AN: Hello and welcome back!
Just to clarify, but that was indeed Nagato near the end of the last chapter. The first sign of some things that have gone differently in this version of the story. Like I said in the first chapter, it doesn't initially seem like much has changed, but the more we go, the more of those changes we should actually see. However, I had wanted this fic to start as close to zero as possible so it didn't feel that different from Canon initially.
That said, let's get on with the next chapter!
Obito
Chapter 3 - Unorthodox
"Katon: Fire Flower Jutsu!" Naruto called, successfully spitting out flames that wrapped around the shuriken in his hands. The projectiles took off, arcing towards me in a mesmerizing spiral pattern.
Only for the flames to fizzle out after five or so meters. Losing control of the chakra that had once been surrounding them, the shuriken were left to just fly in whatever direction they had last been guided in. I didn't even have to guard against them with one of the kunai I was holding, most of them striking the walls of the canal, a couple plopping harmlessly into the river before sinking below the surface.
"Dammit!" Naruto growled, his frustration growing with every failed attempt at the jutsu. Nevermind the fact that it was amazing progress over the past week it had taken him to get this far. I was starting to think Naruto was actually some kind of genius, which when you considered who his parents were, it wasn't exactly that much of a stretch.
"Let's take a break for now, Naruto." I said, pocketing my kunai and glancing up at the sky. It was hard to accurately gauge the position of the sun with the high walls of the canal on either side of us, but it had to be after noon by now. The two of us had been going at this training since daybreak now without rest, Naruto insisting we start earlier and earlier as his impatience with himself continued to thin.
"Not yet," Naruto said between gasps of breath. He was nearly doubled over, legs wavering as he struggled to even maintain a steady stream of chakra to keep him standing above the water. "I can still keep going." Yet he insisted that he wasn't done yet anyways.
I could only sigh, having long since gotten used to his stubbornness over this past week. "Fine," I relented, already seeing where this was going. "What's the rule this time?" Whenever we hit an impasse like this, we had developed a system to determine the outcome.
It was pretty simple, really. Naruto and I would have a quick match but with a twist; Naruto got to impose one rule for the fight. It could be anything he wanted, but it had to apply to both of us. Giving Naruto the power to choose was really just my way of making him think I was giving him a handicap in our fights. He had yet to win even once.
Although I would admit he was getting more clever with his rules as the fights went on. His first couple had been things like only Taijutsu or fighting with our eyes closed. He had failed to realize at the time that these things inhibited him far more than me. After getting his ass thoroughly whooped the first several matches, he had finally caught on to doing things that would stunt me more than it would him. For example; banning the Sharingan had been his rule in our last fight. Despite the fact that he didn't even have the Sharingan, but he realized I had never imposed limitations such as that. It still didn't help him win, but it showed a growing cunning which had been my goal in the first place.
Naruto smirked, no doubt having secretly been aiming for this. Perhaps the biggest downside in my ploy to combat his stubbornness was the fact that it in a way rewarded it. Certainly Naruto never won and so was forced to take breaks when I told him to, but I think he had come to enjoy our spars to the point he was looking forward to them.
"Alright, Obito-senpai!" Naruto held an arm up, open palm extended in my direction. "Stop right there!" I did as instructed, glancing down and mentally counting the steps between us. About ten paces away from one another by my count.
"So here's the deal!" Naruto continued, about to lay out the rule he decided upon. "No moving from that spot! If you fall in the water, you're out." Now I got it, so that's what Naruto was aiming for.
I nodded along to his rules, but also pretended to be disappointed in him by frowning in that disapproving way I learned from Minato-sensei. "You just want this to turn into a ranged battle so you can keep practicing your Jutsu, don't you?" I asked, acting like I had already seen through him. If it was possible, Naruto's smirk only grew bigger.
"Don't be mad because I just figured out how to turn your own game against you!" He said, before then forming his favorite seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Half a dozen clones appeared, standing sideways on the walls of the canal, each one of them just as cocky as the original. "Katon: Fire Flower Jutsu!" They all called together, attempting to perform the jutsu he until now was incapable of successfully completing.
None of them were capable of it this time either, but his control did appear to be improving ever so slightly. Just before the flames surrounding the shuriken fizzled out, he had managed to steer several of them in my direction, leaving the now steaming shuriken on a direct course for me. "Hmm, not bad." I slipped out the kunai I had just pocketed earlier, twirling it by the ring on the handle.
With several metallic clangs and sparks flying from the metal on metal contact, I deflected all the shuriken. At the same time as this was happening, two hands shot up from the water's surface beneath my feet. The clone that Naruto had created below the surface had been waiting for this timing; The moment I was distracted by the attacks from above and he made his move from below.
The hands clamped around my ankles and in another second they would drag me beneath the surface. At least I'm sure that had been their plan. In the same motion that I deflected the shuriken with the kunai held in my right hand, I tossed the second kunai hidden in the sleeve of my left. It flew straight down with enough force to penetrate the water and spear the clone beneath me in the head. In a puff of smoke, it was gone. And I was still standing.
"Tch, no good after all." Naruto's smirk deflated but the fire in his eyes hadn't been burnt out yet. "Charge him!" The rest of his clones let out battle roars, pin-balling back and forth across the high canal walls as they closed in on me. I didn't even bother giving them the time of day, fixing my Sharingan eye solely on the original. His blue eyes met my one red and in that instant the match was decided.
Genjutsu was a powerful tool, capable of altering the flow of your opponents chakra and causing them to see all manner of illusions. It was also one of the most difficult aspects for a Ninja to master. Which was one reason the Sharingan was such a feared and powerful Dojutsu. With just a single glance of direct eye-contact, we could cast our Genjutsu on our opponent in an instant. Some of us were better at it then others, such as Itachi and Shisui who were unparalleled geniuses. They could cast you in Genjutsu so powerful you didn't even realize you were in one or make a second in real life feel like hours. Compared to them and I was an absolute novice.
