His Light Was Rin

Late at night, Konoha Military Police Force headquarters.

"Release!"

The seal was temporarily lifted, and the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, pulled open the iron bars and walked inside.

Behind him, Shisui Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan's genius, raised a hand. The Uchiha ninja surrounding them all withdrew.

Just as Shisui turned to leave as well, Minato spoke. "Worthy of Body Flicker Shisui, the man who made enemies tremble on the battlefield. You've already guessed it? Then come with me."

"As a junior from the Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, having understood love and then lost it, you and Obito should share the same wounds, shouldn't you?"

Shisui stopped outside the iron bars, turned around, and silently stood behind Minato.

"Haa..."

Minato exhaled, his outstretched hand already touching the Spiral Mask.

Crack.

With a crisp sound, Minato removed the mask. Yet the face that entered his sight was vastly different from the disciple he remembered, the one whose face had always shone like the sun.

Half of his face was made of Hashirama Cells, twisted and grotesque. His eye sockets had stopped bleeding, but they were hollow. Even without eyeballs, one could tell that the spirit within them was gone.

"O...bito."

The faint voice reached his ears, but Obito, with his head raised, let out a harsh laugh.

"Teach...er, you knew it was me all along, didn't you? The person who gave you that information didn't tell you who I was?"

Obito went on by himself. "Right. Both you and Kakashi are ninja who made great names for yourselves on the battlefield. Your ability to analyze intelligence naturally goes without saying. It's just that bastard Kakashi doesn't understand the Mangekyō. Otherwise..."

Minato shook his head slightly. "I only want to know why you became like this. Yesterday, you intended to attack Kushina, didn't you? Release the Nine Tails, destroy Konoha, and perhaps... kill your own teacher and the Kushina who cared for you along the way?"

Obito's lips curled up, without the slightest hint of anger at being exposed. "A Konoha without Rin, a world without Rin, means nothing to me!"

"When Kakashi's Chidori pierced through Rin's chest, this world lost all meaning to me! Teacher, who was always one step too late. Kakashi, who killed Rin. Neither of you kept your promises."

Minato shook his head slightly and was about to say something when Obito sneered and cut him off. "Isobu was sealed inside Rin? I know. I also know that Rin herself asked Kakashi to kill her. Is that what you wanted to say, Teacher...?"

Minato was rendered speechless.

"Hahahaha..."

Obito laughed wildly. Two streams of tears, mixed with blood, fell from his hollow eye sockets.

The pain of his torn wounds was nothing compared to the pain in his heart. Just as Minato had many questions he wanted to ask him, he too had far too many questions he wanted to demand of Minato and Kakashi.

The only light in his world was Rin... Nohara Rin!

"Teacher... where were you when Rin was taken away? Where were you when the boulder fell and pinned me down? Where were you when Isobu was sealed inside Rin?"

"If only... if only you had been there... if you, who mastered Sealing Jutsu, had been there... Rin wouldn't have died!!"

Obito's body tensed as he roared, pulling the restraining chains taut.

Yet neither Minato nor Shisui made any move.

"Obito, as your teacher, nothing I say now can change Rin's death. But... I'm sorry! Your teacher failed to protect you."

As his words fell, Minato, who had closed his eyes slightly just moments ago, let out a long breath and opened them. A smile rose to his lips. "So, Obito, can you come back? Return to Konoha. You'll still be Obito, still my disciple, still... Rin's teammate!"

Obito froze.

Minato continued with a smile. "Other than Kakashi, Shisui, and Captain Fugaku, no one will know about what happened last night. Those two medical ninja will keep silent as well. Come back, Obito."

For a time, silence filled the space within the iron bars.

Behind him, Shisui merely gave Minato a somewhat surprised glance. The bearing and wisdom of a Hokage made him admire Minato at this moment.

After all, if they had not received so much intelligence in advance, the Nine Tails would inevitably have been released last night. And once the Nine Tails left its Jinchuriki, Kushina, the Fourth Hokage's wife, would certainly have died.

In the end, even Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage, might not have escaped unscathed.

He could even forgive a disciple who had nearly destroyed his family, and he had insisted Shisui stay just now. Presumably, this was what he wanted Shisui to see.

The power of the Mangekyō Sharingan last night—Susanoo and the Kotoamatsukami ability in his right eye—had clearly remained on the Fourth Hokage's mind.

No, there was also that Mangekyō with its space-time ability. It must have weighed heavily on the Fourth Hokage's scales as well.

He wanted Shisui to trust him completely, to trust that this newly appointed Hokage, untouched by the Second's influence, would show the Uchiha the greatest tolerance.

"Tch! Hehe..."

A low laugh echoed within the iron bars. Obito suddenly raised his head, his eye sockets, split open like bloody holes, staring at Minato.

"I don't need it!"

"I don't need Konoha, I don't need a teacher, and I don't need anyone. I only need to create a world where Rin exists. Everything else is unimportant. It doesn't matter anymore!!"

Amid his roar, a burst of blue Chakra erupted, instantly breaking through the jutsu formula that had been sealing his Chakra.

Blue Chakra surged upward, snapping the chains one after another. But in the next instant...

Bang!

"Seal!"

Yet in only an instant, Minato's hand pressed against Obito's lower abdomen. The power of the seal locked down the Chakra that had just risen and had not yet formed a skeletal frame.

"Even without the Sharingan, you can still use Susanoo? Though you haven't even reached the first stage, I have to say that you truly are an Uchiha genius."

As Shisui spoke, he deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan. He too had been ready to unleash Susanoo just now.

Obito lay collapsed on the ground without a sound. He no longer wanted to say anything. He had asked his questions and received an apology. Was that useful?

Rin would not return. There was no Rin in this world.

"Let's go."

Minato gave his disciple one final look before turning and leaving. Behind him, Shisui closed the iron bars and set the seal again.

In the corridor, Shisui hesitated, as though wanting to speak but stopping himself.

Minato, walking ahead, said, "Wait a few more days. Maybe..."

Shisui lowered his head. He already understood what the Fourth Hokage meant. For this disciple, Minato still wanted to try to save him.

Minato continued, "Obito used to be late often, and every time, it was because he had stopped to help the elderly. I remember that during one mission, he said: there isn't an old person in Konoha he doesn't know."

"Even when he was called the dead last at the academy, he never gave up on himself. To awaken the Sharingan, he would use eye drops and wear goggles to protect his eyes."

"He was a boy full of sunshine, and his light was Rin."

At the same time, in the Military Police Force captain's office, a Black Shadow silently emerged.

Kushina once said that she hoped Naruto could be as sunny as Obito.

What do you think of the ultimate ungrateful bastard?