Sounds of a machine being used for life-support sounded throughout the room. A young Obito Uchiha was being kept on life-support after half of his body was crushed by a boulder, leading to him being stuck inside of a cave-in. When the Uchiha Clan went out to recover the teens body for a proper burial, they found that he was alive beneath the rubble and in a bed. He was found with a white substance attached to half of his body which seemed to have been keeping him alive the entire time.
He was in the room by himself, unconscious and unaware of his surroundings, however inside of his head he was having a clear dialogue.
Everything was dark, and the only thing he could see was himself.
"It isn't often that I get to talk to some of you." Said a voice in the shadows.
Obito looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.
A man materialized before him with pale skin, brown hair, and coal black eyes. His clothing was unlike any he'd seen before.
"You don't feel like talking do you? I guess that's reasonable, but you won't have another chance to speak with me so I suggest you use this chance wisely." Said the man as he activated his Sharingan.
"Your eyes..you're an Uchiha as well?" Asked Obito.
The man nodded.
"Yes, but I need to make this quick so listen carefully."
Obito nodded, signalling for him to continue.
"You were meant to die then, when you were crushed by the boulder. Once your teammates left you, I was able to take control of your eyes and activate an ability that was innate in you and your emotions which allowed you to pass through the boulders and into a hideout. While you were there, someone in particular took the initiative to heal you and attach a substance to your body that would heal you completely." Indra explained.
"Thank you, I guess? Exactly what do you want though?" Asked Obito.
"What I want is for you to bring order and morals to the shinobi world, as you live you will see things that happen that would normally incite anger and fear from a civilian but a sense of normalcy from a shinobi. That needs to change if the world is to get any better. Isn't your dream to save the world? You told that other child that saving you meant saving the world, so I did just that and I expect you to follow through on your statement." Said the man.
"You want me to save the world? How can I do that with half of my body crushed.." Muttered Obito.
"The substance should return your limbs." Replied the man.
"Well, I'd like to regain consciousness. Is that all you have to say to me?" Asked Obito.
The man nodded as he turned into a sort of spectral spirit and began to cling to Obito's body.
-X-
"How extraordinary.." Said the voice of a man who's voice wasn't all that welcoming.
Obito awoke and sat upright in the bed that he was laid in.
His eyes shifted to the man next to him. Orochimaru.
Obito never liked the creepy fucker, especially after the incident where he asked Mikoto to use some of her blood for testing. He was obviously after the secrets of the Uchiha Clan, something that could not be given to an outsider who didn't have a child within the clan. The door opened and Fugaku walked in, and immediately he and Orochimaru entered into some banter that ended with Orochimaru leaving the room.
Obito simply looked at Fugaku. Fugaku and Obito weren't very close at all since Fugaku was busy. Obito didn't have a close bond with anyone in the clan besides the elderly, but that wasn't enough for him.
"So you've fully recovered huh?" Asked Fugaku, pulling a chair from under the table next to Obito's bed.
Obito nodded, and gasped when he realized he was seeing from two eyes. He moved his right hand up to his eyes and stared at the white substance the man had told him about.
"We had your teammate give back his eye. I wasn't sure as to whether they were truly your wishes or not, and due to the Sharingan belonging to the clan, I-
"You don't have to explain. I'm well aware." Replied Obito.
Fugaku nodded.
"I know we haven't spoken often, but I'm glad to see that you're alright and that the clan has sent their wishes to you. The letters are over there if you want to read them. Once you recover completely, I have some things to talk to you about." Said Fugaku as he got up from his seat.
Obito nodded and waved his hand as the older man exited the room.
The young Uchiha noticed the slight look of surprise on the older mans face when Obito told him that he understood why the eye was returned. People and his clan as a whole knew him as some ignorant kid who didn't understand what it meant to be a shinobi or the politics of a shinobi clan. He thought of himself that way too until the incident with the boulder. He came extremely close to dying and then losing his shinobi career.
The experience had subconsciously made him more mature and appreciative of what he had.
Speaking of appreciating what he had..Obito sat up and walked to the table that had all of the letters on it.
When he opened them, most of them were from the elderly in the Uchiha Clan and some from Konoha in general. The last few were from Minato, Rin, Kushina, Mikoto, and one from Itachi? Obito shrugged and started to read through the notes and smiled, realizing how much people cared about him. It seemed like coming near death was a good wake-up call for people who care about you.
