Family is a wretched word for the Uchiha.
It is a hopeful word when you're young and a curse when you finally realize what it means.
It is in the way they love.
For Uchihas does not love in the conventional sense.
They do not love like others do. They do not love in the normal sense of the word. The kind that's caring, gentle, or beautiful. The kind that's written in the tales of old. The kind that's gentle and soft, like a delicate overflow of flowers and petals that'll last for decades. The mundane, lovely kind that civilians would experience, or the wary, protective love of a shinobi.
An Uchiha's love is scorching and ugly. Beginning passionately, and ending terribly. A love that's bound to end in fire or blood. A love that takes everything gentle and kind and desecrates it utterly. A love that burns and scars for life. A love that's maddeningly ugly but terribly lasting. An overflow of heat and madness abound, a love that reaches beyond the boundary of life and death.
It's the wrong type of love.
This, too, extends to family.
Perhaps rather than love, they are cursed.
Cursed to love and to lose. Cursed to hate and destroy or be destroyed. Cursed to feel and hate feeling.
It is the curse of hatred. Etched within one's marrow. Swimming within one's blood, ready to act at the given trigger
Once the curse is in motion, it is done.
It is no longer a matter of 'if', but 'when'.
No Uchiha can escape its grasp.
Not even Uchiha Madara.
And certainly not Uchiha Obito.
There is a moment, then two. Wherein no one speaks. Wherein no sound is made. The passing wind is a hurricane and fleeting footsteps become pounding echoes.
In the eye of the storm stands the two of them.
Uchiha Obito is finally at a loss for words, or so it seems, at least. For it says nothing more. Its gaze is hard to pin down, but it's definitely in the realm of questioning.
Perhaps it's not at a loss for words, but rather that Yuta had said something that Uchiha Obito truly did not expect.
Uchiha Obito seems like that type of person, Yuta thinks. The type that seems to be able to read your mind. Knowing precisely what words you'll say and leaving you feeling terribly exposed and akin to a puppet dancing in someone else's palm.
It's somewhat like Gojo-sensei's. Except whereas Gojo-sensei is the casual divinity of foreknowledge, Uchiha Obito is the careful accumulation of human experience.
There is nothing casual about Uchiha Obito. Nothing divine. Uchiha Obito's white hair isn't the beacon of heaven that Gojo-sensei's is. Its eyes aren't blessed by the gods, and its name is almost a mockery of what it became. Instead, it is almost the opposite. There's something almost sacrilegious about comparing the two, but Yuta can't quite help himself.
They're both similar, like that. Like two sides of the same coin. Never meant to exist together.
But someone has flipped a coin, it seems, and it has landed on its side and now nothing's quite the same.
Yuta wonders what kind of environment shaped Uchiha Obito into the man that he once was. A man that was several steps ahead of others, almost reaching into the realm of uncannily divine.
They did not have the same start.
But somehow, someway, Uchiha Obito has clawed his way up to match with a heralded Gojo.
Yuta wonders if it was by choice at all.
It is a strenuous thing, Yuta thinks. To have to beawareall the time. To listen to the old creaking of the wood floor and hear the steady tapping of incoming footsteps from beyond the door, to be aware of what the person in front of you is saying- their body, their words, their voice, whether they're lying or telling the truth, whether you're playing a game of words or exchanging information. What to say next, predicting their words, being an infinity and one steps beyond them, anticipating their next words and preparing your own-
It just seems overwhelming.
It's why Gojo-sensei is Gojo-sensei.
From what Yuta understands of Gojo-sensei and his uncanny awareness, it's moreso an innate thing, rather than forced. Something that's like an annoying buzz by your ear. Something that could be overwhelming, but not, because Gojo-sensei has the Six Eyes to temper his Limitless.
Uchiha Obito does not.
Uchiha Obito just has red eyes that came upon a dead love's corpse and a dead kin's blood.
What kind of training leaves one standing equal with a god amongst mortals?
The kind that leaves you less than human, after.
The kind that turns you from Uchiha Obito, the boy, into Uchiha Obito, the sorcerer.
