"And that's the entire story," Kakashi said and looked around the room. All the members of Team Rou were drinking either coffee or tea to try to calm their nerves as they listened to their captain explain. It was not working.
Raidou was the first to speak up, "So this whole time Itachi was a spy." It was meant to come out as a question, yet it came out as a statement. Raidou supposed it made sense in a twisted kind of way. Itachi was an Uchiha after all and him spying for his family just seemed to explain why he was in ANBU so early in his life.
"Double spy. The hokage knows about the Uchiha using him, so he's being used as a spy for the Village instead," Kakashi confirmed.
"So you knew all along, Taicho?" It was Genma who spoke now.
"Of course. I'm the captain of this team."
"But you never bothered to tell us about any of this."
"What good would it do, Genma? When Team Rou was formed, we barely knew each other, despite majority of us going to the same school. Telling you about Itachi's role as a double spy would cloud your judgement and you wouldn't be able to trust him."
"Can we trust you, Senpai? If you held back such a secret then Itachi isn't really the problem here."
Everyone looked at Tenzou as he said this, Kakashi just eye smiled.
"You should know the answer for yourself, Tenzou. Out of everyone here, you've been with me the longest."
"And I've always been loyal, ever since the beginning. I'd follow you blindly even though I never understood your decisions. I didn't want this team to be formed with broken members but I gave in because you insisted, Senpai. Itachi being on Team Rou just increased everyone's hatred for us, including Danzo, because of who he was. I never did anything because you insisted. Everything, from leaving ROOT to accepting Naruto, I agreed with it because you wanted it. But you never trusted me with anything, not even with your thoughts. How can I trust you when you can't trust my ability as your vice?"
The room stilled, the only sound being empty cups placed back on the table.
Kakashi, expression never changing, said, "If I never trusted your ability then why would I have kept you around. I've got a reputation around Konoha, every ninja associated with me either dies or meets misfortune, look at my genin team for example. Both Sensei and his wife are dead, Rin is dead and I've got Obito's left eye for Kami's sake! But I kept you around. If I didn't trust your ability, I would have avoided you, so that you wouldn't be associated with me. I'm a mess, Tenzou, it's not a secret, but you've always followed me, so how could I not trust you?"
Kakashi's opened his eye and looked at Tenzou. He cheeks were slightly tinted; his expression was a mixture between admiration and pride.
"Well if it's like that then I suppose…"
Raidou let out a sigh of relief, he honestly didn't want to imagine what would have happened if they got into a fight. Wood against lightning and Naruto would be sure to join if he heard the commotion. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, might be comical even what with two ANBU members fighting to the death with a toddler in the mix, kicking and screaming about ramen. That would be entertaining to watch, his thoughts were interrupted by Hayate's coughing.
"Um Taicho, gomen for ruining your…er… bonding moment with Tenzou but, well you never really answered the question of who's going to die."
Kakashi turned his attention to Hayate now.
"Oh that, it's most likely me that's going to die," he looked at everyone's expression. "See, that's why I told you to finish the drinks, you would've spat it out now."
"What the fuck, what the actual fuck? First you tell us that Itachi's been a spy this entire time and now you're telling us that you're going to fucking die?!" Genma's outburst triggered everyone.
Tenzou was back to being angry, his headache somehow back, Raidou was muttering incoherent sentences, Hayate's coughing seemed worse and Genma was fuming. Trust their captain to announce his death in such a nonchalant way.
"Kami, how many times am I going to have to reprimand you all tonight? I'm not dead now and won't be anytime soon."
"You just said earlier that one of us is bound to die!"
"Not if we come up with a plan to stop it from happening. Look, I get it. Apart from Raidou, I'm the only one who had a death wish but I've got Naruto to take care of now. I can't- won't die, not until he can handle himself."
That seemed to calm everyone down, just a little.
"What you're saying is that if Naruto wasn't in the picture, you would have just let yourself die?"
"Well yeah, I didn't really have a purpose to live, now did I?"
To everyone's surprise, Genma actually laughed, "Only you, Taicho would speak about death like it's some sort of reward."
"I take it that everyone's okay then, with Itachi being a double agent and my inevitable death that we're going to somehow avoid?"
For the second time that night, a chorus of "Hai," was heard.
"Good, we've got to come up with a plan that involves stopping a potential coup d'état, preventing my death and training Naruto in the meantime."
