Author's Note: What if Obito survived and was brought back to Konoha by unknown means? Read on to find out! But worry not, everything that seems like a plot hole will be explained in it's own time. Also know, this is ongoing, meaning the story will not be ending without at least hopefully one-hundred, maybe two-hundred fifty. No joke. I'm being serious. So enjoy the story, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, you think I'd be writing fanfiction?

Chapter 1: Welcome Back, Obito!

Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep…

The endless beeping of a heart monitor awoke the raven haired Uchiha. He took in his surroundings; plain white walls, a set of chairs to his left by a window, and a little table with his goggles to his right. He must have been in a hospital.

But how, why? Shouldn't he be dead? Shouldn't he be stuck under a boulder about... fifty times his size? He must've been rescued. He was alive! But his eye… The raven reached for his left eye subconsciously, and found it still there. But again, how? A donor, maybe? But who would donate an eye to him? He wasn't anyone special, and didn't have that many friends outside his team. Obito sat up in the hospital bed, going over the questions shooting throughout his brain.

Being the natural optimist, he decided to go over the positives instead. He could develop his sharingan even further, so maybe he beat up Kakashi now. Maybe Rin could release him from the friend zone! He probably got a scar from the boulder, he must've looked so cool! Obito looked at his arm to check for scars, as far as he could remember he was smashed by a freakin' boulder.

What the-?

His arm was white. Bone white. He checked his feet. They were fine, thankfully. His right leg looked like it went through hell and back but, still fine. But his torso, white as chalk. Wait what if his face was white too?! What would everyone think now, what would Rin think now?! He needed a mirror, fast.

Yanking off the blankets, Obito scrambled off the bed ripping off the monitor devices in the process. As he stared at his reflection, shocked with what he was seeing. Shocked enough to yelp at the sight of his own reflection. The right side of his face was scarred completely, resembling wrinkles, and his left eye was fine for some reason.

Obito's train of thought was interrupted once the door flung open, hitting him square in the face, revealing his teammates Rin and Kakashi. They apparently rushed in, the monitoring tool's removal had probably alerted them.

Kakashi stepped into the room and closed the door, getting over his initial shock.

Obito beamed at his teammates, entangling them in a group hug. "It's you guys! I thought I was a goner!" He released them. "So how did you guys come back? I thought everything closed in."

His comrades stiffened at the mention of the bridge mission, but the former kept his calm facade, folding his arms. "It did."

"What?" Obito asked, confused. "So who came back?"

"You don't know?" Rin asked.

"Wait, it wasn't one of you two? Or Minato-sensei?"

"No. You were right outside the vllage gates unconscious when ANBU found you. So we want to know,"

"Where were you?" Rin finished.

The raven blinked. What were they getting at? "Is this an interrogation?"

"Yes." His silverheaded teammate answered.

"But why would I be-"Obito stopped himself, "How long was I out?"

"You've been asleep for four days now. You've been legally dead for a month."

The raven thought about it, piecing together his most recent memories. But everything seemed the same; sharingan, rin rescued, boulder, pain. That was it. Did he not remember? Was he amnesiac? In his line of work, it probably wasn't too far off. But if the village sent his teammates to question him, why wasn't he in a T&I room?

Maybe he already was.

Obito activated his sharingan, and slowly the illusion faded. He found himself in an interrogation room, complete with the two-way mirror on one side of the room, a door with a chair lodged in it, and the hardened stares of Inoichi Yamanaka, and... who was that guy, I... Ibiki? He was at the chunin exam's, yeah. But hold on, what was he doing here? He didn't know him all that well, but wasn't he his age?

Obito looked around the room once more, and this time kept his gaze at the two-way mirror. He was in an interrogation. He was being interrogated.

God help him.

Ibiki spoke first, "He broke the genjutsu, Inoichi, you can stop now."

Inoichi, who had his hands in the signature Yamanaka hand seal, set them to his sides, keeping his gaze locked onto Obito. "Apparently he has no recollection of anything after the kannabi bridge mission, or anything about his new...'appendage'."

Obito decided to speak up. "Does...does that mean I can go home now?" Ibiki's stare hardened. "Please?"

