"Rin…"
Within the Uchiha compound, Obito sat in his room, grinning foolishly at a photograph in his hands.
It was a group photo of Minato's squad, but Kakashi's face had been deliberately covered with tape.
His gaze was fixed on Nohara Rin. Just looking at her seemed to lift his spirits.
"Obito, are you h—uh…"
Just then, a voice abruptly shattered his fantasies, yanking him back to reality.
Obito snapped out of it at once and looked up, only to see a young man staring at him and at the photo in his hands with some confusion.
He remembered this youth as a member of the Uchiha clan, though not a ninja.
"H-Hello. Is there something you need?"
Obito immediately flipped the photo face-down and asked stiffly.
Perhaps because his thoughts had been interrupted—or because his secret had been discovered—he felt both irritated and embarrassed.
"Well, someone asked me to tell you that there's a mission assembly in two days. You should prepare."
The young man quickly withdrew his gaze, realizing his behavior had been a bit rude, and explained his purpose in a hurry.
"A mission?"
Obito froze for a moment, then snapped back to his senses and shouted excitedly,
"Finally! I get to go on another mission with—! I'm sick of staying at home!"
Frontline units rotated regularly; that was standard procedure. Even ninja needed rest.
After all, shearing a sheep still leaves the sheep alive. If you didn't even allow rotation, you'd just be killing it outright.
But Obito didn't particularly enjoy these breaks. War was painful, yes—but at least he could be with Rin.
Now that they were heading out again, how could he not be happy?
"Since you know, I'll take my leave then."
The Uchiha youth couldn't quite understand why Obito was so excited. Wasn't war something everyone tried to avoid?
This guy… is there something wrong with him?
He didn't say any of that aloud. He merely nodded and prepared to put some distance between himself and this strange fellow.
"Oh, right—who asked you to notify me?"
Just as he was leaving, Obito asked curiously.
"Haori," the youth replied after a moment's thought.
"Haori? That guy?"
Obito frowned, immediately realizing something was wrong.
"Wait. How does he know I have a mission?"
"Because Haori went out with your teammates. So he asked me to pass the message along,"
the youth shrugged casually.
"Oh, right—the girl in the photo. The one whose face you didn't tape over."
The moment those words fell, the youth saw Obito's entire face flush red, which startled him badly.
He was now completely certain—Obito really did have something seriously wrong with him.
Thinking that, he quietly and swiftly left. He had no desire to get entangled with Obito any further.
Obito, meanwhile, didn't spare the departing youth a glance.
His fists clenched tight, his breathing turning ragged.
"Uchiha Haori!"
—
"Strange… why do my ears feel so hot? Is someone cursing me?"
After seeing Nohara Rin off—both to send her on her way and to see himself off as well—Haori returned to the Uchiha compound.
Yet he couldn't help finding it odd. All evening, his ears had felt inexplicably warm.
He didn't bother dwelling on it. As long as he'd had a pleasant night, that was enough.
"Character design really is a wonderful thing…"
Walking toward the Uchiha library, Haori muttered quietly to himself.
Ever since entering the Ninja Academy, he had understood one thing clearly—
To deal with this new world, this shinobi world, he needed a new approach: identify people's pain points and carve out a new lane.
After much thought, he arrived at a single conclusion—
Build a good persona.
Take Minato Namikaze, for example. The moment people mentioned him, words like powerful and sunny immediately came to mind.
Mention the Uchiha, and people thought of beautiful, strong, tragic—and also crazy and maniacal laughter.
As an Uchiha, Haori already had the "beautiful" part. The rest didn't really apply to him, and he certainly couldn't afford Minato's level of high-profile brilliance.
The persona he chose for himself was very simple—
Trustworthy.
It had to be said: it was a wise choice.
Even though he had been dragged into schemes by the hawks, and even though the war had long since hardened his heart, among the ninja outside the upper echelons, his reputation remained untarnished.
That earned him many friends. Even if some were only fair-weather brothers, they could still sit together and chat—from stealing erasers in elementary school to picking burial plots in old age.
With one exception—
Obito.
"Wait… could it be Obito who's cursing me?"
The thought crossed his mind, but Haori didn't dwell on it. He had already arrived at the Uchiha library.
After a round of checks, he entered smoothly and began searching through the records inside.
Although he had requested access before obtaining Outstanding Beyond the Ordinary, he would have come anyway even after getting it.
The materials here, especially those related to the use of the Sharingan, were extremely important to him.
He had awakened his Sharingan early and used it frequently, giving him a solid foundation.
The problem was that before awakening it, he had been ignored; after awakening it, he was constantly on the battlefield.
He had never had the chance to properly study the theory behind it.
Now that he finally had the opportunity, he naturally wanted to make up for it.
With these materials to supplement and expand his understanding, he could develop his eyes more thoroughly and use them far more effectively.
It would also help him reach his current limit faster—so he could advance directly.
"Still… there's too little here. And a lot of it is way too basic."
After finishing yet another set of notes, Haori felt mostly satisfied, but he still frowned.
The amount of material was limited, and much of it stopped abruptly at two tomoe.
There was pitifully little about three tomoe, let alone anything about the Mangekyō.
"Did Madara take it all with him when he left?"
The thought alone made Haori feel like he was about to lose it.
If you were going to leave, couldn't you have just burned everything down in one go?
Why make such a precise strike—taking only the good stuff?
"Forget it. This is enough for now, anyway."
Haori sighed helplessly. He had gained quite a bit tonight—more than enough for someone at the two-tomoe stage.
As for the future, he would just have to explore it himself.
With that in mind, he returned all the materials to their places.
But as he passed the innermost section of the library, his peripheral vision caught something—
Deep within an unremarkable bookshelf, there seemed to be a scroll.
"What's this?"
Haori frowned. He first put the materials away, then walked over and pulled the scroll out.
It was covered in dust, clearly neglected for a very long time.
There were no labels on it at all—no indication of what it contained.
Most people would have ignored something like this. Everyone who came here had a specific purpose.
But it piqued Haori's interest.
He sat down on the spot and carefully unrolled the scroll.
The moment he read its contents, he froze.
"The Uchiha's ultimate weapon?"
"Uchiha… Unnamed?"
"What is this supposed to be?"