Thanks for Teaching Me How to Be a Person

"Your love is beneath mine!"

Those words struck Uchiha Obito like a blow to the head, leaving him completely stunned.

All this time, he had believed that he was the one who loved Nohara Rin most in the world.

No one understood Rin better than he did. No one cared about Rin more than he did. No one wanted Rin to be happy more than he did.

But now, he wavered.

Just hearing that Rin was unhappy had been enough for Uchiha Chi to awaken his Sharingan...

There was actually someone in this world so pure, someone who cared so deeply about Rin.

Compared to him, himself... someone like himself...

"Can someone like you really make Rin happy?" Uchiha Chi seemed to hear his thoughts and asked softly.

Uchiha Obito immediately fell silent. He stared blankly at Uchiha Chi without saying a word.

All this time, he had regarded Uchiha Chi as a failure.

But now, did he, who had failed to make Rin happy, count as a failure too?

His confession had not even begun, yet perhaps it had already ended...

Uchiha Chi carefully observed Obito's gradually darkening expression and sensed that his mood had hit rock bottom.

He nodded slightly, deciding it was time to buy low.

"Can you accept it? Can you accept that your love is beneath mine?"

[Detected Uchiha Obito's unwillingness!]

[Obtained 10 points. Damage Increase raised by 2%!]

His ocular power flowed through his eyes, silently stirring Uchiha Obito's emotions.

"Imagine her in a pure white wedding dress, being led into the hall of marriage by someone you don't know, holding a wedding under the gazes of family and friends."

"Imagine you and Rin encountering a powerful enemy during a mission. Because you lack the ability to protect her, you lose her forever."

"Now imagine..."

"Can you accept any of that...?"

Uchiha Obito's face was filled with terror.

"No..."

He closed his eyes and covered his ears, but for some reason, the scenes Uchiha Chi described appeared out of nowhere in his mind, incomparably clear.

For the first five seconds.

He saw Nohara Rin in a wedding dress, holding a wedding with a stranger.

And he could only sit at the classmates' table, watching from afar as he drowned his sorrows in drink.

He had thought nothing could be worse than that.

Then came the next five seconds.

He saw Nohara Rin being pierced through the heart by an enemy right in front of him.

Before her life completely faded away, she even urged him to run.

That scene was even more hellish than the first, making his heart ache unbearably.

"Don't..."

"Gah!" Blood vessels crawled across Uchiha Obito's eyes as he cried out in a broken voice, "I don't want to see something like that!"

As he spoke, Obito extended his index and middle fingers and fiercely jabbed them toward his bloodshot eyeballs.

Just as he was about to forcibly gouge out his own eyes.

A pair of steady, powerful hands tightly restrained him.

"Obito, calm down."

Uchiha Chi's gentle voice entered his ears. At the same time, he silently deactivated his Sharingan, cutting off the flow of ocular power.

"When facing a predicament you find hard to accept, you should not run away. You should face the difficulty head-on and think about how to break through it."

"Don't run away, don't run away..." Uchiha Obito crouched on the ground, clutching his heart in agony as he repeated Uchiha Chi's words over and over.

Under Uchiha Chi's concerned gaze.

Uchiha Obito's eyes turned completely red.

In an instant, a black tomoe appeared within Obito's scarlet eyes.

Uchiha Chi: "...?"

Come on, man, I was just talking. You really awakened it?

Was this Obito's Sharingan Awakening Talent?

[Detected Uchiha Obito's emotional fluctuation!]

[Obtained 20 points. Defense raised by 4%!]

[Target's emotional fluctuation exceeded the standard. Host received an additional reward: Sharingan Awakening Talent (Obito Version).]

Only then did Uchiha Chi feel balanced after seeing the reward.

Good, good, good. Now Obito's strongest Sharingan Awakening Talent was in his hands too.

Though for someone like him, who could awaken his Sharingan as long as he had enough points, this talent did not really have any practical use.

Still, it was better than nothing. He had decided to collect them all anyway, and now he was one step closer to a full collection.

And besides...

Uchiha Chi glanced at the azure screen.

[Sharingan Awakening Talent (Obito Version): You will find it easier to awaken the Sharingan. In addition, your ocular power will be greatly enhanced.]

Did it not also come with an extra ocular power boost?

"What is this feeling...?"

Uchiha Obito trembled as he covered his eyes.

It seemed he did not know that he had awakened his Sharingan.

Uchiha Sasuke had been the same back then. While playing clan-member match-three, he had not realized he had awakened it. Later, when he went out on a mission and directly used a Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Sasuke had thought he was simply gifted enough to awaken two tomoe in one go.

After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Chi entered the bedroom, brought out a mirror, and held it before Uchiha Obito.

Uchiha Obito looked into it instinctively.

When he saw the tomoe swirling in his eyes, his already not-so-quick mind completely crashed.

"This is... my Sharingan?" he said blankly, unable to believe it.

"That's right." Uchiha Chi smiled and patted Obito's trembling shoulder. "See? As long as you don't run away and believe that you can do it, you will eventually find the answer."

"The answer?"

"That's right, the answer." Uchiha Chi nodded with a smile. "These eyes are the answer you gave yourself."

Uchiha Obito was deeply moved.

All this time, he had desperately longed to possess these eyes.

To welcome his Sharingan as early as possible, he applied eye drops at fixed times every day and wore goggles to protect his eyes.

Yet after all these years, the Sharingan had never come.

He had thought that not only was he ordinary in terms of ninja talent, but that he was mediocre even when it came to awakening his eyes. Yet now, he had awakened them here with Uchiha Chi...

"Don't run away... my answer..." Obito repeated Uchiha Chi's words again and again. His voice grew softer and softer, but his eyes gradually became wet.

Half an hour later.

Uchiha Obito stood at the doorway after finishing his conversation with Uchiha Chi. His face was filled with gratitude and anticipation, and none of the confusion he had arrived with remained.

During that half hour, he and Uchiha Chi had talked about many things—the past, the present, the future...

No matter what he said, Uchiha Chi could always pick up the conversation smoothly and offer an interesting perspective, allowing them to keep talking comfortably.

Uchiha Obito had never met anyone who understood him so well.

He understood him even better than Rin did...

"Don't worry. Tomorrow, I'll properly apologize to Rin."

He looked at Uchiha Chi before him and said seriously:

"No matter what happens, I won't run away anymore. Running away will only make things worse. This... is my ninja way!"

"Thank you. Thank you for teaching me how to be a person!"