"Our curse," Uchiha Obito repeats, breaking out of its reverie.
Even now, even when it's been tossed off kilter, Yuta does not miss the minute way it tenses at the sound of laughter from beyond the door. Coming from some hapless civilian going about their night.
The trained awareness of a Gojo, but the body of a normal sorcerer.
"Our curse," Yuta says, answering the unspoken question between the two of them.
Uchiha Obito's eyes flicker to meet his own, making Yuta realize that Uchiha Obito's eyes weren't quite there before.
It's remarkably red.
Terribly so.
Red like blood, Yuta thinks.
The color of flowers and madness.
Uchiha Obito is asking him if he's sure. Whether he's ready to be dragged down into the quagmire of the Uchiha clan, be pulled down into the mud and be smeared with their clan's ill history.
This, too, Yuta thinks, is similar to Gojo-sensei.
It's almost indescribable.
But this brand of kindness, the kind that's left unspoken in between the lines. The kind that's communicated through the minute changes in one's face and the soft underlying tone of, Are you sure?
It's a unique brand of kindness, of care. The kind that's looking at you and knowing that whatever's to come will be terrible and harsh, that it'll be the most challenging thing of your life. It's like when Gojo-sensei had touched upon Yuta's shoulder one day and asked about Rika, or the way Gojo-sensei always manhandles Yuta into a day-off on his birthdays and the date of Rika's departure.
It's not quite stifling, it's not quite sweet, either. It's the sort of protectiveness of knowing that even when there are difficult times ahead, to whatever may come, they will not stop you.
But that doesn't mean they won't be by your side, either.
From Gojo-sensei to Yuta, it's a care from a teacher that can be described as callous by most. Of a teacher laughing as he pushes you off a tree and you'll either fly or he'll catch you but tease you for it for the rest of your life.
From Uchiha Obito to Yuta, it's a care between family. If that's even the world for it. An incredibly estranged family. But it must've been one that cared for each other, whether they showed it or not.
Between the both of them, it's a chip in their armor. A glimpse of humanity in Gojo-sensei's divinity; a fracture of softness in Uchiha Obito's cruel existence.
This, too, is similar.
But Yuta does not say such. He merely nods.
"It's our curse," Yuta says, as though it explains everything. And perhaps it does. "I want to know."
Uchiha Obito says nothing, its expression a thing of marble.
This lasts for a moment, then two.
Then Uchiha Obito finally says:
"Many would say the Uchiha clan is harsh." And so the tale unravels. And so it begins. "Many would say Uchihas do not feel."
It is dyed in blood.
The Uchiha clan, to most, is austere. Unfeeling. Harsh.
They do not show emotions and their expression ranges from severe to emotionless.
They're the perfect kind of shinobi. The kind that shows nothing and feels even less. The kind that's deadly on the battlefield and a different kind of poison when infiltrating and seducing targets. They're noble and great.
And then there's Obito.
"You're nothing like your clan," Kakashi would remark, harsh and biting- meant to hurt. Obito's not sure what they were arguing about, but he remembers that it's another humiliating day, another day of bickering of two boys pushing each other because they have no other outlet for their anger and emotions.
Anger flashes hot inside Obito's gut, quickly alternating to shame as he realizes that this isexactlywhat Kakashi was talking about. Uchihas aren't quick to anger like this, and are even less likely to show their ire on their face.
And you're everything like them, Obito had thought.
There is the Uchiha clan.
And then there is Obito.
(He should've been glad, then, perhaps, for he was not like them. For maybe he could've escaped the curse, for maybe-
But that's not quite right.
For Obito has always felt a bit too much.)
"They're not quite wrong." A flicker of something in those fathomless eyes. "Uchihas do not feel freely. Nor do they love freely."
A moment, then two. Something nostalgic in Uchiha Obito's eyes.
"Even between family."
Obito knows his position quite well. He knows his lot in life, contrary to expectation.
He's an estranged Uchiha. Untalented, loud, clumsy, rowdy. Everything an Uchiha should not be.
There's no warm words exchanged between Uchiha clansmen.
But for Obito, there are no words given at all.