"Senpai, what was that last part?" Tenzou asked, brow already twitching.
"Ah, I seemed to have forgotten to have told you about that."
To Raidou's joy, a fight between the two men did break out that night, only it was probably the weirdest fight between two highly skilled and sober ninjas he had witnessed but it was still as comical as the fight he had imagined. There was no wood, lightning or a certain energetic chibi involved but there was the use of colourful language shouted in hushed tones to not wake said energetic chibi, and a wrestle of some sort that involved hair pulling, missed kicks and punches and a lot of shoving. Somehow, Kakashi's mask stayed on and didn't move down a single inch.
Genma and Raidou watched with equal amusement as Hayate went back to the kitchen with the tray of empty cups to make more coffee and tea. Perhaps Taicho has some alcohol lying around, Kami knows I'm going to need it for tonight. Yugao will be so disappointed when I show up to our apartment tomorrow morning tired and hungover, he thought sadly.
Obito woke up with a start. He had always been an easy sleeper despite what many would think. The slightest of sounds would startle him, though he was slow to react unless he was on a mission. Scratching was heard at his door which meant one thing, Kakashi was looking for him and he sent Pakkun to fetch him.
As if the dog could sense that he was awake, the scratching became louder.
"I'm coming, I'm coming! Damn you Kakashi, it's not even eight yet," Obito groaned and looked to the clock on his bedside table. The clock showed that it was way past eight, nearing the ninth hour of the morning.
"Well either way it's not like we agreed to meet or anything." He got out of bed and got dressed in a slow fashion. Should've told me beforehand, then I would've been rushing, he thought as he put on the standard blue sandals that most ninjas in the Village wore. He finally left his room and met an annoyed pup that stood proudly by his feet.
"Kakashi asks you to come by the manor. He says it's rather urgent."
"If it's so urgent then why didn't come by himself?"
Pakkun turned his head away in shame. "It's best if you see for yourself," was his simple reply.
At that, Obito immediately left the hostels with Pakkun behind him. While he didn't shunshin to the manor, he did run. He didn't have enough energy to instantly transport himself to Kakashi's side, but he hoped that whatever was wrong wouldn't be that bad. Scenarios of unlikely dangerous events were running wild in his head. Kakashi was more than capable himself, so if needed him something was definitely wrong.
Obito arrived at the manor and immediately went in, on guard the entire time. He heard Naruto scream and rushed towards the living room. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to kick both Pakkun and Kakashi to Suna. They woke him up early in the morning, made him rush to the manor thinking something was seriously wrong, only to be met with this sight.
On the floor in the living room lay Tenzou completely asleep and snoring blissfully. Hayate seemed to be passed out, his lower body on the couch and his upper body face first into the wooden floor. His usual pale face was slightly flushed and he mumbled something that vaguely resembled 'Yugao'.
Genma was sitting cross-legged by the coffee table with his head cradled between crossed arms and a pen resting in one hand. He was sleeping and drooled on a piece of parchment paper that his body covered halfway. Raidou was on the far end of the room, close to the kitchen, throwing and catching a giggling Naruto. They both noticed him and greeted.
"Ohayo, Obi-nii!"
"Ohayo, Obito!"
Obito only waved in response and looked around for Kakashi, who unsurprisingly was missing in action, and so was his dog.
"Where's Kakashi?" he asked Raidou, trying his best not to completely lose his temper in front of Naruto.
Raidou looked at him sheepishly and laughed slightly, "Uh Taicho's in the garden, doing um… research? Yeah, research. He called for you cause he wanted your help on something or the other and well the rest of aren't exactly capable of being useful right now," he paused to look at his teammates who were all unconscious, "See, Tenzou's asleep cause he had this really bad headache and was complaining about it most of the night so Taicho kinda knocked him out. And Genma just fell asleep cause he was writing the entire night; he's got the best handwriting out of all of us…"
Obito nodded. It was clear that Raidou was stalling for Kakashi but he didn't mind, he would kick Kakashi either way and then ask what the hell this was all about.
"What about Hayate? His face's flushed."
Raidou placed Naruto down and whispered something in his ear. Naruto, still giggling, ran past Obito straight through the kitchen to the garden.
