PROLOGUE
His stomach was knotted with emotions, his heart thumped on his chest, each heartbeat ringing in his eardrums and his fingers curled around the kunai on his hand. Because this wasn't happening, this was surreal and it had to be some kind of sick joke from his mind. It wouldn't be the first time that his mind tricked him.
But there was no mistake. It was him.
"I'm not all happy to see you, Kakashi." Cool, flat and eerily devoid of emotion. Nothing like the child he had been once, the same idiotic, cheerful one who made pathetic excuses.
"Obito." Hatake Kakashi breathed out with awe, surprised and there was regret in his voice.
Kakashi remembered the rock falling on top of him crashing half of his body, his last words about gifts and proudness, about a broken promises and an eye. A sharingan eye. He didn't know how to feel about, he felt so lost, so uncertain, so...
"I wasn't aware you had a story with Kakashi-sensei." A soft voice called out on the battlefield. Eyes sharp and lips curled into a manic smile.
How could have this ended so bad?
He was bored.
Yeah, Obito Uchiha was bored as plain as that. He wasn't supposed to feel like that, he had a Mizukage to play with, a will to carry on, people to manipulate behind the shadows. He didn't have any free time, yet here he was laid back on a branch swinging a leg back and forth staring blankly at the state he abhorred the most.
He wished he could have the Kyūbi on his palm to dissipate the whole Uchiha district or better yet, Konoha. To leave only debris, blood and hopelessness to patch onto but he couldn't. The jīnchuriki was in there and he had screwed enough the plans when he let Minato-sensei seal the biju on his son. Tch, hallowed martyr until the end.
For all his moniker for being the fastest ninja Konoha had ever produced, Namikaze Minato always arrived late when he was needed the most. He wasn't in the Kannabi bridge and he wasn't when Rin died. Gritting his teeth in, he felt his emotion spark on the surface, anger, regret and mostly hate. He hadn't asked for much, he had asked them to take care of the most important person on his life but they were too preoccupied with other things.
And Kakashi had the fucking guts to leave flowers on her memorial stone! Obito had stomped over them without regret, crushing them under his foot. They weren't even friends when they were placed on the same team! The genius was too absorbed on his rules to spare them a glance. And Rin... Rin had looked at him like he was the most amazing person in the world, she had affection for him and the asshole ignored her like she was a nuisance.
Unacceptable.
He had been foolish then, with preposterous ideals and stupid dreams. Obito hadn't cared because he thought that if he became Hokage then Rin would look at him and his clan wouldn't think he was the same crybaby and weak boy they painted him to be. All that crumbled down with sound of chirping birds, electric vibrations resounding on the air and hole on the chest. This world was cruel with a never ending hate cycle where people as kind as Rin died in a war they never triggered, where children where sent to front line combats.
The shinobi world was cursed but it would all come to end with the Tsukuyomi. Yeah, the dream world until then he would move the pieces and get rid of as much as threats as possible.
His thoughts where cut short when he heard the sound o sniffing and rapid footsteps approaching. Obito narrowed his eyes behind the mask, there weren't many people who bordered this place and no one would notice him because he had masked his chakra to a normal civilian. So, what's was it?
His question was answered in the form of a child. A crying child to be more exact.
Great, he had no patience to hear the wail on and on.
Soundlessly, he made a move to leave this place when a pair of pupil-less eyes locked on his only eye. How interesting, a Hyūga Child. The girl was frozen, her eyes puffy and red from all the crying, she looked to be five-years old. From his place, he caught glimpse of the bandages on her hands and the slight purple bruise on her cheek, she looked weak and her eyes were wide with horror, embarrassment and curiosity.
Such a weird emotions for a Hyūga child, that Clan was cold ice and stony faces, arrogant because they have a doujutsu. Then again the Uchihas were no better than them.
That kid made no move to approach him or asking him what he was doing here. From what he remembered, children were always so bubbly and sickeningly happy all the time, talking nonstop about everything and anything at the same time. He just had to remember the old Obito to get an answer to that.
The girl sat down on the snow, hugging her arms close to her chest trying and failing to keep warm because she was shivering from the cold. Her head was dipped down, indigo bangs covering her eyes and her shoulder were hunched down with a slight trembled now and then. She was crying, Obito recognized that stance perfectly.
Again an odd behavior for a Hyūga child.
"A pretty Hime like you shouldn't cry!" He exclaimed with mock- worry, his voice high-pitched and childish.
The brat snapped her head towards him, large moon eyes full of surprise and wonderment like she couldn't believe someone spoke to her. Even he didn't know why was he talking to her when she was bothersome to him, a faceless person he could kill now and turn his back without an once of guilt.
"A-ano w-w-who are you?" She stammered shyly.
Zero backbone, no self-confidence and she stuttered. With that personality she would go nowhere in the Shinobi world, they would kill her instantly. And she would never grow strong if she wasn't confident.
