III - Lakes and Awkward Silences
Naruto ran out after him. He had a sinking feeling. Kakashi was about to go too but Minato stopped him. Kakashi glared at him while Minato just shook his head 'no'.
Naruto sensed Obito's chakra by the lake he met Mika at. He ran there quickly and saw Obito staring at his reflection in the water. He suddenly started punching the water in anger, rage written on his face.
Naruto slowly walked behind him and sat down. Obito gave him a side glance. "Uzumaki" he acknowledged.
"You remember" stated Naruto staring out into the lake.
"What the hells going on Uzumaki?" Obito questioned anger consuming him again. A small smile appeared on Naruto's face. "I have absolutely no idea." He said simply.
Obito's head whipped around again. "What?!" He demanded.
"I was only awake a day before I met you and your team. I have no idea where or even when we are. I'm guessing the time of the third judging by your team." Naruto tried his best to explain but didn't really know himself. Obito stared at the boy that was still staring out into the lake. There was a big difference between the Naruto speaking now and the orange loving hyper-active boy from the past. Well future? He didn't know.
Many thoughts were swirling around Naruto's head. His memory was still a bit fuzzy. Why was he here? Where is here? When is here? He sighed. Of all the people to remember too it had to be him. He was keeping a calm demeanour but he knew if he looked at him he'd probably lunge for his throat.
"What the hell are we going to do?" That's the only question that mattered now.
"I have no idea. Change stuff maybe. Don't let this world be as messed up as ours." Replied Naruto. He started pondering what to change and how.
"I can agree with you there" sighed Obito. Naruto snorted.
"It's your fault most this happened in the first place. Releasing the 9 tailed beast," he started going on while Obito started shrinking smaller and smaller in guilt, "hmm oh yeah, trying to kill me when I was barely a minute old, killing my parents, trying to kill my friends, ki-" Obito had enough.
"I know! I know I fucked up. Badly. Do you know how hard it is to live with the guilt? Everyone you've killed, their voices constantly in your head keeping you awake at night. I couldn't take it. I could of dodged the kunai. I could of went to a different dimension at the last second. I wanted to die, try repent for everything I've done! Then I woke up here. In this hell. No, this is worse then hell."
Naruto didn't know what to say. He put his full attention on Obito. His eyes bore into Obito's charcoal black ones, searching for any dishonesty, anything that showed it was a lie. Naruto closed his eyes. Nothing. He stared back across the lake. "So what're we going to do?" Obito sighed and looked across the lake as well.
"Stop everything. Rin from dieing, Madara, the attack, the massacre. Everything." Obito answered with determination. A hope that was once lost deep in the dark depths of his mind.
Naruto let out a small smile. Yeah. That sounded like a plan. "I think I'm going to travel." Naruto stated randomly. His time traveling with Jiraiya was some of the best times in his life. He never got to travel more after that. "I can wander and gather information maybe. While you work out things in Konoha."
Obito searched his face. "Sounds good to me." Naruto suddenly jumped up and put his hand out towards Obito.
"You ready to change the world?" He questioned. Obito let out a rare bright smile and grabbed his hand.
"As ready as I'll ever be" he replied while pulling himself up.
The two started walking side by side back to Mika and Eiko's place. Obito started fidgeting. "I don't know if I can see them again." He stated quietly.
Naruto sighed. "I'm about to see my dad, my sensei and I'm taking to the person who killed them." Obito scratched the back of his head sheepishly while Naruto opened the door.
When they walked in the were bombarded with questions like "are you okay Obito?" And "where were you, what happened?"
Obito tried to explain. "I was just uh feeling sick so I went outside to clear my head. And um Naruto just checked to see if I was okay?" Naruto sweat dropped at how unbelieving he sounded. Kakashi eyed them suspiciously and was about to interrogate them further when Eiko shouted that tea was ready.
They were all sitting at the table, an awkward silence in the air. "We should get going soon" Minato said to his team interrupting the silence.
"Yeah your right sensei" agreed Rin who didn't cope well with awkward silences. They all started to get up saying their good byes. Mika was latching on to Obito's leg.
"No! Don't go nii-san!" Obito's eyes softened. He still remembered everything from his current life. He rubbed her hair affectionately.
"I'll be back soon Mika, I promise" she eventually released his leg and pouted. "Okay then" she sulked.
As Obito was passing Naruto he slipped a piece of paper in his hand. Obito held onto it tight then slipped it into his pocket.
Team 7 was gone. Naruto turned back to Mika and Eiko and bowed. "I apologise about that Oba-san, Mika-chan" he apologised. Eiko started laughing.
"It's alright Naruto-kun" she smiled at him.
"Any ways, I best be going too. Thank you so much for your hospitality" he thanked them and let out a bright smile.
"Oh stop being so formal Naruto. Are you heading back to Konoha?" Eiko questioned. Naruto thought for a second.
"Actually I'm going to travel around for awhile. See the Great Nations." Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Eiko smiled and told him to follow her. She gave him a bag with some food and water, a first aid kit, some herbs with different uses and a pen and notebook.
"Please take these and write to us about your travels. I look forward to seeing you again soon." Eiko handed him the bag. Naruto's heart swelled. They barely knew him yet were so kind towards him (minus the kick in the nuts). He hugged them goodbye and started walking down the road waving with a Naruto smile. He turned back around, determination in his eyes. He wouldn't fail this world like he failed his friends. He'd make sure of it.