"Hayate's hungover as shocking as it is to believe. Taicho and Tenzou got into a… disagreement of sorts and Hayate left to make tea and coffee, you know to ease the mind or whatever. Anyway, he decided that he needed a bit of a drink to function. It was a really long night and Hayate, well he's Hayate and doesn't handle commotion well. But then he got the ratio of tea to alcohol wrong and ended up with alcohol and no tea. It worked out well in the end, he gave these good ideas that we're sure to use in our plans."
"Plans?" Obito raised a brow and Raidou laughed a bit too much. It took a lot of restraint not to smirk, Raidou had always been an oversharer. He now had leverage over Kakashi to use as blackmail.
Just then Naruto came bursting in the room, dragging Kakashi by the arm behind him. Normally, Obito would have found the moment cute, now he just glared at the copy ninja. Naruto let go of Kakashi and jumped towards Raidou.
"Raidou-nii, let's play outside!" Raidou was more than happy to oblige. There was an awkward tension in the room between Kakashi and Obito and he honestly needed a breather, even if it was with Naruto who would surely tire him out.
"I'll uh just leave it to you two then," he said and swiftly picked Naruto up and left.
"You woke me up, made me think that there was an emergency only for me to find this dump?"
Kakashi raised his hand up. "Before you get all worked up, Bak-Obito, let me explain."
Obito crossed his arms, "I listened enough to Raidou ramble on about last night and how everyone except the two of you ended up unconscious."
"That damned Raidou, when I told him to stall I didn't mean like that," Kakashi mumbled to himself.
"What's going on? Raidou let it slip that you guys were planning something and then seemed guilty about it. He also said you wanted my help with something."
"Yeah, I do."
Obito did smirk now. Of all people, Kakashi Hatake, was asking for his advice. He had gone years listening to how stupid he is and now he wanted help from that same idiot.
"Karma's a bitch, eh?"
Kakashi rolled his visible eye. "Continue like that and I won't tell you about the plan."
Obito's whole demeanour changed. He shrugged his shoulders slightly and uncrossed his arms.
"You're going to tell me about the plan. I was going to use that as leverage against you."
Kakashi snorted, "Hah, Baka. You're a thousand years too early to think you have leverage over me."
"I'm older than you!"
"And I'm smarter. Now do you want to know or not?"
Obito glared and stuck his tongue out. "Fine. But we're taking this to the kitchen. I'm starving thanks to you and Pakkun."
They both made their way to the kitchen and Obito immediately raided Kakashi's fridge. He noticed the empty bottle of sake lying next to it on the counter. Just how much did Hayate drink last night? Also how big was his tea cup that he finished an entire bottle of sake?
"I usually drink the sake at night after Naruto's been particularly enthusiastic about the games he made up. Never enough to make myself drunk though," Kakahi told Obito as if reading his thoughts.
"What's Hayate like when he's drunk?"
"Same level of energy as a Genin, though still not as much as Naruto."
"I don't think anyone's on the same level as Naruto."
"You come pretty close."
Obito closed the fridge after finding milk pudding. He took a spoon out of the drawer attached to the counter and pointed it at Kakashi before digging into the dessert.
"Oi what's that supposed to mean?"
Kakashi hopped onto the counter and said, "Nothing much just that you're just as much a Baka as Naruto."
"He's technically your adopted son and you're calling him such names. Kushina-san's rolling in her grave ya'know."
"Please, me a father? We're seventeen, though sometimes it feels as though we lived through decades when we haven't even reached twenty."
"That's by choice though. We could be like Asuma and Kurenai. They're still Chuunin and living life as sweethearts."
"We couldn't be like them even if we tried. We've seen too much and got involved with things we shouldn't."
Obito hopped onto the counter as well, he and Kakashi were separated by the sink.
"Yeah besides I couldn't imagine myself being with anyone except Rin. She would've been great for Naruto, a mother figure even. Then again, an actual mother would've been even better."
Kakashi looked at Obito but said nothing. Obito was even more closed off than him and chose to randomly narrate his thoughts to his best friend whereas Kakashi kept his hidden from everyone. At least he used to. A lot of things about himself seemed to have been changing since Naruto came into his life.
