Title: Bleeding World

Type: Oneshot

Warnings: Violence.

Pairings: None.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Bleeding World

Kakashi ran towards him, Raikiri blazing in his right hand.

He had to do this.

For the boy he once knew in his past. He couldn't disrespect his memory.

For Naruto. He couldn't let someone else close to him die, not again.

And for the world, because if Obito won all that would be left was an illusion and nothing more.

Obito matched his speed. Something sharp pushed out of his palm. Everything was happening so fast, too fast, but still everything felt as if it were in slow-motion.

The image of his own arm deep inside Rin's chest flashed though his mind.

Not again.

He had to. There was no other choice. He could do this. He was a warrior. He could do things that were hard even if he didn't want to. He was a shinobi. He could kill his emotions for the greater good.

He would do it, and it would all be over within a second.

A girl in his memory coughed blood. A boy threw him away from a certain death, taking the boulder in his place. A dying voice in his mind whispered one last request; 'Please protect her.'

'I'll bring Sasuke back at all costs!'

Naruto would never lose his way. Naruto was so much stronger than he ever was. Kakashi wasn't Naruto, and he couldn't do that. This was the only one thing he could do now. To protect the past Obito, he needed to–

'STOP!'

Minato's voice ringed in his ear, a distant memory seemed strong enough to make the ground unstable, shake and tremble under his feet. They had sparred. He had won. They reached for each other's hands.

Obito.

Kakashi's Raikiri died away instantly, and the kunai fell from his fingers.

When push came to shove, he had never been a machine, no matter how many times he had tried to tell himself so. Obito had helped him see that. And now, in the end, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't take Obito's life.

He had tried to tell himself he was really doing it for Obito's sake. To respect his memory. But Obito wasn't just a memory. Maybe Kakashi didn't like what he had turned into, but it was still Obito. To try to distance himself from this Obito was no different from what Obito had been trying to do ─ calling him fake, that the real Kakashi would be in his genjutsu, that nothing of this world mattered.

This current Obito was the real Obito ─ what he had turned into by this cruel reality ─ but it still was Obito nonetheless.

There wasn't any time to evade the attack. Kakashi wasn't even sure he wanted to. It would be fitting, of sorts, if Obito took his life. Kakashi had, after all, killed the girl he loved and made him the man he had turned into.

Obito had given up his life for him. He had given up on life because of him.

They collided before the kunai had hit the ground.

A sharp object perpetrated his side. Pain exploded and he fell against Obito's shoulder, the spear piercing him like a pearl on a thread. His mouth tasted iron. He managed to leap back before he fell to his knees.

"What is wrong with you!?"

Kakashi met his eyes. He grabbed the black rod Obito had left behind in his chest and pulled it out. He coughed, spurting out an inhale of blood as he fell to his hands. It left him with a serious injury, but it wasn't a mortal wound. It was too far to his right to kill, barely enough to go through his lung.

Why does he keep holding back?

"I can't kill you."

There was nothing else he could say.

"All that talk earlier was just words?" said Obito, poison and resentment in his voice. "It shouldn't surprise me. You've always been just words. So what, you're just going to give up?"

Give up. That actually sounded dangerously tempting at the moment.

He had lost his father. His best friend. The girl he wanted to protect, and then his sensei too. It seemed to be impossible to move on from them, from the achingly empty hole they left behind in his life. He had just begun believing, hoping again when the fourth war started, and the man who had managed to bring the whole world down to its knees ─ the man who wanted the life of his student, and his most mortal enemy ─ it had been Obito.

Out of every possible person, it had to be Obito.

He was tired of fighting, he was tired of living. What was the use when life hurt so much? He kept getting new wounds before his old ones had healed, and the healing ones kept getting ripped open.

Over and over again.

But no wound had been harder to heal than the one left behind by Obito, and now it had been made even deeper. Perhaps too deep to ever heal. Maybe, this time, it was vital.

Kakashi closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to ignore the burning agony in his chest, blood spilling out from his mouth caused by internal bleedings. His voice was hoarse and tired when he spoke.