Ibiki thought about it. The kid didn't remember anything after his "death", so what do they do with him, wait for him to heal if he hasn't already and have him doing C-ranks for next month? He Definitely wasn't an impostor, his memories were the same, so it should have been pretty simple. But he was also thought dead for a month. His name was on the konoha monument for God's sake! Then there was Danzo…

Ibiki cringed, then brushed his thoughts away. He was an up and coming interrogation specialist, not the hokage. Let Minato deal with this shit.

"Alright then, get dressed and get out of here, the hokage wants to see you."

Obito didn't actually expect to set free that easily, what did Sarutobi want with him? "Really?"

"Yeah, you're not what we thought we thought you were, so leave." Ibiki showed off one of his bone-chilling grins. "Unless you wanna stay. There's a cell saved just in case."

The man needn't say more. The raven left, but not before thinking back to the illusion. Was he really gone for a month? Kakashi made it seem as if he was rescued right after everything went south. And what Ibiki said...did the Third really think he was an impostor? Tucking the thoughts away for now, he left.

And with him gone, the men were able to speak freely.

Ibiki spoke first. "So what do you think?"

"Don't know, I'd say someone took him then mind wiped him, but the only people who specialize in mind related jutsu is my clan." Ibiki thought on that. "I'll have to check."

"Alright then." Ibiki agreed.

With Obito

Babies cried, mothers covered their children's eyes, and people just stared in a mixture of fear, and curiosity as Obito Uchiha walked on his way to the Uchiha district.

Were his scars really that bad? They looked pretty bad in the genjutsu but it probably was an exaggeration. Obito was a ninja, these things happened all the time to shinobi like him. they shouldn't be this surprised. But then he remembered, his hitai-ate wasn't with him.

Still, they didn't have to stare like that. Oh no, what'll Rin think? He bet he looked like the two-faced demon who decided the fate of his peers with a flip of his coin like in the scary stories shared over campfire on missions.

The raven shook those thoughts away. He was over thinking things, Rin will like him just the same, no matter what he looked like. He was sure of it!

"Obito? Obito!"

Speaking of Rin...

He recognized her voice easily. Obito remembered her fair skin, and her beautiful short hair that framed her face.

With an oof! from Obito Rin crashed herself into Obito, squeezing him tight, as if afraid he would be gone if she let go for even a second.

Rin held her grip on the Uchiha "It's really you," She let go, and looked at the scarred side. "But your eye, how?"

Of course. She was confused about his eye. In all honesty, so was he.

"Yeah, I think it's a donor, but I don't really know who gave it to me."

"Oh."

Obito pulled one of his signature smiles and placed a proud finger on his chest "I'm on my way to the hokage mansion, apparently the big guy wants to see me."

"Can I come with?!" Rin asked suddenly.

"Sure, no problem let's go." Obito went to walk forward, but something held him back.

Rin firmly held his arm in place, immobilizing him. "Not looking like that we are." Rin motioned towards his clothing. To be fair, he did just walk out of T&I. Grey jumpsuits were the new style over there.

"Well, any ideas?"

Rin contemplated her options, then she remembered something. "I know just the thing." Rin walked off into the opposite direction, Obito's arm still in her grip.

"Um, R-Rin, my hand." He could feel the heat radiating off his cheeks.

The brunette looked back at him once, then turned foward, nearly just as flushed. "Nope."

He didn't question why she was holding her hand, or where they were going. She wanted to hold his hand, who was he to question it?

"Achoo!" Obito sneezed

"Bless you."

Hokage Mansion

Konohagakure was well known for it's peace, stability, and more importantly, the Will of Fire.

"Obito Uchiha should not be allowed to roam free without close observation. there is too much we do not know" Danzo Shimura, warhawk of konohagakure, sat in the council booth, staring down Minato Namikaze with his one good eye.

He carried the will of fire as well, but unfortunately, the old geezer was an extremist, and a hardass to boot. He believed instilling fear and building power was the village's only chance for prosperity. In times like these, Minato idly wondered if he was alive only because of Hiruzen's benevolence.

