I'll like to thank YAXON for editing my chapter

I will also like to thank all of you who believe in me. This story wouldn't have gotten this far without your support. like literally, this story started with just one chapter of me being curious, a one shot thing, but now it's coming along this far. So thank you for pushing me to write this

Enjoy~

Chapter 13

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Raido called from behind as he and Shibi were leaping from branch to branch through the forest right after Kakashi, whose dogs were leading them. All three were soaked from head to toe, and the way the rain harshly poured down made it difficult to see any attacks that might come their way, but they continued to look for their leader, hoping he had found Naruto in one piece.

Kakashi felt a shiver run up his spine, and all three made a sudden stop right before they heard a series of crashes. The two dogs, Urushi and Shiba, slowed down to a halt too. They stared up ahead with unease as they could detect the emergence of a dark energy.

"This Chakra… It can't be…" Raido let out, looking at Kakashi in shock. "Did the seal break?"

The grey-haired man's eyes narrowed. If the seal that held the Nine-Tails inside of Minato had indeed fractured, then they were all in deep trouble.

His fists clenched into fists, imagining the worst before taking notice of the amount of Chakra they were sensing.

"It hasn't completely broken…" He said to his teammates. "The seal is weakening, so Chakra is bursting out."

"How do you know?" Raido questioned the masked shinobi as he pulled his headband down to cover his left eye. Kakashi could no longer have the Sharingan exposed.

"This Chakra is nothing compared to the full amount of the Nine-Tails," Shibi noted.

"Then we should continue," Kakashi said. But before he had a chance to move forward, he slipped from the branch. Raido acted fast and caught the man by his waist and landed on the ground safely.

"You should have stayed behind with Choza and Genma," Raido said with a frown, helping his teammate to kneel down as he breathed unevenly. "You're past your limit." Shibi joined the two.

Kakashi's head turned forward and he closed his eye after his vision blurred for a second. His minded drifted to his own thoughts, ignoring what Raido was telling him.

Kakashi just couldn't understand why he was pushing himself so much… Why was he so determined to help the man who was recklessly charging into battle?

Shisui was dead… and Minato didn't even seem to care. Then again, they were shinobi; even if a teammate was killed in front of them; they shouldn't feel fazed by it during battle. Right?

The image of a young boy with black hair wearing orange goggles came to mind, followed by a girl with short brown hair with brown eyes smiling warmly at him.

Kakashi grabbed his head as it painfully throbbed.

Minato… He had changed so drastically. He remembered the man used to be so warm, so compassionate; he had cared so deeply for everyone. Kakashi really missed the way his teacher used to be before the masked man cut down the man's dreams.

The masked man not only ruined Kushina, Minato and Naruto's lives, but his as well…

His teeth clenched tightly as he remembered the way he had been placed to watch over the redhead while she was with child. When a Jinchuriki was pregnant, the seal that held the monster within the host would weaken, so he was chosen to take care of her. He was present to see her eyes shine with joy, running a hand on her stomach as if caressing the life that was growing inside of her. He saw the way Minato came home and would talk to Kushina's belly; he had so much affection for his wife and future child, the atmosphere had even given Kakashi some kind of hope in his life. He wished for Kushina to give birth as well, to have a chance to hold Naruto as a baby and believe life wasn't just so painful...

Kakashi's arm dropped.

Life was just so…

He had lost his mother at such a young age, his father took his own life after falling from grace, and then he lost both of his teammates, both who were his closest friends... Life enjoyed taking everything from him; it loved to laugh at his face, it was cruel just like the masked man…

Kakashi opened his eye coldly before forcing himself back on his feet.

"Kakashi, you're not listening to me," Raido said with annoyance.

The man was right; Kakashi wasn't listening to him, and he had no intention of doing so. Kakashi had failed so many people for so long, he had failed to protect his closest friends' lives so was he really going to lose the chance of regaining the old Minato back? Was he going to let the masked man have the last laugh in the end?

Giving up was not in his agenda. He had grown tired of losing so much. He had to help Minato save Naruto even if it cost him his life…

Kakashi's head shot up when he lost track of the dark Chakra. It felt as though it vanished into thin air. He wasn't the only one to notice the Chakra's disappearance, as his comrades looked at one another with uncertainty.

