Rin

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84 hours of study per week.

Weeks of this.

Sakura couldn't stand it.

"Please, Obito, I'm tired, I want to sleep, and I hate science and medical ninjutsu!" Sakura finally snapped. "I used to get sick to my stomach at reading Orochimaru's experiments but now I can't feel even that! I'm numb, Obito!"

"Tsk, tsk," Obito shook his head just slow enough to send her jolts of guilt. "Sa-ku-ra, you want to save them, don't you?"

"..."

"They're counting on you."

Sakura looked at him desperately, frowning.

"You asked me to train you, didn't you?" She hadn't, he offered her; nonetheless, Sakura nodded.

Obito adjusted his goggles, "You've got the lowest taijutsu scores in your class," Obito didn't bother to state the reason was Sakura's lack of sleep, "So your only strong point is your mentality. Your Inner is proof of that. Which is why, you should keep stuffing knowledge inside your little head until you burn out. This. Is. Training."

Sakura shivered, looking down. "Okay," she whispered.

Obito had an idea. "We don't have much time, but I agree that your brain needs its rest," he held up his finger, "Why don't you try switching places with your Inner, Sakura?"

"Y-You mean so I can go to sleep and have Inner study for me?"

At Obito's nod, Sakura regained her confidence, "This means I never have to sleep, right? Because me and my Inner take turns resting."

Obito's eyes raised. "Perhaps mentally, it's true. But you must get physical sleep for your body, or you'll get eyestrain, and your nervous system would be constantly turned on. No matter how strong your mind is, your body won't keep up, Ri- -Sakura."

Sakura rubbed her drooping eyes, yawning. "I'll switch places with Inner me, thanks Obito." She opened her eyes and they were brighter and more assertive than before. "Cha! I'll finish this whole shelf by tonight!"

Obito's jaw dropped. "Wow."

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The next day, Sakura went to school and slept through the entire lesson.

When class was dismissed, she missed the pleading look on Naruto's face as she walked off.

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"Sakura-chan, I think today you should take a break," Obito didn't look happy.

"What? Why?" Sakura panicked. "Is it because I'm so useless?"

Obito's gaze softened. "That has nothing to do with it. I want you to go play with your friend and meet with me in a few hours."

"Oh! I should..go help Hana-I mean, the others."

"No, Sakura, not today." Obito placed his hands on her shoulders, "You are going home, and getting your sleep. I will wake you up when it's time for our..date."

Sakura spluttered indignantly, but Obito just grinned sheepishly.

When she turned to leave, his grin turned evil. Discovering the aftermath of the Uchiha Massacre would do her good.

Then he frowned. Ever since he began "training" Sakura, she hadn't helped out the elders for weeks. It was tonight, and Obito considered delaying the massacre for 1 more day, just to let her spend their final moments together before their deaths. He'd have to come up with a excuse to convince Itachi. It wasn't a difficult feat, Itachi was incapable of killing everyone by himself. But I obviously can't tell the weasel the truth, unless I want him to use my cherry blossom as a bargaining chip against me.

Then Obito smacked himself. What am I thinking?! It makes no difference now, she'll have all the time she wants with the old geezers once my Tsuki no Me Project is complete! An eternity with them is worth more than 1 day right now! Yeah, that's right! Obito nodded to himself. Enjoying their unlimited time together in a peaceful world later on is better than a couple hours right now right before their deaths!

Then Obito cleared his throat. The hell am I trying to convince myself for? I'm sounding immature. Acting as my old self is rubbing off on my real self, clouding my judgment. I'll have order a few more executions of kekkei genkai clans to put myself back into the right mental state. Who knows, if they're strong, I might consider getting them recruited for Akatsuki.

With that, Obito chuckled darkly, dimension-whirling himself back into the Mizukage office.

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"I'm home, mom, dad!" Sakura called out as she entered the living room.

Her parents came downstairs and hugged her before heading off for work or making dinner. Sakura blinked, she hadn't been home for a while, so why were they acting so..normal? Sakura was too tired to think about it, and instead went upstairs, plopping onto the bed and falling asleep instantly. She didn't know Obito used genjutsu to make them think Sakura came home everyday.

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"Wake up, Sakurin."

She could have sworn she felt a grip shaking her shoulders, but when her eyes opened, Obito was standing on her bed. Ghosts don't touch.

"Obito-kun," she smiled, feeling a bit better. A bit.

"Sakura, instead of returning to Oro's underground hideout, I was planning to take you to my favorite places today as your day off, but the situation's changed."

Sakura blinked. What situation?

"Follow me," Obito strode off, leading her into a forest and going underground a large mole tunnel. Once again, Obito's body glowed as a light source.

Sakura dutifully ignored the mud that dripped from the ceiling and the bugs that scurried around her feet. Once they reached surface, Sakura found she was inside the back entrance of the Uchiha compound. "Uh, why didn't we just enter through the front entrance?"

"Because it's dangerous, as you can see," Obito grandiosely gestured to all the dead corpses scattered on the streets and surely there were more inside. "Itachi killed everyone."

