Chapter 481: Sins
Summoning every ounce of courage within his soul, Uchiha Obito finally, slowly, opened those eyes that had carried too much darkness and longing.
The first image that met his gaze instantly seized all his perception and thoughts.
That face.
The face that had appeared so clearly in countless midnight dreams, yet in waking moments was desperately deemed "impossible to ever see again"—Nohara Rin's face.
However, unlike the memory frozen in her teenage years, that final moment carrying determination and sorrow, and utterly different from the stiff imitation produced by genjutsu—
The face before him was alive, carrying warm color. Those bright eyes gazed at him quietly with uncertain exploration and that same gentle warmth as always.
Her lips pressed together slightly, seeming somewhat nervous yet expectant. This was the real Rin.
"Obito... this is the world after death, isn't it?" Rin's voice sounded softly, carrying the bewilderment of recent awakening and speculation about their current situation.
She looked at this tall man with mature features and a gloomy temperament barely concealing his agitation, trying hard to overlap him with the memory of that somewhat reckless goggle-wearing boy with a brilliant smile. "Did I... make you wait a long time?"
I see...
Rin's words instantly cleared Obito's chaotic consciousness.
I'm already dead... I've arrived in the world after death...
So... it was that simple?!
A flood suddenly burst through all the defenses in Obito's heart. It was ultimate collapse—collapse over the absurd life of the past dozen-plus years spent wallowing in darkness, committing countless sins.
So death wasn't eternal separation. So just by crossing that boundary, the person he'd yearned for day and night appeared before him so easily, within reach!
If only I'd known it would be like this...
If only I'd known that after dying I could immediately see Rin...
Why did I struggle for over ten years in that false dream?! Why did I bear those sins, hurting so many people?!
Over ten years ago, the moment I witnessed Rin's death, I should have ended myself right then...!
The dizzying sense of waste and overwhelming regret nearly drowned Obito.
Watching the complex expression on this grown-up "Obito's" face—torn between wanting to cry and wild joy—Rin's heartache deepened.
She thought she had arrived late, making this "little Obito" who'd been waiting alone in the afterlife endure prolonged loneliness.
"I'm sorry..." She leaned forward slightly. "Did I... make you wait a very, very long time?"
"No! It's not that! It's... it's me!" Obito seemed stabbed by those words, shaking his head violently. "It's me! I made Rin wait so long... I'm sorry... I'm truly sorry... I... I really took so many detours... went such a long, long way around..."
As he spoke, enormous guilt and the shock of reunion made the grown Obito lower his head like a child, his shoulders trembling as he released suppressed sobs.
Rin jumped in surprise at his intense reaction, but immediately took action. She reached out wanting to touch him, then stopped hesitantly mid-air, only urgently saying in a soothing tone:
"It's okay, Obito, really it's okay! Actually, I felt like I just slept for a very long time, didn't feel time passing at all... You're the one—I didn't expect you to grow so big... It's fine, from now on I won't go anywhere, I'll stay here with you..."
She wanted to use companionship to make up for what she imagined was his time waiting alone.
"No! It's not like that!" Obito's head snapped up, tear tracks across his cheeks, his eyes filled with fear and undisguisable guilt. Rin's gentle misunderstanding made him feel more ashamed than any rebuke. Unable to think, he could only hoarsely shout on instinct.
"I... I didn't die back then! Really! It's Rin... Rin who waited for me for so many years... I'm the one who came late!"
"Someone saved me... it was Uchiha Madara... then my body was healed using Hashirama cells... that's why I became like this now... Back then, I only thought about healing quickly, then immediately finding you and Kakashi... but I never expected... when I finally arrived... I saw... I saw that scene..."
Obito spoke brokenly, chaotically, trying to piece together fragments of truth, explaining why he'd grown up, why he'd arrived late.
However, his words only brought confusion and bewilderment to Rin's face.
She... didn't quite understand what Obito was saying. Uchiha Madara? Hashirama cells? Healing? Arriving?
But from Obito's anguished, pained words, she grasped one piece of information that utterly astonished her—
Obito meant... he... died even later than her?
Just as Nohara Rin stood bewildered by the information hidden in Obito's words that "he died later," that influx of knowledge quietly flowed into her perception.
Information about this being the afterlife, and that every soul came with a Karma Reflection Mirror capable of showing everything from their life.
Simultaneously, the instant Obito received this information, all color drained from his face, turning deathly pale.
This was the source of Obito's fear...
What he feared was never death, not even hell. He feared the look Rin might show after learning the truth—disappointment, hatred, or complete estrangement.
And this mirror was undoubtedly the most direct, most irrefutable way to nakedly present all his disgrace and sins to Rin.
However, Obito equally understood that concealment was absolutely impossible. Within this Pure Land slumbered countless souls who had died directly or indirectly because of him.
Unless he immediately turned and fled, truth's exposure was only a matter of time.
And the option of "leaving Rin's side" held terror far exceeding soul annihilation for Uchiha Obito.
It meant losing even this afterlife's only consolation and light of redemption, meant darkness deeper than hell.
Thus, under Rin's still-confused gaze, Obito moved like a controlled puppet, stiff and slow. He reached toward his semi-transparent soul form's heart, following that "knowledge's" guidance.
A mirror with an antique design appeared in his palm.
He didn't dare meet Rin's eyes, only humbly lowered his head, using all his strength to extend that heavy mirror before Rin.
This action itself was the most complete confession and surrender.
When Obito did this, he wasn't without expectations. He anticipated that after Rin finished watching everything in the mirror, she might angrily scold him, might show extreme disappointment with those gentle eyes, might even raise her hand to strike him... He was prepared to accept any reaction.
But Obito had one fundamental belief supporting him through this self-destructive action.
Rin... won't abandon me.
No matter what he'd become, what sins he'd committed, Nohara Rin... perhaps, possibly, probably... wouldn't completely push him away, wouldn't let him truly fall into an abyss where not even a thread of light could reach.
Nohara Rin looked at the mirror extended before her, then at Obito's paper-white face filled with pain and determination. Obito wanted her to... watch his "life"?
Carrying increasingly heavy unease in her heart, Rin reached out with both hands, accepting that mirror. The instant her fingertips touched the mirror's surface—
Light and shadow began flowing.
The mirror followed the soul's deepest will. Rather than starting from the most disgraceful later period, the images traced back to the beginning.
Little Obito who'd never met his parents, living with his kind grandmother. The goggle-wearing boy at the Ninja Academy who was always late, dead last in grades, yet gradually grew clumsily under Rin's patient companionship and encouragement, until finally wearing a ninja headband...
Then Team 7's formation, Minato-sensei's gentle smile, executing missions alongside that cold-faced genius teammate Kakashi, taking the Chunin Exams...
The images jumped quickly yet clearly outlined that period woven with sunlight and sweat—clumsy yet filled with hope.
Then war's dark clouds gathered. The images reached the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
Though the mirror considerately "fast-forwarded," that crucial moment—the massive boulder crashing down, completely burying half the body of the boy who'd desperately pushed Kakashi aside—still stabbed Rin's eyes and heart.
She instinctively held her breath, eyes reddening. In her knowledge and memory, this was Uchiha Obito's life's end.
However, the images... didn't stop.
The mirror's light and shadow only dimmed briefly, then brightened again, presenting scenes Rin couldn't comprehend.
"Am I... dead? Where is this..."
That was young Obito's voice, hoarse and confused. Immediately after, the image showed bone-chilling scenes—a blood-red three-tomoe Sharingan, and... a wrinkled, aged face emerging from shadows.
"This is the gap between the underworld and reality... Uchiha clansman."
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