"Let's stop wasting time," Kakashi said to the two, and he surged high up to a branch before rushing through the forest again, his dogs moving side by side with him. Raido frowned at Kakashi's stubbornness; he was worried for the man, but he didn't argue as he and Shibi followed suit.

Kakashi bit back his pain; his muscles ached, but he continued to move forward. He had to help Minato, he had to save Naruto, and he had to kill the masked man… Yes… take the masked man's life… If Naruto was brought back into the village, then there was no point in having the masked man alive. His presence would only remind Minato, Kushina and Naruto the pain they had to endure for so long. The only way to help them move forward would be wiping the masked man from existence.

With undying determination, Kakashi pressed on. He could already feel the masked man's cold blood on his hands just as he finally jumped into view.

"No!" Naruto had cried as the screams of his uncle harshly rang in his ears. Tobi's body violently shook while Minato drilled his attack at him. Light flashed from them, countless of needles slashed through the creature with a deafening screech.

Then… there was silence.

He stared, eyes wide in shock…

Everything around him was black… so dark… so empty… He could see nothing, nothing except a body… a body that lay on the ground ahead of him.

Slowly, the boy shakily rose to his feet, finally finding the strength and the feeling to move. The first few steps were hard, so unsettling, so painful… He stumbled a few times, but he continued to move forward. Tears threatened to fall, raindrops continued to strike down on him. His heart throbbed in his ears and after what seemed like forever, he stopped, inches away from the body that was lying face down with a back that was burst open like a ruptured tree.

The boy's throat tightened, holding him back from uttering a sound for a long moment.

"Un...uncle…?" Naruto finally let out, barely above a whisper, tears finally falling.

His reply was only silence, a dead silence that made the boy's lip quiver. He weakly got down to his knees.

"Uncle…?" Naruto shakily reached for the creature's shoulder, hesitant to touch him. "Uncle?" He waited to get an answer, but once again all he got was nothing.

"Uncle... please say something," the boy's voice cracked as he gripped his uncle's arm and shook it. "Say... something…"

The boy continued to move the arm, his heart began to race while questions ran through his mind.

Why wouldn't his Uncle say a word or at least make a sound? The damage on the creature's back...would it really have…?

The boy's heart froze for a few seconds; a dark thought crawled into his mind.

No… his Uncle couldn't be…

"Please, Uncle, please say something," the boy began to beg, and he waited, he waited for at least a movement of a muscle or a sound to emerge from the body. He hoped. He hoped the worst wasn't taking place.

He moved the creature's body, earning a simple thud once it landed on his back. The boy sadly looked down at the creature's face. The hole on the creature's face now looked like a dark void instead of one filled with countless mysteries.

"Uncle, please don't do this to me," the boy whimpered. "Please don't…"

The boy clenched his teeth as he tried his best to stay strong. He was beginning to choke from the pain. He grabbed his chest and tried to take in steady breaths.

"You can't… Uncle... you can't be…" the boy shook his head harshly. "You're okay... you... you have to be."

The boy's eyes shook and the tears didn't stop flowing by the lack of response from his Uncle.

"No... No, no, no," The boy leaned forward and grabbed the shoulders, shaking them. "Uncle, please, you... you can't… Please, you have to say something, Uncle, please," the boy stumbled on his words as his voice began to rise.

Naruto pulled away, his body trembling to see the way his Uncle laid like a broken toy.

He shut his eyes hard, hoping it was all a nightmare, hoping so much for it to be a hallucination, a trick created by the enemy. Oh, how he wished for time to stop and rewind, he begged it was all a lie.

The boy tried to imagine his Uncle moving and sitting up while his eyes were closed, but when he opened them back up, his Uncle was still lifelessly lying on the cold, wet ground.

At that moment, his world began to crumble.

"Uncle, no!" The boy gripped the creature's chest and cried, his orange goggles slipping from his head to the ground. "Please don't do this to me, Uncle! Please don't leave me! You promised! You promised you weren't going to leave me! You promised we were going to see each other again! Please, please, you have to be okay, you just have to be!"

His Uncle couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be. No... he just couldn't… No, NO NO NO!

His chest ached so much it was almost unbearable. He felt as though his own heart would rupture.