"WHAT?!"

"Oh yeah, go steal some eyesballs before someone else gets to them," Like Danzo, for example.

Sakura would have been repulsed at his apathetic order, but then she remembered.

Flashback: "Sakura, I'm not saying you should take Hana's body for research," he shuddered, "That would be wrong. The others have set up a funeral and everything, but you should take this scenario as preparation...What if an Uchiha dies? I want you to take their eyes. The Sharingan has the power to learn techniques that should take years in mere seconds. Should there be a situation where," Obito slowly held her face, "An Uchiha happens to die beside you, if you don't take their eyes, someone else will. An enemy, perhaps. You wouldn't want that falling into the wrong hands, do you?"

"I don't get it!" Sakura stomped her foot. "All the old people are dead now?!"

"Obviously! Now hurry up or do you want to get accused of murder?" Obito scolded.

Sakura froze, before her Inner smacked her back to her senses. She ran to the first body.

"I waant you to take my Sharingan before the enemy gets them," a translucent mirage of an Uchiha elder stood above the body, urging her.

Obito stood beside her. "Ah, I forgot to tell you, but when an Uchiha dies, their spirit sticks around for a little bit. It happened to me. You should honor their wishes, Sakura-chan."

Sakura stared, her jaw dropping. Then she bit her lip, nervous.

Sakura shut her eyes, and pulled out a storage scroll, summoned a jar with a yellowish liquid. "Do it," the Uchiha's illusion hissed, pointing towards the lifeless body on the floor.

She shuddered, falling to her knees. She pushed yin chakra to her hand to create a scalpel, and scooped out the first eye, and held it with as much disgusted care as possible. She unscrewed the lid of the jar and plopped the optic sphere inside. It floated a bit before sinking.

"Sakura, you have a hundred Sharingan left to collect. Kill your emotions, you can cry about it later." Obito looked thoughtful. "Hana, Sawa, Shiku, Shin, all of them would be so proud, don't you want that?"

That resolved her, and she worked through the night. The few times she hesitated and absolutely refused, specifically when she stumbled across an elder she was overly familiar with, Obito snapped his finger and the corpse's ghost showed up, "persuading" her to take their eyes, or even threatening to kill her if she refused.

By the time she'd stuffed ten jars full of eyeballs and sealed them back into their proper scrolls, she entered the last room Obito led her to. It was the same room she'd woken up in that one time after Itachi discovered her.

She walked over to Mikoto and Fugaku, her emotions bottled up in the verge of breaking, and removed their eyes. Then, she looked up, saw Sasuke, and gasped.

How could I have forgotten?! Sakura leaped over to him and pulled him up, breathing an absolute sigh of relief upon seeing he was still alive, just drooling and caught in a genjutsu.

Before Obito could stop her, Sakura raised her hands into the ram seal. "Dispel!"

It didn't dispel.

Leave him! We have to get going! They're coming, run! Inner loudly warned.

Sakura stuffed the scrolls in her pockets and ran the hell out of there, no one saw anything.

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Danzo didn't get any eyes for his arm that night.

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...

"It's okay, Sakura, you can cry now," Obito pulled up his goggles and sobbed. It felt good, he'd been a dull husk ever since he became Tobi, but when he was with Sakura, he could be his old self, even if he was merely acting...Is it completely an act?

Not just to Sakura, I can be Obito again to everyone, no strings attached. I just have to endure until the Plan's final stage. Right now, I'm just tasting a little bit of it. It's a strong, bitter taste, but it's a reminder of what I'm fighting for.

Sakura was shivering with her knees pulled to her chest. She was shakily reciting some stupid rule about "shinobi not being allowed to show their emotions" as she willed her tears to stay inside her eyes. Obito ignored her, choosing instead to sit himself down beside her.

Then, Obito started wailing loudly.

Sakura looked at him in shock, before understanding dawned. How could I have been so selfish? This is his clan, his family, not mine! He must have been it worse than I did! It must have hurt him, suddenly checking up on the people he grew up with- only to see I-Itachi brutally slaughtering him. I hope he didn't see- Who am I kidding, he watched them die right before his eyes, how else could he have known the culprit? And been unable to stop the murderer since he's only a ghost-

Sakura clenched her fists, firming her resolve. This isn't about herself, it's about him. She shook her head fast, flinging off her tears.

Completely forgetting about his intangibility, she scooted over and crawled into his lap to pull him into a hug, her chin pressed to his shoulder, and sobbed, her eyes closed, whispering the same promises her mother always made when Sakura cried. "E-Everything will be o-okay, O-Obito-kun." No matter what, I can't let myself be traumatized now, for Obito-kun's sake!

She didn't notice anything amiss about his body feeling larger, almost the same size as papa's, or that his crying voice sounded much deeper than before, raspy even, or that she was touching him, a ghost!

She would later dismiss all this as just her impression.

She barely heard his whisper, and for once, she didn't mind pretending to be someone else.

"Thank you, Rin."

...

It should have been Sasuke in her arms.

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