Danzo was a frail old man, who would normally walk with a cane. He had black shaggy hair, and an x-shaped scar on his chin. Half of his face was covered in bandages save for said eye and chin.

Minato really wanted this meeting to be over and done. While he wanted answers as well, Obito was still his student. He was sure he'd tell the interrogation unit everything they need to know, the kid was practically an open book. "That is not necessary. Obito Uchiha is being questioned as we speak. When he is proven safe you will all have nothing to fear, I guarantee it."

"And what about the unnatural substance within his torso, or how his eye is still in it's socket when your mission report stated that it was removed, and given to his teammate."

Minato sighed irritably."Again, he is being questioned as we speak." An ANBU agent appeared on Minato's side, and whispered something incoherent to the councilmen, including Danzo, then disappeared in a shunshin.

"Good news?" One of the councilmen asked

"Actually, yes." Minato began. "The interrogation's been completed, you all have nothing to fear. Dismissed, all of you."

Good, nothing drastic would have to be done, but he didn't remember anything after the kannabi bridge mission. That meant more meetings like these until he miraculously did remember. As Danzo walked towards the hokage, the fourth Hokage braced himself, remembering all of his rehearsed comments and remarks.

"Obito Uchiha is an unknown variable with too many things not known about him. So remember, this is not over, boy." With that, the warhawk left the meeting room.

He inwardly wondered if people would suspect foul play if the old man suddenly had a heart attack one day.

With Obito

Turned out she was leading him to a department store.

Were his clothes that bad? In his defense, he had just walked out of T&I not twenty minutes ago.

"Rin, is this really necessary?" Obito asked from the changing room, having just about four outfits picked out.

"Yes, Obito you look like you just walked out of T&I."

"I did."

"I know, but no one else has to."

With an exasperated sigh, Obito accepted his defeat, and took a blue sweater with orange trimming Rin handed him.

…

Twenty minutes and seven outfits later, Obito admired his new look in the mirror inside the changing room.

He now wore a dark blue high-collar Uchiha shirt with orange trimmings, and an orange long-sleeved undershirt with regular dark blue shinobi pants. He had to wear a glove to hide his "skin condition", however.

Satisfied, the raven gathered the discarded clothes and made his way out the changing room. Rin sat patiently on the bench outside.

"What do you think?" Obito asked Rin, who stood up, and took half his load of clothes.

Rin sized him up, and nodded her head. "Pretty good, Obito."

"Heh, thanks."

After the pair put the clothes in the bin, and exited the store, Obito began thinking. The genjutsu said he was brought back to Konoha a month later, yet he was unconscious for a couple days. That suggested he was rescued, but how did he not remember any of it? Did he hit his head real hard or something?

"Hey, Obito."

"Yeah?" The raven answered.

"What happened?" the brunette asked.

"What do you mean?"

Rin kept her gaze forward, her expression unreadable. "I mean, you were gone for a while, were you hurt?"

Obito thought for a moment, and answered her question with all the honesty he could muster.

"I don't know."

She waved it off. "Alright."

That was one of the things Obito admired about her. She never tried to probe anything out of Obito whenever something was bothering him, and waited patiently for him to tell her himself even as they were kids, like the wonderful person she was.

But when Rin did that Obito felt obligated to tell her whatever she wanted to know. And that was the problem, he had no answers to give. He wished he could lie and just make something up so she wouldn't stare at her feet like she did when her bracelet was almost lost.

But again, he had no answers, he couldn't try to lie his way out; she'd see right through him. Well, anything about his disappearance anyway.

"Where's Kakashi?" Obito asked.

"ANBU business." She waved it off.

Now that made him stop in his tracks. Kakashi was in ANBU? He was only gone for a month, dammit! How did someone go from jonin to ANBU in just a month? Well this was just perfect. How was Obito supposed to kick his ass now? He'd have more experience, and with his new sharingan eye, he'd be able to see through every move, every genjutsu, every jutsu, freakin' everything. "ANBU? He's in ANBU now?"

"Well, not yet, he has to lead one more mission and they'll take him in."

