He dredges up dirt and tiny stones when he drags his feet.
Kakashi leans heavily on him. Rin curves her arm around his waist. Their steps drag. Minato-sensei is watches them from behind. His eyes rove over Rin's bandages to Obito's bruises to Kakashi's limp. Minato-sensei looks dirty, bloodstained and older.
"I'm tired." Obito mutters.
They keep on walking, the trees are familiar, and the road is now paved.
Rin shifts her hold on Kakashi and murmurs, "We'll be home soon, Obito-kun. Hang in there."
Obito stares at his sandals. His head feels heavy, and his thoughts wander. Obito sees a lot of blood. Then Kakashi and Rin stop. He blinks out of his stupor and glances up.
"Look," Kakashi tells him.
The first thing he sees is the gates of Konoha.
Then he sees everyone else. The crowd is welcoming heroes back home. Everyone—from the mean old nurse at the hospital to the old people he helped to the riotous brats he plays with—was waiting at the gates. His eyes widened. His mouth opened, possibly a little too wide. They cheer and clap and call out his name. His jaw drops. For him?
They remember dead-last?
"Dead-last, you're going to swallow a fly," Kakashi says.
The old Hokage stands in front of them.
"Thank you." Hiruzen Sarutobi says. The crowd grows silent, and the Old Hokage's voice ripples through the silence like an earthquake. Powerful. Commandeering. It's everything Obito dreams of sounding like. The crowd parts when he walks, and his advisors follow him. Obito dreams of this.
The Hokage places a hand on Obito's shoulder.
He dreams of having this kind of effect.
"Thank you for your efforts to the Third Shinobi war, Team Seven," the Hokage says.
And the old Hokage places his funny hat on Obito's head, and the hat falls over his eyes. It blocks out the world, and he can see cool white and the glow of red as he pushes it back up. The hat's too big for him. For now.
He sees the old Hokage's robes.
"One day, Obito," he says. "One day, I hope to live long enough to see your dream of being Hokage come true."
.
.
.
And it was every shinobi-born child's dream to become the greatest ninja in the village.
He is only three. Minato-sensei's son is already going on and on and on about how he would make the greatest damn Hokage in the entire damn village. Obito is babysitting the boy. And the boy is rambunctious, easily excitable and full of Uzumaki blood which makes him strong enough to paint the entire living room orange.
"Ne ne Obito—I wanna eat ramen," He whines, swinging back and forth as Obito holds him upside down by the ankle.
"Hmm…let me think about it." Obito realigns the boy. Naruto takes the opportunity to tumble over his arm and wiggle over his shoulder. He rides Obito's shoulders and tugs at his hair. "Okay I thought about it. Nope."
"But why why why?" His small chubby cover Obito's eyes. Obito pries a finger open patiently and dodges Naruto's box full of building blocks.
"Because your mom will kill me, Naruto! I don't want to die before I become Hokage! And who would be Hokage before you grow up?" He dramatizes and places emphasis on Hokage. Because both of them have made a deal.
Obito becomes Hokage first, and then baby Naruto. Obito would ready the seat for Naruto. Baby Naruto hopes that there's still crayons for him. Obito promises Naruto that he won't use up all the crayons.
The boy frowns and the nods. Because the village's safety is very important.
It is past ten when Naruto finally falls asleep. An orange bedsheet, swirly-patterned blanket and a foxy plushie, from Aunty Mikoto and Sas'kay, surrounds him. Naruto hugs the toy and breathes in deeply.
There's a bright grin on his face and mumbled something akin to "…okage."
Obito smiles at the boy, leans over and pats his cheek.
Obito sits in the living-room till twelve. He looks through Minato-sensei's books on chakra-manipulation, the art of stealth and other books written by the Third. At twelve, Minato and Kushina return.
"Ah!" Minato gushes. "Thank you for looking after Naruto!"
Kushina laughs cheekily and elbows him in the side, a bit too hard. Obito winces.
"You'll make a great dad!" she says and gives him a heavy wink.
"Kushinaaa-san!" he whines and his cheeks redden. He will be sixteen soon and he's dating Rin. He wants to propose to her when they are nineteen. That's the plan these days. Some days he wants to ask her if she's really really okay with dating 'loser Obito'.
She's beautiful, she could do better, and her family probably thinks she can do better. These are things he feels when he slides his hand into hers and rubs his thumb over her fingers. He holds her like she'll let go. It's mushy.
Kakashi says that they disgust him.
But when she kisses him—his mind goes blank. It doesn't fucking matter, he tells himself when he kisses her back. He has her. He has her.
When Kushina retreats to the bathroom, Minato turns to Obito.
"So." He says, in the 'official' air that the Yondaime adopts in his office. "I have been meaning to talk to you about your last mission report. Which was late. Obito…really. You are already promoted to being a Jounin. Act your rank."
Obito grins sheepishly.
"What about it?"
"Your comrades reported of something strange—like you had developed some kind of teleportation jutsu using the sharingan—is this something I'm not aware of?"
"I don't know." Obito replies. "After the war…I came back home and I could…I could perform this teleportation jutsu. I think I awakened the second level of the sharingan."
Minato glances at him. "Do you know how it's awakened?"
"Ehehe…I don't know?" He really doesn't know.
And Minato-sensei doesn't know much about the second level of the sharingan. It was a clan secret. No Uchiha divulges clan secrets to any member of the public, including the Hokage, lest it may be used against them. There were whispers here and there, but mostly false.
Problem is. Obito doesn't even know about the false rumours. He wasn't raised among the clan. He was raised outside. He was the pariah, the black-sheep, probably because of his parents. He doesn't know what his parents did. His mother ran from home? His father died a dishonorable death? Maybe it was him, something to do with being called dead-last, and not being able to meet clan expectations.
Obito just knows that their eyes glaze over him, and he irritates the old women.
"What do you mean?" Minato eyes him and breaks him out of his thought.
"I don't know when I awakened this, or how…"
"Would you like me to talk to Fugaku? Perhaps he can help you?" Minato offers.
"You know how I feel about the clan, don't you?"
"Honestly…" Minato pauses. "I do…I respect your wishes. I was just impressed by the reports."
The conversation would continue unless Minato-sensei forgot. He touches his eyes. He's thought of it. Maybe the sharingan back-fired and tampered with his memories?
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.
.
After Rin breaks up with him, the nightmares begin.
She looks into his eyes when she tells him. Rin was sorry. She really was but it wasn't working out for her, she says.
He thinks it's because of him.
He'd been trying. He blames himself. There's something wrong with him. There's always something wrong with him. She tells him that its not true. It's just that he's not Obito when he's around her, she half-mumbles. He looks at her. Her gaze falters to her feet.
He's different. She's scared.
Maybe—maybe it just has something to do with Kakashi. And Obito wants to pummel Kakashi, put him in a genjutsu, hurt him—no. This is not him.
He excuses himself.
He loves both Rin and Kakashi, he reminds himself. She's not happy with him. He can't hold onto her like this. So he lets her go and runs and trains like a mad-man through the night.
After some moping around, he laughs a little. It's just a break-up, and everyone goes through those. Hell, didn't Suzume's heart get broken by Asuma? And Suzume found someone else. She was okay. He'll be okay.
The world will not end because of Rin.
When he plays with five-year-old Naruto who just wants 'ta train train train' and teaches him some tricks. Minato and Kushina say nothing when he frequents their house. He avoids Kakashi and Rin for a week or four.
The next time he sees Rin, his stomach drops, his inside cave in and all his resentment is festering—but he smiles. She smiles.
Her eyes are brighter.
He lets her go and ignores all twinges of resentment.
