Only then did Obito let out a breath.
The aftershock hit a beat later. He clutched the empty socket, a low animal groan torn from his throat.
Pain.
Too much pain.
To gouge out your own eye—there aren't words for it. Blood ran hot between his fingers, shot through with slivers of translucent jelly from the ruined vitreous.
"Wait for me… Rin." He dragged in air until the worst of the tremors eased. Three tomoe floated in his remaining right eye; his voice steadied. "I'll get you out. No matter what happens—I won't let anything happen to you."
Sometimes, a single-minded idiot in love isn't the worst thing to be.
"That damned puppet… Jigsaw, I'll remember this. Once I get Rin out of here, I'll have Brother Sogetsu settle the score." Obito's hate simmered as he felt his way along the wall and staggered into the corridor.
His Sharingan—only just awakened—was gone with the left eye. He swallowed it down and moved.
A dozen meters on, he froze, pressing his ear to stone.
A sound… faint, muffled. A woman's whimper.
Rin.
Reason blew away like smoke. "Hold on, Rin! I'm coming!" He sprinted blind through the dark, rounded a corner—and skidded to a stop before a heavy iron door with a small, barred window.
He climbed up, pressed his face to the slot, and peered in with his one good eye.
Rin was strapped to a chair the same way he had been. But the device on her head was different—a brutal contraption like a beast's split steel jaws, clamped around the lower half of her face.
"Rin!"
She couldn't answer through the gagging metal. Her eyes flooded and shook; terror shivered through her slight frame.
"I'm here! Are you hurt?!" Obito yanked the handle. Locked from the inside. It didn't budge.
"Mm—mm—" Her lashes clung with tears. She stared at him like he was the last dry branch over a torrent.
Obito's chest crumpled. "Wait for me! I'll get you out!"
He leapt back, flashed through seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Pfft—
Heat rose in his throat… and died. Only a wisp of smoke escaped his lips.
"What—? My ninjutsu…?"
He felt it then: something had sealed his chakra. A shinobi with no chakra was a blade without an edge.
"Even without jutsu, I'll save you." He grabbed a kunai, set its edge to the inner bolt, and struck.
CLANG!
Sparks burst. The rebound nearly tore the weapon from his hand. The bolt bore only a shallow scar.
Creak… creak…
The sound came from within the room.
Obito shoved his eye back to the slot.
"Hello, Rin Nohara."
Jigsaw pedaled out of the dark on its tiny, rust-squealed bicycle, that white face cocking, red spiral "cheeks" turned toward the window. Blood-red pupils fixed on Obito. The jaw clicked.
"I'd like to play a game."
"Mm—mm!" Rin sobbed harder.
"Come out here, Jigsaw!" Obito's forehead banged the bars. "Whatever you want—take it from me! Don't touch Rin!"
The threat meant nothing.
"The device on her face is called a Split-Jaw," Jigsaw rasped. "If it isn't unlocked in time, it will tear her head apart."
Rin thrashed, trying to sling the horror free.
"Unfortunately," the puppet went on, "Rin does not decide whether she lives. The right rests with Uchiha Obito outside this door. His choice will determine her fate."
"What's the game?" Obito's voice cut in, already braced. He'd learned the rules: if you played along, there was a way through. If he took the pain, Rin wouldn't have to.
"Whatever it is—aim it at me."
"You've proven your will," Jigsaw said. "You gave one eye."
A beat of dry amusement crept into the sandpaper drawl.
"But do you have the resolve to give the other—for this woman?"
The other… eye?
Obito blanked. On the chair, Rin stared too, shock crowding fear in her gaze.
"If you will not cherish your gift," Jigsaw intoned, "return it to the heavens."
"You have one minute to gouge out your remaining eye and place it on the scale in the adjoining room. Then you will fill the reservoir with your blood to the marked level. When the jar of acid has dissolved enough to release the key, retrieve it, return here, and unlock the Split-Jaw."
"Uchiha Obito—how much blood will you spill for the one you love? I'm curious."
"One last reminder: be quick. The key in acid will not last long."
The puppet's red eyes didn't blink.
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