She isn't dead.

Rin is a med-nin. She has been drilled until checking her own condition the moment she wakes is reflex, with nary a thought or a moment spared. So when she reaches for her chakra and guides it into a diagnostic jutsu that is undetectable to all but the best chakra sensors, and it gives her a picture of her own body in perfect health, she knows she is alive.

She did not die at Kakashi's hand. Her desperate ploy to protect Konoha failed. She can feel the Sanbi in her, still, even if it is no longer thrashing and lashing against a seal that was never meant to contain it for long. She is alive.

But- Kakashi's chidori went through her. She felt it, the agonizing pain, her heart disintegrating, blood clogging her throat, and her body shutting down. The creep of her inexorable death. She had been dying, slipping away to somewhere dark and free of pain even as the horror and heartbreak on Kakashi's face had haunted her last waking moments.

But she is alive. She is healed of her fatal injury, more healthy and well rested than she can ever remember being. Certainly since before the war. (Before Obito's death.) Someone must have healed her, then. Someone who must not view her as an enemy - or a threat - because she is free of more seals or restraints and is in fact lying on what she recognizes to be her own bed roll.

Since her savior - or captor - has seemingly not yet noticed she is awake, she takes another precaution and dips into the second sight unique to chakra sensing, sweeping her short range out to encompass Kakashi (who is beside her; his chakra buzzing pleasantly in his sleep) and the only other person, whose chakra she recognizes!

Reconstructed heart leaping to her throat and hope swelling within her unblemished chest, Rin opens her eyes and sits up, Obito's name spilling from her lips in a desperate plea as she whips her head around and takes in what can only be her missing teammate.

Missing, not dead. Just like Rin should be dead but isn't, her longtime friend now sits before her, expression wretched and wanting as tears fill and overflow from both of his eyes.

"Rin…!" He croaks, drinking her in, red and purple eyes glued to her face like she might disappear if he so much as blinks.

Rin is hardly any better, half-sure this is a dream or that she really did die no matter what her own diagnosis tells her. She scrambles to her feet, and Obito gasps, leaping up and meeting her halfway, crashing into her with the same mindless fear screaming at her to touch him, to check his pulse, to make sure he's okay and not dying alone in a cave somewhere in Grass.

"Obito," she sobs, clutching him with a fervor unlike her, and he wraps his arms around her in turn, squeezing her too tightly, burying his vibrant white hair in her shoulder and shaking like he might come apart at the seams.

"Rin, Rin, Rin," he whispers urgently against her, overcome with emotion, unable to say anything else.

Rin runs a hand through his hair, presses her cheek against the side of his head, pulls together the remnants of her composure to give voice to the thoughts sticking to the back of her throat. "We thought you died," she manages to choke out through her grief, which is still so potent even now. "We would never have left you if we'd known."

Oh god, they left him.

But Obito is already shaking his head. "S'not your fault," he says, hoarse but firm. "I would have died if I hadn't been rescued-" here, he pauses in clear hesitation, but he continues, if reluctantly- "...by Uchiha Madara."

Uchiha Madara?

"Rin!" Kakashi suddenly screams, and it's heart-wrenching, an outpouring of sorrow and soul-stirring anguish. He lurches to his feet, lone gray eye blown wide and unseeing.

Obito pulls back from her, shocked into a alertness, tear-stained face tracking Kakashi's movements with rapturous attention. "Kakashi…" he says, with desolate yearning.

Kakashi stills, eerily, and his eye zeroes in on Obito with furious focus. "Obito…?" He whispers, with a faint hope that is so, so fragile. Kakashi himself is on the verge of shattering. One wrong move, one unkind truth, and he might never recover. "Rin?" He calls, noticing her as well, just as surprised as Rin had been at her miraculous survival.

"You're late, Bakashi," Obito says, tremulous, wet. He hasn't stopped crying. Neither has Rin, truthfully. He attempts a smile, but it's a shadow of what it used to be.

It's enough.

"You're late, idiot," he says, rough, cracked all the way through, staggering over to them with none of the grace he normally exhibits. When Obito grabs his arm and drags him down, he lets it happen, dropping to his knees between them and sinking into the impromptu group hug with uncharacteristic ardor.

(But Obito's death had changed him, just as it had changed her. Just as surely as Rin's near death and Obito's resurrection will change them again.

