Obito spread open the mission scroll—
[Mission Level: C-Rank] [Mission Content: Help two elderly women cross the street.]
Two?!!
Before everyone had been pulled into the illusion, he had checked the mission scroll himself. There were still more than five thousand elderly women who needed help!!
How did it suddenly turn into just two?!!
Panicking, he rushed next door to the missing-nin lodging to look for his older self.
Adult Obito had just finished lining up for a shower. Ever since Itachi returned, his mood had been strange, and Kisame had been pestering his former leader nonstop, asking what had happened.
When Young Obito burst in, Adult Obito was in the middle of thinking how unexpectedly devoted that shark guy actually was to his comrades.
"The mission's almost finished?! You helped over five thousand grandmas cross the street in one day?!!"
Clearly, Adult Obito—towel in hand, wiping his short hair and showing off a physique that made Young Obito intensely jealous—didn't believe a word his younger self was saying.
When the mission scroll was opened, he even activated his Sharingan to make sure it wasn't a genjutsu.
After confirming everything was normal, the only abnormal thing left was the number in front of them changing from 2 to 1 right before their eyes.
"…You're cheating, aren't you?"
Adult Obito stared at his younger self in disbelief, so envious he almost wanted to strangle him.
If this weren't cheating, then even if he split into six thousand shadow clones to help people, did the village really have that many elderly women who needed to cross the street?!
Not long ago, in the parallel world on the eve of the Uchiha massacre, they had already tried every trick they could think of. That included having Kakashi's shadow clones all transform into elderly women, then having himself and his younger self carry them across the street…
Naturally, none of it worked.
The mission scroll simply didn't count that method toward completion.
"Check yours first!" Young Obito urged. "What if your mission is finished too?"
Besides trying to get Kakashi to transform into an old lady, they had also experimented with cutting red bean cakes into millimeter-sized pieces and eating them.
Unfortunately, swallowing rice-grain-sized bits of red bean cake didn't make the number on the mission scroll go down at all. Only after eating an amount equivalent to a full cake did the count barely decrease by one.
Adult Obito finished rubbing his head with the towel, draped it around his neck, and opened his own mission scroll.
"Six hundred billion… that's not something you finish easily."
[Mission Level: SS-Rank[
[Mission Content: Eat 599,997,454,231 red bean cakes.]
"..."
In the previous parallel world, the last time he checked, the number had been 599,999,983,279.
Well… it looked like it had changed a little.
But at the same time, it felt like nothing had changed at all.
Then he looked to the side.
His younger self's mission scroll had only one left.
Just one step away from completion…
"Ahhh! The person behind these mission scrolls must have a personal grudge against me!!"
Minato Namikaze walked over from behind, his expression awkward. If his earlier guess was right, then… there really might be a grudge.
Young Obito planted his hands on his hips and glared at Adult Obito.
"You don't have many enemies, do you?"
The sarcasm was obvious. Adult Obito immediately wilted.
"We're all on the same side. Can't we stop hurting each other like this?"
"This isn't mutual harm," Young Kakashi said coolly, following beside Minato Namikaze, his mouth as sharp as ever. "This is Obito hurting you one-sidedly. And you deserve it. Obito, you can be even more ruthless."
Rin looked caught in the middle. Kakashi always seemed unable to stop himself from mocking Obito whenever they were together, even though he was clearly worried about him.
Every time Adult Obito saw Young Kakashi like that, he felt the urge to punch someone. But deep down, he also felt that this Kakashi was tied to his own younger self. If he really wanted to vent, he should be picking a fight with Adult Kakashi instead.
Swallowing his frustration and mentally setting aside time to cause trouble for Adult Kakashi later, Adult Obito turned his gaze toward Kannabi Bridge Minato and asked whether he had been looking for him about something.
Young Kakashi pointed toward the other youth, Young Obito.
"Minato-sensei sensed that this guy's mission is almost finished, so he came to take a look."
Adult Obito froze for a moment.
"He can sense that too? Is there some kind of space-time fluctuation involved?"
"Well, something like that," Kannabi Bridge Minato replied vaguely, brushing it off.
Young Kakashi didn't think much of it. Both versions of Obito were the type who didn't use their brains unless absolutely necessary, so neither of them noticed anything strange.
Minato Namikaze continued, "Based on my guess, the reason Obito's mission progressed so quickly is related to the Obito we encountered in that parallel world."
"The Obito from that world?"
They all remembered the man in the tiger-striped mask that Adult Obito had captured on the eve of the Uchiha massacre.
"Yes." Kannabi Bridge Minato nodded. "After experiencing Naruto's entire life in the illusion, his future path would likely focus on atonement in Konoha or the ninja world. Because we had contact with him, he was counted as 'Obito Uchiha' on your mission scrolls. That's why the red bean cakes he ate and the elderly women he helped were also counted toward your mission progress."
"In that parallel world, more than five years have already passed. So a task like helping six thousand elderly women cross the street, which is relatively easy, is now almost finished."
"So that's how it is!!"
"That even counts?!"
"There's only one person left!" Young Obito said excitedly. "I'll go finish it!"
