A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. I had no idea I'd get such strong reactions on this. This is the end of the story that I'd had in mind since the beginning. I know it might not please everyone, but I hope you can see the some of the light through the darkness.
Tobi reappeared in the Hokage's office. The ANBU immediately sprung into action and seized him with sealing chains. He allowed himself to be caught.
"Obito Uchiha," said Danzo, "I'm overjoyed that you have returned to Konoha. I am excited to continue working with you for the betterment of our village."
"Wow," said Tobi, "you sure did get me there! And here I thought you wanted to kill me. Now where would I have gotten that idea?"
"Your 'friends' Jiraiya and Minato have poisoned you against me," said Danzo.
"Also you've put me in chains," said Tobi.
"I must keep up appearance, of course," said Danzo, "but I promise I will not hurt you, my friend. I believe you and your powers will be immensely useful in the days ahead."
"Funny," said Tobi. "Because you see, Lord Danzo, I unfortunately have no more use for you."
"Hm?"
"Did you really think I was a good boy?" Tobi laughed. "Now you of all people should know a bad shinobi when you see one. And there's only one thing to do with a bad shinobi."
"Minato!" Kushina exclaimed as he walked through the door.
"Well, Kushina," said Minato, "to what do I owe this greeting?"
"Minato, I'm pregnant!" she squealed, hugging him. "I'm going to be a mother, you know?"
Minato gasped. "And I'm going to be a..."
A great booming sound rattled their house and interrupted the conversation.
"I don't think that's supposed to happen, you know," said Kushina. They ran outside and looked toward the source of the sound. The roof of the capitol building had been blown completely off, as well as a good side of the wall facing the village. A glowing purple being of chakra was inside, wielding a chakra crossbow. "I DON'T THINK THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE THERE, YOU KNOW?!" Kushina shrieked.
"What is THAT?" Minato asked himself aloud, grabbing his kunai to fly to the scene.
"Be careful, Minato!" Kushina exclaimed.
"Minato!" Kakashi landed in front of them. "Leave him to me!"
"'Leave him to me?' Who is he? What is he?" Minato asked.
"It's Obito," said Kakashi. "He's come back for me. And as promised, Lord Hokage, I am ready for him."
"THAT'S OBITO?!" Kushina cried.
Kakashi pulled up his headband to expose his Sharingan and weaved a hand sign. "Susano'o!" Kakashi transformed into an orange beast of the same kind. "Keep everyone safe, Minato. Soon, this will be over."
When Kakashi met Obito, he had Danzo at the end of his crossbow. Bodies of ANBU were scattered about. "OBITO UCHIHA!" Kakashi shouted. "THIS ENDS NOW!"
"Kakashi," Obito said, "you still have something that belongs to me."
"Come and get it, you monster," Kakashi said.
Obito flung Danzo's body off the end of his crossbow and aimed it at Kakashi. Kakashi backed up and prepared to block him. The battle raged. Across Konoha, citizens watched the two beasts of chakra fight, migrating away from the capitol and towards the outskirts of town. Kakashi's massive chidori lit up the skies in blinding flashes.
"Even with your Mangekyou Sharingan, lightning is still your weapon of choice, eh, Kakashi?" asked Obito.
"And evasion is still yours," said Kakashi.
"The best offense is a good defense, no?" said Obito playfully. "You can't win, Kakashi. And look at all the damage we're doing. Doesn't it bother you? You could end it all now, if you give me your eye."
"Never," said Kakashi. "This eye was a gift from my good friend Obito Uchiha. He was the kindest, bravest shinobi I knew, and a true friend, and loyal, and he willed this eye to me on the day he taught me what it truly means to be a shinobi."
"Being a shinobi means gathering power, no matter who gets in your way," said Obito. "Isn't that right, Kakashi, murderer of Rin Nohara?!"
"For the last time, I did not murder Rin!"
"Liar! I've seen the whole thing! How you lusted for the Mangekyou, and conspired to kill her in order to acquire it!"
"I did no such thing! Rin killed herself, Obito! I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time to stop her."
Obito laughed. "Oh, that's rich, Kakashi! Now you expect me to believe that Rin wanted to die? Of all the pathetic-"
"The Hidden Mist wanted to turn her into the three-tails jinchuuriki. They'd been launching kidnapping attempts for years."
"She told me no such thing!"
"Because she didn't want to worry you! Rin loved you, Obito. You should have seen her on the day that you came back. She cried and cried for happiness. And when the Hidden Mist started coming for her, she worried that you'd get caught in the crossfire. I wanted nothing more than to protect her, but at the end, the pressure was too much for her, and she impulsively jumped in front of my chidori as I was fighting the enemy. She'd rather die than be used by another village, and to be apart from us, whom she loved above all others.
"There are times when I wanted to die too, Obito. But I knew I had to take care of you in her memory. I wished every day that she could come back, but you can't undo the past. And I know all of this is probably falling on deaf ears right now. That's fine. But I need to say it. Obito, you and Rin were the best things that could have possibly happened to me. And I wouldn't change any of it for the world. You taught me how to be a good shinobi, and Rin taught me how to love."
CRUNCH!
Obito looked down. They were standing in a graveyard, and he had stepped on a tombstone.
"Rin's grave," said Kakashi. He launched another chidori, but Obito didn't respond. He was staring down.
"What have I become?" Obito asked.
"A monster," said Kakashi. "It's sad. When you first came back to the village, everyone said you were. But you were the same old Obito to us, despite your damage. And I'm sorry I didn't come around at all. It was hard for me to see you like that, and I hid like a coward. I don't know if it would have changed anything. But I'm sorry nonetheless, and I'm sorry for-"
Obito's Susano'o faded. He knelt at Rin's grave and wept. Kakashi followed.
