"Mercenary-san?"

Obito turns slightly, nearly doing a double take when he sees Haku standing only a few steps away from him.

"You're not dead?!" he blurts out, then laughs nervously when Zabuza's head snaps in his direction. "Uh, I just mean… Well, that situation the other day seemed pretty dangerous, no?"

Zabuza bristles like an offended peacock, but Haku merely smiles. "It was," he admits, a touch sheepish. "If it weren't for your warning, I'm not sure that we would've survived."

"We could've taken on those pests," Zabuza denies, and Haku blinks at him.

"Ah, of course Zabuza-sama," he says, looking apologetic. "But you were injured, and the risk was rather great…"

At that, Zabuza deflates a little, like he's been told off even though his student's words were entirely genuine. Obito might've thought the whole interaction was adorable if it weren't for the fact that it was an A-Rank missing nin and his deadly-as-hell student carrying out the conversation.

When Haku smiles like Zabuza has just handed him the world and Zabuza honest-to-god (or honest-to-sage?) turns away with red-tinged ears, muttering something about 'cheeky brats,' Obito rescinds his previous statement. Despite the fact that these two could easily commit murder on just about anyone but S-Ranked ninjas and plot-protected protagonists, their dynamic is almost sickeningly charming.

He does wonder what they're doing here, though, since he's fairly certain that this town isn't anything particularly special. And, because he has little self preservation instincts, he asks.

Zabuza looks disgruntled at their moment having been interrupted - what a protective father, Obito thinks with amusement, then promptly wrestles his expression into something neutral so he doesn't chopped up into little pieces of cold cutbitos - but as usual, Haku is there to save the day.

"I'm afraid we can't share the specifics," Haku apologizes - and it's genuine too, which just proves that he really is too kind for this world - "But I can say that we're completing a mission. Nothing at all strenuous."

Obito, finding the comment a bit odd, looks over Zabuza and Haku once again. This time, he can't help but notice that Zabuza is favoring his right leg. As soon as the man sees him looking, he shifts his stance and Obito can practically feel him glare holes into his head.

"...Fair enough," he eventually lets out a little sheepishly, looking more towards Haku even though he can still see Zabuza's glare out of the corner of his eye. "That's why I'm here, too. Was here," he corrects a moment later, since he'd been on the way out of the town when he'd been stopped.

"Oh?" Haku asks, cocking his head to the side like a puppy. "I was under the impression that you were a bounty hunter."

Obito's expression spasms. "Ahah, yeah. Totally. Not. No. No, I'm not a bounty hunter," he says because it'd honestly be stupider to lie. When Zabuza gives him an odd look, he remembers what he told them when they'd first met. "Just an… uh… opportunist."

Haku makes a noise of understanding, while Zabuza eyes him consideringly, as if he doesn't quite believe him, but will refrain from calling him out on it.

Obito hums, then pauses, looking between the two of them as a terrible idea creeps into his mind. "...But you two are in a similar position, aren't you?"

Haku and Zabuza share a glance. "We are," the former offers, looking curious.

"Hm… So, how would you feel about a team-up?"

"What."

Obito winces at Zabuza's flat tone. "Well, I'm just thinking that we could help each other out here. I know that the jobs around here don't make much money, so wouldn't it be better if we went after something worth more money together?"

Both of them inspect him for a full minute, and Obito finds himself sweating as he wonders if he's just made a terrible mistake.

Eventually though, a glint of amusement enters Zabuza's eyes.

"You're new to this."

Obito freezes, embarrassed at having been read so easily. "...Well, I wouldn't say that—" he scrambles to say, but is cut off by the man's harsh laugh.

"Zabuza-sama," Haku pipes up, the lovable saint, "I wouldn't mind. I'm only where I am today because you chose to help me, after all. Besides…" he trails off, eyes flicking towards Zabuza's leg.

The man's expression sours, but Obito can see him folding like a wet piece of paper. Adorable, he thinks again, then wonders, a little horrified, if this kind of thing is why Kakashi always calls Team 7 his 'cute little genin.'

"Fine," Zabuza bites out, turning the full force of his gaze on Obito and causing him to let out an embarrassing 'eep.' "But you don't get in the way."

"Yes sir!" Obito blurts out, throwing his hand up in the salute. He flushes immediately when Zabuza's expression falls flat, which is followed up by a soft giggle from Haku.

Quite honestly, he doesn't know how he's survived this long, or even at all.

"I spy with my little eye—"

"Shut the fuck up before I shove your little eye down your throat."

