Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto
So I wanted this to be ready on New Years but well, as you can tell it's not New Years.
It's been a day and Obito can wholeheartedly say he loathes hospitals.
The worst thing about the situation isn't the way the iryo-nin and nurses tread around Obito like he's a living time bomb. It isn't how they look at him like he's a freak, a victim and a miracle all in one body. It isn't how no one will tell him anything about Kakashi. It isn't the way the place is sterile and cold in a way that is reminiscent of a dank and musty cave.
No, the worst thing is the food.
Obito likes to think of himself as a rather tolerant person, and compared to his stick-in-the-mud clansmen he's basically a doormat for the world to walk over. However, he has limits.
This is so far past the limit, it's in orbit.
Obito spoons the mashed up …something before letting it sludge out. It's a grayish-green chunky slime; a semi-solid, semi-liquid thing. It's consistency is somehow smooth, gritty, slippery and jelly-like all at the same time.
It looks like crap, smells like crap and Obito is willing to bet his remaining eye it tastes like crap too.
"I am not eating this."
"Obito, you need food."
"I refuse to believe this is food. Food is onigiri. Food is yakiniku. Food is ramen. This is not food."
"Obito."
Obito knows he's acting like a brat. Obito also knows if he stops acting like one they'll make him eat the crap. So Obito will be the brattiest brat there is.
"Minato-sensei."
"Obito, you need to eat. We've already discussed this. We don't know what normal food will do to you."
It's a flimsy excuse and Obito glares, "I've spent who knows long without food or water and I'm fine."
"Obito," Minato-sensei's eyes glint menacingly but Obito does not back down.
He's been brought up within a clan full of people whose glares can be compared to thousands of flaming kunai of death and destruction. (There's also the fact that with Obito's Kamui, he may actually be able to literally rain down flaming kunai upon his foes.)
It will take a lot more than a little eyeballing to move Obito.
Minato-sensei's shoulders slump and Obito has to force himself not to perk up.
"What do I have to do to make you eat Obito?"
"Give me actual food."
Minato-sensei does not answer instead opting to trace patterns along the hospital walls. It is a few long moments before he turns back to Obito.
"I wonder what we'll have for dinner. Kushina was thinking of miso and eggplant saury."
Obito freezes. He knows what sensei is trying to do. It's not all that subtle. But damn him, if it isn't effective.
He hasn't heard of Bakashi since the day he escaped and the promise of something, anything, is just too tempting a fruit.
He knows that it's over, that the battle has been lost. Afterall, what is a bowl of ...food compared to Kakashi? Compared to the boy, the comrade he's promised to protect. To never leave behind again.
Minato-sensei has won. They both know it. But Obito will be damned if it isn't a hard-won win.
Then Minato-sensei faux-casually drops a bomb.
"You know a week ago, a silver-haired jounin was admitted to the hospital for intensive care."
Ha. Hahaha. You know what Obito just thought before? Yeah, forget about it.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO KAKASHI? IS HE OKAY? IS HE HURT?"
Obito isn't panicking. He's calm. He's so calm that he should be a monk or something. It's not like Bakashi could be dying now. Not like he could be crippled and forced to hobble around the street like the elderly he helps.
Obito knows the dangers of their profession. He knows them intimately. Ito-jii has no hands. Emi-baachan walks with a limp. Jinai-jii has burn scars across his face that go all the way down to his hip.
What he doesn't know is what he'd do if Bakashi joined their ranks. Because Obito wasn't there. Because he forgot.
A thought occurs and his voice catches in his throat.
"Is… Is he even alive?" His voice is barely above a whisper.
A laugh sounds through the air. Minato-sensei is laughing. Anger bubbles within Obito. Does he think this is a joke? That Kakashi's well-being is a laughing matter?
Because it isn't.
"He's fine, Obito," Minato-sensei confirms and tension he didn't even know was there leaves Obito's body. "Now, if I promise to tell you everything you want to know about Kakashi will you eat your food?"
Obito wants to crush that flicker of amusement in sensei's eyes. However, since sensei is an elite jounin with a certified degree in badassery and Obito is a barely-scraped-a-pass chunin strapped to a hospital bed, so that's obviously not happening.
Instead, he nods before turning to the bowl.
Poking the substance gingerly, Obito thinks that maybe, just maybe, if he eats it as fast as he can, he will not actually be able to taste it. ("It can't be that bad," the hopeless optimist in him says.)
Ten minutes later says it can be that bad.
