The entire terrain held its breath as the wind whistled by. No one dared make a move as Kabuto's words pierced deep into our minds.
What would this mean all of a sudden?
I whip my head in Hanabi's direction where she stood rooted and stiff in her place. Her eyes had enlarged and remained unblinking as they sparkled with what appeared to be...emotion?
"I'd studied the report of the top-secret S-rank mission you were sent on to the Hidden Rain", Kabuto breaks the silence with his menacing tone that puts us on alert again.
Madara remains rooted to his place as well, staring at Hanabi with intensity.
"Apparently, the report was made by Kakashi himself. Where he mentioned Hanabi's deadly technique on Shisui, which he attempted to deflect using the prowess of his eye", Kabuto addresses, rendering my heart out of pulse as my mind tries to make deductions of its own.
"Kamui", he said, Kabuto adjusted his crooked circular glasses.
"After further digging, it became clear to me that the prowess of Kakashi's Mangekyō enables him to send particular objects, or even people to another dimension. Time-space, which is somewhat similar to the Teleportation Technique used by Hanabi".
Hanabi's face contours with horror as her mouth falls ajar. She doesn't dare to take her eyes off of Madara Uchiha as her lower lip quivers uncontrollably and her body starts to tremble even more as Kabuto speaks.
"At first, my theory didn't click well with the facts that were in front of me. But after further investigation, I turned out to be correct. Since Kakashi Hatake isn't an Uchiha by blood, he can't freely use the prowess of his left eye without draining himself from chakra".
"That is backed up by the evidence that he's still in the hospital from that S-rank mission. Which takes us back to the crimson clouds", Kabuto remarks, to which I echo, "Crimson clouds?".
"Yeah, the Crimson Clouds, or the period known as the Third Great Ninja War", Kabuto elaborates.
"Rin Nohara was kidnapped by the Blood Mist Village, where they turned her into the Three-Tails Jinchuriki. Later she was allowed to go free only for her to have a death wish on Kakashi's hands"
"What does that even insinuate?", I gasp as I keep my unblinking eyes on him. I have a good idea of where he's going with all of this, but I want to hear it coming from his mouth.
Kabuto simply gives off a side-smirk before informing, "If you still haven't managed to get the gist of it, then I'll gladly tell you"
I hold my breath as I keep my narrowed eyes on him intently. Hanabi tipped her head low and her arms fell limply on either side of her. She looks dead...
Hanabi's hands balls into fists and I could see a visible tear streaming down her face.
"Better yet, why shouldn't Hanabi tell us?", Kabuto remarks with the wicked grin on his face. I quickly whip my head over to Hanabi, where I was awaiting an answer.
Instead, what greeted me when I looked at her were her blood-stricken eyes and her clenched jaw.
"Hanabi..."
I croaked out her name as my stomach twisted upon the sudden epiphany. Hanabi seemed past my reach again. Her entire aura had changed instantly.
"Have you forgotten the Crimson Clouds?", Kabuto directs his speech at me, but I refuse to take my eyes off of Hanabi as my entire face softens up in concern when she began to whimper a cry.
"The Crimson Clouds, a period of time where it rained blood instead of raindrops. Where everyone was made to promise a return, which never happened. Where at least everyone lost a beloved", from the corner of my eye, I spot Kabuto darting his gaze to the masked man as he finally says the thing that'll make Hanabi snap, "isn't that right?", the melancholy in his voice intensifies the atmosphere as he finally spits it out,"Obito Uchiha?".
My heart loses pulse completely when I take in the scene of Hanabi right now. Her shoulders began shaking uncontrollably as she registers the painful fact that Obito Uchiha has become one of the people that brought misery into her life.
On the spur of moment, my breath had hitched in my throat again and I felt my soul being yanked off by the scythe of the Angel of Death. It all happened too quickly and rapidly. All I saw were her glistening tears before she cut through the air while charinging at Obito. With a quick conjure of air chakra, she utilised it as a blade and impact a strike on the still standing Obito.
Who didn't flinch as Hanabi speedily tear through his mask. It's almost like he wanted her to unveil him. Before the pieces of the broken mask could land on the ground, Hanabi had leapt away in a flash, where she stood still while trailing her gaze to his face.
"Impossible...", my eyes enlarged even more and my mouth hung agape as I stared back at the disfigured face of who was once known as Obito Uchiha.
His spikey hair flailed around with the rhythm of the cold breeze, revealing the scars that disfigured the left side of his face.
Obito's expression was completely indifferent towards Hanabi's pained and astonished one. Her tears have gone completely dry and the look in her eyes made my heart sink.
