Sin

Having exhausted all the courage in his soul, Uchiha Obito finally, slowly, opened his eyes, eyes that had held so much darkness and longing.

The first scene that came into view instantly seized all his senses and thoughts.

It was that face.

That face that appeared clearly in my midnight dreams countless times, and that I despairingly concluded in my waking hours that I would never see again—the face of Nohara Rin.

However, unlike the face frozen in memory during her teenage years, bearing a resolute and sorrowful expression at the last moment, and also unlike the stiffness of Genjutsu, this was not the case.

The face before him was vibrant, with a warm glow, and those bright eyes gazed at him quietly, a mixture of uncertain inquiry and unwavering tenderness.

Her lips were slightly pursed, showing a mixture of nervousness and anticipation—this was the real Lin.

"Obito... this is the afterlife, right?" Rin's voice rang out softly, carrying the bewilderment of someone just awakened and a guess about the current situation.

She looked at the tall, mature man before her, his somber demeanor barely concealing his excitement, and tried to reconcile him with the somewhat clumsy, bright-smiling boy with goggles she remembered. "Did... do I keep you waiting long?"

I see...

Rin's words instantly cleared Obito's chaotic consciousness.

I'm already dead... I've arrived in the afterlife...

So... it was that simple?!

A torrent of emotions suddenly overwhelmed all of Obito's defenses. It was an utter collapse—a collapse of his absurd life, which had been one of indulging in darkness and committing countless sins for the past decade or so.

It turns out that death is not an eternal farewell. It turns out that as long as you cross that boundary, the person you long for day and night can appear before you so easily and within reach!

If I had known it would be like this...

If only I had known I would see Rin immediately after I died...

Why did I struggle in that false dream for over a decade?! Why did I bear those sins and hurt so many people?!

More than ten years ago, the moment I saw Lin's death, I should have ended my own life...!

The overwhelming sense of waste and deep regret nearly overwhelmed Obito.

Seeing the complex expression on the face of the grown-up "Obito," a mixture of wanting to cry and ecstatic joy, Rin felt even more heartache.

She thought she was late, causing "Little Obito" to suffer prolonged loneliness while waiting alone in the afterlife.

"I'm sorry..." She leaned forward slightly, "Have I kept you waiting for a very long time?"

"No! No! It's... it's me!" Obito seemed stung by those words, shaking his head violently. "It's me! It's me who made Rin wait so long... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I... I... I really took so many detours... I went on such a long, long way..."

As he spoke, the immense guilt and the shock of the reunion caused Obito to lower his head like a child, his shoulders shaking, and he let out a suppressed sob.

Lin was startled, not expecting such a strong reaction, but she acted immediately. She reached out, wanting to touch him, but hesitated, stopping mid-air. She then spoke urgently in a reassuring tone.

"It's okay, Obito, it's really okay! Actually, I feel like I just slept for a very long time, I didn't even notice the passage of time... Obito, I didn't expect you to have grown so much... It's okay, I won't go anywhere else from now on, I'll stay here with you..."

She wanted to make up for the time she imagined he spent waiting alone by spending time with her.

"No! That's not it!" Obito suddenly raised his head, tears streaming down his face, his eyes filled with fear and undisguised guilt. Rin's gentle misunderstanding made him feel more ashamed than any reprimand. He couldn't think, and could only instinctively shout it out hoarsely.

"I... I didn't die back then! Really! It was Lin... Lin waited for me for so many years... I was just too late!"

"Someone saved me...it was Uchiha Madara ...and then, my body was healed using Hashirama Cells ...that's why I look like this now... At that time, all I was thinking about was recovering quickly so I could go find you and Kakashi ...but I never expected...when I got there...I saw...I saw that scene..."

Obito narrated haltingly and incoherently, trying to piece together fragments of the truth and explain why he grew up and why he was late.

However, his words left Lin looking confused and bewildered.

She... didn't quite understand what Obito was saying. Uchiha Madara? Hashirama Cells? Healing? Rushing off?

