AN: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this fic, like I'm so surprised it did so well. I hope you all continue to enjoy it!
Chapter 1: The Beginning of The End
Betrayal is a feeling Madara has come to know well over his many years. Has become defined by it one might say. As Konohagakure's first nukenin he hardly has any room to judge anyone who succumbs to the same temptation he did. That doesn't mean he has to show them mercy however. No, if anything, he understands the necessity of cutting down such individuals before they can wreck havoc.
Sitting in his twisted throne of rock and rubble in the deep caverns he's taken to roam when not decimating his enemies, he ponders just what to do with his own traitor. Though he technically has no proof of his suspicions, he is almost certain Obito is plotting something. The signs are subtle, but there all the same.
Where he once stood at Madara's side he becomes more distant with each day and lacks that formerly powerful belief in his eyes when Madara speaks of the world they intend to create. There are at least three occasions he can account for where the other had snuck off into the night when he though the elder Uchiha wasn't looking. He suspects its more, but he's trained his apprentice well and there's a reason why he's never been able to locate exactly where he's going during those nights.
The young man in question drags himself before Madara at that moment. Sliding his feet on the ground as he trudges into the entrance of the cave and kneels before his mentor.
Madara stares down at the younger man, expression blank and absent of any signs of his previous thoughts. "The remaining camps in the Land of Fire have been dealt with?"
Obito gives a nod. "Yes, survivors did manage to evacuate, but all of the shinobi who stayed behind to aid were cut down."
"And Uchiha Sasuke?" Madara asks.
"...He was not in any of the camps,"'Obito says. "But Haruno Sakura was, she was one of the many who stayed behind."
A please smile crosses his face, "Ah excellent, we have at least dealt with one of their major generals then. You are dismissed Obito."
He nods in response silently rising and making his way out of the cavern. No words of victory and smug declarations of their plan coming to fruition. It had been this way for awhile, but now it only grew more apparent.
"You should be excited," Obito stops in his tracks but doesn't turn his back as Madara speaks to him. His voice darkens in a warning. "Our victory is inevitable…"
He stays quiet for a few seconds before simply saying, "Yes, it truly is." Then walks out leaving Madara with a list of questions.
The most important of which being what to do with Obito. Whatever that foolish boy is planning is certainly pointless. There's not way for him to turn things around this late into the battle. Perhaps in the earlier days…
But now, the shinobi alliance is crumbling before them and they grow closer with each day to finding Sasuke and by default the kyuubi. Plus, even if he is foolish enough to think he can, surely he realizes that Sasuke will allow the literal end of the world before he ever stands near Obito outside of the context of taking his head. The death of Uzumaki Naruto was the final nail in that coffin.
Whatever it is he's planning, it ends here. Madara turns to the cave wall at the bottom of his pedestal. "Zetsu...take care of him."
The creature emerges from the wall, twisted and disgusting as always. "B-But Madara-sama, we need Obito. He-"
"He's a filthy traitor, we need to rip him apart," The black half interrupts his other side voicing Madara's thoughts.
"We will still find use for him after," Madara says with a smirk. Zetsu flees the cavern after Obito on his orders and Madara eagerly awaits his return.
Edo Tensei is quite a marvelous technique after all.
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Obito arrives in the clearing after about twenty minutes of randomly patterned movement meant to shake off any followers. It's a peaceful little spot he found away from their army and its mad leader. Originally he came to the small spring to enjoy the harmony of the drizzling waterfall and the various fresh smells of the plant life around. An escape from his own horrific plans.
Now it is the site of his most ambitious plot yet. He sits at the edge of the spring first resting his aching bones. It's no surprise when a set of legs appear next to his dipping their feet into the water.
"Can you even feel that?" Obito asks Kakashi.
The phantom avoids his gaze. "I feel a lot of things…"
"I'm sorry," Obito says taking note of the grief in his voice. There's no mischief or playful banter in his remaining eye today. "I wasn't the one who-"
"I know," he cuts him off. "She's stil-" she's still dead though he doesn't say. Another person he's failed.
Obito reaches out and touches the specter, not actually feeling anything as his fingers pass right through his cheek as he strokes it.
"I'll fix it," he tells him. "I promise, it's almost ready. I just need to test it out before I try it for real."
Whatever Kakashi is about it say is lost in exchange for a scream of his name and motion to look behind himself. He barely has enough time to avoid the barrage of mokuton coming his way.
It's just the bare side of one of the strips of wood shaped into pointed pikes that manages to mar the formerly unscarred half of his face. Coming from the ground beneath him it cuts in a slight diagonal line up his face and right across his rinnegan eye. He manages to leap several meters away panting and looking around.
He applauded Kakashi for having been able to fight like this back then immediately. His vision is cut in half, and one of his biggest trump cards is gone. Half from the ground ahead he sees Zetsu, his two halves fused and the white half with a pained expression.
"Obito, why?" It asks him.
They know, which must mean Madara does as well by default. There's a brief moment of regret at seeing the creature who had been one of his only real friends these past few years look so pained at his betrayal. But he has little time to let it distract him as he notices them rise and black Zetsu begin to pull itself away from its body mate.
Obito's heart nearly stops. If he's detaching then he could be planning to...no. He's worked too hard to end up as that parasites host. He has to flee, he can't risk being caught. He also can't use Kamui carelessly though.
