Chapter 141: I Want to Ask Him Myself!
The purpose of telling Minato this wasn’t for anything else.
Konoha had changed.
Aside from the ultimate goal of unifying the Five Great Shinobi Villages, Hakken’s push to consolidate them was also tied to the future Fourth Shinobi World War.
Everything he’d done to build that assassination special forces unit was for one purpose: to counter the Impure World Reincarnation army.
Prepare early, and they wouldn’t be forced into a desperate position later.
And they absolutely couldn’t let something like the original incident—where the command center was blown apart—ever happen again.
For that reason, once he returned to the village, Hakken planned to expand the ANBU again and create a reserve force.
No one would ever complain about having too few elite units, but forging elites wasn’t something that happened overnight.
And expanding the ANBU meant he needed to sit down with Minato and work out a concrete plan.
It would take time, too.
Konoha was a village built from its many clans.
And right now, every one of those clans would be eager to push their own talents into the ANBU.
He already had a blueprint forming in his mind.
It was time to share all this with Minato.
“Obito isn’t dead…”
Minato’s lips parted slightly.
No wonder. No wonder that masked man had felt so familiar to him.
But if Obito wasn’t dead, why would he turn against Konoha?
Minato simply couldn’t understand.
He knew exactly what kind of person Obito had been.
A bright, sunny kid who helped old ladies cross the street, someone who valued his comrades more than his own life.
How could a person like that be the one trying to destroy Konoha?
“Yes. He really didn’t die.”
Hakken nodded. “The one who saved him was Madara Uchiha, all for the Moon’s Eye Plan.”
“The so-called Moon’s Eye Plan is to cast a Genjutsu over the entire world, giving every person the dream they want and making them believe it’s reality.”
“By releasing the Infinite Tsukuyomi, the goal is to bring peace to the Ninja World.”
Having laid out the final objective and the path ahead, Hakken spoke slowly.
Moon’s Eye.
Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Peace.
These were terms Minato had never even encountered.
But even without fully understanding them, he knew one thing: forcing people into a Genjutsu could never be the way to peace.
How could Obito believe that?
He wasn’t that kind of person.
Seeing the conflict flickering in Minato’s eyes, Hakken knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Let me ask you something. If Kakashi killed your wife right in front of you, what would you do?”
“If Kakashi killed Kushina right in front of me?”
Minato’s pupils tightened. “Impossible. That could never happen.”
“That’s why I said ‘if.’ Theoretically, it really shouldn’t happen.”
“Think about it this way. Suppose she fell under a Genjutsu, and the only way to break it was to pierce the seal placed over her heart.”
“If you don’t break it, she loses control and starts attacking villagers. If you were Kakashi, what would you choose?”
A simple, direct explanation.
Minato went silent.
After a long while, he drew in a deep breath. “You mean… he saw Kakashi kill her…?”
That was a personal experience.
Listening to Hakken, Minato felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity.
Switch a few roles around, and the entire scene replayed perfectly in his mind.
After the Third Shinobi World War, after the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, Obito died.
And sometime later, during another mission, Rin died as well.
Killed by Kakashi.
But that had been Rin’s choice. With the Three-Tails sealed inside her, if she didn’t die, the beast would rampage under the influence of a Genjutsu and attack Konoha.
None of it was Kakashi’s fault.
In fact, Minato even felt a deep ache for his student.
To kill a comrade with your own hands—that pain doesn’t fade.
That moment haunted Kakashi, waking him night after night, sending him to the bathroom to scrub at the blood he imagined was still on his hands.
But that blood couldn’t be washed away.
Without Hakken’s appearance and the hope he’d given Kakashi, the boy would probably still be wandering in the dark.
Was Obito completely swallowed by darkness because he witnessed that moment?
“Create a world where Rin exists…”
Minato muttered, as though something had clicked.
The Infinite Tsukuyomi. The Eye of the Moon Plan.
He curled his fingers into a fist.
A heavy pressure settled over him, sinking into guilt.
When Obito was crushed under rocks, he’d arrived a step too late.
When Rin was sealed with the Three-Tails and on the verge of losing control, again he’d been too late.
When Kushina gave birth, his own disciple stood right before him, yet he hadn’t noticed.
What kind of Yellow Flash was that?
He shook his head, looking hollow.
He didn’t even recognize his own senior disciple.
Ridiculous.
Then, suddenly remembering something, a spark of faint hope lit Minato’s eyes.
“Hakken… if I told Obito the truth… would he—”
“Don’t kid yourself. Obito already knows all of that.”
Hakken replied calmly.
Obito knew Rin would lose control if she didn’t die, so Kakashi had no choice but to act.
Otherwise, why do you think he hated Kirigakure so much, even twisted enough to use the warehouse to enforce the Blood Mist policy?
Obito understood exactly why Kakashi killed Rin.
What he didn’t know was that it was all a script set up by Madara Uchiha.
He hated Kakashi—for failing to change the ending.
He hated this world—for forcing that ending on him, for making him feel pain.
So he rejected it entirely.
He created a world with Rin in it, but not by bringing her back.
Obito knew who Rin loved. Kakashi knew too.
With that love triangle hanging over them, Obito didn’t dare use Rinne Tensei to revive Rin. Instead, he denied the world itself.
From a man’s perspective, he wasn’t wrong.
To take on the whole world for the sake of one person.
But to everyone else, that was madness.
If someone kills the one you love, go after them. Or throw everything you have into reviving that person, then confess to them with everything you’ve got.
That’s what a real man does.
But Obito’s extremism was intolerable.
What did the world ever do to him?
Always talking about destroying everything, unable to hold onto his own bonds yet hell-bent on cutting through others’.
To Hakken, that wasn’t what a man should be.
He didn’t even understand himself. In the end it took Naruto’s words to wake him up—only to realize that deep down, he wanted the same thing Naruto did: the dream of becoming Hokage.
And the strangest part was Naruto’s reaction.
Obito Uchiha—the man who killed his family—and Naruto forgave him just because he once dreamed of becoming Hokage?
Ashura, huh?
Makes me want to time-travel, steal his wife right in front of him, and then ask if he understands my feelings.
Well, I probably wouldn’t even need to ask.
In the original story, Toneri still lived comfortably in the end.
“You can ask him that question yourself another day. I’m telling you all of this for one reason.”
“To deal with the trouble ahead, the ANBU must expand.”
“But this expansion won’t be simple recruitment. They’ll need to pass assessments and earn merit. I’ll set the requirements in a few days.”
“In short, the ANBU doesn’t need dead weight—only elites.”
It was already deep into the night when Hakken finished speaking and turned to leave.
Minato remained in front of the Wall of Honor for a long time without moving.
“I have to hear it from him myself.”
After a long silence, he let out a sigh and vanished.
He still couldn’t understand.
Why did Obito become like this?
The night breeze swept through, leaving the plaza quiet once more.
Only the Wall of Honor changed, with one more name added.
Madara Uchiha.
He’d never have imagined his own name would appear there.