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.
.
"Doing okay, Obito?" Minato asks him when he opens the door.
Obito is back from a mission. It wasn't too hard, so he's not really injured. He picked up Naruto from school. And Naruto fell asleep on his back from all the shuriken practice and running around with "Sasukeh-teme"—who got hounded away by an exasperated Itachi.
Naruto and Sasuke, huh? They'll be a handful.
Obito grits his teeth, "Yeah."
And he's shit tired these days because there's mission after mission.
About the same time, his strange nightmarish dreams begin to return. He doesn't remember them in the morning so whatever. But it's like weird symbols. He's too tired to give a shit. He's nineteen. He's going to be Hokage.
And nothing's going to stop Obito from pursuing that dream these days.
There was a period after the war, which was punctuated with dreams like these. Until of course, he had gathered the courage to ask Rin out. Then it stops. His dreams fill with Rin's smooth skin, her lips, her—
That's where he stops himself.
Obito never got anything he wanted all his life. No parents, no love-life, dead grandmas, horrible family, and a lonely apartment.
But these days, he's got everything he needs. He has Minato-sensei, their kid and Itachi and Shisui and Sarutobi-sensei and the names of so many other people and things that he can't count on his fingers.
"I respect that," he tells Kurenai. "I mean, if she likes Kakashi…it's okay!"
Team Seven is a bit awkward after that. Rin and Kakashi aren't dating but the signs were all there. He is happy, okay, he tells himself. He doesn't care. It is all in the past. The bastard had won. Just like all of their best-of-three spars. Just like everything else. Kakashi wins, because Kakashi was born to win in the race called life.
The lights are fuzzy. His ears are abuzz. He takes another swig.
"It's the way things are meant to be," he tells Kurenai. "I'm always going to be dead-las—hic—tuhh." He punctuates it with a chuckle.
Asuma lights his cigarette and Kurenai watches him. The bags underneath his eyes tells them a different story. They don't comment on it.
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.
.
When he's twenty-five, he becomes a Jounin-sensei. Kakashi and Rin seem to be going on with their own lives. They are going to get married later this year.
"Did you know that every teacher of Team Seven has always ended up being Hokage?" Minato leans on his palm and giving him a lazy smile.
"I don't know." He raises a brow.
Minato's desk is littered with papers. His hat and robe are sliding off his arm-chair and Minato hints a lot at wanting to retire. Obito laughs.
"But who will protect the village?" Obito asks.
He's grown as ninja. His mangekyo is well-known these days. His clan talks about him, like they were proud of him—earlier it was just the old people who blessed him—now it's everyone else. These days, people look at him and they acknowledge him.
It's been a while, but he's here.
He still remembers the day Fugaku called him into his office and asked him about the mangekyo. He still doesn't know.
"I'm sorry." Fugaku told him. "I truly am…"
"For what, sir?"
"Just—" The clan-head pauses. He schools his face. "I'm honored to have someone like you in our clan."
Shisui mentions once that the clan would do anything for power. Perhaps, this was the case with the mangekyo, it was special. He felt special. Like he was someone apart from dead-last. Shisui's a different story. Shisui was born a genius and revered. Obito's never…had this.
He likes it. For a while, he was on a high.
But at twenty-five, he's starting to take it a bit easier on himself. He paces himself. He's okay these days. Obito's taking it one day at a time.
Minato hands him the files of the students that he will teach and he reads them.
"You want me to teach…" He pauses. "Naruto?" He flips the other file open. "Sasuke? The clan-head's son?" And then he places the last one over all of them. This is a name he's never heard before.
"Sakura Haruno?"
But it sounds familiar on his tongue.
It might just be because Sakura is a common name. It's a very ordinary name but the picture of the girl is striking. She stares at the camera, and there's a burst of acidic color in her eyes. She stares into the camera lens and right at him.
No smile. No frown either. Just neutral. Something also very uncomfortable and he feels uneasy—like a hush after the death of a man—he blinks. An ordinary twelve-year-old stares back at him.
"She's a civilian child," Minato says. "Her grades are impeccable. They wanted her to graduate earlier into the ranks. She declined every time." So she's the mini-Kakashi. "I'm trusting you to handle these three?"
Obito closes her file.
"Yeah." He tucks them underneath his arm. "I can handle them, I suppose."
.
.
.
He's seen Sasuke.
Itachi's little brother doesn't share the same gracefulness as his brother. He scowls at him. Obito gives the boy a toothy grin.
He and Naruto are already sporting bruises from what he assumes was their scuffle.
Naruto sends him a raised eyebrow and then he also scowls. The two spend the next minute in loud banter of 'how I practically changed your diapers so have some more respect, honorable idiot son'. Then, he recognizes his third student, Sakura Haruno, who watches the trio silently.
"Hey," he chirps at her. "I'm Obito Uchiha. I'm going to be your sensei. I'll be the coolest fucking sensei you've ever had the privilege of having."
He adds a thumbs up to be friendly.
Naruto and Sasuke scoff. He doesn't know why she suddenly looks slightly let down. Then she nods slowly. She's shy, he thinks, then he sees her shift her eyes over to the smaller Uchiha.
Sasuke catches her gaze.
She looks away.
Naruto is absolutely smitten by the girl and he blabs and blabs to her. She shrugs out of his grasp with a—"That's nice Naruto, congratulations on passing and I hope to be a good team-member."
"Same here! Sakura-chan!"
He calls her name like he used to call Rin's name, and it's like history might repeat itself. And he sees Rin, himself and Kakashi in those seats.
He sighs.
.
.
.
There's something off about the girl.
She appears to be detached most of the time. Her parents say that she's a stubborn child. Sasuke says she's a weirdo. Naruto defends her by saying that 'Sakura-chan just doesn't have any friends but she's really pretty though.'
She's got talent with genjutsu, the file says, but her performance is academy level. She's ridiculously quiet. And if you were Obito, you couldn't leave quiet people alone—just ask Kakashi.
During their little team-test, he decides to push her, just a little bit. She's standing in the midst of the clearing, possibly looking for Sasuke-kun.
Then she turns when he steps into the clearing.
His chakra is lightly masked. She hears the crack of the branch. She meets his gaze.
"Yo." He smiles.
His sharingan bleeds into black. Her eyes widen.
And the illusion she sees, he sees as well.
Like a horrible nightmare that claws into his eyes. There's a man standing in front of her. He's wearing some sort of black, ragged hood. His face is cut off. He has a powerful set of shoulders, a handsome sneer on his mouth and a snake around one arm. He's wears a purple rope belt around his waist—and then something a pitch black hand protrudes from the man's chest—ripping out his heart. The man widens his eyes. There's the sound of screams—
The illusion cancels out.
His eyes fade to black.
And Obito, breathes hard and takes a step backwards. She shivers. He watches in horror as she dry heaves.
"Please," she says shakily. "Do not use your sharingan on me. Use taijutsu—I'll beat you. I'll fight by any other technique but genjutsu."
"Why?" he asks her. "What do you mean?"
"Don't," she croaks. "Please. I know how to use fucking genjutsu if that's what you are getting at. Don't pry!"
She then teleports out and leaves him bewildered.
.
.
.
He's suspicious, but he brushes it off as a traumatic incident.
Obito chuckles as he ties a horrified Naruto to the training pole.
He then tells the genin not to feed Naruto—but they fed Naruto. So he appears before them. His eyes linger on the kunoichi who stares at her feet. Her fists tighten around her chopsticks as he appears. Before he speaks, Naruto interrupts.
"I'll go to the academy." He announces.
"Oh?" Obito says.
