"Your place is… pretty big."
Amamiya Kenichi sat across from Kakashi and rubbed his temples.
How had things escalated from "let's eat ramen together" to suddenly sitting in Kakashi's house?
One second they'd been side by side at Ichiraku.
Next second—boom, here he was, in Kakashi's living room with a cup of tea in his hands.
"Only I live here," Kakashi replied flatly.
His expression was still that same dull, lifeless look, but he was at least polite enough to pour Kenichi tea. The taste wasn't anything special, but at least there weren't any strange herbs floating in it. Kenichi had heard rumors about certain regions where people liked to put very questionable things in their tea.
"...That eye of yours must be a huge burden, right?"
Kenichi lifted the cup and took a sip, his gaze drifting—just for a second—toward Kakashi's left eye.
Kakashi's fingers moved almost unconsciously, brushing the edge of his hitai-ate.
This eye… was Obito's last gift to him.
A priceless Sharingan.
When he'd first returned to Konoha with it, some hotheaded members of the Uchiha had immediately tried to cause trouble. If Minato hadn't stepped in to shield him, that "discussion" probably wouldn't have ended so peacefully.
"Yeah," Kakashi admitted.
Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
The Sharingan was powerful, sure—but the chakra drain was brutal. Every day, that single eye was eating through his reserves like crazy. For someone who wasn't an Uchiha, keeping it active was a very painful tax.
Kenichi touched his chin thoughtfully.
He almost blurted out, "Then why don't you just give it to me?"
After all… that wasn't just a normal Sharingan.
That was a Mangekyō.
Kenichi desperately wanted to study it.
What exactly separated a Mangekyō from a regular three-tomoe Sharingan?
Why did Mangekyō awaken unique ocular jutsu that burned out the eyes and led to blindness?
What, structurally, made an Eternal Mangekyō different?
Was it just some "buffed version"?
Did the tomoe pattern actually follow fixed rules, or was it truly random?
And most importantly—
If you could somehow change a Mangekyō's pattern into Shisui's style…
Would you also gain Kotoamatsukami?
"I really want to know…" Kenichi's eyes lit up unconsciously, tongue running over his lips in excitement.
In this world, Mangekyō weren't exactly common.
Right now, the ones he knew about were:
Obito's,
Kakashi's (same pair, split),
and in the future, likely Shisui and Itachi.
As for whether Fugaku Uchiha had a Mangekyō… Kenichi wasn't sure.
But in terms of acquisition difficulty?
Kakashi's eye was undeniably the low-hanging fruit.
Obito was off playing final boss.
Shisui and Itachi hadn't awakened theirs yet.
And Kakashi? Kakashi was right here. In front of him. Pouring him tea.
Of course, he couldn't show that hunger on his face.
"Hey, Kakashi… this is a bit embarrassing to ask but…"
Kenichi scratched his cheek and put on a perfect "shy junior" expression.
Kakashi looked at him, puzzled but not suspicious.
The fact that Kenichi wanted to learn from him wasn't exactly strange. His original jutsu, Chidori, wasn't some state secret among the higher-ups either.
"This jutsu is simple enough," Kakashi said after a moment. "If you want to learn it, I can teach you."
He paused, then added quietly:
"Sensei told me to make more friends anyway."
Kenichi's smile brightened just the right amount.
"Then I'll be in your care, Kakashi!"
Outwardly, he was the very picture of honest gratitude.
Inwardly, his gaze slid again—just briefly—to that eye under Kakashi's forehead protector.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
No matter what, he had to get it.
Shisui and Itachi's eyes wouldn't be ready for quite a while.
He couldn't beat Obito head-on yet.
So for now—
Kakashi was his only realistic option.
By the time he dragged his exhausted body back home and collapsed onto his bed, Kenichi let out a long sigh.
"Man… now I actually feel kind of guilty."
Learning Chidori wasn't that hard. With his current ability, he was confident he could master it fairly quickly—it was just time and practice.
What really gave him a headache wasn't the jutsu.
It was how to take Kakashi's Mangekyō on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack.
First of all, Kakashi's strength wasn't low.
He was already a jōnin at a young age, and if you removed the Sharingan from the equation, his base talent still far outstripped "pre-Hashirama-body" Kenichi.
Second, while the Sharingan was a burden, it also amplified Kakashi's combat ability. That couldn't be ignored.
"Maybe I can drain his chakra first…" Kenichi muttered, thinking aloud.
Compared to his future self, Kakashi right now definitely didn't have the monstrous reserves he would later build up.
Kenichi's own power had increased rapidly lately too. If it came down to a real fight, it wasn't like he had no chance.
The real pity was still sage mode.
He still hadn't learned senjutsu.
Which made him all the more eager for his planned first meeting with the First Hokage.
If he could use Impure World Reincarnation to summon Hashirama, then wring sage arts training out of him, that would solve so many problems.
If that didn't work out…
Then he'd have to lean on Orochimaru and see if he could get a ticket to Ryūchi Cave instead.
Self-developing sage mode was also technically possible—but the risk of turning into a stone statue because of a misstep with natural energy made even him cautious.
"Alright then. That's the plan."
Kenichi stretched on the bed, mind racing.
Once the Nine-Tails incident hit, he'd move.
He'd compare the Mangekyō to his own three-tomoe Sharingan.
Study the structural differences.
Analyze why Mangekyō decayed, and why Eternal Mangekyō survived.
An Eternal Mangekyō was still far away.
One step at a time.
Right now, thanks to his research progress, he had his own three-tomoe Sharingan as a baseline.
And that was exactly why he was determined to get his hands on Kakashi's eye.
Kakashi's eye looked like a normal three-tomoe now…
But Kenichi knew better.
That eye had already evolved into a Mangekyō.
Kakashi just didn't know how to open it.
So yeah, he did feel a bit like a scumbag.
But he also believed this:
Without the Sharingan, Kakashi might finally walk his own path.
The man was a genius. He'd figure it out.
The real long-term problem… was Obito.
"That guy is going to be trouble when he realizes Kakashi's eye is gone…"
Obito's eye staying with Kakashi was one thing.
Ending up in the hands of some random outsider?
That was… a completely different story.
Kenichi had no idea how Obito would react to that.
He shook his head.
The Nine-Tails' attack was almost here.
He needed to finalize his plan:
Move research materials and funds out of Konoha.
Collect as many valuable samples as possible.
Take Kakashi's Mangekyō.
Exit the village cleanly with Orochimaru.
If everything went smoothly, that night would be a massive harvest.
He grinned, eyes glinting in the dim light.
"Come on then, Obito," he thought.
"Time for you to cause chaos… so I can cash out."