The World Is Left In Decay
The first few weeks with Naruto was spent in Kakashi's apartment. The hokage had already sanctioned the reopening of the Hatake clan lands, but the required documents would take some time to arrive, hence the current arrangement. Not that Obito was complaining, he did not have the time to. As an active chuunin, he was also required to aid the village in rebuilding its infrastructure from scratch. Having a new born in his care did not make it easy. Kakashi tried his best to help whenever he could; he was busier than Obito. The sandaime had too much on his hands to even remember granting them temporary leave from duty. Naruto wasn't the calmest child either. He cried when he was hungry, sleepy or had soiled himself. They had to take turns holding him till he fell asleep. Obito had to inject himself with a cocktail of hormones and medicines to stimulate lactation, a jutsu could only do so much, and Naruto drank a lot of milk. A LOT. Being shinobi themselves, they were long accustomed to spending days with little to no sleep. But spending a three weeks like that had taken its toll on both of them. Both of them were tired, cranky and constantly getting into fights with each other. All hell broke loose one day. It was a humid day, the sky overcast with clouds which rumbled the whole morning. It hadn't rained yet, and everyone was going crazy with the heat and humidity. Naruto had started crying very early in the morning and no amount of cuddles or feeding could stop it. Both Kakashi and Obito were at their wits' end. "Naruto, little one. Please stop crying." Obito implored. Kakashi had tried using a diagnostic seal on Naruto, even that had turned out normal. Obito did not know what to do. "Keep your pleas to yourself. None of that is going to help us." He froze at the sheer amount of barely suppressed rage in Kakashi's voice. The room was instantly saturated with aggressive pheromones from Kakashi. It made Obito want to vomit. "Stop it Kakashi! Agitation won't help us here. Stop stomping around like a raging bull and help me!" Obito too lost his temper. "Are you trying to imply that I don't contribute or help you enough?" Kakashi loomed over him, hackles raised. "I never said that. Stop blaming me for your own incompetence!" the air in the room was soured with their pheromones. Soon Naruto's crying was drowned in the sounds of their own squabbling, which gradually grew in volume till the amount of killer intent in there was stifling. Both were ready to turn the altercation physical, their primal parts in control, amidst Naruto's ceaseless crying. The sound of the door being broken down brought them back to their senses. Rushing to the door, they saw Mikan san standing there. "Care to tell me what you both are doing?" her voice was cold. She rushed to the crib Naruto was in, not waiting for an explanation. Obito felt like someone had dumped cold water on him. He ran into the bathroom, braced against the door, he tried his best to stop the tears from coming. What was he doing? It was his sensei's son, the one he had taken responsibility for. A moment of losing his grip on his emotions had made him blind to a child's plight. He couldn't forgive himself. Was he turning into that same person he hated? Back in the room, Kakashi stood still as a statue, trying to comprehend the situation. He had been too caught up on the situation and almost jeopardized the fragile relationship building up with Obito. Maintaining it was imperative to Naruto's well being. He couldn't describe just how ashamed he was. Would he be able to look Obito in the eye after this? A hand on his shoulder jolted him back to reality. Mikan san steered him into the kitchen. She had opened all the windows of the rooms. "Let out all this stench of pheromones. It will rain soon. That fresh air will do you both wonders." Obito was sitting at the table, nursing a mug of tea. His eyes were red, was he crying? Something inside him broke at the sight. He wanted to bundle him up in his arms and cuddle till he became happy again. Kakashi had never had such thoughts before, it scared him. "Now, I want both of you to sort out your differences as normally as possible. Feel free to decimate the training grounds if you want. I doubt there will be anyone there today. When you're done, take a look at the leaflets I am leaving here about infants and parents, you two will need it. Obito, Kakashi. I know this is hard; it would have been surprising if it wasn't. You aren't supposed to shoulder all this alone. Know this that there are people who are always going to help you and be behind you always, which includes me. I am going to take Naruto home with me; he will stay with me till you guys sort it all out. Don't worry; I took permission from the sandaime. He will be okay." Mikan san got up with Naruto, he had fallen asleep. "And by the way, Kakashi, diagnostic seals are used to detect chakra abnormalities. It won't work for something as simple as infant colic. You will find me in the Nara compound if I'm not there at the hospital. Take care, you two." She left.