Obito swallows his next words, but can't help from grumbling under his breath. "So violent…"

Zabuza eyes him, incredulously, which… fair, considering the world they're in.

"Oh," Haku says, unphased as ever, "There he is."

Each of their gazes snap onto a man wandering along a path, barely even trying to hide who he is.

"Huh," Obito lets out. "That was easy."

Zabuza grunts. "He's almost an A-Rank. Watch out."

The man must hear him, because he slows down, raising his gaze to look at them. Before he can make a move, Zabuza barks out Haku's name, and the boy wastes no time in launching a barrage of senbon towards the shinobi, who promptly curses in response.

Zabuza goes after him next, swinging his gigantic sword in a wide arc. Obito's sure that if this world really followed anime logic (in terms of appearance), his eyes would be sparkling, because that's fucking cool . It's too bad that he'd probably fall over if he tried to pick up a sword like that. Even if he reinforced himself with chakra, it probably wouldn't have the full effect. Not that he had sword training, so—

"Get a fucking move on!"

Obito yelps at Zabuza's shout, practically throwing himself forward to cut off the shinobi. It does have its intended effect, though, and Haku manages to nail him with a couple of senbon. Not anywhere vital, so he's able to leap away, but he's starting to get run down. While Haku and Zabuza attack in tandem, Obito usually lures him into position so their strikes can land.

The fact that everything was going to plan probably should've been the first sign that something was wrong. The second would be the way the target shifts his stance and slams his hand on the ground, causing tendrils of ink to shoot outwards into spiraling patterns.

Obito barely has time to process the use of fucking fuinjutsu before Zabuza drags him backwards, and he narrowly avoids being exploded.

"This wasn't on the file," Zabuza bites out, eyes flicking around the cloud of dust.

"It doesn't look very advanced," Haku says quietly from beside them. "It's raw, almost."

Zabuza clicks his tongue. "Probably just copied that shit from a scroll and hoped for the best."

"Well it certainly worked," Obito says warily, watching as the dust settles. "Is that—" he cuts himself off, suddenly feeling queasy. "Oh."

"Figures," Zabuza says with a frown, like the pile of flesh and bone before them is just a minor inconvenience. "What a dumbass."

"It looks like the scroll survived," Haku points out, stepping forwards to lift it from what's left of the man. Obito swallows back bile.

"Let's get this back," Zabuza says, turning around, only to pause at the sight of Obito's expression. "Oh, fuck no. I'm not dealing with this shit."

"Zabuza-sama?" Haku lets out, following his gaze. "Ah."

"I'm fine," Obito says, despite being very much not fine.

Obito has seen dead bodies before, in both lives. But the ones Before were dressed and laying within coffins, and the ones as Obito had been distant, as if there was a foggy haze clouding his memories.

But this is vivid .

(Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad, had the man they were sent after not painted the ground red with his own blood, or had he looked more human than flesh.)

"—breaths, Mercenary-san. Do not feel ashamed. This happens to most."

Obito blinks away the black spots in his vision - ones he hadn't even noticed swallow his sight - and stares at Haku, uncomprehending. The boy looks back not with pity, but with kindness.

"Are you alright now?"

Obito opens and closes his mouth, throat dry. "...Huh? I—" he glances around. "Zabuza?"

"He's inside, turning in the scroll," Haku says. Obito's head jerks towards the building they're in front of. He hadn't even remembered walking there. "It's fine, you know. I reacted like this my first few times, too. It's even worse when you're the one doing it. But it becomes…" He hesitates. "Not better, but easier. Though I'm unsure if that's a comfort or not."

Obito swallows, then forces himself to plaster on a smile. "'s fine. And it's Obito."

"Pardon?"

"My name," he replies. "It's Obito."

Haku blinks at him, then smiles. It makes something in his chest loosen; Haku really is a good kid. "Alright," he agrees. "Obito."

A/N:

Zabuza, walking out of the station: "Alright, I have-"
Zabuza:
Zabuza: "Now what the fuck is this mushy-ass bullshit."

WOO, some angst because I cannot HELP MYSELF :D
if you can't tell by now, this fic has literally no planning behind it, and I'm just writing/posting as I go along

btw, the chunin exams have NOT happened yet... i'm gonna go ahead and say, tentatively, that this takes place a little under two months after the Wave Mission.
in this fic, a lot of the filler missions will be canon, which is what Team 7 is up to rn (just as an fyi :))

anyway
Thanks for reading!