The beginning of Kakashi's "birthday celebration" began on a light note.
"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Kakashi, Happy birthday to youuuuuuuu~" sang Team Minato with Kushina as they surrounded him inside Minato's house.
"This is not a mission debriefing!" A very embarrassed and red faced Kakashi shouted.
Kushina let out a small laugh. "Of course it's a mission debriefing! Your mission is to sit down and eat and have a good time!" She says she picks him up and crushes him in a hug.
"But I don't want to eat," Kakashi whines as he struggles against Kushina's bear hug "I want to go on the mission!"
"You will go as soon as you're done eating. Now sit down" she emphasized "down" as she plopped him in a chair at the table and slid him a plate "and EAT. THAT. CAKE!"
In an attempt he already knew was futile, he looked weakly at his sensei. Minato, of course already knowing that he would look to him, could only shrug and hold up his hand toward Kakashi, showing his ring.
Kakashi sighed dejectedly, looking towards his teammates and seeing that they had just taken their first bite of the cake.
He groans and weakly stabs his cake with his fork.
After Kushina made sure he cleaned his plate (making a joke about how he'll grow up and be as skinny as a scarecrow), the presents were next.
"H-Here you go Kakashi, I hope you like it!" Rin stuttered a bit but composed herself quickly.
Her gift was wrapped in a small rectangular box in a dark blue wrapping paper not at all dissimilar to the color he wears with a gray colored bow on top, also not dissimilar to his hair.
Of course Kakashi noticed this and did something that surprised all of them.
He smiled! And not a small one, no, this one was bright and practically stretched ear to ear!
Apparently not done with the surprises, he got up and hugged her!
"Thanks Rin," he said smiling, still hugging her "it means a lot to me."
Rin was on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum. She was a red faced stuttering wreck and her brain had went on auto pilot the moment Kakashi smiled at her and only after thanking her did her brain start working again. She had almost fainted!
"E-Eh!? B-but you haven't even opened it y-yet!!!" Rin had practically yelled as she wondered if she should hug him back or st ay still, eventually deciding on hugging back.
Kakashi, without missing a beat, replied "Doesn't matter. I'm sure I'll like it anyway."
That was the straw that broke the camel's back and Rin could only squeeze his hand one more time before fainting.
Unknown to the slightly worried Kakashi, squealing Kushina, and smiling Minato was a very jealous Obito.
"Would you just OPEN it already?!" Obito had been silently fuming watching Kakashi hug Rin and had reached a boiling point after she had fainted.
Kakashi was confused for a second "Oh right!" Kakashi then placed the present on the table and carefully unwrapped the package and set it to the side.
Inside was a handwritten book about Rin's research on medical ninjutsu, and it went into a lot of detail with small anecdotes that she learned from other sources.
"I don't think I can accept this," Kakashi stated "She put so much work into this and she'll definitely need it."
Minato, who hadn't done much talking up until this point, eased Kakashi's worries "I'm sure she would feel better if you accepted it. And besides, if she really needed it you could just share it with her. Just make sure to keep it with you."
"I guess" he said, still somewhat feeling guilty. 'I'll just put it on my shelf' making a mental reminder after putting it in his his pocket carefully.
"Ooh! ooh! Mine next!" Kushina practically shoved her present into Kakashi's hands.
'It's not even wrapped' Kakashi sweatdropped, knowing that it just meant she was excited to give it to him.
It was a scroll that, when opened, contained a scroll on the Eight Inner Gates and small red dots at the beginning of gates one and two.
Excited to finally teach Kakashi something, she starts with "Most people can only use about 20% of their full chakra y'know? The reason that is is because there are limiters in the body called the Inner Gates, of which there are eight."
Kakashi continued listening patiently as Kushina explained the extreme drawbacks and how she's only safely able to open the first two (Kakashi realizing that was what those two red dots most likely were).
"Alright, guess I'm next." Minato says, although it took Kakashi a second to realize that he was actually standing on the sealing.
"I'm sure you're probably good on reading material," he says as he drops down dramatically with Kushina rolling her eyes and muttering 'showoff' "but this is the thing I can give you."
It was a small notebook with many scribbles and notes of just about any and everything he had thought about.
"I wrote that two years ago so don't worry, I've bought a few new notebooks" he explained, not wanting Kakashi to feel guilty again.
Feeling another influx of emotion and not trusting himself to speak, he simply nodded and lightly stroked the cover with his thumb.
"Is there anything you brought Kakashi?" Asked Minato as he turned to Obito.