That was fine for this, however. The point of what I was trying to accomplish wasn't to place Naruto under some complicated illusion. Even just one that lasted a second was fine. It was the disruption of Chakra caused when you fell under Genjutsu I was aiming for. Naruto was already exhausted to the point he was having trouble maintaining a proper stream of Chakra to keep himself standing above the surface. Just a small chink in that already unstable flow would be enough.
"Whoa!" And as predicted, Naruto suddenly fell straight down, sending a fountain of water to come splashing up in his place. His clones also popped out of existence as he was no longer able to properly maintain them with his disrupted chakra. The sudden dunking would have served to break the Genjutsu and his head popped back up above the water only a second after he went under. "No fair! I had you that time!" Despite his complaints, he complied with the rules and upon pulling himself out of the water we both jumped up to the bridge above us.
"You might have had me that time," I praised, taking a seat on the bridge and leaning my back against the railing. "You were just a little too obvious with the set-up." Some serious forethought must have gone into that fight, which meant Naruto was starting to plan these out in his free time now too. It wasn't just things he was thinking of on the spot, he was actively strategizing and using his head when he could be goofing around. It was a strange feeling that I felt welling up in my stomach, but I could only describe it as some kind of pride. My compliment seemed to work to slightly boost Naruto's spirits.
It was looking like Naruto was ready. "How about you and I grab something to eat? While we do, we can discuss your strategy during your first match and look into the profiles of the other opponents you might have to fight." I pulled a scroll out of my pocket as I said this; contained inside it was all the information on this exam's final applicants.
"Ah, that's right!" Naruto responded by tapping a fist into his open palm as he just recalled something. "Speaking of food, Nee-chan made this for us." He went over to a small cloth-wrapped box he had brought with him this morning and placed at the edge of the bridge before beginning our training. He opened it up to reveal an assortment of onigiri, and not just a few of them either. She must have gone all out early in the morning or possibly even the night before to make this many. "Here you are, Obito-senpai!" Naruto handed a couple to me before taking a seat directly to my right.
It was beyond delicious as was to be expected of anything made by Rin. Yet as I dug into her homemade cooking prepared just for the two of us I also couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Ever since our conversation in which I had turned down her offer to stay with them and the two of us hadn't actually met face to face. I think I was afraid that if we did it was going to come up again and I just didn't want to see her make that face again when I inevitably had to tell her I just couldn't do it. Despite being in the same village after years of being away, it somehow felt like we were further apart than ever.
"So what have you got?" Naruto asked, snapping me from my musings. I shook my head to clear myself of the unnecessary thoughts, untying the string holding the scroll shut and then unrolling it so we could read together.
"Let's just start with the basic information." I said. The fact of the matter was, I needed to review this information far more than Naruto probably did. He had actually already met everyone in this list and would have even seen them in action during the preliminary matches held after the Forest of Death portion of the exam. So he at least had a grasp on their basic abilities and powers already. "Including you, there are four Shinobi representing our village for the final exams."
Naruto glanced over the names I was now looking at. "Piece of cake! I can handle these guys no problem." He confidently declared. "Shikamaru is like the laziest guy I know, I bet he doesn't even show up. Shino is just some weird bug guy. And Sasuke… well, I ain't about to lose to Sasuke!" Despite himself, there was a slight stutter at the end there when talking about his teammate.
"Let's just skip Uchiha Sasuke for now." I said. Naruto knew everything there was to know about him. His abilities, skills, and even temperament. The fact that Kakashi was personally training him did worry me, because there was no doubt if my old rival got serious about this, then Sasuke was going to come back much stronger than Naruto was anticipating. There was no point in preparing for such unknowns right now, not when there were so many other variables we could focus on in play.
For starters, Naruto was vastly underestimating his classmates. "I wouldn't look down on either the Nara or Aburame clans if I were you, Naruto." I warned. They might have been his classmates, but it was obvious that Naruto didn't understand the first thing about their lineage. "Let's take Nara Shikamaru for example. Certainly he might be lazy, but his Jonin-sensei is far from it." Sarutobi Asuma, another familiar name from my academy days and grandson of the current Hokage. "Shikamaru will be there that day, count on it. His clan specializes in manipulating shadows. If he catches you, the match might as well be over right there."
"A-ahh…" Naruto nodded, suddenly taking a nervous gulp of air as his earlier confidence began to evaporate.
"Then there's Aburame Shino." Another student with a teacher from my generation, Yuhi Kurenai. This was starting to look like a miniature class reunion, just one where we were making our students fight it out for us in our place. "Bugs might be small enough that you don't notice them individually, but if enough of them gather in one place, they can become a formidable force. Especially when coordinated. If Shino gets serious, he could probably send flesh eating bugs to pick you dry in a matter of seconds."
"Bleh!" Naruto gagged, his whole body shivering at the very thought of my verbal imagery.
Now that I had gotten him good and shaken up, I could give him some good news. "Fortunately for you, neither one of them is likely to use any kind of lethal force against a fellow Leaf Shinobi. So when we look at it that way. You actually have one distinct advantage against these two."
"I do?" Naruto scratched his head, having no idea what I was talking about.
"You do." I confirmed. "Namely, your incredibly vast amount of chakra." Naruto by himself had chakra twice the capacity of mine. If we then consider the Nine-Tailed Fox's chakra on top of that, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was over a hundred times greater. "The Nara clan's Shadow Paralysis Jutsu consumes chakra like nothing else so even if he does catch you, it might just be a matter of running out the clock. Meanwhile, Shino is likely only to send his chakra-eating Kikaichu after you. Even if he sent his whole colony out, they might not be able to consume all the chakra you have. And if they eat too much they'll become ineffective."
"...So what you're saying is like I'm actually really awesome?" Naruto clarified, not at all catching my point.