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was an old man. He had seen two shinobi wars, the death of three hokages and a tailed beast attack most recently. When a separate will bearing only Kushina Uzumaki's name was discovered, he wasn't surprised. Kushina was a strong-willed and stubborn woman, and those she loved, she loved from the bottom of his heart; as for those she hated, God save them. He still remembered when those two entered the village for the first time, the red haired, fair girl with an angry expression and the black haired, dark girl, face impassive. The only thing that gave away their fear and sadness was the dried tear tracks on their faces, which shined when light fell on them in a particular way. Kushina Uzumaki and Mikan Kitashirakawa, genin. Mikan's name in Uzushiogakure was Michi Kaneki; she had changed her name when she became a genin. Kushina was fiercely protective of her, and wouldn't let him ask why she had changed her name. She relented only when Mikan asked her to. She told him that the matron of the orphanage in Uzushio named children by taking names from graves, and she didn't like it, so she changed it. This name was added to her shinobi ID of Konoha, along with a new registration number. Kushina's explosive temper and behavior made her famous, both in the academy and on the battlefield. However, Mikan was an all-rounded person. Perfect records everywhere, be it the academy, the battlefield or the hospital. She and Kushina remained stuck to the hip till Kushina's death. He wouldn't ever forget Mikan's expression when Kushina's body was moved to the morgue. Kushina's will explicitly mentioned Mikan Kitashirakawa as Naruto's godmother and eligible to take care of him other than Kakashi and Obito. He knew Obito and Kakashi had some major issues in their relationship that they would need to figure out when taking care of Naruto. So he did everything he could do to stay out of the way of those three. Kushina's life had been oddly straight, in a way. Any person could smell the chemistry between her and Minato. Even her character was naturally straightforward. Mikan, however was a different issue. She was a person with layers on her character. It was hard to figure what went on inside her mind. She became a jounin before Minato or Kushina, her analytical mind and sharp intellect on par with Shikaku Nara, the jounin commander, along with the proper physical prowess required for her job. She joined the ANBU as a field medic, not a single casualty in any of her teams during her stint. Even after leaving it, the head of the ANBU medic corps came to complain that none of the squad members ever came for any treatment, going to the hospital to get themselves treated by Kitashirakawa. Even all the jounin went to her; it escalated to the point where Shikaku asked him to consider asking her to join the forces again. He wondered how the distinguished families with kekkei-genkais would react if they ever heard of her kekkei-genkai. He was really surprised when Shikaku's father had come to him requesting Mikan's hand for his son. This was the reason why Shikaku had been pointedly avoiding the hospital for a few weeks. Hiruzen couldn't fathom why the Nara elder, who was a master of avoiding situations which he deemed too troublesome, would willingly make a request like this. The man was well aware that the other families would talk if this decision were revealed to them. He had simply replied that he wouldn't mind enduring troublesome people and events if that meant another life would be saved. His words were soon proved right when Biwako came hurtling into his office a few hours later, Mikan's kekkei-genkai was a very important one, in the wrong hands, it could very well spell doom for them. Extensive use of her ability during battle and healing shinobi was taking its toll on her mental health, and she needed immediate therapy, mostly in the form of familial affection and contact. Mikan was a strong person, but she was already teetering on the edge. She had no family barring Kushina, and the latter could only do so much. The best option at this point was marriage, and Shikaku was by far the best and most sane candidate for that among shinobi. He admired Shikaku's father's foresight. The Nara truly was very intelligent and intuitive. It took a few tries. The first time they were literally thrown out of her office with the question if they had even asked Shikaku about this and his choice. The second time they willingly left as the amount of killing intent emanating from her was concerning. Finally they were able to convince her to at least meet him. Three months later, Shikaku and Mikan were married with Hiruzen acting as her official guardian. Kushina was so happy that Minato