This is a series of "Cause and Effect" oneshots that will give some background to the next story, "Effect and Affection." They are arranged in chronological order, so if you are wondering why they don't seem to follow a specific plot, it's because I'm doing one chapter for each character, at a different time.

Anyway, this is year one, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, the characters of Naruto, or the original plot. I do own some stuff, but anything Kishimoto owns, I do not.

She felt so useless sometimes. She'd completely forgotten about Hebi-kusotare…not that she'd actually ever seen him, but that wasn't the point. She should've reminded Hokage-jijii…she should've reminded Minato-sensei…she should've said something! But Hebi-kusotare was gone now, and he would probably still try to get an Uchiha for his plans. If Itachi didn't kill his clan – and she didn't want to think he would, because he was a cute kid and Obito had been spending time with him –, then Orochimaru might go after him!

Naruto could feel Rin's eyes on her as she paced around her apartment, but she couldn't quite bring herself to reassure the girl. After all, if she said she was fine, it would be a lie.

After everything she'd tried to do…everything she'd planned…she had failed, again. She knew it wasn't healthy to beat herself up over this, and she knew she should talk to Rin, but she just couldn't. Some part of her felt ashamed that she'd forgotten such a huge thing.

She stopped pacing and faced her friend. "Rin, I…"

"What is it, Naruto?"

"I'm gonna go train. I need to think."

Rin sighed. She looked like she wanted to protest, but she only said, "Where can I find you?"

"Area three. See ya later," she replied, and exited her apartment through her window. It was faster, and Rin had a key.

I'm just a line break…don't mind me!

She didn't know how long she'd been beating up the traps in area three, but the sun had sunk low in the sky. Her knuckles hurt, and her muscles were screaming at her, but she didn't stop – couldn't stop. She had to get stronger; now that Orochimaru had gone, she had to work harder than ever if she wanted to save Sasuke...and Itachi, if it came down to it.

She heard something behind her, and she whirled around, preparing to punch whatever it was. It wasn't the smartest way to get rid of traps, but she wasn't going for smart. She was just trying to sort through everything.

But instead of hitting a trap, she hit a person's open fist.

"Damn, Naruto, what'd I do to make you so mad?"

She scowled. "Obito, go away."

He gave her a calculating glance before shaking his head. "No."

"Don't be an ass, Obito. I need to train."

"You can't train with me?"

No, she couldn't. She didn't want company; she just wanted to tear more stuff up. She was still angry – with Orochimaru, but mostly with herself. How could she save the people she cared about like this? She didn't even realize she was shaking with clenched fists until Obito said, "Listen, Naruto…I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but could you at least calm down? You're really freaking me out here."

She couldn't just tell him what was wrong. She couldn't, because…

Because if she started, it would all come out – tears included. And she refused to cry over this.

"You could go away and you wouldn't have to be scared," she muttered.

"I'm not scared,"he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm freaked out because you're being weird. There's a difference."

"Just go away," she sighed, turning her back on him.

"Nuh-uh," he answered, and then she felt his arms around her. He rested his forehead against the back of her head – and for a moment, she was pointlessly glad that he was still kind of short. It was a stupid thought, because she shouldn't be glad about anything.

"I'm not leaving until you calm down. Do you have any idea how sad Rin-chan is right now?"

Ah, that's it, she thought cynically. It's not like he'd actually come out here for me.

It was uncharacteristic of her, but she was sometimes jealous of Rin. Maybe it was because Rin was a respected medic, and all Naruto had was taijutsu and a few flashy ninjutsu techniques. Maybe it was because Rin was pretty and strong, and most people mistook Naruto for a guy. This probably wasn't the case, because Naruto didn't put much stock in feminine traits. Maybe it was just because Obito was her best friend, and Rin didn't like him the way he liked her.

"Stop thinking so much," he said, shaking his head. She could feel it on the back of her head. She shrugged him off and turned around, scowling.

"Don't tell me what to do," she said crossly. "What do you know?"

"Nothing, because you won't tell me," he replied exasperatedly. "What's wrong with you?"

She let out a breath of air and sat on the grass, still scowling. "Hebi-kusotare. He's gone. I didn't even do anything!" She punched the ground beside her, gritting her teeth against the pain. Then, she went on angrily, "I just failed Sasuke again. I failed everyone again. I'm sick of failing, Obito. Sick of it."

He sat down next to her and sighed, leaning back on his hands. "When will you stop being stupid?"

"Like you should talk," she retorted.

"I may not be the smartest guy around, but damn it, Naruto, you're just being an idiot. And I'm not joking this time! Do you really think you can do all this by yourself?"

How could he ask something like that? She had to do this, because she was the only one who could!

"I'm the only one who knows about this stuff, so yeah, I have to."

"I could just be crazy-"

"You are."

"I could just be crazy," he continued, giving her a Look, "but I can't help wondering why you aren't asking for help. Does anyone even know the whole story?"

The answer was no. Rin knew the most; even more than Minato-sensei; but even she didn't know everything. She couldn't say everything…and she wasn't sure why. A little part of her mind whispered that she was afraid and ashamed, but she ignored it; that had never stopped her before!

"I'm not listening to you. Why are you still here?"

He shrugged. "Why not? It's not like Rin-chan is my only reason for being here. You're my friend and my teammate, and one of the coolest people I know. Why wouldn't I want to hang out with you?"

"Well I don't want to hang out with you," she replied, but her surly tone was half-hearted at best. He had unknowingly started cheering her up, just like that.

"Of course not. You're just taking a break, so you can be at full strength when you kick me out of the training area later, right?"

"Just…be quiet, okay? You're not helping."

He burst out laughing, the jackass! It took her a minute to realize that she was smiling as well, and then she shrugged. "Well, okay, you can train with me."

"Hey, I don't want to train with you. I can tell you've been out here all day, and it's nearly dark. I figured we could get Rin-chan and maybe Kakashi, if he decided to be a normal human being today, and go up onto the Hokage Mountain. We haven't done that in ages."

Why did he have to say stuff like that? Now she wanted to do it. Wait…

She did feel better, and he had barely said anything to her!

"…Fine."

It was the first time she'd ever seen Obito do something like this, and she found that it was kind of nice. They weren't joking around, and they weren't sparring, and still, he managed to make her feel better when nobody else could.

Yeah, he was her best friend. And she was, as always, glad he hadn't died.