Chapter 212: The Hidden Rinnegan Awakens
Stelle took a deliberate, measured step back, easily letting the man's grasping hand swipe through empty air.
"That is the living allowance the Village provided for me," she stated, her voice flat and unyielding. "It is not for you to drink away on cheap alcohol."
"You dare dodge me, you little wretch?!"
Infuriated by the defiance, Kobayashi Isamu lashed out with a vicious kick. He had been irritated enough when his casual grab missed, but this time, he channeled the full, unbridled physical strength of a Genin into his leg. The stench of stale sake rolled off him in waves. He didn't care in the slightest whether this strike would shatter her ribs or outright kill her; his alcohol-addled brain only demanded a target to vent his towering rage.
Stelle stood rooted to the dirt path, her posture perfectly mimicking a child paralyzed by overwhelming terror. Yet, beneath the shadow of her bangs, a distinct, chilling purple glow began to bleed into the depths of her right eye.
Before the kick could connect, a small shadow plummeted from the adjacent rooftop.
"Who are you?! How dare you hit A-Mu!"
Obito slammed into Isamu feet-first, tackling the grown man hard into the dusty street. The boy scrambled atop him, throwing two wild, heavy punches that cracked against Isamu's jaw. However, the weight difference was absolute. With a furious roar, Isamu easily bucked his hips, flipping the young Uchiha over and pinning him into the dirt.
A messy, desperate brawl ensued in the middle of the street.
"Where did this meddling brat come from? Get lost!" Isamu snarled, raising a fist. "I am A-Mu's legal guardian! It's my absolute right to discipline her however I see fit!"
That word only poured fuel on Obito's blazing fury. He had visited A-Mu's dilapidated house countless times and had never once seen this so-called 'guardian' lift a finger. It was always A-Mu, frail and exhausted, taking care of the bedridden Kikushi. Gritting his teeth, Obito fought back with everything he had, kicking and thrashing wildly.
But despite being a bottom-tier Genin, Isamu was still a fully grown adult shinobi. Obito possessed none of Kakashi's prodigious talent, nor did he have a mentor to guide his raw potential. Armed with nothing but a month of Academy basics and sheer stubbornness, the boy was quickly overpowered. Isamu grabbed him by the collar and hurled him brutally across the street. Obito hit the ground hard, sliding several meters through the abrasive dirt and scraping his skin raw.
Isamu's brain cells had been thoroughly eroded by years of heavy drinking. He was completely out of his mind. Even though the proud red-and-white fan crest of the Uchiha Clan was emblazoned clearly on the back of Obito's shirt, the drunkard still dared to escalate to lethal force.
As Obito tumbled face-first into the dirt, Isamu reached into his worn ninja tool pouch. His fingers closed around the cold steel of a shuriken. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the spinning blade directly toward the back of the boy's exposed neck.
Obito lay dazed, his face pressed against the ground. He couldn't see the lethal projectile whistling through the air behind him. There was absolutely no time to dodge.
"Obito, watch out!"
Stelle lunged forward. She threw her small body directly over the downed Uchiha, acting as a human shield.
Thwack.
The heavy shuriken sank deep into the flesh of her back. Blood immediately welled up, gushing from the laceration. The crimson tide rapidly soaked through the coarse, heavily patched grey fabric of her Orphanage uniform, blooming like a morbid flower.
Hearing her stifled gasp, Obito realized something was horribly wrong. He scrambled to his knees, quickly rolling over to help Stelle sit up. As his hand pressed against her back to support her, his fingers sank into something slick and sickeningly warm. He yanked his hand back.
His palm was coated in brilliant, dripping crimson.
"A-Mu... you're hurt?!" his voice cracked, pitching upward in panic.
"I'm fine!"
Stelle pushed herself off the ground, ignoring his trembling hands. She stood up straight, slowly turning around. Her gaze was utterly devoid of warmth as she stared down Isamu, who was already striding toward them with murderous intent.
As she turned, Obito finally saw the wound. The gruesome, jagged gash tore through her uniform, and the blood showed no signs of stopping, dripping steadily onto the dusty road.
"A-Mu..."
Obito's breath hitched in his throat. A suffocating wave of grief, followed instantly by an explosive, volcanic rage, surged from the very bottom of his heart. The sheer intensity of the emotional fluctuation felt like a physical blow to his skull. A sharp, agonizing sting pierced his optic nerves. Deep within his pupils, a bright, blood-red hue began to bleed outward, devouring the black.
The burning pain in his eyes was so intense that he ripped his orange goggles off his forehead, clutching his face as he gasped for air.
"You ungrateful little wretch. You're lucky I even bothered to adopt you, and yet you dare raise a hand against me..."
Isamu closed the distance in three long strides. His large, calloused hand shot out, clamping brutally around Stelle's slender throat. With a grunt of exertion, he lifted her entirely off the ground, her feet kicking empty air.
"If it weren't for the monthly stipend, why the hell would I take you in? There are plenty of brats rotting in the Orphanage. Believe it or not, I'll snap your neck right here and now."
