"Okay." Obito stepped back after Tobi put on the eye patch. This time, they'd incorporated a fake eye into the illusion, just in case something happened to the patch. "The fake eye looks fine, but a medic is still gonna realize there's nothing there if they start examining it."

"Obviously."

Tobi was sitting at his desk. He hadn't tried to put up much of an argument this time.

Obito didn't want to push his luck by giving Tobi more things to complain about. But he had to make sure everything would be okay while they were gone.

"If Minato-sensei asks, you can tell him what happened. I don't know if we can talk Tsunade-sama into coming here, but that's why I want to go along. Maybe if I go to her, she'll agree."

Tobi gave a soft, cynical laugh. "You're probably wrong, but what if you're right? Or what if the whole thing fails? You're still not thinking ahead."

Obito frowned. "If we fail, then… I guess we have to come back here. I'm out of any other options. Rin and Kakashi aren't going to let me go by myself, and now Kushina-san knows about it, too. But she doesn't know about you, so be careful if you have to talk to her."

Tobi looked aside at the window, where the curtains were still pulled shut. He seemed oddly thoughtful.

"Okay. I'm leaving now." Obito turned toward the door.

"I can handle it." Tobi looked at him. He had a small, dissatisfied frown.

Obito raised an expectant brow. "What?"

There was a pause. Finally Tobi said, "Whatever you do, don't go to Madara again. I don't know if you're right about him being the key to the Uchiha's problems. There are other factors involved. Either way, if he needs dealing with, Ican do it. Get too close to him, and you could lose everything you've been struggling for."

Obito felt a sharp pang of—what? Shame? Annoyance? "I know how dangerous he is. You don't have to remind me. Why've you been acting like you care, anyway?"

"Making yourself a target for the sake of people you barely know? I can imagine where you got such a foolish idea. But Madara isn't someone you want to try that with. You aren't good enough at hiding things from those who know how to look." Tobi held up a photograph. It was the one Kushina had taken of Naruto during their first day at home.

"Hey! Give that back!" Obito lunged, but it wasn't necessary. Tobi let him take it easily.

"That was my intention." Tobi held up his empty hands. "If I'm going to be here a while, I don't want to worry about snooping old women on top of everything else. You shouldn't have left proof of the dimensions laying around to start with."

"Guess I'm just good at making stupid mistakes. Thanks for reminding me. Again," Obito muttered.

Tobi pointed with his palm facing upward. "It doesn't make sense. All I see is a self-righteous brat. It is nauseating to even contemplate, so please don't make me ask more than once. Do you like him?"

"What?" Obito started and took a step back. "Who? Naruto? Don't be an idiot."

"Maybe I'm mistaken. Or maybe you don't realize."

"Or maybe you're trying to throw me off again." Obito's face burned to the point where it was almost painful. "You know what's at stake with the Book. I messed this up, and I need to fix it. Minato-sensei and Kushina-san need him back, too. And did you forget that Kabuto might die?"

Tobi frowned. "You may think I'm irredeemably selfish, but nothing good comes from working yourself to death while rejecting your own wishes. There has to be something in the middle."

"Stop trying to act like you care about me. And stop wasting my time."

"You can do whatever you want, but you'll always be weak against people like Madara if you never consider the meaning of the connections around you. You've chosen the more difficult path. I told you: to live in reality, you must guard—"

"Guard my heart, blah blah blah, I know! For the record, that advice is crap. What's the point of meditating on connections if you're only going to cut them off?"

"That isn't what I meant. I thought you wanted to be different from me. Severing connections is the easier way. If that's what you want, I won't try to stop you. But it's not an idle question. Not for us. You should understand why."

Obito was tense, off balance. He felt the world had turned upside-down. Like there were stars underneath his feet, and sharp precipices above his head, and he was falling.

Tobi crossed his arms. "During that battle, when I said 'guard your heart', you're the one who said his name in response. Whatever you want to call it, that's what he is to you. I saw it then."

Obito breathed in with difficulty, as through a narrow gap. "I… don't know. I—you did cruel, awful things because you let your feelings get in the way. So yeah, I don't want to stop myself from caring, and maybe I couldn't stop even if I tried. But that's it. It doesn't matter who it is. I won't let it get to that point. It's not worth it."

Tobi tilted his head in a partial shrug. "Sorry. You better get going. I'm sure you're already running late."

Obito only hesitated a second longer. He had never heard Tobi apologize for anything before. It was surprising. It wasn't clear what he was apologizing for.

"Keep listening for any information about the Hunters," Obito said. "Anything that might help when we get back. But don't make anyone suspicious of you."

"Noted."

Obito turned away and disappeared.

He stepped out into Kakashi's living room. Kakashi and Rin were packed and ready to go.

"Finally," Kakashi said.

"What's wrong? Your face is all red," Rin said.

"I ran part of the way here," Obito said hurriedly. "So. Where to?"

