"Eh?"
Something seems off.
Upon hearing that Hakushi wants to teach him how to use the Sharingan, suspicion immediately rose on Obito's face.
"Aren't you a medical ninja? How will you teach me to use the Sharingan?"
"I do know a little bit about Sharingan. Teaching a rookie Uchiha like you to use it is easy enough for me."
"I feel like something's fishy. You just said Rin would be handed over to Hidden Waterfall Village upon returning to Konoha. You wouldn't be lying to me, would you?"
Obito was being paranoid.
"Even if I were lying, if Rin stirs old memories when she returns to Konoha, would that really be happiness for her?"
Hakushi smiled faintly and questioned back at Obito.
Obito seriously stared at Hakushi, feeling like the word 'insidious' was written all over his face.
"I get it, talk to me about it once I calm down a bit. I need to clear my mind and think about some things now."
Feeling a bit irritated, Obito descended down the stairs.
Hakushi didn't stop Obito; what needed to be said was already said, and letting him have some time to himself to calm down was good.
Putting his hands into the pockets of his white coat, the wind on the rooftop ruffled Hakushi's hair.
Soon after, Hakushi looked to the side where a figure mysteriously appeared, coldly beautiful, with black hair lightly lifted by the wind — it was Ruri.
"Since the brothers Uchiha Madara, no third person has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan in decades. Who would have thought a twelve-year-old kid would directly transition from the Two-Tomoe Sharingan to the Mangekyo stage? It's truly unbelievable unless witnessed firsthand."
Ruri sighed deeply, her eyes reflecting a complex expression.
She was confident that her Three-Tomoe Sharingan was as powerful in donjutsu as the Mangekyo, yet being surpassed in rank by a twelve-year-old junior was quite hard to swallow for her, someone always regarded as a genius Uchiha ninja.
"You could say he has a special talent for awakening. Otherwise, Madara wouldn't be fixated on him."
Hakushi replied.
As to say that Obito was the third visible person in Uchiha Race history to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, this statement might not be accurate.
Hakushi knew he possessed a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan from an unknown owner.
Strictly speaking, Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan is the fourth pair.
Of course, this isn't fully correct either, as the history of the Uchiha Race is long and deep, tracing back to ancestors possibly as far as a thousand years ago. Within that span of history, it's possible that Uchiha members had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, though not officially recorded in Uchiha's historical documents.
"Do you think I'm getting old?"
Ruri suddenly asked, staring intently at Hakushi.
Hakushi coughed lightly, chuckling as he responded, "Of course not, Ruri, you're not even twenty-two yet, still young and beautiful. Obito is merely an exception among the Uchiha Race, not a representative. Also, awakening these eyes too early might not be a good thing."
Awakening Mangekyo Sharingan at twelve is truly an astonishing event.
When Ruri graduated from the Ninja School at twelve, her Sharingan only awakened to the Two-Tomoe stage.
"Awakening Mangekyo Sharingan prematurely isn't wise. Without that little girl named Lin alive, predicting what terrible things he might do is difficult. Be cautious when teaching him."
Ruri's face turned serious.
Obito's emotional stability is because Lin is alive, suppressing the negative emotions of his Mangekyo Sharingan.
Ruri saw this very clearly.
"Rest assured, I won't let him run amok. I'm planning to take Lin as a disciple as well. Only then can I confidently utilize him."
Doing so appears somewhat unscrupulous, yet Hakushi finds it necessary to put a chain around Obito's neck.
Before eliminating the darkness within Obito, this chain is the best tool to suppress his internal shadows and effectively prevent him from going berserk.
And the best candidate to hold Obito's chain would undoubtedly be Lin.
Only Lin could adequately guide Obito, making him realize it's a trap, restricting his freedom, yet leaving him willingly bound, content to be restrained.
"By the way, has that little girl really lost her memory?"
As she was leaving, Ruri curiously asked this question.
Hakushi stood silently for a long time before slowly saying, "Ruri, everyone has memories they'd rather not recall. Surviving under such circumstances requires immense courage. Whether she's pretending to have amnesia or genuinely has lost memory, it no longer matters now."
Because even Obito, the concerned party, chose to forgive Lin's selfishness back then. As outsiders, they have no right to interfere.
Leaving it up to the two concerned parties to communicate and understand is the best solution. Outsiders only complicate matters further.
◎
Obito, the Konoha Chunin, and Rin Nohara are classified as missing persons.
After Kakashi returned to Konoha for debriefing, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, made a conclusive judgment on the matter.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen penalized Kakashi for leaving the camp without authorization; within the next two years, all rewards from missions executed by Kakashi would be confiscated.