Gift Expansion (Originally one shot by Margan) Prologue
Summary: AU In a strange event of time travel, Obito has a chance to make sure Kakashi lives. And no matter what, Obito will make sure that this time, team 7, with or without him,will live, no matter what it takes. With permission, expansion of Gift, by Margan (terrorofthehighway).
PROLOGUE
Rin was already surgically removing his eye, and it hurt, but all Obito could think of was Kakashi, genius Kakashi who would become so great, and how great he would be with the sharingan-
His whole head spun, and something was wrong (because all he could feel was pain, pain, pain, his body was cold and burning like he had a fever) because Obito couldn't understand how the sunken field where he was given a second (impossible) chance to turn things right had disappeared to brown wooden floors and a heartbreakingly familiar room.
There was fruit on a familiar table counter where Obito sat eons ago, poking and scratching at the marble counter. The old white lattice-edged lace that his (late) mother spent countless numbers of nights on offset the side table just so, and at the kitchen sat dozens of kitchen cutlery; cutlery he spent countless hours cleaning up as forms of punishment lifetimes ago. This was a place of forgotten memories, so long ago that he didn't know how it was possible that it still existed.
After all, the massacre happened so long ago that the place would have long been in disorder. At the edge of his vision, pinned on the kitchen wall was an old calendar. He recognized the date circled in obvious red; his own birthday, his own work at an attempt to draw attention to himself at a time when he still cared to do so.
It was so familiar that was is as if he had stepped back in time. Was this another twisted dream; another among countless others dreamt up from desperate wishes? Distant footsteps padded closer, and Obito turned around to see his dead, -pregnant mother-
He heard a weird choking noise which went on for a bit, and he didn't realize it was from him until his mother was patting his back and trying to get him to breathe. He had to stifle his automatic reaction of throwing her away from him. His mother did not hover for even a moment, "I need to go in a bit, so try to hurry alright? I can't take you to your first day at the Academy. The Academy is going to start soon, so you'll have to hurry to make it in time," and her feet took quick steps towards the kitchen. The slight bump on her belly only added to the surrealism of the scene.
And Obito was a veteran in a child's body; it was child's play to see that the tone of her voice only suggested that he please get out (of her sight) quickly, that her body language screamed annoyance, exasperation. How sad it was, that even at age six (and funny that) he was already the black sheep among white at age six. At that age, he had been unbearably loud and-
He also realized that he had stopped caring long ago, and wasn't that weird, that one of the things he craved so much long ago no longer mattered?
No, it wasn't. He was a shinobi, and he had been in ANBU so long that the only thing he regretted was not being able to save Kakashi, but… (If this was what he thought it was then)… Kakashi was, is still alive. Sensei and Rin were, are alive as well. He knew it wasn't a genjutsu (because his red eyes affirmed that) and that it was not a dream (because his brief choking assured him of that). If it was neither a dream nor an illusion, then it could only mean that he had another chance, and it would be for the best, that he left them alone (leave sensei and Rin alone, and Kakashi, who would no longer have a reason to sacrifice himself). Kakashi was alive, and there would no longer a need for another genius. (He was a poor substitute anyway.)
All that was left was a rather bitter taste in his mouth at the thought of going back to plain old, loser Obito. He didn't know if he could do it either. He was (a glance at the calendar,) six and it was wartime. Nearing wartime, he corrected himself. He also had no idea how to interact with children this age anymore. (He didn't know how to interact with people in society, period.)
The sound of footsteps coming out of the kitchen startled him, and with long-practiced ease, he slipped soundlessly out the open window. High up in the branches of the large oak tree, he heard the mutterings of his (dead) mother, "… What to… That child…," and turning, he saw a man with an orange mask and one eye hole beside him (and his mind chided himself for not noticing; foolish, such a mistake could get him killed). Obito didn't remember such a man from before, and he had to wrack his brains for any kind of memory.
All the while, the man was staring at him with a curious air about him.
"What is your name, boy?" a light voice queried, and Obito almost snapped to attention because the man had power behind his voice. The abrupt half-straightening of his posture did not escape the man's notice and he seemed to be grinning behind his mask. Obito still didn't speak (because he hadn't spoken for a long time, and he did not feel the need for his first words in the past to be for a stranger. At this, his mind broke a bit more, because what would he do in the past? What would he be?).
Madara had only just landed on the branch when a young boy who didn't even look to be in the academy appeared soundlessly beside him. The boy didn't seem to notice him, but that was to be expected. Madara would have decades of experience on any young child; this one being no exception. Nevertheless, he was impressed. Shocked and impressed. He hadn't met a shinobi in the past decades yet that could startle him, and for such a young child… he grinned underneath his mask.