"Oh Kami, that is rancid!" He chokes out, gulping down huge mouthfuls of water. It tastes like something died in his mouth. Not the 'just died' kind of dead. The kind of dead that's been dead for a couple of days with flies and maggots and the stink of rotting flesh.
It's disgusting and Obito warily eyes the nurses and iryo-nin outside. Whoever created this abomination is truly sick and twisted.
But that's not important. What's important is the fact Obito has questions.
And so Obito turns towards sensei expectantly.
Three hours later, a nurse has to leave the room to fetch a bar to pry Obito off Minato-sensei.
"MINATO-SENSEI!" He cries, struggling against the unnaturally strong woman. "DON'T GO!"
"Uchiha-san."
"OR AT LEAST TAKE ME WITH YOU!"
"Uchiha-san!"
"I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!"
"UCHIHA-SAN!"
Obito turns to the nurse smiling as if he wasn't just clawing at the walls screaming.
"Yes, Sakamoto-san?"
"Minato-sama left three minutes ago."
"I know."
Sakamoto-san's eye twitches. "Then why are you calling for him?"
The smile on Obito's face is warm and affable. Judging from the veins pulsing on Sakamoto-san's forehead it's also annoying as hell. Good.
"Oh, I just thought that we could use more excitement." His tone is entirely sincere.
"I ...see." Sakamoto-san's face is twisted into some bastardised grimace. "Your ...thoughtfulness is appreciated but unnecessary, Uchiha-san. Please rest."
The woman leaves the room and Obito's smile immediately drops. As fun as it is annoying the staff, he can't distract himself from the hollow ache he feels at Minato-sensei's absence. He's missed sensei.
Thinking back to their conversation, the hollow feeling grows.
Kakashi is fine. He's in ANBU now, blitzed through the requirements like the genius he is. Minato-sensei can't say much more since well, ANBU, but Kakashi is fine. Healthy. Alive.
(A cynical voice in his head questions whether he'll stay that way.)
There's a war going on and according to Minato-sensei, Kakashi's been burning through high-risk missions like they're cannon fodder. Obito has already seen one of Kakashi's missions and if food poisoning does not kill Obito, anxiety will.
The Sharingan has many advantages. One of them is photographic memory.
Just as clearly as he saw it then, Obito can remember that battle. He can see Kakashi struggling against the enemy nin. Fighting for his life against an opponent stronger and faster and smarter than he was.
Alone.
Maybe they were sidetracked by another nin. Maybe they were positioning for the advantage. It doesn't matter.
Whatever the reason, the outcome was the same. Kakashi was alone.
Obito can't rest until he knows for sure that Kakashi's new teammates can be trusted. Obito needs to know that they won't abandon Kakashi. That until Obito is better, until Obito is healthy and sane and not compromised, Kakashi will be safe.
And so Obito slips out of the hospital.
It's easy. Even without Obito's Kamui, the security is pitiful. The lack of trees and nature means he can't tune his chakra. As it is Obito balls his chakra within himself so he's nothing more that a dot of black on a printed page and he passes unnoticed.
The hospital rotations for his room are simple to memorise. Since he's not an enemy-nin and has Minato-sensei vouching for him, his room isn't sealed nor does it come with complimentary guards. The only form of security is the iryo-nin within this wing and the architecture which can be easily bypassed by any sensible shinobi's first choice for breaking and entering.
The window.
Obito questions the intelligence of the architect who included them. It's a wing meant for security threats.
Obito jumps out, disappearing into the night.
He has twenty minutes maximum to locate ANBU headquarters, find Bakashi's file, Sharingan it to memory and make it back to the hospital undetected.
Five minutes in, he realises what a bad idea this is.
Obito has a seal on his heart. One that no one is sure of its function and he is currently looking for one of Konoha's main sources of income, defense, military ect.
Looking at the genjutsu-hidden entrance, Obito prays to Kami that whatever the seal is, it's not some type of spying seal. Because this was surprisingly easy.
The ANBU answer directly to the Hokage. They're elite shinobi whose identities and involvement in ANBU are supposed to be anonymous. The ANBU handle the lesser broadcasted missions and duties. Things like seduction, infiltration, assassination, rooting out traitors and security.
This means that the ANBU headquarters need to be near the Hokage tower, in an area where it's not suspicious for shinobi to frequent yet one that is isolated enough that observant shinobi do not get curious whilst allowing for easy yet concealed travel across the rest of Konoha.
The Hokage Monument.
Or to be specific, behind it.
