That night, as soon as Fenghuo got home, someone blocked his path.
From the shadows, Uchiha Obito burst out with a furious expression, both hands gripping Fenghuo's collar as he slammed him against the wall.
"Fenghuo, you bastard! You're disgusting!" Obito growled, grinding his teeth.
"…Did you forget to take your medicine today?" Fenghuo blinked in confusion.
"Huh?" Obito blinked, momentarily thrown off. "What did you say?"
"Don't give up on treatment." Fenghuo patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.
"Bastard! Don't change the subject!" Obito snapped, his anger flaring up again.
"So what is the subject?" Fenghuo sighed, helpless.
"It's Rin!" Obito shouted. "She said she wants to learn medical ninjutsu from you!"
"Oh." Fenghuo nodded, thinking back to the original timeline. In canon, Rin Nohara was a medical-nin. He added seriously, "That's a good thing. Girls shouldn't always have to fight on the front lines. Being a medical ninja is safer, and vital to the team."
"R-really? I think so too." Obito's expression softened for a moment—then turned fierce again. "But that doesn't mean you should be the one teaching her!"
"Why not?" Fenghuo raised an eyebrow, and then his expression grew solemn, melancholic. "Ah… I see. You know, from a young age I've borne the burden of being too beautiful. Whether it's six-year-old girls or eighty-year-old grannies, they all fall for me. It's tragic, really. All I wanted was to live a quiet life, but no matter where I go—even in the darkest alley—this radiant face shines like moonlight on snow, impossible to hide…"
Obito stood frozen, stunned and emotionally disarmed.
"Do you understand the pain I carry every day?" Fenghuo added dramatically.
"You… you idiot!! I'm gonna beat the crap out of you!" Obito finally snapped back to reality and charged at him with a scream.
Boom!
Fenghuo lightly clapped his hands. Obito was already lying flat on the ground two meters away.
"Ah, young man, you're still too green," Fenghuo said with a grin.
"Fenghuo, you bastard! One day I will beat you!" Obito shouted, standing up with no real injuries.
"What's for dinner?" Fenghuo turned casually and walked into the house.
"I say we make Kung Pao Chicken tonight! I've been training all day—I need protein!" Obito followed him inside, uninvited.
"Shut up, you freeloader!"
Later that night…
The cool night wind rustled the small trees in the backyard, the leaves brushing against each other in quiet conversation.
A large, round moon hung in the sky, casting pale silver light like a gentle veil across the courtyard.
Fenghuo paced slowly, replaying the day's events.
Over dinner, Obito had filled him in. Mizuki, after causing an uproar at the Academy, had been reassigned by Aoba-sensei. Meanwhile, Fenghuo had been praised in front of the class for intervening during Mizuki's outburst, giving him a rare moment of the spotlight.
Even more promising, Might Duy had agreed to teach him the basics of taijutsu. Training would begin in the evenings, though not tomorrow morning since Duy had a mission.
Then there was Tsunade.
"'I'll be keeping an eye on you,' huh?" Fenghuo muttered. "She must be really bored these days…"
The more he thought about it, the more he felt like a pair of sharp eyes were watching him from the shadows.
"I really need to learn sensory ninjutsu…"
He wandered the courtyard a bit longer before finally heading back inside.
In the dark room, Fenghuo lay curled up under his futon.
He slowly opened his eyes—and immediately, everything under the quilt was clear. Even without a mirror, he could feel the change in his eyes. The pupil felt… unnatural. Sinister. Restless.
The Sharingan—one tomoe.
It had been nearly two months since he awakened it. Maybe it was because of the reincarnation, or maybe his chakra network was different, but his ocular power was growing daily.
He had a feeling: one strong emotional trigger, and the single tomoe would evolve into two.
But he hesitated.
"Sharingan evolves through emotional trauma," he murmured. "But…"
He recalled how Sasuke's Sharingan awakened during the Uchiha massacre, and later evolved during the Land of Waves mission—when Naruto risked his life for him. Sasuke's right eye had transformed into a two-tomoe Sharingan under that pressure.
And Obito? His evolution was even more tragic. He awakened the Mangekyō after watching Rin die by his own teammate's hand.
Sasuke had Naruto. Obito had Rin. One survived, the other… didn't.
"If evolving the Sharingan means putting my precious people in mortal danger…"
Fenghuo clenched his fists.
He couldn't accept that.
"There's gotta be another way… To trigger intense emotions without risking lives…"
The tomoe in his eyes slowly rotated.
"…What about hypnosis?"
Hypnotize himself into tragedy? Maybe a mental world where he fails the Academy exams, gets stabbed in the—well, somewhere bad—gets dumped, waxed, or tortured by some twisted fantasy?
Yeah. That'd stir up some emotions.
But how?
"Genjutsu…"
His eyes lit up. Among the genjutsu scrolls left by his parents, he remembered one: Naraku Seeing Technique—a jutsu that forces the target to experience their worst nightmares.
"What if I use it… on myself?"
Fenghuo considered it seriously. But then hesitated.
"It's like watching a horror movie. If you made it yourself, you know it's fake. It won't hit the same way."
"Unless…"
He stared up at the ceiling, eyes narrowing.
"If I can hypnotize myself, suppress my awareness, and then hit myself with the genjutsu…"
That might just work.
The Sharingan tomoe slowed, then faded. Darkness covered him once again.
Fenghuo sat up, turned on the light, and pulled out the illusion scroll.
He hadn't learned hypnosis. Or any real genjutsu. It was all theory until now.
But theory didn't matter.
He had to act.
There were four genjutsu techniques in the scroll—basic ones, but enough to build a foundation.
Fenghuo formed the necessary hand seals. After a few rounds of practice, he'd mastered them.
He activated the Naraku Seeing Technique—on himself.