They just dealt with the shinobi from the Hidden Stone that had been interrogating Rin. The match had been quick and decisive, and now everything would be okay. They were a true team now, and they were going to make up for lost time.

'That's a promise…' Obito swore to himself.

"Release!" Kakashi cried as he broke the Genjutsu placed on Rin.

Rin blinked momentarily and gazed at Obito and Kakashi in shock.

"Kakashi… Obito…"

"We came to rescue you, Rin," Obito reassured the kunoichi. "So don't worry, you're going to be just fine now!"

Kakashi's remaining eye shifted its gaze to Obito.

"Alright, let's get out of here." He untied Rin, and Obito helped her up.

"You know…" A voice interrupted the joyous reunion. Obito's blood ran cold, and he whipped around to see the shinobi from the Hidden Stone get up; Kakashi and Rin turned their attention to the man as well. The man continued, "You two make a good team, but you're still just brats! Remember, you're standing in the palm of your enemy now..."

Team Minato got ready to battle the man as he ran through several hand signs, and then slammed his open palm onto the cave floor.

"Earth Style: Rock Breaker!" He declared boldly.

The cave around them began to shift, and the stones and boulders making up the ceiling started to fall. This diverted the attention of Team Minato to the ceiling, allowing the enemy shinobi to escape the cave hassle-free.

"This is bad!" Obito cried.

"Run for the exit!" Kakashi ordered unnecessarily.

The three made a mad dash for the mouth of the cave; heavier and heavier boulders began to fall around them. They ran alongside each other silently, and each of them prayed earnestly to make it out of this alive.

'Come on…' Obito thought to himself, perchance shooting a look toward Rin and Kakashi; everything was going smoothly so far.

A small piece of rubble fell down on Kakashi, smacking into his head. He let out a cry of pain and collapsed to the ground unexpectedly. Rin was the first to hear this and whipped around with a cry of, "Kakashi!" Obito realized immediately after she did, and, without putting much thought into it, ran right back for his teammate. Obito had planned to throw his teammate out of harm's way, but something unexpected happened.

Kakashi, painfully, pushed himself up off the ground and shoved Obito away harshly in Rin's direction. Obito's words from earlier had spurred him on, even in a moment of desperation like this; he would not endanger his comrades! Obito looked on in shock as two things occurred in the next moment: One, Kakashi barely managed to struggle to his feet, and two, a very, very large boulder came crashing down. Kakashi managed to look up at the last moment as a heavy shadow fell over him, but it was far too late.

A shockwave passed through the cave as a majority of the cave fell apart at that point; massive amounts of dust permeated the air, and Team Minato knew no more after that. The Stone-nin outside sneered as no one exited the cave before the collapse.

"Too bad, I lost a good source of information… Well, no helping that!"

When Obito and Rin regained their bearings, they discovered that they were, thankfully, relatively unharmed. The collapsed cave surrounded them. But they were shaken from their reverie when Kakashi grunted hoarsely.

"Rin… Obito… are you guys alright?" Kakashi's voice was weak, which set off alarm bells in Obito's head.

The Uchiha's suspicions were confirmed when he gazed over at Kakashi, only half of his body visible from underneath the fallen boulder. The way he was, Kakashi was totally blind; his good eye was crushed beneath the gigantic rock.

"Kakashi!" Obito cried, absolutely horrified. He numbly rushed over to Kakashi and attempted to help his comrade, but to no avail. The obstruction would not budge.

Kakashi couldn't see Obito trying to save him, but he could hear the grunts of exerted effort right over him. If he could shake his head, Kakashi would have.

"Don't bother, Obito… It's too late for me. I can't feel my right side at all." Kakashi barely let out. This only served to grieve Obito even more; Rin watched all of this with terrified fascination.

"K-Kakashi…" She murmured. She couldn't help it; tears ran down her face in droves, and she let out a muffled sob as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Why did it have to end like this…? Why?!"

Obito kicked the boulder furiously and clenched his fists as he himself burst into tears.

"I was supposed to save you, you idiot!" Obito emotionally bellowed. He wanted to rant so much more, but he temporarily lost his voice after that declaration.

Kakashi let out a very weak chuckle.

"Still crying, baby Uchiha? What did I tell you about wearing your emotions on your sleeve?" They all knew Kakashi's heart wasn't in it as he chided the Uchiha. "'Those who would abandon even one of their friends are far worse than scum!' Isn't that what you said, Obito? I knew you or Rin would come back for me, and I simply couldn't risk either of you, it's as simple as that…

Kakashi had Rin and Obito's full, undivided attention now. His speech didn't stop there.