"Uncle, why?!" Naruto howled sadly. He couldn't accept it; he couldn't accept that his Uncle was turning so cold.

He couldn't accept such a reality. He cried, he cried 'til his cheeks began to burn. It wasn't fair; it was just not fair… Naruto shook the creature again and again. He couldn't accept it, he couldn't accept it at all!

"Wake up, Uncle, wake up!" the boy became desperate, shaking the creature violently now. "Please wake up, please, I beg you!" the boy cried. "I promise I'll do what you say, please, I promise, I promise, just please wake up, please…"

Nothing was working, the body continued to be still, nothing was changing, nothing. Naruto's head fell back and he screamed, he screeched with all that was killing him. He screamed 'til his throat ran raw. He grabbed his head and shook it violently.

This had to be a lie… it just had to be…

His uncle couldn't be dead. The creature had to be alive still. He looked around desperately.

"Zetsu! Zetsu!" he screamed, hoping the original was around. "Zetsu! Please! Save him, please!" he begged and his heart began to race when no one emerged from the ground. He whipped his head around blindly, not seeing the two men that were near him.

"Please, someone, please save my Uncle!" he cried out. "Please, please, he can't be dead, he just can't be!" Tears kept trailing down his cheeks. "He can't be gone… he just... can't…" the boy choked in his own emotions.

Why….? Why did this have to happen? Why did his uncle have to…?

"You promised. You promised me!" the boy screamed at the body sadly. "Why, Uncle? Why!?"

He was gone… just like that… and Naruto didn't even have the chance to…

He screamed, he screamed as his whole world was tainted with total darkness before something stopped it all.

The boy's voice choked, his body froze. A dark, sick feeling loomed over him. The hair at the back of the boy's neck stood. He shakily looked up before his eyes widened with horror.

A man with dark red eyes stood before him. He raised a kunai, as if to strike. The boy's vision cleared up to reveal it was Minato with inhumane glowing eyes.

"Sensei, don't!" Someone screamed, failing to reach the man as a dark voice within him had consumed him.

"It's a trick! That's not your son! Kill him!" the monstrosity screamed, building uncontrollable loathing within the man's soul and without a second thought, he drove the kunai down.

The next thing Naruto saw was blood, blood splattering on his face.

Did his father… just strike him…?

The boy was dead silent, waiting for his own life to dwindle into nothing just like his Uncle, but nothing happened. Nothing except for the fact that he realized the person his father struck wasn't him, but…

The masked man stood in front of him, Minato's kunai had impaled through his stomach while he had his own kunai driven through Minato's abdomen too.

Naruto stared 'til his mind slowly processed what Obito had done. Obito had jumped in, just like Tobi had done for him. This had to be a lie… it all had to be...

Blood pooled out from both men, Obito weakly, yet darkly glared at Minato who was still lost in his own rage. Like Naruto, he didn't understand the reason behind his actions. All he knew was he couldn't let Minato blindly attack the boy.

Minato harshly yanked his kunai from Obito, earning a rough gasp from the masked man.

Obito stumbled back, his knees buckled before he collapsed on his knees.

"Die!" Minato screamed with a savage scream, but his movement was halted by countless parasites swarming over his body.

"Sensei!" Kakashi screamed as he and Raido jumped in before Minato let out a violent cry, incinerating all the parasites with a big blast of the Nine-Tail's Chakra. Kakashi and Raido shielded their faces with their arms before they were burned from the foul Chakra.

Minato's body was once again cloaked with the red Chakra, healing the wound that Obito had inflicted.

Naruto began to tremble with fear, falling over as Minato gave him and Obito a look of death.

"Sensei, stop!" Kakashi yelled after his teacher. "You're going to kill your son!"

"He's not my son! He's an imposter!" Minato made the earth shake with his violent cry.

"Shibi, now!" Kakashi called out to his teammate, who was still above them on a branch.

"Hidden Jutsu: Beetle Sphere!" Shibi had huge clouds of beetles emerge from the terrain, rushing at Minato to engulf him in a sphere.

Obito saw this and stopped at nothing to snatch Naruto and shoot from the scene.

Naruto gasped and his eyes caught the last image of his Uncle's lifeless body before it was out of sight.

"Uncle!" The boy cried out sadly while Obito ran for their lives, ignoring the explosion that could be heard from behind, coming from their hideout.

