.
.
Blackness. Obito felt his consciousness start to ebb, the strength of the ten-tails' chakra consuming him.
Kakashi. Sensei. Rin.
It felt like he was in a pool of inky water, which was slowly consuming him.
No!
He would not be consumed! Obito struggled. In his mind's eye, he saw his most precious memories - Rin cheering him on by the sides, him telling everyone how he wanted to be strong so he could be Hokage. There was a photograph of him and his team that had been ripped and shredded, but through sheer force of will, Obito fought the Jyuubi and put it together again.
Light swirled around him as Obito opened his eyes, the power of the ten-tails chakra finally contained within him.
He was this close to creating a perfect world.
xXx
.
There aren't any other missions scheduled, but Obito doesn't enjoy his days off. While Kakashi is buying erotic fiction and Minato is hanging out with his kid, Obito has nowhere to go other than the training grounds, honing his techniques and thinking of ways to teach their little teammate more about the Sharingan.
"You mean Madara isn't training her?" Kakashi is sitting on a fence, watching as Obito tries to come up with ways to use Mangekyou without hurting her. Obito kicks a post, a simple side kick, but keeps his leg mid-air, holding the kata in perfect formation.
"Apparently he told her not to use her Sharingan because she has a tendency to overuse it." He slowly lowers his leg, then straightens. "I believe she goes straight to the Mangekyou and the Rinnegan because she doesn't have as firm a grasp on the basics."
"You mean genjutsu and enhanced perception?"
"Correct." Obito twists his body in another slow sideways kick. He punches. "I suspect she's had the Sharingan so long, she has taken for granted its own set of powers. And Madara is too used to using his Mangekyou and his Rinnegan, it is probably difficult for him to dumb it down."
"Hmm." Kakashi leans back, crossing his arms. "You really do make a good teacher. If you never got crushed by that rock, maybe you would have gotten a teaching job like Iruka."
Obito spins and kicks the post again. Kakashi hops off the fence.
"So," Kakashi says. "Have you decided what you're going to do about the Hokage thing, yet?"
Another kick. "I told you. I'm probably going to refuse it."
Kakashi sighs, loudly. "If you're worried you're interfering with some long-seated dream of mine, let me assure you, you're not. I'd only accept the position of Hokage out of an ingrained sense of duty."
A kick. "I doubt the villagers would accept me."
"The villagers don't know what's going on half the time. You'd have to worry about the other shinobi."
Kick. "Thank you for reminding me."
Kakshi tilts his head. "You know, Obito, I used to call you a crybaby elite and make fun of you, but even before you woke the Sharingan, you weren't bad. I was even jealous of your katons."
"What is this? Rare praise from Hatake Kakashi?" Kick. "Of course I wasn't bad. I was just a part of a clan of geniuses, teamed up with the top genin of our class. Anyone would look bad in comparison."
Spin, spin, kick. The post bends. Obito turns. "That took me the better part of twenty years to realize that. A shame I nearly had to end the world in order to do that." He looks at Kakashi's bag. "Another ero novel?"
"Oh yes." Kakashi holds up the book. "This one's called 'Kisses for my Lover.' I hear the plot's derivative but the smut scenes are phenomenal."
"You know most men would rather just watch porn instead of reading it."
"I prefer to use my imagination."
"Hm."
xXx
.
The sun is starting to set, and the village is bathed in a deep, rich orange.
Obito goes to the drugstore to refill his medications. Antidepressant. Pain pill. Migraine prophylaxis. Recently he's been having panic attacks, so his doctor started prescribing Xanax. "It's likely PTSD from the rock falling in that cave," the civilian psychiatrist said. She wrote Obito the prescription. "If you take it, avoid operating heavy machinery. Don't take it with alcohol or mix it with other medications."
Obito walks out of the drug store, clutching his bags.
xXx
.
Nighttime. Obito sits over the table and quickly eats a store-bought bento, sitting in the dark and watching the small television in the corner. It's a movie, some romantic comedy where the plucky heroine goes off to find herself in a small town. Invariably she's engaged to some jerk businessman, but she finds true love in the neighborhood lumberjack she meets after leaving the city.
This annoys him. This isn't love, it's infatuation, and what about her poor fiancé sitting in the city? Why do the writers have to bend over backwards to make him a jerk? Obito frowns at his bento box, then takes a swig of beer.
There is something lurking outside in the shadows.
Obito's eyes narrow. Slowly, he stands up, lowering the volume of the television. There is the sound of something clattering, and Obito strides quickly to his bedroom.
In the dark, the window is open. The light curtains move ominously in the breeze.