"No," Sakura begins. "I'm sorry. I will. I'm not ready."
He frowns at her. She almost sounds eager. Clearly, she has trauma issues, but that's okay. Most of the shinobi he knew were basket cases. Then Sasuke speaks and something is really fishy about the whole thing.
"I'll go," Sasuke snaps. "I wasn't with dead-last when it mattered."
"But Sasuke-kun—" Sakura protests.
"Sasuke!" Naruto feigns.
"—you can't do this!" Sakura raises her voice. "Oh Sasuke-kun! You don't have to take this sacrifice for us!"
"I'll go," the Uchiha repeats. "The dobe will only fail again. What a disgrace and he is the Hokage's son too. This is better for both of us."
"But if I go," Sakura taps her chin. "Then you both will have each other to teach! You can let each other get better!"
Naruto opens his mouth to say something but Sakura stuffs another eggroll in his mouth.
"Well." Obito begins. "I guess—that's it. All three of you—"
Naruto and Sasuke frown. Sakura stares at him blankly.
"—pass." He grinned.
Naruto slides his eyes over to Sakura with a grin. Sakura smiles at him and Sasuke. And Sasuke smirks.
And then he watches bewildered as the three of them high-five each other. Obito then pinches the bridge of his nose. Minato-sensei was the one who gave him the bells. He had told Naruto about the damn test when he was younger.
He'd told him this as a bedtime story—three times.
"They really need to change this test."
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.
.
And that's how Team Obito starts out, with amazing, epic retrieval missions—
"Caught you Tora-chan!" Naruto bellows as he flops in the position of the cat. It jumps and scampers away. Obito internally laments as Sasuke argues bitterly with Naruto. Sakura rolls her eyes and just runs off after Tora-chan.
—and even more epic battles.
"Dead-last you cheated!"
"No I didn't! You just suck!"
Obito stopped sparring with Sakura. He looks over at the commotion. They have resorted to rolling around in the dirt. He sighs and turns back to the pinkette who was waiting.
"You were supposed to take advantage of my lack of attention." He tells her.
"I would but that wouldn't be fair to you, sensei," she chirps.
"How rude." Obito frowns. He gets back into stance. "Already underestimating your sensei?"
"I'm not even trying."
Another cheeky comment. Maybe.
He raises an eyebrow. "Oh?" he says. He beats her then, and while she's dangling from his hand by the ankle. He asks her again if she still underestimates him.
Sakura gives him a long look.
"No."
He gives her some pointers and she takes them. They spar again. She's a quick learner—just like Kakashi. And in a weird twisted way, he feels like he's fighting Kakashi.
A mini-Kakashi.
During the brief respite, she glances at Sasuke and Naruto again. He tells her that she is a shinobi, and she needs to survive and she looks apologetic.
"Okay," she says. "Sorry sensei."
She takes it a bit more seriously after that. He still gets the feeling she does it just to appease him as he avoids a lazy blow.
That won't do.
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.
.
And Team seven had more epic missions from guarding caravans to helping old people cross the road.
Subjecting Sasuke and a very indignant Naruto to D-rank missions was satisfying.
"I agree with them," Sakura says. "We need harder missions. This pays less."
"Yeah! We need harder, funnner, better, cooler, nicer missions!"
Eventually Naruto stomps into the Hokage tower. And his father, good old Minato-sensei, with no amount of amusement looked over his files.
"Ah look at what we might have here." He peers at the files and flips through the pages. "Hmmm, do I see a C-rank…to…" He adjusts his glasses. "Oooh. No I don't." He looks gravely at the disappointed genin. Obito's trying and failing to muffle his laughter.
And he hands them another stack of D-rank missions.
"Thanks dobe."
"Shut up."
.
.
.
Then they get a C-rank mission.
They leave the village. They are escort an old drunk with a potty mouth. He takes every opportunity to rile up Naruto. Obito watches the younger version of himself shake his fist and do something stupid. He grabs the boy by the shoulder.
He sighs as he realigns the boy forward.
"Naruto—that's our client. He's paying us. It doesn't matter how he treats us," he says.
"That's right Naruto." Sakura nods. "We're getting paid. Eitherways, he's a dead man without us."
The client sniffs at her.
Naruto nods.
He likes them. He likes Naruto—he's always liked the brat—even if he was a bit stupid sometimes. But that's okay, he was stupider. Sasuke's cute, when he's actually listening to him and not jabbing at 'dead-last' or grating on his nerves with sarcasm. Sakura is warming up to him—to them. Kinda. She's a work in progress.
And he sees what they mean about her being a prodigy when she fights for real. Even Sasuke's impressed. Naruto's flabbergasted. She's like mini-Kakashi all over again, drawing heads left and right on the battlefield.
And then she uses a move which is so Kakashi and he's wonders if she actually knows Kakashi.
Impossible. He doesn't know if Kakashi has the time to teach genin.
.
.
.
He lies down, pulling his blanket over his shoulders as he stares at his cute little, sleeping genin.
He's happy.
Obito's doing okay. He loves these kids and swears he would do anythingfor all of them. He's always loved a bit too easily. Whether it was the bastard or Rin-chan or Minato-sensei. Being in a team for months, does that to you. You share the same sleeping areas, the same utensils, the same food. You get familiar with each other's nightmares. You become intertwined with each other's dreams.
You get strangled with each other's feelings, emotions, fears.
You learn how to breathe again.
And when he has another nightmare, he wakes up. He tastes the night air. The glowing embers of the little fire they made are still smoking. He rubbed the sole of his palms into his eyes. He huddles in.
Then he realizes that Sakura's sleeping bag is empty.
And he shoots up.
He sees her just ahead and she sits by the river side. She's staring at the water-surface and lets the water dash against her limp feet. He walks up to her. Perhaps it's her first mission. Perhaps that's why she's so scared.
"Are you okay?"
He crouches beside her.
"Sakura."
She nods, slightly. No expression. Nothing.
"I'm okay, sensei. Please leave me alone."
"Did you have a bad dream?"
"Please leave me alone." She repeats. He walks over to his bags, he rummages for something and pulls out a large jacket. Then he walks back to her. He knows. He understands. It's a nightmare.
She flinches as he nears.
He lets the fabric of the jacket drape her arms.
He turns to leave. He stops. She's holding the fabric of his shirt. And Sakura, staring out over the river and into the forest on the other-side, speaks.
"Sensei…do you remember what it was like during the war?" She asks, slowly. "Tell me stories if you can't sleep. I know you can't—you've been tossing and turning."
He stops. He stares at her. She's looks at him and really looks at him. He sits back down and he rolls up the knees of his pants and lets the cool water dash against his skin.
And he tells her the story of how Rin got saved.
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.
.
Y'see, in those days, Obito Uchiha was a dead-last who still hadn't awakened his sharingan. But he did, when Kakashi-the-bastard was actually willing to leave Rin to die in the camp. For Kakashi, it was only the mission—and the mission was important.
Obito didn't know what came over him. Save Rin.
But he ran and ignored Kakashi's enraged cries and entered the camp of Iwa-nin. And Obito didn't know what took over him—possessive rage for Rin-chan's safety. Like something dark and sinister and his limbs were moving on their own. He was so blinded that he didn't notice someone looming over him.
That's when a kunai out of the dark sliced through the man's skull dead center. Obito twisted around to watch the man fall. He peered into the dark. Obito then looked around.
He saw the rustle of fabric and they are gone.
It's not Kakashi's kunai. There's a different kind of handle with a symbol engraved on it. Kakashi then emerged from the opposite end of the cavern with a limp.
"I killed…most of them." Kakashi croaked and Obito wonders how the twist in his fortunes happened. He hobbled toward Rin.