"What do you want from me, Obito?"

He was breaking. He had thought he was stronger, he had believed he was stronger, but this ghost from his past was breaking him, tearing him apart, because Obito had been everything. He was whom he had altered him life for. Why he had kept fighting all these years.

Obito's eyes flashed in anger. "I wanted you to join me, but you refused."

His head hurt, spinned. It seemed to be pulled down by some magnetic force. It must be chakra exhaustion. He lay down on the cool ground to ease his headache. Coughed, swallowed blood before he spoke.

"I'm not going to join you. I just can't kill you. Let the Kages judge me for treason, but I can't."

There was a hidden desperation in his voice.

He couldn't kill him. Couldn't bring himself to hurt him any further than the world already had. Obito had suffered enough.

Shinobi wasn't allowed to show weakness, but Kakashi couldn't help it. It didn't matter. Obito could see through him even if he kept pretending.

"You're trash."

"Haven't I always been?" Kakashi smiled a lopsided grin, but it was concealed behind his mask so Obito wouldn't really see it anyway. It was probably for the best, because it hid pain.

Trust me. Nobody knows that better than I do.

Obito was sure to kill him, and he couldn't even bring himself to care anymore. If he killed Obito, he would never forgive himself. He was still in a mental battle against himself, but no matter how he twisted or turned it around, he couldn't do it.

Obito took a step closer, narrowing his eyes as he looked down on him.

"Then what are you going to do?"

"I don't know. I would try to do something, anything, but…" He looked away, rested his head against the platform. Let down his guard. "I just don't…. care anymore."

He was so tired of this fighting.

"Kill me."

The words was easy to say, left his lips like a breath of wind and sounded like a breeze that blew through the trees of Konoha, like a soft, comforting lullaby in his ear. He had escaped death so many times. He had long wanted to join his friends on the other side.

Yes, but remember – Obito won't be there.

Something in his guts twisted and Kakashi barely managed to conceal the pained grimace that flashed over his features.

He had lost him. He could not be with him, not in life, not in death. And it was his fault.

He let Rin die.

Of course he could still try to fight Obito without killing him, but really it wouldn't be much use. Obito was strong, and if Kakashi wasn't fighting with full intent to kill he couldn't do much. Not to mention his severe injuries. He didn't stand a chance. It had been a sacrificial move – stab Obito, get stabbed himself – only he didn't, in the end. For a trained killer like himself to hesitate at a moment like that… it had truly been pathetic.

"I just don't feel anything at the moment. I feel…"

Dead. He felt dead. And still somehow he was not and that was why he was suffering.

"I know. You've got the same void in your heart as I do, Kakashi. I offered to fill it, but you wouldn't accept."

"Please," he tried one last time. "Come back. Fight with us." His time was running out. He was bleeding, losing too much blood. He could have stopped the bleeding, tried to fix himself with what little medical knowledge he had, but he just couldn't make himself do it. What was the use? He'd just have to fight Obito again and again.

And if Kakashi couldn't do it himself, someone else would, and Kakashi would still have to face the second death of Obito. See him die again.

That, or the world was lost.

Kakashi felt a pang of guilt. How could he value Obito's life more than the world? It was so wrong and immoral of him.

Naruto…. Gai. They would be so disappointed in him. He wished they were here. To give him the strength and encouragement he needed to go through with this, to remind him that he was stronger than this when he had forgotten himself. But they weren't. And no matter how hard Kakashi tried, he couldn't see himself taking Obito's life.

Not even for Naruto.

And the last thing he wanted to see was one of his precious people take Obito's life. He told himself he wanted to do it because it was his responsibility, his burden to shoulder, but he couldn't lie to himself.

Kakashi would never be able to forgive anyone who killed Obito.

Therefore he needed to do it himself. He had long given up on forgiving himself, and if this made him hate himself even more than he already did, that didn't matter much. But he couldn't let anybody else but him to it. He would never be able to see that person the same way again, would learn to hate the one who delivered the final blow. It was important – he had to do it himself.