Obito is a chunin. A simple, ordinary chunin. And yet it's been five minutes. Five minutes and Obito has discovered one of Konoha's main bases of military.
Obito is concerned. Very very concerned.
And so he adds another thing to his list of security threats he wishes to discuss with the Hokage and Fugaku-sama before going back to his internal debate.
On one hand, he cannot relax until he knows Kakashi is in good hands. On the other, he is a security threat, if he manages to break into the headquarters he could be sending an unknown enemy intel that could deal a devastating blow to Konoha's defenses.
The choice is simple. He should go back.
Even if Konoha's security so far is a speedbump at best and a joke at worst, ANBU is a whole new level. If he's caught he could spend the rest of his life stuck in a cell in T&I.
But… then again, it's a whole new level. A challenge. The thought of it sends a shiver down his spine.
It's a bad idea. A horrible and stupid idea where all outcomes have some sort of negative and the possible profits are meagre.
But…
Obito curses himself. In his next life, he'll be reincarnated into a worm.
He creeps through the entrance, three tomoe lazily swirling in his eye. The genjutsu is easily batted away which is sad because it truly is a good one. Well-woven and layered in a fashion that makes it seem seamless. If Obito wasn't Obito, he would have been ensnared the moment he entered, with or without the Sharingan.
The cavern is silent and empty and it sends alarm bells blaring in his mind. This is dangerous and stupid and reckless (and fun.)
Obito henges into a nondescript ANBU, it's a simple henge. One academy students learn; flimsy and insubstantial but it'll work.
Because while they will know Obito isn't an ANBU, that he is using an henge, until Obito dispels the henge they won't know it's him and really, that's all he needs.
It's a labyrinth; winding and complicated with many turns and forks. But Obito doesn't worry. Kakashi may not have used the Sharingan here, but he has used it at the training barracks and from that Obito has learnt things.
The ANBU tattoo isn't just a way to distinguish normal shinobi from ANBU. It's a seal. A seal used by the Hokage to call for members of ANBU. A seal used to identify undercover ANBU. A seal used to navigate the hidden passages of Konoha.
From what Obito has deduced, the seal pulses whenever you reach the right pathway which is ever-changing thanks to the combination of genjutsu and doton ninjutsu.
Obito devises three possible ways he could navigate the maze undiscovered:
a) he manages to find an ANBU and stalks them to the headquarters undetected,
b) he somehow finds the hidden seals carved on the walls that activate the ANBU seal guiding the way or
c) he scrounges up the fuuinjutsu theory he's *cough*learnt*cough* via osmosis from Minato-sensei and combines it with the Sharingan's ability to perceive chakra flow and manipulation to create a bastardised ANBU seal that will guide him through the maze.
His internal clock (and the watch he requested the nurses get him) tell him he has only eighteen minutes left. Option a) whilst the most straightforward relies on chance and has the highest risk of being discovered. Option b) is the safest option but it requires time. Time he doesn't have.
Meaning Option c) is the best choice.
("After, you know, GIVING UP! ARE YOU INS-" Obito ignores that voice.)
Fuuinjutsu is a volatile shinobi art. Obito brushes the dirt off a smooth pebble. Each stroke must be measured and precise. Obito pricks a vein. While ink is the most common to medium, blood can be used. With a bloody finger he paints the seal.
Obito knows this is stupid and reckless and just plain suicidal.
Fuuinjutsu isn't a game. It isn't like other shinobi branches. It's dangerous. The smallest of mistakes can have catastrophic consequences. Death nearing the bottom of the list. There's a reason why there are only a handful of fuuinjutsu specialists outside the generic storage and explosive seals. It's because those fuuinjutsu hopefuls screwed up and are, best case scenario, dead.
The art of fuuinjutsu has one of the highest mortality rates.
And blood seals. Seriously, he must be crazy. Blood seals!
He could turn back. Bury the seal. Wait out that month before seeing Kakashi. Obito's been gone for a long time. What's another month? Kakashi can handle himself.
The watch ticks. Fourteen minutes.
The hospital is a four minute roof-dash away. Even if Obito managed to get it to work that leaves ten minutes. Could he really locate a single operative's file, memorise it and escape undetected within ten minutes?
Tick. Tick. Tick.
This is stupid. Really really stupid.
Thirteen minutes.
But… then again, Obito's never really been the sharpest kunai in the pouch.
Obito presses his palm to the rock.
OBITO, YOU MORON! WHAT ARE YOU DO-
"FUUIN!"
The seal flares with chakra. It's a small surge but to Obito it's like a beacon for all to see.
