CH 436

The one watching Kakashi from the Woods was none other than Tobi Junior.

He was sitting on the tree trunk; his figure hidden in the shadow of the tree and looking at Kakashi with an indifferent expression as if what he is looking at is nothing more than a dead body.

Suddenly, his black eye turned scarlet with three black tomoe spinning in them.

This is not the first time that the two are in this situation, Kakashi sitting by the grave of Rin, and Tobi watching Kakashi from the dark, but this time it’s different from the past, this time Tobi sneaked into the village not only to pay Rin a visit but also to get back something that was his but given to Kakashi as a present, his left eye.

Tobi doesn’t care what the state of his left eye is, whether it is in two tomoe, or three tomoe, it doesn’t matter to him at all. Because he knows that once he kills Kakashi after retrieving his left eye, it too would turn into Mangekyou Sharingan.

“Let’s start.” Muttered Tobi as he disappeared in a swirling whirl.

…

In front of Rin’s tombstone.

Kakashi sat still talking about various things, but for some reason, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, as an unknown fear swept him. Kakashi felt that he was being stared at by someone, and most of all, his left eye which is covered by his forehead protector was acting inexplicably restless.

Such a situation has happened only twice before, one was at the moment when Rin died at his hands, and the other moment was at the valley of the Land of Lightning when the Mangekyou Sharingan unknowingly activated without him even realizing it.

As an experienced shinobi, Kakashi never neglects his intuition and muttered with a sullen expression, “Today is the alliance ceremony held by the village, is something bad going to happen today?”

If the village was to face some sort of predicament, then he can’t stay here for much longer, bidding goodbye to Rin, Kakashi was about to get up, but then from the corner of his right eye, Kakashi noticed that his shadow on the ground was abruptly longer.

Kakashi then looked in the direction of the Sun and based on the position of the Sun, he estimated how long his shadow should have been, and it didn’t take him too long for him to realize that something was amiss.

‘Someone is present behind me, but how and when did they appear behind?’ Kakashi immediately realized that the extra length of shadow was not his but of someone present behind him, and much to Kakashi’s horror, this someone appeared behind him without him even realizing this.

He may not be a full-time sensor-nin, but Kakashi’s perception is extraordinary; most of all, his nose should have detected the extra scent but it didn’t and the opposite party is still standing behind him must mean that they are extraordinarily strong and extraordinarily fast.

Understanding this, Kakashi chose not to look back as that would alert the enemy; instead, he maintained his ignorant attitude and put his hand in his pocket, in his pocket lies a Kunai.

At the same moment he put his hand in the pocket, Kakashi felt a numb feeling from his left shoulder; this numb feeling gave him an inexplicable horror; at the same time an inexplicable familiarity.

‘It has to be him, Tobi!’ thought Kakashi, but he was not panicked, instead, he took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.

For the past month or so, Kakashi has been training with all but one purpose in mind, intending to deal with Tobi, as such, Kakashi has stimulated countless battle situations between him and Tobi.

In fact, not only has he stimulated countless battles but has even started learning a new Jutsu under the orders of Hokage-sama.

‘Only Space-time Jutsu can deal with Space-time Jutsu.’ Thought Kakashi; as he instantly turned around and stabbed the Kunai in Tobi’s shoulder and at the same time sensed the presence of the few markings, he has left all over the village.

Flash…                                                                                                                                                                                           

And instantly, with a silver flash, Kakashi’s figure disappeared into thin air.

Tobi who was almost certain of being able to deal with Kakashi was taken aback by the abrupt attack and disappearance of Kakashi, his expression stagnated for a second when looking at the Kunai piercing his shoulder, then soon realized just what exactly happened, “Was that what I think it was?”

Tobi removed the Kunai from his shoulder, threw it on the ground, and disappeared in a spiraling whirl with a chuckle, “Maa, this only makes things interesting, show me Hatake Kakashi, how much do you compare to Konoha’s Yellow Flash?”

…

At the Secret Training Field.

Flash… Plop…

With a Silver Flash, Kakashi appeared at the secret training field; and touched the Formula on the ground that he marked a few days ago. The reason for marking the formula here on the ground was so that he can directly teleport here from his house to avoid the sight of any and all when he comes here to train, so as to keep the information about him learning this new Jutsu a secret.

Hokage-sama did not want even a single soul to be aware of him learning this Jutsu because only then would this Jutsu be able to take Tobi by surprise. This is also the reason, why Kakashi did not inform even a single soul; not even the former members of his Anbu Team-11 about what he has been learning for the past month or so.

‘Akatsuki’s retaliation came too suddenly, I haven’t yet mastered it completely!’ thought Kakashi as he watched his surroundings vigilantly and took out a Signal Flare from his Shinobi Bag.

Kakashi knows that with his incomplete familiarity with this Jutsu, he may not be able to kill Tobi, so he must send out the Signal Flare to alert the village of Akatsuki’s incoming attack.

Kakashi didn’t even think of the possibility that he was the target of the enemy; according to him, it is very likely that the entire Akatsuki Organization plans to take advantage of the Alliance Ceremony and launch a full-scale attack on Konoha as an act of revenge for what happened at Amegakure.

So, him being targeted a few moments ago was just a prelude to a full-scale attack.

Just as Kakashi held the Signal flare high and was about to fire it, his wrist was grasped and the whole body was turned over.

Shot… whissssstttllleeeee……

The signal flare that was supposed to have been shot into the sky was fired towards the ground because Kakashi’s body was turned over.

The shining signal flare bounced and jumped on the ground, and finally hit a tree not far away; instantly igniting it.

