Author's note: Hi there, it's me again! I know I said I was going to wait a while before doing another story, but my muse said another thing so, here we are! I do hope you like the premise of the story, even if some things seem off at first. Rest assured, everything will come together in due time! My other stories are still going to be worked on as well as this one!

So sit back, relax and enjoy the first chapter of Comatose!

Oh, and spoilers for Chapter 687 of Naruto in the first part. I take no credit for Kishimoto's work.

Chapter 1: Waking up

"Thank you, Naruto," Obito said truthfully, his breath exiting his mouth laboriously in conjecture with the numbing pain running throughout his body. He stood between Kaguya, the woman who had manipulated her way into being unsealed from her celestial prison, and Naruto, the child of prophecy and the boy, no man, who helped open his eyes after years of darkness.

For nearly twenty years, Obito carved a bloody path in the shinobi world, all for the sake of an impossible ambition. Yes, he realized now that Project Tsuki no Mei, manipulated by Kaguya or not, was an impossibility. That perfect world Madara spoke of when Obito was still a naive thirteen year old, one without pain and suffering, one of only peace and love, couldn't be. But at the time, it was everything to Obito. If he couldn't be Hokage, then he could do something better. He could bring peace to a blood stained and war torn world, the world that tore away the light of his life.

Rin...

She was the first person who ever shown him genuine kindness. Not the kind gratitude he received daily from the elders of the village after assisting them, but from a heart so pure that the sun paled in comparison to the light it emitted. That was what Rin had been to him. Eventually, Kakashi and Minato-sensei would join Rin as the lights that illuminated his slowly darkening world. They'd become so important to him that he sacrificed his life for them, giving Kakashi his Sharingan so that he could still be there for Kakashi through his eye. He was supposed to have died that day, but fate would throw him another curve ball and land him in the hands of the very person who made him who he was.

It hasn't been so bad in the beginning, though he could have done without the two white Zetsus annoying him at every turn. Sure, Madara was a grouchy old man who seemed to spout nonsense most of the time, but the elder Uchiha was a good listener at times and told intriguing stories about the times before Konoha and the other villages were established. As time passed, Obito even began to look up to Madara.

But all good things must come to an end.

"Fight together with you, I feel that I've somehow woken up." As his body began to crumble, the strain from having the Jubi ripped out of him, and the fight with Kaguya taking its toll on Obito's physical form, he found himself reminiscing the night where everything changed for him.

When Rin died at the hands of someone he considered a brother, their sensei absent from the battlefield, like that time, it was as if the sun had been removed from Obito's world. The war, the things he witnessed, his shunning from the clan he idolized, continuous failure, a failed dream and the loss of the only person he ever felt deep love for, everything came crashing down before his eyes. Nothing else matter anymore.

The day Rin died was the day Obito lost all hope in others, in the world where blood tainted innocence and despair reigned supreme. A world without Rin's light became his Hell.

So he fell to his clan's Curse of Hatred and strove for that world of dreams. A world where Rin lived in.

It was all for naught.

"It's like, when I look at you, I see myself as I was long ago, and it makes me regret the way I am now." Obito paused, then a genuine smiled graced his lips. "But even so, more than anything, I feel happy."

In the end, all his planning, and all that work meant nothing in the face of a boy so much like him, but a boy who never strayed from his path. Even when he became a god as the Jubi jinchuuriki, he was powerless to the words spoken by Naruto Uzumaki.

"Long ago, back when I was a kid, I used to imagine over and over in my head about becoming Hokage. Excitement, anxiety and countless other feelings I can't even put into words, I suppose you made me remember all of that."

His thoughts drifted to the past, to the friends and comrades he bonded with before that fateful mission, and Obito realized too late that he could have made it passed Rin's death with them by his side. They would have supported him through tough times and even more when he succeeded in becoming Hokage. It seems he was still the same naive idiot, after all.

"Back in the village, surrounded by friends and comrades with me as Hokage. It may be too late, but just imagining all that, I feel the hole in my heart starting to fill."

