In the morning, Uchiha Ryosuke went to the small grove for training as usual.
If he didn't add to his stats for a day, it felt like a day wasted.
First up, of course, was a twenty-kilometer run.
As he ran, the air atop a thick branch in the grove warped like a swirling vortex. A man in an orange spiral mask and a red-cloud cloak slowly emerged.
The instant he appeared, he took in the scenery and muttered to himself, "Konoha… I haven't been back in a long time."
The last time he came, he'd seized the Nine-Tails and, on a whim, tried to destroy Konoha.
Unfortunately, his teacher Namikaze Minato stopped him.
But this time, he wasn't here for the Nine-Tails—he was here to collect Sharingan.
In recent years, poring over the tomes Uchiha Madara left in the Mountain Graveyard, he'd learned of an invincible Uchiha ocular art.
Izanagi: upon activation, within a set duration the Sharingan user can turn disadvantageous events into "never happened," and select only favorable outcomes to become reality. The time window varies by user, but the eye used will inevitably go blind.
While it's active, even death can be overwritten—an eye technique that makes you untouchable.
Although Uchiha Obito possessed Kamui, an invincible space-time technique, he was not truly invincible.
Last time, when he unleashed the Nine-Tails on Konoha, his own teacher injured him—that proved it.
If he added this invincibility to his arsenal, even his troublesome teacher wouldn't be his match.
Though that teacher ultimately died sealing the Nine-Tails, the shinobi world is vast; Obito would not be careless again.
Madara's spare Sharingan were running low.
Time to restock.
And where better to restock than from the Uchiha themselves?
It was a pity few clansmen left the compound; most of the strong ones served in the Konoha Police Force.
Even so—this was Konoha's heartland—he felt no fear.
Because he had Kamui.
What he needed to consider now was how to pluck eyes from these Uchiha—obviously, he'd target loners.
Lower difficulty.
Just as he was about to warp away to find a lone Uchiha, he saw a figure jogging toward him.
Broad-shouldered, with a distinctive spiky haircut—clearly an Uchiha.
'Lucky. Fresh out of the gate and I hit the jackpot.'
This one seemed to be training taijutsu.
A bit odd, but irrelevant.
Suck him into the Kamui space, dig out the eyes—that's it.
As for the man's life, he certainly wouldn't spare it.
Let him go and he'd leak information.
Uchiha Ryosuke, running along the path, felt something and came to a stop.
He looked up—
His pupils tightened.
A masked man strangers wouldn't recognize.
But Ryosuke saw it clearly: the orange spiral mask, and the Sharingan in the eyehole.
Wasn't this Uchiha Obito?
At first sight, a deep sense of danger surged through Ryosuke. If he got caught by Kamui's pull, he was finished.
He had no intention of talking this down.
Not even the king of talk-no-jutsu, Naruto, could manage that here.
Right now Obito was utterly unhinged over Rin's death.
He was the kind of man who would kill even his teacher and teacher's wife without hesitation.
Ryosuke also wondered why the other party had come for him specifically.
Obito dropped from the tree, landing lightly, and walked toward Ryosuke. "You should have awakened the Sharingan, right?"
He could sense the powerful aura coming off the youth; a man like this couldn't lack a Sharingan.
Ryosuke opened his Three Tomoe Sharingan at once, readying for him.
Was the question because he'd come to harvest Sharingan?
In this world there were two men who collected many Sharingan: Uchiha Obito and Shimura Danzō.
Because burning a Sharingan let you activate that "invincible" Izanagi.
So Obito really was after his eyes.
'Right now I'm only half-Kage-class, but if I open the Eight Gates, I might be able to take him.'
For now, he needed to split Obito's attention.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Seeing Ryosuke's scarlet eyes, Obito praised, "Not bad—Three Tomoe Sharingan."
"As for who I am… the dead don't need to know."
"My purpose is your Sharingan."
All he needed was to bait the boy into attacking, then phase with Kamui to avoid it, re-materialize, and suck him into the Kamui space.
During absorption, the target would black out.
Once inside, the prey was a lamb to the slaughter.
Ryosuke's face hardened. So he really was here to take his eyes. Enough talk.
His hands flashed through seals.
"Si–Wei–Shen–Hai–Wu–Yin."
Chakra surged; his chest swelled, and he spat a Great Fireball the size of a small house straight at Obito.
Obito was mildly surprised. A strong Great Fireball—too bad it was useless.
Kamui: phasing.
The house-sized fireball passed harmlessly through his body and exploded behind him, scorching the ground black.
The attack hadn't harmed the masked man in the slightest.