Obito and Rin ending up together wasn't a coincidence.
Obito had gone to find her on purpose.
His thinking was simple. Since Namikaze Minato had created this one-on-one combat opportunity for Team Minato, he naturally had to seize it. Ideally, he could use this chance to show off properly in front of Rin.
For example…
He could get to Rin before Mikami Yuu and Kakashi did, stage a heroic rescue, casually kill a Suna ninja with one hand while looking cool, and display his overwhelming strength. If everything went according to that script, who wouldn't look at him, Uchiha Obito, in a whole new light?
Once Mikami Yuu and Kakashi heard about it later, they'd have to properly praise him and call him Big Brother Obito.
Just thinking about it felt amazing.
However…
Obito's plan ran into trouble from the very first step.
He discovered that the two opponents he and Rin had chosen seemed a little too strong.
How should one put it…
Aside from these few people, the rest had all been killed off by Minato. But since Chiyo had brought these survivors here, their strength was naturally decent. At minimum, they were chūnin with real combat experience, and some might even be jōnin.
Obito and Rin's luck wasn't too bad; they hadn't picked two jōnin.
But it wasn't exactly good either.
Because the scar-faced ninja and the Suna kunoichi were both elite chūnin. Even in one-on-one duels, Obito and Rin would have a hard time winning. At most, they could rely on their fundamentals to hold out for a short time, avoid losing, and wait for Minato or the two white-haired ones to free up their hands and come support them.
And when those two opponents came together, one plus one became greater than two, and they gave Obito and Rin a proper mixed doubles beating.
If Rin hadn't seized an opportunity midway through, using Obito's cover to land a Super Strength punch that crippled half of the Suna kunoichi's arm and prevented her from forming seals to use ninjutsu—forcing her to rely only on taijutsu and shuriken throwing—this fight might have been even harder.
Even so, the two of them were already close to their limit.
"…Heh. Judging by the look of you, you're almost done, aren't you?"
The scar-faced Suna ninja spoke in a rough, muffled voice.
Obito gritted his teeth and kept bluffing. "Who says I'm done? I've still got tons of chakra left! Come at me if you've got the guts!"
"Is that so?"
The scar-faced Suna ninja sneered. "Then let's test that. Let me see whether Konoha ninja can do anything besides run their mouths… Earth Style: Rock Trail!"
As he spoke, the scar-faced Suna ninja formed seals at high speed, then slammed his hands onto the ground!
Several sharp stone spikes burst out from beneath Obito and Rin's feet, forcing both of them to retreat and dodge.
But at that moment, the Suna kunoichi's shuriken also arrived. In his haste, Obito shoved Rin away, while he himself barely dodged by rolling awkwardly across the ground.
"Rin, go find Minato-sensei! I'll cover you!"
Obito shouted.
Although he sounded tough, he knew that he and Rin were no longer a match for the two enemies. Only Minato or the two white-haired ones could possibly resolve this crisis. If they kept trying to hold out, both of them might die here.
Rin hesitated slightly.
But the scar-faced Suna ninja had already roared and charged forward. While throwing a string of shuriken at Rin, he tightly gripped another kunai and thrust it toward Obito, who had just gotten up.
"Run? Don't dream! Both of you die here today!"
"…Obito!"
Rin screamed in alarm and hurriedly released Water Wave, trying to stop the scar-faced Suna ninja. But she had very little chakra left, and the weak stream she barely managed to create couldn't form an effective barrier.
Rin herself was also hit by two poison-coated shuriken because she was distracted, causing her to stagger slightly.
The green-glowing kunai was about to stab into Obito's chest.
At that critical instant,
Obito's mind went blank. Fear of death and Rin's desperate scream struck his heart like a heavy hammer. An indescribable pain, both icy and burning, exploded from the depths of his eyes.
"Ughhhh—!!!"
Obito let out a painful roar and instinctively closed his eyes.
But the instant he shut them, a strange, brand-new power seemed to break through some invisible shackle and surge violently through his body.
Shhk!
Obito's eyes snapped open.
A pair of crimson eyes had appeared.
Within those blood-red pupils, a pair of black tomoe slowly rotated, emitting an eerie, cold light.