Still jealous over the stunt he pulled on Rin he yells "A PRESENT?!" He calms down slightly, "He should be grateful I even considered coming here." He finishes by turning away and putting his nose up.
Kakashi only smiles "Love you too Obito"
By the time the impromptu party was over it was close to two o'clock in the afternoon.
Team Minato entered the Hokage office and the Hogake greeted them.
"Ah, Minato. I've been expecting you." He then turned to Kakashi, "Happy Birthday Kakashi."
Kakashi let out a small nod and smile.
The Hokage's face immediately switched from jovial and welcoming to more serious face as he began briefing them on the mission.
Hiruzen pulled out a manilla folder and handed it to Minato. "This is an A-rank mission," pausing for a second to gauge their reactions. He was pleasantly when he saw all of them relatively confident in themselves.
He smiled to himself.
"you all will travel to the Kannabi Bridge and destroy it. I had sent two scout teams and comparing the reports of both we are reasonably sure that this is a vital supply line for Iwa."
"So what you're saying" Minato looks up from skimming over the file "is that this is going to be a big turning point."
Hiruzen nodded.
"Well alright then guys," he turns back to them "pack for threeish days and be at the main gate in 45 minutes!"
With everyone packed and ready to go, Team Minato set off.
For the next two hours or so, they moved at a constant pace through the treetops, talking about whatever and who ever until they were about 15 minutes away the bridge.
"Does anyone smell that?" asked a previously distracted Kakashi. Everyone stops. Obito also sniffed the air and confirmed it.
"Definitely smoke then" Rin says, finally smelling it.
Minato, being a sensor type, stretches out his senses and feels small sources of chakra going out surrounded by larger ones.
In shock and with not much time, Minato explains the situation after throwing a kunai in a seemingly random direction.
"Iwa is attacking a civilian village and I'm the only person fast enough to stop them which means," handing Kakashi, Rin, and Obito each one of his special kunai "that you, Kakashi, are the team leader from here on out understood?"
"I-Yes sensei" a conflicted Kakashi agreed, wanting to go with him, along with Rin and Obito.
He nods and with a quick goodbye, he disappears in a flash of yellow light.
Steeling themselves, they check over their supplies once head straight to Kannabi Bridge.
Three days later and their target was finally in sight.
"Final break guys, it's just up ahead" Rin reminded them as she plopped down on a tree branch.
The two boys followed suit and each found an adjacent branch. It was almost calming were it not for the fact that they were in enemy territory.
"Hopefully Minato-sensei gets back, whatever he said he had to report must've been important" Obito says hopefully.
And then it happened.
The sound of a rogue branch snapping alerted them all to an interloper in their break. From the trees descended an Iwa nin who had large puffy hair that stood out against the boring environment.
He threw a kunai directly at Rin, it moving so fast that a normal eye wouldn't have been able to see it.
But Obito didn't have normal eyes. He was an Uchiha and caught the kunai tail end first with his finger.
Shocked that his fastest throw in a long time was so easily plucked out of the air by a child, he looked towards him and felt his stomach drop. Even though he was a few meters away, he could still clearly see that the boy had the second stage of the sharingan.
He was about to jump to the next tree branch, knowing that fighting an Uchiha was stupid when he was struck with four senbon in both knees and shins and instantly losing the ability to stand. This caused him to fall the 10 feet from canopy to duff unhindered. He looked up and was met with a blade right between his eyes. The last thing he heard was a smug 'see ya' before Kakashi channeled lightning chakra into the sword, killing him. He turned around and his teammates grouped back up.
Rin spoke first "We are so cool!" Kakashi snorted at that.
"That was even better then when we tried it on sensei" Obito said, basking in his ego.
Unknown to them, an invisible figure slowly made his way around both of them. His movements were predatory and deliberate, taking a thought out route and ending up behind Rin who had just finished plucking out the last senbon in the first Iwa nin's knee.
In an impressive delay of swiftness the hidden Iwa nin almost succeeded in capturing her without a sound. If it weren't for her quick yelp in surprise, both Kakashi and Obito would have been none the wiser.
Unfortunately, however, in the time it took for them to turn to see her the Iwa nin had already put her under a sleep genjutsu and was running towards what they could only assume was a regrouping point.
Obito immediately chased after the ninja with Kakashi not far behind, both getting ready to push their speed to the limits. No one was taking their friend without a fight!