Kakashi was about to run after the masked man, but when he heard an explosion coming from the direction where he left Choza and the others, he couldn't help but look back with wide eyes. He couldn't see anything through the forest, but he knew he wasn't hearing things. A blast from his teacher pulled him back to their bigger problem. More of Shibi's bugs were destroyed. Minato was out of control, his eyes were blood red and all Kakashi could think of was that they were not going to make it out of this alive.

Minato fell on all fours; the Chakra cloak gave him the image of a beast. His tail slashed through the beetles that dared to come near him.

Shibi felt his hands go numb at the increasing Chakra levels of Minato. The more beetles he sent out, the stronger and the angrier Minato got.

Raido looked at Kakashi, hoping the masked shinobi had anything to stop their Hokage's outburst, but all Kakashi could do was stay in place while Minato looked up at Shibi with hatred.

Kakashi was exhausted and close to giving up before one of his dogs appeared next to him with a kunai in his mouth, offering it to him. The kunai was the same one that Orochimaru had made for Minato. Kakashi immediately took it before looking back at Minato who seemed so fixed on Shibi.

The beast let out a screech before dashing at Shibi, clawed hand ready to strike. At that moment, Kakashi made a choice and shrouded his arm with an electric field and shot at Minato, ready to end it all.

Obito ran.

Even though his whole body was screaming in agony, even though his breathing was painfully hoarse, he ran.

The rain continued to plunge on them, lightning struck and his vision began to give up on him. He kept his grip on the boy, who hadn't stopped crying since they left the battlefield. The wound on his stomach hadn't healed in the slightest. Normally he could at least heal a little, but it seemed the poison that Minato had inflicted on him earlier was still in his system, depriving him of his healing.

Obito pushed away those thoughts for now. He concentrated on moving his legs. He didn't know how far they were from Minato. He didn't know how long he had been running for. He just knew that he couldn't stop.

The boy's arms were tightly wrapped around the masked man's neck, face buried in the man's shoulder. He couldn't stop the tears from falling. He was still hoping everything was some sort of Genjutsu.

He cried out when the world began to spin. Obito fell, skidding through the muddy ground. The boy shut his eyes hard, thinking they were attacked, but when nothing happened, he opened his teary eyes and hesitantly pulled from Obito's arms and looked around.

The forest was dark, the rain shrouded his vision, but it seemed no one was near.

He heard Obito choke. He looked down at him with wide eyes. The man lay on his side, his chest shakily rising before falling hard. Blood began to pool under them.

The image of Tobi's lifeless body resonated within the boy's mind, and he couldn't help, but cry again.

"No..." the boy's lip quivered, his chest twisted worse than ever before. "Not you too…" Naruto didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to stop Obito from bleeding to death. The man's breathing turned weaker and rough.

Naruto reached for Obito's mask and pulled it off; he felt as though Obito was having a hard time breathing with the mask on. His lips pressed into a quivering line to see Obito's eyes turning foggy, his face paler than usual. Dark circles engraving themselves under the man's eyes.

Obito slowly grasped his stomach, gripping it as though trying to stop the bleeding, but gradually he began to lose the last bits of strength he had left. Blood trailed down from his mouth.

"Please... don't die…" Naruto sadly pleaded with the Uchiha. "Please… I…." the boy shut his eyes and shook his head. "Please don't leave me all alone."

Obito weakly gazed at the broken child. The boy… the boy he had tried to kill the day before. The very one that he had saved from death just a moment ago. The one that was making his dream die before he had the chance to attempt it.

He had risked everything to save the boy, risked his own life to take a fatal hit. But why…? Why did he jump in like Tobi had done for him? The boy was nothing but a pest, a burden to him. He had no reason to save the child. He could hardly say he had any memories that would suggest any kind of bond with the child, any kind of relationship to have the urge to protect the boy from danger. He was nothing but a stranger to the child. There was nothing between them, and yet… when he saw Minato's eyes turn feral at seeing the boy, he acted. He acted without a second thought.

What did his action mean?

Obito coughed out some blood, earning more tears from the boy.

He continued to listen to the boy cry. The boy was in so much pain, pain that he had caused. He had taken away Naruto's chance at a warm, loving family, stole him from a safe home. All it took was one move, one heartless move from him to lead the boy into Hell.