A beacon that sets off the security seals.
Crap.
To a person without the Sharingan or sensory skills it seems like nothing has changed. There's no one around. It's quiet and empty and still.
Obito has the Sharingan and sensory skills.
It's chaos. The walls are screaming. Chakra is pulsing in large bursts, blaring like an alarm clock. It doesn't just signal ANBU, it disorientates the sensory infiltrators. This entire place, entire maze is a trap. Genjutsu conceals the closing walls. Doton ninjutsu alters the pathway preventing escape. ANBU are swarming the maze, their seals leading them straight to Obito.
The trap is closing and Obito is the mouse.
Kamui. Kamui. Kamui and KAMUI. He flies through the walls.
The ANBU are converging onto him. Left, right, up and down. They're gaining on him.
He can't let them see his technique. Not if he wants to be able to use it as a Konoha shinobi. They would connect an intangible intruder to Obito the moment he used it. Hiding his Sharingan under the henge, his mind and body races at a breakneck speed. His breathing is becoming laboured and Obito doesn't think he can keep up the pace. If he doesn't figure out something soon he'll be done for.
So he thinks. He thinks and he analyses. No matter how complex or sophisticated it is, the trap is activated by seals. Meaning there has to be a pattern.
Obito dodges earthen spikes that threaten to skewer him, breaks genjutsu before they can take hold. Sweat beads on his brow and his eye widen.
"It's adjusting to my level." The realisation startles a laugh out of him. Forget Uchiha Madara. Forget Senju Hashirama.
Uzumaki Mito was clearly the badass that history should have focused on.
Thirty metres. Twenty metres.
The ANBU are getting closer. If Obito doesn't figure out the maze soon, he'll be in chains before the day ends.
The tomoe of his Sharingan whirl furiously, as his mind works. There's a pattern. There's a pattern. But what?
The blaring chakra screeches. The ANBU are closing in. The maze is changing, adapting. And it is all very distracting.
So Obito reigns in his sensing. Forgets the blaring chakra. Forgets the ANBU. Forgets the maze. They are not his enemies. This isn't a battle between Obito and them.
This is a battle between Uchiha Obito and Uzumaki Mito.
Adrenalin rushes through him. What does Obito know about Uzumaki Mito?
Obito flicks through his mental textbooks. She married the Shodaime, was a fuuinjutsu master, came from the Uzumaki clan. Useless trivia. If Obito could go back in time, he'd smack himself silly for not paying attention in the Academy, the only thing he managed to learn were interesting but useless facts.
The Shodaime loved bonsai. Uzumaki Mito was the first jinchuuriki. The spiral on Konoha shinobi's hitai-ates are actually a sign of the bond between Uzushiogakure and Konohagakure.
Something clicks in Obito.
It's a spiral.
The spiral is the symbol of the Uzumaki clan. The information spill out. Obito remembers back when Minato-sensei tried to inspire them to take up fuuinjutsu. Kushina-nee dropped by every half an hour ranting about the glory of fuuinjutsu and perfection of the Uzumaki spiral.
The Uzumaki spiral is simple, versatile and adaptable. It's the base of most, if not all Uzumaki fuuinjutsu. Seemingly complex and unpredictable at first glance but simple at core.
This is Uzumaki sealing. Obito grins. He's found it.
The maze is a spiral.
Now that he knows the pattern, it's easy. He weaves through the deadly spikes and concealed walls with ease. Dances through the genjutsu traps and just knows the pathways the ANBU travel. It's not that he somehow has a blueprint of the traps and pitfalls imprinted in his mind now. The maze evolves. It's that he can predict, can guess that this spot will probably skewer him. That wall triggers a falling boulder.
However, what's the point of knowing where the enemy will attack, knowing how they will attack and when they will attack when you cannot counter it?
Like a whirlpool, the trap's pull gets stronger the closer you are to the centre. The walls are closing in. Obito has taken too long figuring out the pattern and now it's too late to escape.
Well, it would have been if Obito didn't have the convenient ability to teleport.
Between Rin and the Kamui, there's no doubt which he'd pick. But Rin is gone and he does have the Kamui, so he'll milk it for all its worth.
The world warps and Obito disappears with it.
Stumbling, he lands on the Shodaime's stone head. The night air raise goosebumps on his arm. Cancelling the henge, he glances at his watch.
Three minutes.
The rooftops are teeming with shinobi and Uchiha military. There's no way he'll be able to make it to the hospital unnoticed through the village or on the rooftops and they're the only pathways that lead to the hospital. But then again, are they really?