After only about thirty minutes of running, Obito had made it to a dome made out of what he would describe as a collage of rocks, different from the open field "regroup point" they had originally thought.
He moved covertly along the outside of dome, inching further and further towards what he supposed had to be the entrance until he heard a voice that he recognized all too well.
Another strike to the face. Another question. All they would get was silence. That's what they would do, so she would keep her silence.
It was apparent that the Iwa nin was getting increasingly frustrated with the lack of information he has getting. He grabbed the bound Rin by her hair and pulled her to eye level.
"You think I'll just let you stay quiet after you killed Kakkou?! For a tree hugging bitch, you sure have some stones on you!"Accentuatingevery word with a jerk in no particular direction.
"Why so angry?" Rin finally spoke tilting her head innocently. "He must have been pretty important to you," she put on a sarcastic face of shock, as if he'd had figured out a puzzle "wait don't tell! He was your boyfriend right!"
Screaming out in annoyance, he punched her in the the stomach without letting her go, hard. She, in response, spat in his face with a large build up of saliva and blood.
Clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes in unrestrained rage, he yelled out "YOU KNOW WHAT, SCREW THE INFORMATION!" Pulling out his sword and shifting her hair into his other hand. "AS LONG AS YOU ARE DEAD AT THE END OF TODAY, I'LL BE FINE!"
"ANY LAST WORDS, I'D LIKE TO HEAR 'EM!" He yelled at her, sword ready.
"I was totally right about the boyfriend thing, wasn't I?" she smirked, knowing that even in her death she'd be a nuisance to him.
His patience with Rin having long since ended, he plunged his sword into her stomach and throwing her onto the ground... with Obito reaching the entrance not 3 seconds before, mouth open and body frozen in shock.
Time seemed to slow down for him. He saw Rin on the floor, barely clinging to life and the irritated look on the Iwa nins face. She rolled to the side and their eyes met. She looked at him and smiled a small smile as tears began to pour down her face. She didn't say anything, she just closed her eyes and stopped breathing, the smile still on her face.
In some part of his mind he was distantly aware of the throbbing pain his head and eyes, but all he could think about was Rin.
His first non-Uchiha friend and the first person to not ridicule him for being late. His first crush and best friend. And now she was gone.
No. Scratch that.
Taken.
She was taken from him by someone!
Suddenly becoming hyper aware of his surroundings, he ducked under a flying kick with more ease than he ever had and kicked his attacker in the back.
He felt something slide down his face. 'Tears?' he thought, having not been aware that he was crying at all.
Looking to his left at a stray pude made from a hole in the dome, he was shocked beyond comprehension.
He was crying, but not normal tears. He was crying tears of blood! After inspecting closer, his Sharingan was different too! No longer were they the same Stage two from earlier, they now more resembled a three pointed shuriken warping in on itself.
Obito looked around and noticed that everything was sharper and in a much higher focus, time moving so slowly that he see a raindrop falling into the puddle and disturbing his reflection with the ripple it created. He looked back at the ninja he kicked away what felt like ages ago to him and noticed him slowly disappearing.
Starting the fight again with the hopes of testing out his new Sharingan, he rushes forward.
"No you don't!" he shouts as he jumps up and axe kicks him in the back with the Iwa nin substituting with a large rock.
Locking on instantly thanks to his new Sharingan, he throws a kunai to where the man substituted, aimg perfectly at his forehead.
He had just barely managed to dodge the near invisible kunai when slashed in the arm by a small tanto, the wound spraying blood from where he was cut from shoulder to wrist and effectively disabling his arm. Knowing that it couldn't have been the Uchiha who attacked him since no one could be that fast, he turned and came face with an enraged and crying Kakashi who (unfortunately for the Iwa nin) had just pulled back a might punch and let it fly against the man's jaw, practically turning it to dust.
He fell end over end for a good few meters and landed on his stomach, face in the dirt. He desperately tried to pull himself up, only managing his uper half and looking disfigured in any ways. No movement in legs and one arm added to the fact he couldn't speak and was slack jawed made him look less than human.
On either side of the Iwa nin both Kakashi and Obito were blurring through hand signs faster than should be possible.
Perfectly in sync they both finished their hand signs and let out their jutsu, with Kakashi putting three fingers up, one thumb and his index and middle finger, and charged it with electricity. Obito breathed in heavily, holding the tiger seal the entire time.