Obito leapt over her, landing in front of her. He tilted his head in a trained manner looking like a retarded kid, his eyes boring on the girl in front of him. What was intriguing was the lack of seal of the Branch Family, so she was a member of the Main Family, probably the daughter of the head of the clan. And she was in front of Obito, defenseless with two powerful eyes.
Ah, how almighty fell.
"My name is Tobi, Hime-chan!" He present himself boisterously, sticking out a gloved hand.
The Hyūga girl blinked owlishly at him before smiling politely at him, her small hand grasping his large one. She was so fragile, so small, so easy to crush, he mused to himself.
"H-Hyūga Hinata." She whispered softly. Thank goodness he was so close to her or he would have missed it completely.
"What are you doing here?" He asked with curiosity. It was all an act but a part of him was inclined to know what she was doing here.
Hinata looked away bitting down her trembling lips. Fuck! She wasn't going to cry, right? He had no experience for crying brats.
"I-I r-ran aw-away." Hinata answered quietly dropping her hand from his. He opened his mouth to tell her to elaborate but she beat him to it. "I w-w-was tr-training with F-Father, we we-were s-sparring b-but I-I d-didn't m-manage t-to hit him, he p-punished m-me c-calling me a f-failure. S-so I-I ran away." She blurted it out her voice shaking.
Obito didn't know how he should feel. The girl was probably pouring her heart to a broken man like him without knowing him and another fact he wanted to push away, to forget was the similarities between them. How many times? How many times has he cried because the Uchiha Clan had labeled him as a failure and weak? How many times Fugaku had gushed in front of him about how Obito tarnished the image of their stupid Clan?
They put expectation on his shoulders, telling him to do things even the most powerful shinobi couldn't do, branded as a weakness when he didn't activate their Sharingan early. And this girl was suffering the same as the old, fool Obito albeit a little different. The old Obito covered his hurt with laughs and smiles, Hinata withdrew herself in a shell of insecurities and shyness.
Uchiha Madara was right, the more he spent the time in this world the more he discovered how rotten it was.
"Your Father is so meanie, I'm sure you're strong, Hime-chan!" He tried to cheer her up with his Tobi persona. Obito didn't know why he was doing this, he had quenched down any kindness or comfort. He wasn't that Uchiha Obito anymore, not after Rin.
Hinata snapped her eyes towards him, her naive eyes full of hope and longing. It seemed the Hyūga Clan was as tainted as the Uchiha, then again they were distant cousins. So it was nothing new.
"Y-you a-are th-the first p-person to b-be nice t-to me." She uttered smiling at him happily.
Obito resisted the urge to snort, he was anything but nice. If people knew that he was the reason that their precious Yondaime died then they would hunt him down.When it came, he would rub it on Kakashi taunting him and telling him that it was his yapping that killed his sensei. Giving him valuable information without knowing was probably the good thing he was at.
The Hyūga fidgeted with her fingers , a nervous habit, her mouth pressed in a tight line, she was hesitant to say something.
"Sorry Hime-chan I've gotta go now 'cause I've got some important stuff to do." The masked man announced shooting to his feet. Obito didn't want to wander here for a long time, the village got the worst of him.
Hinata blinked in bewilderment at his declaration, desperation was clawing at the edge on her face. It cried 'Don't Go' in big words.She was getting attached to him.
"A-are y-you go-going now?" An obvious statement whose answer was hanging on the air. Hinata was sad that he was going, it amazed him how an act made a child clutch onto him looking so desperate, either she was an idiot or she was desperate for someone to be with her.
In the end, it didn't matter, he wasn't going to pay Konoha a visit for a long time.
"Don't be sad Hime-chan," Obito faked a wail raising his arm to wipe tears that would never be shed, could never shed . "You make Tobi look like a bad friend and sad to."
"F-friends?" Hinata asked in bafflement her head cocked to the side.
"Of course!" Tobi cried like it was the most obvious thing. "The best-est of friends. I already told you my name, I gave you a nickname and you told me your problems." He counted holding in purpose five digits instead of three. The sadness was replaced by a delighted giggle. "So we're best friends."
"Friends," Hinata whispered in awe tasting the words like it was a foreigner concept for her.
Studying her from the hole of his orange mask, Obito smirked humorlessly if this how the Clan treated like this then it was another proof of how twisted up the system was.
Poking her index fingers together, Hinata fazed at him with her distinctive eyes. "W-Will you co-come h-here t-tomorrow?"
He patted her head bobbing his head several times. "Of course, you still gotta give me a nickname." He said cheerfully. "Bye, Hime-chan."
With a promise to be broken and a wave that maybe forgotten, Obito disappeared from there as if he had never been in the first place.
"You can come out now."
"Are you nostalgic?"