Sinking into the ground, Obito cuts a straight path for Konoha hospital because if you can't go through and you can't go over, why don't you go under?
From there it's surprisingly straightforward. He speeds underneath the prowling shinobi and officers until he's under the hospital and then sneaks in. While Obito is certain that the nin manning the hospital are all very talented in their own right, iryo-nin aren't trained as trackers. Even field iryo-nin rarely engage in missions that require that skillset.
So sneaking back is childsplay.
Entering his room, he slowly loosens his reign on his chakra letting it fall back to its normal range. A cursory scan shows that no one has entered the room since he left and his watch tells him he has less than a minute before Sakamoto is scheduled for a visit. Falling on the bed, Obito lets loose a relieved laugh.
He's sweaty, his lungs are burning and he's lost a quarter of the chakra he's only just regained. Obito smiles. But he did it.
Well, not really.
But he beat the labyrinth. He beat Mito-hime's trap. How many fourteen year olds can say they've escaped a trap designed by Uzumaki Mito?
Fingering a smooth pebble, his grin widens. He has just attempted to infiltrate the ANBU headquarters and possibly compromised Konoha as a whole. Had almost blown himself up with experimental blood-based fuuinjutsu and had teams of ANBU on his tail. Has teams of ANBU, Uchiha and regular shinobi scouring Konoha for him right now.
And the only thing he's thinking of is that he really wants to test this seal out.
Obito's survival instincts are whacked up.
He's pale and something lays heavy in the pit of his stomach. His body is shaking and his bottom lip stings from where he bit it. He thinks he feel nauseous.
Obito is nervous.
This isn't something he can fight. It's not an enemy he can beat into submission. Not a trap he can break down and analyse. It's not a heavy load he can offer to carry. This isn't something he can just fix. He's helpless and he hates it.
Today is the day of the operation.
For all his confidence in Konoha's medical sector, the thought of people cutting his chest open is ...unnerving. Heart surgery sounds dangerous. Heart surgery mixed with unknown fuuinjutsu sounds really dangerous.
Konoha produces the best iryo-nin in all the Elemental Continents. It has churned out the highest number of fuuinjutsu masters out of all the existing Hidden Villages. But the thing is Minato-sensei, for all his genius, knows nothing about iryo-ninjutsu outside the basics and Obito is pretty sure the iryo-nin aren't all that acquainted with fuuinjutsu outside healing-oriented seals.
Orochimaru-sama is the closest thing they have to a fuuinjutsu and iryo-ninjutsu adept but he hasn't been informed of Obito's continued existence and Obito can't help but feel relieved. As much as the Snake Sannin would increase the chance for success, there's just something about the man hacking at Obito that just… creeps him out. Beyond the general creepiness involved with being hacked at.
As annoying as that iryo-nin from before was, what he said was true. Before today, the surgery was purely theorised and since this is the heart they're operating on, the chances of survival and a successful surgery are low. Extremely low.
Obito is scared.
He doesn't want to die. Not before he sees Kakashi.
Kakashi.
Obito clenches his fists.
Because while he doesn't want to die, he will never forgive himself if he puts Kakashi in danger. Obito doesn't remember who kidnapped and tortured him. But whoever it was, Obito will never let them touch Kakashi.
A nurse places a mask over his nose and mask.
"Obito, you'll be fine," are the last words he hears.
His body relaxes as the drugs take effect and he welcomes the (notcomfortable) feeling of drowsiness.
Sensei said it would be fine.
The sun warms Obito's face and he smiles. He is lying in a field of wildflowers coloured vibrant yellows, deep purples and soft blues. Fluffy clouds drift lazily in the the blue sky.
It's beautiful. It's peaceful. It's also really really itchy.
Grass keep managing to get in his pants and down his shirt and his nose is running like a faucet. Just when he's conveniently missing a pack of tissues.
But it's nice.
It's not that he feels at peace, not with the demons lingering in the back of his mind. It's something he can't seem to put words to. He can't say he feels free or safe or even happy. Obito knows from the faded remnants from before Rin's de-, just from before, that what he feels right now is not freedom or safety or happiness.
His problems are not gone, it's more like they've taken a back seat.
Whatever this warmth is, Obito thinks it may be the closest thing he'll ever be able feel to happiness.
Slowly sitting up, Obito picks a number of flowers. Weaving them together, Obito feels nostalgic. It's been years, possibly closing in on a decade since he last did this and yet the actions come easily to him. Twist, turn and slide in another flower. The repetitive actions are in a way, soothing.
