The pieces that's being tied together makes the story clearer, certainly, Kento thinks. But nowhere near being better for one's health.
The more of this sordid tale that gets uncovered, the worse it becomes. The more the webs just tie together, making one see the events from the future and realizing that there really was no stopping these chains of events- that everything here leads to one, concrete ending.
It makes Kento realize that neither Uchiha Obito nor Hatake Kakashi had a chance of ever being able to lead a normal life.
For both of them, it was the world they were born into. The clans that heralded their births.
For Hatake Kakashi, he was born with eyes that would mark him as something- only for it to be the very thing that would cause the approaching tragedy. Forced to grow beyond his age to the circumstances that soon followed.
For Uchiha Obito, he was born as nothing. An orphan, weak. In a clan where power means more than most. In a clan where your talent denotes your status, Uchiha Obito had none. But it is a double-edged sword in the same veins, for the power that the Uchiha clan vied for only led to the stained blood of kin and that of madness.
They were born in the jujutsu world, in a time where power and honor must be had for one's clan.
They were entered into a rat race before they even knew what they wanted with their lives. And while Kento may be a sorcerer all the same- he is an adult. He knows what he's getting into. He's just chosen the life that he felt was the lesser of the two evils, he's chosen his lot and come what may- it is a rat race he voluntarily entered.
He doubts they even knew what it really meant.They were children, not knowing what they want in life but that's the lot they were born into. Starting young, dying young. Even modern sorcerers aren't immune to deaths at an early age, Kento knows this. By god does he know this.
But it's terrible, all the same. To know that they were even younger when they died on the field. Their life expectancy was even shorter than it is today- still an abysmal number. Uchiha Obito came back to life, but that boy still died at thirteen. A second lease on life does not erase the first death. It does not change the fact that Uchiha Obito had once died and he died as a child. And upon that death, he had marked out the path for his and Hatake Kakashi's life.
The terribleness of this whole thing is this:
They were born and it feels as though they hadn't stood a single chance.
"That would certainly do it," Kento muses. "Those last words."
Gojo just hums, he doesn't quite say anything for a quiet moment.
"That's certainly the catalyst."
Last words are a significant thing. Whether it's to the common world or to that of the jujutsu world.
In both worlds, it is an emotional affair. As death often is.
In the common world, 'last words' can range from anywhere between said on one's deathbed to the last word spoken by loved ones before their untimely passing by some unpredictable means afterwards. It can range to that of the meaningful, to that of the lighthearted. For sometimes, one does not know that they are speaking their last words at all.
In the jujutsu world, the definition of 'last words' are more concrete, more specific. 'Last words' are something spoken by a sorcerer on the verge of death- often a violent one, with their blood staining the grounds and their bodies most likely in pieces.
Their deaths are expected yet unexpected at the same time, for while sorcerers know they are bound to die earlier than most- they never quite know when death will come for them. These last words are spoken at the juncture between life and death for sorcerers.
When they came against a curse they couldn't fell and were killed in return. The way they die is rarely pleasant, it is something everyone knows. Yet rarely knows what it truly means until the moment they feel the pain of death looming overhead. The slowing of one's heart; the blurring of the pain; the wetness of one's blood that seemingly overflows as the vessel of their body gives in; the knowledge that today will be the last day they will live and at any moment they will cease to exist.
It is in those visceral moments of realization, of understanding what dying truly means wherein their last words become the most potent of all.
It is the zenith of a sorcerer's cursed energy. For it will be the cumulation of the negative emotions that humans can have- helplessness, fear, pain, regret- anything and everything condensing- warping, twisting-
Becoming.
It all needs a conduit, a release. Something to be channeled into.
Oftentimes, it can lead to sorcerers becoming curses. Their own body falling to the cursed energy they can no longer control. Hence the need to exorcise sorcerers as soon as they die, as to ensure that they cannot decay and become a future enemy.
Other times, this release comes in the form of words. Spoken, perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not. But what remains is this:
A curse has been placed.
It doesn't matter the intention of those words.
It doesn't matter whether it's meant well or not. Everything becomes a curse, eventually.
Sorcerers are taught it best to not say anything at all. Lest it leaves behind a burden that can never be quite lifted.
But the thing about dying is this:
It is hard to think about anything else at that moment. It is hard to think about what you've been taught, it is hard to think about that over the haze of pain and the thought that you're dying and there's no coming back from this and you want to at least say something-anything.