"I'm glad you warmed up to me enough to try and save me, Obito, really glad. Rin," he addressed the kunoichi, "I nearly abandoned you. I chose the mission over you; I'm nothing but trash, so don't cry for me, please. And Obito, don't you dare hold my death over your head. It was not your fault."

Rin stared over at Kakashi with wide eyes, but the tears continued to flow.

"But I… Because of me…" Obito attempted to argue, but Kakashi cut him off.

"It was my choice, Obito; it was a hasty decision on my part, yet one that I do not regret in the least. The Hidden Leaf doesn't need trash like me to defend it," Kakashi firmly stated. "You've finally awoken your Sharingan, and you're more of a shinobi than I ever was. I didn't deserve to be made a Jonin – I made the wrong call in nearly abandoning Rin, and you almost went in without backup, Obito! At least in my death, I can say that I finally made the correct choice. You're both safe, and that's all that matters to me."

"Kakashi…" Rin murmured softly.

Obito screwed his eyes shut in frustration.

"Stop calling yourself trash, Kakashi!" Obito very nearly screamed. "You came back for Rin! So what if you hesitated at first?! All that matters is that you didn't leave me and Rin to die!"

Again, Kakashi weakly chuckled.

"I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this. Still, even if you do end up senselessly beating yourself up over this, at least you'll have surpassed me; you already have. You'll keep moving forward. I'm happy that I was able to be on a team with you both, Rin, Obito. No matter what the village may say, I think you're both fine shinobi; please never forget that."

A little bit after Kakashi had said this, Obito explosively emerged from the collapsed cave, alerting the Stone-nin to his presence. The Stone-nin had been casually drinking and recovering from the battle he had with Team Minato; once Obito came out, he turned to face the Uchiha.

"Still alive, huh? Man, you're stubborn, kid!" The tears streaming from Obito's eyes did not go unnoticed by the Stone-nin, who smirked at the seemingly pitiful sign of weakness. "But… then, you are just a brat. A real shinobi doesn't cry. Let's settle this, ya big crybaby!"

Obito's eyes snapped open and he glared at his opponent fiercely, Sharingan active. Obito had never been more determined in his life; he was going to kill this bastard for what he did!

'There's something different about him now...' The man thought internally, observing the Uchiha's strengthened conviction evident in his eyes.

Obito lunged toward the man without saying another word to Kakashi; Kakashi addressed Rin again when the sounds of fighting started to be heard.

"Rin… Protect Obito. You both need to be there for each other; please don't blame him for my death."

Rin wiped away some tears and nodded slowly.

"I'll… I'll do my best, Kakashi…"

She got up to go and help Obito out, but Kakashi stopped her.

"It's too late now. Stay."

Rin wondered what Kakashi meant by that, but then she soon noticed the fighting outside the cave had stopped already, and that it was deathly silent. Rin tensed, and gasped when the Stone-nin appeared atop the cave, but Kakashi calmed her.

"Don't panic…" was all Kakashi said. And in the next moment, the Stone-nin was rolled aside, and a panting Obito was revealed to be the victor. This immensely relieved Rin.

Kakashi could tell that his time was getting short. He didn't bother to waste his breath on pleading with Obito and Rin to remain strong after this; what would happen after this would happen. There was nothing more he could do.

"Obito, there is one thing I want to impart to you. It's the kunai knife that Sensei gave to me. I don't want it potentially falling into enemy hands, so please, take it with you." As Kakashi said this, he fished out the kunai from a hidden pocket on his left side. Kakashi couldn't tell precisely where to throw it, but he knew Obito would catch it if he threw it up in the air, and the Uchiha did not disappoint. Kakashi continued, "Now take Rin and get out of here, Obito. Enemy reinforcements are on their way."

Rin grasped Kakashi's hands consolingly, but Kakashi yanked his hand away.

"It's okay. Just go, Rin." He pleaded.

Rin whimpered slightly and turned her head away as tears threatened to burst out again.

"Kakashi…"

Obito leaned down into the cave, hand extended.

"Rin…" Obito whispered. A few moments after he said this, the reinforcements arrived, and Obito tensed at their abrupt arrival.

"Earth Style: Earthquake Slam!" Several of the shinobi ran through hand seals and slammed open palms onto the ground, causing the earth on the surface to crack and the earth below to violently shake and disturb the already collapsed cave. Team Minato was fully aware this would cause the walls to crumble inwardly.

