Sasuke slammed his fist into the tatami wall in fury.
But someone struck harder.
Madara, who had been sitting cross-legged beside Itachi, drove his fist into the wooden floor. A crater burst open beneath his hand as cracks spread outward like shattered glass.
"This joke isn't funny at all."
His face had gone completely dark.
Izuna's final words, spoken as he entrusted his eyes to him, still echoed through Madara's dreams every night—
"Brother, you must protect the honor of the Uchiha clan."
"May your martial fortune… flourish…"
Yet he had lost to Hashirama, and the Uchiha clan now had few proper warriors left.
And now he was hearing that a future Uchiha had slaughtered the entire clan.
Madara's fist tightened against the ground, his nails carving blood from his own palm.
—He had utterly failed Izuna's dying wish.
If he wanted to strangle this Uchiha youth before him, Madara was absolutely the kind of man who could do it without hesitation. But before acting, he needed to know why. What had happened in the future that drove an Uchiha to end their life in Konoha through genocide?
Itachi remained silent. He had no intention of telling Sasuke the truth. Everything that had unfolded today made him regret returning to Konoha. The Fourth Hokage's unexpected appearance had unraveled all of his plans.
"....."
Faced with Itachi's unyielding silence, Madara was on the verge of losing control.
Hashirama, sensing his fury reaching its limit, placed a steadying hand on his shoulder to calm him…
Beside them, Obito Uchiha felt a sharp pain stab through his eyes again. In his memories, before the Kannabi Bridge mission, he had just been playing shuriken games with Itachi Uchiha.
How had that polite, well-mannered, obedient, beautiful child grown into someone who killed Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san and annihilated the entire Uchiha clan?
And how could Itachi have truly turned traitor against Konoha? How had he become a Missing-nin?
And then…
He stole a glance at the silver-haired, masked man standing on Itachi's other side.
Half a month had passed since he arrived in this future where Naruto lived, yet even now, he couldn't reconcile this man with the sharp-tongued, proud genius boy who once stood beside him.
And the fact that this version of himself didn't exist in the future—nor did Rin's world…
—It had to be fake, right?
—Yes… he must've fallen into an Iwa genjutsu!
—In reality, he never left Kannabi Bridge. He never went to that false future!
"Obito!!"
Adult Kakashi suddenly called out, his strained voice pulling everyone's attention toward Obito.
Truthfully, Adult Kakashi still hadn't recovered enough to face Minato-sensei's family—or even Jiraiya. Guilt still gnawed at him for having unknowingly revealed Kushina's delivery date all those years ago.
Jiraiya, unaware of the masked man's true abilities or that he could obtain information about Konoha and the entire ninja world without passing through Kakashi, naturally couldn't excuse or comfort his student.
But he knew very well that this ninja named Kakashi Hatake had long been carrying pain far heavier than anyone should bear—burdens he had taken on himself for things that were never truly his fault.
If this continued, Kakashi would collapse sooner or later.
Since seeing Minato Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki, the adult Kakashi—caught between self-blame and self-punishment—had kept completely silent, doing his best to fade into the background.
Until he noticed blood dripping from Obito's eyes...
Hearing Kakashi's alarm, Rin immediately pulled Obito toward her. She retrieved first-aid supplies from her ninja pouch, wiped the blood from his face with gauze, and applied the Mystical Palm Technique to treat the damaged nerve pathways beneath his eyes.
"Rin..."
Obito murmured, still not realizing his eyes were bleeding again.
"Don't speak!"
As a Medical-nin, Rin's authority during treatment was absolute. She was genuinely worried about Obito's eyes. In just a few days, he had shed blood tears twice.
This sudden change became a small interruption amidst the tense atmosphere, briefly breaking the pressure surrounding the questioning about Itachi Uchiha and the future of Konoha.
Minato asked Madara Uchiha to examine his student's eyes.
"He just shed blood tears not long ago..."
Madara pushed himself to his feet and approached Obito, gently lifting his eyelid.
"No physical damage... When did your eyes awaken?"
"Half a month ago," Obito answered honestly. "I had a terrifying dream."
Madara snorted. "This is the first time I've heard of someone awakening Sharingan from a nightmare. Activate your Sharingan for me."
Obito obediently activated his Sharingan.
"Two tomoe?" Madara said. "You evolved from one tomoe to two in just half a month?"
This time, there was a hint of admiration in his voice.
And earlier, that Sasuke kid—his left-eye single tomoe had evolved into two right before Madara's eyes. Talented as well. But if someone witnessed their entire clan being massacred by their own brother... two tomoe wasn't exactly surprising.
"Evolved? I awakened both eyes with two tomoe from the start."
Obito said it as if perfectly normal, leaving Madara's expression twitching.
A dream awakening... with two tomoe from the start…
You've gotta be kidding me.
"Don't resist," Madara told him. "I'm going to use chakra to check the neural pathways behind your eyes."
"Oh."