"Genjutsu." Obito's eyes swirled as he leaned over her. There were idle questions in his head, questions like . . . why did Kakashi sound so different? What changed Kakashi's mind? The bastard was so hell-bent on not saving them—whatever.
He didn't dwell on it for long.
He thought he felt a prickle on his neck.
But who would help them out? He thought. His eye-lids got heavy.
He didn't remember anything after that. Obito often frowned at that memory. It might have been a lapse, like the gaps in his memory prior. He didn't remember what his grandmother looked like before she died. He had a pair of goggles from her. Something was wrong with him. It kind of felt like forgetting something really important.
And over the years, that something really important turned into something very mundane.
And every time he tried to make sense of it, he would only see dim greygreygrey, grains of black and the bzzt of a severed signal.
So he doesn't think.
.
.
.
"And who do you think the mysterious nin was?" Sakura asks him.
"I don't know but we need to sleep." He gets up. "Coming?"
"No," she says. He tuts and she gets up with a sigh. "Okay. You aren't my mom."
He waits till she stands up and crawls back into her sleeping bag. The stars shine over them—millions of tiny, glowing galaxies of specks of light dot the inky black sky—they blink at them. She stares upwards and scowls. He sings softly, before closing his eyes.
"Gnite, Sakura!"
She scowls harder. He drifts off to dreams of stupid Team Seven.
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.
.
These days, he works tirelessly, trying to come up with ways of improving their team-techniques. He asks Minato-sensei for guidance. Minato gushes with happiness and lends him all the books he used for their team. Sarutobi-sensei tells him to put the three of them though the ringer.
"Throw them in the forest of death. It's bound to scare the hell out of them," the older man said, nodding.
He pours through 'Teaching for Dummies' when Rin slides into the seat next to him.
"I heard about your team." She picks out a plump skewer of dango from his plate. "Nice job. I heard they completed the C-ranked mission successfully."
"Thanks." He smiles. "How's Kakashi."
"You would know. You punched him out yesterday," she says, nonchalantly. "I had to heal you both."
"That I did." He grins. "Got the bastard good, didn't I?"
"I wouldn't say good—" There's another voice beside him. They slide into the seat beside him. "—but it was a good try, dead-last."
Another one of his skewers is gingerly picked up. Kakashi pulls down his mask, slightly.
"If you are planning to eat in front of me," Obito says with a scowl. "I'd rather you didn't try to hide your face. That's pathetic. What are you, five?"
And in a flash, one of the balls of dango are missing from the skewer. Obito wants to scream. Rin chuckles. She leans on him and waggles her eyebrow.
"Well, I've seen underneath his mask. I threatened not to kiss him."
Obito rolls his eyes. "Why couldn't you threaten him with no kisses so he could lose that stupid mask?"
"Ah." Kakashi said blandly, fitting his mask snugly. "The things I do for love."
"I mean your mask is so stupid. That is something I used to do when I was literally five—Kakashi."
He's genuinely happy these days, for these two. He wants the best for them. He wants the best for all of them. He's contented with where he is. He's got a team of adorable genin. He loves his life.
Best of all?
Minato-sensei's been hinting at him becoming Hokage. They've been talking about an Uchiha hokage.
Itachi's was mentioned, but Itachi declined politely.
And that left him. He's tries not to sound eager.
"So tell us about your team." Rin nudges him.
"Well…" He begins. "There's Naruto. You guys know Naruto…"
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Four years pass. Team Seven is still close and they are all chuunin now. They spend most of their free-time in the summer at the Namikaze home. They drink lemonade and play cards before Sasuke goes off on his next mission and Naruto goes back to training and he? He would take it easy for the rest of the evening. Minato-sensei wants to keep him in the village for some reason.
"The hell!? Obito stop fuckin' cheating—"
"Naruto, shut up…too loud…" Sakura murmurs. She pinches his arm.
"Dead-last is right. What have you been doing?"
Obito splays his fingers over his cards and fans himself with them and winks.
"Ho ho ho! A good shinobi never reveals their secrets that easily!"
Sakura sits between Naruto and Sasuke. She leans on Naruto, sleepily. She's still in her clothes from her overnight shift at the hospital. She watches the game. They hid her paperwork so she's grumpy.
Occasionally, she dozes off and her head rolls onto Naruto's shoulder.
He sits opposite them. She opens her eyes. He senses approaching chakra signatures.
Obito looks up.
"We got guests!" Kushina hollers as she comes in with the cake. Minato follows them, followed by Itachi. Shisui follows him. Obito looks at all of them suspiciously. Why are they looking at him like that? Like he's in for a cruel surprise.
Wait who is the cake for? It's not his birthday.
Itachi takes a seat beside Sasuke. Kushina slaps Naruto's hand away while setting the tray down. "Not you—dattebane! This is for Obito."
"Moooom!"
For him? He points at himself.
"Naruto-kun," Rin chides. She is followed by Kakashi. They all seem to be giggling like academy students. Then she sets the cake down. He looks down. And he gapes. Down at the icing decorating the surface of the cake. "Today is Obito's very special day."
So he looks down at the cake. His jaw drops.
"Obito! You are going to catch a fly with your mouth open like that," Shisui guffaws. It elicits more delighted laughter.
Dear Obito Uchiha!
"Kushina and I baked it," Minato-sensei says. He takes a seat beside him. "Do you like it?"
And below his name, in smaller letters—Congratulations on becoming Godaime Hokage! The icing is all messy and full of love.
"I love it." He gasps.
He can't breathe. He squawks, gasps and covers his mouth. And everyone points at his face and snickering. And then tears stream down his eyes.
"N-no way. That means—"
"The council vote was in, yesterday."
"But—"
"Father was especially ecstatic when he put in a recommendation for you Obito," Itachi tells him. "It will be a pleasure to work for you."
Minato pulls him into a hug and rubs his ink stained fingers into his hair. His team laugh so hard and they are high-five each other like it was the best surprise in the world. He whispers 'thank you' over and over and over.
"We are so proud of you, Obito," Minato whispers.
He cries harder.
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With all the work involved and with the Sandaime and Minato training him, and all the meetings and scrolls and paperwork, it's been two months since he's become Hokage.
He sees Naruto, who strolls into the office like he owns it. He makes it a point to see Sasuke, who ignores the official title and tells him to stop freeloading off Mikoto's food. He thinks of checking in on Sakura, who might be ignoring his advice about overworking.
But that evening, she enters his office as he is about to pack up for the day. He looks up.
"Hokage-sama," she says, calmly.
He tilts his head and chuckles.
"You can still call me Obito-sensei," he tells her.
"Hokage-sama," she repeats. Her voice is firm. This is not Sakura. This was the girl in the file—
He pauses. What's going on? Her eyes are steady, cool, and hard like earth.
"I have something to say to you," she says. "But can you call your ANBU away. This is a confidential S-rank secret."
"What?"
She shifts her eyes around her at the ANBU who tense.
"Are you afraid?"
"What's going on?" He grips his desk.
The ANBU moves at her.
He falls. Every ANBU in the office falls before Sakura and she lowers her hand. Obito's eyes droop. His eyes darken into red.
"What is going on?" he repeats and grips his desk.
There's something drumming underneath the surface. Then there's the sound of the ground being split.
"They're asleep," she shrugs. "Paralyzed. They'll wake up in a few hours. Please don't make this difficult for me, Hokage-sama."
When did she—?
The world twists again for him.
There's a lot of noise. Of his thoughts.