"Rin, take my hand now!" Obito called to her with more of a sense of urgency in his voice.

When Rin didn't immediately move to take Obito's hand, Kakashi groaned painfully and cried, "Rin!" Only then did Rin reluctantly take Obito's hand and get pulled out as the walls started to crumble around Kakashi. Kakashi was obstructed from view, and Rin's heart wrenched painfully in her chest as Obito continued to haul her out of there.

"Kakashi!" Rin cried out one more time, in all futility.

Kakashi couldn't help but reflect one more time as the rocks fell all around him.

'And Obito and I were just starting to get along, too… I only wish… I had been a better teammate to them…'

These were Kakashi's final thoughts as his life was extinguished. With Obito and Rin, they managed to evade the attack of the Stone-nin, and leap into the surrounding forests. However, while they were recovering, regaining their bearings, Rin noticed the Stone-nin now had them surrounded.

This did not go unnoticed by Obito, either, but Obito didn't need to look around to see that they were surrounded. Obito clenched his fists as the reality sunk in; Kakashi was dead because of these shinobi, and he was going to make them pay if it was the last thing he did.

Standing up, Obito slowly turned to face a majority of the enemy ninja all while going through a series of hand seals.

"I'm no Kakashi," Obito started off conversationally, "But I can take a great many of you bastards down!" And to Rin, he told her, "Rin, get away from here! I'll take them all on."

Rin narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Obito's claim.

"Obito... Don't try to lie. You and I both know you wouldn't be able to take all of them by yourself. Not even Kakashi would-"

"I know my limits!" Obito stated firmly. "But I have to try, Rin! It's my fault that I couldn't save Kakashi; mine and no one else's! But I'm gonna make up for my failure! I'm still gonna become Hokage!"

"Obito…" Rin just looked on in wonder. He was still the hotheaded teammate that she remembered; he hadn't been reduced to suicidal tendencies. He was still rushing into things without thinking, however…

Finally, Obito had gone through all the seals, and he cried, "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" The Jutsu covered a wide radius, but it still failed to hit most of the enemy, as they were wise enough to dodge – that went without saying, though. However, what came next startled them; Obito, his Sensei's kunai knife in hand, started leaping from tree to tree as he accurately slashed and stabbed Stone-nin one right after the other – his Sharingan was active, and he was able to see where and when they would be coming from, not to mention where they leaped to after dodging his fireball.

"Well, well…" One Stone-nin muttered watching the Uchiha in action. "He's still able to find the will to fight even with these odds. That determination… It's no wonder he got so far into our territory. He's got nerve."

Of course, Obito's luck didn't hold out forever, just as Rin speculated. A long-range attack smacked into Obito's back as he was mid-jump, and he went plummeting to the earth below after taking out only a few enemies. Now that Obito was sprawled out on the ground, defenseless, Rin felt compelled to act. This was her surviving teammate, and she had to do something.

Leaping down to the ground, Rin stabbed two enemies in the back of their necks as they, too, descended on Obito; she then helped Obito up.

"We have to run, Obito! We can't stay here!"

Obito stubbornly shook his head.

"No… I can… still fight…"

Rin slapped him. Obito looked at her with wide eyes, his right cheek now red. He cradled the sore area soothingly, still trying to process the fact that Rin had slapped him.

"You can't be Hokage if you're dead! We're outnumbered here, and clearly outmatched!" Rin chastised him.

"R-Rin…"

Rin grasped Obito's right hand firmly and tried to drag him away from the shinobi from the Hidden Stone, but to no avail; they were surrounded again, the Hidden Stone shinobi having taken that little amount of time to form a perimeter again.

"It's too late!" A shinobi cried out from a tree branch above.

Obito and Rin watched in horror as the enemy charged at them all at once, not giving any route of escape at all. And then they knew no more.

- Later –

Obito's eyes cracked open, and he sat up rigidly. It was dark out now, but clearly the enemy was nowhere in sight, so he could relax somewhat. Minato's soft, soothing voice came from beside him, making Obito relax completely.

"Welcome back. Looks like you're back among us again." Minato smiled wryly.

Obito blinked profusely as he stared at Minato.

"Sensei? How did you…?"

Minato held up the kunai knife that Obito had been wielding; the item that Kakashi had given him.

"The Jutsu Formula on this. It acts as a location marker when I use the Transportation Technique."

