After that night, the situation surrounding the Uchiha clan became even more delicate.
Although the other ninja of Konoha had learned that high-ranking figures like Danzo Shimura had long been persecuting and framing the Uchiha, that still couldn't outweigh the fact that one Obito Uchiha plus one Madara Uchiha might very well overturn the entire ninja world in the future.
It was even said that in Sasuke's future world, everyone across the globe was still hanging from tree branches.
And then there was that future Sasuke himself. His Perfect Susanoo, which rivaled Madara Uchiha's, and his claim that he had used the Mangekyō Sharingan and the Sage of Six Paths' Rinnegan to control all nine tailed beasts—all of it made people feel a crushing sense of bloodline supremacy, the absolute ceiling of future ninja world combat power.
Danzo Shimura was dead. The man who had constantly instigated the other two advisers to pressure the Third Hokage was gone, and the two fence-sitting Hokage advisers immediately lost their footing. Although they still had the authority to remain in the Hokage Tower and participate in major discussions, in reality, no one was willing to listen to their opinions anymore.
All the Uchiha who took part in the gathering were combatants who had awakened their Sharingan, and even then there were only forty or fifty of them at most.
Most of the ordinary Uchiha remained in the clan compound, hearts pounding in confusion after seeing the legendary Susanoo of Madara Uchiha appear from the direction of the clan shrine.
Especially young Sasuke, who still hadn't seen his family return. Hugging his dinosaur plush tightly, he sat in the courtyard, swinging his short little legs as he waited for his brother to come home.
It wasn't until late into the night that the person he was waiting for finally returned.
His brother, dressed in ANBU uniform and looking slightly exhausted, along with his worried father and mother, and…
Six young ninja about the same age as his brother, plus two people who looked to be around Shisui's age?!
Kannabi Bridge Minato, the Fourth Hokage Minato, adult Kakashi Hatake, adult Obito Uchiha, Akatsuki Itachi who had returned to the village, and this world's Shisui—who had lost one eye to Danzo Shimura—all followed the Hokage back to the Hokage Tower to discuss urgent matters.
Under the deterrence of Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke, and with Minato Namikaze and Fugaku Uchiha working together to calm things down, the rest of the Uchiha returned to wait for further news.
The six kids from Minato's team and Kakashi's team, along with ANBU Kakashi—who was still mentally reeling—and the tiger-masked man, had nowhere to go.
Faced with the choice between the empty Hatake residence and the Uchiha clan head's home, Naruto noticed Sasuke's intentions and immediately made the decision for everyone to go to Sasuke's place.
And so, the people seven-year-old Sasuke ended up meeting were:
Twelve-year-old Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke who was about to turn thirteen, thirteen-year-old Sakura Haruno, thirteen-year-old Rin Nohara, twelve-year-old Kakashi Hatake, and Obito Uchiha who was almost fourteen.
As well as seventeen-year-old ANBU Kakashi and the nearly nineteen-year-old tiger-masked Obito.
After throwing himself into his brother's arms, young Sasuke noticed that there were guests at home. He peeked his small head out from behind his brother and looked at them.
"Guests?"
He didn't know how he was supposed to address these people.
No matter what, he was still the second son of the Uchiha clan head. He couldn't afford to be rude at a moment like this and embarrass his brother or his parents.
But Itachi Uchiha, wearing his ANBU uniform, only rubbed Sasuke's head with a bitter expression.
His father Fugaku Uchiha and mother Mikoto Uchiha also said nothing.
"Come in, don't be shy," Mikoto Uchiha said to the children behind her. "You can chat for a bit. I'll go pour some tea."
Although her words were technically meant for everyone else, that unconscious sense of distance still made Sasuke Uchiha feel a sharp ache in his chest. It had been so many years since he'd experienced anything resembling parental warmth, and the feeling left him uncomfortably bitter.
Seeing him standing there with his head lowered, neither stepping forward nor backing away, it was obvious how much it hurt.
Naruto was the first to speak up, loudly announcing that they were intruding, then deliberately stepping in front of the hesitant Sasuke and entering first.
Sakura and Obito tugged at Sasuke as well. When he crossed the threshold, Sasuke lowered his head and muttered in a barely audible voice,
"Sorry for the trouble."
A ninja's hearing was sharp. Fugaku Uchiha heard him clearly and knew his son was struggling, but he had never been good at communicating with Sasuke. In the end, he said nothing.
Child Sasuke stared at the blond boy who walked in first. No matter how he looked at him, he felt the guy resembled the dead last in his class.
Could it be—
That idiot Naruto has an older brother too?!
Then teenage Sasuke and Sakura followed right behind, throwing the seven-year-old Sasuke's thoughts into complete chaos.
If that was idiot Naruto's brother, then who was the one behind him who looked so much like himself? And who was the one who looked like… that girl whose name he couldn't remember, but who always screamed whenever she saw him?
As Naruto passed by, he couldn't resist trying to mess with the kid and reached out to ruffle young Sasuke's hair.
Child Sasuke instinctively dodged, clamping both hands over his head to protect it. Teenage Sasuke immediately kicked Naruto in the butt. Teenage Itachi, clearly protective of his brother, calmly apologized to everyone and said he would take young Sasuke upstairs to rest.
Child Sasuke was curious, but he didn't question his brother's decision. He obediently followed him up to the second-floor bedroom.