His thoughts from a dreams—dreams where the village wasn't okay—and they feel so real. Her eyes are like acid, acid green oceans. And as the little lilac diamond above her forehead melts into her skin. It's an illusion. There are nicks and tears on her skin.
There's acid in her eyes, burns over her skin and a single sleeve is ripped out.
"Sakura…?" he chokes. It's familiar. He doesn't know why. But why does she know things that he doesn't. What—
Then she drops the goggles on his desk. The goggles that he lost back when he saved Rin from the Iwa-nin. He doesn't know how to breathe. He looks up.
Her face is impassive.
"How—impossible, did you buy me a pair—incredible it looks just like my old one …" he trails off when he looks at the symbol on the side of the goggles. He had crudely inked his name on it when he was five.
His grandmother brought him this pair.
"Obito," she speaks and her voice does something to his brain. "You are just missing memories. Do you want to know what kind of person you were?"
"You…"
She stares back at him calmly.
The sun is setting on the leaf village. The Hokage's office is darkening. The red shadows spill over the portraits of the previous Hokages. He can hear footsteps outside.
He's trying to piece it all together.
"Because you destroyed my world," she breathes. "And you took everything that was dear to me. All because the world—that world took a precious girl of yours. But Obito, you've done so much more in this world—sometimes, I don't think you need to be reminded of the kind of person you were. So I—we took them away. But you're Hokage now of my precious village."
He shakes his head. His insides, his fighting skills, his powers, his sharingan. Fugaku Uchiha who had cornered him on the morning after they had found out that he had the mangekyo sharingan. He now understood the look in Fugaku Uchiha's eyes as he offered him condolences.
He watched Rin die. But Rin was alive? Fuck. What was the truth?
He slumps back into the chair.
"Why?" He croaks. "How?"
"It's your gift on becoming Hokage." Sakura continued. "I want you to be the best Hokage that leaf has ever known. And to do that—you need to conquer who you were. Conquer those nightmares. That unsettling feeling that someone has tampered with you?"
"Sakura—!?"
She walks up to him. He then feels her fingers on his temples before he can bat them away. Her fingers glow. The blank spots fill with color. The world twists and bends. He freezes. The buzzing turns coherent.
"You were right. Wake up!" she howls.
He opens his eyes wide.
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In that life, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha would be the heroes—this is what Obito Uchiha decided. He said that they will be able to change the world and he would help them. He would be the dead-last, aided by this teammate. The dead-last will always remain the dead-last.
Kakashi's third student also knew it. They would support these heroes even if it meant death. He doesn't know her well but she's inspiring. She's saying things like:
"We're going to make it."
She's only seventeen.
What was he doing when he was seventeen?
"…"
Oh right. Participating in a grand orchestration to place the entire world into a dream. A very good dream—no more suffering, the end of wars, the end of the shinobi system and in this world, Rin-chan would be alive. And they would be married, and he would totally have kids, one boy, one girl.
He liked to think that none of his children looked like him. They would be happy. They would live long lives—surrounded by love, laughter—he would make her happy.
He chuckled.
All of that was ruined because of a fucking boulder.
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Sakura blinked against the sun.
Beside her, Obito coughed up blood. They were almost up at their limits. She clenched the fabric of his shirt. He was crouched over and wiped his cheek of bloody tears.
"We have to keep going." She said hoarsely.
"We do." He said. He shivered—or maybe it was her. Her fingers were trembling. There was so little hope. But that's all they had. They had to find Sasuke. They had to reunite Team Seven. They would solve this mess. The dream-team at the end of the world and the beginning of a new age. For Naruto and Sasuke.
Not her.
Sakura grit her teeth. She felt more chakra fill up her reserves, her veins, her fragile body as she placed her palms on Obito's bony shoulders. She whispered to him.
"Here it goes."
There was a rip, a large, gouged hole in the air—they could see Uchiha Sasuke. His back was turned to them. Sakura's eyes widened with joy. Yes! It would be over—they found him. They found Sasuke!
She opened her mouth to call out his name.
Too bad the fabric of time and space was so abused and used and torn. There were hot flashes of light.
"Obito?! What's happening?"
"Hold on Sakura! Sakura? SAKURA?!"
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The light pulled at the seas of turquoise acid, rose, twisted the colors into violet, then raw, pale fuschia. She saw the flash of light before she heard Obito scream something at her, before it was garbled by the rift of time.
The portal closed. Sasuke looked back.
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"Hold on I'm going to try something!"
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See, perhaps, each action had an equal opposite reaction. This was a law that chakra defied.
Many scholars debated on the use of space-time ninjutsu.
They asked, what were the repercussions of using too much space-time ninjutsu? What did it tell them about the world they lived in? Some scholars debated that if teleportation jutsu, like the body-flicker, and the Yondaime's special teleportation technique could bend space to a person's will—allow a person to travel from point A to point B?
But at what cost?
It wasn't about the possibilities. It was about the limits.
One scholar said, "it's simple, really. It's like a fabric maybe? It rips and tears."
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.
And everything prior to that point, that point where he and Kakashi saved Rin, returns to him. All of the fragments of nightmares.
From the Fourth Shinobi war, to the war he waged on the elemental nations, to the fights with Naruto Uzumaki, to the fight with Kakashi, to the way he watched Kakashi kill Rin-chan. To the way he held her body...in hell.
This was the truth. Sakura watched him laugh hysterically then scream in agony.
He remembered.
Someone banged against the door.
Thumpthumpthumpthump
"Hokage-sama?"
Sakura leaned forward. She pressed a green finger against his temple. The flood continues. He screams.
"Hokage-sama?!" The voice hollers more insistently.
And Madara Uchiha, and the clan, the Uchiha clan —he's now holding his head in his hands, grabbing fistfuls of his hair and screaming.
This is him. This is the truth.
But she takes his fists and pries it apart. He stares at Sakura with hate. She stares back with apparent apathy.
"Just a little more," she says softly.
The war never ended. They failed to save Sasuke. They failed to save the world. The room is sound-proof.
Now it makes sense he thinks, as his eye droop. He doesn't see her strike. But he feels a stab of pain on his neck where the senbon hits him.
She was good at genjutsu. Of course she fucking was.
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Sakura knocks him out as the door is thrown open.
She turns around to look at Kakashi.
Kakashi is staring at her, at Obito who is slumped over the desk. He clenches the hilt of his ANBU tanto-blade. His widened eyes flicker back to Sakura. Sakura looks past him and at the ANBU guard who is lying on the ground next to Kakashi. He's slumped forward.
"He's okay." She says. She walks over to the other end of the desk, and lets him fall over her arm. She heaves Obito's form over her shoulder. Kakashi's look is unreadable.
"He's asleep, Kakashi-sensei." She heaves a sigh. "Relax, do you trust me so little? He's not dead."
She makes a teleportation sign.
"Are you afraid too?" she asks him and they disappear in a burst of petals.
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So, Kakashi who possessed Obito's othereye, used it to dodge an attack and was sucked into this time-warp, into the unstable fabric of time along with Obito and Sakura—and they fell and fell and fell. Then he felt the lurch—his eyes spun, the world was made of black depthless skies and monochrome cubes.
He remembered this choking feeling that somethinghadgonesowrong.
Then dead-last used Kamui again.
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Obito's Kamui had flung them into the same point of space—just at different times. And because of how much chakra it took him, fueled by Sakura's Byakogo chakra, it took a while for him to get there.
Sakura arrived first.
Twenty minutes before Kakashi.
The story didn't begin when she woke up. She'd been awake for a time and she stared into the fire. She warmed her fingers against the warm thermal temperature. She licks her lips.
