"Sensei Minato!"
Watching their teacher split apart before their eyes, Obito and Rin cried out in grief.
"What are you shouting for, your turn is next."
Fugaku Uchiha rolled his neck, his voice cold.
"Why, why did you kill them!"
Obito roared, eyes blazing.
Fugaku let out a humorless chuckle. "Why, was this not what you asked for?"
"What nonsense is that, when did I ever ask you to do this!"
"You wanted to awaken your Sharingan, this is the faster way."
"What!"
Fugaku's gaze sharpened. "The Uchiha are a cursed clan. Our Sharingan is a power born from sorrow. Only when one loses someone dear, when grief and pain crush the heart, can the eye awaken."
"Power always has a price. Wishing to wake up strong and skip the climb, that is not how the world works. Our strength comes from the pain of losing what matters, the more we lose, the stronger we become."
He paused, then looked at Rin beside Obito. "Though I do not know if you are too weak willed, or if your bond with them is too shallow. I have already killed two, and your eyes are still closed."
"No, please, do not kill Rin!"
Obito waved his hands in panic, tears spilling as he dropped to his knees. "I do not want it anymore, I do not want to awaken the Sharingan, please, please spare Rin!"
He kowtowed again and again, his forehead breaking and bleeding on the stone.
Fugaku's face did not flicker. "Forgive me, a shinobi must complete the mission, no matter what."
He stepped in with a blur, his hand like a blade, chopping down at Rin's neck.
Obito stared, stunned. Through a haze of blood, he saw her beautiful face traced by a thin line of red. Her lips trembled, as if whispering, "Run, Obito."
Boom.
Time froze. Sound drowned in stillness. Obito's spirit seemed to fall away as Rin's head struck the ground and rolled to a stop before him.
His eyes were blank, his tears would not stop. With shaking hands, he gathered Rin's head to his chest, sobbing low like a lonely stray dog that had lost its entire world.
"I, I…"
His head hung, his voice choked, yet from that small frame rose a suffocating fury, a beast of calamity coiling awake inside his ribs.
"I…"
"Obito Uchiha…"
"I swear, no matter what it takes, I will kill you, I will absolutely kill you!"
"Kill you, kill you, kill you!"
Obito's head snapped up. His face twisted, his scream ripped from the depths like a demon climbing out of hell.
Bloodshot veins crawled across his eyes. Murder and resolve became a single flame. His pupils shrank, turning a deep, burning crimson. A black ring formed, and within it, two ebony tomoe began to turn.
Cracks spread across the world like a spider web, then the world shattered.
…
Blue sky, white clouds, harsh sunlight. Obito blinked and found himself pinned to the ground, Kakashi and Rin holding him by both arms.
"Rin, Kakashi?"
He stared, dazed and disbelieving.
Hearing his voice, Kakashi and Rin sagged with relief, both drenched in sweat. They helped him sit up.
"You, Sensei Minato, all of you, you are alive?"
Obito rubbed his eyes, still stunned. "Am I dead, is this the afterlife?"
"Dead, my foot." Kakashi chopped down on Obito's head without mercy. "You fell into Fugaku-senpai's genjutsu. What, you could not tell it was fake?"
"Genjutsu, was that really genjutsu?" Obito looked from Kakashi to Fugaku, then rubbed his aching head. "So it was genjutsu…"
"Of course it was. If the rest of us died, there is no reason a dead last like you would be fine." Kakashi's tongue was as sharp as ever.
"Rin, tell me, this is real, right?"
Obito's eyes stung. He clutched Rin's hand like a lifeline.
Rin smiled through lingering fear. "It is real, so stop crying. You have opened your Sharingan, if you keep bawling, it is going to look pretty lame."
"Sharingan?" Obito froze, then saw it in the gleam of Rin's forehead protector, his own scarlet pupils staring back at him.
His eyes, had opened.
"That is right," Kakashi added, still snarky. "Rin is right. You have awakened your bloodline. Work hard from now on, do not drag down the Uchiha name."
Obito answered weakly, mind still trapped in the echoes of that nightmare. His feelings were tangled. If what the clan head said in the illusion was true, then power gained through loss, power born from grief, was something he did not want.
"Obito Uchiha."
Fugaku's voice cut cleanly through the air. Obito straightened instinctively.
"What I told you inside the genjutsu was true. When you are older, when you have seen more, you will understand."
"But do not hate this power, do not reject it. If you do not want what you saw to become reality, then become stronger, as fast as you can."
Fugaku lifted his eyes to the ninja hawk crossing the sky, his next words so soft that no one else could hear. "The time you have to grow and defy fate, is not much."
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