Even moments as small as these stirred painful memories for Sasuke, leaving his heart aching and sour.
...
Inside the room meant for discussions, Fugaku Uchiha looked at the rebellious Obito, whose identity had already been exposed and who had just removed his mask.
"Let's start with you," he said.
With Rin present, this Obito seemed much more restrained.
Dressed in black, a sword at his side, his hair left uncut for who knew how long, it looked as if he intended to grow it out to Madara Uchiha's length.
He knelt properly along with everyone else before Fugaku Uchiha. Beside him sat Kakashi Hatake in ANBU uniform, with the boys and girls from Minato's team and Kakashi's team seated on either side.
Rebellious Obito was in no better shape than Fugaku Uchiha. If anything, he was the most confused of all. Rin was suddenly alive, there was now another "Obito Uchiha" and another "Kakashi Hatake," and his true identity beneath the mask had been completely exposed. The Eye of the Moon Plan, which he had already begun preparing, was stopped just like that.
What about Yahiko, who had died for that plan? Minato-sensei was still alive, but what about Kushina Uzumaki? And there were still countless unresolved issues on the Fourth Mizukage's side.
Seeing that he couldn't get a single word out, Obito from the Kannabi Bridge era spoke up.
"I'll explain for him."
Fugaku Uchiha nodded.
Young Obito began, "First of all, we all come from different points in time, either the past or the future. Rin, Kakashi, Minato-sensei, and I were originally carrying out the Kannabi Bridge mission…"
At the mention of the Kannabi Bridge mission, both ANBU Kakashi and the rebellious Obito's expressions changed instantly.
Ignoring their reactions, young Obito continued, "When we arrived, Naruto and Sasuke were in the middle of an escort mission in the Land of Waves…"
He briefly explained how they met, how they later discovered the mission scroll, and how they ended up traveling between different timelines.
That included how, during the Nine-Tails incident, they had uncovered the conspiracy between Danzo Shimura and the masked man, preventing the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha from escalating afterward. Listening to this, Fugaku Uchiha couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
And once that was brought up, it was impossible not to mention Kushina Uzumaki's near-death ordeal.
ANBU Kakashi finally snapped. He grabbed the collar of the rebellious Obito beside him and demanded,
"If you hate me for killing her, if you hate me for taking your eye and still failing to protect Rin, then why didn't you come back to Konoha for revenge? Why did you push all of that blame onto Kushina and Minato-sensei's family?!"
Rebellious Obito didn't know what to say anymore. He simply turned his head away, staying silent and refusing to even look at ANBU Kakashi.
Young Kakashi spoke up.
"After that, once Obito realized that he himself was the masked man who caused Minato-sensei's family to die, he awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in utter despair…"
Fugaku Uchiha's eyes flickered with brief surprise. The condition for awakening the Mangekyō was extreme despair. Just imagining what young Obito must have felt when he learned he had killed his beloved teacher's family was enough to understand it.
The one even more shocked was the rebellious Obito sitting there.
He had never expected the other him to awaken his eyes for that reason. Thinking back to the pain and despair he'd experienced when his own Mangekyō awakened, he suddenly understood something. His very existence meant overwhelming despair to that past version of "Obito Uchiha."
Young Obito then went on to explain in detail how, after everything that happened, the members of Minato's team traveled back to their parallel world. During the Kannabi Bridge mission, they successfully killed the Iwagakure ninja, yet Obito nearly lost his life because of the mission reward tied to the mission scroll.
…
Even ANBU Kakashi grew tense as he listened.
Knowing that in Naruto and Sasuke's future world Rin had already died, and that Obito had gone down a dark path, the desperate determination the three of them felt—to survive together no matter what—also affected ANBU Kakashi and Rebellious Obito.
"Did you make it in the end?" Rebellious Obito asked, already regretting the question the moment it left his mouth. The fact that the three of them were here was already the answer.
Young Obito nodded, his expression heavy.
"What I need to tell you next is even more important. After we were saved, we traveled again—this time to the moment when Rin was abducted by Kirigakure ninja."
"!!!"
ANBU Kakashi's body stiffened instantly. Rebellious Obito began to radiate a dark, oppressive aura.
Fugaku Uchiha frowned deeply. Obito clearly cared deeply for the girl named Rin. If Obito hadn't died back then and had later learned of her death, it was easy to imagine how crushing that despair would have been.
Young Obito straightened, staring directly at the Rebellious Obito who looked four or five years older than him.
"Did you know that Rin's heart also had a cursed seal placed by Madara Uchiha?"
Rebellious Obito was no longer quiet. His eyes flew wide open, bloodshot.
"What did you say?! How could Rin's heart possibly—"
Rin placed her hand over her chest.
"In fact, that seal is still on my heart right now."
Rebellious Obito didn't believe it. Almost instinctively, he reached out, trying to sense it with his chakra.
Smack—
The hand he'd just stretched out was forcefully knocked away by his other self.
Young Obito stared at his parallel-world counterpart with an unmistakable look of disbelief and anger.
"I…" rebellious Obito was left completely speechless.
Rin turned around, allowing Obito to place his hand against her back and sense the seal properly.
When rebellious Obito truly felt the same cursed seal on Rin's heart—the exact same one that had once been on his own—his expression changed violently. Hysterical madness and a bottomless fear began to churn in his eyes.