A monster… that was what Obito was. Well, Obito knew he had fallen just like many in this cruel world. He knew he had become the very monster that ruined the lives of others, but seeing the boy now, crying with so much pain was making him question what he had done, and strangely, it was causing him to feel pain within his own heart.

Naruto couldn't survive alone in this cruel world. He had already lost Tobi, and now… Even if Obito didn't care about the world, about anyone in this life, he couldn't help but hate himself for putting the boy in such a horrible position. He couldn't help but realize Naruto was suffering like he was when he had lost Rin…

Obito's mind stopped for a second. The Moon's Eye Plan came to mind again. He wouldn't die from Minato's attack; there was no way he would die from just that. He would survive, and as long as he was still breathing, the plan could still come to fruition. It would save the boy from agony… it would reunite the boy with his Uncle. It would fix everything that he had done.

"Tobi isn't fully gone…" Obito managed to say hoarsely, grabbing the boy's attention.

Naruto's bloodshot eyes gazed at the man with a mix of sadness and confusion.

"I've a plan… a plan that will bring forth a perfect world," Obito choked out, his eyes becoming heavy, but he desperately tried to keep them from closing. "A world where there's no sadness… no war, no chaos… and the dead are alive…" A sad smile made its way to the man's lips when he met the boy's eyes. He felt he was seeing a younger version of himself in Naruto's place. "Doesn't that sound… perfect…?"

Naruto didn't know what to think of Obito's words. He remembered his Uncle telling him how Obito was going to bring peace to the world, but a world full of perfection? A world where the dead are alive? A world where Tobi was... with him again…?

Obito caught a gleam of hope in Naruto's eyes. Obito couldn't help but feel something within him, something desperate to take the boy's pain away.

"A perfect world…" He began to lose sight of the boy. "I'll bring Tobi back to life…"

"Wait, don't close your eyes," Naruto begged the second Obito's eyes were halfway closed. "Please don't close your eyes," The boy cried, shaking Obito to keep him from falling unconscious and most likely into death's grip. "Please, don't leave me too!"

The boy screamed the moment Obito's eyelids fell.

He couldn't believe it; he couldn't believe Obito was also going to die. He shook the man, desperately hoping not to lose him too, but when there was no reply, the boy gradually stopped. His arms fell to his sides in defeat.

What was the point? He couldn't do anything to save the masked man. He was too weak… he was too…

Naruto let out a weak cough, his body letting out a shiver. He was so cold, his body ached so much, but the pain in his chest was what was killing him.

He looked in the direction they had come from. He stopped there, staring at the darkness in-between the trees, hoping that his Uncle would jump out alive, defying the odds.

His uncle was strong. He couldn't been killed by just one attack… Then again… that technique his father used on Tobi was so destructive…

Just when he was going to look away sadly, he spotted a tall figure standing there, at the very spot he had his eyes glued to. The boy would have ran up to the figure believing it to be his Uncle, but when he saw that the person seemed to be taller than Tobi, he cowered.

He lay down, covering himself with Obito's arms; he was starting to think he was losing his mind, imagining things, but when he heard heavy wet footsteps coming in his direction, he couldn't help but bury his face on Obito's chest and cry.

For the first time in his life, he had wished to be back in the cave, hiding under his sheets and the protection of his Uncle and the other Zetsu instead of being outside of the walls. The world was cruel; it wasn't filled with beautiful mysteries like he had first thought.

The boy shut his eyes and let the tears continue to flow. He was hoping that everything was still a nightmare, one that he would wake up from. There was no way what he went through was real. His Uncle couldn't be dead, Obito wasn't dying next to him, and the tall figure had to be a hallucination. Everything was a lie, it had to be.

Naruto kept his eyes closed, head against Obito's chest that continued to rise, which turned out to be the only comfort he had left as he hoped and waited for someone to save him from Hell.

Author's AfterNote

The nine tails is totally taking advantage of Minato's broken heart, huh?

Things like a huge loss, the death of someone that you care the most in the world is devastating. We will all go through such experience, unfortunately the pain never goes away... Naruto is indeed going to have a hard time with Tobi's death.

Please Review and/or comment. I wish to know what goes through your minds : o