Because no one wants to die in silence, no one wants to die feeling like they're alone and unheard.
They want to cry from the pain, they want to beg for death to come another day, they want to bargain to live, they want to say their regrets aloud, they want to say something- anything- to their partner so that a part of them will live on.
There are many things that come crashing down on a person upon their death.
The last of it would be about some lesson taught long ago.
The last of it would be thinking about the future- for they will have none.
They do not think of the consequences of it. Of their cries and pleading and bargaining. Of how their regrets will weigh down another, of how their wishes will become curses.
They do not think of it. For they are dying.
They do not think of how their words will haunt someone else's dreams for the rest of their lives at the very least- and how it'll shape it entirely at its most potent.
And for Uchiha Obito-
'See the future for me.'
They are meant to be kind words, hopeful ones. For Hatake Kakashi to continue living beyond Uchiha Obito's death.
The regret that Uchiha Obito felt at that moment must've been terrible. For dying at thirteen, only shortly after awakening the eyes that he had yearned for his entire life. The power within his grasp, the friendship that he had gotten back after so many years-
All of that will be gone. And he will be dead at only thirteen years of age.
Sorcerers die awfully young back then, Uchiha Obito must've known this.
It is hard for adults to even fathom death, let alone Uchiha Obito. Who have only known the life of a sorcerer. Who was taught from young and knows that the only way to gain honor and love is through being a sorcerer.
Who does not know what his life really means beyond pleasing his clan. Beyond the lot that he got.
Adults can rarely fathom what death truly means; Uchiha Obito was thirteen when he died.
It is a painful death, at that. Half of your body to the rocks. The violent flash of pain- it is harsh for even the most trained sorcerers to bear. Let alone the young body of a child, not yet having grown. Not yet having even passed puberty.
The regret he must've felt in that moment; the pain of half his body; the knowledge that what he wanted was so close and yet will forever be lost; the knowledge thatthisis death and he is dying at thirteen; the helplessness of being trapped; the fear of dying-
To die at thirteen, to look heavenwards and know that your heart will cease on this day.
To look at the boy blessed by the gods with the strength that you yearn for, the boy that you fought with only but earlier that day-
To look at that boy, with the heavens in his eyes, and to wish for him to live.
Uchiha Obito must've cared for Hatake kakashi, for even in death his words are that to push Hatake Kakashi forward, push that boy to live. Or it was meant to be.
But he must not have known how the cards would've unfolded.
It is only fair.
He was thirteen and dying.
Satoru has his thoughts about why Uchiha Obito had chosen those words instead of a simple 'live.' The most likely conjecture is that Uchiha Obito had wanted some part of him to live on with Hatake Kakashi. 'See the future for me', means that if Hatake Kakashi lives, then a part of Uchiha Obito will live on with him. That whatever Hatake Kakashi sees-
Perhaps it'll be shared with Uchiha Obito in the afterlife.
He could not have fathomed the consequences of those five words. Unfolding but years and years after.
At the moment when he had spoken those words-
He had bound his and Hatake Kakashi's lives together.
It also speaks to Hatake Kakashi's feelings towards Uchiha Obito. That for even all that they argued before that day-
He had not exorcised Uchiha Obito.
If he did, perhaps their story would've ended there. As perhaps even a curse the magnitude of the Juubi would be unable to bring someone exorcised by the Six Eyes back to life.
But he did not. Even if he was undoubtedly taught to do so. For sorcerers are more likely than the common folk to turn into a curse- for someone to die such a death, for it to be an Uchiha who awakened their eyes-
Hatake Kakashi had chosen to walk away. Even with the skies in his eyes, even with the technique that the world yearns for within his palm. Even if it were to be so easy to exorcise a dying boy of but thirteen years of age- with half his body crushed under the rubble.
Hatake Kakashi did not do so.
Satoru does not know what Hatake Kakashi thought at that moment. He will never know. For the man is long dead and gone to the winds.
But what he does know is this:
It would've been so, so very easy to exorcise Uchiha Obito.
And yet.
At the same time, it would've been almost impossible.
It is hard for grown sorcerers to exorcise their own coworkers; Hatake Kakashi was only twelve, looking at his dying childhood playmate and teammate of one year.
The regret he felt at that moment must've been terrible as well.
For he is the son of god, for he is the bearer of the Six Eyes.
And yet.
Uchiha Obito had died under his eyes all the same.
Satoru hadn't perfected his technique until his later teenage years; Hatake Kakashi was only twelve.