Lightning Style: Electromagnetic Murder Field!Fire Style: Blast Wave Wild Dance!The resulting explosion is so massive it almost swallows Kakashi and Obito as well. The heat is so intense the sweat on their forehead instantly evaporates. For minutes long after the Iwa nin was dead, the fire raged on, leaving nothing left of the man's body.
After Rin was sealed into a scroll to be preserved, they left the hideout exhausted and began their trek to Konoha. They had only taken a break for a few minutes before Obito noticed that the surrounding forest had gone completely quiet.
Sighing heavily and nudging Kakashi slightly to get his attention he yelled out "We know you're there, just come out already!
What they weren't expecting was about 20 clones jumping out and surrounding the two.
With both still recovering from their previous battle, the only thought that ran through their head was a resounding 'not good' as they pulled out their weapons and stood back to back.
The clones swiftly charged towards the boys in random orders and patterns.
Kakashi was readied with his chakra sabre, cutting down two right off the bat and engaging two clones in a short game of ring around the roses. Finally seeing in an opening when one tripped over the other, he jumped backwards in the air while slicing downwards. He landed and looked back towards the two clones, both disappearing before they even knew what happened.
He thought to himself 'I can use the Electromagnetic Murder again about three more times before I pass out so I'll need to play this smart. Seemingly forgetting what he just thought about, he raced over to a group of four clones that was headed towards him.
'I have about,' he started calculating in his head while blurring through hand signs, '6 seconds. Hope that's enough.' Still flashing through hand signs, he began a mental countdown.
'6'
'5'
'4'
'3'
'2'
'1'
He jumped upwards and landed in the direct center of a puddle launching his jutsu toward it, shocking all of them.
Within four seconds, every clone around him had dispersed. Unfortunately Kakashi was not out the woods yets. Two more clones appeared and took the advantage of Kakashi having still suffered the effects been electrocuted by kicking him in the stomach at the same time.
Tumbling away and still having trouble controlling his body with the constant twitches, he couldn't do anything as the clone duo slowly approached him.
Kakashi forced himself to look up at them, if he was going to die then he would stare it in the face.
Obito was having a relatively easy time with the clones thanks to his new Sharingan.
The first wave of clones were in a pack of four, with Obito dodging in a way no one he had ever seen. Sticking his kunai in one and legsweeping another, he jumped into the air to get a idea of what was going.
'Kakashi doing fine so I wont need to worry about him.' He thinks as he throws his kunai down, killing the clone he leg sweeped but didn't disperse. He dropped down and used a move he saw a Jounin use.
"Leaf Hurricane!" He yelled as he twisted in air and getting rid of both clones at once.
Seeing four more coming his way, he decided to try out a move his dad created.
"Fire Style: Grand Phoenix Flower Shower!"
He let out impossibly large fireballs that sprayed out and incinerated all four clones. The jist of the technique was that it was the Phoenix Flower but with the larger fireballs that the Grand Fireball Jutsu used.
Just as with Kakashi (not that Obito knew that) two more clones came rushing at him. It was at this time, however he looked over at the two other clones about to kill Kakashi.
This immediately put Obito into a panic, mind moving a million meters a second.
He thought back to his eyes. His eyes! He channeled chakra into his eyes felt it drain him faster than he had ever felt.
As the clones moved to end him, he never flinched or looked away, not batting an eye.
It was then that they began doing something he had never seen before, almost unexplainable. Both the clones began twisting in on themselves, no, twisting into a small vortex in between them and in a few seconds they had completely disappeared. Kakashi looked over to Obito, noticing him focused on the point where the strange jutsu had come from.
Looking at Obito's face, he could tell it was very draining and he could almost feel his tiredness. The ninja on either side of Obito were closing in and he barely had any room to move.
Obito tiredly swayed out of the way of a slash as Kakashi threw every shuriken he had, 43 was what he had kept track of, at the two clones. The shuriken hit the clone that tried to attack Obito in the head and dispersed.
As the final clone came in at Obito, Kakashi jumped and threw a kunai with an explosive tag directly at the clone and killed it, not even needing to activate the explosive tag.
They grouped up, recuperating quickly and waiting for the real enemy to show up. They were both breathing heavily and were low on chakra, Obito much more so.
The original ninja came out of hiding as soon as Kakashi had pulled out his last explosive tag.
Just as the man was about to start monologuing Obito interrupted with a fireball, getting sick of all the talking.
It was worse than they had originally thought. He was bleeding out at a rate far too fast for Kakashi to do anything.
For Kakashi it was. Pulling out the special kunai he had gotten from his sensei, he charged chakra into the hilt and threw it to the ground. In a blinding flash of light Minato was their and with a guest.