The Sharingan!
The world seemed to slow down in that instant.
In Obito's eyes, the scar-faced Suna ninja's lightning-fast thrust suddenly became clear. He could even see every twitch of the man's facial muscles as he sneered.
But…
It was too late.
Although Obito's perception had skyrocketed, his body was still exhausted from the hard fight. Even though he could see the attack clearly, he had no time to react. He could only watch the kunai grow larger in his vision—
and then be blocked by a white figure that suddenly appeared.
"Chhk—"
The ringing sound of a sharp weapon tearing through air stopped abruptly.
Obito's eyes widened. He stared blankly at the back that had suddenly appeared in front of him, his mind going blank again from the sudden change.
"…Yuu?"
"You… you actually…"
You sacrificed yourself… to save me?
A burning pain pierced Obito's eyes again.
Instinctively, he raised both hands and grabbed Mikami Yuu's shoulders from behind, mist gathering in his eyes. Just as he was about to say something, the Mikami Yuu in front of him suddenly vanished with a puff of white smoke.
"…Eh???"
A shadow clone?
"What are you 'eh'-ing about? Spacing out in the middle of battle—are you trying to die faster?"
Before the voice even finished, another Mikami Yuu—more precisely, Yuu's real body—shot over from Rin's position. A Leaf Whirlwind sent the scar-faced Suna ninja, who had just reacted, flying away. Then Yuu landed steadily beside Obito.
Obito was still dazed. "Yuu, you… you're not dead?"
"…What do you think?"
Yuu glanced at Obito's crimson eyes and felt a little speechless.
How should he put it…
Objectively speaking, Mikami Yuu had arrived at just the right time. He had reached them precisely before Obito and Rin suffered serious injuries or fell into a deathtrap, saving both of them separately.
But…
Subjectively, Yuu felt that he had come late.
He had expected that some accident might happen on Obito and Rin's side, but he hadn't expected Obito to awaken the Sharingan in this fight.
This wasn't right!
Obito was supposed to endure for another year or two, then awaken the two-tomoe Sharingan during the Kannabi Bridge battle after witnessing Kakashi get injured. Later, on the Mist battlefield, after seeing Kakashi stab Rin through with Chidori, he would awaken the Mangekyō…
So why had it happened now?!
This was way too early compared to the original plot!
This wasn't how Galgame Naruto was supposed to go!
But…
There was nothing he could do.
Things had already happened. Mikami Yuu couldn't rewind time and arrive here immediately after dealing with Pakura to resolve Obito and Rin's crisis ahead of time. Now, all he could do was accept the fact that Obito had awakened his eyes.
At this moment,
Yuu silently sighed in his heart and pretended he had only just noticed Obito's change.
"Obito, your eyes… did you awaken the Sharingan?"
"Ah! You mean this!"
Obito belatedly touched his own eyes, feeling the strange chakra flow there, both excited and at a loss.
"I don't know what happened either. Just now, when I saw that guy rushing over, suddenly… my eyes hurt, and then it became like this!
"Hahaha, so this is our Uchiha clan's Sharingan? Awesome! I feel terrifyingly strong right now!"
"…"
Across from them,
the scar-faced Suna ninja frowned, a stunned expression appearing on his face.
Mikami Yuu's arrival was undoubtedly something he hadn't expected.
In his view, even if Kakashi had arrived, that would have been more reasonable. After all, Mikami Yuu and Minato were fighting Pakura and Chiyo respectively—one was Suna's young genius, the other was an old Kage-level veteran. It was hard to imagine those two losing to Konoha.
But…
Since the unexpected had happened, there was nothing more to say.
The scar-faced Suna ninja immediately formed seals and activated Earth Release, trying to flee underground.
"Hey, don't even think about running!"
With the Sharingan's insight, Obito instantly noticed the scar-faced Suna ninja's movements. He stomped forward, his body driven by the newly awakened power, and rushed to the man at high speed, throwing a punch.
"…Get lost!"
The scar-faced Suna ninja was furious and casually drew a kunai to stab Obito.
I can't beat that white-haired brat, but you think I can't beat you?