Assassinations seemed to be the only thing he was really good at. And now, he even failed at that.

Still, somehow, he was trying. Hope was clinging to him, refusing to give up completely on Obito.

"Take down Madara with us. Join us again. Come back to Konoha. Naruto wouldn't let you get executed."

For not the first time today, Kakashi wished he had the way with words, fists and people like Naruto had. Naruto would have known what to say. He wouldn't have been at loss of words. He would have said the right things, made Obito see the truth and would have won him over. He would have gotten through to him. But Kakashi had never been like Naruto. He didn't have any right to lecture others, and he didn't make bonds with people. He just broke them.

"No," Obito snapped, "I'll never join you."

It wasn't a surprise, not really. He had seen it coming way before he opened his mouth to speak. He had asked before and gotten the same answer. So why did it hurt so much?

You were my hero.

"You are dying," Obito said. "Why aren't you doing anything about it?"

"I…" he laughed a bitter laugh that ended up in coughs of blood. It wet his mask, and together with the hole in the side of his chest it coloured the ground crimson. "What do I have left to live for?"

"Naruto," Obito suggested, almost sarcastically.

Guilt.

Stabbing guilt.

"Right. I should want to live for him, shouldn't I?"

He didn't. He didn't care anymore. How could he? He had thought it might be possible to finally move on from the past, to let go, but just as he had started to believe–

Obito's eyes narrowed. He said the words for him.

"You'd rather die for me."

It wasn't a question. He didn't need to answer. Obito could see it in his eyes.

I'm worse than trash. I'm a traitor.

"I'll end your suffering, then." He walked closer. A new rod struck out from his hand. His eyes softened a fraction. "You know, you're taking a whole lot of the pleasure of revenge away from me. I'd rather have you beg for your life."

"I'm… sorry...?"

"No. Don't worry about it."

He moved and struck his heart, the sharp weapon being pushed straight through his body. The pain ten folded, a feeling of explosion in his chest as his heart was destroyed. He felt his muscles spasm, contracting violently.

He coughed blood, much blood. It was filling his lungs, drowning him. He could barely breathe.

Obito's form turned fussy, into an unsteady shape of colors dimmed together, moving, darkening.

"I did care about you, you know." Obito said. "There was a time I did."

"I know… and I… I always…" It was almost black. His body felt cold, but besides that he could barely feel a thing anymore. It didn't hurt anymore. Obito kneeled next to him, and Kakashi managed to lift a hand to touch his face. It was warm.

"Crybaby," he said fondly, as the last breath left his body.

I just wanted to tell you, that I always…

o o o

Obito watched Kakashi die, and he felt nothing. He didn't really think he would, but after making such a big deal out of it, after holding back from really killing him for no real reason – from the day Kakashi took Rin's life until now – he thought that maybe he'd feel something when his last teammate finally died.

He didn't.

"Crybaby," Kakashi said, voice to fond, too gentle as the word was rasped out though clotting blood.

Cool, white fingers brushed over his cheek and then Kakashi's hand fell down; hit the ground with a low thud. His fingers twitched one time again, and then he went still.

Obito watched him, wary, despite being well aware of death and lethal blows. In his life as a ninja, he had long learned to mistrust his senses. Too many times had a hundred percent fact turned out to be false. Too many times had people refused to stay in their graves – a living example he made himself. Life had taught him to expect to get stabbed in the back by those who had already passed away.

But Kakashi didn't move again, and Obito slowly relaxed.

Crybaby.

Kakashi used his last breath to call him crybaby.

Obito reached to wipe his eyes just to make sure.

No, he was fine. He hadn't cried in years – decades – and he didn't think he ever would again.

He felt nothing.

Maybe there was something, but only if he really searched. A faint, dull ache in his chest. He didn't want to look any deeper, so he ignored it. He knew he had lost his heart a long time ago and there was no use in trying to regain it now. There was no going back. It was too late to go back even if he had wanted to, and he didn't.