Next to him was Tsunade of the Sannin!
Both adults not ready for the scene they teleported to took a moment to collect themselves and get to work, with Tsunade immediately setting to work on Obito.
Minato turned to Kakashi "Where's Rin?" It was a simple question but the pained look on Kakashi's face told him everything he needed to know as he felt his stomach curl in guilt. Kakashi opened up his pouch and gave him the sealing scroll she was placed in. They both stood there, heads hung low and not moving for a few minutes.
"Minato! Brat! Get over here!" a frustrated Tsunade yelled at them. Immediately at Obito's side, both waited for her to tell them them what happened.
"Im sorry but he wont make it past the hour." The look of shock on Minato, Kakashi, and Obito's face was heartbreaking. "This poison is an offshoot of one of Chiyo's poisons that I've barely come up with a cure for."
Minato looked towards the ground, not being able to comprehend losing two students in a single day. Kakashi was crying his eyes out and clutching at the mud.
Obito, on the other hand looked resigned.
"Kakashi," Obito called his name and getting his attention, both noting how weak his voice was becoming "When I die, dont be all lame and blame yourself, ok? I saved you. Promise me right now."
He sighed and begrudgingly nodded, not wanting to speak.
Obito turned to Tsunade and asked "Tsunade-sama, can I make a request?"
Although not uncommon, Tsunade was surprised that he would have a final request, wondering what it could be possibly be.
"I want Kakashi to have my Sharingan." Obito activated them and showed them to an amazed Minato and Tsunade.
Seeing their faces and knowing he didn't have a lot of time left, he explained "My Sharingan mutated after Rin..." he cringed, trying to redirect the conversation.
Picking up where Obito left it "Obito you unlocked the Mangekyou Sharingan! That's the highest known stage of the Sharingan ever recorded!"
"That's an even better reason to give it to Kakashi then. I want to see the world through Kakashi's eyes." Obito finishes his speech and looks toward Kakashi, waiting for Kakashi to say something.
Kakashi was about to refuse when Obito held up his hand "Just call it a belated present." Kakashi let a melancholic smile, he never could win arguments with his team.
The procedure was a lot less painful than Kakashi thought it would be and lasted five minutes altogether. Kakashi and Obito both had bandages wrapped around their eyes and sitting quietly.
"The procedure was a success," all of them were happy at that' "however because you aren't an Uchiha you won't be able to deactivate them."
"So I'll have to keep my eyes covered?" She nodded "You should get a head start on honing your other senses, you're very lucky you have your dog summons."
Truthfully, he counted himself lucky that he had any Sharingan at all but he would have to cover his eyes to prevent chakra loss.
"My time's almost up. I just lost feeling in my last limb and my heartbeat is slowing."
Obito's morbid words brought everyone back to reality.
"That's fine, stay calm and keep breathing, low and slow." Tsunade instructed, knowing this would make it as quick and painless as possible. "Now count backwards from 10 please." Obito's breathing began to slow as he began the countdown.
"10"
"9"
"8"
While counting down, Tsunade placed him under a sleeping genjutsu. His heartbeat slowed for a few more seconds before finally stopping.
Picking up Obito and the now sleeping Kakashi wondering how he was going to explain to the Hokage how big of a failure this mission was.
He got an idea. Telling Tsunade to wait here and with both boys still slung over his shoulders, he teleported to the now undefended bridge. He wouldn't let this slide.
He littered the entire bridge and surrounding area with explosive notes, knowing that this would stop any movement near Kannabi bridge for the next ten years. One last look at the focal point of this disastrous mission and a spit in its direction, he lit the first tag and teleported back to Tsunade.
"Minato what did you just-" She was cut off by an explosion that rocked the surrounding area for a few miles. He smiled and said "If anyone asks, my team did it."
Hiruzen remembered the funeral for Obito. Since he was a prominent member of the clan and student of Minato, his funeral was bigger than most. Many gave words about how he would do small things like helping old ladies across the street and finding homes for black cats.
He also stopped by at Rin's funeral, which was a small little get together. Her parents were shocked that the Hokage of all people had come to see their daughter off.
Hiruzen had made the mission file for the Battle of Kannabi Bridge as it was officially named an S-rank secret so everyone who wasn't Kakashi, Minato, and Tsunade would never know what happened.
This meant that the entire Uchiha clan would never know of Obito's unlocking of the Mangekyou or its transfer to Kakashi.