When Uchiha Obito put on his mask and walked through the Ninja World as Uchiha Madara, what appeared in his Mangekyō Sharingan was that afternoon when he had strolled through Konoha's streets with Kou and Rin...
The sun was bright, and the streets were noisy. An old woman selling Three-Color Dumplings called out to passersby, while a few Genin chased a cat down the street.
He walked in the middle, with Rin on his left and Kou on his right.
Rin was saying something, a smile at the corners of her mouth.
Kou, as always, had a blade of grass between his teeth and his hands in his pockets. His eyes were half-lidded, and he looked as if he hadn't woken up yet.
Back then, he had thought days like those would go on forever.
At first, he and Kou hadn't been close at all.
To be precise, when he was very young, he'd thought Uchiha Kou was a thoroughly annoying guy.
Because he could tell that the guy was deliberately keeping his distance.
They lived right next door to each other, and their families were so close, yet there was always an inexplicable distance in the way that guy looked at him.
It wasn't hatred or disdain. It was more like... he was deliberately avoiding something.
As a child, he'd felt hurt, but he couldn't help wondering why.
He'd been the good kid everyone in the neighborhood agreed on. What reason did Kou, who sat at the same table as that jerk Kakashi, have to dislike him?
Even now, he still didn't understand why.
Back then, if his aunt and uncle hadn't looked after him and his grandmother when he was little, and if Rin hadn't told him, "You have to get along with him," he wouldn't have bothered with that guy!
In his eyes at the time, Kou was just a familiar stranger, an irritating "other people's kid."
Looking back, as hellish as it was, the moment that brought them closer had come when his aunt and uncle died.
During that time, the guy who always acted like an adult grew quiet and was forever frowning.
He'd only just started school, but every day he threw himself into training like a madman.
He practiced Shuriken until his fingers bled, Taijutsu until his whole body was bruised, and ninjutsu until his chakra ran dry and he passed out on the training field.
He was just like... Kakashi back then.
At the time, he had no idea what to do. But with his grandmother's encouragement, and remembering how his aunt and uncle had always cared for him, he screwed up his courage and went over to Kou.
...And got beaten up.
Kamui Dimension
Obito stood in the middle of the dimension. His mask was off, revealing a face half covered in scars and half still youthful.
His one uninjured eye was fixed on the scene before him—countless bodies, carefully preserved.
Rin lay in the center.
The girl rested there quietly, her expression peaceful, as if she were only sleeping.
Looking at the girl who seemed to be fast asleep, Obito unconsciously touched the Mangekyō in his right eye and murmured hoarsely:
"Using 'Congratulations on awakening your Sharingan' to get close to him... I really was an idiot back then."
Thinking about it now, saying that to a Uchiha who'd awakened his eye was about as tactful as congratulating him on his whole family dying!
If anyone dared say something stupid like "Congratulations on awakening your Mangekyō" to him, he'd make sure they learned what it meant that Obito Uchiha couldn't hide his tears, and all he saw was—
Obito forced his thoughts back on track and looked toward the girl again.
Rin, the girl who was always gentle and understanding, had been unusually angry when she found out.
She took his hand and brought him to Kou to demand an explanation.
Standing in front of Kou, she angrily asked why he'd hit him. Her face, usually filled with smiles, was now covered in undisguised fury.
None of them could have imagined then that this would become the moment that brought them together as friends...
Looking at Rin, he instinctively reached out to touch her face, but stopped with his hand hovering in midair.
After a moment, he slowly lowered it.
He had caused the Nine-Tails Incident, taken part in the Uchiha Clan's massacre, and stained his hands with countless lives... He no longer had the right to touch her.
She was so pure, so wonderful. She should live forever in that sunny afternoon, not be defiled by someone with blood on his hands.
His gaze moved from Rin and settled on another point in the empty space.
There was nothing there.
But in his mind, a pair of eyes appeared with perfect clarity.
The eyes that had seen through every one of his disguises in an instant...
After he'd spent years walking through the Ninja World as "Uchiha Madara," even Minato-sensei hadn't recognized him—
Yet the moment Kou had run into him, after a brief silence, he'd called him by his name without hesitation.
Obito still remembered the shock he'd felt in that moment.
In this false world, after he had personally killed countless bonds and severed every connection, there was still someone willing to stand by him and accept the ideal he now pursued.
At that moment, the man once known as Uchiha Obito—the man his present self had rejected—seemed to have found a faint anchor in this false world once more...
A shadow passed through Obito's eyes as he remembered the look that had flashed across Kou's face when he left.
Obito murmured in a low, hoarse voice:
"Kou... You still can't completely let go of this false world, can you?"
At this moment, he was probably furious with Obito for helping Uchiha Itachi carry out the massacre.
But... Obito didn't regret it.
The shadow vanished from his eyes, leaving only resolve—the one thing he could still hold on to after walking in the darkness for so long.
"Kou, my foolish best friend... Hate me all you want."
His voice echoed through the empty Kamui Dimension, touched with a tenderness and decisiveness that seemed unlike him:
"One day, you'll understand."
He paused. Rin's peaceful face was reflected in his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Before Infinite Tsukuyomi descends, I'll bring everyone back to life and take them all to the world I create, where everyone will be happy..."
"In that world, you'll find true peace.
You won't have to wear that false smile in this false world."
His voice grew softer and softer, as if he were trying to convince himself:
"I'll create a world... where you can smile from the heart!"
His fingers curled slightly, and the pattern in his Mangekyō Sharingan began to turn.
"...Even if I have no place in that world."
As he spoke, a spiral distortion appeared in his Mangekyō Sharingan.
His body began to turn transparent and slowly disappear.
"But until everything is settled, stay by my side and wait for that day to come."
His voice drifted through the dimension one last time, as faint as a sigh:
"Even if you hate me..."
Land of Water, outskirts of Mist Village.
Kou walked through the outskirts of Mist Village, surrounded by mist that hid his figure and his grim expression.
It wasn't an act—not entirely.
He stopped and tilted his head toward the sky, shrouded in mist.
He couldn't see a thing, only a lifeless gray-white expanse.
...Just like his future.
"I'm a transmigrator, but I haven't changed a thing. Even living to see the end is a pipe dream... I'm such a fucking loser!"
Kou muttered a curse under his breath. His voice was muffled by the mist and faded away after traveling only a short distance.
He took a deep breath, then slowly let it out.
Kou gazed at the hazy silhouettes of buildings ahead. The emotion vanished from his face in an instant, replaced by a calm expression.
He stepped out of the mist with a different face.
Neither his build nor his appearance bore any trace of Kou's original, roguishly handsome look.
His figure was less muscular than before, somewhat slender, like a desk worker who'd spent too long sitting in an office.
His face no longer carried that feigned air of handsome nonchalance. Instead, it was utterly ordinary, with the faintest hint of a smile.
The smile was warm and harmless, like that of any ordinary person who might greet you on the street.
He was no longer wearing the Black Cloak with Red Clouds of Akatsuki. Instead, he wore a dark blue robe that marked him as one of Mist Village's senior officials.
This was only the most basic Transformation Technique, but in Kou's hands, it became something remarkably refined.
He adjusted every detail of his body to look completely natural, even fine-tuning the rhythm of his breathing.
Not even a powerful fighter on a Kage's level could see through it.
Kou emerged from the mist and looked at the village, now prosperous enough to be called thriving. It had changed beyond recognition since he'd first arrived. He sighed softly.
He was no longer Uchiha Kou of Akatsuki, but Shiina Sora, Mizukage Aide of Mist Village.
He strode toward the hazy buildings.
The mist closed behind him, completely concealing the path he had taken...
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