"Is that so..."
Kakashi fell silent, standing there in deep thought, memories of his father flickering through his mind.
Uchiha Hikaru picked up the forehead protector Kakashi had discarded and handed it back to him.
"Look at your left eye."
Kakashi accepted the forehead protector, raised it under the moonlight, and used the metal surface as a mirror.
"This... this is—!"
In his left eye, the three tomoe had transformed into a swirling shuriken. Kakashi's pupils trembled in shock.
"That's right. I don't know why you've awakened the Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan," Hikaru said. "But how could it evolve so naturally? Could it be... you awakened it before?"
Uchiha Hikaru posed the question deliberately, waiting for Kakashi to process what it meant.
Kakashi simply shook his head.
"Impossible. When Obito gave me the Sharingan, it had two tomoe. Later, after Rin died... it became three."
Pain passed over his face as the memories resurfaced.
But Uchiha Hikaru didn't accept Kakashi's denial.
"You're mistaken, Kakashi. The Sharingan only evolves when the Uchiha experience intense emotional trauma. It's triggered by a unique chakra secreted by our brain. You're not of Uchiha blood. Your Sharingan should have remained at two tomoe. Unless…"
Kakashi's voice rose with urgency. "Unless what!?"
Hikaru looked at him calmly, each word measured and deliberate.
"In theory... if Uchiha Obito was near you at that moment, and you both experienced overwhelming grief, then when Obito awakened his Mangekyō, the surge of his chakra could've resonated with your Sharingan. If your own emotional state aligned, your chakra might have responded. Your brain, using Obito's chakra as a catalyst, could have evolved the Sharingan to Mangekyō. But it would have drained your chakra to do so."
"And... if that really happened, then you must've passed out immediately afterward."
Kakashi stood frozen, overwhelmed. A storm of emotions—shock, confusion, hope—churned in his heart.
Obito... might still be alive?
But if he was, why didn't he return to Konoha? What had happened?
As Kakashi struggled to process everything, Uchiha Hikaru's expression shifted. He pushed Kakashi aside and swiftly formed hand signs.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
Clang!
A massive Fūma Shuriken burst out of the forest, smashing into the raised earth wall.
A figure slowly emerged from the woods. A crimson Sharingan glinted beneath an orange-red, single-eyed, tiger-striped mask.
"As expected of the Uchiha Clan's deputy leader. You've got some strength," the masked man said mockingly.
The interruption threw off Hikaru's plan, but it presented a new opportunity. With the masked man—Obito—now in front of him, Hikaru might be able to take his Hashirama cells.
He already knew the truth behind the mask. This wasn't Madara—it was Obito. He had either attacked because Kakashi was getting close to discovering the truth, or because Hikaru's interference had disrupted his plans with Danzō and Itachi to massacre the Uchiha.
But none of that mattered now.
Though Uchiha Hikaru's strength wasn't yet on par with Madara or Hashirama in their prime, defeating Obito—at his current Kage-level peak—wouldn't be difficult with his enhanced Mangekyō powers. Especially since Obito only had one Mangekyō and could only use his intangibility technique, which had a five-minute limit.
Hikaru wasn't some soft-hearted anime protagonist who dragged out fights. He believed in swift, decisive battles.
He stepped forward, unsealing his left wrist. A chakra weapon materialized—Hikaru.
On the night he awakened the Mangekyō, Hikaru had fused the spiritual weapon Hikaru with a chakra blade and used his eye technique, Phantom Weapon, to allow weapon to change forms at will.
He now drew it with his right hand—its blade pitch-black, shimmering with cold light.
"I don't know where you got that Sharingan," Hikaru said coldly, "but you dared to attack me. Bold move."
In his eyes, three thick, black lines extended outward from the pupil, connected by circular rings—the mark of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Let's end this quickly."
"What!? You actually awakened the Mangekyō?" the masked man exclaimed.
He immediately drew a ninja blade, and the three tomoe in his own Sharingan spun, transforming into a Mangekyō pattern.
Obito cursed internally. Damn that useless White Zetsu. The Uchiha's deputy had awakened the Mangekyō, and Zetsu hadn't found out? What had he been doing? Playing in the dirt?
Though Obito had restored his eye power with Hashirama's cells, he only had a single technique. Facing someone with both Mangekyō activated, he couldn't win a drawn-out fight.
Worse still, Hikaru might have already guessed he was still alive.
No... he had to retreat. If other Mangekyō users joined the fray, he'd be killed here for sure.
The space around Obito's right eye began to distort as he activated Kamui.
"Tch... consider yourself lucky. Next time we meet, you die, Uchiha Hikaru!"
"Wait! Why do you have Obito's eyes!? What did you do to him?!"
Kakashi's voice cracked with desperation. He had seen the pattern in the masked man's eye—it matched the one in his own.
It was Obito's Mangekyō.
That meant the enemy had Obito's eye... and possibly Obito himself.
The masked man turned to Kakashi. Behind the mask, his expression flickered—but he responded coldly.
"Obito... that guy is dead."
!!!
Kakashi launched forward, losing all composure. Any sliver of hope was now gone. He had no answers—just rage.
Blue lightning surged in his right hand. Chakra compressed into a dense, shrieking ball—Chidori.
"Grraaahhh!"
"You bastard! I'll avenge Obito!"
"Raikiri!!"
Obito sneered. "Pathetic."
He was intangible now. The attack would pass right through him.
But before Kakashi's strike landed, Uchiha Hikaru raised weapon, pointing it at the masked man. His gaze held a faint smirk.
"Transform into chains and bind him—."
Both of his ocular powers—Word Spirit and Weapon—activated simultaneously.
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