Uchiha Kou--Mizukage's Aide

When Uchiha Obito donned his mask and walked the ninja world under the identity of Uchiha Madara, what surfaced in that Mangekyo Sharingan was the afternoon he spent strolling through the streets of Konoha with Kou and Rin...

The sun was bright, the streets were noisy, the old woman selling three-colored dango was calling out to customers, and a few genin ran past in pursuit of a cat.

He walked in the middle, with Rin on his left and Kou on his right.

Rin was saying something, a smile gracing her lips.

Kou, as always, had a blade of grass hanging from his mouth, hands shoved into his pockets, eyes half-closed as if he hadn't woken up yet.

Back then, he felt that days like these would last forever.

Initially, he and Kou were not that close.

To be precise, when he was very young, Uchiha Kou was a rather annoying guy in his eyes.

Because he could sense that the guy was deliberately keeping his distance from him.

Even though they lived next door and their families were on such good terms, there was always an inexplicable sense of alienation in the way that guy looked at him.

It wasn't disgust, nor was it disdain; it was more like... he was deliberately avoiding something.

The younger version of himself felt aggrieved while also harboring doubts.

He had been recognized by the entire neighborhood as a good kid, so what reason did Kou—who sat at the same desk as that stinking Kakashi—have to dislike him?

Even now, he still hadn't figured out the reason.

Back then, if it weren't for the fact that Kou's aunt and uncle had always looked after him and his grandmother, and that Rin had said, "You must get along well with him," he wouldn't have bothered with him at all!

In his eyes at the time, that guy was just a familiar stranger, an annoying "child of someone else's family."

Thinking about it now, although it was hellish, the catalyst for their friendship actually came when Kou's aunt and uncle sacrificed themselves.

During that period, the guy who always pretended to be an adult became very silent, his brows constantly furrowed.

Despite having just enrolled in the academy, he practiced frantically every single day.

He practiced shurikenjutsu until his fingers bled, taijutsu until his body was covered in bruises, and ninjutsu until his chakra was exhausted and he collapsed on the training ground.

It was exactly like... Kakashi back then.

Although he had no idea what to do at the time, encouraged by his grandmother and mindful of the care Kou's aunt and uncle had always shown him, he bit the bullet and approached him.

...And then he got a beating.

In the Kamui Dimension.

Obito stood in the center of the space, his mask removed, revealing a face half-scarred and half-youthful.

His one remaining eye was currently looking ahead—where countless carefully preserved corpses were laid out.

In the very center was Rin.

The young girl lay there quietly, her expression peaceful, as if she were merely sleeping.

Obito looked at the girl who appeared to be in a deep slumber, his hand subconsciously stroking the Mangekyo in his right eye, his voice raspy as he muttered:

"To approach him with something like 'Congratulations on awakening your Sharingan'... I really was an idiot back then."

Thinking about it now, saying that to an Uchiha who had just awakened his eyes was no different from congratulating someone on their entire family dying!

If anyone dared to spout such nonsense as "Congratulations on awakening your Mangekyo" in front of him, he would definitely make that person understand what it meant for Kamui to be unable to hide tears, and for everything that met the eye to be...

Obito forcibly pulled his thoughts back and looked at the girl in front of him once more.

Rin, that always gentle and understanding girl, had been uncharacteristically angry when she found out about the incident.

She took his hand and dragged him to find Kou to demand an explanation.

She stood before Kou, pouting as she questioned why he had hit someone, her face, usually adorned with a smile, filled with undisguised indignation.

Neither of them could have imagined then that this would become the catalyst for them to become close friends...

He looked at the Rin before him, his hand subconsciously wanting to stroke the girl's face, but it stopped in mid-air as it drew near.

A moment later, he slowly lowered his hand.

He, who had caused the Nine-Tails' Attack, participated in the Uchiha Clan Massacre, and stained his hands with countless blood... no longer had the qualification to touch her.

She was so clean, so beautiful; she should live forever in that sun-drenched afternoon, not be tainted by his blood-soaked self.

His gaze shifted from Rin and fell toward another direction in the void.

