Inside the command tent, the soft glow of an oil lamp swayed gently against the canvas walls, casting flickering shadows.
Minato gestured for Kiyohara to take a seat, while he himself sat down on a simple wooden stool across from him.
"Kiyohara,"
he began.
"Kakashi and Rin have already given me a general account of what happened. About your eyes… could you explain it in more detail?"
Kiyohara had already prepared himself for this conversation.
He raised his head and said calmly,
"Lord Minato, to be honest, I was surprised myself."
He paused briefly, organizing his thoughts.
"At the time… Rin was taken away by the Mist shinobis. Kakashi chased after them, and when I arrived, I saw Rin being surrounded and attacked by those Mist shinobi. In the end, a strange chakra appeared on her body…"
Kiyohara deliberately slowed his pace, a look of recollection appearing naturally in his eyes.
"At that moment, there was only one thought in my mind—save Rin."
He raised his hand and lightly touched the corner of his eye with his fingertips.
"Then my vision started to burn. The world in front of me suddenly became incredibly clear. The enemy's movements felt as if they had slowed down, and I could clearly see the flow of chakra itself. After everything was over, Kakashi told me that my eyes had turned red, and tomoe had appeared inside them."
After finishing, Kiyohara quietly looked at Minato.
None of what he said was false, it was all true.
He had merely adjusted the timing of his awakening slightly, shifting it from earlier to the most critical moment on the battlefield.
This explanation was perfectly reasonable.
The awakening of the Sharingan required intense emotional stimulation, and witnessing a companion fall into mortal danger and desperately trying to save them was one of the most classic triggers.
The vast majority of Uchiha awakened their Sharingan in precisely this way.
Including Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shisui, and many others.
Minato listened in silence, his fingers unconsciously tapping lightly against his knee.
His gaze lingered on Kiyohara's face for a moment, as if assessing the truthfulness of his words.
The fact that Kiyohara could freely deactivate the Sharingan was solid proof that he possessed Uchiha blood.
Outsiders who transplanted an optical bloodline limit simply could not control it perfectly.
Kakashi was a living example with his chakra being consumed continuously, twenty-four hours a day.
"You're right,"
Minato finally said after a long pause, nodding slowly.
"If you do have Uchiha blood, then it makes sense that your eyes would awaken during moments of emotional upheaval. Back then, Obito awakened his Sharingan as well—also to protect Kakashi."
When he mentioned Obito's name, a trace of sighing emotion crept into his voice.
"Kiyohara, regarding your background…"
Minato smoothly changed the subject.
"Do you have any clues yourself? Did your parents ever mention anything about your ancestors?"
Kiyohara shook his head.
"I only know that my father, and my grandparents, were all civilians."
That, too, was the truth.
Minato naturally knew Kiyohara's background, his records indeed stated as much.
As for anything earlier than that, there simply were no records.
After all, Konoha itself had only been founded a few decades ago.
"Then how much control do you currently have over the Sharingan's abilities?"
Minato asked.
"The enhancement to dynamic vision is very obvious,"
Kiyohara answered honestly.
"I can clearly see the trajectories of fast-moving objects, and I can see the flow of chakra. As for genjutsu and other abilities… I haven't tried them yet, and I don't really understand them."
This was also true.
The abilities of the Sharingan required gradual adaptation before techniques like "copying" and "hypnosis" could truly manifest.
Minato fell into thought.
"The Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Its appearance means that there must be Uchiha blood in your lineage. This matter will soon be known to the higher-ups of the village, and the Uchiha clan will also receive word of it."
He stood up and walked to the edge of the tent, lifting the curtain slightly to glance at the deep night outside.
"Kiyohara, you are a shinobi of Konoha. That will never change. The Sharingan is your power—and also the village's power. But the matter of bloodline… may bring about some complicated situations."
Turning back around, Minato's expression grew solemn.
"You should be summoned back to the village within the next few days."
Kiyohara nodded.
"I understand."
Minato stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on Kiyohara's shoulder.
"Don't worry too much. You are a shinobi raised by Konoha, an inheritor of the Will of Fire. No matter where your bloodline comes from, that fact will never change."
His smile was warm and dependable.
"Yes, Lord Minato,"
Kiyohara replied, nodding.
Although the Uchiha clan's position in Konoha was rather delicate at the moment, Minato was likely one of the few people who would not discriminate against them.
Or perhaps, if he had become Hokage and Obito were still alive, he might even have personally nurtured him.
Unfortunately, Minato had become the shortest-lived Hokage in history—speedrunning the position faster than anyone else in the shinobi world.
"Go get some rest. We leave early tomorrow morning."
Kiyohara nodded again and turned to leave the tent.
The night wind carried the humid, earthy scent unique to the Land of Grass, and silhouettes of patrol shinobi moved atop distant watchtowers.
