"Alright, Fifty-Fifty," Jin said lazily, tucking away his camera at last. "You've got a three-tomoe Sharingan. Can't you tell whether this is genjutsu or not?"
Rin stepped fully out from behind him again.
"Kakashi… I'm not dead."
Jin grinned wickedly. "Surprised? Shocked? I've been preparing for today for a long time."
Kakashi: "..."
He didn't know what to say.
He didn't even know what he was feeling.
But as Rin wiped away the blood at the corner of her mouth and peeled off the fake wound on her chest, something inside him cracked open—
The world felt bright again.
"Rin… you really…" His voice trembled. He was afraid to believe it. "You're really alive?"
"I really am," Rin said softly, her teasing gone now. "Sensei used a technique to save me. But we were targeted by a powerful enemy, so he had me fake my death and hide in the orphanage at the village's edge."
"A technique…?" Kakashi's eyes shifted to Jin.
Jin sighed and explained calmly:
"Izanagi. A forbidden technique passed down within the Uchiha clan. It rewrites reality—at the cost of one eye permanently losing its light."
"Your entire mission that day was a setup. To save Rin, I sealed Izanagi into her body in advance using a pre-set Transcription Seal, sacrificing one of my three-tomoe Sharingan."
"Rin did die that day. Once. But when her body was transported back to Konoha, the Izanagi activated—rewriting the reality of her death and bringing her back."
Kakashi froze.
Then the truth finally sank in.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face.
"Rin… you're alive… that's… that's really…"
Rin's expression softened. "It's okay, Kakashi. I won't die."
This time, he didn't hold it in.
The guilt.
The grief.
The self-hatred.
It all poured out.
Click. Click. Click.
Jin couldn't help himself.
Out came the camera again.
Terrified Kakashi was rare.
But emotionally shattered, vulnerable Kakashi?
Even rarer.
Kakashi snapped out of it at the sound of the shutter.
His entire body stiffened.
The emotional high from seconds ago flipped instantly into pure, suffocating embarrassment.
If those photos ever got out—
He might as well die.
"You bastard! Give that back!"
Kakashi lunged.
Jin casually pocketed the camera and blocked him with one hand.
"Kakashi," Jin sighed, shaking his head, "you've been slacking badly. In your current state, you probably can't even beat Rin. So stop embarrassing yourself."
That wasn't exaggeration.
When Izanagi rewound reality, it rewound to the moment the curse mark on Rin's heart shattered.
At that moment—
She was still the Three-Tails' jinchūriki.
Isobu had been restored alongside her.
Rin was still the Three-Tails' host.
And after Jin had a very "friendly" conversation with Isobu using his Mangekyō Sharingan…
The beast had become extremely cooperative.
Among the tailed beasts, Isobu was relatively mild-tempered to begin with. Paired with Rin's gentle personality, the two had grown surprisingly compatible.
She could already draw on Isobu's power.
Given time—
She might even become a perfect jinchūriki.
Meanwhile, Kakashi—sleep-deprived, mentally fractured, chakra drained—
Was in no condition to compete.
Seeing the gap was too large, Kakashi reluctantly backed down, shooting Jin a murderous glare.
Ten years is not too late for revenge.
He would remember this.
Jin narrowed his eyes at Kakashi's still-active Sharingan.
"Your body's already close to being dragged down by that eye. Since we've got the chance tonight… you might as well remove it."
Kakashi's hand instantly flew to his left eye.
"What are you trying to do?!" he snapped. "This is Obito's eye! I'm not giving it up!"
Jin frowned.
"You know better than anyone that your body can't handle it. That eye is limiting your growth."
"For the sake of a single technique, you're paying far too high a price."
Kakashi's Chidori required the dynamic vision of the Sharingan to compensate for its extreme speed. Without it, the technique was incomplete.
But the trade-off?
Massive.
In Jin's view, Kakashi without the Sharingan had a higher ceiling—and a healthier path forward.
But Kakashi shook his head firmly.
"This isn't about whether it's worth it. That eye is Obito's legacy. I'll use it to see the world for him."
He knew the burden.
He felt it every day.
But that didn't matter.
It was Obito's eye.
That alone made it sacred.
Jin paused.
Then sighed.
"First—if it's about seeing the world, Obito can do that himself."
"Second—I was planning to return that eye to him anyway."
"I think he'd prefer to see the world with both eyes."
Kakashi:
"???"
His brain stalled for the second time that night.
Because there was only one implication.
And he didn't dare say it aloud.
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