She can only hope it is for the better.)

.

.

"What happened?" Kakashi asks, quietly, after they've all calmed down. He's pulled away from the hug, but he's still close, knees touching each of them as they sit in a circle, the proximity doing more for their comfort than words ever could.

At the question, Obito tenses, conflicted, but he shores himself up with a look at Rin who smiles encouragingly and elaborates on what he told her. "Apparently, Uchiha Madara didn't die at Final Valley. He's been alive this whole time, in hiding. He was the one who rescued me." He frowns, looking down at his hands, which he clenches and unclenches absently. "I think he wanted to turn me into his minion, make me carry out his great big plan since he's too old and weak to do it himself."

"His plan?" Rin prompts gently, when Obito trails off into silence.

"I don't know what it was, specifically. He was always talking about how the world was rotten, and that he had a plan to save it." He scoffs, obviously not buying it.

"How did you know we were in trouble?" Kakashi asks, shrewd, evidently putting the pieces together while Rin is still processing the influx of information itself. "How did you escape?"

Obito flinches, and Rin's heart aches for him. He turns to her, brimming with guilt and self-loathing and says, "You almost died because of me. You were targeted because of me. Because Madara wanted me to watch you die, so I would turn on this world and willingly work with him to change it."

"Oh, Obito," Rin sighs, pained. He flinches again when Rin reaches out to cup his face, and it hurts, but- She brushes it aside, resolutely placing a hand on either side of his face and forcing him to meet her gaze. "It's not your fault," she says, giving him a look when he goes to refute her. He shuts his mouth, quelled, but he clearly doesn't believe her. "It's not. Obito, how could you have known he would target me? Did he tell you?"

"No!" He protests vehemently, disgusted and horrified by the very notion. "Of course not!"

"Is it Kakashi's or my fault that we- we left you to die?" She asks, ruthlessly swallowing her own churning emotions, but her voice betrays her by breaking at the end.

Distraught, Obito grabs hold of her wrists and says, "No, obviously not! But it's not the-"

"It's the same," Rin insists, leaving no room for argument. "If we can't blame ourselves, then you can't beat yourself up over this, Obito." She smiles, pouring all of her love and affection and care into it and hoping Obito picks up on at least a fraction of it. "Even if it were your fault, I forgive you," she says, because she knows how stubborn he is.

He starts crying again, big, kind heart once again overwhelmed. Then he turns to Kakashi, who has yet to look away from Obito and who seems visibly troubled by both having triggered this line of conversation and having so much emotion bared toward him alone. "Kakashi-" He begins.

"You almost died because of me," he reminds him, incredulous. "Do you- I would understand if you blamed me." He braces himself, as if awaiting a blow- or some condemnation from Obito.

Rin's smile grows wry. If that's what he's expecting after everything Obito has already said and who he is as a person, then he's even more emotionally stunted than she had thought.

Sure enough, Obito looks flummoxed, as if it had never even occurred to him to resent the person whom he had sacrificed himself to save. It probably hadn't. "Don't be stupid, Bakashi. I saved you because I wanted to. Why would I blame you for that?"

"Some would," Kakashi says, quietly, but he appears to accept Obito's opinion. He glances at Rin and then quickly looks away. "I broke my promise," he points out, relentless in seeking out punishment.

"If we're going that route, then you should blame me for making you break that promise," Rin butts in, too exasperated to be sympathetic. She's been battling Kakashi's guilt complex for months. It has exhausted even her patience. "How about we just agree that we're all forgiven and put it behind us?" She suggests before they get caught in an endless cycle.

"Sounds good to me," Obito says, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

Kakashi huffs, defeated at least for now. "Fine." He crosses his arms and looks away from them, but he ends up checking on Obito again almost immediately. Rin understands the urge. She can still hardly believe that he's here, right in front of them.

Obito grins, ever amused by anyone getting one over on Kakashi. The sight soothes something inside of her, a wound that has been slow to heal, sluggishly bleeding since something important was ripped out so many months ago. She can tell it has the same effect on Kakashi, who relaxes ever so slightly in response.

"...So Madara is expecting you to go back?" Rin broaches the subject again cautiously, wary of destroying the fragile peace they had just achieved.

Obito's smile dims as he grows serious. "Yeah. He was sure I would. Now I know why."

