Chapter 2
-Third Shinobi War: Assault on Kannabi Bridge (Continued)—
Hot onto Rin's scent, the Kusa team was racing through the dense foliage to reach the Minato's team before anything happened. They continued uninterrupted until they heard the explosion. Thinking fast, Wani quickly dropped to the ground, removing his gloves, revealing his hands. Hands which displayed dark green scales across the face of his hand which shimmered in the light as though it was wet, while his palm in comparison was pale beige and slightly ribbed. If one were to feel his hands they would find them remarkably dry and his palms surprisingly soft. He placed his hand to the ground, focussing intently for any disturbance. It took a few seconds, but he could feel them, small vibrations that gently rattled the earth, undetectable by human means, but, then again, Wani wasn't exactly human. He hailed from the Haruchuri clan of Aizawagakure, an old clan, rumoured to be older than the Uchiha or Senju clans. They were said to have evolved from the creatures that dwelled in the swamp to mimic the dominant species, at least, that's what the villagers said. But in reality it was merely a Kekkai Genkai, granting its members the traits of Reptiles, although varying in degree and species for each clan member, there were key traits shared between each member of the clan, allowing them to develop into specialist tracker and stealth shinobi. By using his hand, and the very sensitive sensors in his skin, he was able to detect the distance and direction of any vibration. It was in use of this technique he was able to pinpoint where the explosion originated, and most likely, the location of Team Minato.
"They're 2 miles North-West of our location, by the feel of things; it seems like the party's already started, but if we hurry we can get there before anything serious happens"
The two kunoichi nodded in agreement and followed his lead.
-o-o-o-o-o-
The dust had finally cleared in the cave, or more precisely, what was left of it. Half of the ceiling had being rigged with explosive kunai, bringing down the rock and allowing light to spill into the chamber. Finally Rin was allowed to see her place of captivity. Her eyes roamed the wreckage as she instinctively hugged her body to keep warm. Kakashi was in the clear, none of the rocks near him had being rigged, the Iwa Shinobi had being crushed instantly, and Obito… Obito was there, but his lower half was trapped under the rocks. Rin clambered to her feet, ignoring the pain as she ran over to Obito's side.
"Obito-kun" she whispered tentatively, fearing she may never get a response. His eyes flickered open and he turned his head and smiled
"I got him good, didn't I?"
"Oh O-Obito-kun" She hung her head, gripping his jacket as she tried to stem the tears
"R-rin-chan, its okay," He tried to reassure her "There's something I want you to do"
He coughed slightly, tasting blood in his mouth.
"What is it Obito-kun?"
"Kakashi" He stated, "He lost one of his eyes in the fight, and I want you to give him mine"
"Wh-" But she was cut off as Obito explained
"Rin-chan, I'm scared. Scared that I might not make it."
"Don't speak like that idiot"
"Listen, I'm serious. There's a good chance I'm right. If so, I want to help Kakashi. I don't want him to be handicapped the rest of life, if I can help him, I will"
"But why?" Rin pleaded
"Because in some small way, I will be always protecting you, even after I'm gone"
"…" Rin was speechless; she had no answer, no retort for Obito's statement
"I need you to promise Rin-chan, promise you'll do this. For me"
"I will" The tears were running freely, seeing no need to hide them from her dying friend. Her body froze as she felt soft fingers caress her face, wiping away her tears.
"Don't cry Rin-chan, tears don't suit you" His hand then rested on her cheek as he brought his head up and gently kissed her lips. After what seemed like an eternity, he pulled away, a small smile on his face. "I love you Rin-chan, I always have. I just wanted you to know before..." But he never finished as he slipped away from consciousness.
Rin was still, unmoving, the confession replaying in her head. Her face locked in an emotionless stare as she began to diligently make the procedures for the eye transplant, bring Kakashi over to Obito to make it easier. Taking small relief that Obito's pulse still remained, though notably weaker. The operation was quick and clean through practice and experience. A bandage was fashioned out of fabric from Obito's jacket to cover his empty socket.
