"Obito's always late and claims he was helping old ladies home. I'm following him to see whether that's actually true."
Obito offered the explanation without so much as blinking.
"Eh, forget that. Come with me. I've got something good to show you."
Remembering the mission Hiruzen had entrusted to him, Jiraiya grabbed Obito and dragged him away.
"Something good? What is it, a new ninjutsu?"
Obito did not resist and followed him.
Danzō would send someone to deal with the situation here shortly anyway.
Leaving now would not cause any problems, and it would even give Obito an alibi.
Jiraiya brought him into a secluded alley, then mysteriously pulled a book from inside his clothing.
A diagonal slash had been drawn across its cover, clearly marking it as forbidden.
"What's this?"
Obito froze after accepting it.
Could this be the legendary Make-Out Paradise?
"Kakashi, judging by your strength, you're already practically an adult. Consider this my coming-of-age gift to you."
Jiraiya placed a hand on Obito's shoulder, his expression solemn and his tone full of earnest wisdom.
"I hope you'll study its contents carefully and learn about the beauty and ugliness of human nature."
"…"
Obito was speechless.
You wanted him to study a dirty book to understand the beauty and ugliness of human nature?
Were you sure you didn't add an unnecessary word to that sentence?
He lowered his gaze and discovered that it was not Make-Out Paradise.
Come to think of it, Jiraiya probably had not started writing that series yet at this point in time.
Obito was not certain.
Unlike Kakashi, he had never paid attention to such pointless things.
When Jiraiya noticed that Obito seemed uninterested in the book, his heart ached.
It was true!
Everything the old Third had told him was correct. Kakashi really did possess an unusual preference.
Otherwise, how could any boy be uninterested in something like this?
A sudden sense of duty filled Jiraiya's heart.
An ordinary adult book could no longer save Kakashi.
Jiraiya would have to personally write a masterpiece so earth-shaking and ghost-haunting that it could rescue lost young men like Kakashi throughout the shinobi world!
"It's fine if this one doesn't interest you, Kakashi. Read it for now."
Jiraiya made his decision.
"I'll write a novel myself. Once I finish the first draft, I'll bring it straight to you.
"But until then, could you please stop making moves on other boys?"
"Oh, alright… Hm?"
Obito nodded instinctively.
Then the meaning of Jiraiya's words struck him, and his head snapped up.
What the hell?
Making moves on boys?
Had someone discovered the method he used to obtain the Kakashi-faced Obito's power?
Obito felt embarrassed for a moment.
But only for a moment.
He was committing these crimes while wearing Kakashi's identity.
Kakashi was the pervert here.
What did any of it have to do with Obito?
Besides, this was merely an illusion. None of it was real.
Then Obito noticed something even more horrifying.
What had Jiraiya just said?
He intended to write a novel for Kakashi—Make-Out Paradise—and deliver it to him the moment it was completed?
Wasn't that exactly what had happened in the real shinobi world?
Obito had already used Kakashi's identity to cause enormous changes within this illusion.
So why were events identical to reality still occurring?
Obito did not know about concepts such as fate or the convergence of world lines, where important events inevitably returned to their "canonical" course.
The true game version of Hikari's Engraved Tsukuyomi was a massive open world without such restrictions.
But the beginner village on the test server had been specially designed to test multiple systems, so it operated differently.
Obito was terrified by the implications of what he had discovered.
All the current evidence suggested that the real Kakashi might genuinely be just as twisted as Obito had been portraying him.
When Obito remembered all the bizarre works Kakashi had written, the theory seemed increasingly convincing.
He had not destroyed Kakashi's reputation or pushed him onto a different path.
By sheer coincidence, Obito had simply done exactly what the real Kakashi would have done!
He could not help recalling his childhood.
He and Rin had visited Kakashi's home many times. They had eaten Kakashi's grilled fish and drunk his tea…
And after spending the entire day playing, Obito had indeed grown tired and fallen asleep in Kakashi's house before.
Could it be…?
Obito's complexion turned ghastly.
Had Kakashi drugged him with sleeping tea back then and taken advantage of him while he was unconscious?
Inside the illusion world, Obito had only resorted to such methods because he needed to complete a quest.
But in the real world, that would mean Kakashi had simply been a genuine deviant!
This illusion had allowed Obito to uncover the truth hidden for all these years!
That would also explain Jiraiya.
In the real world, he must have written Make-Out Paradise specifically to correct Kakashi's preferences, then personally given the book to him.
What kind of senior wrote an adult novel and offered it as a gift to a younger relative or student?
Clearly, Kakashi had already become twisted beyond reason, forcing Jiraiya to fight poison with poison!
Unfortunately, the treatment ultimately failed.
After reading Make-Out Paradise, Kakashi absorbed its essence, discarded its weaknesses, and became even more depraved.
He eventually began writing the Mighty Man series himself, attempting to corrupt the moral atmosphere of the entire shinobi world.
The more Obito thought, the more certain he became that he had uncovered the truth.
Then there was Rin.
If Rin liked Kakashi, why would Kakashi reject her?
No one could possibly reject someone as adorable as Rin!
Unless that person was not interested in girls at all!
Everything fit perfectly!
That raised another question.
Based on this conclusion, what did the third quest—Defeat Your Rival—actually mean when it demanded that he pierce his rival's heart?
Was the "rival" truly Obito?
Was it really referring to some future battle in which Kakashi fought him?
Admittedly, Obito had once considered using Kakashi to pierce his heart and destroy the curse seal Madara had placed there.
But that had not happened yet, and there was no guarantee it ever would.
There was, however, one event that had already occurred.
Kakashi had personally killed Rin.
Therefore, the "rival" was not Obito at all.
It was Rin!
Kakashi liked boys and coveted Obito's body and heart!
But because Obito loved only Rin, she was Kakashi's true romantic rival!
When his reasoning reached this point, Obito sucked in a sharp breath.
Thank goodness he had discovered the truth in time.
Otherwise, he might never have completed the quest and would have remained trapped inside this illusion forever!
So what he needed to do was not find a way to kill the Kakashi-faced version of himself.
He needed to kill Rin?
Obito hesitated briefly before steeling his resolve.
The Rin inside this illusion was fake.
Any Rin who died here would also be fake.
As long as Obito escaped and activated the Infinite Tsukuyomi, there would be an unlimited number of Rins waiting for him.
There was no need to care about this single copy!
Wait.
Had he overlooked something?
Obito suddenly realized that if this was the truth, then arranging for the Kakashi-faced Obito and that elderly woman to get along had been a terrible mistake.
It might even interfere with what he planned to do to Rin next.
"Oh, no!"
Obito threw the book aside and sprinted anxiously toward the old woman's house.
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