Okay, good. He still had a chance, he only had to train harder now. Obito was no pushover, he made it to chunin as a rookie, after all. He could do anything he put his mind to! That's what Minato-sensei always said anyway.

Speaking of him, "Hey, where's sensei?"

Rin looked back at him, confusion evident in her expression. "Didn't you say you had to see him?"

"What? No, I have to see the hokage."

Rin blinked a couple times, staring at Obito for a few moments, until she finally got it. "Oh, well after the brid-" she stopped herself, sorrow occupying her features; something Obito noticed "Minato-sensei's hokage now."

"Oh...well, that's awesome!" Obito beamed, hoping his toothy grin would ease Rin's nerves. He grew concerned when she didn't respond. "Hey, Rin, you okay? You looked kinda lost for a second."

Her train of thought was interrupted. "Yeah, yeah i'm fine."

As the pair continued their trek to the hokage tower, Obito could not help but wonder what was going on inside his teammate's mind, even if it was for a second.

Flashback

Things were never the same after the bridge mission. For anyone, really. Minato probably drowned himself in his hokage work now. And Kakashi kept to himself; only sparing Rin a glance except for missions. While it was quite understandable, It made Rin feel irrelevant, unimportant.

Alone.

So she hadn't expected to see Minato-sensei's wife during one of her early morning walks. As Rin analyzed her, she noticed Kushina was still in her regular clothes; a sleeveless blouse under a long, loose-fitting dress, suggesting Kushina had been up for a while. Her eyes darted left and right, almost as if searching for something. Had she lost something? Hopefully it wasn't anything too important, as the girl contemplated turning around so she wouldn't have to speak to her. It wasn't anything personal, but the mornings like these seemed like the only times she was in intentional solitude. But Unfortunately, the red-haired beauty had already seen the poor girl, and raised her hand in a hello.

With no other options available, Rin made her way towards Kushina, curiosity building up inside. Why was she here? A woman like Kushina was probably up at at em' early in the morning, but Rin had always assumed she would be spending time with Minato-sensei.

"Hey Rin." Kushina greeted

"Hello Kushina, up and at em early in the morning?" Rin replied

Kushina continued walking, with Rin following suit. "Well, Minato was still asleep, and I made breakfast so I figured, 'what the hell?' why not take a walk."

That was strange. Minato-sensei was known for his punctuality and on timeness. "All that paperwork finally getting to Minato-sensei?"

"Probably, I've never seen him so stressed out." Kushina thought for a moment, debating whether or not she should tell her what's going on. Rin was his comrade, she deserved to know. But it was still an S-rank secret, and Kakashi wasn't faring so well anyway. But if she knew that boy, he would break down and tell Rin sooner or later. So it was only logical Rin should know as well.

"But, It might have something to do with Obito." Kushina peered down at Rin, searching for a reaction. The girl visibly tensed, but for just a moment.

"What about him?" Rin asked, gazing at the street ahead.

Kushina stopped walking, causing a confused Rin to stop as well. "Obito's back."

The look on Rin's face was priceless,her eyes widened to almost comical proportions. "WHAT!"

All hopes for a nice, peaceful morning walk ended right then and there. If anyone was still asleep before, they were wide awake now.

Kushina looked around for any eavesdroppers, then back at Rin "But you have to stay quiet about it; It's an S-rank secret. He's being treated right now, and then he'll be interrogated until deemed safe."

"So that's why you were walking here this early!" Rin said, whisper-yelling.

"Well I thought you had a right a right to know!" Kushina whisper-yelled as well.

"You couldn't tell me after he was interrogated?!"

"You would've known be then!"

"Well, Minato didn't feel right about keeping something like this from you!"

Rin sighed. She knew Kushina was right, and that she meant well, and she probably would be pretty pissed if this was kept from her. But that didn't mean she had to like it. There were too many things that could go wrong. Worst case scenario, Obito's return would be nothing more than a fake posing as him, or that could be Obito, but his mind is all messed up like in those books Obito had read. Or maybe she could just be thinking like a pessimist and this was the real Obito.

But did Kushina say he was being treated?