There were nicks and cuts on her skin. Her hair was loose, tangled and mixed with dirt and sweat. She ran a single forefinger over her cuts. She noticed the sound of a few genin in the distance—it sounded like an argument.
"I can't believe you!"
It was a pre-teen boy. And Sakura wondered what a pre-teen boy was doing out in the middle of Kaguya's dimension? She stood up soundlessly and leant against the tree trunk.
"You left Rin all alone."
"I had to." She knows that voice.
"No—you fuckin' asshole." Sakura caught a glimpse of the head-band glinting in the moon. The voice is scratchy and angry. "You left her alone because to you—" The boy punctuates his words by stomps "—to you everyone is trash. Well guess what, those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash."
Surrounded by the darkness, Sakura doesn't think. She hears of Kakashi-sensei and she thinks of his warm, comforting arms and the way he steps in front of her.
He'll make it alright.
She steps into the clearing.
And what she sees is a shorter Kakashi—shorter than her. Less hunched and lacking an eye-patch. Beside him is someone who bears a striking resemblance to Obito Uchiha. They turn to look at her.
And Sakura thought. Well. Well fuck.
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Sakura didn't remember Kakashi being so slow if he was back.
Maybe she's surpassed his fourteen-year-old self, she had him at kunai-point while his friend yells at her. The thought isn't any more comforting than the way he's looking at her ready to kill her. His eyes are tired, haunted—lacking the light he regained with all those years with their little family. Sai liked painting Kakashi's eyes. He said he liked the way the light hit his eyes.
But...this Kakashi is different.
"I mean no harm," she said, pulling out a Shinobi Alliance head-band from her pocket.
"Like hell you don't!" the Uchiha yells at her. He ignored the head-band.
"I don't," she said calmly or something which mimicked a calm voice. "I really don't."
She's only flesh, blood and bones and trying to make it out of here alive.
"Don't listen to her, Dead-last!" Kakashi yelled. "She could be an imposter!"
She sighed.
The full, ominous moon is out and the stars are twinkling. She's in the past. He actually managed to manipulate space-time and rip open the fabric. They could undo everything. Rewrite everything. She knew every one's thoughts. She could undo it all.
Mini-Kakashi yelled out.
"Dead-last. Don't listen to her. Run! Find Minato-sensei!"
"No stupid! We have to find Rin-chan!" Obito screamed back.
Rin? Fuck. She doesn't make the past worse than it already is for Kakashi. She lets go of Kakashi.
"Go after Rin." She orders. Kakashi stares at her. "Now." She snaps. "She'll die. Trust me."
Obito snapped his head up.
She retreats back into the forest. She followed Obito discreetly. She doesn't know why Kakashi stayed back.
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She impaled the last nin who was about to sneak up on Obito. She debated her next move as she grabs munitions from an Iwa-nin's corpse beside her, and watched the boy from the shadows.
She sensed someone sneak up on her. Sakura moved.
Mini-Kakashi followed her, and out of the clearing. She moved faster and debating if she could incapacitate him—with minimal changes to this timeline?
The trees blurred.
And this Kakashi was fast. He dodges all her kunai. One second he was behind her. The next he was in front of her. She flung a kunai at his thigh. He ripped it out. She balled her fists, maybe she could just punch him out. A mild concussion. Nothing too—he managed to grip her wrist from going further.
And then she knew. She imagines training ground seven where they sparred with Naruto and Yamato-senpai and Sai. He'd always catch her punches like this. He leans closer. She widened her eyes.
"Sakura!" he whispered. Her eyes widened. "It's me. I don't know what Obito did but—"
She swallowed.
"We don't have much time!"
And she threw herself at his thirteen (fourteen?) year old self. He stumbled backward.
"Kakashi-sensei!"
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"So." Obito drawls. "How long have the two of you been plotting behind my back—let's have a good laugh at the dead-last's misery."
Kakashi looks miserable. Sakura on the other hand looks unrepentant.
"What's there to be upset about?" she replies. "What are you going to do? Kill Naruto's parents? Rip out the Kyuubi? Set it over the village?"
"Y-you've just fucked me over! Do you like tampering with other people's life, Sakura!?" Obito hollers, cries. "Pity you've tied me up. I would actually hurt you. Were you having a great time messing with my life?"
Sakura's face is blank.
"You had the easiest life," she mumbles.
He sneers at her and rattles at his ropes.
And just like that Kakashi steps in front of Sakura. He gives Obito a severe look.
"Do you remember?" he repeats. "Do you remember all these years? Do you remember? She's your student! Obito, don't speak to Sakura that way."
"My student?" he continues, unfeeling. "She's a foolish girl. A coward. Say—your greatest fear is losing the village, right? Why don't I make it a reality?" He laughs. "We'll start with Sasuke and Naruto. Then your friends. Then everyone you love. But you aren't really all that strong, are you Sakura? I remember now. You were a grovelling—"
"Once you manage to get out of those ropes, we'll see," Sakura spits. Her tone was shaky as Kakashi turns to her, trying to undo the damage. "He's too blinded by hate, Kakashi-sensei. You have no argument against him."
That's right.
"That's right. You took Rin-chan away from me!" he screams. "And you knew. You knew I loved her."
Silence rings out.
The draft from the air-conditioning caused the ends of the silence-seal to flutter, or maybe it was the killing intent from Sakura. And her acid-green eyes blend into acidic yellow. It startles him. Reminding him of another yellow-eyed, plant-creature from another life. Her lips actually curl.
"Except," Sakura whispers. "She doesn't love you. Let's talk about Rin then, since she's the source of your hate—you destroyed the whole world over a thirteen-year-old crush? You were in love with the idea of her. You'd destroy everything for Rin? But you learned to live without her in this life! She's a ruse!" She leans over Kakashi's arm and bellows. "And you've been played! You pathetic man. I gave you a second chance to prove yourself."
There's the sound of a strangled cry from the depths of his throat. She's right, and he hates to admit it.
"Everything I know about Rin Nohara—" Her eyes glinted with hurt, pain, anger and grief "—is that she loved Kakashi-sensei and the village." Kakashi flinched. "She died for the village you destroyed. And you were a victim of a mad-man. I'd rather be groveling and in pain than be you."
She steps forward. Kakashi holds her back. Her fist is drawn back.
"Sakura—" Kakashi began.
"And do you know how many people you have killed for Rin?" she screeched. "Do you know how much misery. How you've destroyed the world? All because of the very idea of this girl? Why couldn't you just stop and think? And now—you are Hokage, of the very village, of all her people and all her dreams, of her world that you tried to destroy! I absolutely loathe, hate you and at the same time I can't because I think of Obito-sensei and all the people who love him. Fuck. Fuck. Let me go!"
"Sakura, please," Kakashi murmured. Her chest rose and fell. Her eyes are blazing. And Obito gets her point, like a twisted, hard, heavy punch to his gut. He wants to heave. He's personally taught her. He's—
"Please…calm down," Kakashi tells her.
She breaks out of Kakashi's hold. Kakashi reaches for her arm.
"I need to talk to him.
"Then I'll leave you two alone." She pulls out of his grasp.
She sends Kakashi a meaningful look.
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It was Kakashi's idea to seal away Obito's memories. It was a technique that Sakura had developed for Sasuke after consulting Ino on the matter. Ino warned Naruto. Naruto stopped her and spoke of Sasuke's redemption. Words, fickle words, Sakura had indulged him. And then, she went on with her research.
She told Kakashi this, and he ran a sweaty hand through his hair. And when they sensed the shift in Obito's chakra. Sakura looked at Kakashi.
She nodded her head.
"You know what we have to do," she said.
