Naruto: Getting Observation Haki By Sacrificing The Byakugan

Kakashi would never believe it, even if he were beaten to death.

With a poof, Minato Namikaze disappeared in a burst of smoke. It was only a shadow clone. For quite some time, the real Minato had been training in Sage Mode at Mount Myōboku—something only a handful of shinobi in history had attempted.

Kawaki Aoba wasn't surprised by the clone's dispersal, though he wasn't certain how far Minato had come in mastering the Senjutsu arts.

Soon, Minato used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return to Konoha. However, he didn't appear at the Hokage's Office—instead, he reappeared at his home.

Of all the information Aoba had given him, Minato was most concerned about one thing: his wife, Kushina Uzumaki, and their unborn child.

After briefly updating Kushina and instructing the Anbu to strengthen security around their home, Minato teleported to the location Aoba had pointed out—alone.

In Konoha's cemetery, a solitary figure stood before the Memorial Stone, eyes scanning the engraved names one by one. It seemed he was searching for someone specific—but to no avail.

No matter how many times he looked, he couldn't find the name he most wanted to see.

Just then, another figure entered—the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, wearing the white Hokage cloak and carrying a bouquet of chrysanthemums.

Minato approached and placed the flowers at the base of the stone. He stood beside the plain-clothed man, his eyes also sweeping over the long list of names.

"These are the names of heroes who gave their lives during the Third Great Ninja War," Minato said quietly.

The man beside him turned and asked, "Hokage-sama… are all the fallen shinobi accounted for here?"

Minato paused for a moment. "Only those whose deaths could be confirmed. Some were declared missing in action. Their names… weren't added."

"I see." The man nodded and turned as if to leave.

But Minato stopped him. "Wait."

"What is it? Does the Fourth Hokage have something to ask a nobody like me?" the man replied, stopping but not turning around.

"Young man, did you find the name you were searching for?" Minato asked, eyes flicking briefly toward a familiar corner of the stone, where Obito Uchiha was engraved.

The man's eyes narrowed. "No... I didn't find her."

"I see," Minato said softly.

He stared at the man. There was no chakra to sense, no signs of transformation or genjutsu. The man seemed entirely ordinary. If Aoba hadn't warned him, Minato would have dismissed him as a civilian.

But something about his mannerisms, about the subtle expressions he made—it all felt painfully familiar.

And for a moment, Minato saw through the mask.

Even after everything... you haven't changed, Obito. Still just as stubborn.

Most shinobi would have realized they'd been exposed. But Obito—whose instincts in matters of the heart were always naive—still harbored hope.

"Rin is not dead," Minato said quietly. "Come back."

Obito had just started walking away—but those words stopped him cold.

Even with all his emotional repression and hatred, hearing Rin's name from his teacher's mouth shattered his composure.

A wave of malevolent chakra surged from his body, suffocating in intensity. The air grew cold. Minato's eyes narrowed.

Though he had prepared himself mentally, he was still shocked to feel such a monstrous chakra presence. Obito had grown immensely powerful—Kage-level at minimum.

"Don't say her name again," Obito muttered darkly. "You're not a good teacher, Minato-sensei. The fastest man in the world, but always too late when it matters."

The disguise faded. His mask dissolved, revealing the scarred but unmistakable face of Obito Uchiha. His Mangekyō Sharingan spun slowly—bright crimson and full of hate.

"I failed you, Obito. I know that. But Rin—"

"Rin is dead. She died in front of me. And with her… Obito Uchiha died too."

Obito's chakra flared again—icy, violent, laced with hatred and sorrow.

"And even after death, she didn't find peace. The people who control the dead desecrated her. That man… no matter who he is, no matter how powerful, I will destroy him."

His eyes were filled with a fury that bordered on madness.

Minato took a cautious breath, sensing the depth of Obito's transformation.

"Obito," he said carefully, "the group behind this… they're enemies of the entire shinobi world. If your goal is to stop them, we share a common cause. Come back. Even Rin wouldn't want to see you like this."

Obito laughed.

It started as a snort, then became a chuckle, then a mad, bitter roar.

"Hahaha… Hahahahaha…"

He laughed like someone broken, and in a way, he was. An unstable Uchiha, caught in the darkness of grief.

After a long silence, he shook his head. "You really don't get it, Minato-sensei. You're just like the rest of them. You don't understand anything."

His eyes turned cold. "This world… is already hell."

Seeing Obito about to leave, Minato acted.

He stepped forward, intent on grabbing Obito's shoulder. He had already braced for resistance—perhaps even a battle.

But Obito did not resist.

He allowed Minato to grab him.

Minato's instincts screamed. This wasn't like Obito. Even if Obito's intellect was clouded by grief, he wouldn't make such a basic mistake.

Something was wrong.

But Minato didn't let go. He needed to see—to understand—what Obito had become.

However, the moment his hand touched Obito's body, Minato Namikaze already knew the answer.

There was absolutely no tactile sensation of touching a solid object, but Minato didn't give up. Instead, he continued moving forward until his body overlapped with Obito's and passed right through.

"Is this a space-time ninjutsu? Is it your Mangekyo Sharingan's ability?" As expected of Minato, with his extraordinary combat skills, he instantly exposed Obito's secret.