"Wait, what's Obito being treated for?"

Kushina visibly stiffened, and avoided eye contact. "Well, that's the thing,"

Now Rin was getting scared. "What?"

Kushina sighed, before finally returning eye contact. "He's in a light coma, Rin. When he came back he wasn't awake."

B-but he'll be okay, right?" Rin stuttered.

Kushina's expression remained emotionless. "That's up to him"

Rin gasped, and ran into the direction of her home, tears already forming in her eyes.

Flashback End

"-in?" "Rin?"

"Y-yeah?" Rin asked, unaware of the concern spread out in his face.

"You sure you're okay?" Obito asked. She spaced out twice already.

"Yeah, Obito, I'm fine."

At Hokage Tower

Minato Namikaze was considered many things; genius, prodigy, even the child of prophecy, a title bestowed by his sensei Jiraiya, of course.

"Why can't that pompous little ass just mind his own damn business?!"

His wife, however, was nearly the opposite. Especially when it came to Minato's students. She had made her way into the mansion to discuss Obito after her husband hadn't return home for three days straight. Walking into his office however, she noticed the dark lines under his eyes and felt her frustrations diminish into concern.

That was, until Minato told her about his little "confrontation" with Danzo, said pompous little ass.

"Kushina, its Danzo. No matter what anyone does, he'll always object unless it benefits him in some sort." Minato assumed a thinking position, holding his chin. "But how exactly does he benefit from being-"

"A pompous little ass?" Kushina finished.

"Well, I wouldn't word it like that exactly, but yeah."

As the not-that old married couple thought on that, kakashi appeared in a swirl of leaves across Minato's desk.

"Sensei, Kushina" Kakashi acknowledged, bowing slightly.

"Kakashi."

"Hey Kakashi, What's up! I barely see you anymore y'know?" The redhead greeted.

"Sorry Kushina." kakashi turned his attention back to his teacher. "Has Obito been interrogated yet?"

The Yellow Flash of Konoha smiled slightly, glad that Kakashi was worried for a comrade. It wasn't that Kakashi was heartless, but ever since the bridge mission, the boy seemed to have turned over a new leaf, valuing in teamwork over being a by-the-book ninja.

"Yes, he's been deemed safe by Ibiki Morino and Inoichi Yamanaka for about a couple hours now." Minato answered, noticing the boy's face light up for just a moment.

"Y'know, he's on his way right now." Kushina said, looping an arm around the boy."

Kakashi looked between the woman on his shoulder, and the hokage in front of him. "Right now?"

The door burst open, revealing a beaming Obito, and a smiling Rin following.

"Hey sensei, why didn't anyone tell me you were hokage?!"

Minato smiled and shook his head, some things just never change. "Hello, Obito. Did Ibiki treat you well?"

"It wasn-" Obito couldn't finish his sentence as for the second(or third time, if an illusion counts) time, Obito received another hug from from Kushina this time. He'd high five himself, but Kushina's hugs were known to be rather spine splitting.

"Do us all a favor and never die again, y'know! You had us all worried sick, Rin almost-"

"Hey, Kakashi say hi to Obito!" A flustered Rin cut in, saving her from utter embarrassment. That story was for another day…

Obito turned to Rin, confusion evident in his features. "Almost what?"

Kakashi walked to Obito, and placed the raven into an awkward man hug. Obito awkwardly pat his back a couple times, one arm on his sides. "Yeah, I'm back. Miss me?"

"Listen to Kushina, don't ever do that again." Kakashi said, releasing Obito from his grip.

"Yeah yeah, I'll try." Obito replied, hands scratching the back of his head, a sheepish expression adorning his face.

"So who should fill him in on what's happening so far?" Kushina asked

Rin spoke first. "Well, there's not much he missed."

Obito turned to Rin, "What do you mean? I was gone for a month, lots of things can happen in a month." Obito pointed at Kakashi "Kakashi made jounin in a month."

"But that didn't just happen, remember? Sensei talked me into it because I'm the most skilled one here." Kakashi said in his usual, aloof manner.

"Hey! Don't confuse skill for favorite playing." Obito returned

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kakashi challenged, walking towards Obito.