-o-o-o-o-o-
That was how the Kusa team found Team Minato, Rin kneeling down over Kakashi and Obito, Obito still trapped under the debris. Michiyo was the first to react, as she swept down and began diagnosing Obito. Her hand gained a green glow as she hovered over his body. She stopped at his waist; and with an earth jutsu, cleared the stone and continued. She brought her hand to her mouth as she gasped. "His legs, their completely broken, I don't even recognise the pieces. This is far too advanced for me to heal. I can stabilise him, but if we can't get him to Tsunade-sama soon, he'll lose his legs."
Izanami rummaged in the pouch on her leg, and pulled out a small scroll. She unrolled it on the floor to reveal a seal for the Hiraishin; next to it another seal. She bit her thumb and smeared the blood onto the smaller seal, causing the Hiraishin seal to glow. Moments later the group was joined by none other than Minato Namikaze, albeit about 20 foot in the air, to which gravity took its course, causing said shinobi fall ungracefully to the floor.
"Oww dammit, it's still not right yet" All conscious shinobi present sweat dropped at his entrance. He got up and dusted himself down.
"So what can I do for you Izanami?" His ever cheerful expression turned to the Kusa kunoichi
"It's Obito, you need to get him to Tsunade-sama now" Minato's expression darkened
"What happened?"
"There's no time, he needs to go now" Minato nodded, he gingerly picked up his student.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you Obito-kun" He whispered to the unconscious boy "HIRAISHIN"
-Konoha Gates: 1 week later—
Rin and Kakashi, now recovered, had been escorted back to Konoha by the Kusa team. Rin's burns had been partially healed by Michiyo, and for what couldn't be healed by ninjutsu, was done by the burn ointment in Michiyo's medical scroll. Kakashi was fairing only slightly better, with his only real injury being his left eye. As Michiyo checked his wounds, she praised Rin's skills in the eye transplant, commenting she couldn't have done a better job herself, earning a blush from the young kunoichi. The only problem Kakashi had found was that the sharingan eye wouldn't deactivate and began to cause him a large amount of pain with prolonged usage, so he'd taken to wearing his headband at an angle so that it covered the eye, preventing it from working.
Conversations were light rarely lasted, not that there was nothing to talk about, just that the one topic one all their minds was one they didn't want to approach. Obito. In general, everyone was just hoping he was okay. But for the lone Kunoichi of team Minato, the thought of Obito was on her mind constantly, she kept replaying his confession, and the kiss, despite being brief and chaste, belayed his honesty in his feelings towards her.
His confession had caused her to evaluate what she really thought about her knucklehead teammate. Sure he could be annoying and loud at times, but he always went out of his way to make sure she was okay, and never failed to bring a smile to her face, at his expense or not. He was kind, generous and wanted to be friends with everyone he met. Over time she'd admit he'd become one of her dearest friends, and couldn't imagine a world without him in it. But she wasn't sure her feelings for him, were as strong as his feelings for her. She was adamant that when they got back to Konoha she would give this relationship a chance, and see where it took them. Little did she know how far it would take them.
-o-o-o-o-o-
It had being tumultuous return for the remaining two-thirds of Team Minato, their first port of call had been the Hospital, where they found Obito under the care of Tsunade. She was quick to reassure the young ninja that Obito was fine, but he needed time to recover from the surgery. During his recovery, Rin never left his bedside, often talking to the unresponsive shinobi, although that kind of behaviour wasn't unusual in the hospital. Unfortunately, all wouldn't remain peaceful for the village of Konoha. Shortly after Obito's arrival, a clan representative visited his bedside to discover that one of his sharingan eyes was missing. News soon reached Fugaku, the Uchiha clan head, who made the executive decision to banish Obito from the Uchiha clan compound for allowing a non Uchiha to gain the power of the Sharingan. The Third Hokage was furious at Fugaku's decision and reasoning, but was unable to do anything about it due to falling under 'Clan Matters' policy of the shinobi council. He could however help the still hospital-bound Obito and secured him an apartment close to the Hatake's, so he wouldn't be far from those who could care for him.