Once he got to Rin's note he subconsciously activated his Sharingan and began to read. Every word in the letter was burning into his memory forever, which Obito considered to be a heavenly ability of the Sharingan.
She went on and on about how she was glad that he saved her and that she was silly to have never noticed his feelings, the rest was just a bunch of rambling. He figured she was just so elated to know that he was still alive after giving his life to save her and Kakashi. Obito sighed with satisfaction and hesitated to put her note down to read the next one which was from Kushina.
The note was fiery and full of concern. Kushina usually showed her affection through physical interaction, which tends to be more violent than affectionate but caring nonetheless. Kushina went on and on about how proud she was of him and that...she was pregnant and wanted her son to be just like him? Obito was sure that all of this was a dream but if it were, his Sharingan would have alerted him of it.
He then went on to open Mikoto's. Despite being relatives by some means, Obito didn't know anything about her beyond the fact that she took care of him when he was a baby and that she was the wife of the clan head. Obito opened the note and read it while imagining the soft voice of the woman.
'Dear Obito. I know you and I aren't the closest of people, and that you don't have any people in the family that are close to you at all. Despite that, I want to say that I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you for not abandoning your teammate and I'm proud of you for not being fearful when fighting the enemy. Use your Sharingan well, it's gift that I don't want you to be reckless with. Get well and I hope to see to you soon.'
Obito placed the note back on the table and lied back on the bed.
"Finally...people who care."
-X-
Four months passed and Obito was finally released from the hospital. Some members of the police force came to get him; Tekka and Inabi. They were both his friends when they were little, but his path in the shinobi corps and their path in the police force split them up for some time. The three would talk and make jokes while Obito was in the hospital as they visited. Rin and Kakashi visited every now and then but mostly when Obito was asleep. All in all, he was just happy to be out of the hospital.
When they arrived to the Uchiha area of the village, people there were giving him stares. As if he were some ghost back from the dead. Obito did in fact look very different; he had gotten less chubbier, making his jaw much more square and defined, and his hair had gotten much longer, reaching his waist.
"You look a little like you know who." Inabi said.
Obito didn't know what the hell Inabi was talking about. Who is this "who" person?
Obito rose his eyebrow which caused Inabi to give him an incredulous look.
"Madara." Inabi whispered.
"Why're you whispering his name..this is Uchiha territory, we have every right to say his name. He's our ancestor." Said Tekka.
From the way Tekka said it, it seemed like the village and the clan were at odds. It had always been that way, but Obito's talent for perception hadn't caught it yet. Or it was probably the fact that he didn't want to believe that somehow, the two groups of people that he loved; Konoha and the Uchiha, were at each others throats. Ever since his predecessor; Madara Uchiha, had taken control of the Nine-Tails with the Sharingan, there had always been a fear around the world of the Uchiha Clan. Sadly, even the Hidden Leaf Village itself feared the clan and watched it closely.
On many occasions, people in the upper echelons of the leaf demanded that the Uchiha shared the secrets of the Sharingan with them. Naturally Fugaku refused the demand due to the law that was placed by the Second Hokage to protect clans if their powers were ever coveted by people in the village. Obito just hoped that the village would outgrow the fear of him and his clans' lineage.
After being walked home, Obito thanked his cousins and went inside to wash his clothes and cook a nice afternoon meal. After his clothes were finally fresh and ready he took a shower and got dressed as a kage-bunshin took care of his food for him. Speaking of, Obito realized that the shadow clone barely took much stamina or chakra from him at all.
'Whatever this substance is, it has physical properties that are outstanding. They're probably on the same level of Kushina's physical prowess.' Obito thought.
After getting dressed in a plain navy blue shirt and grey pants Obito heard a knock on the door as he went down the steps to eat. After mumbling about how "bull-shit" it was to have to answer the door when he was about to eat, he opened the door which revealed his older cousin Mikoto Uchiha.
Her face was as he remembered. Innocent, ignorant, blissfully ignorant to be specific. Obito had a talent of reading people like a book which he found to be very useful. He could tell that Mikoto was mostly a pretty-face and not much more. Sure she was a nice, loving, caring, and understanding woman, but she still lacked a sort of knowledge that Obito could feel in others, which repelled him.