He took a deep breath and walked toward his own tent.
"Kiyohara."
As he stepped out, he saw Kurenai and Genma still waiting outside.
"I never imagined you actually had Uchiha blood,"
Kurenai said, wearing an expression of sudden realization.
Genma scratched his head as well, finally understanding why Kiyohara was so formidable.
His chakra reserves were larger than theirs, and his growth rate was astonishingly fast.
"I didn't expect it either,"
Kiyohara went along with their words.
This explanation could conveniently serve as another layer of camouflage for his so-called "last will."
In the shinobi world, "bloodline theory" was the ultimate truth, everything could be attributed to lineage.
As long as there was a bloodline, there was a reasonable explanation.
After all, this stuff really did get passed down through DNA—dragons gave birth to dragons, phoenixes to phoenixes, and the sons of mice knew how to dig holes.
"Then you'll have to train with me properly from now on,"
Kurenai said, blinking as her crimson eyes remained fixed on Kiyohara.
She didn't have much interaction with the Uchiha clan.
Now that Kiyohara possessed the Sharingan, she was curious to see whether the legendary Sharingan genjutsu was truly as powerful as the rumors claimed.
"Alright,"
Kiyohara nodded.
He had no intention of refusing.
With the Sharingan, his speed in learning ninjutsu would inevitably increase even further.
And Kurenai's higher-level genjutsu were something he could try to "borrow" through observation as well.
"You agreed unusually fast this time,"
Kurenai said suspiciously.
"Training with a beautiful person is naturally more motivating,"
Kiyohara replied with a smile.
"You smooth talker,"
Kurenai shot him a mild glare.
Even so, his words clearly pleased her.
In her eyes, it was simply Kiyohara finally awakening to her charm.
Hmph.
Thinking about that made Kurenai feel inexplicably delighted from head to toe.
She couldn't help but smile as well.
Genma, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed.
What kind of switch did Kiyohara flip on Kurenai?!
He clearly remembered that back at the former site of Uzushiogakure, Kiyohara had even given Nohara Rin a bracelet.
Rin was still wearing that bracelet to this day.
So what exactly was going on now?
Was this… two-timing?
All Genma could do was sigh in admiration, Kiyohara truly was a master of time management.
Damn it, he wanted to learn that skill too!
"I'll head back first. It's getting pretty late."
Kiyohara said as much.
After such a prolonged battle, he could now clearly feel the fatigue setting in.
"Alright, get some good rest,"
Kurenai came back to her senses and nodded.
The three of them soon parted ways there, each heading toward their own tents.
After returning to his personal tent, Kiyohara lit the oil lamp and sat cross-legged on his bedding.
Ever since the battle ended, he had been in a state of extreme tension. Only now did he finally have the chance to calm down and sort through what he had gained.
First and most obvious of all—he had obtained the Sharingan.
Although it would inevitably attract attention from all sides, it also meant that he could now openly and legitimately use this power.
In the shinobi world, kekkei genkai were a crucial component of strength. The insight provided by the Sharingan was an enormous boost to his Magnet Release, taijutsu, and medical ninjutsu alike.
More importantly, the timing he had given for his awakening was perfectly reasonable and matched Rin's life-threatening situation flawlessly, leaving no room for suspicion.
After all, there was simply no technology in the shinobi world capable of perfectly inheriting the power of the Sharingan—once implanted, it couldn't be turned off. Even Danzo's arm full of Sharingan was proof of that.
Of course, the current Danzo likely didn't have that many Sharingan in reserve yet only his right eye had been transplanted with one.
And it was precisely because Shisui hadn't anticipated that Danzo had a Sharingan implanted in his right eye that he had been instantly killed the first time they met.
Beyond that, Kiyohara's practical combat experience had increased dramatically.
His battles against Kurosuki Raiga and Kurotsuki Hōzuki, two elite jōnin from Kirigakure had given him a brand-new understanding of how to apply his own abilities.
If he hadn't been more cautious, wanting to see whether Raiga might have some hidden trump card left, Kiyohara could have killed him outright.
After all, Raiga possessed a self-destruct technique, "Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning," which allowed him to drag both himself and his opponent into mutual destruction.
Most likely, because he had lost an arm or lacked sufficient chakra, he never had the chance to use that technique before Kiyohara beat him to the brink of death, leaving him incapable of performing it.
In the end, the Kiba swords was taken by Kurotsuki Hōzuki and used to fight Kiyohara.
When it was time to leave, Kiyohara didn't know any sealing techniques, so he could only temporarily store it inside a sealing scroll.
Afterward, he handed it over to Konoha in exchange for military merit.
With so many eyes watching, he had no way to secretly keep it for himself.