As Obito recovered, he was first told of what had happened with the Uchiha clan during his recovery. He took the news better than most, being an orphan within the clan, he had no family he would miss, but it still hurt to be banished. Thankfully he had his friends and their families to look out for him and he gradually settled into his new life.
-Kyuubi Attack—
It was a disaster, all the careful preparation and planning for this day had gone south. They knew that when it was time for Kushina to give the birth seal would weaken, so to prevent the Kyuubi from escaping, a complex seal array had been set up to help contain the demon. But something went wrong. Jiraiya could only gaze upon the destruction brought by the 9-tailed, as it did battle with his greatest student and toad boss.
As the battle raged on, he reflected on what he knew had happened. In the secure, undisclosed location that Kushina was taken to, she was to be protected by the Sandaime, his wife, and Kushina's best friend, Izanami from Kusagakure, and the rumoured shoe-in as its next kage. Jiraiya had unfortunately been unable to attend the birth of his godson as he was… preoccupied, but he was shaken from his perverted activities by a sudden burst in demonic chakra.
'No no no no. This shouldn't be happening" In his haste he dropped his notepad and began leaping towards the source.
(The Kyuubi attack happens exactly as it does in canon, so I won't write it again)
Jiraiya arrived upon a scene of utmost despair, buildings were smoking, and bodies lay strewn across the streets. He steeled himself as he travelled through the village, blinding himself from the pain, focusing on finding Kushina.
He picked up her faint chakra signature on the outskirts of the village by the Namikaze residence. But what worried him more was that he couldn't sense Minato anywhere, or the Kyuubi for that matter.
-o-o-o-o-o-
Kushina lay on the bed, as her life was slowly draining away from her. The stress of giving birth and the unsealing of the Kyuubi had just been too much. Rin was frantically running through diagnoses and medical ninjutsu to help Kushina through the ordeal, but to no avail.
"Come on Kushina, you can get through this. I did, and I had twins" She exclaimed. After the ordeal with the Uchiha Clan, Rin had confronted a very embarrassed Obito about his confession, and agreed to go on a date with him. Three years later Rin discovered she was pregnant with Obito's children and demanded, rather forcibly, that they get married. It was later that year, with Tsunade's help, that she gave birth to fraternal twins, Amami and Arashi, and she'd never been happier.
Izanami knelt by Kushina's side, sobbing, not wanting to lose her best friend.
"Please, please please don't go" Kushina weakly reached out and placed her hand on top of Izanami's
"Izanami, I need, I need you to promise me something" she struggled to form the words as she was drawing near
"Anything, anything Kushina" She wiped the tears from her eyes and refocused her gaze into Kushina's own
"I, I want you to look after Naruto for me, I want you to take him to your village where he will be free from prejudice"
"But what about Minato-kun? Surely he'll want to raise his son? Wait, what do you mean prejudice?"
"The Kyuubi, it's a demon. It's immortal, nothing can destroy it. The only way to stop it would be to seal it again"
"But what's that got to do with…" A look of realisation broke her melancholy expression, which quickly shifted to anger "No, he's not going to use that jutsu is he?"
Kushina just smiled at her friend "It's the only way, at least this way I know my son will have the power to protect himself and his precious people, and that he'll have the best mother I could hope for" Izanami felt fresh tears well in her eyes at her friends declaration
"I promise I'll do my best, and I'll make sure he knows exactly who his parents are" As she choked back a sob
Kushina let a smaller smile grace her face as she closed her eyes "That's all I could hope for, and I know that my husband will soon be joining me" And with that final breathe; Kushina Uzumaki ceased to be among the land of the living.
-o-o-o-o-o-
"I don't care what you say; I'm taking him back to Kusagakure with me."