But he must've blamed himself all the same.
What Hatake Kakashi felt at that moment is unknown to Satoru. But what he knows is that Hatake Kakashi had not exorcised Uchiha Obito, even if he could've. He had not used his technique on Uchiha Obito.
He couldn't.
He had left behind Uchiha Obito's corpse. Even if it would've only taken a moment to ensure the job was done right, to follow those rules that he became so attached to from his father's death.
But he hadn't.
(Satoru can't fault Hatake Kakashi for that. It would make him a bit of a hypocrite, he thinks. And Satoru is nothing if self aware).
And Uchiha Obito was raised from his grave one fine day. Wherein someone was given in exchange for him to become a vessel.
Satoru wonders what Hatake Kakashi must've thought once they reunited. Wherein Uchiha Obito is no longer the boy that needs his protection, but now is the one on the other side of the blade. The pests that a scarecrow is meant to deter.
The one he is meant to exorcise on one, fine day.
He wonders if Hatake Kakashi had heard Uchiha Obito's heart and knows that one day it will cease to beat, and it will be Hatake Kakashi's hands that will bring it to rest.
Satoru wonders what Hatake Kakashi felt as they reunited. Seeing the dead rise from the grave, their last words still resounding in your ears- and yet their heart, too, can be heard through the haze. Knowing that you just watched him die and let his body go untarnished into the afterlife, for you cannot bring yourself to exorcise him- to perform this last act of desecration upon his body.
Knowing so, and then knowing that one day you will be forced to. The exorcism that you walked away from is once again imminent, but this time-
There can be no walking away from this.
He wonders what Hatake Kakashi must've felt, having the blade forced into his hands all the same.
It doesn't matter, for the ending is the same.
'See the future for me.' What happens then, if the dead were to rise?
How do you see the future for someone that breathes next to you?
You can't, and it is all the better that way.
But Satoru has no doubt that when Uchiha Obito's death came approaching once more, those words had resurfaced in the back of Hatake Kakashi's mind like a blight.
It is all too easy to draw the path from there, see where the roads diverged and where Hatake Kakashi made his decision.
'I have to see the future for you' becomes null when 'you' are alive.
But 'you' are going to die. 'I' have to execute 'you.'
'I' will have to see the future in 'your' stead once more.
(Placed in these shoes. In that position- Hatake Kakashi had chosen. For those words had stuck in his mind, even if he were the strongest-
For there can be nothing that can protect one's heart.)
If that is so, if it is meant to be so-
Wouldn't 'you' like it more if 'I' let 'you' see the future with 'your' own eyes?
The suggestion has been made long, long ago. Back when a boy of thirteen had said his last words, and a boy of twelve had etched it deep into his heart.
Last words. A powerful thing. A cursed thing.
In the end-
They all become twisted, as all things in the jujutsu world does.
Perhaps the tragedy began there, with those words.
Uchiha Obito's fate had perhaps been settled from that moment as he cursed Hatake Kakashi.
Curse and be cursed. That is how the jujutsu world works.
And Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi had both cursed each other.
Both curses are the same.
Cursed to see the future.
"A catalyst?" Kento asks, feeling his brow raise slightly. It feels as though Gojo's head is still somewhere up in the clouds or still absorbed in the haze of his imaginations.
Kento wonders what goes on in the man's mind sometimes, but he is wise enough to know that it is not a beast to be prodded.
God knows that Kento's mind is already nearing a state of collapse if he is to be fed anymore of Gojo's treasonous theories.
But it's not like the man cares about that, clearly, seeing as he isstilllounging on Kento's table like he belongs there.
He doesn't. Kento paid for that table with money from some curse and he knows for certain that he did not invite Gojo to lounge on it.
He is once again reminded that he is not paid to be any part of this. It is the worst type of overtime- unpaid.
And he can't even complain to any of his colleagues because of the treasonous theories. Clearly Gojo had all of this planned out carefully. Knowing that Kento can't even file some kind of wage theft complaint because he's listening to treasonous theories that would get him too dead to care about money if he were to say anything about it.
Kento knows that at least one Okkotsu Yuta is involved in this whole thing, but Kento is not so far gone as to complain to a child about his problems. And Okkotsu feels like he's got his own share of troubles being Gojo's student and all.
God knows that boy has a sane head on his shoulders, and that does not mesh particularly well with Gojo's, well, everything. See: Kento, Ichiji, Principal Yaga.
"Well, last words are strong, sure, but against the strongest?"
