Author's Note: I don't own Naruto nor any of the characters.

Kakashi kept on walking, it had been a few days since that mission. Only a few days since he'd watched his best friend die. He walked along the path where the Kannabi bridge had once been. Minato and Rin were probably back at the village by now, probably. But Kakashi had refused to go back, he refused to believe Obito was dead. Something inside of him was nagging him. He just couldn't believe it. So there he was walking slowly back to the bridge. He didn't dare run, he was too tired, and still recovering his chakra loss from the previous few days.

Finally he was there, and saw the outcropping of rocks where the cave once lay. Staring at it, he felt his heart suddenly jump to his throat, it looked like it was impossible to get into it. He began looking around the are, for a chance to find a small entrance to where the cave had once been, but he had no luck, until that is, he watched a fox run out of a small hole he hadn't noticed. He mentally slapped himself for being so blind, it was so obvious. Carefully Kakashi surveyed it and then crawled in. It was a deep hole, and he knew there was a chance he'd get caught inside of it himself, but he had to be sure, he owed Obito his life.

After what seemed like fifteen minutes of crawling around in the dirt, he noticed that at the end of the small hole there were rocks still in the way. Kakashi crawled out of the end of it and found that he was on the ground face to face with a few rocks that hadn't quite blocked the small entrance to the cave. There was barely enough room to maneuver in but it was enough. He moved around the rocks, and slipped a few times on some gravel as he climbed through them. After an hour or so of walking through what was left of the cave, he sat down, exhausted and took a drink of water. Small rocks fell and startled at this he jumped and looked around, his ninja instincts taking over. He flashed his flashlight in every direction until he saw where the small rocks were falling and then he saw him. There was mostly gravel encasing the entire left side of his body, but it wasn't anything Kakashi couldn't dig through.

"Obito!" when he saw the black haired boy he felt joy run through him. But Obito had made no sign of hearing him. Fearing that it was too late, Kakashi leaned down and checked for a pulse. Miraculously, there was one. But it was faint, almost too faint.

"Hold on Obito, I'm getting you out of here."

But then there was the question of…how would Kakashi manage that, he couldn't possibly use paper bombs, that would just make more rocks and possibly destroy what was left of the cave entrance Kakashi had used. But the rock was too big to lift. He sighed and sat there. But perhaps paper bombs would be his only chance but he'd have to do it on the surface, in order to not risk being caved in himself. Kakashi crawled back out of the cave and climbed up to the top of the surface and began sticking paper bombs all over it. When he was done he made the hand seal and they all blew at once. Rubble and rocks scattered everywhere around him and after a few moments he went back and found that now all that covered Obito was a pile of rubble. Kakashi began digging through it. He dug until his hands bled and then sat back to bandage them and began digging again. It would have been easier with a shovel, but hardly any shinobi carried such a thing on them. They weren't miners after all. But Kakashi didn't care if he bled to death, he save Obito if it was the last thing he did. Finally he found the orange and blue jacket along with the black hair and headband and by nightfall, Obito was free, Kakashi didn't want to move Obito, for fear of harming him even more, but he wanted to get him out of the cave. Kakashi leaped out of the cave and then set his teammate on the ground and performed the familiar hand-signs for a summoning jutsu.

A small pug, Pakkun appeared.

"Pakkun, I'll need you to go to the Hokage, summon a medical team here right away."

"right, boss," the pug replied before running as fast as it could through the trees back to Konoha. Kakashi took out yet another scroll and summoned a sleeping bag which he placed the wounded boy in. Kakashi ate a few protein bars for that night and then sighed, staring at his friend in the moonlight. It was a terrible sight, all of Obito's right half had been smashed, his face looked warped and the blood that had flowed before had dried. Again Kakashi had the impulse to check his friend's pulse. It was fine, still going.

"Don't die on me Obito, if you do, I'll never forgive you, or myself."

Silently he fell asleep beside his teammate. The next morning, the medical team still hadn't come not that he expected them to until later that day. He took out his water bottle. It wasn't until midday that they came, there were four of them as well as Pakkun. The one who seemed to be the head of the team, the great Sannin, Tsunade leaned down and began looking Obito over.

"He's in a critical state, it'll be hard to get him back to Konoha in this state. All of his right hand ribs are broken, I can't tell for sure how many but most of his bones in his arm and hand are as well," she began checking the boy's leg and foot, "there are a substantial amount of broken bones here too. And with this sort of damage, I'm sure many of his internal organs have been compromised. It's a miracle he's even alive!" she seemed exasperated, "all right," she had the rest of her team summon a stretcher and she began using her healing technique on the boy. Kakashi sat on the sidelines watching. He was relieved that his friend was confirmed as being alive still but…, "Can you save him?" Kakashi asked her.

She turned, looking at him gravely, "I'm not sure. He shouldn't be alive in the state he's in right now, the fact that he is, is nearly impossible on its own. The sooner we get him to Konoha, the better, I'll be able to start working right away. But I don't know if he'll ever be able to walk or use his right hand again. And I don't know if he'll stay alive much longer."

Kakashi felt a note of fear run through him, and hoped that for all it was worth that Obito would live. After half an hour of her using her healing technique she sighed, "get him on the stretcher, there isn't much more I can do for him here."

Kakashi stood up, "is there anything I can do to help?"

She shook her head, we'll carry him on the stretcher to the village, "the best you can do is stay on your toes and guard us. The war's only just ended, so there may be a few ninja wondering around who either haven't gotten the message or refuse to end it."

Kakashi nodded and followed them as they began their journey back to Konoha.