Chapter 167 Forbidden Land
These goggles originally belonged to Lin.
She took them after Obito's funeral, when the Uchiha clan came to collect his belongings.
It was a symbol of the boy she remembered; loud, curious, kind, and everything else.
It meant a lot to her, and when she left, they passed into Kakashi's hands.
But it meant something completely different to Rin than it did to him, and to Kakashi they had always been a symbol of false pretense.
As he stared through the burnt orange glass and battered frame, he wasn't seeing Obito; he was seeing the chakra suppressors on the inside edge of the lenses, and the subtle misty distortions on the lenses that were the perception suppressors hidden in the lining of the earcups.
He understood it at first sight, while Rin, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki never noticed it - Obito's Sharingan was already powerful enough to suppress his senses before it was fully manifested.
The goggles didn't remind him of the real Obito - not the clumsy Obito who fumbled in training, yelled and made awkward gestures while eating - but after that, Kakashi would see him outside the training grounds, goggles off, shirt off, moving fluidly with a masterful swordsmanship that they had never seen before in training.
He didn't hate the goggles, but he didn't like the reminder that he never had the chance to really know Obito, not the person he pretended to be.
Often, in those cool, heavy moments after sunset or before sunrise, he couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different if he had noticed earlier, had seen through it all earlier.
He left this souvenir there, and when he turned and left, he also left some of his regrets there.
The rest of the room was large and empty, with a few pieces of old and valuable furniture scattered around, scrolls on the walls yellowed by age, and nothing else.
The faint light disappeared at the ancient entrance, as if existence itself was blocked here.
The black Torii gate, carved from smooth black stone, was covered with seals from top to bottom. In the center of the lintel, a delicate red spider lily was carved and painted blood red. This was a warning.
Kakashi walked straight towards the dark and ancient door, and stopped when he was only one step away from the solid darkness, and then sat on the ground. He put Parker on his legs and let him sit between his legs, with his eyes downcast and a vigilant look.
"Last chance, friend." Kakashi whispered. "It's not too late to wait for me up there."
Parker snorted and said in a rough voice:
"Do not be silly."
Kakashi must have shown some worry on his face, because Puck gave another anxious bark.
"do not do that."
It stood up and placed its paws on Kakashi's chest so it could get closer to him and talk.
"We're family summons, boss. We're good at things like scouting and protecting our home—not full-on combat. You need to be prepared for full-on combat. You know that. We've always known that. So don't give me that look, damn it."
Kakashi couldn't help but smile bitterly, feeling helpless and surprised.
“You can’t see my face.”
"I've seen enough, idiot," Parker growled. "Stop it."
Kakashi pulled the ninja dog into his arms, his oldest summoned beast, his companion of more than twenty years, his closest friend, only to hear it whimper in surprise.
"Okay, Parker."
Parker whispered.
"I've known you since you were a cub."
---
A few minutes later, when Kakashi stood up, his steps were extremely firm.
Puck decided to walk under his own power this time, but could jump back into Kakashi's arms if things got bad.
As soon as he passed through the dark, ancient door, the strange buzzing sound disappeared.
The sudden silence was eerie, and Kakashi once again felt as if he had crossed the edge of the known world and entered an entirely different realm.
He felt that it should be cold here, but it was not. Only through touch could he feel that he was walking on jagged steps that meandered down to endless darkness.
Parker kept close to his calf as they carefully made their way down.
This journey seemed to take a long time.
Here, time seemed to have lost its meaning. Even though Kakashi used his breathing to tell time, he still felt that time was stretched out, and with every step he took, time became longer and longer.
He began to feel that perhaps this staircase had no end at all—perhaps there was no last step, perhaps the darkness itself was a bottomless abyss, perhaps his ancestors had lied after all.
But at this moment, Parker whispered:
"I think I saw something."
Just as it finished speaking, Kakashi began to see a faint light flickering in the darkness below, like a swaying fire. They were almost there.
He swallowed hard. In theory, he knew what was down there; his father had told him, but the information had been more like a threat, a warning to keep him from going astray because of his curiosity as a child.
He eventually died because of it.
But Kakashi was no longer a child.
His legacy was no longer the shadow of an angry, savage monster—just more of the dead.
And Kakashi hasn't been afraid of the dead for a long time.
When he finally stepped out of the stairs and into the darkness, with long shadows spreading beneath him, he found himself filled with emotions stranger than fear.
"What's wrong, Boss?" Parker asked nervously, taking a few steps back and hiding behind Kakashi.
"Parker, do you remember..." Kakashi said slowly, "I really told you to just wait for me up there."