"Sensei would still be Yondaime," Obito continued, he still ate the pudding but seemed distant. "There wouldn't be a war between the Uchiha and the Village, ROOT wouldn't exist, Naruto would be happy and we… we'd be normal. You'd still be in the ANBU, I think but I'd want to work more closely to Sensei, kind of like his apprentice or right-hand. Rin would definitely work at the hospital, she would be the next Tsunade-sama, except gentle, a lot gentler. Kushina-san would just stay Jonin or be promoted to Special Jonin, pity she never was. She was more talented than Jiraiya-sama when it came to Fuinjutsu… and now she never will be," he ended and slurped up the last bit of pudding still left in the small carton.
"Obito… I'm sorry. All the trouble started when I refused to save Rin."
"You weren't the one that killed her."
"Neither were you."
"I suggested that she transplant my left eye to yours when my body got crushed. After she did it, the Iwa ninjas attacked again and slit her throat before you could do anything. Sensei only came afterwards, when one of them tried to kill you and saved us. If I hadn't suggested it, you could've slipped away."
Kakashi glared at Obito, "That's twisted logic and you know that. We would've tried to save you anyway and because of you, I have both eyes and a sharingan to boot. You got crushed, took weeks to heal only to exiled because that damned clan of yours hated that you save the Village traitor's son. If there's anyone to pin all the blame on, it's the fucking kages. They're always using us cause we're just tools. The civilians adore them only because they don't know what it's like to be a soldier. But you'll change that when you're hokage."
Obito laughed and then smiled slightly at Kakashi, "You must be tired to talk like that. You never compliment me."
Kakashi just shrugged, "I've been up for most of the night with a good-for-nothing squad that complained, got drunk and annoyed the shit out of me. Of course I'm tired."
They both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence.
Obito cleared his throat, "So about these plans?"
"There's a lot you can't know to be completely honest. We came up with an idea to bash the whole coup d'état away but it's safer if you don't know."
"I'm only an Uchiha by name, why can't I know?"
"You're vunerable to Danzo. He won't care whether you were expelled or not, fact is you're an Uchiha and he's after their heads. Or eyes more like it."
"So Itachi can't know either. Got it, I'll remember it next time I talk to him or Shisui."
Kakashi nodded in approval. "Good. But with Shisui, you're going to need to guard him. Team Rou's in charge of Itachi but because of certain details of the plan, we won't be able to protect Shisui completely."
"All I have to do is guard him?" Obito questioned. That would be difficult without Shisui noticing. Obito knew that Shisui was the most powerful asset in the game, but he would be difficult to protect.
"Trying to watch from the shadows would be next to impossible. Shisui took out ROOT members like it was child's play. You're going to need to try tagging along on missions with him somehow and spending time with him outside missions as well."
"Okay, that's it for my role in the plan, then? Apart from my usual finding out what's going on with the Uchiha job."
"That's it for the Uchiha part of the plan. But I'm going to need your help with training Naruto."
That made Obito perk up. Excitedly, he said, "Finally decided to trust my judgement when it comes to parenting Naruto."
Kakashi waved his hand at Obito. "Not entirely. While planning last night, Rou decided that if we're to train Naruto we're going to do it properly. Naruto won't be another me or Itachi, forced into growing up quicker than we should've. Naruto's going to train as usual, like we did when Hokage-sama gave me the one-month trial. Difference is, he's going on missions with us."
"You're taking Naruto with on ANBU missions?" Obito couldn't see how that was any better than his idea.
"No, toroi! Obviously not, we're taking him out on stakeouts or guard duty. Nothing to scar him. He'll end up worse than me if he goes out on ANBU missions at his age."
Obito shuddered. He imagined a mini Kakashi, no he couldn't have that. In his mind a mini Obito with better skills than he had as a child sounded a lot better.
"What about chakra control?"
"That's Itachi's job. Uchihas are usually skilled when it comes to chakra control, except for you. Are you sure you were an Uchiha and not by some miracle ended up with the sharingan?"
"Very funny, teme. So what can I do with Naruto?"
"Surprisingly, I'm giving you free reign. You are technically co-parenting with me so you're free to teach Naruto whatever you think's necessary. Within reason of course."
Obito didn't bother listening to Kakashi after he mentioned free reign. He was imagining all the things he would teach Naruto. Maybe he'd take Naruto as an apprentice. He'd teach Naruto to respect he's elders and always help them in times of need to build up good karma, he'd also teach Naruto about girls. Sure, Kakashi was the one who had girls swooning over him but he would teach Naruto the proper way to treat them. Food was another thing that needed to be taught, Naruto couldn't continue to go on rambling about ramen like he seemed to do now for some odd reason.