actually had to restrain her from shouting it from the top of the hokage mountain. Shikaku's father passed away peacefully in his sleep months later, the same time when Mikan got pregnant with Shikamaru. Quite a few months later, He had been shaken awake by Biwako one night, "Mikan is in labor, the child will be born soon. I am going to help." She had told him. Shikaku, Kushina, Minato and many other jounin were at the border, away from the village. That same night, a group of Iwa shinobi attacked their village, taking advantage of the absence of a few shinobi. A grave mistake on their part, Hiruzen and his ANBU guards had been more than enough to hold them off and kill them one by one. He raced towards the Nara compound as there was no saying that the enemy shinobi wouldn't ambush the people there. If they were aware of Konoha jounin being away, they could very well be know of any births occurring. Killing one child with a kekkei-genkai would mean one less member of that clan, a single such person could make all the difference in this war. The main house contained many injured Nara shinobi and the bodies of few other Iwa shinobi. No one was dead or gravely injured though. Shikaku's sister, Shikako ran towards him. "Mikan is in the forest, we had her moved as soon we sensed enemy shinobi on the way. Biwako san is with her." A huge sound drew their eyes to the Nara forest, the oldest, tallest trees in the forest were bending and more trees were sprouting up from nowhere and this continued till the trees had formed a dome like structure which virtually allowed no entry from above. No jutsu could penetrate it. As he prepared to walk into the forest, animals started spilling out. Birds, insects and deer, especially stags with antlers sharp enough to pierce through standard shinobi armor and disembowel. The stags formed a protective ring around the forest boundary and attacked anyone who tried to enter. "It won't work." It was Shikako. "The Nara forest is sentient, it was gifted to the clan by shodai sama when we first joined the village. The forest and its occupants won't tolerate any harm towards those related to it. We have no choice but to wait." They spent an agonizing hour outside the forest. The forest had become so dense and thrumming with ambient nature chakra that it was impossible to feel any other chakra signature. It was a night in name only, the animals of the forest were so restless, the birds chirping, insects flying around and the deer standing guard that it felt like day. Suddenly all activity stopped, everything became so silent for a moment that Hiruzen feared the worst. At that moment, the silence was shattered with the piercing cry of a newborn. Hiruzen sat down with a sigh, such excitement was not good for him. In front of his eyes, the trees returned to normal and the stags guarding the forest parted and they shinobi entourage walked towards the site where the others were. Hiruzen and company stumbled into an unforgettable scene. Mikan was resting against a tree, Biwako at her side, holding her newborn. All the deer in the Nara forest were surrounding them in a circle with their heads bowed. It was like they were welcoming the arrival of a king. Biwako looked at him and smiled, "It's a boy!" The Nara clansmen, while not very exuberant by nature, burst into cheers. Amongst all this chaos, the newborn had fallen back asleep in his mother's arms after a brief period of crying. "He's a Nara, through and through." He said fondly, one of his hands on Shikamaru's head. "You are going to be strong aren't you little one? You have my blessing…" "Shikamaru. Shikaku and I had already chosen names." Mikan said. "Okay, Shikamaru Nara, you have my blessing. Grow into a strong shinobi and protect your family and village!" Shikamaru's birth was the first one in this year. Such a birth during a war, coupled with auspicious omens had strengthened the villagers' will to fight and put the war behind. Yet a lot of it had come to a standstill with Naruto's birth and the subsequent Kyuubi attack the very next month. He sighed, there was no helping it. However, it was a relief that Naruto was being taken care by Kakashi and Obito; he really hadn't wanted to send him to an orphanage. While Kakashi and Obito were a volatile combination, they had Mikan and therefore Shikaku behind them, so it wasn't a concerning matter now. He only hoped the training fields would stand the brunt of their combined powers. Mikan had none too gently broken it to him that the pair was leveling their issues on the grounds. Not that he minded, but Kakashi was really strong for his age. And he had recently come to know from one of Minato's unofficial scrolls that Obito had been suppressing the true extent of his powers. He winced at the sound of a particularly strong crash from one of the training grounds, loud enough to reach the tower, wondering if the grounds would be salvageable the next day.