There is a weapons rack across the bed, and silently Obito backs up and palms a kunai in his hand. Gripping the handle, Obito carefully edges back out into the hallway.
A black shape darts out, and Obito whirls around.
Obito lunges toward him and attacks, an explosion of power. The man blocks, once, twice, then whacks Obito across the face. There is a sickening crack as the man's fist makes contact, but Obito jerks forward, dodging the next blow and spinning into a kick.
Punch, punch, kick. The man flips Obito over but Obito catches himself, springing back upward and vaulting into a flying kick through the air.
Contact. The man staggers. Obito whirls around and punches hard, once, twice, the third time he misses, the man dodging and hitting him square in the jaw. They stagger into the kitchen, where it's too dark to see. Obito's Sharingan flares. He dodges, lunges forward. The thin light from the movie pulses in the background.
Slam! He shoves a kunai against the assailant's neck, slamming him against the wall.
Obito's heart is thudding fast. Who was this? Was someone trying to assassinate him? He feels his throat constrict, the weight of a thousand boulders strangling him.
He's on the verge of another panic attack.
Obito's jaw tightens. He struggles to keep control, forces himself to slow his breathing. He grips the kunai harder.
And then, his assailant slowly starts to laugh.
"Splendid! Splendid! I should expect nothing less from the man who lived as Uchiha Madara!"
Obito pulls back, shocked. In the dark he hadn't recognized him. Madara's face splits into a slow grin.
"However," a black rod slowly worms out from Madara's arm, then presses menacingly against Obito's stomach, "once again, you have left yourself undefended."
Madara gives him a small poke, then retracts, raising his hands to show him. "Don't get too full of yourself," Madara says. "If I wanted to kill you, I already would have."
Obito lowers his kunai and the two men straighten. Obito's eyes narrow. "What do you want?"
"You are my daughter's teacher," Madara says. "It is only natural that I would want to see you."
On the TV, the heroine coos. "Oh! I never knew what love is until I met you!"
"I heard you were the one behind the Hokage nomination." Obito switches off the TV, flipping on the light. He turns back to Madara. "Why?" Obito says. Madara shrugs.
"I have children in this village," Madara says. "You could say I have a vested interest." Madara looks around. "A bento for one? How pathetic. If I had known you'd have such difficulties finding a partner, I wouldn't have worked so hard to kill your precious Rin."
Obito grabs Madara by the collar and slams him against the wall. "Why?" Obito says. "Why me? Why Hokage? What is it you're trying to do?"
Madara smirks. "It is a shame you have to ask."
"You're trying to find a way to manipulate them."
"Hm."
"What did you do?" Obito says. "Genjutsu them? Use mind-control to manipulate them?"
"I did nothing of the sort," Madara says. He pushes off Obito's arm and dusts off his shirt. "I merely gave them your name. Those simpletons at the council came to the same conclusion." Madara looks around. "This is your apartment?" Obito's eyes narrow.
"What's it to you?"
"It is a bit small, is it not?"
Obito glares.
"I mean no offense. I just remember you not being overly fond of too-small spaces."
"Just tell me what you want," Obito says. Madara turns.
"You've grown strong," Madara says. He looks Obito over. "I'd like to think I had a hand in it." Madara's eyes track over to the grocery bag of medications sitting on the desk.
Obito knows, without Madara having to say anything, that Madara is using his Sharingan to read the medications. Obito stalks over to the desk and grabs the bag.
"Let me spare you the trouble," Obito says, and he dumps the contents of the bag onto the table. "This is an antidepressant. This one is an anxiolytic. This one is for migraines and this one is for the shooting pains I still get in my face and limbs."
"Is that all?" Madara says. "And here I thought you were overly medicated."
"You manipulated me and tried to kill me. I was just a child. And you were a fucking psychotic old man-"
"You make it sound as if I somehow violated you. All I did was give you one small push. I did not inspire anything that wasn't already there."
"Killing Rin was not 'one small push'," Obito says. Madara spreads his hands.
"Agree to disagree, then," Madara says. "Believe it or not, Obito, I believed her death could be negated, so long as we stuck to the plan." Madara turns. His eyes flick upward.
"The world was imperfect," Madara says. "We both wanted the same thing. And if it meant eternal peace, it was a burden we both were willing to bear."
"So even now, you don't regret it?" Obito says. Madara sighs.
"I regret that it was what neither you nor I had wanted," Madara says. He picks up a bottle of medication, glancing at the label, before setting it down again. "I do not regret the original plan."
