Chapter 555: Obito, Master Manipulator

Seeing Kakashi rush over and fuss over him, Obito helplessly closed his eyes.

What he wanted to do most right now was ruthlessly gouge out the Mangekyō Sharingan Kakashi had just awakened.

If he could get those eyes, finishing his remaining quest would become ridiculously easy.

But Obito did not move.

Because he simply couldn't.

Back when he first awakened the Mangekyō—even earlier, when he had been crushed beneath those rocks—he had never consciously activated Kamui's intangibility.

Forget his current state, with his body badly injured and his limbs barely able to move.

Even if he had been perfectly healthy, he could not exactly recreate Danzō's legendary grab-and-rip maneuver on Shisui's eye.

As for later…

That would probably be difficult too.

Unless…

An idea suddenly occurred to Obito.

As the true owner of Kamui's Mangekyō—

Well, the true owner of one of those eyes—

Obito currently understood their abilities far better than Kakashi did.

Especially the intangibility.

Around the time the Mangekyō first awakened, before its owner could properly control the ability, Kamui's phasing function acted almost like a passive defense.

There was no need to consciously activate it.

When an attack came, the body automatically slipped through.

That was how Obito had passed through solid rock after awakening, and how he had instinctively phased through Kirigakure shinobi attacks while going berserk.

Once he mastered the ability, however, intangibility became both a toggle and an active technique.

Turning on the passive state essentially recreated that uncontrolled automatic phasing.

At the same time, the user could consciously become tangible whenever necessary.

That was precisely why Namikaze Minato had eventually been able to hit Obito with Flying Raijin.

So Obito could not take Kakashi's eyes right now.

But later?

There would be opportunities.

The problem was that even those opportunities would not be easy to create.

If Obito tried to take the eyes in a direct fight, he would probably need to learn Flying Raijin first—and master the second-step attack sequence at that.

After all, everyone knew Chidori moved too fast to use safely without the Sharingan.

Which meant that from the Sharingan's enhanced visual perspective, Chidori's trajectory was actually perfectly trackable.

With Obito's current speed, trying to snatch out Kakashi's eyes without Flying Raijin was basically impossible.

But there were always exceptions.

Not every victory had to happen during battle.

Take the famous rule allowing shinobi to abandon their mission if they encountered the Yellow Flash.

Why was that distinction unique to Namikaze Minato?

Why didn't the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama, receive the same treatment?

Because once Minato planted a Flying Raijin mark on someone, ordinary shinobi could never remove it unless they cut off the marked body part.

From that point onward, they had to live with the permanent risk that one night, while peacefully asleep, Namikaze Minato might suddenly appear beside their bed and steal everything precious to them.

And why didn't Senju Tobirama, who also possessed Flying Raijin, inspire the same fear?

Because Tobirama had white hair.

Minato had blond hair.

More importantly, Minato's teacher was Jiraiya—famous throughout the shinobi world for his naturally questionable tendencies and frequent visits to pleasure districts.

A great teacher produced a great student.

When the Yellow Flash had first risen to fame, people knew his strength but not his personality.

So naturally, they judged him through his teacher.

That was victory outside the battlefield.

And right now, Obito was thinking along exactly those lines.

He did not need to defeat Kakashi in combat.

He only needed to become close enough to Kakashi that Kakashi completely lowered his guard.

For example…

If they slept together in the same place, Obito could simply wait until Kakashi fell asleep and then mercilessly take those eyes!

And there was another possibility.

Obito looked at Kakashi.

Fundamentally, this Kakashi was himself wearing Kakashi's face.

While Obito himself had effectively become Kakashi's version of "Rin."

What Obito needed to do was simple.

Whatever he would have been willing to do for Rin…

Kakashi should be willing to do for him.

Perhaps Obito would not even need to painstakingly plan an ambush.

Kakashi might eventually offer the eyes willingly.

With that thought, Obito coughed twice.

Two trails of tears slid down his cheeks.

"Obito…"

His voice trembled pitifully.

"I thought you didn't want me anymore…"

The manipulation level instantly went through the roof.

Everyone watching outside nearly gagged.

"No, Kakashi! I didn't! I'm sorry, I…"

"Then why did you come so late?"

"…"

"Tell me."

Obito's voice weakened.

"Consider it my final wish."

"No! Kakashi, you're not going to die! I won't let you die!"

Kakashi broke down immediately.

"It was Rin! I went to find Rin because I wanted her to come help me save you!

"I'm too weak on my own, and she's the Three-Tails' jinchūriki. I thought she'd come with me, but…

"But no matter what I said, she refused!

"She kept saying she couldn't save you because she had to think about everyone else in the village, that her life belonged to the village now, all that stuff.

"So I wasted so much time.

"Damn it! I never should've gone to her!

"If I'd come straight here, maybe none of this would've happened…"

Kakashi held Obito and cried.

Exactly as expected.

Obito laughed inwardly.

With just a little "gentle guidance," Kakashi had personally named Nohara Rin as the culprit.

Perfect.

Now Obito only needed to push him a little further.

"Obito, I know you love Rin."

Obito lowered his gaze sadly.

"But Rin has changed.

"Ever since she became a jinchūriki, she's slowly been losing her humanity.

"I don't blame her for refusing to save me.

"What scares me is that today she can find one reason after another not to save me…

"So tomorrow, she might find another reason not to save someone else in the village."

Kakashi's expression shifted.

"She keeps saying her life belongs to the village and that everything she does is to protect Konoha.

"But aren't I part of the village too?

"Is my life worth less simply because I'm one person and there are more of them?

"Or maybe it isn't about numbers.

"Maybe it's about value."

Obito's voice became even softer.

"Everyone else in the Uchiha squad has Sharingan and powerful dōjutsu.

"But me?

"I don't have a bloodline limit.

"I don't have anything.

"I'm just useless.

"So I was the one she chose to abandon."

Another seed quietly slipped into Kakashi's heart.

"If lives can be weighed against each other like that, then what happens one day when the Hokage is on one side of the scale and every ordinary villager in Konoha is on the other?

"Would she sacrifice the entire village just to save the Hokage?"

With every carefully chosen word, Obito continued steering Kakashi's thoughts.

The goal was to make Kakashi resent Rin, helping Obito complete his final quest.

At the same time, he had slipped in one piece of self-serving propaganda:

He did not possess the Sharingan.

He was weak.

That was why he had been abandoned.

A seed had been planted.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

Pakura suddenly slapped a hand over the display, her face twisted in sheer suffering.

"Is Uchiha Obito seriously acting right now?

"Because I'm starting to think this pathetic, manipulative little act is just his natural personality!"

She turned toward the Konoha shinobi.

"And you people tell me right now—did the real Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi actually have something going on between them or not?!"

Under the influence of the three gossipmongers, Pakura had gradually discovered the joy of eating popcorn and listening to scandals.

But in every other respect, her worldview remained relatively conservative.

The earlier scene between Obito and Ao had been presented almost entirely through implication.

Nothing truly inappropriate had appeared on the screen, and everyone merely inferred what was happening from the atmosphere.

So Pakura had still been able to enjoy it from a safe distance.

Like someone who claimed to love dragons right up until a real dragon appeared.

But now that she was actually watching Obito and Kakashi engage in this bizarre emotional quantum entanglement firsthand…

Pakura only felt nauseated.