“Crap!” Kakashi cursed when he glanced at the burning tree in the distance, he was not worried about the tree, he was worried about the village.

He is currently at the Secret Training Field, and this Secret Training Field has already been registered on the Sensory Team as a special Zone. Which is to say, even if Sensor-nin were to sense intense Chakra Fluctuations from here; or even if they sense high-intensity fires, they would ignore it unless the degree of damage is extraordinary.

Which is to say, no help is coming for him.

And no one in the village would be prepared for an incoming retaliation from Akatsuki, that is why Kakashi was worried, ‘Sigh, I must calm myself, Hokage-sama must have taken measures, in which case I must do my part too, even if I can not kill him; I must not allow him to go to the village, else that would be devastatingly damaging considering his abilities’ Thought Kakashi and steeled himself for the toughest fight of his life.

Kakashi understands that only someone who has mastery over Space-Time Jutsu will be able to match up to Tobi, this is also one of the reasons why he teleported here, to make sure that Tobi remains occupied here.

Just as that numbing feeling again started to come, this time from his hand, Kakashi again disappeared with a silver flash and appeared a little distance away from Tobi.

Tobi looked at his left hand that held Kakashi’s wrist only a moment ago, and muttered, “As I thought… Flying Raijin Jutsu, huh?”

At this time, the panting Kakashi stood up, looking at Tobi before him, then asked, “Akatsuki Organization intends to ruin the Alliance Ceremony held by the Village?”

Tobi did not speak in his usual cheerful voice, but spoke in a heavy Madara tone, “Who knows? Does it really matter? One Shinobi Village? Two Shinobi Villages? Or all the Shinobi Villages? At the end of the day, it’s all one and the same…”

Kakashi frowned, ‘What’s that supposed to mean? Does he mean that, even if the entire Shinobi Race stands up against Akatsuki, it would make no difference? This means they don’t care about Konoha’s alliance at all, so why attack us? No, he is using wordplay, and trying to divert my attention.’ Thought Kakashi as he lifted his forehead protector covering his left eye.

""

Staring at the tree tomoe spinning in Kakashi’s eyes, Tobi nodded to himself, ‘As I thought, it’s a three tomoe Sharingan.’

At this time, Kakashi asked again, “What is your true purpose for sneaking inside Konoha? Is it the Kyuubi?”

Tobi chuckled, “Defeat me, and I shall answer all your questions.”

Chiiirrrrpppppp…

Dazzling thunder shone in Kakashi’s right hand, as he dashed forward, “Konoha is not your playground that you can come and go as you please!”

Tobi chuckled again as Kakashi phased right through him, “Entire Shinobi World is my playground, I can come and go as I please; what makes Konoha so special?”

Then Tobi turned around instantly and attempted to use Kamui on Kakashi’s back, but just at the moment when Kakashi was about to be sucked, he again disappeared with a silver flash and appeared right behind Tobi, ‘Flying Raijin: Chidori!’

“Futile.” Muttered Tobi as Kakashi’s carefully planned Chidori phased right through Tobi again, “Why struggle for this accursed world? After the kind of life, you have lived, after the kind of suffering you have endured; isn’t death a relief for you, Hatake Kakashi? Fear not, Hatake Kakashi, I shall give you a painless death.”

‘The way he speaks, he seems to know quite a lot about me? Is he… is he here specifically targeting me?’ thought Kakashi, as he tried to find the hidden meaning behind Tobi’s words.

Tobi’s words distracted Kakashi a little, and Tobi did not miss that opportunity; he weaved his hands together, and in an instant, trees rose from the ground at an extremely high speed and entangled around Kakashi; absorbing his Chakra.

Because of the absorption of his Chakra, even the lightning of Chidori disappeared from his right hand.

After making sure that Kakashi could not weave hand signs, Tobi walked toward Kakashi step by step.

Kakashi who was completely restrained by the trees shouted, “Just who the hell are you, why do you know so much about me? Why do you hold enmity towards Konoha? Why do you want to harm Konoha?”

Tobi only muttered, “For the peace of the Shinobi World.” then without any hesitation, he stretched out his right hand towards Kakashi’s left eyes and said lightly, “I shall take this eye for myself.”

But the moment, Tobi’s right hand touched Kakashi’s left eye, another Kakashi broke out of the ground and fiercely waved his lightning-covered right hand to stab through Tobi’s heart, all while saying, “A shinobi must always endure, no matter how much suffering, he must endure, we live to endure this pain, death is nothing but an escape!”

Boom…!

It’s just that the right hand did not do what it was intended for, it passed right through Tobi just like all the previous attacks.

Now Tobi stretched out his hand at Kakashi’s back again with the intention of using Kamui on him.

The sneak attack failed, Kakashi did not give Tobi any chance to take advantage, he again disappeared in a Silver Flash, and at the same time, the Kakashi who was bounded by the tree turned into Lightning and exploded on Tobi, paralyzing him for a moment.

On the other hand, the real Kakashi who appeared a little distance away from the Tobi did not let the opportunity go to waste and instantly threw three Kunai at the momentarily paralyzed Tobi.

The Kunai however did not do anything and just phased right through Tobi similar to all the previous attacks.

“As I stated earlier, your attacks are futile, even if you have learned Flying Raijin Jutsu of Nidaime Hokage; you are not fast enough, and nowhere near as fast as the Yellow Flash.” Said Tobi in an indifferently amused tone.

Without paying attention to Tobi’s words, Kakashi questioned, “Your goal… it’s the Sharingan in my eye?”