Obito stared at Minato with a mix of relief and gratitude.

"Then the enemy…?" Obito trailed off hopefully.

"I dealt with all of them," Minato confirmed. He added, "Well… Those you and Rin didn't manage to take down, anyway…"

Obito's eyes widened again at the mention of the girl he admired and treasured. The girl he loved.

"Rin! Where is she?"

Minato pointed a little bit away from them; Obito turned in that direction, and easily spotted Rin standing out there, looking up at the starlit sky.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't make it in time, Obito," Minato sincerely apologized. "Rin… told me everything that happened."

Obito looked down dejectedly. The loss of Kakashi had hit them hard.

"It's my fault… I wasn't able to throw Kakashi out of harm's way."

Minato turned to Obito again, a frown on his lips.

"Neither Rin nor I blame you for what happened, Obito. Kakashi himself told you to not beat yourself up for what happened. It couldn't be helped. Rin feels just as guilty as you do."

"But she didn't-" Obito tried to argue Rin's innocence, but Minato held up his hand.

"Neither you nor Rin should feel accountable for what happened. Kakashi won't be the last comrade to die, but that should spur you on to do better, to improve your skills. Don't let Kakashi's sacrifice be in vain; don't live in the past. Move on."

"It's hard, Sensei…" Obito mumbled, tears beginning to prickle at the corners of his eyes. Minato slung an arm around his shoulder comfortingly.

"It never is. All we can do is be there for each other, and not let the pain overwhelm us. You're not alone, Obito."

Obito took comfort in those words, and swore to get stronger so he would protect all of his comrades. He would never willingly let there be another Kakashi. Ever.

- Elsewhere –

A strange, pasty white creature tugged Kakashi's body underground and frowned at the sight, noting the kid was definitely dead.

"Aw, Madara's gonna be pissed." He turned to his fellow clones. "I'm not gonna tell him; one of you tell him!"

The creatures sighed collectively and decided to play rock-paper-scissors for the 'honor' of informing Madara of the failure. The first one to lose was charged with the report. The remaining creatures decided to share the 'burden' of carrying off Kakashi's corpse to Madara, just so they wouldn't look like they did nothing.

As expected, Madara slaughtered the Zetsu that reported the failure of the mission, and he was quite furious for a long time after that.

"Isolating that Obito brat will be harder now… Winning him over to our side even moreso." Madara declared irritably. He cursed the fact he was short one future successor because of the silver-haired brat's sense of camaraderie. Then, he motioned for one of the Zetsu to come closer to him; once the clone did, Madara forced his will upon half of its body. "Fetch Nagato and bring him here. We will have to go with a more direct approach."

Zetsu complied with his master's order, and left immediately. In the meantime, Madara ordered the other Zetsu clones to keep up their network of intelligence on the Hidden Villages. He'd waited this long to make a move, and he could afford to wait a little longer if it meant he gained a successor. They would just have to keep moving along as if nothing happened. Business as usual.

Zetsu never returned from that errand.

Author's Note:

This idea just popped into my head… back in April of 2014. This has just been sitting in my archives, gathering dust. I never did have the heart to delete this. Haha. This is totally separate from The Tale of Nagato Uzumaki, and it's only a one-shot. I'll let someone adopt this if they're interested in the concept and want to expand on it; it's just something I wondered about back then. The intention was to make this a much longer one-shot with snippets of what could have happened if Kakashi died in Obito's place, but clearly others had this covered. I've actually seen others write this scenario before – it's one reason I never posted it before now.

Another reason was that the manga was still ongoing back then. I was expecting to get a better picture of Madara's machinations… but then Black Zetsu stabbed Madara in the back, and Kaguya came back to life for a short time. What happened to Black Zetsu and Madara in this timeline? Did Black Zetsu just give up on Madara, or is he still waiting to poach Nagato? Well, I'll leave that up to you guys. Why didn't Obito awaken the Mangekyo? It's a controversial thing, and I didn't want to step on any toes since this turned out to be a small one-shot. I don't know if Obito could have even awakened the Mangekyo by watching Kakashi die; would they have been 'friends' enough for that kind of trauma? They kind of hated each other's guts, at least from what I observed in canon – at absolute best they were rivals. They only became 'friends' when Kakashi decided to help rescue Rin.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this a little. I originally wrote this with the intention of experimenting with a different genre – namely angst – but you can be the judge of whether or not it was decent enough. I'm not totally happy with how it turned out, so… sorry if it turned out like crap.