"You just need to find your own place in life, is all," his grandmother says, one day. In between smoothing out the slight wrinkle in Obito's clothes from another scuffle he had when an argument between him and Cousin Jiro had spiraled out of control. Her expression is focused, but gentle.
Obito knows his position quite well. He can read a situation fine enough, especially when it comes to his own family.
He's clever when it comes to this. Reading the mood, reading between words. Sure, maybe he's not quite as clever as his cousins or distant clansmen, but he knows well enough that what his grandmother is saying is-
Your place is not here.
Her words are soft, her tone gentle.
But it cuts more than steel.
For it reminds him that no matter how kind his grandmother is, the clan ranks above him.
The Uchiha clan. All for the clan, all for its honor.
She bears no faults for following the clan's teachings.
It is Obito's fault for not failing the Uchiha clan.
"Yeah," Obito says, eventually. "Maybe once I become genin."
This, too, Obito would fail.
It seems that all Uchihas do is fail.
It is, perhaps, their curse.
"Family is a nice sentiment," Uchiha Obito says, reminiscing. "It is good when a clan is united."
A slight sigh, as though something long lost to time.
"But it falls apart when it comes to the Uchiha."
Obito knows that something happens when an Uchiha gains their Sharingan. Something about them just shifts. Making them feel taller, greater, better.
It's a childish notion, but something about their temperament just changes. Something about the person they are just shifts for a bit. Making them better, making them more of an Uchiha than ever before.
It is the gift granted to you by the Uchiha clan. The blood in your veins, the Sharingan in your eyes.
He had wanted it. Desperately. He had prayed to Amaterasu with all the belief he could muster, begged her, practically. To be granted a Sharingan, to have one in his eyes. Spinning and spinning for an eternity so that he can finally become an Uchiha- so that finally, he can bear their name without shame.
She did not grant his wish. For she had spurned him, just like she had spurned everything else about him.
Perhaps he was not talented enough, perhaps he was not Uchiha enough, perhaps he was not good enough-
Perhaps he was born wrong.
And so it was.
Later, Obito knew better.
Between family and clan, he could've only chosen one.
It is the fate of an Uchiha.
And now, Obito knows the truth.
Between family and clan, an Uchiha can choose neither.
For it is their curse.
"These eyes are birthed from emotion," Uchiha Obito says. Quite and sure, someone's blood is staining its eyes and smearing its memories. "So how could it be that the Uchiha clan do not feel?"
It is a theoretical question, to be sure.
"However, it's only born from extreme emotions." Uchiha Obito looks at Yuta, they are probably both thinking the same thing.
Yuta can hear the sirens in the background, the steady clicking of the traffic light, signaling for pedestrians to walk, the steady tap, tap, tap of the rain. He can feel the wetness of rain mixed with blood in his palms and the chill of fear from Rika's curse reaching up his legs. The horrifying visage of her last moments, forever smeared onto the concrete.
For Uchiha Obito, it must've been the same.
"Our emotions are what give power to these eyes," Uchiha Obito elaborates. "It comes at a cost."
Madness and blindness, Yuta recalls. Neither are pleasant. Both ending in either death or-
Or the killing of one's kin.
Uchiha Obito's lips curve into a smile, terrible and ironic.
"That's right," Uchiha Obito says. "You're getting it."
The Uchihas are harsh and cold.
Not allowed to love freely.
For a reason.
Yuta can see where this tale is heading.
The Sharingan is born from extreme emotions. Made stronger for it.
By that logic, those who feel more than most, should theoretically be stronger than most.
And so it was.
But what to make of Uchiha Obito?
A weak, untalented boy. He feels passionately, that much is clear. But it gives him no power, it gives him no boon. Instead, it merely marks him as irrelevant in the grand schemes of the clan. Dying in a war to save his comrades, admirable, yes, but nothing noteworthy enough.
But that is not where the story ends.
What type of love was it that twisted Uchiha Obito into Uchiha Madara?
The answer begins on a rainy day in Kiri and never quite has an ending.
"To surpass the second step, you must care," Uchiha Obito says. "Love."
