[Kaguya Ōtsutsuki: "Heh. That's just how you feel. My real combat experience is terrifying."]
[Tobirama Senju: "Doesn't look that way to me."]
[Hashirama Senju: "Seconded. I feel the same!"]
Kaguya bristled, chakra surging as she prepared to weave another All-Killing Ash Bones.
Obito saw it and went rigid. He forced his broken body upright and staggered forward.
Kakashi pushed up at the same time.
The two of them ran—reckless, desperate—toward Naruto and Sasuke…
The picture slowed.
A white bone lance hissed through the air.
Obito and Kakashi were still a breath away from reaching Naruto and Sasuke.
Across the Shinobi World, everyone watching felt their stomachs drop.
What now?!
"We have to make it!!"
Obito and Kakashi thrust out their hands—
the music tightened, breath caught in throats, and nobody dared to blink—
At the last possible instant, a soft white light bloomed.
Rin appeared, grasping both their hands at once. Their pupils shrank to pinpricks.
With Rin pulling them, the two flickered forward and appeared in front of Naruto and Sasuke.
Gasps everywhere.
[Rin Nohara: "Good thing I stepped in…"]
[Kaguya Ōtsutsuki: "I protest! Someone's hacking!!"]
[Black Zetsu: "Wasn't Rin already dead?"]
"Thank you, Rin…" Kakashi's expression was complicated. In his heart, he had already made peace with dying. "Looks like it's time for me and Obito to—well… we'll catch up with you soon."
The bone lance screamed closer, aimed to punch through Kakashi's abdomen.
Obito twisted, Kamui flaring—he warped away the black receiver from Kakashi's body.
"Splurt—"
The All-Killing Ash Bones punched through Obito's stomach.
"Rin… you saved me and Kakashi again. But… this time, in the other world, let's spend time that belongs only to us two. Kakashi's such a third wheel—leave him here for now, okay?"
The music swelled, aching and bright.
Kakashi looked at Obito; his face went paper white, lips trembling.
Obito turned and, even through pain, managed a crooked, relieved grin.
"Kakashi… you idiot… stay here. Don't you dare come looking for us too soon!!"
Shock rippled through the viewers again.
Uncle Obito ignored his own life—
to save Kakashi-sensei?
[Itachi Uchiha: "To think the plot would turn like this…"]
[Minato Namikaze: "Obito… I knew your true nature wasn't evil."]
[Kakashi Hatake: "Obito… why would you—"]
[Obito Uchiha: "Hmph. Deadweight Kakashi—don't you arrive early!"]
The bone lance withered away to dust.
"Kakashi…" Obito panted, gray-faced, breath shallow.
"Why… we were both ready to die," Kakashi rasped, frantic. "But we still need your strength!"
"Forget that for now. Watch the enemy, Kakashi…" Obito's voice was thin.
Naruto and Sasuke, barely steadied, forced themselves upright.
Naruto pressed his palm to Obito's back, trying to flood him with Yang Release…
No matter how hard he tried, cracks spiderwebbed all across Obito's body.
"Don't waste your strength, Naruto. He's done for. He'll die like the failure he always was," Black Zetsu sneered from afar, voice dripping disdain.
He kept tearing at Obito with the cruelest words he could find.
Rage flared across the audience.
Who did this black slug think he was?!
"A useless fool…" Black Zetsu went on.
"Quit spouting garbage!" Naruto roared.
"He's right…" Obito whispered.
Memories spilled through him—wrong turns, unforgivable deeds, and the road that led him here.
Maybe this was karma.
Naruto's hands shook with fury.
Sasuke's eyes refocused; his vision steadied. With his Rinnegan humming back to life, he flashed to Kaguya's flank for a surprise strike—
"Crack!"
Space twisted; Kaguya vanished high into the sky.
Black Zetsu still pecked, relentless.
Naruto's face darkened to thunder.
"That's enough. Thank you, Naruto…" Obito's lips lifted in a faint, satisfied smile. "Fighting you… it woke me up. Looking at you was like seeing the boy I used to be."