Rin spread a map out on the low living room table. "Sandaime-sama said we probably didn't stand a chance, but he agreed to let us go anyway. People in our class and the genin weren't supposed to get hurt. So I think he feels kind of responsible. Besides, even if it's a small chance, he wants her to come back, too."

"I'm not sure what we'll do if she agrees to heal me without coming back here," Obito said. "But Minato-sensei will take over as Hokage as soon as he gets home. He'll find out about Tobi anyway, so it's not like I'll get in any more trouble than I already am."

Kakashi rolled his eyes but restrained whatever snarky comment he had. "The good news is there's no time constraint on our mission—from the Sandaime, anyway. We'll have to go back if Minato-sensei calls us back, though. We should have plenty of time to find Tsunade-sama."

"It doesn't feel like it," Obito mumbled. "Didn't the Sandaime know where she is?"

Rin placed her index finger on the map, indicating a spot in the Land of Fire, southwest of the village. "She was apparently last seen in this gambling town. Jiraiya-sama already tried convincing her to come home, but she refused. That wasn't too long ago, but there's no guarantee she'll still be there. Even if we find her, it's going to be tough trying to get her help."

"I can take us there. That'll save time," Obito said.

"How much are you able to use kamui right now?" Kakashi looked to Rin. "Would it hurt him to take us there?"

Rin had a slight frown. "He says he can do it. If he's trying to downplay it and overreaches, I'll be able to tell."

"I'm not," Obito said steadily. "I can't use it too much in a short amount of time without straining. Once will be fine. I can take us directly to the city. I'll just make sure no one else is around before landing, so we don't draw attention."

"You can see where you're landing before you go?"

Obito shook his head. "Not before I go. It's not instant travel like Hiraishin. I can hover between this dimension and my kamui for a little while, and see what's going on with either side. So I can look out before I land."

"That's good to know." Rin reached to fold up the map. "It will come in handy if we need to gather information unseen. But can you really go directly to somewhere you've never been? How accurate are your jumps?"

Obito pointed his thumb at himself. "I have a lot of practice landing somewhere specific. If I know the direction and distance, I can get us there."

"Okay." Rin put the map into her bag and slipped it onto her shoulders.

She and Kakashi looked at Obito expectantly.

"Alright. Uh." Obito held out his hands. "It'll be less draining if we stop off in kamui first. So we'll be there for a moment. It's kind of a weird place. Don't ask."

Rin and Kakashi exchanged a questioning glance, then they each took hold of one of his hands.

Obito silently hoped it wouldn't be too difficult to pull the other two across dimensions.

But when he tried it, it wasn't that bad. He held on to them tightly and pulled them through in one smooth motion.

Obito's mood lifted as he saw the kamui dimension all around them. He felt breathless, like he'd done a short sprint, but his head was clear and his muscles didn't feel weak.

"This might work," he said.

He noticed the other two looking around. No surprise, considering there was plenty to see. They took in the empty wooden cage, the overstuffed field tent, the strange tree.

Obito wished he'd taken them to a blank area of the dimension instead.

"Can I see that map again? It'll have coordinates on it," he said to draw their attention.

"Oh. Right. Should have thought of that." Rin dug the map out of her bag.

Obito studied it for a moment, checking the guides on the edges of the map. He'd trained a lot when it came to jumping accurately. During the past four months while they were tracking Akatsuki, he'd also perfected working with Naruto's Sage jutsu to seek out locations. Their combined abilities were unstoppable.

Obito froze halfway while re-folding the map. He frowned and shoved the map back into the bag.

"Problem?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing. I just remembered something Tobi said. I know where to go now."

He held out his hands again.

"Maybe it's just me, but you and Tobi don't seem like you get along all that well." Rin took his hand. "Even though you're the same person…"

"Maybe his older self is embarrassed," Kakashi said.

Obito snatched his hand. "It's complicated. We have the same past up until my capture by Kumo. That never happened to him. And everything after that has gone differently. The more time passes, the more different it is."

"Interesting, but let's stay on track here," Kakashi said. "We'll take the rest of today to look for Tsunade-sama. If we can't find her in that amount of time, we'll have to stay in or near the city. We're not expected back anytime soon, but it's better if we find her before she catches wind of us."

"Right. Let's go."

Obito hovered just long enough to find them a good place to land between two buildings. Even though they were well within Fire territory, appearing out of thin air was likely to turn some heads.

"Okay." Kakashi stepped toward the entrance of the alley. "From what I've heard, the fact that we're underage won't matter once people see our hitai-ate. We should be able to access any shops to look for Tsunade-sama. But be on your guard."

"Some gambling houses might be members-only," Rin pointed out as they made their way into the street.

"Or they may not even be open yet," Obito said, looking around. It was just after noon, and not very busy. There were a few straggling tourists out on the street, but the place wouldn't fill up until nighttime.

"We'll start at the inns," Kakashi said. "If nothing turns up there, we'll move on to the twenty-four hour slot arcades."