It's like every memory, good or bad, had flashed right before her eyes as if she's on the verge of dying.
Her lips quivered and her eyes glistened with stillborn tears.
"It seems that Hanabi was quick to catch on", Kabuto remarked, while further adjusting his crooked glasses.
"You've lived long enough to see yourself become the villain huh?", Hanabi growls, her dead eyes telling a million stories at once, "and for what?", she scoffs humorlessly through her tears, "A notion of ending the world's suffering?", she questions, "No", she sternly stressed, "You just created more suffering with your actions, Madara".
She'd stressed on the the name like it was a curse.
The wind suddenly grew more furious and fiery, making my stomach twist and turn, which caused Hanabi's dull hair to flail around everywhere.
"You killed Minato and Kushina. You left Naruto to be the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails. You almost plunged the Hidden Leaf in a self-destructive civil war. You left me an orphan again", Hanabi's voice came out steadier than any other time. Although the shock on her face suggested otherwise.
I swallowed the lump in my throat as I contemplated whether I should give her a lending hand.
Her voice was about to break, I could feel it, but her words would break more than just her voice.
"Obito Uchiha", she hissed through gritted teeth and the sorrowful streaming tears, "you were better off dead".
Obito's face sparked with emotion momentarily before he masked it back on in a split second.
"I already am Hanabi-"
"No", Hanabi sternly cuts him off, "you will be"
"Hanabi stop!", I yell out after her as I lunged towards her only to catch Kabuto red-handed as he lunged back at Naruto.
I clearly had to retreat and tackle Kabuto before he gets to Naruto. Kabuto rapidly stepped away as I attempted to get hold of him. I direct my gaze back at Hanabi where I saw that same wind chakra being conjured in her palm again.
Obito remains rooted to his place, hoping that Hanabi would do something that'll actually tug at him.
And so she does. Hanabi skewers half of her arm right into Obito's chest, which exits through the back.
I could clearly see that Obito's indifference towards what Hanabi just did terrorized her. Obito's arms remained at the either side of him and his expression was neutral while his eye looked dead.
His remaining eye was closed shut since he offered it to Kakashi, thus rendering him with an empty socket.
Something about Obito's menacing aura rendered me rooted to my place. Hanabi was staring at him desperately as the question begged in her head.
Why?
Why?
Why?
Obito's next move makes my heart almost drop. He finally raised one of his arms only to tightly grasp her bicep, taking her completely off guard. He grazed his grip into her skin, earning a high-pitched cry out of her.
"This is what happens when you live long enough to see yourself become the villain", he growls as he forcefully yanks out her arm from his chest.
The forceful way in which he yanked her send her faltering at a great distance from him.
I didn't even have the time to blurt out her name, which had hitched in my throat. Instead, I moved quickly and caught a hold on both of her shoulders as I helped her regain her composure.
"I'm fine", she says, to which I emphasize, "no you're not".
She responds by clenching her jaw and tipping her head low only to hide away her sorrow as silent tears stream down her face.
I engulf Hanabi in an embrace, which she quickly unlocks from, gesturing for me that a hug won't solve any of her current problems.
I let her be and send a glare in Obito's way, only for my eyes to widen when I see the see-through hole punctured into Obito's chest.
"I don't feel anything, no pain, no sorrow, and no happiness", Obito addresses in a voice that toppled the skies, "this void, it has no solution!", he gestures towards the punctured hole.
"Wrong", I yell back, feeling righteous indignation surge through me, "it's because you felt and still feel. That's what lead you down the dark path, the feelings of not letting go".
"For someone who thought peace was achievable through slaughtering his entire clan, you sure speak words of wisdom", Obito's remark made Hanabi's blood start to boil.
To stop the sphere of rage from bursting, I held her firmly in my arms, acting as a freezing barrier that cooled the flames.
"The Crimson Clouds will hung loose once again, mark my words. I'll set this world ablaze", he threatened, tilting his chin down as he stared back at us.
His eyes momentarily dart towards something Hanabi and I couldn't quite make out, but his sudden smirk put us back on the alerting track.
"Tell me, Itachi, Hanabi, when were you or any of the higher-ups were planning to tell Naruto Uzumaki that his father was the Fourth Fire Shadow Minato Namikaze?"
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A/N:-Ahhhhhhhhhh, CHAPTER FREAKING 100. Y'all I am at loss of words, can't believe we've come this far, but there's still way to go ya know? Comment and vote for the Sage of Six Paths sake✨✨
~A