He allowed his single visible eye evolve into eternal mangekyou sharingan, and to his shock, the boy's eyes immediately followed to reveal the sharingan, and then the tomoe into a three-point pinwheel. There was a boom and a crack, and the ground beneath them opened to swallow them. Both jumping off, the boy's eye warped again.
Madara saw a pair of red eyes as his head collided with something hard behind him, and for the first time in decades, almost knocked him out. He snarled, quickly getting back up, head physically pounding.
Obito shakily released a breath. This man wasn't normal; Obito had pushed forward a reverse-gravity seal and pulled up the earth with a doton jutsu while the man had been distracted by the earth opening, ramming his head back to the steel-enforced wall, and yet he was still up. Obito hadn't been reduced to such a state in the longest time. (Perhaps being in a child's body did that. But how did he even have this much chakra contained in this body? He'd think of the consequences of time travel later, not to mention how time travel had occurred.)
Not a moment later Obito was slammed back against the wall of the compound, and his small hands grasped desperately at the choking grip around his throat. There was a sort of creeping insanity in the way the man spoke followed by horrifyingly intense killing intent (and wasn't that strange, in his decades as a shinobi, to never have met such terrifying killing intent) that pushed down on Obito, and Obito shuddered in the man's grip.
"Let me tell you boy, that this is the first time in decades that someone, somehow, has managed to touch me. Aren't you excited? Such potential, and I can help you," the man purred his words darkly, sending shivers down Obito's spine. The dark note of insanity only worsened the situation, and then the man dragged him inside his living quarters of the compound as the walls burst into black flames, licking eagerly at the wooden compound.
Obito half believed this was a dream again, but the pain of sharp nails digging deep into his collar bone convinced him otherwise. The man dragged him across the wooden polished floors, towards his mother who was standing, frozen in the kitchen as the terrifying black flames leered at them. The whole space was already crowded with smoke, making it hard to breathe. She looked terrified (for her unborn child?) and the killing intent pounded in their heads, making them both falter. The man threw Obito across the kitchen, high against the wall where no black fire flickered.
Obito groaned quietly as he slid down from the cracks in the wall, the calendar long having burnt to crisp near him. His mother screamed as the man pushed his whole hand in a deceptively gentle manner through her stomach. She thrashed and moaned in his unforgiving grip, hands scrabbling uselessly around her unborn, murdered child. The man laughed; a crazy sound that seemed to echo and pound in his ears like war drums.
Obito had long since stopped caring for his(no longer his) clan, but to see his mother and his unborn sibling (regardless of the fact that the woman would have miscarried anyway) so cruelly murdered; it had been a long time since his stomach twisted so uncomfortably. It was horrifying to see; what seemed to be the fetus clutched in bloodstained fingers, dropped onto the bloody wooden panels with a loud squelch. Obito's stomach lurched again. The woman (his dead mother) was dropped unceremoniously onto the ground, and she sobbed pitifully (for what? Her dead baby? Herself?).
The man gave another insane laugh, and then his long strides carried him over to Obito, and he was dragging Obito by his hair across the floor to a closed room in a painful grip. Obito's legs, cracked by the impact (as well as three or four ribs broken), were painful, and when the man flung the door open, he barely registered a sort of confused pitiful groan.
It was to Obito's fortune, or misfortune, that he could not see the man from where he was left on the ground face down.
Madara pulled the man (most likely the boy's father) up by his lapels and when the person's eyes immediately turned red in response to Madara's red eyes, Madara dug his eyes out. The painful scream pierced loudly in the air, and then Madara dragged the boy outside again, this time through the window.
Numerous chakra signals were approaching, and Madara hurried.
"Don't forget my boy, my name. Uchiha Madara," he hissed loudly into the boy's ear, and the boy could only groan as his body was shaken carelessly on his knees, cracked and shattered bones protesting.
When the ANBU and Uchiha police arrived onto the scene, it was to an unconscious Uchiha Obito, whose eyes were bleeding freely down his cheeks, being man-handled by a cloaked, orange masked man possessing an unrecognizable version of the sharingan in a single eye.
OBITOOBITOOBITO
"Agh-," Obito gasped, trying to clear his muddy mind. His eyes were covered in a thick sort of bandage, and Obito didn't bother trying to get it off. The voice of the (future dead) Sandaime slammed his head back into disarray, and the feel of familiar chakra (the strong white chakra, it had to be Hatake Kakashi; it could only be the teammate who was supposed to be dead but- he wasn't dead was he? And neither was Obito-) only pushed open the cracks his mind bigger.