His grip tightened like a steel vise. He watched with sick satisfaction as the little girl's face began to flush a deep, oxygen-starved purplish-red.
But in the very next second, his cruel smirk froze.
He stared in absolute bewilderment as the little girl's right eye shifted. The pitch-black iris dissolved, replaced by a cold, radiant purple. Dark, concentric ripples rapidly formed, expanding outward from her pupil in a captivating, god-like pattern.
Before his alcohol-sluggish mind could even begin to comprehend what kind of Dojutsu he was looking at...
...a colossal, invisible wall of solid gravity slammed into his chest.
What did it feel like?
He didn't register pain at first. There was only an overwhelming, beyond understanding sensation of being utterly crushed. In that fraction of a second, he felt smaller than an insect, as if the invisible hand of a towering giant had casually swatted him away.
Every single bone, muscle fiber, and internal organ in his body compressed simultaneously. He could actually hear the sickening, wet crunch of his own ribcage caving in under the sheer kinetic force.
Before his nervous system could even transmit the agony, his body was launched backward like a broken ragdoll. He flew through the air, slamming violently against the solid stone wall of a nearby two-story building.
BOOM!
The entire wall buckled and collapsed inward with a deafening roar, burying him beneath a localized avalanche of dust and shattered masonry.
It was only when he lay broken amidst the rubble that the overwhelming tsunami of agonizing pain finally hit him. Blood violently gushed from his nose, mouth, and ears. He was hemorrhaging from all seven orifices.
Isamu lay slumped in the debris, his vision swimming as he stared in abject, primal terror at the little girl standing motionless in the street.
One final, coherent thought flashed through his fading consciousness.
Just what kind of monster did I bring into my home?
The massive, sudden spike in Chakra, combined with the thunderous explosion of the collapsing building, instantly alerted the Uchiha Police Force members patrolling the adjacent district.
Several figures flickered across the rooftops, leaping over the intervening structures before landing gracefully in the ruined street.
By the time the dust began to settle, Stelle had collapsed to her knees, her body seemingly drained of all Chakra. She was currently being propped up by Obito, who had finally fought through the burning pain in his eyes to regain his senses.
Yet, even as she slumped against him, her right eye still radiated that cold, divine purple glow—a gaze that commanded absolute intimidation.
The patrol members immediately locked onto that strange, rippling eye.
The squad leader, Uchiha Kiyokazu, froze. Years ago, he had been part of the primary defense force that protected Konoha when the legendary Rinnegan expert had invaded the village.
When his Sharingan clearly mapped out the distinct concentric pattern in that purple eye, a gasp of pure disbelief escaped his lips.
"The... Rinnegan!"
He knew the apocalyptic power of those eyes all too well. Back during that nightmarish invasion, when the Rinnegan expert had engaged the Fourth Hokage in mortal combat, Kiyokazu had summoned his ninja crows to gather intelligence from a safe distance, desperately trying to find an opening to support the Fourth. He had seen that god-like eye burned into his memory.
And this little girl's right eye possessed the exact same outline, the exact same oppressive aura, and the exact same ripple pattern as that invader's left eye. They were unmistakably two halves of a complete pair.
And now, the owner of this legendary eye had simply appeared in the middle of Konoha?
After a brief, breathless moment of shock, Kiyokazu's veteran instincts kicked in. He realized the terrifying gravity of the situation and immediately began barking orders.
"Hyuga, you two secure the perimeter immediately! Seal off this entire street. Block any civilians who try to come watch, and absolutely forbid anyone from approaching the rubble. If any foreign spies try to force their way in, execute them without mercy."
"Yota! Shunshin to the Hokage Building at once. Request Hokage-sama to mobilize to the Police Force headquarters immediately!"
But a second after giving the order, Kiyokazu held up a hand, his mind racing.
"No, wait. Yota, take these two children directly to the central hospital. Find Senju Tetsuya. Tell him that Hokage-sama will be arriving shortly; he'll understand the protocol. I will go to the Hokage Building to deliver the report myself."
The moment the revised orders left his mouth, Kiyokazu vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Uchiha Youta stepped quickly toward the two children. But just as he reached out to carefully lift the unconscious girl...
...Obito violently swatted his hand away.
The young boy hunched over Stelle like a feral, cornered beast whose territory had just been invaded. He bared his teeth, his entire body trembling with defensive rage.
"Don't touch her! That man tried to murder us! A-Mu was only defending herself! You are not taking her to the Police Force interrogation cells!"
At that exact moment, the burning sensation in Obito's eyes flared to life once more. Driven by his desperate need to protect her, his irises flashed a brilliant crimson. A single, distinct black tomoe spun wildly around his pupil. The Single-Tomoe Sharingan held for only a few seconds before fading back to black, his tiny Chakra reserves completely tapped out.
Youta slowly drew in a sharp breath, his hand still hovering in the air.
This child from the outer branch of their clan had actually awakened his Sharingan at the age of six. One had to remember that even the legendary Clan Head Kagami had only awakened his at the age of eight.
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