I sighed. "Certainly your chakra reserves are. Unfortunately that's not going to be enough against all your opponents." I then indicated to the other half of the list now. "In addition to the four of you from the Leaf; The Hidden villages of the Sand, Sound, Waterfall, and Rain each have one Shinobi that made it into the finals. That means four other unique villages with very different ways of fighting than what you're used to are being represented here. These four will be unlike anyone you've gone up against until now. You should think of them as the top Genin in their village to have made it this far in an exam being held in a land that's foreign to them." Naruto's emotions were like a pinball being bounced around inside a machine right now. With every little bit of good news I gave him and there was just as much bad news to follow.
"Gaara of the Desert." I said the name gravely. From the look of the roster, he was to be Sasuke's first opponent as the final match of the first round. I suspected this was an additional reason Kakashi had been so keen to focus on him over Naruto. All reports indicated that Gaara was deadly, devastatingly so. He had killed every opponent he had gone up against so far, going as far as to murder the Rain Kunoichi he fought against during the Preliminary matches; The only casualty to have occurred during them.
"Yeah, I met him." Even Naruto had the decency to look rightfully terrified at the name alone. His own match was the first one of the round, so in the worst case scenario, he and Gaara would be opponents in the final. Hopefully Kakashi had something up his sleeve to ensure that didn't happen.
Still, I needed to cover his abilities now just in case. "The only thing we really know is that his absolute defense appears to be impenetrable. The sand he carries in his gourd moves to defend him as if it has a will of its own. This means your surprise attacks and dirty tactics aren't necessarily going to be enough. Even if you catch him off guard, it doesn't matter if the sand intercepts you."
"So is there no way I can win?" Naruto asked, feeling clearly hopeless.
I shook my head. "Not necessarily. Sasuke's older brother always says this: Every Jutsu, without exception, has a weakness. So we need to find a way to exploit his jutsu so it works against him. For example, just barrage him with fireballs using the Fire Flower Jutsu. I don't expect that they'll get through his defense, but if he cocoons himself inside the sand, eventually the heat from the barrage outside is going to turn the inside into an oven. He'll pass out within minutes under such conditions." Naruto stared at me for several moments in silence, going so far as to stop stuffing his face with Rin's onigiri. Finally, he started to show emotion as a huge grin spread across his whole face.
"That's so genius, Obito-senpai! Hell yeah, if I do that I can win against that eyebrowless freak for sure!" At least he was appreciative of the idea, although it had only been something off the top of my head. A whole lot could happen while Gaara was out of sight and hidden by that barrage of attacks. Naruto could be wasting his chakra for nothing if that was the case. Until I came up with something better within Naruto's current skill-set, this was what we were gonna have to go with.
"With the issue of Gaara taken care of for now, let's move onto Dosu of the Sound." This was the person that concerned me the next most. Unlike Gaara, it wasn't because of his own powers. No, it was the village he came from. The Hidden Sound Village was supposedly some new upstart village inside the borders of the equally new Land of Sound. Their forces at the moment were rather small, to the point they sent only one Genin team to partake in the exams. Despite just that one team entering, they made it to the preliminaries which showed at least a significantly above-average skill level within the village.
All of this information was irrelevant, however, because it had come to light during the Forest of Death portion of the Exam that the Sound Village, perhaps even the whole country, might actually just be a front for Orochimaru's schemes. According to a report by Haruno Sakura from Naruto's team, the Sound team had admitted to attacking them under Orochimaru's direct orders in an attempt to test out the curse mark that had been placed on Sasuke the day before. By all accounts it would appear they had no interest in Naruto at the moment, but who could say if that was to change.
For now, however, I was just going to focus on what Naruto's plan of action should be. "He appears to fight primarily by swinging that device on his arm to generate sound-waves. All the information I have indicates it is only effective at close range, but you should be prepared for the possibility that he can also attack at range as well. So just do what you always do. Have your clones get in close to him while the real you stays back and attempts to blast him from a distance. No matter what, don't let him get close to your real body. I suspect getting caught in that sound-wave will disorient you enough that you lose control of your clones."
"Man… that Fire Flower Jutsu really is gonna come in handy." Naruto said as if just realizing it was more than a cool trick. He didn't seem to have any further notes, so I just went onto the next name on the list.
"Next up is Fu of The Waterfall." I frowned as I read her profile. As with every other contestant this time around, but she was another seemingly weird case. She and her team fought their way to the preliminary rounds, escaping the Forest of Death in record time and being the first team to arrive at the tower. They had nearly five full days to recover in time for the matches. Yet when asked if anyone wanted to bow out and retire from the exams before those fights could begin, both her teammates immediately took the opportunity to do so.
This meant only one thing; they had been placed in the exams for the express purpose of pushing her through to the finals. Aside from that, however, she seemed fairly ordinary. Certainly some unique Jutsu but there was no reason I could determine from the written text alone as to why she would be so special as to have to be pushed to the finals no matter the cost. So again the only thing I could do was focus on her abilities and relay the strategy to Naruto.
"Fu appears to have some kind of power similar to the Aburame clan. To what extent it's hard to say, but she can also communicate with insects. In addition, she seems to be able to meld her chakra into a web-like substance that she throws out and then has a blinding light-based Jutsu that we know about. Everything points to her being a Kunoichi specialized in capturing her subjects alive for information extraction. Basically, just don't get caught and maintain a strong offensive." It was a simple strategy, but sometimes that was best. Naruto was probably going to have to judge this fight on the fly if it came to it.
Fu was Shikamaru's opponent as the second match in the first round, which meant if she won then she would be the second opponent Naruto had to go up against. Meanwhile, Dosu and Shino were the third match. So one of those two were going to have to get around Sasuke or Gaara before they met Naruto in the final.
This was all assuming Naruto even passed his first fight. Which brought us to our last contestant on the list and his opponent during the first round of the exam.
"Ajisai of the Rain." I read her name aloud.
That was about as far as I got, a sudden commotion in the distance catching my attention. I mentioned this before, but no one ever came into the old Uchiha district just based on its history alone. So for someone to come barging in here, there were only two possibilities. They either weren't normal or they were here looking for Naruto. I jumped to my feet, immediately placing myself between my student and the fast approaching noise. My Mangekyo Sharingan spun into existence as I readied my Dojutsu to be activated at the first sign of trouble. The first priority would be to dump Naruto into a different dimension, out of harm's way. He certainly wouldn't like it, but I wasn't about to take chances.