It didn't help that the woman was fairly beautiful, only making him believe that her personality was vain and shallow.
"Did ya need something?" Asked Obito, chewing his food with a bowl in his left hand a fork in his right.
"Ah...Obito, ever the different one. Using western utensils again?" Asked Mikoto.
After Obito swallowed he nodded and allowed her to come in.
Mikoto sat down at the table, finding the chair to be fairly uncomfortable. She supposed it was normal due to Obito being an orphan and being used to everything in his house, along with the fact that she had gotten a little too used to the main-house lifestyle of lavish living. She was a shinobi though...a jonin to be specifc, a little chair wouldn't lay her out.
Obito sat across from her.
"You want something to eat?" Asked Obito.
"Ah..no, it's fine. I ate before I came here." Said Mikoto.
"Fugaku get's off at nine o'clock, there's no way you made food before then. Itachi eats lunch at the academy and you're the only one there by yourself. You should eat." Said Obito.
Mikoto was a little taken aback by Obito's blunt approach. Most members of the clan had tons of respect for her, not that she cared for respect anyways. He seemed much more familiar with her.
Obito made a plate of food for her to eat with and she commented about how much easier it was to eat with a fork than with chopsticks. After she finished eating Obito asked her to cut to the chase and tell her what she wanted. She felt like she was walking on little Obito eggshells with how blunt the kid was.
"The clan is having a meeting in the next four hours, Fugaku-sama is getting off early for the rally." Mikoto explained.
"Oh. Is this about our problems with the village?" Asked Obito.
Mikoto simly nodded.
"I guess your friends from the police force told you?" She asked.
"Yeah. Exactly what is this all about anyways? How long as this been going on and why didn't I know before?" Asked Obito.
"Ever since the other founder of the village, Madara Uchiha, rebelled against the village using the power of the Nine-tails, the world and specifically Konoha has been afraid of us for decades now. Recently they've been calling Fugaku into the meeting chambers, suggesting that he reveal the secrets of the Sharingan to them and all of it's abilities. The elders have also been pushing for us to be relocated to a corner of the village where we can be watched, closely."
"How has the clan been responding to that?" Asked Obito.
"Everyone's upset. Combined with some members of the force being arrogant and reckless with their power, the village is being given good reason to fear us. We've remained loyal to them for a long time, our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and orphans have all given their lives for the village, only to get this sort of treatment in return. The clan has tried keeping this secret from the members they consider too loyal to the village." Replied Mikoto.
"And if I'm one of those village-loyalists, why would you tell me all about this?" Obito asked.
"It's obvious. The clan views you as a more valuable member now that you have the Sharingan. I know that it sounds heartless, inconsiderate, and even lacking in kinship, but the clan views the Sharingan as a binding ability to the clan. Once you have it, the clan can't afford running the risk of you joining forces with the leaf." Said Mikoto.
Obito simply stared, but just like him Mikoto was an Uchiha and could read his expressions just like he could read hers. He was understanding her explanation.
"You don't have a choice in coming to this meeting." She stated with a blank expression.
-X-
For the first time ever, Obito learned about the stone tablet under the Nakano Shrine. It could be unlocked by simply using a handsign while having your Sharingan activated. The seal was a donation from the Uzumaki Clan to the Uchiha's when the Uzumaki formed an alliance with the leaf. It was so ironic that after all of this progress, the Uchiha were about to pull out.
It would be a big blow to Konoha if the Uchiha left.
When he entered the meeting, he never realized that such a huge room was underground. The room was perfect for the clan, which had at least 310 members and 270 shinobi. He didn't personally know which members were shinobi or civilians besides the typical Jonin flak uniform.
He took a seat in the front row due to him being early and saw a stone tablet before him.
He instantly realized how impossible it was for him to read but his thoughts were interrupted by the silent movement of people entering the meeting place. Having never been to a meeting, Obito thought that meetings were usually full of talking before the speech began but it didn't happen that way. There was a sort of reverence being shown by everyone in the room.
When everyone finally sat down, Fugaku walked onto the pulpit from some hidden curtain nearby.
Silence ensued until the brown haired man cleared his voice and projected it.
"The clan has decided to plan a military coup' against the Hidden Leaf."