"No, it's better if you stay here," Minato Namikaze said. "The reward for a C-rank mission usually involves someone traveling to another parallel world. Most of the time, it's people from other worlds coming here. To be safe, you should remain where you are."
Everyone understood his concern.
If someone who harbored hatred toward Obito Uchiha came here and killed Young Obito on the spot, who would Team Minato even complain to?
And after hearing Obito's account of the illusionary world—
The Fourth Shinobi World War. Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. And the Ōtsutsuki clan that even Kaguya herself was wary of…
Everyone clearly understood just how special Obito's Mangekyō Sharingan abilities were. Even Kaguya had been unable to interfere with Obito's space-time techniques. That alone proved the value of his eyes, making them an extremely rare treasure even among the Ōtsutsuki clan.
If someone were to evolve those eyes into the Rinnegan, they would likely become an opponent on the same level as Madara Uchiha or Kaguya Ōtsutsuki.
"Then I'll go," Adult Obito said. "My younger self also has the Mangekyō Sharingan. If whoever comes turns out to be dangerous, I can immediately pull everyone into the Kamui space."
Minato Namikaze nodded with a smile.
"There shouldn't be any problems here. After all, the First Hokage-sama and Second Hokage-sama are staying here, and I'm not exactly easy to deal with either."
Without another word, Adult Obito wrapped himself in Kamui and went to find the Kakashi of this parallel world, planning to have him accompany him on the mission…
Yes, the mission to help an elderly woman cross the street.
While they waited, Kannabi Bridge Minato didn't stay idle. He left behind a shadow clone to watch over Obito and Kakashi, then headed off to find the other guest staying at the missing-nin inn—
Itachi Uchiha.
"Fourth Hokage-sama…"
When Itachi saw him, he lowered his gaze, clearly having expected that the other would come looking for him.
Kannabi Bridge Minato smiled lightly.
"If you're looking for another version of me, he's probably buried under piles of paperwork at the Hokage Building right now."
They fell silent for a moment before Itachi suddenly spoke.
"Minato-sama, I want to complete my D-rank mission."
His status was special. Although he was no longer classified as a missing-nin, the fact that he had killed the Uchiha clan could not be erased. Without a travel permit issued by Captain Yamato or someone of even higher authority, Itachi Uchiha, like anyone else, was not free to move around Konoha at will.
Itachi Uchiha's D-rank mission—
[Mission Rank: D-rank] [Mission Content: Kowtow ten thousand times before the graves of your parents and clan members.]
And yet the mission reward for a D-rank task was only gold.
For a shinobi like Itachi Uchiha, this was hardly a meaningful sum. Only genin or chūnin like Naruto or Obito would be thrilled over such a value.
"Can you tell me what you experienced in the illusion?" Minato Namikaze asked.
Based on the times at which the Konoha shinobi, the Uchiha clan, and Itachi Uchiha had awakened, Minato could already tell that the illusions they experienced were not the same.
Itachi remained silent for a long time before finally recounting his experience to Minato Namikaze, using the simplest words possible…
If it had to be summed up in one term, then Itachi's illusion was more like a "simulator."
He was still himself, but within a life simulation called Itachi Uchiha, he could make different choices based on his own will, leading to outcomes completely different from his real life.
This time, he chose to stop Shisui Uchiha before Shisui could seek out Danzo Shimura.
Using Shisui's alleged disobedience as justification, Danzo Shimura ordered Konoha shinobi to launch an attack on the Uchiha clan.
Perhaps because his real life had been filled with too much regret, within the illusion he did not stand on Konoha's side. Instead, under Shisui's stunned gaze, he slaughtered Konoha shinobi without mercy.
Unfortunately, even that was not enough to save Shisui. In order to protect Itachi, Shisui was forced to join the fighting himself, killing many former comrades from Konoha.
Then…
Shisui Uchiha leapt from a cliff to his death, leaving behind three letters. One for the Hokage. One for the Uchiha clan. And one for him—Itachi Uchiha.
Despair toward Konoha. Despair toward the Uchiha clan. And guilt toward him.
Shisui believed that it was to save him that Itachi had been forced to make such a choice, abandoning Konoha and standing on the Uchiha's side.
After that, civil war erupted between the Uchiha clan and Konoha.
Fugaku Uchiha was overjoyed that his eldest son had finally come to his senses and chosen the Uchiha.
But perhaps only Sasuke, still a child, could tell that his brother had always seemed like someone who didn't truly belong to this world. If Itachi Uchiha had once held compassion for all things, then the Itachi within this illusion had lost all mercy toward everything.
He awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. He learned that the masked man was Obito Uchiha, and that Black Zetsu was the true mastermind behind it all. If things continued like this, Sasuke would end up bearing all the pain, just as Shisui had once entrusted his burden to him.
And so Itachi chose a completely different path.
He led the Uchiha clan in a coup against Konoha.
With his overwhelming strength, far-sighted mind, and status as the eldest son of Fugaku Uchiha, the clan head, Itachi Uchiha naturally ascended to become the Fifth Hokage.
...