Obito could sense the Sandaime uselessly gesturing for him to lie back as he struggled for composure. He felt the Sandaime lean forward more than anything, voice was tired and apologetic, "Obito-kun, I know this will come as a great shock, but your father and mother have been identified as dead. I had hoped to give you time to recover, but circumstances are that I need you to tell me as much as you can about this masked person as you can remember now." The Sandaime's voice was tight, and Obito had to stop himself from straightening his posture by reflex in his presence. He opened his mouth to speak, but found that nothing would come out.
"Take as much time as you need," the Sandaime said gently, hating to force the boy –barely six- to speak right after being subjected to such horrid torture. Cracked ribs and bones and torn muscles in the elbows as well as many other numerous injuries, though none fatal or permanently disabling if immediately treated, Tsunade had told him- thank the kamis' Tsunade had been right by and had been able to treat him. She didn't know what to do about the eyes though; a fact that made the Sandaime's eyebrows draw up. It appeared that the cloaked man had done something.
The Sandaime inwardly frowned in disgust and frustration. The masked nin had taken care to make sure the boy wouldn't be permanently disabled; he had only planned to hurt the boy and make sure that the boy was psychologically damaged; that much was obvious. Obito's voice drew his attention.
"H-he had the sharingan, but it wasn't normal, it wasn't- it didn't have three tomoe. It looked different." A soft breath fanned out. "He had an orange mask and the cloak he was wearing had red clouds sewn in the edges…" At this point, the poor boy was almost shaking.
"What was he doing there?" the Sandaime asked as gently as he could, trying to make his voice as soothing as he could. He didn't want to accidently trigger some sort of mental reaction; the boy was shaken up enough. The lack of sight probably shook him as well. Loathe as he did, he had to get as much information as he possibly could about the mysterious ninja from the traumatized boy.
"I was in the tree outside our part of the compound when I turned and he was right beside me- then the earth opened, and we both jumped off," Obito spoke quietly, voice cracking, "I did a doton jutsu," the Sandaime's breath stuttered in surprise, "and the back of his head hit the earth wall, but then he got right back up and then I was being choked against the compound wall," Obito's voice went near-hysterical as he described the man's supposed invulnerability, "he wasn't- he wasn't normal, he just- just went through them like paper. He dragged me back into the compound, and that was when black flames just appeared, and they were burning the walls and the air was burning-" Obito took a drag of air as if he was suffocating even now.
The Sandaime leant back in his seat to avoid frightening the boy with his anger. He had thought he was being too hopeful in thinking that the boy would remember much, but it seemed that Obito remembered quite a bit, and he was horrified and furiously helpless that the boy remembered the details of such a scarring experience so well.
"Then he threw me against the wall, and he- he…" Obito was obviously trying to keep calm, and the Sandaime had to keep himself from stopping him because every little detail was important, though he would come to regret not doing so.
"He- his hand just went through mother's stomach, and she was pregnant, and he just, he- blood… everywhere, and then he pulled- was pull- and he-" Obito moaned in pain as the Sandaime paled at Obito's words. Obito made a high-pitched keening noise, his body seizing. When the Sandaime touched his shoulder, he flinched and then dry heaved once, twice, and a third time.
Both Hokage and white-haired ANBU commander looked pale and nauseated and furious that a man would do such thing in front of a six year old boy andkilling intent leaked- which prompted the boy to blurt out, "And his killing intent- it, it felt like I was burning and drowning-"
"Rest, Obito-kun. Tell us afterwa-" the Hokage interrupted, but was interrupted by the boy's high pitched voice, "Then he dragged me into a room, but I couldn't see, and there was a scream and I think it was my father, and he dragged me out of the window with something b-bloody in his other hand," Obito rushed out, eyes going wider and wider.
"And he said not to forget his name, Uchiha Madara, even though I don't know who he is and he just-" The Hokage's eyes widened impossibly at the name.
"-And he was pushing something bloody into my eyes and it was like- it was like I was on fire and the world was burning-" Obito dry-heaved again. His eyebrows were raised upwards like he'd seen a ghost, skin pale and shivering and sweaty as if his insides were on fire.
Just then the door opened and a white-haired boy peeked in while a tall Uchiha with his sharingan on stood behind him. At the sight of a red-eyed Uchiha in black -to neither the Sandaime nor the Commander's surprise- Obito looked like he was about to have an aneurism and then he fainted.
