"So, Uchiha Madara is right under my feet, isn't he?"
Kiyohara thought to himself, glancing at the rubble.
The history of this moment was vague.
Did Madara order Zetsu to drag Obito underground? Or did Obito inadvertently use Kamui to phase through the rock, surviving the initial crush only to fall into Madara's lap?
"Are you okay... Rin... Kakashi?"
Obito's voice was weak.
Only his head and right arm were visible. The rest of him was buried under tons of rock.
"Obito!"
Kakashi's pupil constricted. He rushed forward, putting his back against the boulder, straining every muscle to lift it.
"Move! Damn it, move!"
But the rock didn't budge an inch.
"Don't push, Kakashi," Obito whispered, blood trickling from his mouth. "I'm done for. My right side is crushed. I can't feel anything."
Kakashi collapsed against the cold stone, tears mixing with the dust on his face.
"It's my fault... If I had just listened to you..."
Kiyohara watched silently from the rear.
It was moving. The bond between these three was profound.
'But...' Kiyohara's eyes narrowed slightly. 'In Obito's heart, only Kakashi and Rin count as "people."'
Everyone else was disposable.
In the future, this same boy would try to murder his own Sensei and Kushina—the woman who fed him and treated him like a son—without hesitation. He would massacre the Uchiha Police Force. He would start a World War.
'This is why I kept my distance,' Kiyohara affirmed. 'Befriending Obito is a liability. You either die for his character development, or you die by his hand later.'
"Minato-sensei should be on his way," Kiyohara calculated.
Once Minato arrived, they could finish the bridge. Mission complete. Promotion secured.
With a Chunin rank, he could access B-rank missions and better pay.
"Taiseki is dead?"
Kiyohara noticed a body protruding from a smaller pile of rubble nearby.
It was Taiseki. The lime powder must have blinded him so badly he couldn't dodge the collapse. A rock had crushed his skull.
'Fortune favors the prepared... and the looting.'
Kiyohara immediately crouched down to search the corpse.
He opened the pouch.
"Jackpot."
A thick stack of banknotes. At least 30,000 Ryō.
Kiyohara pocketed the cash instantly. 'Confiscated for the war effort.'
"Hmm?"
He found a small scroll tucked in the vest pocket.
He unrolled it.
Earth Release: Hiding like a Mole Technique (Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu).
It was a C-rank utility jutsu that turned the earth into fluid, allowing the user to swim underground.
"He probably just bought it and was practicing," Kiyohara shook his head. "Irony. If he had mastered this, the rocks wouldn't have killed him."
He tossed the scroll into his storage seal, along with Taiseki's vest, Kunai, and explosive tags. Waste not, want not.
"Kakashi..."
While Kiyohara was busy looting, Obito was giving his final speech.
"I... I never gave you a gift for becoming a Jonin, did I?" Obito wheezed. "I figured... it would be useless... but this... this will be useful."
He looked at Kakashi with his remaining left eye.
"I'm giving you my Sharingan."
"Rin," Obito said softly. "Use your medical ninjutsu. Take my eye... and give it to Kakashi."
"Obito..." Kakashi choked back a sob.
"Do it, Rin!" Obito urged. "I... I will become your eye... and see the future for you."
Rin wiped her face, forcing herself to be a medic first and a friend second.
"Come here, Kakashi. The surgery starts now."
She pulled out a scalpel and disinfectant.
'Here it comes,' Kiyohara thought, watching from the corner of his eye. 'The legendary Hot-Swappable Eye.'
In the real world, optic nerve surgery was impossible without microscopic precision and weeks of recovery. The optic nerve has over a million fibers. Reconnecting them in a dirty cave with a pocket knife? Impossible.
But this was the Ninja World. Chakra was the ultimate adhesive.
'Rin is impressive,' Kiyohara admitted. 'To perform a transplant in a collapsing cave with basic tools... Medical Ninjutsu really is magic.'
"The Iwa-nin are gathering," the Missing-nin's spirit warned, floating back through the wall.
"I know." Kiyohara nodded.
In the original timeline, they were surrounded immediately after the transplant. Minato saved them at the last second.
'Maybe that was the plan all along,' Kiyohara mused. 'Minato is the bait and the trap. The enemies gather to kill the kids, and the Yellow Flash wipes out an entire platoon in one go.'
He checked his internal status.
'My chakra has recovered slightly. The drug is wearing off, but I'm still above my baseline.'
This mission had been profitable. Money, scrolls, and experience.
He could now defeat his past self with one hand tied behind his back.
"Cockroaches... you're still alive."
Kakkō emerged from a side tunnel.
His arm was bandaged, and he looked battered, but his killing intent was suffocating.
He glanced at the corpse of Taiseki, then at Kiyohara, who was brazenly stuffing Taiseki's gear into a scroll.
Kakkō's eye twitched.
'He's looting my subordinate in front of me?'
"You used a dirty trick on Taiseki," Kakkō growled.
"Strategy," Kiyohara corrected, sealing the scroll.
"Hmph. I'll deal with the white-haired brat first."
Kakkō noticed the change immediately. Kakashi's left eye was open now.
A deep, crimson eye with two tome spiraling within it.
'A Sharingan transplant?'
Greed flashed in Kakkō's eyes. 'If a brat can use it, so can I.'
He raised his wrist-mounted dual blades.
"Kiyohara. Let me handle this."
Kakashi stepped forward. He drew the White Light Chakra Sabre.
The tears were gone. Only cold resolve remained.
"I need to test this eye."
Zip.
Both figures vanished.
They moved at speeds a normal eye couldn't track.
CLANG!
Sparks erupted in the center of the cavern.
Kakashi and Kakkō crossed blades.
SNAP.
A sharp, heartbreaking sound echoed.
Kakashi's short sword—the legendary blade of the White Fang—snapped in half. The tip spun through the air and embedded itself in the dirt.
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