Uchiha Clan

Obito Uchiha put down the note. Though it contained only a few words, they struck his heart like a heavy hammer.

His breathing grew ragged, his chest heaving violently as though an invisible hand had clamped around his throat.

Obito Uchiha's vision went dark, and his body swayed uncontrollably.

His eyes widened, his pupils nearly splitting apart, filled with disbelief and indescribable agony.

It felt as if countless sharp steel needles had pierced his heart at once, the pain leaving him nearly suffocated.

A tear rolled down his cheek...

"How... how could this happen..."

Obito Uchiha's voice was hoarse and broken.

"Why... why..."

His grandmother had always been the most important person in his life, his only warm refuge in this unfamiliar world of shinobi.

Yet at this moment, he had never imagined that, in order to make him awaken the Sharingan, his grandmother would choose such a resolute method!

She had chosen to end her own life to stimulate him into opening his eyes!

This cruel truth was like a sharp dagger, mercilessly piercing his heart and leaving him in unbearable pain.

Obito Uchiha's eyes opened wider and wider, as though his eyeballs were about to burst from their sockets!

His ragged breaths became ever more pronounced, like a bellows being frantically pumped.

At that moment, his pupils changed rapidly, as though red ink had been dropped into them. In the blink of an eye, they were dyed a deep crimson!

First, a mysterious and eerie single tomoe quietly emerged within his eyes!

Then, only an instant later, a second tomoe appeared like a phantom.

Yet it was not over. Just two seconds later, a third tomoe flashed forth like lightning, clearly appearing in his eyes!

His once ordinary, normal pupils had undergone such a startling transformation in such a short time!

From the initial awakening, they had surged all the way to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!

This showed just how unimaginably immense the impact of this incident had been on Obito Uchiha!

At that moment, Obito Uchiha finally understood deeply what it meant to possess cursed eyes!

This power was not easily obtained. It could only be awakened at a terrible cost.

The so-called Love Clan possessed eyes that appeared incomparably powerful, yet were in truth filled with evil and ominous curses.

Every awakening came with bloody sacrifice. Whether it was losing a loved one, facing endless threats of death, or suffering other extreme forms of stimulation, only then could these eyes truly open.

Obito Uchiha trembled all over as the overwhelming power brought by his awakened Sharingan intertwined with heart-rending pain within him!

Fear filled his heart. He had suffered such pain from merely reaching three tomoe; he did not dare imagine what the Mangekyo Sharingan would bring!

Obito Uchiha looked around blankly, feeling cold to the bone.

"These cursed eyes..."

Obito Uchiha muttered.

The next day, Obito Uchiha stood before his grandmother's grave.

Minato came over holding a bouquet of flowers.

He walked up to the grave and gently placed the flowers before the tombstone.

"Obito Uchiha, hang in there! Your grandmother definitely wouldn't want to see you this depressed..."

Minato Namikaze bent slightly and gently patted Obito Uchiha's shoulder, consoling him earnestly.

Kakashi and Rin, standing not far behind, also wore worried expressions. They stared fixedly at Obito Uchiha, their eyes filled with concern.

"Obito Uchiha, you have to stay strong. Teacher Minato, me, Rin, and Kakashi are all here by your side, supporting you."

Kushina stepped forward as well, placing both hands on Obito Uchiha's shoulders as she comforted him softly.

"That's right, Obito Uchiha. We're all here!"

Rin said sincerely.

"Hang in there!"

Kakashi shouted those two simple yet forceful words. Though he did not say much, Kakashi understood the pain of losing family all too well. When his own father had died, that bone-deep grief had tormented him as well.

That was why he deeply empathized with everything Obito Uchiha was suffering at that moment. Such understanding needed no excessive words.

Hearing everyone's caring words of encouragement, Obito Uchiha's once unbearably heavy heart gradually felt a trace of warmth, like seeing faint starlight in the darkness.

"Thank you!"

Obito Uchiha bowed deeply.

When he returned to the clan, Fugaku Uchiha was already waiting for him at the entrance.

"Have you awakened the Sharingan?"

That was Fugaku Uchiha's first question when he approached.

Obito Uchiha slowly opened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan at those words!

Fugaku Uchiha was startled. He had started out with three tomoe!

This talent was unmatched!

"Congratulations! A Three-Tomoe Sharingan from the start—unprecedented! Congratulations!"

Fugaku Uchiha said.

Obito Uchiha's heart shuddered violently upon hearing that!

His grandmother had died, and Fugaku Uchiha was congratulating him for awakening the Sharingan?

In that instant, Obito Uchiha seemed to understand why Itachi Uchiha had come to doubt the Uchiha Clan.

Itachi Uchiha had been devastated by the death of his companion, yet his father had been happy that he awakened the Sharingan. That was also why Itachi Uchiha hated the clan.

Fugaku Uchiha had only noticed Itachi Uchiha's eyes, and the abilities and responsibilities that came after awakening them. He had failed to notice what Itachi Uchiha had lost in order to awaken them.

(PS: I do not agree with Itachi Uchiha's actions. Killing his parents was wrong, and killing innocent clan members was wrong. This is not an attempt to whitewash Itachi Uchiha. I have always been impartial; I am merely describing what I want to convey based on the original work.)

"One more clansman is something worth celebrating. Our Uchiha Clan will be proud of you as well."

"However, now that you possess the Sharingan, do not become arrogant. You must continue refining your strength and grow stronger without pause!"

Fugaku Uchiha spoke to Obito Uchiha expressionlessly.

One elderly person who had failed to awaken the Sharingan had died in exchange for a pair of three-tomoe eyes. From the clan head's perspective, this was entirely a wonderful thing!

It was certainly worth celebrating. With another Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the Uchiha Clan would grow stronger.

Obito Uchiha, who now possessed three tomoe, would surely stand shoulder to shoulder with Shisui Uchiha!

Obito Uchiha did not answer. He merely nodded again and again.

He walked straight past Fugaku Uchiha and returned home.

Fugaku Uchiha watched Obito Uchiha impassively without saying a word, then vanished in an instant.

News of Obito Uchiha awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan also spread through the clan.

The rumors that Obito Uchiha was not a member of the Uchiha Clan collapsed on their own!

The hawkish members of the Uchiha Clan swiftly congratulated and courted Obito Uchiha, sending him experience in training the Sharingan, as well as methods for using the Sharingan to cast genjutsu and control others.

Konoha also granted Obito Uchiha seven days of bereavement leave!

Hiruzen Sarutobi personally wrote a letter to comfort Obito Uchiha!

At first, it was a letter of condolence, but later Hiruzen Sarutobi forcibly dragged it toward the Will of Fire!

He compared Obito Uchiha's grandmother to a flame and Obito Uchiha to a young sapling, saying that the sacrifices of the older generation allowed him, the sapling, to grow.

After that, he went on and on about the Will of Fire. What had begun as a condolence letter became forcibly "burning" under Hiruzen Sarutobi's pen.

Obito Uchiha did not want to look at either the clan's side or the village's side!

Both sides carried a certain political undertone.

The Uchiha Clan wanted to turn him into a bargaining chip against the village.

The village was also trying to win him over, forcibly instilling the Will of Fire into him!

Neither side cared that he was merely a child who had lost his grandmother.