Tobi groaned as he awoke. The cot he had apparently been sleeping on wasn't all that comfortable. There was someone with pink eyes and messy gray hair standing over him looking both fearful and concerned. Crap. He was in Kirigakure. Again. And, he'd apparently crashed at the Mizukage Tower again. He honestly didn't know why the Yondaime Mizukage allowed him to sleep on a cot in his office.
"Um Mizukage-sama, you wouldn't happen to know where my stuff is?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
The Mizukage nervously pointed to a small pile of charred and blackened objects.
He went over to the pile. From the looks of it someone had burned his favorite orange mask which he'd recently started wearing more often after Naruto had accidentally broken the red and white one along with just about everything else he'd remembered having on his person. There was a small pile of slag that he assumed was the metal plate from his hitai-ate as well as the ashes of his clothes and supplies. Next to the pile was a note. He picked it up and read it.
Tobi,
Now that I know you exist, you won't for very much longer.
Madara
Had he been a younger man, he probably would have been more disturbed by the death threat from this Madara person. He'd lived a long and full life however - even if bits of it were missing - and was just about ready to see what lay in the Great Beyond.
He had come to Konoha's gates with a case of amnesia long ago. The Nidaime had kindly taken him in, and had inducted him into the ninja forces during the First Shinobi War when he'd discovered his talent and abilities. When the war had ended, he had settled down in the Uchiha district, married a wonderful woman, and raised six children with her. It wasn't all sunshine and roses especially considering his career and the Second War, but he had been reasonably content.
He had retired long ago so he could spend his golden years doting on his grandchildren, rather than wading through blood. It had been after his retirement and his darling Aiko's death that the strangeness had started. He'd always felt slightly strange, and had always had questions about his past, and why the Nidaime always looked at him rather strangely every time he was in his presence. But, instead of a pervasive feeling that something was just the tiniest bit off as usual, he was finding himself in the most unusual places with absolutely no memory as to how he had gotten there, such as when he'd woken up badly injured several miles from Konoha the morning after the Kyuubi attack.
This threat was just another part of the strangeness that was his life after retirement, and he would deal with it when this Madara person finally decided to make his or her presence known. He couldn't afford to be hanging around Kirigakure waiting for this Madara fellow to show up however, especially since he had come out of retirement and currently had responsibilities, namely the care, feeding, and training of one Uzumaki Naruto who held the job his mother had had before him and the Shodai Hokage's wife had had before her, Kyuubi Jinchurriki.
He wondered how he would make it up to the boy for being gone for who knew how long. He'd once gone back to Konoha to learn that he'd been gone for over a year, and that everyone had thought he was dead. Perhaps he'd bring the boy some sort of souvenir.
He left the Mizukage's office, wondering why the man timidly trailed behind him, and made his way to one of those tourist traps that spring up in every shinobi village in order to further fleece any clients that might drop by on the way home. He ended up picking up several small objects a six year-old might appreciate, along with a "Genuine Kirigakure kunai" that looked like it belonged in the trash rather than on sale. When he reached the counter, he reached for the inner pocket where he usually kept his wallet and ID and found that it wasn't there since he was wearing someone else's clothing. He patted himself down in case the person who had dressed him had put them in another pocket, to no avail.
Great. Just great.
"Don't tell me that bastard also burned my wallet!" he groaned.
He felt a light tap on his shoulder and whirled around to face his potential attacker.
"H-here." the Mizukage said as he held out a large amount of cash.
He took the money, paid for the stuff, and got out of Kirigakure as quick as he could. He didn't know what the hell he'd done to frighten the Mizukage that badly, and honestly, he wasn't sure he wanted to know. He just hoped that word of his actions here didn't get home before he did.