"I regret the man I became… and yet… I'm oddly happy right now."
Naruto bowed his head, staring at his toes, swallowing tears.
"When I was young, I imagined becoming Hokage over and over—excited, nervous… You made me remember that feeling," Obito murmured. With every sentence, another fissure split his body; his life dripped away.
"Naruto… you'll suffer more trials ahead. Even so, stick to your ninja way."
Naruto bit down hard, lips trembling, refusing to cry.
"Na…ruto…" Obito drew a long breath. He turned, eyes brimming with expectation, as if he truly saw that boy again.
"**Become Hokage—**in my place!!!!"
His last words spent, Obito scattered into smoke and cinders, vanishing without a trace.
Naruto couldn't hold it back anymore. Tears burst free. He nodded, hard and shaking.
All across the world, people wept.
Don't go, Uncle Obito…!
Black Zetsu stared at the fading motes and chuckled.
"Hahaha. He was an ant, but resilient like a cockroach!"
Naruto's head snapped up.
"Don't mock Obito!"
Bang—!!
Naruto vanished in a flash—
and in the next instant, Kaguya's arm hit the ground.
[Boruto Uzumaki: "Dad's so fast!!"]
[Shikadai Nara: "Looks like the Seventh truly got mad…"]
[Chōchō Akimichi: "Who wouldn't? Obito just saved his life!"]
[Wasabi Izuno: "I can't stop crying at this video…"]
[Himawari Uzumaki: "That awful Black Zetsu…"]
But minds were still stuck on what had just happened—
that look Obito gave over his shoulder, raw and sincere—
there was no acting in that smile.
He'd chosen the wrong path and lost his dream of Hokage…
Yet at the end, he saw new hope in Naruto.
He wanted Naruto to complete the boyhood dream he never could.
It was… unbearably moving.
After decades of wandering, Obito finally returned to himself—
and, at the last, helped save the ninja world.
In a dreamlike pink expanse, a young Obito stood before the girl he knew by heart.
"I've been waiting so long… You took such a winding road. You must be tired," Rin said, soft as always.
Obito's eyes grew wet. The weight he'd carried for years pressed down—
like so many watching now, swallowing pain in silence, bearing it alone.
He leaned into Rin's arms, quietly sobbing like a child who'd finally found home.
"You've done so well… I saw everything. It's okay now," she whispered.
After a while, he wiped his tears, embarrassed.
"Sorry… Rin. Showing up looking like a mess."
"It's okay… Shall we go?"
Rin reached for his hand—
Obito hesitated.
"Rin… can you wait a bit longer? Before that world… there's one last thing I have to do."
She smiled, asked no questions, and—just like before—chose to believe him completely.
"Okay. I'll wait right here."
On the battlefield, the gray ash that had been Obito surged with chakra—
and flowed into Kakashi.
Everyone went silent.
He can still… what?
Kakashi opened his eyes—
and he looked like his younger self again.
"I came to remind you: don't you come to that world too early and crash my honeymoon with Rin," Obito's voice teased in his mind. "Also… to congratulate you on making jōnin back then. I can't sleep right if I don't take back the eye I gave you."
"Obito, you—" Kakashi choked.
"I already told Naruto—he'll be Hokage in my place. He'll be the Seventh.
And you, Kakashi… you'll be the Sixth Hokage!"
"You haven't taken office yet… but take this gift early. It's time-limited, but it'll do the job."
"And one more thing…"
"Don't you dare forget… the name Copy Ninja Kakashi!"
Kakashi's eyes snapped open.
Dual Mangekyō. Dual Kamui.
And in them, the flicker of Six Paths' power—
The image froze on Dual-Kamui Kakashi bursting onto the scene, gaze locked on the distant Kaguya.
["Ding. Obito's segment complete."]
["Extracting the next target…"]
The light on the tally screen pulses. A new silhouette begins to form… and a familiar, tomoe-etched gaze opens.
To be continued—
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