All of this preparation and paranoia ultimately amounted to nothing as two familiar faces sprinted into view, the two of them seemingly fleeing from some invisible enemy. "Gai-sensei, do not let the ghosts catch me!" The younger of the two near identical men screamed, a recently promoted Chunin by the name of Rock Lee.
"Faster Lee!" Might Gai, his Jonin-sensei and another former classmate of mine, was just in front of him, leading the way through the compound. Like I said, the other possibility was that a couple weirdos had come in here and it would seem it had been that.
While it was true I considered Kakashi a rival, my rivalry with him paled in comparison to the extremes in which Gai had taken it. Everything this man did was an extreme, his whole life motto about living your youth to its fullest. While I certainly didn't hate Gai the way I did as a kid, I could feel the headache beginning to form already at the thought of dealing with him and his miniature clone of a pupil.
"Ahhh! Sensei, a Ghost!" Lee screamed in shrill terror at the top of his lungs, pointing directly at me. Despite this, the two of them hadn't slowed down for even a step. It would seem they were determined to barrel right through me.
"Show it what you're made of Lee! Guts!" Gai didn't even recognize it was me, although he usually never did. The man had a proclivity for not being able to remember faces. Which is why I think he latched so strongly onto Kakashi, as my former teammate always wore that mask. Nevermind that- for the moment, I had bigger problems. "Double-" Gai jumped into the air, leg shooting out in a kick powerful enough to destroy a standing structure.
"Dynamic Entry!" Lee joined his Sensei, the two of them aiming to separate my top half from my bottom. Shit… not seeing much choice and already having the power of my eye prepared, I unleashed my Jutsu. The two of them passed through me, slipping by my body as if I actually was a ghost and no longer a denizen of this realm.
"Wha-!?" Gai's eyes widened and just before his face passed through mine, I think I saw realization begin to dawn on him. The two of them landed several meters behind me, spinning around with their guards still raised.
"Sensei! It truly is a ghost! We cannot hit it with physical attacks! What shall we do?" Lee still hadn't caught on yet, and despite facing me down, he was clearly shaking in his combat stance.
"No, Lee…" Gai finally relaxed, shaking his head and then smiling at me. "It would appear it is our good friend, Uchiha Obito!" Oh thank goodness he actually remembered my face this time. As expected, but even my features couldn't be forgotten by the man most notorious for never remembering anyone.
"Ah, yes!" Lee suddenly stood ramrod straight, before bowing deeply to me in separate rigid motions. "Thank you for your assistance on our last mission to the Land of Steam! I apologize for attacking you just now! Gai-sensei and I thought to use this place to increase our speed by using the fear of a ghost attack as motivation!" Yep, that sounded about like some kinda crazy idea Gai would cook up alright.
"Hey, hey, Obito-senpai…" Naruto was standing next to me, one had gripped the cuff of my jacket sleeve while he pointed blatantly at them with the other. "Who the heck are these weirdos with the huge eyebrows?"
"...Where do I even begin with answering that one?" I asked myself aloud. "...These are Might Gai and Rock Lee. Gai is… well, a former classmate of mine and Lee is his student." If I remembered right, Lee would have only become a Genin the year before Naruto had. So they were about the same age, which was starting to give me an idea.
"Okay, and what did he mean about the mission in the Land of Steam?" Naruto then asked. "Was it dangerous? Like an A-class mission?" Technically, my personal mission there had been an S-class one, but I wasn't about to tell Naruto that.
"Something like that," So I tried to downplay it instead. "The last Chunin Exams six months ago were hosted by the Land of Steam." I answered while trying as best as possible to be vague since most of the details of that mission were actually classified. "I needed an excuse to infiltrate the village, so Gai and his Genin team were sent to take the exams and also to act as my backup. Lee here actually received his promotion during those exams, as did his two teammates if I remember right." I glanced at Gai for confirmation and he nodded with a smile absolutely beaming with pride.
What I couldn't tell Naruto was there had been an evil cult-like religion growing within the country that worshipped this God called Jashin. The government itself wanted to wipe it out, but was incapable of doing so on their own due to recent demilitarization. That's when they had called upon the services of my Master Jiraiya for help.
He placed me in charge of the mission and it had been my solution to stage a fake Chunin Exams to flush them out, as they were a cult obsessed with violence and there weren't events much more violent than these exams. Lee and his teammates even believed the exams to be real, only Gai and myself knowing the truth. So to further authenticate the lie I had recommended them for promotion after everything was over, believing them ready anyways and it would appear the Hokage had agreed with my assessment.
"Anyway, this might be a good opportunity." I nodded at Gai, speaking directly to him now. "As you probably know, Naruto here is Kakashi's student and he's taking part in the finals for this round's Chunin Exams… so how about it? Think it would be okay if he and Lee spared a little? I think it would be good for Naruto to get some experience from someone that just became a Chunin himself. It will give him a little more idea about what level we're expecting."
"Ehhh!?" Naruto immediately cried. "I have to spar against this weirdo?" I made a point of ignoring him, but I definitely saw the competitive flames light up in Lee's eyes.
Gai also saw the fire of passion burning in his young charge and so immediately nodded. "A youthful idea! You are most wise to seek out my Lee for nurturing young Naruto's growth." It wasn't exactly like I had been seeking him out, they came to us. Of course, I didn't say that out loud.
"Great, good luck Naruto." I pat my student on the head, before Gai and I walked over to the side of the bridge to give the two of them space for their fight. Naruto continued to grumble complaints the whole time, not at all paying attention to his new opponent.
"I look forward to working with you, Naruto!" Lee was at least a good sport about it. He bowed to Naruto and then took a familiar fighting stance, placing one arm behind his back and holding a hand in front of himself, palm facing upwards. "Please come at me whenever you are ready!"