Obito's pupils constricted, and a wooden spike shot out from his palm, heading straight for Minato's vital point.

Just as the wooden spike was about to pierce Minato's body, he instantly disappeared and reappeared behind Obito.

Flying Thunder God Technique.

Obito was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted, activating his eye power to return to his intangible state. However, his reaction speed was still a step slower than Minato's.

A Rasengan slammed squarely onto Obito's back.

The next second, Obito flew forward. While in the air, Obito completed his intangibility, but the damage he had taken was real. The tearing pain in his back nearly prevented him from standing.

Minato held back. He had the opportunity to seriously injure Obito just now, but he didn't. Perhaps out of consideration for their past relationship, or perhaps knowing that even if he could seriously injure Obito, he wouldn't be able to capture him due to Obito's intangible space-time ability.

Only Minato himself knew what he was thinking.

"That was Wood Release just now. Obito, did you also transplant the First Hokage's cells? Was it Uchiha Madara who captured you back then?" Minato asked with a serious expression.

Obito remained silent. Although he had transplanted White Zetsu cells instead of Hashirama's cells, the effect was nearly the same. Minato Namikaze was able to deduce so much from just these clues, which showed how formidable he was.

But it was precisely because of this that Obito harbored deeper resentment towards him.

"You, the Fourth Hokage, such a powerful guy, why couldn't you even save your own student?"

If he had been the one to die, Obito might not have resented anyone and might have even accepted his death with open arms. But not Rin. Nohara Rin was everything to Obito.

Her death was no different from the end of the world for him.

Obito turned around, ignoring the pain in his back and maintaining his intangible state as he met Minato's gaze.

From their eyes, they both understood each other's conviction at that moment.

Minato Namikaze no longer had any illusions and truly regarded Obito as a threat to the village, at least until he was brought under control.

However, Obito, who already understood the vast difference in combat experience between them, had no intention of giving Minato another chance and maintained his Kamui intangibility.

After that, until Obito's figure completely disappeared into the Kamui dimension, the two didn't say another word.

Obito's presence and figure completely vanished. Minato sighed helplessly and glanced at the memorial stone behind him, saying, "I really am an unqualified teacher."

At this time, Obito had also moved outside of Konoha. He didn't come out alone; he was accompanied by the special White Zetsu individual, Tobi.

Even half of a White Zetsu had been implanted into his body, which was why he was able to disguise himself as another person without any flaws.

However, this so-called flawless disguise now had a big question mark.

"Damn it, Tobi, didn't you say that no ninja could see through the White Zetsu's transformation technique? How was I discovered as soon as I got to Konoha?" Obito angrily berated Tobi.

The latter shook his head innocently. "I don't know either. I've never been discovered when I use the transformation technique to peek at other people's poop."

Uchiha Obito: ...

Okay, he shouldn't have had any expectations for this guy who was even dumber than him.

"Madara, I failed. The White Zetsu's transformation technique didn't work at all. I was discovered as soon as I entered the village."

Returning to Amegakure, Obito made excuses for his failure to gather information.

But Madara only glanced at him indifferently and said calmly, "You even exposed my existence. Never mind, I never had any expectations for you from the beginning anyway."

Uchiha Obito clenched his fists, and a look of anger appeared on his face. Madara's meaning was too obvious: he was saying that he was a failure, which, for Obito, was worse than being punished outright.

"Madara, this time it was purely an accident, next time…" Obito wanted to explain further, but was interrupted by Uchiha Madara.

"Next time, Konoha will be even more prepared. But it doesn't matter. I will go there myself. Alright, leave," Uchiha Madara waved his hand impatiently, dismissing Obito.

Originally, after Obito awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan and gained Kamui, Madara had high expectations for him. But Obito's poor performance greatly lowered Madara's expectations.

Now, Madara's requirements for Obito were very low: just don't die. After all, Kamui's ability was still very useful.

Obito's face turned red, and he trembled as he left. For him, this was another heavy humiliation.

Meanwhile, Konoha, as Uchiha Madara had expected, began preparing to respond to the unexpected.

After all, the opponent was Uchiha Madara, who could arrive at any time, so Minato Namikaze couldn't afford to take it lightly.

But if you were to say who took it most seriously, it would undoubtedly be Tobirama Senju, who was from the same era as Uchiha Madara.

Facing Uchiha Madara's power head-on, even if he had now restored his strength to his prime, he still didn't have the slightest chance of winning. Fortunately, in today's Konoha, there was someone who might be a match for Uchiha Madara.

It was his current nominal superior, Kawaki Aoba.

"Lord Aoba, the enemy is Uchiha Madara, who could arrive at any time. You should understand the other party's strength. Even if you have power no weaker than his, as long as the battlefield is in the village, regardless of victory or defeat, it will be no less than a devastating blow to our Konoha."

Listening to Tobirama Senju's words, Kawaki Aoba nodded and said, "Indeed, Tobirama, I didn't misjudge you. I'm very pleased that you can think of this. It seems that the Uchiha aren't far from truly integrating into the village.

As for what you're worried about, I've already considered it. My own large-scale sensing ability is enough to ensure that I intercept Uchiha Madara halfway before he even arrives in Konoha."

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