"It's okay. What's done is done. Whether we're willing to admit it or not, Obito sacrificed himself for us, for the village. He was a hero."
Her tears had yet to dry, but a radiant smile appeared on Nohara Rin's face. She smiled and teased her friend.
"What about you? You were with one of the legendary Sannin, so you must have learned some powerful jutsu. I'll be counting on you to protect me, Anko."
"Wahahaha! I, Lady Anko, learned some amazing jutsu from Master Orochimaru. Protecting you will be a piece of cake."
As Anko was about to sit down, she glanced at the ramen bowl nearby. Suspicion flickered in her eyes, and she instinctively took a deep sniff. The faint, fading scent of grass and wood immediately caught her attention.
"Hey, Rin, was the person sitting here just now... Uchiha Hanazuki?"
"Yes. I wanted to ask Hanazuki about Obito, so..."
Bang!
Rin leaped up like a startled rabbit, only to see Anko gritting her teeth, a helpless, listless look on her face.
"That guy... I don't know whether to call him a blockhead or a jerk. He looks at me like I'm an idiot and keeps brushing me off. I can't figure out what that jerk is thinking. Damn it!"
"Calm down, Anko. Just calm down..."
At that moment, Rin couldn't help remembering that gentle smile. She studied the face full of troubled thoughts and pondered.
"Can you tell at a glance?"
Meanwhile, elsewhere...
Deep beneath the Graveyard of Mountains, inside a hidden chamber sealed off by rock.
Obito, working hard at his rehabilitation, was full of anticipation and hope. He could hardly wait for the day he returned to the village.
Just you wait! The Sharingan needs a pair of eyes to unleash its true power. If Kakashi and I work together, we can protect the village, protect everyone, protect Rin. You have to wait for me, Kakashi!
The fighting spirit in his eyes never faded. Obito actively exercised the muscles that had grown weak from lying in bed, but the strange old man's words rang in his ears once more.
"It's no use. Unless you break the chain of hatred, even if you manage to leave, it will all be futile. A ninja's hatred won't end when the war does. With countless sacrifices, a new chain of hatred is bound to form and repeat the cycle..."
Obito shook his head helplessly. That weird old man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara was going on about things he couldn't understand again. Besides, he knew all the old men and women in the Uchiha Clan. This guy in front of him was most likely a Konoha missing-nin.
He was alive thanks to the old man, but one day he would return to Konoha. He felt deeply guilty that he couldn't repay the man for saving his life, but he would only feel at ease once he was back with his comrades.
Uchiha Madara saw through Obito's guilt and longing to leave. Though his body was old and frail, and he had twice come close to death, his eyes—which had seen through the darkness—still gleamed.
In the dead of night, when all was silent, a new White Zetsu emerged from the ground.
"Lord Madara, Uchiha Hanazuki has returned to Konoha. What should we do?"
Cough, cough...
His body was old and frail, his eyes cloudy and feeble. Like a candle flickering in the wind, Madara remained silent for a long while. For a time, he seemed to have no strength left to speak. At last, he murmured quietly.
"It's only a pair of eyes sealed away from themselves. Though the occasional brat with such a low-probability trait does appear, the difference between him and my true eyes is as vast as heaven and earth. He doesn't even come close to me."
"Alas, more than a century of time and history have left me barely clinging to life. But this is only a temporary slumber. When I awaken from my long sleep, everything will come to an end."
His emotions stirred, and Uchiha Madara broke into a fit of coughing. His aged frame could not support the tiny wish in his eyes: the ambition to bring true peace.
"I will bring the age of the ninja to an end with my own hands!"
As his emotions surged, veins bulged across his thin, withered arms. The Uchiha's signature laugh—no, the laugh Madara himself had started—rang out once more.
"Yes, Lord Madara. Besides Uchiha Hanazuki, we've also found the people this guy cares for and cherishes most: Nohara Rin and Hatake Kakashi..."
Meanwhile, in Konoha, even after the village's last dango shop had closed, Rin watched Anko with a worried look as she devoured more than a hundred skewers of assorted dango and kept drinking red bean soup. Rin was too shocked to say a word.
"That jerk! Brushing off Master Orochimaru is one thing, but he brushed me off, too! Doesn't he remember who his first friend was? Who was the one who took him truanting when the teacher scolded him?"
Anko kept grumbling, but Rin looked awkward and instinctively glanced up at the sky.
If I get home this late, I'm sure to get scolded. But Anko's like this... I can't just leave her, can I?
"Um, Anko, it's getting late, and our team has a mission tomorrow. I'm really sorry, but I have to go."
Rin had already run around the corner without looking back before the dazed Anko finally snapped out of it. She stamped her foot and shouted.
"You have no loyalty! Is that how you treat your best friend?! Damn it, one after another, you're all like this... Sigh, what's the point of going home? There's no one there anyway..."
The moonlight was hazy, and the stars glittered brightly.
Before she knew it, Anko was wandering aimlessly through the streets. When she looked up again, she found herself at the abandoned Hanazuki residence, its weeds growing wild and untended.
"Is this..."
Standing at the door, Anko hesitated for a long while before slowly pushing it open. The somewhat weathered wooden door was unlocked.
From the entrance, she could see all the way to the end. The dim candlelight in the living room piqued her curiosity.
It's so late. Is that guy still awake?
In the shadows behind the door, a transparent ribbon hidden in the darkness crept toward her. Alarmed, Anko raised her right hand, and a stream of snakes shot out like swords.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
"Nine-Faced Svaha: Celestial Maiden."
After a brief standoff, the Celestial Maiden tossed Anko—bound up like a dumpling—onto the floor. Just as Anko was about to use a rope-escape technique to free herself, a familiar voice interrupted her.
"Honestly, I thought it was an Anbu or some Konoha Military Police Force pest. I didn't expect it to be a little snake who likes red bean soup and dango. Even you should respect people's privacy."
"How many times do I have to tell you? Ring the doorbell when you come in."
"Shut up! You jerk, Hanazuki. You noticed me coming a long time ago, didn't you? And besides, I... I didn't come to hear that."
Anko argued back, her clear brown eyes showing a hint of disappointment. When she looked up, she found herself facing that handsome, refined face, its expression tinged with amusement and a smile.
"Is that so? Then, welcome back, Anko. So, would you like to eat first, or bathe first? Or perhaps..."
"Wait, what are you trying to do? No! I was wrong, don't—Aaaaaah!"
Before you continue