Training ground 17 would never be the same again. Its landscape had changed completely. It had not affected the duo fighting there. They razed the land, changing its features with each wave of jutsus. Kakashi's assessment had turned out to be right. Obito was deliberately keeping his progress from others. Most of Kakashi's attacks were being countered with jutsus of similar ranks. Obito was quick to adapt, his taijutsu almost at par with him, a flexible mixture of standard Uchiha clan taijutsu and some other style he couldn't exactly pinpoint. His genjutsus were strong and layered, triggered by the slightest shifts in one's movement or the surroundings. His ninjutsu, while not as strong as his, was more than adequate, coupled with his taijutsu and genjutsu. Kakashi's musings were broken with an A rank jutsu being thrown at his way. That was it. He was going to end this fight now, no use dragging it. His chakra reserves had depleted a lot. Obito was staggering too, but he kept attacking like a wounded animal with no sense of self preservation. It had started raining somewhere along the time they fought. He couldn't even remember how long they had been fighting for. "Are you even aware of your surroundings?!" he narrowly avoided getting hit by a katon. Obito was angry, not the usual kind. It was a different kind of anger, the kind that made you disregard yourself, also managing to thoroughly disturb the other person. "Did your father not teach you that?" Obito hissed out. That was breaking point for Kakashi, his logical side knew that Obito was just riling him up and he himself was hurting, but his animal side had snapped and taken charge. It was the same for Obito as both of them rushed towards each other for an all out battle, reduced to mere animals, gradually losing the reason why they were fighting. Nothing remained, everything else stripped away. The world shrank to just each other for both. There are very few things which happen slowly in the life of a shinobi. They stopped fighting abruptly. Kakashi did not remember what started the fight. He felt like he had spent a month training with Gai without any breaks in between. Obito hadn't used his chakra with discretion and looked ready to drop there. Kakashi summoned Bull with what little chakra he had and promptly collapsed on him. He faintly remembered being carried back to his apartment along with Obito. He woke up inside the bathroom in a heap with Obito. Not the most ideal place, but Bull knew it would be a pain to clean up all the mud from the floors if he had left them there. The bathroom was better. Kakashi debated if he should shower first or wake up Obito and send him in first. A whimper from the still asleep Obito was all it took for hi animal side to resurface. Obito was probably having a bad dream, he smelled distress on him. It hurt him in a way which was crippling. He wanted to stop those whimpers. Nothing else mattered. He bundled him up and entered the shower together. He undressed himself and Obito and washed thoroughly. Barely managing to dress himself and Obito properly, they fell into the lone futon together and fell asleep. Kakashi slept peacefully after a long time, his dreams filled with Obito's sunny laughter and petrichor and grass smell.
Obito woke up to all encompassing warmth and the smell of caramel which his grandmother used to make. It took him sometime to figure out where he was and with whom. He extricated himself from Kakashi and his dog pile with a blush, which intensified when Kakashi mumbled sleepily and reached out for him, tucking him into his arms again. He couldn't explain this situation or his feelings. They were out for each other's blood some time ago and now they were cuddled together."Do you want to talk?" Kakashi's voice made him cringe. "It is okay if you don't want to. My father always used to say that you could never force some things out of people. You have to wait for them to speak." "He wasn't the best father, but he tried a lot to be one. He took a lot of me with him when he died." Kakashi wasn't sure of Obito was listening, but it lightened his heart somewhat. "My father hated me." Obito mumbled, "My mother died giving birth to me. When I started getting stronger, it scared him. He did not want to acknowledge my progress. So I was abused for a long time, till he died. I was sent to my grandmother. She cursed him to suffer in afterlife. It didn't matter to me then. I vowed to hide my real self after that. I couldn't bear to think of it anymore." Obito sobbed into his chest. "You didn't have to do that. We would have accepted you either way. Sensei and Rin and Kushina san, me. Don't hide from me anymore, the others are gone." Kakashi's statement left him reeling. He couldn't think of the Kakashi from a few months ago doing that. He wondered what had changed him. They had dinner together that day. They talked about Naruto. They went to sleep together, like it was a very natural thing. Obito wondered where all the awkwardness had gone. If he dreamt of Kakashi that night, he kept it a secret.