"Obito, I have also lived years of loneliness, not able to understand anyone, in a world that felt like hell. But I persisted on my path, and now I have friends, family, and everyone in my clan to support me.
Obito, you have only orchestrated the Nine-Tails Tragedy against Konoha, not done anything against the Uchiha. You are still Uchiha Obito. You have lost Rin, but you still have us. You could live on behalf of Rin as well. A life of sunshine, which you were—Rin wouldn't want you to suffer like this."
Obito became silent. Although Itachi's past sounded absurd to him, he could not see any traces of lies in his eyes. Even his gut feeling was telling him that Itachi was saying the truth, but if that was the case, should he be like Itachi, who overcame all this and was now living a prosperous life? Would Rin want him to live a life of sunshine or the life of a rat?
"Obito, I promise that I will revive Rin within the next five years. You can believe it or not believe it, but Rin would only look at Obito, not you. So you should become Obito and do something; otherwise, Kakashi might snatch her."
Obito, who was full of confusion, suddenly felt his mind clear. Now he only had two thoughts in his mind. First, that Rin would be revived, and second, that Kakashi might snatch her from him.
"Bastard Kakashi, how dare he???
Okay, I agree. There is no point in Infinite Tsukuyomi if Rin is already married to Kakashi in reality. And with so many Mangekyo users, I doubt whether I can even revive the Ten-Tails."
Hearing Obito's reply, everyone became happy. As for the crime of Obito doing the Nine-Tails Tragedy and the Uchiha being cornered because of this? Well, in the Uchiha clan, a pair of Mangekyo can solve anything.
"Obito, Madara has placed a destruction seal in your heart to prevent you from betraying him. I will remove it, and I have to place a seal on you as well. Is that okay?"
Hearing about the removal of Madara's control seal, Obito became happy, but hearing that Itachi would still apply another seal, he became hesitant. Does Itachi not trust him?
"It's not that I do not trust you, but the other clan members might see you with suspicion. I do not want you to live under constant suspicion or be alienated."
"Okay"
Hearing this, all the Uchiha sighed in relief, though now everyone was confused except for Obito. To be honest, people in the Ninja world are stubborn, and once they have decided to do something, nothing can change their minds.
But just after hearing a few sentences from Itachi, even though they were convincing, Obito changed his mind, and now Obito even allowed Itachi to apply seals that could control him.
Only a few strong and knowledgeable Uchiha had a realization. Maybe this was Itachi's Mangekyo ability. Maybe it's related to persuasion. Sigh, Itachi really is a good child, Fugaku and Setsuna thought to themselves.
The Mangekyo ability reflects the soul of a person. Itachi gaining this ability meant that he wanted to persuade others. The ability is weaker than my Kotoamatsukami, but maybe the burden and cooldown would be low, Shisui thought to himself.
Itachi didn't think too much about this. Under Talk no Jutsu, Nagato sacrificed his life for the enemy who killed his parents and destroyed his nation; what is wrong with Obito easily being persuaded?
Seal : Dissolution
With this, the sealing jutsu acting on Obito's heart dissipated into chakra, merging into his body. For the first time in years, Obito felt truly free. Although previously there was no Madara to control the seal and judge his life and death, Obito still felt tightness in his chest. Then Obito thought about the new seals which would act in his body, and for a moment, Obito had the thought of running away, but then Obito remembered Itachi's story and how he overcame it, and then he stopped.
Sealing Jutsu: Seven Chakra Seal
Sealing Jutsu: Mind Palace Seal
Sealing Jutsu: Soul Palace Seal
Sealing Jutsu: Evil Thunder Seal
Only after placing so many seals did Itachi stop. It's because Itachi doesn't know the extent of brainwashing the Talk no Jutsu does, so he has to be extra careful.
"Finally done"
The next moment, the white realm cracked and all the people were once again present in the Death Forest. Obito looked around him to find Black Zetsu, but he didn't find him. Maybe he escaped.
"Big brother, when did you get that life-threatening disease?" Sasuke, who was ashamed of not even knowing such a serious matter about his beloved, admired, respected big brother, asked with curiosity.
"Ohh, that was when I was born.
My mother was bedridden, father was fighting the Third Great Ninja War with other elders, I couldn't move properly as my bones and muscles were not developed, and the same was true for my voice and talking."
Silence
Absolute silence
Previously, every Uchiha had imagined Itachi's tragic life and how he recovered from all that and finally became so strong, like the protagonist of those books. Now Itachi was saying that all of this was just after his birth?
Then why were you acting and saying this in such a tragic way as if life had given you so much misery? Doesn't everyone go through this? Then they looked at Obito, though unfortunately his face was covered by his mask.
But they could guess the betrayal Obito must have felt. Obito, who was deceived and also gave his body to form restriction seals by trusting Itachi, must have wanted to die now.
"You... Good... Good... good." With that, Obito disappeared into the Kamui dimension. Itachi didn't stop him; anyway, now Obito had been brainwashed, and even then he had many chakra seals on him to prevent him from harming the Uchiha clan.
"Everyone, I have already found the place where we will live in the future. So I request you to start liquidating your assets so that when we leave Konoha, we do not leave anything for those bastards."
"Yes, young clan leader."
With that, everyone left the Death Forest, waiting for the next storm to come.
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Author's Note
Hello everyone!
With this chapter, the minor arc " Brainwashing Obito" officially comes to an end. I've had this particular plot point in mind since the very beginning of the novel, so finally bringing it to life feels both exciting and a little nerve-wracking.
I'm not entirely sure whether I executed it as well as I imagined. Was it logical? Did it flow naturally? Or did it lean a bit too much into dramatic convenience? Honestly, I'll leave that judgment to you. And if something felt slightly illogical… well, let's just blame it on the legendary Talk-no-Jutsu — the strongest genjutsu from Naruto.
That said, your feedback genuinely matters to me. Please share your thoughts on this arc — what worked, what didn't, and what you'd like to see improved. Your comments will help me shape the next arc into something even better.
Thank you for reading and supporting the story so far.