"Tch, fine." Naruto finally seemed to realize he wasn't getting out of this and took a half-hearted stance of his own. I actually couldn't wait for what was about to happen, already having a decent idea of Lee's style and having been on the receiving end of something like this myself back when Gai and I were still Genin.
Neither one of them moved for several agonizing seconds, both of them waiting for the other to crack first. Of course it was Naruto who could no longer contain himself. In a burst of speed and with a loud shout, he closed the distance between them. He cocked his fist back, intending to go for a straight-on approach. I don't even think he realized what happened next.
In one fluid motion, Lee had shifted his open palm so the tips of his fingers were pushing down on top of Naruto's fist, guiding the punch smoothly past him. He then turned his body, leg coming around and simply catching Naruto in a trip. With a simple flick and Naruto was sent spinning like a top, crashing on his back and rolling all the way down the slope of the bridge to the dirt road.
"What the hell?" He recovered quickly enough, jumping to his feet and looking at Lee as if he just cheated. "But I… you… what!?" He looked at me and I couldn't help but chuckle, shrugging at him as if to say that's what he got for underestimating his opponent.
"I believe that is my point!" Lee smirked at Naruto, but not in a way that could be described as cocky. More like just satisfied with himself for having been able to get a little payback. The fire in his eyes also said that he was expecting Naruto to take things seriously now. Something he finally seemed to realize. The earlier begrudging reluctance on Naruto's face was replaced now with his own grin of anticipation.
"Okay, it is on!" He formed his favorite seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four clones popped into existence and all five started to charge together. If Lee was surprised by the materialization of real physical Shadow Clones, he didn't show it. He also seemed to understand it would be unwise to remain on the defensive now that he was outnumbered and met Naruto's charge head on.
In only the first couple of traded blows and Lee managed to pop several of the clones. Even outnumbered and the level gap between Lee's taijutsu skill and Naruto's was far too wide. At this rate, Naruto was going to need to change something up if he wanted to close that distance in any way.
Thinking the same thing, Naruto created a dozen more clones just as his last one from the first group popped out of existence. This time, instead of charging in with his clones, the original Naruto and one other held back. Lee's eyes narrowed slightly, noticing the sudden shift in strategy. However, he appeared to not mind, pretending to fall for Naruto's tactic as he once again engaged the charging clones.
It was like watching a professional dancer, the way Lee twisted and moved, dodging Naruto's barrage of kicks and punches as if he wasn't even trying. All the while returning with his own powerful blows. Every punch he threw didn't look like they should have that much power behind them, yet I could feel the subtle shockwaves from here with every blow he landed. This kid… he was probably even stronger than Gai had been at that age.
Once again Lee wiped out every attacking clone. It was when the last clone burst that Naruto sprung his surprise attack. "Katon: Fire Flower Jutsu!" Both Naruto and his clone had already performed the hand signs and melded the chakra while Lee was fighting the other clones. The only thing left was to release the Jutsu.
It was at this point every time that Naruto failed. He had memorized the hand seals. Learned the timing for the shuriken. Mastered converting the chakra in his lungs into flames. It was maintaining the chakra once it was outside that always tripped him up. Normally in a matter of moments the flames would fizzle, Naruto losing control of the chakra and leaving the shuriken as just slightly heated projectiles.
This time was unlike all those before. Naruto didn't realize it, but I had purposely been having him practice the Jutsu under conditions that were harder for him. Such as pressuring him while he was attempting to weave the signs and making him practice while water walking, diverting his attention and chakra control elsewhere. This time he had none of those distractions.
The twin sets of fireballs flew at Lee in a mesmerizing spiral pattern, both Naruto and his clone guiding them as he had been taught. The jutsu was a success. Naruto had successfully performed it for the first time, technically twice.
Just because he finally pulled it off didn't mean the attack was going to go well. "Leaf Hurricane!" Lee seemed to realize that Naruto was barely maintaining the fireballs as they were, even now the flames threatening to flicker out. So he spun in place, swinging a powerful kick into empty air. His aim hadn't been to hit anything, but to generate a gale powerful enough to knock the flames out of existence.
It worked. The fireballs disappeared… leaving the shuriken behind. "What!?" Lee must not have seen Naruto using the shuriken as a catalyst to maintain the Jutsu, because he was suddenly caught off-guard as the dozen spinning blades closed in on him. No time to dodge, he slipped a kunai out from an orange legwarmer, slashing at the blades and deflecting most of them. All except one, which grazed his left bicep. It wasn't a deep cut, just enough to tear his green jumpsuit and cause a small trickle of blood. But it was still a hit.
"I did it!" Naruto whooped, jumping into the air. He and his clone then high fived before embracing one another in a celebratory hug. Lee didn't appear to know exactly what Naruto was celebrating, but the enthusiasm was infectious and he was also smiling as he jogged up to his opponent to congratulate him.
"Well done, Naruto! I am most impressed by your skill!" He held up both hands and neither Naruto hesitated in passing the high fives to him.
"Hehe, thanks Bushy Brow!" Naruto had already given him some weird nickname. "You were really awesome too, y'know! I was surprised by the wallop you pack, where did you even learn to punch like that?"
As the two of them started a friendly banter, Gai and I couldn't help but smile at our pupils. "Oh my goodness!" Gai shouted, giving me a thumbs up. "I expected nothing less from Kakashi's student, but it would seem you have also been working him quite hard. You might just be a natural teacher."
I shook my head at the praise. "My skill or lack thereof as a teacher really has nothing to do with it. Naruto is simply his father's child, that's all. Besides, Lee is quite impressive himself." I returned the compliment. "I would go so far as to say he reminds me a lot of you back when we were that age. Although you haven't exactly changed much."
To this Gai let out a boisterous laugh. "That's because I'm still inside my Springtime of Youth!" That was certainly one way to put it. "Although, I will say you have changed quite a bit yourself." The loud and obnoxious way he had been speaking disappeared, replaced now by a more concerned tone. I couldn't help but glance over to see him in one of his more serious moods. A rare sight.