However, from Obito's agitated and pained words, she gleaned a piece of information that astonished her greatly—

Does Obito mean... he... died later than him?

Just Nohara Rin was bewildered by the implied information in Obito's words that "he died later," a sense of common sense quietly seeped into her perception.

This place is the afterlife, and every soul is accompanied by a [Mirror of Causality] that reflects everything that happened in their previous life.

At the same time, the moment Obito received this message, all the color drained from his face, turning deathly pale.

This is the root of Obito's fear...

What he feared was never death, or even hell. What he feared was the look in Lin's eyes when she learned the truth—disappointment, hatred, or utter estrangement.

This mirror was undoubtedly the most direct and irrefutable way to present all his shame and sins nakedly to Lin.

However, Obito also knew that it was impossible to hide it. In this Pure Land, countless souls who had died directly or indirectly because of him lay dormant.

Unless he turns and runs away immediately, it's only a matter of time before the truth is revealed.

For Uchiha Obito, the option of "leaving Rin's side" was far more terrifying than being annihilated.

That would mean losing even the only solace and light of redemption in the afterlife, signifying a darkness deeper than hell.

And so, under Rin's still bewildered gaze, Obito moved stiffly and slowly, like a puppet being manipulated. He reached towards the chest of his semi-transparent soul form, following the guidance of "common sense."

An antique-style mirror appeared in his palm.

He dared not look into Lin's eyes, but humbly lowered his head and used all his strength to hand the heavy mirror to Lin.

This act itself is the most complete confession and surrender.

When Obito did this, he wasn't entirely unaware of what was happening. He anticipated that after Rin saw everything in the mirror, she might angrily berate him, reveal extreme disappointment in her gentle eyes, or even Teuchi him... He was prepared to accept any reaction.

But Obito had a fundamental belief that supported him in carrying out this self-destructive act.

Lin... will never give up on me.

No matter what he becomes, or what sins he commits, Nohara Rin... perhaps, possibly, probably... won't completely push him away, won't let him truly fall into an abyss where not even a ray of light can shine.

Nohara Rin looked at the mirror handed to her, then at Obito's deathly pale profile, a face etched with pain and despair. Did Obito want her to... see his "life before"?

With an increasingly heavy unease in her heart, Lin reached out and took the mirror. The instant her fingertips touched the mirror's surface—

Light and shadow begin to shift.

The mirror follows the soul's deepest will; the image does not begin with the most unbearable later stages, but traces back to the very beginning.

Obito, a boy who never met his parents and lived with his kind grandmother, was a bespectacled boy at the Ninja Academy who was always late and Dead Last grades. With Rin's patient companionship and encouragement, he clumsily grew up little by little until the moment he finally Jonin Forehead Protector...

Then came the formation of Team 7, Minato-sensei's gentle smile, and his always-stern-faced genius teammate Kakashi carrying out missions and participating in the Chunin Ninja Exams...

The scenes jump around quickly, yet clearly depict that period of youth—a time interwoven with sunshine and sweat, clumsy yet full of hope.

Then, the shadow of war loomed over the battlefield. The scene shifted to the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.

Even though the mirror kindly "fast-forwarded," that crucial scene—the moment when the boulder crashed down, completely burying half of the boy who had bravely pushed Kakashi away—still pierced Rin's eyes and heart.

She instinctively held her breath, her eyes reddening. In her understanding and memory, this was the end of Uchiha Obito's life.

However, the video... did not stop.

The light and shadow in the mirror dimmed only slightly for a moment before brightening again, presenting a scene that Lin could not comprehend at all.

"Am I... dead? Where am I...?"

That was the voice of young Obito, hoarse and confused. Then, a chilling scene appeared on the screen: a scarlet Three Tomoe Sharingan, and... a wrinkled, aged face emerging from the shadows.

"This is the gap between the underworld and reality... the Uchiha clansmen."

That second game's female version of Uchiha Sasuke, the original skin might be because the artist is a foot fetishist and the author didn't like that angle, so let's look at the skin instead.