorching flame leapt toward Kakashi.
Kakashi spun, slamming his hands into the ground—
"Earth Release — Earth Flow Wall!"
A decorated wall rose, stamped with a carved dog-head emblem; the great fireball burst against it in a shriek of heat, turning to black smoke.
Kakashi stood behind the wall, momentarily blind to Obito's movements.
He sensed a disturbance in the smoke to his right and turned to respond—
only for a cloak of kunai to sail out of the haze toward him.
But Obito's true attack came from the left.
Kakashi's eyes widened as he spun to defend—too late.
Obito's foot slammed into Kakashi's head, sending him crashing into the earth wall.
Boom.
Kakashi stumbled, disoriented. Obito had grown stronger.
Obito didn't stop.
A black rod formed in his right hand and thrust toward Kakashi's heart.
Crack!
The ground ruptured and a Kakashi clone erupted from the earth, blocking the strike with a kunai aimed at Obito's skull.
Obito had anticipated this. A black rod shot from his left hand, stabbing into the burrowing Kakashi clone.
"Lightning Clone!"
Kakashi's lightning-imbued clone erupted and struck Obito with a jolt, stunning him. Kakashi followed up with a kick that blasted Obito away.
If this had been the old days, that might have been the sign to end—return to the reconciliation seal.
But now neither man stopped.
Electricity danced along Kakashi's right hand once more.
Obito charged, black rod in hand.
SPLAT! SPLAT!
The black rod pierced Kakashi's body—again.
Kakashi's Chidori penetrated Obito's chest in the same instant.
Blood poured freely.