Moreover, Kirigakure possessed summoning scrolls for the Seven Ninja Swords, allowing them to recall all seven at once, so special handling was absolutely necessary.
"At least the fragments of the Executioner's Blade are worth finding a craftsman for,"
Kiyohara thought to himself, recalling how he had stripped equipment off those Mist shinobis and the ANBU alike.
He then took out the fragments of the Executioner's Blade from the sealing scroll, planning to later reshape them into specially customized flying-type shinobi tools like shuriken or kunai.
He hadn't sought out a blacksmith before mainly because he lacked the money and feared being recognized.
Now, however, he had the Sharingan. At worst, he still had the spirit of Uchiha Kiyohara.
With the ocular power of a three-tomoe Sharingan, he could easily hypnotize a craftsman, use genjutsu to guide them into thinking the material was simply somewhat unusual, and have them forge it for him.
Of course, using this method to make money was out of the question, the effects of genjutsu were temporary. Once the craftsman tallied their daily income afterward, they would immediately realize something was wrong.
Lastly, there was the significant increase in his chakra reserves and control.
Combat was the fastest way to grow.
Continuous high-intensity battles forced the body to constantly squeeze out its potential, and through repeated cycles of chakra filling, depletion, and recovery, the chakra pathways were tempered.
Kiyohara could clearly feel that his chakra control had improved as well.
The price he paid was the excessive strain on his digestive system, he could already feel pain there and would need several days of rest to recover.
"My butterfly wings have started flapping too,"
Kiyohara murmured, stroking his chin.
Nohara Rin had survived.
Although the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag near her heart had been triggered, causing the tailed beast to rampage, at the most critical moment he had successfully destroyed the core of the seal and preserved Rin's life with medical ninjutsu.
This meant that Obito had personally witnessed the scene of "Rin being stabbed," pushing his emotions past the critical threshold and awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan only to immediately see Rin "come back from the dead," and even protect Kiyohara.
What kind of impact would such a violent emotional reversal have on Obito?
Kiyohara didn't know.
But one thing was certain—this path was already different from the original story, where Rin died completely and Obito fell entirely into darkness.
"My other self,"
Kiyohara tapped lightly on the urn.
The spirit of Uchiha Kiyohara emerged from within it, his semi-transparent figure appearing somewhat illusory under the halo of the oil lamp.
"What is it?"
Uchiha Kiyohara asked.
Kiyohara noticed that this version of Kiyohara was different from the other Kiyohara's before—it seemed to prefer staying inside the urn.
Unless Kiyohara actively called him, he rarely came out.
"I want you to teach me Uchiha-style taijutsu and shurikenjutsu,"
Kiyohara said directly.
The spirit of Uchiha Kiyohara nodded slightly.
"That's fine. With Uchiha-style taijutsu, you can indeed work together with the Sharingan to unleash even greater power."
"Go into detail,"
Kiyohara said, indicating that he was ready to receive instruction.
At present, aside from kenjutsu inherited from Youth Kiyohara, Kiyohara's taijutsu consisted entirely of the most basic, widely taught techniques.
If he could learn more advanced skills, then the physical force enhanced by "Magnet Release: Magnetic Field Rotation" and "Earth Release: Earth Spear" could be brought to far greater perfection.
"Then I'll start with the simpler parts,"
Uchiha Kiyohara said.
"Alright."
Kiyohara took out paper and pen, intending to record everything.
Every second that the spirit manifested, it continued to dissipate.
If he wrote it down, he could review it repeatedly later on his own.
It wasn't until deep into the night that Kiyohara finally went to sleep.
The fighting style of Uchiha taijutsu was unlike Might Guy's brutally direct Strong Fist, and also unlike the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist that shattered from a single point.
It was more like a fusion of assassination techniques and close combat, making full use of the Sharingan's insight to predict the opponent's movements, evade attacks with minimal motion, and then launch counterattacks from the most optimal angles.
At the same time, Uchiha Kiyohara also taught him certain principles of force application.
After half a night of explanation, Kiyohara had already formed a preliminary understanding of Uchiha-style taijutsu.
From there on, it would require extensive practice and constant integration.
Or perhaps, by completing the second final wish, he might even be able to directly inherit this portion.
...
The Mountain's Graveyard.
Within the pitch-black, desolate underground passage.
"I will… sever all cause and effect."
Obito stared at the dim scenery before him.
Madara had said that this underground passage was the fissure between life and death.
Now, Obito felt that description was painfully accurate.
He had thought that once he got out, he could return to the way things used to be—continuing to live and train alongside Rin and Kakashi.
But instead, he found himself back here once again.
"Hmph… no one noticed you, right?"
Madara's lips curled into a deep smile.