"I do. Protect yourself. Keep safe—do not engage anyone, find a cave. An uninhabited village, an underground cellar—please be safe. Out of the cross-fire, out of the war…"
"Sensei," she said tiredly. "I'll handle it. Stop being such a worry-wart."
"And please—stay alive. Send me updates frequently if you can. Please try not to get tracked. I don't know who else Obito pulled back…" he pleaded.
He was worrying, no doubt about Naruto and Sasuke. But she knows that they aren't here. Naruto's not here and not in this time-line and she's sick to her insides. And they don't know if they will even get back in time to save them, save the world.
She wanted to cry. Why had so much gone wrong? She would never see Naruto, Ino, Tsunade-sama, Sasuke, mom and dad and so so many other people again. She bit her bottom lip. She blinked away the tears.
"Okay," she said instead and steeled her aching heart. "I'll be okay. Please. Relax."
"It's just a dangerous time, Sakura," he said. "Don't do anything stupid, please. Trust me okay—I know you want to do so many things—kill Madara and everything. But we've completed part A—save Obito. Let's do Part B together."
"Okay," she said. She waved. She turned.
Kakashi sighed, Sakura had changed. She wanted to make it all alright.
He just didn't know how badly.
And he leaned forward as Obito's eyelashes began to stir. Sakura's chakra dissipated behind him. He let out a shaky breath and his fingers sparked green—just the way Sakura showed him—he saw all of Obito's memories, all of the horrible horrible deeds in a quarter of a second. It crammed his mind, it seared his mind.
There.
He performed the powerful seal.
Obito's lashes fluttered.
The box was formed.
Obito shifted.
The box twisted as the memories flowed. Then it shuddered before turning still.
Obito opened his eyes. Kakashi waited.
"Eh? Bakashi…where's Rin-chan?"
Rin woke up too. And Kakashi? Kakashi was exhausted from the technique. He threw himself over them.
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"I think there's a perfectly reasonable excuse for erasing your memories." Kakashi pauses. "I think you wouldn't have been able to enjoy this world or forgive yourself if you knew about who you were. I forgave you, Obito. Sakura well…" He slides his eyes to the room behind them. "But it wouldn't be that easy for you, wouldn't it?"
The floor looks more appealing than Kakashi's face. So he stares at it, at the cracks in the tiles and at the dirt that remains embedded through the cracks. At the uneven flooring where stubbed his toe on—years earlier.
"It's nice eh? Being a jounin-sensei? We've both taught the same bunch of kids."
Obito says nothing.
"I think if you want to continue yelling at me for being a bastard to you. I'm going to allow you to do that." Kakashi told him, lightly. "I allowed Sakura to yell at me. She yelled at me for being the worst sensei in history and then told me that she was really glad that I wasn't the one teaching her in this time-line. She doesn't mean it, really. I was truly the best teacher she ever had."
They both hear a scoff from the other room. Kakashi grins. There was a shift of Obito's lips.
"You can yell at me, dead-last," Kakashi goads him with a smile. "Since both, Sakura and I were aware of the decibel levels that your voice would reach—we totally applied seals to the walls."
Obito lifts his head.
Kakashi stares him down.
And all the burning acid in his throat comes out.
It felt like stabbing a pillow with knives because Kakashi was a bastard, and unaffected. He was immovable. He'd endured a life-time of bullshit. Kakashi had endured the taunts of an avenger, a relentless jinchuuriki who shook nations and finally a kunoichi with a heart of cold steel and jaded eyes.
He just usually shakes it off, like dirt.
"Are you finished?"
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And the thing is, Sakura's idea of making things alright was brutal, bloody violence. She didn't trust Kakashi. Kakashi suspected it had to do with his shitty teaching. She did things her way.
Here's what happened.
'I mean, let it be known that I was actually never useless. I'm going to let that out. Sasuke never knew me. Nor did Naruto. They always tried to protect me.'
The updates had been coming along for days. Then they stopped. He was worried. But the war was over right?
Then Katsuya appeared on April 1st. He thought it was a joke.
'It's April 1st. But this is not a joke.'
She sent the letter to him very late. He remembered the very moment he read it. He sat up in his bed, kicked off his sheets and terrified Katsuya. He tore away from the safety of Konoha, only to find her body in the midst of a battle ground. A caved in hide-out where an aged Madara lay dead. His throat was slit.
Then his eyes shifted over to the other end of the cave.
'I'm tired of watching everyone's backs.'
He saw the nicks and battle scars on the walls where the fight happened.
"Kakashi-san! I swear I didn't know Sakura-san would do this!" Katsuya whimpered.
The demonic statue was blasted into smithereens and she was a little away. There were bloody signs coating her belly. They contained the time of the sealing and details of the transaction—a part of her soul and her beating heart. The air smelled like rot. He stepped over the body of a Zetsu clone.
She lay in the midst of a sea of bodies.
He stared, horrified at the hole in her chest cavity.
She had summoned the Shinigami.
She had bound Black Zetsu with the Shinigami's help. She had forcibly sealed Black Zetsu into her soul. He fell to his knees, half-gloved fingers grazing her emaciated face.
"Sakura you…"
She had thrown him off. His fists crumbled around the last message.
'I am going to engage Madara before he moves and before I'm born in this timeline. You will have to destroy my body. Thank you. I don't know if we will meet again but I hope it is somewhere peaceful. Thank you for being my sensei. You can't stop me. No one will.'
He blew everything up in flames. The light from the bright flames glittered on his tears-streaked cheeks. He pulled down his mask to rub his nose. Why was he always the one burying the people he loved?
'Never again.'
And when he returned to Konoha, refusing to see anyone or even answer his summons to the Hokage's office of his apparent desertion. He was angry. He wanted a drink. He wanted to smash his fists against the pole on the team seven grounds. He sidesteps everyone he knows.
Then he bumped into the Haruno family who leave the hospital. They were returning home with one, small, sleeping baby girl.
"We named her Sakura!" the chatty new father told him, oblivious to the way he's shivering underneath his ANBU outfit. "It was my idea!"
'But Kakashi-sensei, there's a loop-hole in these laws, time-travel defies natural laws. So maybe just maybe, the Shinigami's laws won't apply to this transaction? Maybe.'
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"You stupid little brat!" Obito howls as she enters the room. "What in the hell were you thinking?"
Sakura stares at him. Obito is untied. He is rubbing his wrist. Now he's yelling at her?
"How could you do something so stupid to yourself?" He howled. "There were two time-travellers here. Two. Kakashi and myself. You could have used our help! What made you think that you could just—AAARGH!"
"That's exactly what I told her," Kakashi adds coolly. "But Sakura didn't exactly trust us. You, I get…but me? She's an A+ student but she forgets Team Seven's first rule about team-work. Well, it turns out that Sakura was born two days after she died. And it turns out that she still has memories of the war intact when I approached her."
Sakura rolls her eyes.
Here we go again.
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"Sometimes I wonder if it was my horrible teaching skills," Kakashi said. "Then I think—no, the three of you are just kids. Kids with too much power. Honestly, you three have always wanted to run before you could walk."
Three-year-old Sakura buried her face into Pakkun's fur as Kakashi carried them, from rooftop to rooftop, to where her frantic parents were waiting at the Hokage's office. She had gone missing three hours prior. She was holding Pakkun with her smaller chubbier hands.
"Kakashi," Pakkun piped up. "Just admit you are happy to see her, already."
"You suck," Sakura mumbled. "I got myself lost like—five times before you actually showed up."
"Ahh," Kakashi said. "An ANBU captain has other things to do than baby-sit time-travelling babies. Incidentally time-travelling babies who don't listen to grown-ups. Why can't you just stay put for once, Sakura!? And no. I'll make sure to put a check on all your chances to graduate early."