"Oi! Are you even listening?"
Obito snapped out of it. Kakashi was no longer on the counter but was standing by the door to the garden.
"Huh?" came his intelligent reply. Kakashi just ignored him, he was way too tired for his moronic best friend.
"I said I'm going to check on Raidou. Naruto's with him so he's probably half dead by now. You're welcome to stay if you want, most of my squad's passed out already and they'll probably only leave after noon."
"Oh ariagato, but you know I'm probably going to empty the fridge."
"Do what you want. It's already been raided by Naruto and Raidou this morning. Tenzou drank all my coffee, Genma ate all the sweets and finished the tea and Hayate, well let's rather not go there."
Obito chuckled slightly then remembered something, "Where's Pakkun?"
"Sent him out to tell Yugao where her boyfriend is and to Itachi to tell him training for today cancelled."
"Won't he be angry with all the errands?"
"Nah, he and the pack's coming over to spend time with Naruto. They're probably just going to nap in his room with him but they consider it a reward for some reason."
"Makes sense to me. Did you say anything else?"
"Just that Naruto's going with Genma and Hayate on guard duty tonight."
"They're usually on duty by the Hyuuga side."
Kakashi nodded, "It's going to be night-time, so he won't be noticed. It's guard duty and on Hyuuga territory, it would be unlikely that something would happen there of all places. Anything else?"
"I'm good," Obito answered his question and got down from the counter and Kakashi left to check on Raidou.
Obito couldn't help but feel that something was odd. He knew that Naruto going on guard duty was safe, he had Genma and Hayate with and it was on Hyuuga territory, yet he had this sinking feeling that Naruto and safe didn't belong in the same sentence. He just hoped that it wouldn't come to Naruto in anyway or the Hyuuga at that. They were a powerful clan in the Village and needed for the rest of the clan heads to accept Naruto's adoption.
A/N: That's a wrap for this chapter. Not much revealed about the plan but that will take its course. Rin's death explained and Obito being alive addressed too. Hopefully this answers any questions about Obito's reaction to everything that went on after the attack against Iwa.
Reviews appreciation (from chapter 8, unless it was questions or something similar it won't be answered but I will make effort to reply to every review after this chapter):
lara5170: Naruto definitely would be a lot smarter since he's got people actually training and teaching him but he will still have his stupid/goofball like personality. About the orange, I feel that it would somehow take away his essence since the Naruto we all know was the living embodiment of orange but he won't wear as much or as bright. I already got an idea of a nice outfit for him but that's for a later chapter.
TigrezzTail: He definitely will learn what annoying means but it won't make much of a difference. He's got a family now so everyone else doesn't mean that much to him.
TipsyKitsune: Naruto and Sasuke will definitely be best friends but they'll still have a rivalry like in the anime. It will be slightly different of course ;)
Guest (Kiki): Thanks so much for actually finding my story again. I definitely don't plan on scrapping this especially since you seem to enjoy it so much. I had so much fun writing these last few chapters!
Kittyhell: Doesn't answer your question completely but the reason why Kakashi's likely to die will be answered within the next few chapters. Naruto won't live a normal childhood, no matter how much Kakashi wants him to unfortunately.
TigrezzTail: Yep! The Hyuuga is key for the rest of the clans to agree, next chapter might just add to Naruto's favour *wink wink* But there will be a lot more training (and games) in store for Naruto.
RustingKnight: Glad you're liking it! Hopefully, you understand it better now.
Koren: I took your advice to heart and been editing the previous chapters. I'm using fic writing as a way to improve my actual writing so thank you pointing out the errors. Glad you like the dynamic of Team Rou and Kakashi's personality.
TipsyKitsune: So sorry but he wasn't needed then. He has a really big role in this story, especially in the beginning so he will be mentioned and have a lot more to say and do as the story progresses. Hopefully this chapter helps?
That's the last review guys! Thanks for all the support I've been getting. I'm going to try my best to finish more chapters soon but Ramadhan is starting soon (I'm Muslim btw) so this story won't be my main focus for the next month won't be this fic. It will continue as usual after Ramadhan is complete and the updates for next week will be the two chapters hopefully.
That's all I have to say so bye and have a good day and stay safe!
