"Ah! Urk—"
Obito sprawled on the ground, crying and retching; that Mist-nin already lay in a pool of blood.
Not far away, Rin couldn't help throwing up too, tears glimmering in her eyes.
Kakashi was silent, then couldn't resist gagging once—only to gripe, "Obito, could you be a little more decisive? You stabbed for over ten minutes before he finally died."
Night Maple was speechless as well. Obito really was weak—but in the end he'd completed the task.
After this bloody baptism, they shouldn't keep spacing out on the battlefield, right?
But looking at these little kids… maybe he was pushing them too fast?
Just then Obito lifted his head; in those eyes, blood-red irises with two tomoe were circling his pupils.
Sharingan!
"Holy—!"
Night Maple was stunned too.
Obito had been pushed into awakening just like that?
Kakashi had been about to keep snarking, but when he saw Obito's eyes, he froze, heart crashing like waves.
Did Night Maple-sensei deliberately make Obito awaken his Sharingan?
In Kakashi's mind, Night Maple's stature shot up.
Rin asked, face full of worry, "Obito, are you okay?"
"Okay what?"
Obito was still in the dark.
Not until he took a leak and checked his reflection did he realize—he'd awakened the Sharingan!
"No wonder I can see the flow of chakra! So this is the Sharingan."
Even Kakashi couldn't help his envy. "I heard the Sharingan can cast genjutsu. Can you?"
Obito snorted, full tsundere. "Of course."
"Then show us."
"Hmph, if I use it you'll both pass out. I'll save it."
Night Maple rolled his eyes. What a braggy little punk.
Still, truly the child of fortune—he awakened like that?
Bickering and bustling, the three of Team Seven finally reached the border of the Land of Fire.
Before them lay a bay, a great bridge linking the two sides.
Across it was the Land of Water.
The Land of Water is an island chain off the eastern edge of the continent—that is, neighboring the Land of Fire.
There were three or four such bridges linking the two lands.
The bridge was shrouded in thick mist, with a faint reddish tinge like blood—so dense you couldn't see your hand before your face.
A little creepy.
So this was the terror of the Blood Mist.
No wonder people said Kirigakure lived under a pall of bloody fog all year.
Rin glanced back at once. "Sensei, the bridge is fogged in. Do we go in?"
Night Maple nodded. "Yes. If not, you planning to swim?"
Kakashi said gravely, "There could be people on it."
Night Maple said coolly, "So what? People or no people, we're crossing."
Obito stepped forward, squinting, peering—then suddenly felt a bit dizzy.
"There's someone ahead."
Rin brightened. "Obito, you can see them?"
"More or less. I can vaguely see chakra flows—but it's about the same as those two Mist-nin just now."
As he spoke, Obito slipped and nearly fell.
"Obito, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine."
Night Maple said lightly, "If you're fine, don't overuse the Sharingan. Careful you go blind."
"Huh? Night Maple-sensei, don't scare me."
Obito went pale on the spot.
"I'm not. If nothing's wrong, train your ninjutsu and taijutsu more."
"Ah…"
He hadn't even gotten to savor being a hero before Night Maple's words knocked him into the abyss.
He thought to himself that Night Maple was lying; he'd never heard of going blind from overusing the Sharingan.
Was Night Maple jealous he'd awakened it?
In truth, Night Maple didn't remember the details clearly, but he felt pretty sure he wasn't wrong.
And along the way he'd more or less confirmed: without guidance, Obito's freshly opened Sharingan was good for sentry duty at best—spotting chakra flows. Beyond that, basically useless.
As for Kamui—who knew when Obito would ever grasp it.
"Where's the enemy?"
"There—on the bridge truss."
Night Maple rolled his eyes. "Saying it is enough. Why point? You'll scare them off."
Kakashi: "Idiot."
"Argh!"
Obito was about to collapse. He'd awakened the Sharingan and was still being mocked!
"Night Maple-sensei, you're a devil."
As they spoke, the fog on the bridge gradually thinned.
Night Maple shrugged. "See? Told you—you scared them off."
Obito bristled. "Sensei, that's called winning without fighting! Ever read the military classics?"
"You lecturing me on classics? Have you read The Art of War? Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"
Obito went blank. What was that?
He'd never heard of them.
"Haven't read a thing, and you're pretending to be learned. Move it."
Night Maple flicked Obito's tender forehead, laughing as he walked on.
Just as they were about to cross, three strange human shapes burst up from the ground.
"Ah! Sensei!"
The three kids watched those creepy white humanoids suddenly merge into a single white, spike-covered monster—and jumped out of their skins.
Even Obito, who'd only just awakened the Sharingan, looked like he was about to cry.
Night Maple was speechless. You literally just killed someone—can you not be a little braver…
One look at the thing opposite—wasn't that White Zetsu.
All the way from Konoha, Night Maple had felt something was missing.
Seeing White Zetsu now, Night Maple finally understood: during the time he'd been fusing the Senju Hashirama card, how had that Uchiha wraith not noticed him?
Looked like it wasn't unnoticed—just secretly watching.