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Obito woke up to a white ceiling riddled with senbon-point holes. He shuddered silently, wondering when he had last lost control so badly. He had been talking to the Sandaime, trying to contain everything to a minimum and make it sound less like an ANBU making a report and more like a traumatized six year old, but the feel of white chakra (from long long ago when it was still familiar) broke his mind because while logically it wasn't Kakashi (for despite all his genius, it was illogical for a seven year old to have a fully matured chakra signature with traces of white chakra), he couldn't stop feeling the regret and the fury, all mixing with the memory of twisted chakra that he let the dam flow.
He'd let his emotions run him dry. All the regret, anger, pent-up frustration, it had all poured into the report he gave. Obito thought he'd just overflowed.
Then Obito felt like he had been punched in the gut when the door opened again and a white-haired boy came in.
The (painfully) familiar white-haired boy shuffled in, handing Obito a get well arrangement of flowers. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. Sorry for making you faint," he said bluntly (and wasn't that surreal, getting an apology from Kakashi of all people?). "Tou-san and Hokage-sama say that it wasn't my fault," Kakashi continued on, "but they didn't see it."
It was obvious to both six year old boys (well, Obito six and Kakashi five, Obito remembered that Kakashi was younger) that Obito had fainted at the sight of Kakashi, not the Uchiha. Obito gave a half-smile that obviously didn't come out right as Kakashi's eyebrows knitted together. "It's fine..." He struggled to contain the pain -the overwhelming regret at seeing Kakashi, like an oppressive cloud that smothered his lungs, stealing his breath-
"Yo." A nin-dog with black and white fur nodded, leaping onto the bed beside Obito. Obito blinked at the dog (he hadn't thought that he would ever see dog summons in Konoha ever again, not when Kakashi was-) and nodded back, trying to contain the mounting hysteria (at dead Kakashi, dead sandaime, gone dog summons) when he thought he'd already let all the emotion out. But the hysteria was-
"Sakumo says to tell you that he's going on a mission again." The dog inclined his head towards Kakashi, who nodded back. "He also wants you to know that if he finds out that you've beenout after ten in the evening while he is away, he'll delay your signing the contract even later." The dog smirked.
Kakashi paled dramatically, and that was when Obito realized that his former teammate (whom he had been trying to avoid –look how well that went) wasn't wearing a mask. Oh. Kami. This was beyond surreal. Kakashi's outraged noise drew his attention. He had the most indignant look on his face, giving Obito the feeling that this wasn't the first time the White Fang had pulled this card. (It was so strange, to see Kakashi so open with his expressions. Or maybe he had always been, but the mask had blocked it.)
When Kakashi finally left (with no promises of visiting or coming back –and Obito was insanely grateful, because that meant he could continue his plan of avoiding his team without question), the dog long gone, the nurse bustled in.
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Obito stood silently in front of his class. All of his classmates stared back, equally silent.
"Alright class, Obito has started late, so please welcome him alright?" Naoki-sensei coughed out, looking like she had no idea what to do in such an awkward setting (and she probably didn't, with this only being her first year teaching).
Obito quietly walked to a back corner seat. He didn't want to be so near rowdy children. He would be likely to accidently do something he would regret. Memories of tearing people apart, striking when touched-
And then the sound of the teacher yelling at them made him straighten. Think of it as a mission- just like sneaking into a Daimyo's court -he'd done that before, no problem- and having to watch his words, be polite, keep still) for a few months. He would graduate as quickly as possible- it should be easy enough.
He had realized earlier in the weeks he was given to recover –and that was strange enough, because he had never allowed himself time to recover mentally; it was easier not to think- that time travel was strange. He had kept all of his chakra –and wasn't that suppose to be impossible? Just the tiny mass of his body should have made that feat impossible. But if jinchuuriki were to exist, they had to be adjusted to high amounts of chakra due to their tenant, so he supposed this body could adjust as well? (And he suspected that as an Uchiha, his eyes had something to do with it as well.)
Out of the corner of the eye, he saw the teacher watching him with pity in his eyes. At this point, the mysterious man –Uchiha Madara- was a secret contained to the Hokage and his ANBU Commander and himself, but the destroyed part of the compound wasn't exactly something that could be hidden from Uchiha eyes. So, most of the ninja knew about his deceased immediate relations, and his own stay in the hospital.
He loathed pity. Why did pity him? He didn't need pity, Hatake Kakas-
Oh.
He wasn't Hatake Kakashi any more (never had been, really), was he. He was Uchiha Obito. He was an orphan. He was nothing.