"Obito used his newly acquired ability to return. No one else noticed him along the way,"
Tobi the Spiral White Zetsu replied.
He found Obito's new power fascinating, it could take him to another dimension, a place filled with tombstone-like blocks.
"Why didn't you show your entire face?"
Madara asked calmly.
He neither explained how he knew about Obito's disguise nor cared whether Obito would question it.
Obito stopped walking and glanced at Madara.
At this point, he no longer cared how Madara knew.
But when Madara spoke of showing his face—
Show a face that everyone had already forgotten?
"I was forgotten long ago. If they couldn't recognize me even like that, it just proves I was never truly remembered in the first place,"
Obito said stubbornly.
Over these past few months or rather, during the pitch-dark rehabilitation training—his sense of time had long since been distorted.
Sunrise and sunset, hunger and fatigue—those anchors ordinary people relied on to define themselves had all lost meaning for him.
He no longer needed to eat or relieve himself.
His world consisted of nothing but pain, training, and that single expectation of seeing Rin and Kakashi again.
But now, that expectation had collapsed.
The way Rin looked at him was as though she were looking at an enemy.
Kakashi's vigilance. Rin's coldness.
He had even seen the natural, effortless tacit understanding between Kiyohara and the two of them.
The position that should have belonged to him had long since been filled perfectly.
Just as Madara and White Zetsu had said, his place already had a replacement.
Even if he went back, could everything really return to how it was before?
"I can be replaced so easily. That just means whether I exist or not makes no difference. Rin saying she'd always watch over me was nothing but polite talk…"
Obito stared at Madara, a trace of madness flickering in his eyes.
"I'm completely disappointed in this world full of betrayal and falsehood. This Rin is fake, and the shinobi world that caused all of this to happen is even more fake…"
Watching Obito mutter to himself like this, Madara nodded in satisfaction.
At the end of the day, he was still a child who was easily incited.
Obito was like a diode—swinging from extreme belief to extreme doubt.
People like this fundamentally lacked proper psychological guidance.
But this was exactly what Madara's guidance was meant to produce.
In the past, Obito had chosen to believe in everything to believe in the Will of Fire, to believe in the bonds between comrades.
When these beliefs were broken one by one by reality, he didn't choose to question any single part. Instead, he denied everything entirely.
If "beauty" was fake, then the world that carried that "beauty" must also be fake.
Such extremity, such black-and-white thinking, was precisely the product of long-term confinement in a twisted environment.
Obito had lived all this time in an environment deliberately constructed by Madara—a dark, sealed underground space, deprived of normal anchors like eating and excretion, surrounded only by white monsters and an old man.
In such an environment, most people would experience loneliness, fear, anxiety, or even hallucinations.
A lack of external stimulation could lead to cognitive decline, emotional instability, and even severe mental health issues.
Only in such conditions could Obito's already stubborn personality be pushed even further.
"Very good,"
Madara's voice echoed through the cavern.
"You've already seen the truth. The essence of this world is endless pain and betrayal. Shinobis, nations, bonds… all of them are nothing more than fragile structures built upon lies."
Madara paused before continuing,
"Then tell me, Obito."
"Will you continue to be forgotten and replaced in this false world… or are you willing to join me in creating a new world?"
Obito fell silent.
Countless images from the past flashed through his mind.
Now, every one of them seemed shrouded in a layer of false light.
"A world without pain, without loss, without betrayal,"
Madara said slowly.
"A world where everyone can forever be with the ones they love. A world… dreamlike and perfect, yet truly real."
"Tell me how to create a new world, Madara,"
Obito spoke again.
He wanted to create a world where betrayal no longer existed.
In that world, Rin would truly, always watch over him.
And in that world, there would be no more people like Kiyohara!
Even if achieving that happiness meant burning the old world to the ground.
Hearing this, Madara's smile deepened further, the wrinkles on his face bunching together.
"Come here,"
he said, extending a hand that was withered and skeletal.
"You no longer need to repay me, nor do you need to do anything for Konoha, for your comrades, or for those who have long since forgotten you."
"From today onward, you are the savior!"
Madara nodded.
In the time to come, he would teach Obito everything he knew without holding anything back.
Of course, in the process, Madara would also leave behind safeguards, in case Obito found other ways to break the Forbidden Individual Curse Tag or strayed from the plan.
That safeguard was… Black Zetsu.
The existence Madara truly trusted—or rather, the existence he believed he had absolute control over.
Black Zetsu would monitor Obito, guide Obito, and ensure that he always walked along the predetermined path.
"Savior… heh,"
Madara thought as he looked at Obito, whose gaze was gradually firming.
He couldn't help but think that although Kiyohara's talent was higher,
Obito was far easier to incite and far easier to guide.
Sometimes, being foolish had its advantages.
(End of Chapter)