But he had hesitated.

Not with his goal of course, but with Kakashi.

For a while he had planned to just leave him here, alive, let him get out the best he could himself. There had been something that held him back from killing Kakashi all this time and until the last second, there had been some part of him that didn't want to do it.

He told himself he didn't care about this world's Kakashi, and he honestly believed he didn't. But for some reason he stalled for time. Had been holding back on that fatal strike. The deathblow.

But then Kakashi had met his eyes and he had seen the pain there. He just wanted it all to end, to stop hurting. So he helped him out, opened the gate out of this world. While he believed Kakashi would have been happy in the Infinitive Tsykoyomi, it was Obito's dream, not Kakashi's. If Kakashi chose this, then that was his decision.

He brushed a grey stand of hair away from his face. Just looking at it was enough to make Obito feel the uncomfortable trickle, so he really did it because it bothered him, not because of any actual affection over his old teammate. Maybe it looked like he cared about him a little too much, but he could always correct that assumption later when he had an actual audience.

"You'll be in my dream world," he said, softer than he had expected himself to speak to Kakashi, of all people. He wasn't completely sure if he said it to Kakashi or himself.

The Infinitive Tsykoyomi would make everything perfect. Kakashi would be there. For being the bastard he was, Obito still didn't want a life without him. Somehow, it wouldn't be perfect without him.

Kakashi had failed to do as he had calculated him to, and while Obito resented him for giving up, for letting himself be killed so easily, so willingly, he felt something unfamiliar, a strangely pleasant sensation of being wrong this time.

Kakashi didn't try to kill him because he couldn't make himself do it.

Huh.

He must have left some impression. But then again, considering all the time he had spent in front of the momentum…

Was he thinking of me all that time?

This was probably for the best. Now when only he had access to his Kamui, he had a safe place nobody else could get into. Kakashi had been a problem, and he was sure to continue to be one if he had stayed alive.

That problem no longer existed, but Obito needed to get someone else to stab him, to free him from Madara's cursed seal, and he needed to find the person to do so quickly before it was too late. He couldn't let Madara pull in the strings any longer than he already had.

He pulled his blood-spattered spear out of Kakashi and picked up the limp, lifeless body. He was still warm, still bleeding even though most his blood had already left his body, tainted his clothes, run out to cool over the ground in a crimson pool. His heart was still.

Obito never expected to find peace in a dead body, but the way Kakashi had died─

He looked down at the pale face. He hadn't died fighting for his life, but rather almost closed his eyes as if going to rest. He didn't even look pained. Obito… both hated and liked it like that. Still he couldn't have Naruto knowing he had died in peace. He opened the lids, almost regretting it when he met a blank, lifeless orb.

He stiffened, caught in the eye of a dead man.

"I… I always…"

What had he tried to say?

It didn't matter, he supposed. Since he hadn't cared about what he had to say when he was alive, there was no reason to start doing so now that he was dead. Wondering about his last words would only bring frustration. He looked away, held the body a little closer.

A part of his mind whispered that he had no reason to tighten his grip on him. He didn't need to hold him so close. It wasn't like Kakashi would try to get away. Wasn't like anyone would steal him away from him here. Obito ignored the voice and activated his Mangekyou. He returned to the battlefield.

The reaction he got was even better than expected.

Naruto stopped when he saw him, eyes catching the grey-haired figure, unmoving in Obito's arms. There were no signs of protest.

He died like that too, Obito wanted to tell him. And suddenly he felt strength returning to him as he fed on the broken, disbelieving gaze, desperately searching for any sign of life.

Suffer like I did.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura – he was pretty sure that was her name by now – cried out, voice sharp, heart-stopping as it cut through the thin air.

Meet the reality of this cruel world.

Obito felt energy once again pulsing though him and he threw the body to ground at his feet, kicked at it. He made him roll over; showing the gigantic red spots, the openings in his chest, his blank, dead eyes and saw Naruto crumble as he looked up at Obito. Obito smirked, provocatively; as he once again kicked at the corpse, put his foot on his head, pressed it into the ground.