Obito scoffs. "That's not what I hear you told Hashirama."
"I tell Hashirama a lot of things. It is her own fault if she chooses to believe them." Madara looks around. "Do you have sake in this sorry place, or should we procure it elsewhere?"
Obito scowls. He moves swiftly to the other side of the kitchen and brings out a bottle.
"Ah," Madara says. "Good." He pours himself and Obito a drink. "You asked me why I had them nominate you. The answer is quite simple. The Hokage is supposed to be the strongest shinobi in the village. You are my protégé and one of the few Uchiha left. If it is a matter of strength, then the answer is clear."
Madara sets down the bottle, pushing the glass toward Obito. "But you're right to question if I have an ulterior motive, and I do. I'm doing this for my children," Madara says. Obito knits his brow.
"Your children?" Obito says.
"My children are Uchiha in a village that shuns them," Madara says. He crosses his arms. "Don't you know what happened to my daughter?"
Obito sits back, listening. Madara leans forward.
"She was pulled out of her kindergarten class because those idiot teachers at the Academy claim she was bullying the other children. But I spoke to her, and do you know what she told me? She told me they were making fun of her. That her eyes were that of demons and that as an Uchiha she should have died. Those children made my daughter cry," Madara says, and his face darkens. "I would have killed them myself if not for Hashirama."
Obito's brow furrows. "You are telling me to become Hokage...because your daughter was bullied by other school children?"
"I am telling you to become Hokage because this village does not protect the Uchiha, it treats us like second-class citizens.
"I have children, Obito. I have a little girl who loves her school but wonders why the others won't be friends with her. I have two sons who will grow up in a world that will look at them with suspicion and contempt. If there is an Uchiha Hokage, my hope is it will mitigate that."
Obito watches as Madara plays with the glass in front of him, and realizes Madara is telling the truth. "I want to talk to my Sensei, first," Obito says. Madara scoffs.
"Oh? You mean that yellow-haired weakling you tried to kill when you first attacked this village? Fine. Go talk to your Sensei. But know if you don't accept this position, your true Sensei will be very disappointed."
"Fuck you," Obito says. Madara rises. He starts to leave, but stops by the door.
"For what it is worth," Madara says, and Obito looks up, Madara's back facing toward him, "I do regret everything that happened. We betrayed each other for no good reason."
"I want you to leave," Obito says. Madara turns the door handle.
"I will see you again when I pick up my daughter," he says, and he goes through the door.
xXx
.
Minato is spending the day with Naruto, but he can meet with Obito in the evening. "He's going to get ramen with Iruka. Maybe we can meet for dinner?" Minato says.
The sun is starting to set. Above them, the sound of crows echoes through the otherwise empty street, and the setting light is red and orange. Obito stands at the top of the hill and sees his Sensei walking up toward him. Their eyes meet and his Sensei smiles and waves at him.
They go to a barbecue restaurant on the other side of town. Meat sizzles on the grill, and Minato turns it over with a pair of chopsticks, grilling the other side.
"So," Minato says. He adds more meat onto the grill. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Obito hesitates.
"Sensei," Obito says.
"Hm?"
"They..." the meat sizzles. "They asked me to become Hokage."
Minato's face brightens. "That's great!" Minato says, but Obito lowers his eyes. Minato asks gently, "Why are you not happy?"
"I am happy. I'm flattered I'm being acknowledged, but..." Obito's hands tighten into fists. "But I don't know that I deserve it."
Minato smiles. "You of all people deserve it," Minato says. "You've always worked so hard to be your best, and you always helped other people."
"Sensei I tried to kill your wife and child-"
"I know," Minato says. "But I believe you've worked to atone for it. I know you'd be a great Hokage," Minato says.
The door to the restaurant opens, Naruto and Kakashi walking inside. Naruto sees them and his face brightens.
"Look, Kakashi-sensei! It's Obito and my dad! Let's go sit with them, dattebayo!"
Minato turns and Obito quickly wipes his eyes, which are red and swollen. Naruto and Kakashi come over.
"I take it you talked to him?" Kakashi says to Obito. Obito smiles ruefully and nods. Naruto tilts his head quizzically.
Minato beams, proudly. "Naruto. Obito just found out he was chosen to be Hokage." Naruto's eyes widen.
"Eh?! Obito-san is going to be Hokage?!" Naruto's face splits into a grin. He pumps his fist. "That's so cool, dattebayo! Obito-san is gonna be a great Hokage-wait, Obito-san?! You're crying?!"
And Obito laughs, his eyes creasing into two crescent-shaped moons, smiling and wiping his eyes.