"Luckily, I have the Akimichi clan's food pills, otherwise…"
Namikaze Minato adjusted his breathing, tossing the used pill case aside. The special chakra recovery pill wouldn't save his life, but it would buy him time. And right now, that time was everything.
He stood inside the Four-Pronged Barrier (Shishō Fūin), his kunai arranged in a defensive pattern. This barrier wasn't meant to keep him safe from the masked man—it couldn't. But it did keep ordinary Konoha shinobi out and allowed him to move freely via Flying Thunder God.
The masked man—Uchiha Obito—had already been forced to retreat thanks to Uchiha Kai, who intercepted him during the chaos.
Now, before Minato stood the rampaging Nine-Tails—its chakra sealed within Kushina having finally unraveled.
Minato exhaled sharply. If not for Uchiha Kai's earlier warning and quick intervention, tonight would've ended in utter devastation. The masked Uchiha's Kamui, combined with his knowledge of Konoha's defenses, had thrown the village into panic. But Uchiha Kai had stood firm—like a true shinobi.
"He's more composed than even Jōnin twice his age," Minato thought, glancing toward a shadow clone of Kai, flickering beside him. "Fugaku wasn't wrong to value this one..."
Kai had proposed something remarkable: split the Nine-Tails into yin and yang halves, a plan no one else had even considered. Minato had dismissed it initially, but now it was their only viable path.
"I'll seal the yin half into myself using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal," Minato thought grimly, "and seal the yang half into Naruto using the Eight Trigrams Seal. Kushina… she's already at her limit."
The child—Naruto—slept quietly in his arms. Minato glanced down at him with tenderness.
"If we both die tonight, Naruto will be left all alone…"
He clenched his fists.
"Kai-kun thought of everything," Minato reflected. "Even splitting the Nine-Tails to reduce its burden, buying time with his Susanoo, stalling Obito…"
He turned to the clone beside him.
"Thank you, Kai-kun."
The clone nodded. "We'll hold him off. You just focus on the seal, Hokage-sama."
Suddenly, a violent quake erupted in the distance—followed by an enormous shockwave of chakra. The forest behind them burned.
Minato's eyes narrowed.
"That must be the real Kai… still fighting. He's holding back that Uchiha… alone?"
Obito barely dodged the blade, but not without injury.
Kai moved with astonishing speed—almost untraceable even to the Sharingan. Kamui's phasing couldn't be used indefinitely, and Obito's body, reinforced with Hashirama's cells, was regenerating fast—but even so, the pain lingered.
"How the hell is he this fast?" Obito growled. "This isn't just body flicker…"
Behind him, Black Zetsu observed, hidden beneath the soil.
"This is unnatural. That Susanoo… it's fully formed, yet his Mangekyō shouldn't allow that unless… no, does he have Senju cells too? Did he steal from Orochimaru's experiments?"
Uchiha Kai didn't care. His eyes stung, blood trickled down—but he had no time to rest.
He had mastered both eyes: one with temporal suspension, the other with perceptual manipulation. Together, they allowed Kai to bend time—not rewrite it, but pause it.
He activated his trump card.
"Mangekyō Sharingan: Stop of Time."
The world halted.
Obito's body froze mid-motion, Kamui incomplete. Kai's chakra flared—his left eye bleeding profusely.
He dashed forward.
Slash—he severed Obito's right hand—the one laced with Hashirama's cells.
Thrust—he stabbed Obito's chest, his blade driving deep before time resumed.
Obito gasped. "Wha—?"
Blood poured from his mouth. His right arm hung uselessly.
"You…" Obito coughed. "You think this is enough?"
His right eye glowed. A strange chakra surged—he was preparing to use Izanagi.
Kai wasn't surprised.
"I was waiting for this," he muttered.
In that instant, his right Mangekyō spun—his genjutsu took hold.
Inside the illusion, Obito stood in a field, surrounded by sunlight. A vision of Rin appeared—smiling gently, holding hands with a younger Obito, Kakashi, and Minato.
She didn't see this Obito. Only the boy he used to be.
Obito reached out.
She passed through him like mist.
Obito's heart twisted.
"I… I'm not him anymore."
Minato and Kakashi stood in the distance. Rin turned to look at them—never at him.
"You carry Madara's dream," Kai's voice echoed, "but you destroy what Rin died to protect."
Obito dropped to his knees.
"You think you can save me… with words?" he whispered, trembling.
Kai appeared in front of him, no longer masked.
"I don't need to save you," he replied. "Just stop you."
He paused.
"I brought Rin's body back. There was a curse mark on her heart. A genjutsu seal, constantly emitting chakra. She wasn't just a vessel for the Three-Tails—someone made sure she'd die before returning to Konoha."
Obito's eyes widened.
"You're lying."
"Am I?"
Kai continued, "Minato could've extracted the beast. Kushina could've helped. But someone wanted you broken."
Obito shook.
"You're just trying to mess with my head…"
Kai stepped back. "Then tell me—why did you survive the boulder? Why do you have Hashirama's cells? Why is Zetsu always around you?"
Obito's composure cracked.
Kai smiled coldly.
"You're not Madara. You're not a god. You're just a broken child wearing a dead man's mask. When you die, Rin will see you. But she will look away."
Obito screamed.
Back outside the genjutsu,Obito ripped off his mask, his face contorted in rage and pain.
"I'll destroy everything!" he howled. "This world! Konoha! I'll remake it in my image!"
Kai didn't flinch.
"Then die with your delusions."
"Now!" Minato shouted.
Fugaku and Kai's clone held the Nine-Tails in check as Minato invoked the Shiki Fūjin.
The Shinigami loomed behind him. Kushina, barely breathing, nodded.
"You'll be with him… always," she whispered to Naruto.
Minato split the beast—Yin into himself, Yang into Naruto.
Then, one last time, he looked toward the sky, whispering:
"Kai-kun… if we live again in another world… protect him."