He smirked because he knew.

Kakashi choose me.

He met broken blue iris, desperation clearer than anything he felt when Neji died and─

He'd rather die by my hand than to live for you.

He felt a sick, twisted satisfaction over that.

Maybe now you'll finally understand.

And Naruto screamed in rage, rushed for him blindly.

Sasuke caught him arm. "You'll get yourself killed!"

"I don't care, I will kill him!"

Obito didn't do it to further aggravate Naruto ─ really, he needed that eye ─ but if Naruto saw it as a provocation, well, that wasn't against his wishes either. Obito kneeled down, glanced at Naruto as his hand moved to Kakashi's face, fingers caressing a masked face and pale skin as he slowly moved them to his left eye socket.

Naruto's eyes widened as he realized what Obito was about to do, but he reacted too late. Obito pushed his fingers in, gripped into the eyeball and ripped out the crimson Sharingan.

It was, after all, rightfully his.

As much as the Rinnegan was powerful, he couldn't risk Madara using it and his life to resurrect himself at the first moment of weakness. The Sharingan was the most powerful when it was used as a matching pair. If he destroyed the Rinnegan, he could make sure of Madara's defeat. It wouldn't be much strength lost comparing to the complete control over Kamui it would give him, and the possibility of him awakening the Susanoo. Any raw power lost for would be well worth the advantage it gave him strategically.

Naruto jerked violently, the only thing holding him back being Sasuke's arms, and that barely. He froze.

Then he pulled free, once again running for him heedlessly, howling, growling like a wild animal.

It was even easier than expected.

Come… nine-tails. Do what your teacher couldn't.

o o o

He ran, but wasn't fast enough. He couldn't catch up to what had already happened, couldn't arrive in time to stop the past. He wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough–

More chakra, Naruto begged Kurama. I need more ─

"I still haven't restored my chakra,' his beast answered. "I don't have much. If you enter tailed beast-mode now you won't last long. You need to think rationally."

He killed Kaka-sensei. More. I don't care. I need to kill him. Rage. Give me your rage─

"You asked for it, brat."

He felt chakra, intense chakra pouring up inside him, setting him aflame, and he threw himself at Obito. Still, he felt completely powerless.

How could he kill him ─ how could he kill Kakashi? First Neji, now─

"How dare you!? I'll kill you!"

And Obito…. he smiled.

How could the world be so cruel? How could someone be so evil? How could this world continue to be so merciless when he tried so hard, when everyone gave their all and so many lives already had been sacrificed?

Kakashi-sensei.

'I think I'm starting to like you.'

Kakashi.

'I believe you are the only one who can surpass the forth Hokage'

Sensei.

'Under this mask? It's another mask! Pretty cool, huh?'

Sensei!

This clenching feeling over my chest ─ I can't take it!

"Obito!" he growled, and he couldn't think anymore. Needed to kill. Destroy. He felt as if under the cloak of the nine tails, as he used to feel when he tried to use the beast's chakra before he had control over Kurama, only now the source of the hatred came from within him, not the beast sealed inside.

His hand clawed, ripped straight into Obito's heart. Even without a weapon the sheer force of his rage and chakra made it possible, and had Obito not teleported with Kamui shortly after, Naruto would have continued to tear him to pieces. He looked wildly around him but couldn't see him anywhere, so he picked up Kakashi's body, pulled him against his own.

The red, bubbling chakra surrounded Kakashi, and Naruto was somehow begging Kurama to heal him, even though he knew it wasn't possible, it didn't work that way. There was nothing that mattered anymore, because Kakashi didn't wake up, couldn't wake up and would never wake up again.

He saw Obito again.

"Careful", Kurama warned him. "I'm trying to hold back but if you let your negative feelings influence me we both will lose control. If you continue like this ─"

His breath was ragged. People were speaking to him. He couldn't hear them. Burning fury pulsed in his veins. His mind was drowning in rage.