Obito couldn't help but let out a small laugh, his body continuing to turn to ash and a sense of exhaustion hitting him.

"It's probably because it's the end that my mouth has suddenly run away with me."

Rin's words to him after he wounded his hand entered his mind. Now, he realized, Rin had been watching him from above the entire time. She had seen hums become worse than trash, and yet, she still continued to watch over him.

"From here on, you'll undoubtedly still have more pain and tragedy to face. But, I'm sure with that unchanging ninja way of yours, you'll see it through. At some point, you told me, "Following my own words straight ahead, unwavering, that's my ninja way!" wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Came the hitched reply.

Obito didn't need to turn around to know that both Naruto and Kakashi were being moved by his words. Perhaps, he thought whimsically, Naruto had a much bigger influence on him that he thought.

"Naruto," The once fallen Uchiha looked back at the boy who he was certain would achieve his, no, their dream. "I know you will become Hokage."

He couldn't hold on anymore and the last thing Obito saw before he succumb to the blissful darkness was Naruto's tearful affirmative, his hand reaching out to his crumbling form.

Obito wasn't too familiar with the construct of the afterlife, but this certainly wasn't what he expected once he became aware of his surroundings. His vision wasn't clear, everything was blury, but he could feel himself in a cramped space, and underwater, strangely enough, judging from the muffled sensation in his ear. In fact, the only thing he could clearly hear was a thumping noise. It sounded like someone steadily beating on a large drum, which oddly brought him some sort of comfort.

However, anxiety began to settle as Obito realized that he was unable to control any of his motor functions. His attempts at getting up from his current fetal position to more thoroughly calculate his surroundings proved futile as he only ended up shifting slightly.

What the heck was going on? Where was he? Why wasn't he with Rin, Kushina-nee, or Minato-sensei? All these questions and more ran through Obito's mind, but he was unable to ponder anymore as fatigue hit him and he was soon fast asleep.

For what seemed like an eternity, Obito shifted between consciousness and unconsciousness, some conscious periods longer than others. At one point, Obito realized that he wasn't exactly alone. He woke up to hear...talking, he presumed. It was hard to tell in his underwater area, really, and the barrier which kept him in some sort of suspended animation didn't help. He listened intently and came to the conclusion that the garbling was directed at him. From what he could gather, the voice was deep and warm, and Obito felt a sense of fondness, of...love flutter within his chest.

But why? He didn't know who this person was and for all her knew, this stranger could be the one who put him here in the first place!

Suddenly, Obito felt something poke him. Irritation and curiosity got the better of him, so he managed to reach out with an arm and swat at the spot where he had been poked. Second later, he felt another poke somewhere around his legs were, so he reciprocated the action with a weak lick. Another poke came moments later, and Obito couldn't help but poke back.

This back and forth game continued on for minutes, causing the most entertainment Obito felt in what seemed like forever, and it only increased the foreign feelings of love in Obito's heart. When the game stopped, the garbling returned, only with a softer and more melodic tone, if that made sense. It lulled him into a comfortable sleep soon after.

Another length of time passed much like before, except he would interact with the unknown individual beyond the barrier every now and then through their little games, unintentionally bonding even more with the mysterious stranger. Many times, he would listen to the stranger's garbles, another thing that strangely gave him comfort. Sometimes, a second voice would join in, a lighter and much more jovial one than the one he grew accustomed to.

He decided he liked this voice very much, even though every kind of instinct told him to be weary of these strangers.

Obito noticed that, as time passed, the space he occupied was beginning to grow rather cramped until he literally had no room to move his now stronger, albeit still clumsy, limbs. It was very uncomfortable, and he made his irritation known to his captor through constant squirming and flailing his limbs within the limited area.

Just as Obito thought he was going to lose what remained of his sanity, everything erupted into chaos. The space that had been his home for that extended time period began to contract, first at irregular intervals before frequenting more often until is was every minute and Obito felt himself begin to panic. Slowly, he felt himself being moved head first through a narrow passageway, one where he could hardly breathe in. Fortunately, his body took mercy on him for he blacked out during the rest of his "trip" through the tunnel.