"Should we split up to cover more ground?" Rin suggested.

Kakashi considered for a moment, then shook his head. "There might be bounty hunters here. We should be able to escape if anyone notices us, but this place is too easy to get lost in. It's better if we stick together."

They made their way down the street until they came across a row of inns crammed between two large casinos.

Their first attempts did not go very well. Everyone they talked to said Tsunade wasn't around.

They went down all the inns on that street, then they moved on to the machine slots. There were some customers there, some still playing, others dozing on machines until someone ushered them out.

No one tried to stop them from going anywhere, but they weren't very receptive to questions, either.

It felt like they'd walked all over town by the time they came to a row of small inns close to the gate on the opposite side from where they'd come in.

"It's getting late. If nothing turns up here, we should stop for the day. We're too likely to get in trouble at night," Kakashi said.

They started with the inn on the farthest end, as always.

This attempt was no more successful than before. The old man at the front desk acted shifty, like he knew something. But he refused to talk to the team after finding out they weren't paying customers.

"All we want is to talk to her," Kakashi insisted. "The sooner we know where she is, the sooner we'll leave you alone."

"She ain't here. Can't help you." The old man never looked up from his newspaper. His chin was covered in white stubble and his stomach sagged. He had a cane propped up against his chair, fashioned from a rough piece of wood.

Rin rested a hand on her chest earnestly. "We're not debt collectors. I'm from the Konoha Medic Corps. We just want to make sure she's doing alright."

"That sounds like something a debt collector would say."

"We're clearly not debt collectors." Kakashi adjusted his hitai-ate. "We're Konoha shinobi."

The man sucked in a long breath and spat onto the floor.

"Guys, that's not helping." Obito leaned against the counter. "Sorry about them, ojiisan. They're not used to meeting people outside of the village. I told them it was disrespectful to come barging in here demanding answers."

The man grunted. "Whatever. Just get out of my sight."

Kakashi gave him a murderous, what-are-you-doing sort of glare.

"Truth is, I haven't been out much either," Obito said. "Especially not in a place like this. Do you have any recommendations?"

The old man finally looked at Obito and gave a dry cackle. "You're a bit wet behind the ears for anything in this town, boy. Come back when you've got some hair on your chest. All you kids think a little plate of steel means you're grown up. Well, I've got news for you: it don't."

Obito gave a soft, melancholy laugh. "I guess Kumo didn't get the memo. They thought it was an invitation to brand me twenty times with a two-inch iron over twenty days. Once per day, without fail."

The old man abruptly lowered his newspaper. "You're that kid? The Flash's shadow?"

"Yeah. Not to get all sentimental on you, but Tsunade-sama helped me after I came home. I never really got the chance to thank her. I wanted to tell her that people still need her."

"Minato-sensei doesn't know the three of us are here," Rin said, making Kakashi's eyes go wide with alarm. "We're not trying to make Tsunade-sama come home. But if there's anything we can say to her that might help… maybe it won't do any good, but we have to try."

The old man turned in his chair in a shuffling sort of way.

"I heard she was in town. But I stick around here, mostly, so I haven't seen her. Only rumors. Word gets around when the Great Kamo is here."

"Have you heard where she might be?" Rin asked.

He made a throat-clearing sound and grumbled. "She doesn't always stay the night. A lot of people like to gamble all night long. But when she does stay somewhere, it has to be quiet. There are some one-room huts for rent just outside the city wall. If she plans on being here a while, that'd be my bet."

"Thank you." Rin bowed deeply.

"Wait," he said as they made to leave. "You, Uchiha kid."

"Yeah?"

"The war might be over, but you want to wait a while longer before you go around telling people who you are. There's a good amount of money on you."

"Yeah, I noticed." Obito flipped his eye patch up, then down. "But I'll be Hokage some day, so I might as well get used to that."

They walked back out onto the street. Kakashi nodded toward the open gate, a few streets further down.

"That was reckless. Impressive, but reckless," he said to Rin as they walked.

"It was my idea," Obito objected mildly. "Anyway, being careful was getting us nowhere. We were running out of places to search."

Rin leaned forward to look at him from Kakashi's other side. "That's the first time I've ever heard you talk about what happened."

Kakashi looked at him, too, but he didn't say anything.

Obito scratched cheek and sighed. "That whole thing… it's sort of a lie. I mean, it really happened, but I didn't make it through because I'm some kind of tough war hero. I was unconscious the whole time. By the time I woke up, Kumo had given up on me and left me with Fumi-baa. Then Minato-sensei found me and took me home. The only painful part was the recovery."

"I don't see how that's a lie," Kakashi said. "You still have the scars on you. You still let Minato-sensei and the Uchiha clan head negotiate a way to keep hostilities with Kumo from reopening. Whatever people think of you now, you deserve it."

Obito gave a sideways smile. "Even the ones who want to gouge my eyes out?"

Kakashi didn't miss a beat. "Especially them."