She rolled her eyes.
"Like I give a shit."
She sighed into Pakkun's soft fur. Kakashi's harsh but he means well, she knew. It's still harsh. The voice in her head laughs. She held the pug closer.
"He's happy to see you alive. He really is." Pakkun gave Sakura's chubby cheeks a sympathetic lick.
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"—enough of this bullshit! No more secrets!" Obito snaps. "Out with it—both of you—all of your dirty secrets. All of the things you did behind my back!"
And they let him yell at the two of them for the next five minutes.
"—D-rank missions for you, Sakura! D-rank of the most mind-numbing, boring kind—!"
Then he gets mad at himself. Then he gets mad at Sakura. Then at Kakashi. Sakura speaks when Obito finally calms down. Kakashi digs a pinky through his left ear, idly.
"Black Zetsu manifests as my will now." Sakura says, blandly. " In my previous life, I had this thing called Inner-Sakura, she used to be a mental mechanism which I formed when I was bullied as a child. A suppression of wills. These days he appears to be Inner Sakura."
Obito's eyes narrowed. Kakashi looks as if he's yelled at it her about it, once, twice, ten times, but he resigns himself to saying.
"You were supposed to be the smartest of the bunch," He accuses her.
"It's purely a defense mechanism." Sakura ignores him. "The Shinigami fused him with my soul as he gouged out my heart in case my body tried to regenerate. Don't worry Obito. I haven't been giving him reasons to resurface. And he'll fight to keep me alive. This is the will of a god—if anyone harms me or my precious people."
Her eyes shift over to him.
It is a threat.
He pauses.
No, it is a warning.
His shoulders slump, and he rubs his wrists. His throat is weary of screaming his poor heart out. He rests his head back against the wall. Sakura's fists tighten. Her eyes tighten. He deflates and sighs. He runs a hand through his hair.
"I won't hurt you Sakura." Obito shudders. "I'm sorry, I won't hurt you. I could never. You are my student, my teammate—I'm sorry for saying that earlier…I don't know…what came over me. I—thank you. I'm really mad but thank you…for what you've done for everyone."
"It happens to the best of us," Kakashi says slowly. He smiles. "The things we do for this village. The things we do for love, huh?"
Sakura doesn't say anything. Her eyes are directed at the spot over his head at the cold full-moon shining through the window, over them, over her, over everyone else.
Then she exhales.
"Whatever." She closes her eyes. "I forgave you, Obito-sensei. I forgave you a long time ago when I saw the person who you could be. We're just going to have to learn to trust each other again."
Kakashi sags on the ground next to Obito. He leans against Obito's shoulder. The air was lighter. They all feel much lighter.
And Sakura and Kakashi exchange glances.
She breaks eye-contact first. The wall scrapes against her back as she slides down.
"It's over." She droops weakly, and she's tired from all the screaming. "He knows now and you can rest easy too, Kakashi-sensei. Have a good life. You both deserve it."
Their gazes soften. Her eyelids droop.
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"She's been alright." Kakashi says, later as he places a pillow underneath Sakura's head. He then drapes a blanket over her. "She's always been stronger than most people, mentally I mean. She can handle Black Zetsu better than you or me, dead-last."
It was late night. The ANBU would have been looking for their Hokage so Obito had told them that he wanted to be alone for 'private' business. Obito gets up.
"You should get home," Obito tells him. "Unless you plan to spend the night. If that's the case, I'm taking the bed. You both have—really fucked me over. But I guess it's fair because I would have messed up a lot of things if I knew about what I did."
"So you finally get it, dead-last."
"Tch."
"As for Rin," Kakashi says softly.
"Don't," Obito sighs. "She's better off with you."
"She's not better off with anyone, dead-last. She chose to love me. And I…"
Obito waits.
"I actually love her back. I protected her, Obito," Kakashi says, staring at his calloused hands, ghostly reminders of a life long past and mad nightmares. "I promised you that much. And I…didn't do it for your sake." He looked up at Obito. He really looks at him. "I did it for her sake."
Obito smiles then.
"I guess I should go sort the mess of…me getting kidnapped…by you two."
"Sakura drugged and performed a confusing genjutsu on your ANBU. I think they'll just think you went home and they fell asleep on the job." Kakashi snorts.
Obito sends him an incredulous look.
"What?"
Kakashi shrugs.
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And the story ends like that.
In this world, Sakura, Kakashi and Obito are the heroes. Even if Obito didn't think himself a hero. Sakura didn't really give a shit. Kakashi was modest about his part. They were their own heroes.
There was no glory.
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There's a treaty with Amegakure to be made. When Jiraiya's pupils come to Konoha on Obito's invitation. Obito welcomes them with open arms. Especially a blind Nagato who he hugs. Kakashi isn't in the village for the signing but Obito knows what has transpired. There's a lot that Kakashi has done, which is probably story better for another day.
Nagato's eyes were destroyed by Kakashi and Nagato had a better life for that.
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And the nightmares stop for good. Maybe because he's acknowledged their reality.
"Some part of you might actually love her? Just like some part of me will always love Sasuke?" Sakura asks him one day. She's laying down on his couch and flipping idly through one of his books.
Naruto and Sasuke are late. They are truly his students. Sakura actually arrives two hours before schedule. She acts like she doesn't care about her poor old sensei—but she does. He's grateful. And this is truly in Team Obito's fashion. He actually insists on team meetings.
He walks over to the refrigerator and peers inside.
"You stole my cake, didn't you?" He scowls.
"You didn't mark it as yours," She sings.
Sakura's doing alright. She keeps her feelings to herself. But she's more honest with him. Working keeps Sakura stable-minded like training helps him when he's upset, Obito realizes.
And she works until Rin kicks her out. Apart from that, she skulks around his office, asking for a mission. He gives her D-ranks out of revenge for erasing his memory. She retorts by demolishing his training grounds with her monstrous strength so he gets more paper-work. They're okay, really. They're moving on.
He closes the fridge.
"Sakura…that genjutsu—" He pauses.
He doesn't know how to phrase it. It's something personal. All he knew was that she's been watching his younger relative. Even in this life.
"Hmm?" She turns the page. "Oh that incident…huh..."
"You think of him a lot don't you—that world's Sasuke? But Sasuke…"
She lets the book fall over her nose.
"I think." Her voice is muffled. "I think I was in love with an idea, too."
Obito pauses. He looks back at her. She blanks out a lot. She looks eons older than the seventeen-year-old plus another seventeen. Because Sakura is Sakura and she thinks too much about these things. Sometimes he wished that he thought about a lot of things too.
"We can always have heart-to-heart talks and you can tell your sensei about all your love problems."
There's a pause.
And he grins and catches the book that was aimed for his head. She plumps the couch cushions and rests back with a smile on her face.
"Shut up baka-sensei."
"But no dating till you are seventy-eight." He pours himself a glass of water. "Kakashi and I will have to interrogate them. Background checks and all that jazz. I'll inform Ibiki. They have to be at least jounin."
"Aw, go away mom," She deadpans.
That's when the door-bell rings and Naruto and Sasuke open the door without reservation. They seem to be arguing again, bitterly. They are followed by Kakashi who holds up a large bag of take-out as an offering.
Obito narrows his eyes.
"Okay." He says. "Okay. Naruto—no I swear—I'm going to make you eat vegetables for a week if you dare touch everyone else's share! Sasuke—grab the utensils! Don't look at me like that, Sasuke. Everyone wash your hands! This is an order from your Hokage!"
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Thanks for reading!