I could only shrug. "Yeah, well… a lot happened." There really wasn't anything more I could say then that without thinking about it too much myself, which I had been actively avoiding for this past week.
"I know." Gai nodded and I hoped he would drop it there, but he didn't. "To be honest, it makes me a little sad. I know it affects Kakashi too, seeing you as you are now. Even you must realize that is why he's started mimicking your old mannerisms?" Part of me wondered if someone was putting him up to this. However, I got the feeling that wasn't the case. He was just generally concerned as an old classmate. Gai was a good guy… but I didn't want him or anyone else digging into my business like this; dragging up old wounds.
"We can't all be like you, Gai." I said, fighting the urge to sigh. There wasn't even anger in my words. I just felt tired of it all. Yet somehow it felt like the lack of energy in my response was what upset him the most.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Gai pointed at me, voice raising ever so slightly. "You used to be such a spirited youth. It's why I was okay with accepting you as another one of Kakashi's eternal rivals. Your ambition to become Hokage was the mark of a great man! Why would you give up on such a dream?" Now he went and said it. I felt something boil in my stomach and just as I turned to finally tell him off, a third voice interrupted us.
"...What?" Naruto had at some point taken notice of our conversation, he and Lee now standing not far from us. While Lee looked at least slightly embarrassed to have been caught listening in, Naruto had much bigger things on his mind.
"That's a lie isn't it, Obito-senpai?" He asked me, laughing almost nervously like we were just telling bad jokes. "You haven't really given up on becoming Hokage, right?"
A small part of me thought to lie to him. To tell him that it was indeed just a joke. Two old war buddies giving each other a hard time, nothing more than that. I honestly think Naruto would probably believe it if I did tell him such bullshit. Because deep down he wanted to believe it. However, I knew this conversation was coming sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before I finally blew up at him, unable to take it anymore. He brought up that damn dream too many times. So in a way, this was better. I could calmly give him the facts, lay it all out on the table and make him understand why it just wasn't a realistic or even a very good dream.
"It's not a lie." So I told him pointedly, not holding back at all. "I haven't sought the mantle of Hokage for a long time now."
"...So then everything up until now has been the lie instead?" His response was predicted, so I was already prepared for that.
"No." I said quickly. "I have never once told you I wanted to become Hokage. Rin was just remembering pointless things, as is Gai." I shot him a quick glare out of my one eye. He did look apologetic, but I couldn't actually hold it against him. He had no way of knowing this was going to happen. It was too late now and the only thing left was to get through it. "The fact of the matter is, I probably never actually wanted to be Hokage. I was just a lonely kid looking for attention. I thought by telling people I wanted to be Hokage they would have to acknowledge me. It was just me being a stupid kid. Nothing more than that."
"You can't mean that!" Naruto screamed before the last sentence even completely left my mouth. "Nee-chan told me about it, how you and my Dad used to talk for hours about what you would do after you became Hokage! He believed in you, so there's no way I can believe those talks the two of you had were all a lie. I won't believe that!" Damn it Rin… there she went again and again telling Naruto pointless stuff, filling his head with all this garbage about how I used to behave.
"Naruto." Despite myself, I felt my own temper begin to rise and I was starting to lose that composure I had been hoping to maintain for this conversation. Having Naruto use his own father, my teacher, against me in this argument was just something I couldn't overlook. "You'll figure it out one day too. Take it from me. Nobody actually wants to become Hokage, no matter how much they think they do."
"My dad did become Hokage!" Naruto bellowed, now shouting at the top of his lungs. "He wanted to become Hokage and he did! All that time believing that when he retired you would become the Fifth, y'know!" Tears were threatening to fall from his eyes at any moment now.
"And look at what really happened!" I knew I was about to regret those next words before I even yelled them. "Your father became the Hokage and now he's dead! He didn't even make it long enough for me to grow up! Meanwhile I'm like this!" I gestured to my scarred face using the arm that wasn't even made of my own flesh. "How can you possibly think anyone would accept someone like me as the Hokage!? Open your eyes, Naruto!"
Naruto started chuckling, either too shocked for words or finding something about what I said funny. Tears also freely rolled down his cheeks now. Despite this I didn't soften my glare. "I was right when I first met you, y'know. There's no point in learning the basics from some weakling who just gives up on his dream. My dad would be pretty disappointed in you." He said.
"Na-" I started to rebut him but stopped. Something about those words just now shook me. Right down to my very core I felt it. Whether it be the content of his words or just the calm way in which he said them, or maybe even both; I was incapable of making Naruto see my reason. He wasn't going to give up that easily.
"See ya." Naruto put his hands in his pockets, turning and walking away just like that. There was nothing more for either of us to say to one another. We were both set in our ways. In a way, I finally got what I wanted. I had been trying to get out of training him from the beginning. Now I finally had a way to cut ties with him. After he told Rin about this, there was no way I was going to be able to continue teaching him. This was a victory in a sense.
So why in the hell did I feel like I had just lost?
After my fight with Naruto, I wasn't exactly sure what happened. It was like one second it was noon, and the next it was already dusk.
My memories just jumbled together and didn't make any discernible sense. Like I was just floating from place to place without any real connection between them. I know I must have said goodbye to Gai and his student, but I didn't even remember it. Was it possible I just left them there without a word?
I didn't know.
I didn't give a damn either.
"Hah!" I shouted in exertion, banishing all these pointless thoughts from my mind. The only thing that was important was my training. Just forget about everything else. Fist met fist, my punch connecting with the solid wood of my clone. The sound of our clash echoed all around us inside the Uchiha estate dojo.
It wasn't enough. Over the sound of our combat, Naruto's words kept playing over and over again inside my head. They wouldn't disappear. I just needed them to disappear. A deep, guttural roar tore from my throat and I unleashed a barrage of punches at my clone, no strategy or thought behind them. Just a single base instinct to erase the doppelganger in front of me.