Obito had fallen to the ground and was badly injured, maybe even dying, but that didn't still his fury.

Naruto was just about to throw himself at him again when something in the air changed.

The chakra of the three was pulled into Obito and he transformed. His entire being changed, black hair turned white and the colour of his skin got a greenish tint. The appearances of his scars changed shape and form and scales seemed to grow out from his body. But when Obito looked up and met his gaze there was only one thing that caught Naruto's attention.

He now had two glowing red eyes.

Kaka-sensei's!

"He died pathetically," Obito said, looking down at the body in Naruto's arms with disgust. "Begging for his life, as I slowly pierced his heart."

His face was cold, hard. Inhuman.

Monster.

"I will kill you," Naruto shouted hoarsely, voice breaking. "I will kill you."

"Naruto, you're letting yourself be manipulated!"

"Please," Sakura cried, green eyes overflowing with tears, "Calm down. We're hurting too, but losing you is only going to make it worse. It's what he wants. I can't lose you!"

She ran towards him. Bright healing chakra flowed from her hands and over Kakashi's bloody chest. After a few seconds she stopped, pink hair falling over her eyes as she looked down and choked on a sob. She embraced him, hugged him desperately, and he looked down at the dead body in his arms.

He knew what she didn't say out loud.

There was nothing she could do for him anymore.

Kakashi.

"Fuck," he wailed, "Please, no-"

"Later," Sasuke cut him of harshly. "Unless we win this war, we'll lose everything. You don't want to become like him," Sasuke threw a venomous look at Obito, "Who lives in the past and is willing to replace everybody he cared about with fake illusions!"

A jutsu by the first Hokage, created to seal away bijuu, fell down over Obito and for a while Naruto actually believed that it would work. That it would be over, finally.

Wood splintered, flew everywhere as Obito stood up again and he destroyed the barrier.

Naruto turned his face towards Sasuke, watched him with tired eyes but a burning soul of anger and suffering. Sakura too straightened, drying tears of her cheek with dirty hands that left strains on her face. When she spoke, her voice was surprisingly calm and collected.

"We need to work together. We can't let Kakashi's sacrifice be in vain."

"Sacrifice?" Obito laughed. "You know nothing."

He looked from Naruto to Kakashi with a burning intensity that made Naruto growl as he placed his sensei on the ground behind him. He stood in front of him protectively. He wouldn't let Obito get to him again, wouldn't let him dishonor him any further.

The anger boiled, flowed in him, but he held back. Neither of his two teammates paid Obito a mind ─ it was difficult for Naruto to ignore him, his taunting, but Sasuke was right. He couldn't allow himself to lose hope or become sidetracked. Not now.

He couldn't afford to get his judgment clouded.

There is no helping the dead. We need to focus on the still living.

Jiraiya would have been proud.

'They live on in our hearts, because we're all connected. To give up on those words and thoughts would be the real way to kill your friends. That's what I believe.'

Naruto clenched his fist.

Hinata.

Naruto looked at Obito and he felt hate stronger than anything he had ever felt before. Their eyes locked and he stared at his mortal enemy, met the gaze straight on.

"I won't let you hurt him any further," he growled.

I will never let you touch him.

"Oh?" Obito snapped with his fingers, and the sound of tearing and splatter was heard behind him. Naruto straightened, froze at the sound, before he slowly turned around.

The last thing he saw was Kakashi's body pierced by a wood jutsu. Blood-soaked branches had torn through flesh and clothes from within, and his body had been twisted into something grotesque.

Everything went red.

Vision.

Thoughts.

Smell.

Taste.

Hearing.

Touch.

The world was red, and there was no more.

A/N A sort of dystrophy-AU..?

And yes, the part where Minato shouts 'STOP!' is taken from the manga - a memory Kakashi has just before they clash. As is his thoughts of Naruto. I don't remember how it is exactly in the anime, though.

Thank you for reading and please review! :) I'd love to hear what you think.

UPDATE- A Chinese translation by kelakair is now avaliable! Look in my profil for links. :)