You think putting on some colored contacts makes you invincible?
Worst case, I'll trade one-for-one!
Seeing the kunai stab toward him,
Obito shifted sideways and lowered his waist, dodging the strike. Then he slammed his right fist into the scar-faced Suna ninja's poorly guarded ribs.
Bang!
The scar-faced Suna ninja hadn't expected that the kid he had been suppressing earlier would suddenly unleash such a fierce counterattack. After taking a punch to the ribs, his vision darkened. Then he saw Obito form seals with both hands and release Great Fireball Jutsu.
Boom!
A scorching fireball roared out and blasted the scar-faced Suna ninja away, smashing him hard into a large tree. He fell back down, burned all over, shaking loose a shower of leaves.
Obito threw several kunai over, pinning them into the scar-faced Suna ninja's body. The man's vision went black, and he finally lost consciousness completely.
"It's over."
On the other side,
Rin had also tied up the already injured Suna kunoichi whom Yuu had knocked unconscious with a hand chop earlier, then walked over.
Only then did Obito and Rin remember to ask Yuu about the others.
"…Minato-sensei's battle is already over. Chiyo escaped. He sent me to find you. Kakashi has Minato-sensei personally supporting him, so there's no need to worry."
Yuu said.
After hearing that, Obito and Rin both sighed in relief.
Rin had wanted to ask about Pakura as well. After all, she had witnessed Pakura's strength. Although she had confidence in Yuu, she didn't think Yuu could easily crush her. He must have gone through a dangerous fight.
But before Rin could ask,
Obito touched around his eyes and cheerfully cut in.
"Haha, Yuu, Rin, hurry and tell me what my eyes look like right now. How many tomoe are in them?"
"…Two."
Yuu said.
There was no helping it. This was the value of bloodline.
In the original story, Obito had awakened straight into the two-tomoe Sharingan, then jumped directly to Mangekyō the next time, even awakening the bug-level ocular jutsu Kamui. Anyone who didn't know better might think he was the Indra reincarnation of this generation.
Now,
although the timing and circumstances were different, Obito had still awakened directly to two tomoe, leaving Yuu with complicated feelings.
"Forget it."
"I'll treat your wounds first. Then we'll clean up the battlefield and go meet up with Kakashi and the others."
At Yuu's words,
Obito and Rin both nodded.
They had indeed suffered some injuries, especially Rin. When she used Water Wave earlier, several poison-coated kunai had hit her, and the poison had already started spreading.
Yuu quickly pulled an antidote from his tool pouch, injected Rin with it, and then used Healing Technique on her.
Beside them,
although Obito was also injured, his mind was extremely excited after awakening the Sharingan, and he didn't care about such a small thing at all. He wandered around and began looting the bodies.
This was something Yuu had originally been the only one doing, but after Obito and Rin saw it often enough, they had also developed the habit.
After all, the enemies they were now encountering were getting stronger and stronger, and their consumption of ninja tools was enormous. Supplies from the main camp were limited and couldn't be given out endlessly. So after every fight, collecting ninja tools as replacement supplies became part of their routine.
At this moment,
not far from the battlefield, underground,
while none of Yuu's group noticed, a white figure quietly left…
…
The location was the Mountain Graveyard, not far from the Valley of the End.
Deep within the cave, the light was dim and the air was deathly still. Only a few thin beams of sunlight entered through small openings above, illuminating the enormous body of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
In the shadow cast by the statue,
an old man near the end of his life sat cross-legged, his back perfectly straight.
He was clearly very old. His long hair had gone completely white, his face was covered in deep furrows, and several thick tubes were inserted into his back. He could only maintain this body and continue surviving by drawing nutrients from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Yet only those eyes, even sunk deep into their sockets, still held a gaze as sharp as a hawk's, radiating the suffocating majesty once known as the Shura of the Ninja World.
Suddenly,
a faint rubbing sound, like insects crawling, approached from a distance, breaking the dead silence.
A white, skinless humanoid creature wriggled out from the shadows at the cave entrance in an almost comical posture.
It was White Zetsu, Tobi.
"Madara-sama! Madara-sama! Big discovery! Huge discovery!"