"You know what it means!" By now the boys were in the middle of a verbal/staring showdown.

As the boys bickered, Kushina watched the scene unfold with an amused gaze. Things were beginning to go back to normal. Minato wasn't as stressed, Obito and Kakashi were still bickering,

"Come on you two, you're both skilled,"

And Rin was still playing peacemaker.

"Alright, alright. Enough, you two." Minato

Obito was the first to end the skirmish. The raven haired Uchiha began chuckling, said chuckling quickly escalated to laughing. Kakashi followed suit, then soon everyone in the room was a laughing mess

"Just like old times," Obito thought out loud.

"Ahem!" Minato's fake cough brought the genin's attention. "Now that you're all here, I should assign you your first mission together." The Yellow Flash said,

No way…

No freakin' way…

A mission? Already? Was he that good? Back from the dead for like, a couple of hours and Obito Uchiha finally gets a mission! He could see how good he was with the sharingan, or maybe even fight a super powerful badass enemy! Rin and Kakashi would finally acknowledge him, he would show everyone how awesome he really was!

While Obito was thinking of the opportunities this mission would provide, the boy was jumping up and down flailing his limbs in a… sort of victory dance. Or whatever that was. "YES! YES! Woohoo!"

"Kakashi, Rin, you're mission is to…"

Obito remained quiet as the three genin leaned forward in anticipation, the former barely containing his excitement.

"Watch over Obito until he recuperates." Minato said with an amused look on his face, while Kushina awaited eagerly for their reactions.

She definitely got her money's worth. Obito visibly deflated, while Kakashi just looked emotionless as ever, his distaste expression showing to anyone who knew him well enough. Rin was actually fine with the mission, she had been wanting to spend more time with their newly-returned teammate anyway.

Obito sprung back up from said deflation "WHAT! No way! I'm back, i'm probably better than ever, I deserve a super awesome mission dammit!" Obito yelled, holding out an accusatory pointer finger.

"Obito, you've been awake for less than 24 hours." Minato deadpanned.

Obito deflated once more, and sheepishly held an arm at the back of his neck. Well, the man did have a point. "Oh, uh. Right, sorry."

"It's fine, Obito. You actually remind me of myself at your age." Kushina said

Rin interjected this time. "So, what do we do, just watch him at his house, or does he stay with one of us?"

Minato thought on that, about to answer until Kushina spoke first. "That's a good question, one that deserves a good answer."

"That's what I was gonna-" A hand over Minato's mouth effectively silenced him

"Hmm, I wonder…" Kushina said, ignoring the flailing man she was trying to control. It was obvious she was stalling something, pretending to be thinking. Rin's eyes widened and her cheeks tinted red as she caught on to Kushina's game.

"Obito, you'll be staying with Kakashi for the time being." The look on Rin's face was priceless, her blush intensified after thinking she would be living with Obito. In all honesty, her parents probably wouldn't approve anyway, she still remembered their faces when she told them she wanted to be a ninja at the tender age of five and a half.

"Hey Rin, you alright. You're really red." A concerned Obito said, placing his hand atop her cheek. The concerned look on his face if possible made her blush intensified, giving her the impression of a tomato.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Rin said, removing his hand from her cheek, tuning out Kushina's snickering.

"Are you sure, Rin? You don't need Obito to look after you do you?" A teasing Kushina asked.

"So when should we get his stuff?" Kakashi asked, once again saving her from Kushina's seemingly endless teasing.

Minato answered, by now free from Kushina's monster grip. "Whenever you feel best."

Author's Note: Hope it was long enough! 5k words is not an easy landmark to reach y'know? The chapters will be longer as the story goes on don't worry. I'm thinking of doing a little timeskip in the first few chapters to make way for the action scenes though. And who knows, maybe the rating will go up! As you can see, I have lots of hopes for this story. But remember, reviews would be greatly appreciated, not because they boost my ego... that much, but also because they let me know what I'm doing right or wrong. Like did I write Obito's character correctly? I maybe sorta used Naruto's character for reference. Anyway thanks for reading love you bye! :D