Obito sent a withering look at White Zetsu. Sometimes he wished he could just kill him right there and there but he was good at espionage and he could keep an eye on everyone if they decided to lay back or betray him. Though that didn't mean that they didn't wear him off.
"I didn't know you were good with kids, Tobi, can I eat her anyway? Or get her eyes because they're the only thing valuable she had. "
Obito glance at the black part, Madara had told him that it was his will but sometimes even he was skeptical about that and while his ancestor seemed to trust Black Zetsu to keep him from screwing the plan, he didn't trust him at all.
"We aren't going to see her anyway." He replied coldly tapping on his knees watching as the people of Kirigakure made a run from the ANBU. He clenched his jaw, served them right for kidnapping Rin in the first place.
"She kinda of remind me of you," The human plan uttered walking towards him, his yellow eyes staring at the horror that was displayed in front of them. "So weak and asking for acceptance. It is like staring at Jr Obito but more shy and meek."
He stared at his underling blankly, both Zetsu returned his gaze flatly. They both knew that he didn't like talking about his past before Madara saved him or how he was before Rin was killed because Konoha was too incompetent. They had been there to see how broken he looked, how he descended into the insanity that day. It was engraved on his mind, it was something he saw every time he closed his eyes. The moon had been a witness of pools of blood running like rivers, enemies falling one after the other and her body resting on the ground.
" You aren't going to go to the brat tomorrow. "Black Zetsu stated narrowing his eye at him. Why was he asking if he already knew the answer. " The girl seemed very desperate for you to stay. "
"That doesn't change anything."
" What I'm getting at is that she had a great potential. How come? She looked really weak with that snot, annoying stuttering and shyness." White stared at his other half like he was crazy. At least something good came from him. " Did you feel her chakra at all, moron?! It was a very powerful one. Now that's you're pointing it, her chakra did seem very odd not like normal ninjas."
Obito narrowed his eyes, he didn't get what Zetsu was getting at He hadn't scrutinized her enough to feel her chakra at all, for Black Zetsu to say something like that...
"What do you mean?" The masked-man asked, his interest picked up.
" You remember the story of the Sage of the Sixth Path and his sons?" Obito nodded, how could he not when Madara repeated it million of times? " Then the Sage had another brother who is the ancestor of the Hyūga Clan and many others. That girl had a portion of his chakra. Small but it's there but her Clan mustn't have noticed it if her father called her weak"
"Interesting." Obito uttered his mind slipping to the girl. Hinata was a descendant of one of the creators of the ninja world and Konoha was too ignorant of history to even realize it. "And why are you telling me this?" He had yet to see the point of Black Zetsu, no matter how powerful your chakra was it meant nothing if it was untrained.
"Foolish boy. You noticed it, the brat was clingy because you comforted her and she was gleaming with happiness when you told her you were friends. "Black Zetsu retorted as a matter of fact. " Ah I see, he meant that if you played your pawns well the girl will become so devoted to you that she wouldn't care about her actions if she pleased her first 'true' friends."
That... that didn't came to his mind, it didn't even cross his mind but it made sense now. It was similar to him, when he had meet her he had wanted to please her no matter the consequences, Obito still did. Everything he was doing was for all the Rins in the world.
Propping his chin on the palm of his hand he mulled over it. Hinata said that she didn't have friends that he was her first one and she seemed relieved and gloating at the idea and heartbroken of the fact that he was leaving. Sometimes he wondered if things would have gone differently if he had someone to guide him, someone to rely on and be there for him when his Clan bombarded him and belittled him because it wasn't enough. If Minato-sensei had noticed that his loud, brash self was no mere than a mask to hid a depressed, sad, self-conscious boy, would he be there?
Those were only 'what if's, nothing could change the past but he could make a better future, a better world. If he wanted that he needed pawns to play with, people who trusted him blindly without questioning him. Akatsuki already did but they were wild cards, unpredictable who had to be reminded who was the leader there. They were all dangerous and Obito had to keep an eye on them, specially Nagato. The 'God' complex was getting to him, when the time came Obito would get rid of him and snatch away the Rinnengan.
But Hinata was a child, a naive, gullible one. Her ancestor was the brother of the Sage of Six Paths. If he attached his strings correctly, she would be an important asset, one at his command following only him, Uchiha Obito. Not Zetsu who licked Madara's shoes. Not Akatsuki who listened to him because he played 'Madara'.
He could be her only friend and companion, he could train her and have her in the palm of his hand and she would listen to him and no other. Though it would be pretty difficult, he had to get rid of any exterior influence if he wanted to be her only guide.
Obito had to show her that she couldn't trust anyone, that he was the 'good' one in the story. Not her family, not her future friends in the Academy, no one.
Zetsu couldn't see the pleased gleam in his only eye or even the feral grin on his face. He may have provided the idea but Zetsu was forever loyal to Madara and not Obito, so the minimum they met the better for him and Hinata.
Yeah, this was going to be interesting.