Obito's twisted face and mad words stabbed deeply into Kakashi's heart.
But Kakashi had already completely walked out of the past. He was no longer drowning in it.
For Obito's transformation, Kakashi felt pain too. But not guilt.
"Obito, you've gone mad!"
"Do you know how many people died when you started the Nine-Tails' Rampage?"
"That was the village Rin gave her life to protect!", Kakashi's eyes also carried flames of anger.
"Hahahahaha…", Obito laughed maniacally, "Die! Let them all die!"
"What does that village have to do with me?"
"No one in the village is worth even half a strand of Rin's hair."
"Why is it that Rin died, yet they still live?"
"Rin is dead, so they should all die too!"
Kakashi looked at Obito as if he were looking at himself from the past, when he too had drowned in what was gone.
"Those who immerse themselves in the past will never have a future."
"The Obito of the past is already dead!"
"The you standing here now is not the Obito I knew."
"You're nothing but a shell gone insane."
Obito's face twisted as he let out wild laughter, "HAHAHA…"
"Yes, the past me is already dead!"
"And wasn't that because of you!"
"Then give me back the eye I gave you?"
"You couldn't even protect my eye. Kakashi, you're just as useless!"
Kakashi's expression didn't change, "The owner of that Sharingan was someone who loved the village, loved his comrades, loved life."
"Not a fake like you!"
"Your sins are unforgivable! The only thing I can do for you now is kill you!"
"And then drag you before Rin to atone!", As he spoke, Kakashi raised his right hand, forming the Seal of Confrontation.
"Heh, fine, since that's how it is, then I'll send you to die too!"
Obito on the opposite side also formed the Seal of Confrontation.
Kakashi gripped his short blade, his spirit focused more sharply than ever before.
He had already crossed blades with Obito, already guessed at Obito's pupil power.
That phasing ability, he should only be vulnerable in the very instant he attacked.
At most, Kakashi would have one chance.
He felt no fear, no dread.
Even if he were to die here today, it didn't matter.
Because he knew, he had finally broken free.
Without another word, the two rushed at each other. Obito reached to press down on Kakashi's head.
Kakashi swung his short blade down toward Obito's head.
Closer, closer.
The two closed in on each other.
As expected, Kakashi's blade passed through Obito's head.
And Obito's hand passed through Kakashi's body.
Within the phasing, their forms overlapped.
Kakashi, striking too hard, staggered.
His back bent slightly, and Obito enveloped him completely.
Obito didn't waste the chance. He twisted around and grabbed Kakashi's back.
He was ready to drag Kakashi into the Kamui space and torture him slowly.
At that instant, a short blade stabbed out from beneath Kakashi's armpit, plunging straight into Obito's chest.
Squelch!
The sound rang out. Obito gripped the blade hard.
Lightning burst from Kakashi's short blade in a blinding flash.
But Obito abruptly released his grip.
"Hmph! Did you think I'd fall for the same trick twice?"
The violent thunder light exploded, but it didn't affect Obito at all.
He leapt back, and from his hands countless branches shot out, whipping around to bind Kakashi.
Kakashi calmly swung his short blade, cutting each one apart.
In his mind, strategies spun rapidly.
Obito reached out, a chain appearing in his hand.
He flipped and kicked at Kakashi.
Kakashi's Sharingan spun quickly, his brain thinking through how to bring Obito down.
His movements didn't slow. He crouched to dodge the kick, then slashed the incoming chain.
But Obito slipped into phasing again, sliding right through the chain. With a flick of his wrist, Obito hurled the chain, which swiftly wound around Kakashi's short blade.
Kakashi abandoned the blade without hesitation, kicking the hilt.
The chain, with the blade, passed straight through Obito's body and flew outward.
Kakashi reached into his pouch, drawing two kunai.
Obito sneered, a black rod forming in his hand.
Kakashi dashed forward, kunai in each hand, thrusting one high and one low toward Obito.
Obito suddenly flung the black rod at Kakashi.
Kakashi locked onto it. Only after confirming it had left Obito's hand did he knock it aside with a kunai.
But right behind the black rod were Obito's spinning Sharingan eyes.
Kakashi froze, his body instantly stiffening, "I'm done playing with you."
"You didn't really think you could beat me, did you?"
"As long as you keep using the Sharingan to watch, your line of sight will intersect with mine."
"Hahahaha, hahahaha…"
This wasn't inside the Kamui space. With the Mangekyo in his eye, Obito naturally held a massive advantage.
So long as their gazes met, Kakashi could be subdued with ease.
Kakashi's expression dimmed. The Sharingan's perception was incredible, with this eye, he couldn't simply not use it.
Yet Obito had used exactly this to trap him.
As Obito laughed, he saw that Kakashi showed neither fear, nor heartbreak, nor anything else.
Only the plain look of an enemy.
Instantly, it all felt meaningless.
Empty.
A wave of emptiness swept through him.
He would rather Kakashi hated him, or felt guilty toward him.
But not this, just this simple gaze of opposition.
Obito exhaled.
"Though this eye isn't mine, it's useful enough."
He reached and gouged at Kakashi's eye.
The instant Obito became tangible—
Whoosh!
A great black flame crashed down onto Obito's head.
But instead of retreating, Obito instantly drove his hand into Kakashi's eye.
Kakashi screamed in agony, the Sharingan was gouged out and destroyed.
Obito leapt back, leaving behind a burning white shell of Zetsu, engulfed in black flames.
He himself phased out of it.
"Uchiha Rengoku!", Obito glared hatefully at Rengoku as he stepped out of the shadows.
"You love ambushes so much, don't you? So what? I still destroyed the Sharingan."
Back then, Kakashi's eye had been slashed open by a blade. Now, it had been gouged out and crushed.
The pain of losing an eye, Kakashi, after so many years, was forced to suffer it again.
But this time, it was Obito's hand that did it.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Wonderful. Truly wonderful."
Rengoku walked forward slowly, clapping, sarcasm heavy in his tone.
He cast a glance at the burning white shell on the ground.
"Remarkable. You destroyed a Sharingan."
Rengoku sneered, "So, do you have yet another layer of skin to shed?"
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