All of those months that followed, spent in hard training and waiting, he kept wondering. He kept thinking about what he should do. What was the right thing to do?
Sometimes, once he was able to move normally again, he went outside, watching the world. And it disgusted him. That world of war. It disgusted him to see all that spilled blood. Once again, the thought of just following Madara's plans got to him. He thought it was no use in changing anything. He told himself nothing really mattered. But then he dreamed her again at night. And those next mornings made him believe that maybe things could be different. To save her. To be with her. But then he looked himself in the reflection of a lake and remembered how both his face and soul were scarred beyond reparation. He was a monster in all means. If Rin would ever know what he did... But, practically, he hadn't done anything yet, right? No crime existed yet. But they did, actually. Everything existed in his heart, in his mind.
Why had he been so badly cursed. This was a curse, not another chance. He was cursed to live a life of resentments for one more time. Another war. Another spilled blood. Fighting the haunting ghosts one more time.
And so, building more hate and agony, time passed. And it came. That one day. And he was counting the seconds. He had thought he could control himself. He had thought he could resist it, but two hours before her death would happen, he was out there, hiding, waiting.
And soon they came, Kakashi and Rin. They were trying not to get noticed. Little did they know. The Mist ninjas were there in minutes. The worst part was coming. And he couldn't make a decision. It was killing him. His heart was eating itself inside-out. His feet decided for him. Moving ritmically, there were taking him there. The mask was on his face, his hands trembling with anger and nervosity.
Kakashi realized they had no chance. He raised his arm, but soon he was knocked out. A hit Obito hadn't even prevented had his ex-comrade lying on the ground, unconscious. He raised his head to Rin. The girl was petrified with fear. He just raised his hand and she stepped back.
"He was trying to strike you. He's just unconscious," he found himself apologizing, but he was not sure if she heard a thing, as one of the enemies, thinking he was one of them, helping, aimed for her. Obito reacted too late. Even though he saved her from the deadly shot, she got hit in the head and fell unconscious. And that moment it happened. He knew she was not dead this time. He knew the blood around her was the enemy's he had just killed, but the image was too familiar. The memory was too alive now. That rage he had felt that day came back to life, powerful and destructive. Just like those years ago, he has gone mad, killing each of them, blood flying all around.
When it was over, it got him breathing hard. Full of others' blood, he stepped on the bodies again, going to where she was lying.
"Rin," he whispered, lifting her head gently. He could hear her breath now, soundly, close, and for just a moment, he felt an inexplicable happiness, something he had forgotten the meaning of, too much time ago. And then she opened for eyes. He gasped, as if he was the witness to a miracle. And that moment, he was tempted to shout, "I'm alive, Rin! I'm alive! Help me. Or kill me. But save me one way or another, Rin! You're the only one who can..."
But he resisted the thought. Backing away slowly, he got out of there before the girl fully awakened.
When Minato got there with the back-up, he found Rin still trying to bring Kakashi back to his senses. When the soon-to-be Yondaime asked who killed all those people, she said, "A man in orange mask. He appeared from nowhere and disappeared just the same."
And "nowhere" was back into Madara's shelter, where the old man was asking once again for an answer to his request. Obito's head was buzzing with thoughts. The war wasn't over. It would go on and, even though he had saved her in time now, couldn't she die next time, when he might end up too late? Had it had any worth? Reviving all of those feeling. Why would he let himself go through it all again? And why would the world matter anymore? If he wouldn't start the plan, if he let things as they are, would everything turn out ok? Could he be sure people wouldn't die anymore? No. The shinobi world would still be a chaos. Still madness. Still loss.
Once again, he accepted Madara's offer. Once again, Madara died, leaving it all in his hands. Starting that day, he promised himself he wouldn't look for her anymore. But he broke it. He sent clones to check on her, at first, telling himself it was not such a big deal to just get informed. But that trasformed in him following her, not much after. That was the biggest mistake ever. Just knowing she was somewhere there wasn't affecting him so much. But seeing her, hearing her voice... that was all different.
The next lie he tricked his own mind with was that it would all stop when the war would be over. And so he waited, still protecting her. Not that she needed to be protected, most of times. Time and tough missions have made Rin stronger and harder to take by surprise. It made him even angrier to know that. She shouldn't have seen so much more comrades die. She shouldn't have been forced to kill.
The worst was that now that she was so much more focused, he could swear she knew he was always there. Some times she'd look in a way, other time she'd say something that had him believe so. Not that she could know he was alive. But Rin had clearly seen the one in the orange mask. She probably did not know who he was, but she was aware of his presence. It made him realize once again that he needed to stop following her. And he promised himself, "As soon as the war ends".
Eventually, the end of the war came. Rin was alive. And Obito was more miserable than ever. He stuck to his promise for almost a week, then, one night when heading back to the cave, he stopped, all of a sudden, and headed to Konoha. He had no idea where he was going and why. But when he got just close to the gates, he saw the reason clearly, walking side by side with Kakashi. They were walking slowly, tiredly. The boy was telling her something, in a low voice. Actually, it seemed like they were having an argument. He was repeatedly muttering something and she was getting really pissed off.
"I can take care of myself, Kakashi!" she shouted in the end and started walking in the opposite direction.
"Where are you going?" Kakashi got angry himself.
"Away from your iritability! You are like this since that ambush and I'm tired of it!" Before he could say anything, she adds with irony, "Oh, and don't worry, if there's some monster in the bushes, I shout!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes, but went on walking. There was some truth in her bitter words. They were at peace now. He shouldn't act so overprotective. Plus, there were the guards at the gates. Just to make sure, he told them Rin was around there and, if they noticed something strange, or she was late, yo check on her.
Obito watched the girl walk not too far from the gates, but so that the guards wouldn't see her. He was just staying in the nearest tree, looking at the now fourteen years old girl, who was just looking down now, thoughtful, when he heard her say, "Could you come down from there, please?"
The request had him stuck into place. He had always thought she was aware of his presence, but this sudden happening took him by surprise. He knew the clever thing to do was get away from there, yet he got down, walking slowly towards her.
"You should listen to your friend and stay away from dangerous situation," he told her, stopping two or three steps farther. He knew his voice was changed. She wouldn't know it was him. He was wearing the mask and he was taller. The darkness of the night wouldn't let the color of his hair, now short again, noticed. She wouldn't know it was him, even though he was fighting the need to tell her.
"If you were danger, you would have killed me back then, on the battlefield," she said, still thoughtful, still looking down.
"Maybe I was just put on the run by the back-up team back then," he stated, making her lift her head.
"Yet you didn't kill me when I was alone either," he said skeptically. He flinched. She noticed it and was now looking straight at him. He was holding his head up, using the tallness advantage and darkness to not let his Sharingan noticed. As prevention, he also kept his eye half closed.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Why would it matter? You don't know me," and it was true. Rin knew only the sweet cuild Obito, not this man who had nothing to do with that past.
"Why are you following me?"
"Because I cannot do otherwise." It wasn't the clearest answer, but that's all he knew himself.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"It doesn't have to."
"Stop playing with my mind."
"I'm sorry if that's what it looks like."
The conversation was getting her frustrated. They stood there, in silence, for some more time, before she shook her head and turned around, walking away. After some steps, she turned back around, expecting to see him disappeared, but there he was, looking at her. For a second, she thought she saw something red shining behind the mask and shivered, but brushed it off immediately.
"Will you be here tomorrow night?"
"Will you?"
"Probably."
"Then I will be too."
He wasn't accepting an invitation. He was just stating a fact. She shivered again at that, then walked towards the gates. On her way, she turned her head in his direction for several times. And he was still there when she entered the village.