"Do it, Kakashi," Obito whispered.
"Do what, Obito?" Kakashi asked tentatively.
"I was raised from the dead for a malicious purpose, Kakashi. Jiraiya knows everything. I've hid him in my time-space. In our time-space. Do you know the Kamui?"
"Yes," said Kakashi. "Though I could never master it to the point that you did, Obito."
"Nevertheless," said Tobi, "please retrieve Jiraiya after I die."
And although killing Obito had been Kakashi's purpose, he faltered. "What are you saying, Obito?"
"I'm just following your advice, Kakashi. I'm not going to run anymore. It's time to face my destiny," said Obito. "You know what I mean, Kakashi. My destiny was always to die that day. And dead is dead. I belong where Rin is."
"No," said Kakashi. "Maybe...maybe you don't have to be. Maybe you can be still be saved."
"I know that sounds like the right thing," said Obito, "but it's not. Kakashi, even if you do save me...I've done terrible things. Even today, I murdered Lord Danzo and his ANBU. And if you allow me to live, I'll just keep doing these things."
"But you don't have to," said Kakashi. "You can..."
"There's a dark force in this world," said Obito. "My father. He is the force that revived me, and he has created a group called the Akatsuki. Stop the Akatsuki, and stop my father. And the first step is to stop me." Obito turned to face Kakashi. He opened his robe, then cast off his mask.
Kakashi saw Black Zetsu, the Shadow that had latched onto half of Obito's body. It smiled at Kakashi. "What is that?" Kakashi asked.
"My father," said Obito. "Beware of him, Kakashi. He will never stop until he reaches his goal. But his goals are no longer mine."
Minato and Kushina arrived with more ANBU. "Kakashi?" asked Minato.
Kakashi turned to look at his Hokage with tears in his eyes, and fired up his chidori. Minato nodded, and with a tortured cry, he slammed his hand onto Obito's chest. The Shadow expanded and grew off Obito's body, looming over them all.
The Shadow bore down on Kakashi, and it went through his ears, and all the pain of his life flashed in his mind. He writhed on the ground, and the Shadow's voice echoed inside him, "I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY NOW, YOU HAVE KILLED BOTH YOUR TEAMMATES, AND IN VAIN, FOR YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME! I WILL FIND ANOTHER, ONE WHO IS STRONGER, ONE WHO HAS MORE HATE, OH YES, AND WHEN I DO, THE WORLD AS YOU KNOW IT WILL COME TO AN END!"
"SEAL IT!" Kakashi cried. "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SEAL IT!"
"SEAL IT, SEAL IT, SEAL IT!" taunted the Shadow. "FOOLISH MORTALS, NO SEAL CAN HOLD ME! I AM ENVY, I AM ANGER, I AM SORROW, I AM VENGEANCE, I AM ALL THE TERRORS OF HUMANITY, AND HUMANITY CAN NEVER STOP ME, FOR I AM ALIVE IN ALL OF YOU, AND I GROW STRONGER EVERY DAY. I WILL CONSUME YOU ALL. I WILL CONSUME-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The Shadow screamed an unearthly scream as he was ripped out of Kakashi and sucked into a scroll. "I WILL CONSUME YOU ALL! I WILL CONSUME-!" The scroll lit on fire and crumbled to ash, and the sinister voice was no more.
"KAKASHI!" Minato cried, cradling his student's unconscious body in his arms. "He has a pulse. Oh, thank the gods. Get him to a medical unit."
They held a second funeral for Obito Uchiha, at a new grave beside Rin's. ANBU had located her body in the cave where Tobi had been born and returned her to Konoha.
Kakashi's experience had weakened him considerably. Guy pushed him to the funeral in a wheelchair. His second eye, the Mangekyou, had died during the ordeal, leaving him partially blind. At the funeral, Minato gave him a medal of honor for the suffering he experienced on behalf of the village.
The crowd dispersed, many to attend the funeral of Danzo which was to follow. "Wait, Guy," Kakashi said. "Not yet." Kakashi pushed himself to Obito's tomb and laid down the medal. "This rightly belongs to him. I will recover. I will return to the battlefield. Obito cannot, and he suffered more in his second life than any of us know."
"Kakashi," Guy said, "that thing. The one that they sealed. What was it?"
"I think it was exactly what it said it was," said Kakashi. "Envy, anger, sorrow, vengeance."
"It's sealed, though, right?" asked Guy nervously. "Or is it going to come back?"
"It'll come back, in some form or another," said Kakashi. "After all, you can't seal all the terrors of humanity."
"But you can fight them with love," said a voice behind them.
"Master Jiraiya! You're back!" Guy said.
"Jiraiya?" Kakashi asked. "How? The Kamui..."
"Obito's time-space disintegrated once both the Mangekyou had died," said Jiraiya. "Or at least, that's the working theory. Anyways, I woke up on Mount Myoboku, and here I am. How're you holding up, Kakashi?"
"As well as can be expected," said Kakashi.
Jiraiya clapped him on the shoulder sympathetically. "Oh, Obito. You never could just walk a straight path, could you, my boy?"
Kakashi laughed for the first time since the incident. "No, but he got there. I only wish I hadn't had to...help...as I did."
"It would have come to this one way or another, I imagine," said Jiraiya. "What strength of will it took to fend off that creature as he did! I doubt half of us could have done it."
"No, we could not," agreed Kakashi. "We must all learn to be as strong as Obito."
He looked up, and he thought he perceived a black cloud hovering above them, and for a moment, his heart stopped.
"Come on, my boys," said Jiraiya. "Let's celebrate the life of our friend, with some barbecue on me, eh?"
"Oh, yes, thank you!" said Guy.
"Thank you, Jiraiya," Kakashi echoed, then looked up again. The sky was clear.