There was nothing there.

But in his mind, a pair of eyes appeared with crystal clarity.

The eyes that had seen through all his disguises in an instant...

After he had walked the ninja world for years under the identity of "Uchiha Madara"—even when Master Minato hadn't recognized him—

The moment Kou encountered him, after a brief silence, he had called his name with absolute certainty.

Obito still remembered the shock he felt in his heart at that moment.

In this false world, after he had personally killed countless bonds and severed all connections, there was still one person willing to stand by his side and accept his current ideals.

At that very moment, the man once known as Uchiha Obito—the man he now rejected—seemed to have found a faint anchor point once more in this false world...

A flicker of dimness crossed Obito's eyes as he recalled the fleeting look in Kou's gaze when he had departed.

Obito murmured in a hoarse voice:

"Kou... he truly cannot fully let go of this false world, can he?"

At this moment, he must be deeply dissatisfied with my cooperation with Uchiha Itachi to carry out the clan extermination.

But... I feel no regret for that.

The dimness in Obito's eyes vanished in an instant, leaving behind only resolve—the only thing he could still grasp after walking in the darkness for so long.

"Kou, my foolish best friend, hate me all you want..."

Obito's voice echoed through the empty Kamui Dimension, carrying a tenderness and determination that did not sound like him:

"One day, you will understand me."

He paused, his Mangekyo Sharingan reflecting Rin's peaceful face:

"Before the Infinite Tsukuyomi descends, I will resurrect everyone and bring them all to the world I have created, a world where everyone is happy..."

"In that world, you will also find true peace."

"There will be no need to wear that fake smile in this false world."

His voice grew softer, as if he were trying to convince himself:

"I will create a world... where you can smile from your heart!!"

His fingers tightened slightly, and the pattern within his Mangekyo Sharingan began to rotate:

"...Even if that world does not contain me."

As he spoke, a vortex-like spatial distortion emerged within his Mangekyo Sharingan.

His body began to turn transparent, slowly fading away.

"However, until the dust settles, just stay by my side and wait for that day to arrive."

His voice drifted through this space one last time, as light as a sigh:

"Even if I am to be hated by you..."

Land of Water, outskirts of the Mist Village.

Kou walked along the outskirts of the Mist Village, surrounded by fog that concealed his figure and his currently unsightly expression.

This was not a disguise—at least, not entirely.

He stopped, tilted his head back, and looked at the sky obscured by the mist.

He could see nothing, only a deathly, gray silence.

...It was exactly like his own future.

"To be a transmigrator and yet change nothing, even surviving to the finale is a luxury... I really am a piece of trash!!"

Kou cursed himself in a low voice; the sound muffled in the fog and dissipated before it could travel far.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly.

Kou gazed at the hazy silhouettes of the buildings ahead, the emotions on his face instantly fading away, replaced by a calm expression.

As his figure stepped out of the mist, he had already changed into another appearance.

Whether in build or features, one could no longer see the roguishly handsome look that Kou originally possessed.

At this moment, his frame was no longer lean and strong, appearing somewhat slender, like a desk worker who had sat in an office for too long.

His face no longer held that feigned devil-may-care handsomeness, appearing quite ordinary, with a faint, gentle smile.

The smile was mild and harmless, like any ordinary person who might greet you on the street.

He was no longer wearing the black cloak with red clouds of the Akatsuki, but the deep blue robes symbolizing his status as a high-ranking official of the Mist Village.

This was merely a basic Transformation Technique, yet under Kou's usage, it appeared incredibly exquisite.

He had adjusted every detail of his body to the most natural state, even fine-tuning the rhythm of his breathing.

Even a powerhouse with the strength of a Kage would be unable to see through it in the slightest.

Kou stepped out of the fog and looked toward the village, which could now be called prosperous and had undergone earth-shaking changes since he first arrived, and sighed softly.

Now, he was not Uchiha Kou of the Akatsuki, but the Mizukage's aide—Shiina Sora.

He took a step forward, walking toward that hazy cluster of buildings.

The fog closed in behind him, completely concealing the path he had come from...