Obito complied, then couldn't stop himself from asking, "Ancestor, how did you awaken yours? How many tomoe did you get at first?"
"..."
"OW—! That hurts!!!"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't, brat!"
Madara let go of Obito's eyelid, slapped him on the head, and returned to his seat.
Seeing Madara's flustered and irritated expression, Tobirama was reminded that Madara had awakened his Sharingan because he tried to sever ties with his elder brother—and even then, he only got a single tomoe in both eyes.
"You awakened your Sharingan from a dream, and it was already two tomoe..." Tobirama Senju said, genuinely impressed. "Kid, you're quite the prodigy."
"Huh?! Really?!"
Being praised by the legendary Second Hokage—if Obito had ten tails, he'd have them all wagging.
"It's true."
Tobirama watched the Uchiha youth, who resembled an excited puppy, finding him surprisingly endearing.
"But you... are you really an Uchiha? Your personality is far too different from most of them."
"Are you blind?"
Madara retorted at Tobirama with a sideways glare. "Didn't you see him activate his Sharingan? If he's not Uchiha, what is he—a Senju?"
That shut Tobirama up immediately.
Hashirama stepped in again to smooth things over for both his best friend and his little brother.
"Tobirama, I've told you before—you just don't understand Madara. When he was young, Madara's personality was much like this boy Obito's. His temperament only worsened as he grew older."
"Whose temper worsened?!?! Hashirama!!!"
"Huh—!"
Thud—
Seeing the so-called God of Shinobi looking so defeated, everyone once again felt how surreal this entire situation was...
Young Kakashi spoke quietly.
"What's wrong with Obito's eyes? Does the Sharingan really bleed like that suddenly?"
"Impossible!" Madara snapped.
Sasuke and Itachi shifted their attention toward Obito as well.
Obito nearly crawled to Madara in tears.
"Ancestor! I'm not dying of some incurable disease, am I?!!"
Madara's expression twisted further. In his mind:
Hashirama must be slandering me! How could I ever have resembled this idiot as a child?!
And another thing—I'm not even thirty yet! Why the hell is he calling me 'Ancestor'?! Damn brat!!!
Adult Kakashi and Minato's students, swept up in Obito's panic, saw Madara's contorted expression and grew anxious too.
Especially Naruto, who had grown quite close to Obito recently.
"Hey, you hedgehog-head old man! Save Obito! He's only thirteen! He hasn't even tasted what it's like to kiss a girl yet! And he's only had Konoha's delicious ramen a few times!"
As he spoke, Naruto began crying loudly.
"He hasn't even fulfilled his dream of becoming Hokage! He hasn't confessed to the girl he likes yet! To just… just die like this… it's way too pitiful, you know?!"
Obito was stunned. "Ah…"
The situation happened so suddenly that he didn't even know what to say.
Minato: "..."
If the mood weren't so serious, he would have asked his son whether he had already kissed someone. Naruto was only twelve, right? Wasn't this a little too early for romance?!
Also… Dad really wanted to know who she was!!
Sasuke: "..."
Idiot!
Look at the atmosphere!!! Read the room!!!
Ugh… my heart is exhausted.
Itachi: "..."
Sasuke's teammate was a trustworthy kid.
Just… maybe a bit scatterbrained?
Madara Uchiha had already been called "old ancestor" by Obito earlier, and not erupting then was already an act of restraint. Now Naruto called him "Hedgehog-Head Old Man," and that finally pushed him over the edge.
"You little brat! Who are you calling Hedgehog-Head Old Man?! Huh?!!"
Minato Namikaze quickly stepped in front of Naruto, smiling awkwardly at Madara.
"I apologize for him. Naruto means no harm."
Hashirama Senju nearly collapsed laughing.
"Alright, alright! Hahahaha! Madara, don't get angry at a child! Hahaha! You look like a child yourself when you do! Hahahaha!"
"You—! Get out here! Hashirama!! Let's settle this outside!!"
Tobirama Senju grabbed his older brother, who was clearly ready for a fight.
He looked at Naruto Uzumaki.
"For some reason, kid, you remind me of my idiot big brother in every way."
Back in the village, almost no child dared to speak to Madara like this. And this one even gave him a nickname—Hedgehog-Head Old Man?
Yes. Excellent work.
Despite his lively inner thoughts, Tobirama maintained a perfectly serious expression.
"Uchiha Sharingan don't normally bleed," he said, turning his gaze to Madara. "What exactly is wrong with this boy, Obito Uchiha? If it's not a pathological issue, this shouldn't be happening."
Could it be that awakening directly as two tomoe caused stress and resulted in a mutation?
If so, that would indeed be worth researching.
"Drop those thoughts, Tobirama!" Madara Uchiha warned sharply.
Then he looked at Obito.
"But there's one thing Tobirama wasn't wrong about…"
Obito trembled. "A… pathological condition?"
"..."
Madara: "I meant the part where he called you a genius!!!"
"Huh?!"
Everyone froze in astonishment.