In contrast, the clone I had created without emotions kept a calm head. It continued to guard against my relentless barrage, all the while waiting. It knew an opening would come. Sweat dripped down my face and for a moment I missed my old goggles. If they hadn't been crushed by that boulder maybe I would still have them. Maybe they would have kept the sweat from dripping into my one eye. The salty sting caused me to flinch, not even for a full second. But it was enough. There was a gap in my assault and my clone didn't miss it.
His arm shot forward, but not in a punch. He grabbed me by the scruff of my jacket and hoisted me forward. In that same motion he swept my feet out from under me. The world spun as I was thrown through the air and over the top of my clone's head. I didn't even get the chance to correct course, smashing onto the hardwood floor of the dojo a moment later and rolling several meters to a stop.
"Shit, damn it!" I saw red. Everything around me disappeared as my anger took over. I was barely aware of what I was doing as my hands began forming the signs. "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!" By the time I came to, the great fireball had already burnt my clone to a crisp. Only smoldering pieces of burnt bark remained where an exact copy of me had just been standing.
"...Do you wish to talk about it?" Itachi stood at the doorway, how long he had been watching for now I couldn't say. I hadn't even sensed his presence until he called out to me just now. Not that it mattered to me if he was watching or not. I turned my attention away from him and down to my own clothes as I started to dust myself off.
"I think it's pretty obvious that I don't." I said, not at all caring how I was addressing my superior. It was what he got for asking me a stupid question. What were those Sharingan even for if he thought it looked like I wanted to talk?
"You're right, I apologize." With those words, ordinarily you would think this meant he was going to leave me alone and get out. Instead he shut the door behind him and walked until he was standing in front of me. "Allow me to rephrase it: You and I are going to talk about it." He then sat down seiza-style. When I didn't move, he merely glanced up and said, "Don't make me have to give you an order as clan head."
"Heh," I scoffed. "Pretty sure I'm technically still banished." Despite those words, I did as asked and dropped down to my butt, now sitting with my legs crossed. It wasn't like I was about to push Itachi. Despite being younger than me and even if he technically didn't have control over me as clan head, there were definitely ways he could get me to go along with him. So it was better just to do this the easy way.
Itachi nodded appreciatively at my compliance. "Truth be told, there isn't much meaning in calling myself clan head." He said, surprising me. I thought he was going to talk about my problems, but it was still about this. "As you know, our clan is just six people. Of them is my mother, my brother, my lover, my best friend… and you." Nice to know I was the odd one out.
"Even if you don't say that, I know." I deadpanned, not at all seeing where he was going with this.
"I do not believe you do." He said matter of factly. "My point is, why do you think it is I took the position of clan head, when such a position at this point is only mostly ceremonial? I have no real power. We were stripped of any kind of influence from the village after the clan massacre and subsequent execution of Danzo. So I don't have any power there. Meanwhile, the only ones I hold sway over here are people I would never have to command to do anything. As you said, even you, who are the most distant to me, are not a true member of the clan. So I truly don't even have any power among any of the Uchiha. Yet I bear the title as head."
"...Alright, I'll bite." I relented. "Why did you take the title of clan head then?" There was no way I would actually know the answer. It was a rhetorical question he was asking of me. There was some lesson to be found here but I still wasn't sure what it was.
"It is my punishment." Itachi said simply. "I believe the saying is: 'Heavy is the head that wears the crown.' For my crimes against the previous clan head, my own father, and for the crimes I nearly committed, I took this title. Not for ceremonial purposes. But to remind myself that I am still being punished." His words caused me to shift uncomfortably. Punishment was in a way what I sought too, so what he was talking about resonated within me.
"What do you mean by crimes that you almost commited?" I couldn't help but ask. The smile Itachi gave in response to that question terrified me to the core.
"Did you know I was planning on killing you?" He asked so nonchalantly I almost thought he was joking. Yet I knew he was being serious. "Before the attack by Root, I was already in negotiations with Danzo. In exchange for wiping out the whole clan except my brother, he would agree to keep our clan's planned coup d'etat a secret. Then, years later I would be killed by my brother in revenge for the clan. That had been my plan."
I was silent. There were literally no words I could think to possibly say in the face of such a bombshell confession. Of course, I knew that Itachi's father, Fugaku, and the rest of the clan had been planning to turn against the Leaf. Izumi had been the one to tell me, but she had also been worried about Itachi. She had secretly followed him one time to a meeting with Danzo. It was how I knew that old bastard had been involved in the first place and why I began monitoring him at her request. To know they had planned to go that far, however…
"Shisui knew…" I mumbled, finally putting the pieces together. Itachi nodded in confirmation. Now I knew why Shisui did what he had done. He had also gone to meet with Danzo, but for a different purpose. It was his intention to use Kotoamatsukami, the ultimate Genjutsu granted by his Mangekyo Sharingan, to trick Danzo into striking first with Root. Danzo had other plans and wanted Shisui's eyes for himself. Neither of them had been aware I was there for the meeting and when Danzo attacked in an attempt to steal his eyes, I had used my own Mangekyo to save him. Only after did I learn that Shisui had already planted the Genjutsu in Danzo's mind.
In a rush, I managed to warn Izumi in time to save her life. But I was too late to stop the attack. Root struck before the Uchiha could finish the preparations for their own invasion. Everyone had died except the six of us and all this time I thought it had been my fault for saving Shisui's life. If I had just let Danzo kill him and take his eyes, maybe some kind of agreement could have been reached? Maybe there wouldn't have been any fighting at all? That had just been my delusion.
"The clan was going to be wiped out no matter what, huh?" I asked. What a terrible joke this all was. Were we all really so rotten just like that man had said?
"No one knows for sure." Itachi said, shaking his head. "Maybe if I had tried to find a different way? Perhaps if I trusted in my brother or best-friend? It was because I couldn't, that Shisui felt the need to do that. If the clan was going to be wiped out either way, he wanted to save me from my guilt. Instead, it just wound up being the three of us that now have to bear it. Shisui for being the one to cast the Genjutsu that would lead Danzo to wiping out our clan. Me for having made him feel like there was no other option. And you for having saved Shisui's life."