Gojo smiles, as are many of his smiles during these types of evenings, it is not pleasant.
"It takes a bit more than that, you know."
Uchiha Obito is a curse created from the strongest.
It is a being of regret and grief, forever mourning for a past that will never come.
It is a being created from love, all the same.
It is a being created from the strongest. From a man not meant to curse a single thing. From a man meant to be untouchable, both that of body and of heart. From a man that is a god amongst men.
That man had gone against everything he had stood for. He had gone against his teachings, the safety of the world. He had chosen one man above a thousand others, it is both a sin and a mark against everything that he stood for as the strongest.
Even if there were last words haunting him, in the end, he was the strongest. Those last words were perhaps nothing but suggestions that dictated the path he would walk upon but not push him to those steps in the first place.
And so Hatake Kakashi walked.
He had walked away, once, unable to exorcise a boy of thirteen- his past playmate.
He had walked away, twice, unable to exorcise a man that came back from the dead.
Hatake Kakashi had walked away twice, breaking whatever rules and morals he had as the strongest.
And both times were for Uchiha Obito.
He must've cared all the same. Even if his heart were meant to be as cold as the clouds.
Human nature is rarely so systematic. It is rarely so cold, and human lives are not meant to be lived without love. It cannot be lived without attachments, and Hatake Kakashi is not a scarecrow that lacks a heart.
Satoru knows so, for the proof of it is alive in front of his eyes now.
For as much as he was taught to be above that, for as much as he wasmeantto be so. He had failed. And he had loved.
Loved enough to go against everything he stood for. To become a scarecrow, but only for a corpse.
Satoru wondered how he looked, as he gazed down upon those strands of white. That unbeating heart, those bloodless veins.
Regretful, perhaps. Saddened, likely. Guilty, very likely.
Loving, certainly.
You do not give up your morals for just anyone, you do not curse just anyone- not as the strongest.
And you especially do not create a curse of just any sorcerer, just for him to see the future.
Hatake Kakashi must've loved.
And love is the most twisted curse of all.
(Satoru knows so.
He had tread upon those paths once. Walked along the road that many have taken. It is an easy thing to say, love. It is an easy thing to feel. It is easy to let yourself fall into its rapture.
He had looked at a dying man, once, as well. And that man had held a piece of his heart. Never to be taken back.
It is easy to love, and perhaps that is why it is so deadly. It is uncontrollable, for you do not dictate where your heart goes and where its pieces scatter. You cannot decide who holds your heart, and you cannot retract it so easily.
Satoru knows so.
He had tread upon those paths once.
It didn't have a happy ending either.)
Uchiha Obito is not a curse made from some boy's last words.
Those words played an important role, certainly.
But at the end of it all-
'Uchiha Obito' is a curse created from love.
And that's the terrible thing about it.
If Yuuji were to be asked how he ended up in this situation, he wouldn't know either.
He just wanted to take a walk off the school buildings for once. And so what if it were in the middle of the night? He happens to have a very reliable source (former alumni, in fact) that says that it's just sort of a tradition thing. And that no, Principal Yaga isn't that harsh on punishments, don't worry.
And besides, he's dying soon. Yuuji is of the opinion that he should get to sneak out sometimes, play truant or something for the full living experience.
Or something like that.
It would be a pretty boring night all the same, except he'd get to spend it walking and getting some fresh air.
Would be, being the key words here. Seeing as it's gotten pretty interesting.
Interesting, as in potentially deadly.
"Yuta-senpai," Yuuji asks curiously. "What are you doing here?"
Yuta-senpai, the 'nice' one according to Megumi, glances back at him with wide, wide eyes. Well, Yuuji thinks it's not a hard question to answer. It is night time and Yuta-senpai is still wearing his uniform with a sword slung over his shoulder and looks to be heading to a mission, maybe?
Yuuji looks around, it is a pretty abandoned area, all considering, look, there's even a curse right there.
There's even a curse right there.
It looks awfully familiar though.
It's Uchiha Obito.
Uchiha Obito, who is looking remarkably unperturbed at seeing Yuuji's sudden appearance away from his usual, well, routine.
Yuuji would be similarly blaise, sort of, if only there weren't a certain someone else standing in between them.
His upperclassman, in a sorcerer school.
His upperclassman, who has just returned from overseas 'super secret' training.
His upperclassman, special grade sorcerer.
There is a solid moment of silence.
Yuuji wonders how exactly one plays hostage negotiator for a curse.