[Barrier Department]
Karin was connected to a machine. Its screen lit up, displaying an interface that resembled a radar.
The interface was simple, clearly showing a basic map.
Kakashi and Rin's position was precisely marked on Corridor Seventeen.
Whenever she used the Kagura Mind's Eye, corresponding chakra signatures would appear on it.
Originally, this area only showed the chakra signatures of the two of them, unusually calm.
However, a suddenly appearing chakra point shattered that calm.
That chakra signal was steadily closing in on Kakashi and Rin.
At the same time, Minato was fully focused on sensing that area.
He detected something unusual, only here, a fleeting Flying Thunder God mark flashed for an instant.
Minato made his judgment immediately: the one approaching silently from underground, bearing the Flying Thunder God mark, was Obito.
["Push Kakashi away and run immediately. Obito's here!"]
As a well-trained ninja, Rin didn't hesitate for even a moment after receiving the command. She acted instantly, using all her strength to shove Kakashi aside.
At that moment, Kakashi was still caught up in his emotions, completely unprepared for the sudden change, and was knocked to the ground without any defense.
After pushing him away, Rin turned and sprinted forward without hesitation.
The instant Kakashi hit the ground, he fell into brief confusion, his mind going blank.
But in less than a second, his eyes widened in shock, because a figure he knew all too well had appeared before him.
'Obito!'
Like a phantom, Obito burst up from underground, gripping a jet-black rod in his hand, and thrust it toward Rin's back with lightning speed.
"RIN!"
With a roar, Kakashi's eyes widened to their limits, veins bulging as if his eyeballs might burst, bloodshot like a maddened beast.
At the same time, the chakra within him surged wildly like a raging ocean, an aura of terrifying intensity radiating from his body.
His figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night sky, moving at a speed beyond imagination.
Everything around him seemed to slow down in comparison, even the air itself splitting apart as he forced his way through.
Kakashi gripped his blade tightly, pouring all his energy and focus into its edge, and swung with unstoppable force toward Obito's black rod.
Closer! Closer! Even closer!
'I can make it!'
In the blink of an eye, Kakashi had already reached Obito.
Just as he believed his killing strike was about to land, something went wrong.
His blade passed straight through empty air.
Not only that, carried by momentum, his entire body seemed to pass through Obito as if through an illusion.
Obito stood there unmoving, his gaze cold as he looked at Kakashi's slightly disheveled state, a hint of caution flickering in his expression.
That instant, Kakashi's speed had indeed surprised him. Fortunately, he had been prepared.
At that thought, a mocking smile curled at the corner of Obito's lips.
Then he abruptly turned and, without hesitation, drove the black rod toward Rin again.
But at that critical moment, a figure flashed behind Obito.
Looking closely, it was Namikaze Minato, who had arrived just in time using the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Minato gripped a Flying Thunder God kunai, his form ghostlike as he closed in behind Obito, then slashed mercilessly at his neck.
In that instant, time seemed to freeze. The entire space was filled with tension at its peak, life and death hanging on a single thought.
For Obito, if he insisted on killing Rin, what awaited him would be Minato's fatal strike.
But if he stopped now, everything he had done would be for nothing.
This time, it was clearly a carefully laid killing trap by Konoha, its target: Obito.
At this moment, Obito's gaze locked tightly onto Nohara Rin, sharp as lightning.
His abyss-like eyes seemed to turn into a bottomless vortex of darkness, chilling to the bone.
Deep within his mind, two completely different voices were screaming hysterically.
One was filled with hatred and killing intent:
["Die, Rin!"], Like a demon's whisper, it battered against his mental defenses.
The other was heavy with emotion and resolve, ["Rin! I will never let you die."]
These two extremes clashed violently within him, twisting together and tearing him apart with pain.
Though his hands trembled uncontrollably from the tension and conflict, in the end, he still mustered a strength beyond imagination and thrust straight toward Rin without hesitation.
A dull "thud" sounded, followed by a sickening "shhk", the sound of a blade piercing deep into flesh.
In an instant, blood sprayed outward, blooming like a tragic crimson flower in the air.
At the same time, Namikaze Minato's thunderous strike landed on Obito's neck.
Minato's attack was lightning-fast, and its power was overwhelming.
A flash of cold light passed, Obito's neck was severed instantly. Even the hard cervical bone could not withstand it, completely broken under that terrifying blow.
If not for the limited length of the Flying Thunder God kunai, his entire head would have been sent flying like a cannonball.
Even so, only a thin layer of flesh now connected his body and neck.
His head hung at a horrifying ninety-degree angle, yet no blood sprayed out, only a small amount of white fluid.
Obito's mouth opened and closed a few times, as if he wanted to say something to Rin, but no sound came out.
And of course, having made that choice, the black rod in his hand had also mercilessly pierced into Rin's heart.
However, fate seemed to play a cruel joke on Obito.
Although he tried to keep his movement on course, the other personality lurking deep within him interfered, disrupting his actions.
The black rod in Obito's hand, which should have precisely pierced Rin's heart, deviated slightly from its target.
And that tiny deviation caused what should have been a fatal strike to land instead on Rin's chest.
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