Obito was forced back into consciousness as he seemed to breech through the other side of the tunnel, breathing in fresh air for the first time in a long time. Everything was so bright and loud, the slightest bit of noise the equivalent to nails on a chalk board. Like in his previous confinement, his vision was blurred, so everything appeared to be blobs on matter and he was unable to make out any sort of color other than bright white and occasional black. He could hear wailing close to where he was though, and it would be a little while before he realized that the wailing was coming from him in his new...body.

Giant arms cradled him gently, a single finger, he concluded, stroking his cheek with a certain tenderness he had not felt at any point in his life. Tired from his ordeal, Obito made himself comfortable and slept in the arms of a...not complete stranger before he could ponder much else.

Just like his time in that unknown space, Obito spent a while shifting to and from consciousness. He wasn't able to gather much during these periods as his vision was still blurry and his ears weren't exactly ready for focused hearing. On top of that, he couldn't access his chakra to help him. This bothered him greatly, however, all he could do was bide his time until his body caught up with his mind.

One day, a while after being forced out of the confining space, Obito found out exactly wheat was going on, along with another tidbit that disturbed him to no end.

He awoke from another bout of sleep to find everything was surprisingly clear. No blurred vision, no nails on a chalkboard tenderness, it was a relief. However, the elation faded as he took notice of his surroundings. Everything was huge, bigger than he ever remembered a room being. 'Curious,' Obito mused as he attempted to move his body. No dice, and Obito was no longer pleased at this point. What the hell was wrong with his body?!

Obito received his answer when he clumsily managed to lift an arm and was met with the vision of a small, pudgy hand. His eyes widened and realization settled in all at once. The confined space, the narrow passage, the restricted motor functions and senses, those periods of unconsciousness, it all made sense, even if it made no sense at all!

Somehow he, Obito Uchiha, instead of reuniting with his lost loved ones or being sent to hell for his crimes, had been reborn. He was, once again, alive and inhabited the body of an infant.

This wasn't supposed to happen! He was supposed to be dead! He was supposed to be with Rin and Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee! He didn't want to be alive again, not after everything that happened before! Maybe this was his punishment, to live yet another life of failure and loss, to live in a hellish world again. Some god out there had a sick sense of humor, in his opinion.

Upset as he was, his new body and childish instincts acted accordingly, and he unwillingly began to sob.

Apparently, he had been heard for footsteps approached him and a tall figure stood over what appeared to be his crib. Obito managed to quiet his sobs down to whimpering in order to better assess this stranger, though his new instincts caused his body to completely relax in this person's presence. The darkness of the room obscured this person's features, but Obito could make out the long, spiky hair and a broadness that revealed the individual's gender to be male. For some reason, he seemed familiar to Obito, but he couldn't put his finger on it. At least, until the male spoke up.

It was a deep, rich and warm voice, but Obito recognized his anywhere, not only as the garbling he grew accustomed to in the...womb apparently, but as the voice of someone he once looked up to and now entirely despised.

"Shh...it's alright, Obito. Don't cry. I'm here now..."

This person cradling him, alive, well and...younger, was none other than Madara Uchiha.

Had he been an adult, Obito would have handled this situation with a little more refinement. But he was not an adult at the moment, and the revelation to the fact that he was somehow reborn as his once hated ally's son was not something he was equipped to handle. So, Obito did the only thing his new infant condition would allow him to, promptly bursting out wailing.

Author's note: And that's it! It's an Obito centric story with a HashiMada pairing. For those of you wondering, it is an M-preg, though that's only for this chapter and the chapter after and there is a really good explanation as to how everything happened.

For those who want to know, check out my good friend, HeartofPureSilver's story, Three Words, which is also a HashiMada M-preg fic.

No flames as they will be used both to fuel Madara's Majestic flame destroyer and to make delicious s'mores!

Have a nice day and I look forward to some feedback!