"...This isn't making me feel any better, Itachi." I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry. Why after all this time was he telling me this?
"This is something only Shisui and I knew until now. You had a right to know as the third one bearing the responsibility. Not even Hokage-sama knows most of this. Also… there is one more thing I must confess to you and it is the real reason I took the title of clan head." He wasn't done yet it would seem. Just how much more down did he want to make me feel?
"You must already realize it, but when Shisui told me what he had done, I managed to get there in time to save my brother and then my mother. The truth is, I could have also saved my father." Now that Itachi said it, I did always kind of suspect something had been amiss about that. All four of them lived in the same house and the attack had happened at night when most would be asleep. This meant they must have all been there. So why was it that Itachi had been able to save two of his family, but not that third? Deep down, he was right and I had already realized the truth.
"My father, Fugaku, was the one organzing the clan coup d'etat. He hadn't been the one to start planning it, but as the clan head he was going to be the one to see it done. Even more so after the attack by Root. So after getting Sasuke and my mother to safety I returned… and killed him myself." And there it was. The final truth of that night. The real reason why Itachi had become head of a clan without any real power.
"You're forgetting one thing though…" I said, glancing up to the ceiling as I recalled an incident even further back. "Your father and the other Uchiha felt pressured into having to take extreme measures because of the Nine-Tailed Fox attack years before." There was never any proof anyone could find because I hid the corpse of the real perpetrator, but most of the village had come to suspect an Uchiha was somehow involved. They were right, but it hadn't been someone that anyone thought was alive. So our clan was unfairly persecuted for something they had nothing to do with. "That one is solely on me. So the majority of blame is still mine."
"So you say." Itachi nodded along to what I was saying but then held up a single finger. "However, no matter how many times you make that claim you fail to state why it is you believe it to be your fault. Are you not simply projecting? You lost your Sensei in that attack. And you were also a banished clan member. So unlike other Uchiha, you were free from persecution that the others suffered and you feel that is unfair, do you not? That is the true source of that guilt, I believe." It was a good theory. It might even be partially true that I felt that way, but it wasn't the whole story.
"Let's just pretend and say it's exactly like you just put it." I said, really just beginning to get tired of this conversation. Why was it that everyone in this damn village wanted to talk so much about the past with me? Couldn't we just all forget about it and move on, wouldn't that be easier? Nevermind that the one most stuck living in it was me. "Get to the point of all this already, Itachi."
"Yes, you're right." Itachi closed his eyes and nodded. "We've gotten off track. My point is, I became the clan head because it was a suitable punishment for my crimes. So that is why for you to truly move on and accept punishment for whatever crimes it is you think you committed…" He paused, just long enough for me to think I was going to have to tell him to continue.
"You should become Hokage."
There was complete silence following that statement. Even all my thoughts had come to a halt. There was just no way I could think anything after having heard something as ridiculous as that. I wanted to laugh out loud. I actually might have if I wasn't so sick of this.
"Each and every one of you…" I ground my teeth so hard I thought they might crack. "Why is it so hard for you all to understand that I gave up on my dream of being Hokage!?" I reached forward and grabbed Itachi by the cuff of his shirt without thinking. "The last person in this village that should become Hokage is me, don't you all get that!?"
If my shouting or aggressive actions bothered Itachi, he didn't show it. Instead he looked at me as calmly as ever and said, "That is precisely why it should be you. If you truly feel you are so unfit to become Hokage, then is it not a suitable punishment for you to take on that role? Perhaps then you will find peace with yourself."
"That doesn't make any damn sense!" I shoved him back, falling back into my sitting position as I continued to glare at him. "The Hokage is the role reserved for the most respected man in the village. Someone that everyone has acknowledged! A Hokage should be strong, he should be someone that can lead people. You calling the title of Hokage a punishment is contradicting yourself!"
To this Itachi laughed, for perhaps the first time I had ever seen, he laughed. "The one contradicting himself is you." He then declared, pointing a finger right at me. "For someone that has given up on becoming Hokage, you still seem to hold the position in incredibly high esteem. So no, you are the one here that doesn't make sense. If you had truly given up on it, you would resent the title itself and everything it stood for. Because it would be a symbol of everything that you had lost in your life. Instead, you cherish that title more than ever. You cherish it so much you've convinced yourself that no one can ever be worthy of it after your Sensei. Least of all yourself."
Again, there was nothing I could say.
Itachi seemed to know this, smiling at me with pity. "You are worthy of the title of Hokage, Obito. I believe it. Izumi and Shisui believe it. Nohara Rin and Hatake Kakashi believe it. Your Sensei most certainly believed it. The only one who truly doubts it is you. Yet you are the one who just said the Hokage is someone acknowledged by everyone. The only person left to acknowledge you is yourself."
I felt a sudden perspiration on my wrist and for a moment I thought I had broken out in a cold sweat. Touching my hand to my face, however, I then realized I was crying. Somewhere along the line while Itachi was speaking and I had begun crying.
"Please think about what I have said." Itachi stood up to leave. He never even asked about what had been bothering me. From the beginning he had known what it truly was. So he didn't need to know about the fight with Naruto. Because while that fight had been the trigger, Itachi hadn't been interested in that. I kinda wanted to hate him for being so perceptive.
Right now, however, I was just grateful. Because I knew what it was I had to do next. There was still no way I thought I would become Hokage and I wasn't stupid enough to think about starting to dream for it again now of all times. However, what I said to Naruto back there had been unforgivable. I thought I was trying to spare him from future pain, but all I was really doing was trying to make him like me.
I think a part of me had wanted to see him become me. As if that happening would somehow confirm that I had been right all along, justified in telling myself to give up. Naruto hadn't taken my bait and now I knew why. It was because my argument was fundamentally flawed. I wanted him to hate something I myself couldn't even hate. That was why there was only one thing I could do from here.
I had to go apologize to Naruto.
