Obito's eyes widened in perplexion, watching Kagero beam with a devilish smirk across his face.
In that instant, Obito found his mind racing with a myriad of bizarre thoughts as to what this singular grin meant.
But he knew his thoughts were just a web of denial, stark opposition to the very truth that stared him in the face.
In actuality, there could only be one singular reason to what his eyes desperately tried to ignore.
And that answer was just moments away from being entrenched into reality.
"He…y." Kagero mumbled, his throat choked with blood.
"Gotcha!"
As though time took a momentary halt, everything within Obito's vision slowed as the boy before him fizzled into a cloud of white smoke.
'I've been played?—"
The masked Uchiha questioned within his mind, but before he could even fully grasp his situation.
Someone emerged from the clouds of ash behind him, lines of blue light drawing from his eyes as he appeared into focus.
And that someone, was the Red haired Otaku himself.
BOOM!
Like a bottled up volcano eager for its eruption, Kagero's breath exploded with fiery wrath, sending bright embers right at Obito.
The gusts of flames twisted, polymerizing itself into the form of a ravenous dragon to encapsulate the very name of the jutsu.
Fire style: Great dragon fire technique!
The draconic conflagration bit onto Obito, obliterating the ground beneath it, before rushing forward and crashing into a nearby building with an ethereal explosion.
"Hell— YEAH!" Kagero yelled in celebration, before bending over in exhaustion.
"Mehn, that hurt like hell." He held onto his neck, feeling his clone's dying trauma for a slight moment.
'But at least the plan worked.'
He was beyond exhausted, and his body still throbbed with worrisome pain. However, the plan's success was worth every bit of pain that he felt.
His plan was simple, fool the Sharingan that Obito had relied on so excessively.
And to do that, he would trick him into believing that all he did was split his chakra evenly into all his clones.
That was part of the process, but in order to fool a Sharingan master such as Obito, he had to think outside the box.
And that he did.
Whilst hiding within the smoke, he split his chakra evenly into all of his clones, and then the next part was the real game changer.
Kagero suppressed his chakra and that of all but one of his clones, making that clone's chakra burn the brightest, while he and the rest shared a similar dull chakra glow.
And together with his Chakra infused smoke, he had been able to fool Obito in a game much like Three shells and a pea.
"He won't be down for long." Kagero stared at the rubble of burning wood and bricks caused by his last attack.
"Ughhh, now I've got to go help Minato with the nine tails. Could I have gotten a worse task?" Kagero shut his eyes, bickering before turning to leave.
But just as quickly as he closed his eyes, they flashed open to meet red fluid drizzle down his feet.
"Don't think you're the only one..."
Obito's bloody Kunai sunk deeper into Kagero's stomach.
"…Who can summon shadow clones."
'What the hell?' Kagero's brows creased as agonizing pain tore through his entire body.
'Ju—st when did he… switch?—'
Then came another question.
But it was abruptly interrupted by the excruciatingly painful feeling of Obito twisting his blade within Kagero's gut.
"What was it you said before?" Obito stared into the air as though watching a replay of memories.
"Yes, you asked me to play with you."
The masked Uchiha's eye gleamed with a devious glow. He pressed his weapon deeper into Kagero's belly, eliciting a guttural groan from the latter.
"Now, do you still wish to play with the Ghost of the Uchiha anymore?" Obito mocked, his tone laced in both elation and denigration.
But his words felt like just a faint whisper, buried under the depths of Kagero's pain and regret.
And before long— Kagero had lost himself to his thoughts once more.
'It hurts.'
'It hurts.'
'It hurts damn it!' Kagero's internal voice cursed in pain, his eyes locking onto Obito's with stark defiance.
"Ahhhh, for goodness sake I just died already." Kagero mumbled inaudibly between coughs, causing Obito to raise a brow.
Watching the pool of blood slowly flow into a scarlet river below his feet, a strangely amused smile spread through Kagero's lips.
"I knew I should've ran away from this— accursed place when I had the chance."
"Well, I would've probably died nonetheless." Kagero weakly rambled, the light in his eyes fading with each word.
"So— I guess it was a lose-lose situation at the end of the day."
Obito observed the dying Boy with apathy, drawing his Kunai from his gut, before lifting it in the air to deliver the finishing blow.
"Hmm." Obito bent his neck in thought. "Since you fought so desperately, I'll give you one last chance."
"How is it that you know so much about me? And just whose rat are you?" Obito hung the Kunai in the air before continuing.
"Tell me that, and I might make your death quick." The masked Uchiha cut his statement short, quickly adding. "But not painless."
"…"
However, there wasn't any response.
Adopting the moon as its witness, the gloomy night fell into silence once more. A tranquil quiet that left the melody of the wind, and the crackling embers to fill the night sky.
But that silence was soon cut short, by a series of shaky laughs.
"Obito." Kagero managed to call out, blood splurging from his throat with each chuckle.
And then he lifted up his head, piercing the proposed Uchiha Ghost with a bodacious grin.
"Who told you I'd ran out of options?"
Suddenly, Kagero locked his fingers together, causing a bright flash to illuminate behind Obito.
The source of that worrisome light?
A paper bomb etched onto the floor and hidden in smoke.
"Here's another option." Kagero barked, letting the paper-bomb to erupt with a loud boom.
"Let's die together!"
'The smoke!' Obito tried to think, but before his thoughts could fully form, the blast merged with the clouds of smoke.
Layer upon layer of ash then radiated a yellow glow, aggravating every cloud of smoke that circled and encapsulated both Uchiha's into an infernal storm.
BOOM!
The ground rumbled, the building beneath their feet crumbled, and the sky tore apart with a deafening bang.
The violent flames engulfed the air, growing and growing until it had completely swallowed every bit of the structure.
When the flames finally rested, an individual could be seen staring at the carnage. His cloak and his arm had some burns, and his mask was slightly cracked and blackened with ash.
But within his mask laid something otherworldly, an eye adorned with bizarre patterns that told years of pain.
"Wow, this was certainly unexpected." Obito confessed, checking the wreckage once more.
"What sort of fool would throw his life away in such a manner?"
He switched his mangekyo sharingan back to its base form, dusting the debris off his cloak "Well, I would've still killed him nonetheless."
Watching the Ninetails blur out in a flash of lightning, Obito's eyes gleamed red once more, as he too bent the laws of reality and twisted out of focus as well.
"Now then— I guess I'd better get back on track."
•••
"Humph."
"Humph."
"Humph."
"Humph."
[System notification: You are bleeding profusely, and will die in a few minutes.]
A boy staggered behind a delapitated structure, heaving heavy breaths as he marked the wall with bloody handprints.
His blue eyes were fading, and his legs were shaky. So much so that he collapsed onto the floor, holding desperately onto his bleeding gut.
However, that same suffering boy had a demeanor which antagonized his very condition.
Because amidst his pain and bloodshed laid something etched into his face.
"You darn system, didn't I tell you—" The boy weakly asked.
"To never underestimate an Otaku?!"
Kagero mumbled with a smirk, his blue eyes bathing themselves with a bloody red gleam.