What he's planning will be the ultimate strain on his sharingan and if he's not in top form it could end disastrously. But, if Madara is in constant pursuit of him from now on, when will that opportunity be able to arise? Kakashi is screaming his name ordering him to run as black Zetsu creeps towards him at ridiculous speed.
Obito runs. He runs into the trees forming hand signs at a speed impossible for anyone who isn't an Uchiha or a Hyuuga to see. The creature isn't far behind and he can hear it's taunts.
"Run away little Uchiha, I'll catch you soon enough!"
He activates mangekyo and pours his chakra into his eye, more than ever in his life. Kakashi is right beside him remaining eye wide as it watches him work. He's worried, and it touches Obito's heart as he continues to gather chakra and begins to activate Kamui. He has to time this just right or it's all for nothing. Damn it, he should have had more time, tested it. As of this moment he's about to attempt the greatest feat in his career as a shinobi and it's entirely based on theory and half hearted practice.
A small smile on his face, turns to Kakashi and lets it form into a grin that takes up about half of his face. He releases his chakra in a single brilliant burst right as he jumps into Kamui's dimension, with Zetsu's hand just centimeters away from grabbing onto him. The speed he surges forward can be described as nothing short of incredible, and he has but a moment to get the specific point in time in his head.
He pictures it clear as day. The rocks on top of him and Rin and Kakashi's tear stained face as they run out of the caves. Their anguished cries as they do so. The agony of the rocks beginning to compress and crush bones. The overwhelming scent of his own blood everywhere around him. All a vivid memory brought to the surface as an anchor, that stops him dead in the middle of his rush through Kamui.
A kaleidoscope of lights flash around him. They swirl and brighten, enveloping him before exploding out around him and slowly fading away. He's left in a cave that's crumbling down around him and smells of blood.
He looks around to make sure, he has to be certain. Wobbling forward through the pains of severe chakra exhaustion he steps around a large pile of stone. He is morbidly delighted by what he finds.
A large piece of rock resting on the cave floor along with several others fallen around it. More join with each second, but all miss the tiny body he sees underneath. Or half of one.
His younger self squirms and desperately tries to pull free. His closed eyelid is flat and sunken in from where Rin gave Kakashi his sharingan already. He's right on time. The boy's survival instincts have just kicked in and due to his lack of vision he hasn't even noticed Obito yet. He creeps closer until he's standing directly over the small figure.
It's unlikely the rocks have been fatally compressed yet with how much he's moving around. For all his talk of his friend seeing the future for him, Obito very firmly remembers how badly he had still wanted to live. The child's sobs are muffled and heart wrenching.
It'll all be over soon.
He wills his body to stand steady and slowly begins to form handseals. He might have just enough for one more jutsu...one more shot to do something. He's considering a fire jutsu, burn it hot enough to incinerate the body instantly and put the boy out of his misery and away from Madara's reach. Then he'll go after Madara while he's still old and weak and with no successor.
Let him move on and never cause the tragedies Obito knows he will. He readies the jutsu and takes in a breath. Just as the familiar gathering of heat in his belly starts to pool, he hears it. A miracle considering the volume of the rocks tumbling all around them.
"P-Please help me," his younger self manages out.
It's enough to make Obito freeze and reevaluate the boy. How did he even know he was there?
His form trembles under the boulder and his dry sobbing grows louder. "I-I don't want to die. I don't know y-you are b-but please, I just want to go home to my village."
Home. Konohagakure. Where Rin and Kakashi are, where Minato and Kushina...where his grandmother is. Obito lowers the handseals and stares down at the boy.
The rocks are still falling and the bulder on top of him is weighing down more and more. There's no time to hesitate. But…
"Help him!" He hears Kakashi's voice. He can't see him anywhere, but he hears it clear as day. It's desperate and almost begging. "He still has hope...it doesn't have to end this way."
Death would be kinder, and predictable. He could die as the hero Kakashi spent most of his life thinking he was.
"What do you want?" Obito asks his younger self.
The other tenses up, a brief flash of hope. He expects another plea for help or some predictable answer like "I want to live." He isn't prepared for him to shakily gasp out.
"I w-want t-to help my friends…"
It's daunting when he realizes that this boy isn't actually him. Physically yes, but as for everything else they may as well be completely different. The him he is now is a twisted and bitter man corrupted by hatred and grief. This is the bright and caring boy from Kakashi's memory.
This is the boy Kakashi loved.
Without another thought he reaches down and touches his shoulder gripping it tight. The child whimpers nervously. Obito shushes him. There's hardly any bare ground around them now. And another boulder is heading down for right on top of them.
"You better be grateful for this you little brat," he says. Despite the exhaustion and strain on both his chakra points and eyes protesting with every fiber of their being, he activates Kamui for what he can just sense is a final time. Blood pours from his remaining eyes and he screams as he pulls the boy out from beneath the rocks in an intangible state and stares out right at the entrance of the cavern. He can barely even see the outside, and he hasn't even dared use Kakashi's version of Kamui since taking this eye…
It's a day made for firsts apparently. He transports them forward, the swirling spirals sucking them in and hurling them just outside of the cave.
He sees only a brief glimmer of a little girl with painfully recognizable hazel eyes and violet face marks a little ways ahead. Her face contorted in confusion, shock, and just a bit of happiness from where she's collapsed on the ground.
"Kakashi!" She shouts as she runs towards them.
It's a good last sight, Obito thinks. Right before everything goes dark.