"And then you must lose," Yuta finishes. It is not the first time he had heard this, but it still strikes him as cruel and terrible and everything in between.
"Uchihas do not love lightly," Uchiha Obito continues, something brewing behind its eyes. "That is the root of our curse."
Curse.
It's a word with meaning. Especially in the jujutsu world.
Curses are born plentiful, of course. But rarely are curses attached to families, let alone jujutsu clans.
Curses are usually tampered on an 'idea', built from resentment and hatred and everything in between. Ranging in power from how much the 'intent' was behind creating them.
To have a curse haunt a family is rare, especially since curses usually do not have the concept of haunting the same family for generations. Perhaps their housing or clan compound, but never quite the whole family line itself unless it was sicked upon the family by some third party.
Though, Yuta can tell that this is not that.
For if it were, the Uchiha clan would've long taken care of it. They were powerful, at the very least. To produce a sorcerer like Uchiha Obito.
No, this curse was self perpetuating.
It was born from the clan itself.
A curse that lingers in the family. Fueled by the family.
Hanging over them, a misfortune they cannot rinse away.
Curses are built upon resentment, hatred, anger, grief, anything and everything tragic combined.
Curses are not so easily rid by sorcerers, especially if they're the ones giving it fuel to be born in the first place.
"We love desperately, terribly," Uchiha Obito says lightly, a forced nonchalance, Yuta thinks. "And when we face loss- we hate, just as much. Perhaps, even more."
Did Obito love Rin?
Of course. He loved her, he loved her with all the passion and zeal that a teenager could offer.
She was kind, when many were not. Her hands were gentle when they healed him, despite them being a shinobi's hands. Her smile was kind, genuine. Her hair was a soft auburn that reminded him of autumn and the falling leaves and the comfort of being in between the scorching heat of summer and the freezing weather of winter. She was that kind of love. The normal, wonderful kind that burrows deep into the heart of a starved boy.
He loved her, he loved Rin. for her and for everything she stands for. He loved her, desperately, terribly, in the shallow, crude way of an immature boy to his puppy crush. It wasn't yet the warped, twisted love that drives Uchiha mad. Nor was it the ugly kind of love that is inked into his blood.
And on that day-
On that one, rainy day in Kiri-
Hatake Kakashi had ended her life.
And on that day, Obito knew what love felt like for an Uchiha.
For he loved Rin after her death more than he ever did when she was alive. For then, what he loved was not her. But what she represented.
An ideal world, an idea girl, an ideal reality.
And he had loved, passionately, terribly, desperately-
In the treacherous, heinous, ugly way that Uchihas can only feel.
In this way, too, is Uchiha Obito wrong.
Even for an Uchiha, his love is all wrong.
It's a simple idea to wrap one's head around. The more you loved, the more you hate after their passing. The more you'd grief, the more you'd mourn.
It's a simple idea, but that doesn't make it any less terrible.
It is a curse that sets you a timer the moment it goes into motion. A curse that begins when you love and ends when you die either by a kin's hand or by your own madness.
It is a terrible curse, vindictive, insidious-
Inescapable.
At least-
"You've figured it out," Uchiha Obito says, almost whimsical. "You've escaped it."
It doesn't quite make sense.
Such a powerful curse- a prevalent one that runs in their blood- how could he escape it?
Uchiha Obito hums lightly.
"Perhaps it's because you lack these eyes. Perhaps it's because your blood is diluted. Perhaps it's because you awakened it too early to feel love in a capacity that can make you mad. Perhaps the curse has faded. Perhaps-"
Uchiha Obito looks-
"- you managed to get in your last words to her."
Did you?
Yuta couldn't help but think.
But he thinks he already knows the answer.
An Uchiha's love is all wrong.
And for Uchiha Obito, it is doubly so.
He was never quite right, they say.
And they were right.
"It is the curse of hatred," Uchiha Obito concludes, its voice almost an imitation of someone else's. Almost like it's reciting someone else's words back to Yuta.
It is with a jolt that Yuta realizes that there, too, must've once stood Uchiha Obito in his place.