He had forgotten how much he enjoyed this.
As he braids the flowers, he reminisces about his first time doing this.
The memory is old and faint, hidden deep in the recesses of his mind. It has been a long time since he's thought about it.
He was four, maybe three, when he snuck out of the compound. He thinks he was lonely. It was likely. Afterall even then he knew was different from the other Uchiha. They knew it too. To be honest, Obito can hardly remember a time where he wasn't an outcast. The details have faded, lost with the sands of time but Obito remembers it was a warm day. A sunny one just like today.
On that sunny day Obito met a lady. She must have been a very pretty lady because he can remember flushing red every time she smiled. He remembers being enthralled by the way her fingers elegantly and swiftly twisted and twined the flowers adding another chain to her giant pile and had begged her to teach him. Smiling she said yes. Obito remembers her smiling a lot.
Obito's first attempt had abysmal, so was the next one. It had taken his twelfth try before the chain stopped falling apart. It was shoddy work. The colours clashed, the flowers were bent and bruised and their petals had fallen off due to his clumsy and rough handling but the lady's smile had been as brilliant at the sun.
At the end of the day, before he got dragged home by a disgruntled Uchiha officer, she had told him a story.
It was about a team of super powerful shinobi; a super cool jounin, a beautiful flower girl, a talented and stoic boy and a boy with an ever present smile.
At first they hated each other, squabbling and bickering. Always at each other's throats. But over time they had amazing adventures, rescuing princesses and saving villagers and they began to work together. But it wasn't until one adventure that they had become a team.
The super cool jounin and the genin-turned-chunin had split ways to recover a secret treasure. The chunin had were travelling down a road by a cliff when they were ambushed by enemy jounin. Outnumbered and outclassed, the chunin bravely held their ground hoping to hold off the enemy long enough for their sensei to return.
But then one of the jounin summoned a giant water dragon and sent it hurtling at the stoic boy while he was distracted by a deep cut on his leg. Seeing this, the smiling boy jumped and both boys tumbled to the ground dodging the projectile that would have sent them hurtling over the cliffside. In that moment, their amazing jounin arrived and beat all the enemy-nin despite being super tired.
They had barely survived and the near-death experience had shaken the shinobi and the bonds they held became stronger than ever. As a sign of their friendship, the flower girl weaved a thousand flower chains in hopes that their friendship would be one to last beyond the grave.
Obito remembers crowing with excitement at the end. He had exclaimed loudly that one day he would have a team just as cool as the one in the story and the lady smiled.
The parallels create an ache in his chest and Obito thinks that irony is one patient asshole.
Two days later, Obito remembers his four-year-old self sneaking out again only to find her missing, a pile of browning flowers as the only evidence of her existence. He had scoured the entire village three times over asking the baa-chan and jii-san for her. It was pure happenstance he found out what happened.
He was escorting Suki-baachan across the street when he overheard the two chunin gossiping.
The day Obito had met her was the day she was scheduled for a S-Rank suicide mission.
She was a chunin who had come back from a mission gone bad. A C-rank turned A-rank when the clients lied about the parameters. One of her teammates was pushed off a cliff due to a high-powered suiton jutsu. Her sensei died on the way from chakra exhaustion and the last teammate had died from blood loss in the hospital a day later. She asked for the suicide mission a week later.
Obito can't remember what he did next, only that some time later he had counted only eight hundred and sixty four flower chains in the pile. The next two weeks were the first few times he had ever been late to anything.
Obito finishes the floral chain and sets it down. Somehow his chain still looks so messy and clumsily woven. She would have smiled. Her smiles were very beautiful.
Looking back with older eyes, Obito thinks that they were very sad as well.
The sun is high in the sky so Obito reckons it will be many hours before the operation is finished. There's more than enough flowers and it'll be a long time before the dream ends.
With that in mind Obito picks out more flowers and begins weaving.
He still has nine hundred and ninety nine more chains to go.
So... We won't have the Kakashi and Obito meeting until the seal is out of the way. I'm not sure where infiltrating ANBU came from but that was fun to write. Not sure where the flowers came from too. And if anyone is wondering, yeah the field is based on the one Obito woke up in after escaping.
Umm... Tell me what you think. As in should I up the pace? Should I not? What do you like? What don't you like?
Reviewers are loved as are the favouriters and followers and lurkers, but reviewers hold a special place in my heart.
Apologies for any mistakes. That's all, I think?
~Anon