(He was ANBU, killer, murderer, slayer, hunter, forever nameless within an identity-less crowd.)
He was nameless.
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Obito pulled at his headband until the cloth was soft and noiseless. The rustle that came with new clothing was gone; as well as chances of alerting anyone to his presence by noise was nil. With quick motions, he situated the black goggles over his eyes and headband around his leg. The headband was ridiculously big, unlike the first time around. The metal with his village insignia was big and ill-fit for the size of his head. Did Kakashi ever have to deal with this? He had been genin since five, right? Obito couldn't remember.
Then again, Kakashi had been such a stickler for rules that he would have put it around his forehead because it was expected, regardless of the ill-fit, or otherwise.
Fifteen minutes. Obito ignored his new team mates. They weren't Kakashi, Rin, or Sensei. Why would he care? –But he wasn't going to meet his original team ever again. Did that mean he was supposed to care? He didn't. It was hard to do so. In ANBU, he had never cared about his team. They were all ninja. It wasn't his job to care for them. They all took care of themselves.
Already, he could tell from the earlier outburst that the boy –Tokito, or was it Takuto?-was going to be trouble. Probably because of Obito's age. He was six, and already genin. Had Obito been like that with Kakashi?
The annoying new boy –Takeo- reminded him too much of his own former self.
It had been weird though, looking back, -now that he wouldn't shatter, thinking of the past- whenever Kakashi had blown up at him for breaking the rules. Not anymore though. Obito-or was it Kakashi?-had stopped breaking rules decades ago.
(Geniuses, losers, dead-lasts; what was he?)
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Why was everyone staring at him? He didn't remember people staring at Kakashi when Kakashi passed his chuunin exam. This was beyond irritating. It was like a scab that itched at him and he couldn't scratch it. Everywhere he went, people came up to him, congratulated him, praised him and- and no wonder Kakashi had been such a stuck-up bastard!
Obito felt like he was going crazy. He now revelled in his anonymity as an ANBU. The missions he had taken had always required utmost security and silence. The missions had been his sanctuary. They were normal, quiet and comforting. Not this ridiculous staring, gawking, pointing. No matter. He was to be professional. Hatake Kakashi was only ever profession-
Oh. What was he now?
He was Uchiha Obito.
Six years old.
Chuunin.
Genius (cheater).
He. Was. Not. Kakashi.
(His mind screamedscreamedscreame dangerdenial what would he do as nothing?)
Uchiha Obito. Time traveler. Shinobi. What was a shinobi? A shinobi served the Hokage. The Hokage was the Sandaime. Not the Godaime, nor the Rokudaime. How strange. He hadn't served the Sandaime in decades.
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Obito stared absentmindedly at his hands. The Uchiha clan had been trying to pull him in. The Uchiha clan had nothing to do with Hatake Kakashi, but they were convinced that he should have everything to do with him. What was it with the Uchiha? He scoffed. It was not as if he was Obito-
Oh. Again, his mind registered dully, that he had mistakenly referred to himself as Hatake Kakashi. He was thankful that he had almost no contact with Hatake Kakashi, because being anywhere near him would cause much suspicion if he were to be seen responding to a name that was not his name (anymore).
OBITOOBITOOBITO
Namikaze Minato. Obito had not seen his former sensei for so long and it felt so strange to feel his chakra again, the comforting feel that he had no right to bask when; he had failed to save his sensei, had he not? And Kakashi wasn't to blame, no matter what Obito might come up with because it was Obito's fault for forcing Kakashi to sacrifice himself. And Rin. Poor poor Rin, who always got the worst end of the stick (crush dead, only teammate a loser, sensei dead), but this time, it would be different. This time, Obito would make sure it would be.
A/N: This is so strange. I actually managed to finish the first chapter. It's been on my computer for months, and now… I'm not finished with the plot yet, but I think it's best that I just leave it like this. I won't ever finish if I don't at least post this. But anyway. You all have to read Gift, by Margan to understand how Obito ended up with this mindset. This story is an expansion on the story. (Yes, I have permission from the writer, who is not actually Margan but terrorofthehighway.)
For those of you who don't wish to, I will give a brief summary:
Basically, Obito, during the Bridge Mission, had a moment of spite and/or jealousy, and hence resulted in Kakashi's death (where Obito didn't save Kakashi).
You will see elements of Gift in this story (obviously, as it is an expansion), only differing from how the time travel worked- instead of Obito going back to age 13, he returns to age six.
Un-betaed. (And what is up with this horrible format? I swear it wasn't like this when I wrote it.)
-Sevenisthemagicnumber