Being told that if he loves, he is doomed.
Or perhaps it is after, after. Wherein he already loved and lost.
Either way, it must've once been Uchiha Obito standing here, in his place. Either mourning or feeling the weight of his fate falling on his shoulders.
For such a powerful curse is almost like destiny. It is almost like something you can't escape, even if you try.
He tries to imagine it. Tries to imagine either being told that when he loves someone he'll either doom them or himself, or thatbyloving someone he was the reason why they're dead.
All to fuel a curse, all to fuel their eyes, in turn.
The Uchiha clan's story is a terrible one. Something that leaves you breathless and uncomfortable. Feeling like there's cotton in your chest and something clogging up your throat.
But his clansmen-
From Uchiha Obito to whoever clansmen that existed-
Is it wrong of them to love? Is it so wrong to just feel?
In the end, what did they do wrong? Yuta can't quite fathom it-
From feeling, to loving, to caring-
An Uchiha cannot do any of the above freely. Because the moment they do so, the curse is in motion, ready to drive them into madness.
In the end, is it wrong to feel? To love? To feel deeply?
If one loves and faces loss, wouldn't they feel the same?
Why must the Uchiha face love and loss and be forced to extremities- all for their eyes.
Perhaps it did not start out as a curse, at first. For the Uchiha clan probably only felt strongly, but that is no cause for a curse-
Only when they lost and continue to do so, would a curse have been born.
In the end-
Is it wrong?
Yuta doesn't think so.
But the world had thought so; the heavens had thought so; and so, too, did the gods decreed it.
It's wrong, Yuta thinks. Unfair.
But now, there is no Uchiha clan to decry the gods for justice; no Uchiha clan to blame the heavens for its unfairness; no Uchiha clan to fight against the world for.
Perhaps that is why Uchiha Obito divulges the truth now.
For the people have gone, the ashes have long been scattered in the winds.
The Uchiha clan is dead.
There is no one left to cry for.
What about you? Yuta thinks, looking at Uchiha Obito.
Uchiha Obito's eyes are neutral, there's a mere quirk of the brow at Yuta's glance, and then nothing more.
There is indeed no one left to cry for.
Just a curse wearing the emblem of a clan that does not exist.
A terribly pitiful curse, he is.
Uchiha Obito.
Is it wrong to love?
No.
But there's no curse quite as twisted as ones created from love.
And it is the Uchiha clan who are simply unlucky.
Yuta can't quite understand what to say- he can't quite-
"It is the Uchiha clan's curse," Uchiha Obito reiterates, harshly, quickly, seeing Yuta's warped expression.
Uchiha Obito's expression is nonchalant, almost casual, but its- his- Uchiha Obito's- voice is almost soothing, almost-
They must've loved an awful lot, Yuta thinks. For them to turn out like so.
They must've-
"Our clan's curse," Yuta says, stubbornly, desperately-
There's something in Uchiha Obito's expression. Something almost boyish-
"It's not quite a curse," Yuta derides, his voice calm in the midst of his turmoil, but it's incredibly verging on the edge of something worse. "It's not a curse to love."
A moment, then two-
"The Uchiha- we-you weren't wrong for-" He remembers Uchiha Obito's eyes. His reminiscent of a person long gone. Those last words that he could never say to the person he loved. "- for loving-" His words are choppy, desperate, messy- "You weren't wrong."
There is another moment, then two.
In the space of that-
Uchiha Obito is gone.
It leaves a vacuum where the curse-
Where the man once stood.
Is it wrong of them to love?
No.
It is wrong for the heavens to create such a curse.
It is wrong for the gods to condone such a curse.
It is wrong for the world they live in to only take and take and-
Leave them with nothing but madness.
Satoru's phone chimes on a quiet night.
It's a rushed message, with few spelling errors and choppier sentences.
It is about Uchiha Obito.
In another quiet room. Someone awakens.
Then, its figure twists and warps. Its hair shortening, the red bleeding out of its clothing. Its once blank face is twisted and warping into something scarred, rugged.
Itadori Yuuji awakens.
'Uchiha Obito' is awaiting him.