"What will he do when you don't?" She asks, biting her lip. No one likes it when a plan fails, much less the shinobi world's boogeyman. There's a reason people fear his name, even to this day.

"About that…" Obito says, contemplative. "It wasn't actually Madara who rescued me." He then tells them about the other beings that had occupied that cave, including the one who had wrapped itself around him and led him to Kakashi and Rin. "I kind of incinerated him," he admits, sheepish. "I was angry. I wanted to hurry up and end the battle, so I went a little overboard, and he got caught in the crossfire."

"Speaking of the battle," Rin says, apologetic but knowing this needs to be brought up, "how did you manage to take out all those enemy nin? And how did you heal me? You never learned medical ninjutsu."

Solemn, Obito explains, "Seeing you die...it activated the next stage of my Sharingan - the Mangekyō Sharingan. It gives its users incredible power, power that enabled me to save you." He gestures around them. "It also created Kamui, this pocket dimension I hid us away in."

Kakashi brings a hand up over his own Sharingan, lightly gripping the hitai-ate resting over it. "I was going to ask if you wanted me to give you your eye back, but it seems like you've already got one."

One of them finally brought attention to it. Rin has been waiting for Obito to get to it himself, but of course Kakashi wouldn't be able to let it be.

"Madara healed me," Obito admits, mirroring Kakashi as he places a hand over his right eye. "Can't have a half-dead subordinate, right?" He then elbows Kakashi, who doesn't even try to dodge. "And you're not allowed to give back a gift! Even someone like you should know that!" He chides.

Kakashi grunts. "And the white hair? Trying to copy me? You shouldn't have."

"Oi! It's not like that at all!" Obito yells, flushing. "Blame my ancestor! The old guy has lost touch with reality! He's been alone so long he's forgotten it looks terrible!"

Kakashi smirks, and Rin giggles, tickled by the familiar bickering. She smiles warmly at Obito and tells him, "Minato-sensei and Kushina-san are going to be so happy to see you, Obito."

Contrary to her expectations, Obito doesn't light up at the mention of the rest of their make-shift family. Instead, his expression grows grim and determined.

"You're not coming with us," Kakashi realizes, stiffening.

Rin gasps, having never considered this option. "No! Obito, why?"

"You're going to join Madara?" Kakashi asks, astute. "He tried to manipulate you by killing Rin."

"You can't be serious. Obito, you have to come-"

"Madara isn't wrong," Obito interrupts her, the set of his jaw proving him to be unyielding on this point. "Shinobi have created a world of endless fighting. They just keep hating and killing each other for petty reasons. Bearing grudges that last generations and only lead to more fighting and more death. If someone doesn't do something about it, that's all this world will ever be."

"What do you intend to do?" Kakashi asks, stuffing all his emotions behind his poker face and trying for logic. "You can't expect to change the world by yourself."

Rin pleads, "Obito, he's a traitor to Konoha. He's only trying to use you. You said so yourself. Come home. You can do so much more when you become Hokage."

But Obito isn't listening to them. He smiles, sad, like he's already saying goodbye. "That will take too long, and I can't do what I need to while I'm stuck in the village." His expression grows hard and resolute as he says, "You used his kunai, so Minato-sensei will soon show up to take you back to Konoha. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him about me, but I won't try to stop you."

"Obito!" Rin tries, clutching at his arm. "Don't do this."

His mismatched eyes regard her gently. "You don't have to worry about the seal anymore. The Sanbi agreed to stay inside it until it can be fixed and to give you a chance to work with him. He doesn't want to hurt anyone. Please take care of him."

She nods, unable to do anything else, even as she's trying to think of a way to change his mind.

Obito addresses Kakashi next. "Overuse of the Mangekyō normally causes blindness, but neither of us have to worry about that. Just don't use it unless you really have to. The chakra drain might kill you."

"There's something you're not telling us," Kakashi says, ignoring Obito's advice completely. "What are you so worried about? Why are you acting like world peace has a time limit?"

And Obito-

Obito ages rapidly, right before their eyes. Not literally, but the maturity and massive weight in his young face pulling it down into a helpless, hopeless frown stabs into her like knives, pounding in the fact that sweet, kind, optimistic, childish Obito has changed - perhaps forever. Kakashi is right. Obito knows something heavy and horrible, and it's driving him to do something drastic.