"Now Izanami, I know he's your godson but…" And that was as far as Sarutobi could get before he was cut off by the irate woman
"But nothing, even if Kushina hadn't asked me to do this for her, I still would, you of all people will know how he will be treated by the village. I can't let that happen to him" The Hokage was about to interrupt her but she soldiered on "Even if you protected him, he'd still be ostracised, feared for the burden he carries"
It was then that the old warhawk Danzo decided to add his thoughts "Regardless, the boy is a child of Konoha shinobi, he belongs to this village, and we can't allow losing such power"
Izanami quickly turned on him "I will never let you turn him into a weapon, he's just a baby. He deserves a family and friends, not a cruel life of pain no emotion"
The Hokage sighed in resignation; there was no way she was going to leave without him. "Danzo, please leave me with Izanami"
"But Lord Hokage…" He protested
"I said leave, don't make me call the Anbu" The look on face showed his comrade that he was truly serious, and to not be tested
"As you wish" He settled one last glare on the kunoichi and left. The Hokage resettled his gaze on her and began.
"I will allow you to take Naruto with you to raise him" Her face brightened up for the first time in days "But, I have a few conditions"
"What are they?" She was slightly worried at what he may ask of her.
"Naruto should be allowed regular visits from Jiraiya, so he check on the boy's wellbeing and the stability of the seal, and when he is ready, I wish for Naruto to take part in the Chunin exams in Konoha"
"As you wish Lord Hokage" She stood and made her way to leave
"Oh, and before you go, I would like Jiraiya to have a look at the seal and its contents, just to be safe"
-Uchiha Clan Massacre – Aftermath—
The Third Hokage sighed, he was getting too old for this, he'd just helped prevent a village revolt, which would have resulted in many casualties and deaths throughout the village, and had to deal with the cover-up of the perpetrator of the 'purge' to become a missing nin. Unfortunately for the Hokage, as per terms of Itachi's agreement to the task, he was allowed to spare the life of his younger brother. This was the current problem he had to deal with, what to do with the boy, he couldn't leave him to his own devices… His train of thought was interrupted by a tentative knock at his door.
"Come in" The door opened to reveal Obito "Ah welcome Obito-kun, I assume you've heard?"
"I have Hokage-sama, and I've come to make a request"
"I'm listening" The elderly Kage motioned for Obito to sit. He regarded the young man before him, he had changed so much from his genin days, his loud outspoken persona had been mellowed out to show a mature young man sure of himself and the world. Most of his change was likely due to Rin's influence, and of course raising twins was no easy feat itself. His physical appearance remained unchanged for the most part, he wore a larger, more form-fitting version of his outfit from his younger days. His face had lost its baby fat, becoming more defined and handsome, a layer of stubble graced his face. Gone were the orange lens goggles, replace instead with a plain black eye patch that covered his left eye socket. His hair was as untamed as ever, and unlikely to change any time soon. His attention was brought back to the conversation at hand as Obito spoke.
"I wish to adopt Sasuke Uchiha" The Hokage contemplated the statement, evaluating the man before him,
"May I ask why the interest, if I recall correctly, after the banishment you distanced yourself away from all Uchiha affairs"
"I don't want him to be like Kakashi, after Kakashi's father died he grew distant and cold, he buries himself in his work for Anbu and his books. I'm afraid if left to his own devices he'll fixate onto something and will become so ingrained he may never be able to live a normal life. As much as I loath to admit it, Sasuke is family, and I want him to grow up in a happy family, with people who'll love and care for him, not pamper him because of his status. Rin is more than happy with the idea, and I'm sure little Amami and Arashi will love to have another brother to play with. So please Hokage, if you haven't already decided, I wish to Adopt Sasuke Uchiha"
"Well," the Hokage chuckled, surprising the man before him "You appear to have arrived at a most opportune time, as I was just contemplating this matter myself. And I must say, despite myself, I cannot think of a much better solution to this than the one you've presented. Therefore I grant you and Rin adoptive parentship of Sasuke Uchiha, but it won't be official for a couple of weeks"
"Thank you Hokage-sama"
A/N – Much longer than first chapter because I integrated content from V1 into this. I apologise if people don't like the skipping over Rin and Obito's blossoming relationship, but I didn't want to drag It out any longer and actually get into the main story. As always Read and Review, and offer constructive criticism.
Translations:
Aizawagakure – Village Hidden In the Swamp
Haruchuri - Reptile
