Obito had learnt several lessons in his life so far. He had learnt that people were fickle. They held prejudices closer than fact and traditions closer than truth. He had learnt that there were people who would hate him because he was an Uchiha even if his clan claimed he wasn't Uchiha enough. Even if he distanced himself from the clan they would find reasons to insult him and even if he did his best to be a model Uchiha, they would ostracize him.
So he learnt that whether or not he chose to bear the name Uchiha, he could always depend on the name Obito to represent him and as long as he was Obito, then he couldn't be accused of trying to be someone he was not.
He had learnt that some people were luckier than others. Some people like Kakashi were blessed enough with capabilities beyond his own meagre ones. They were lucky enough that techniques came to them easily and the shinobi arts moulded themselves into powerful weapons in their hands. He had learnt that sometimes even when he trained until his hands were bleeding, and his throat was sore from smoke inhalation, the techniques might never come to him as easily.
So he learnt to be dependable. If he wasn't cut out to be a solo frontline fighter, he would be a support fighter. He would become the best team and as long as he did not betray his nindo, then he couldn't be accused of trying too hard and failing.
He had learnt that the world did not like to see the people they failed. They did not like to see the starving orphans of the wars they started so they shut them in dingy orphanages. They didn't like to see the hungry thieves when they wasted food they couldn't finish so they jailed them for petty crimes. They didn't like to see broken shinobi after seeing more than they ought to have so they shunned them and threw them to the sidelines.
So he learnt to hide his shame, his hunger and his pain behind the mask he wore. It might not have been as obvious a mask as Kakashi's but it was good enough to hide behind. And when he tripped because he hadn't eaten the last day, he smiled at his 'clumsiness', when he was late because he had been too tired to get out of bed, he made up ridiculous excuses that made Minato sensei laugh and Kakashi spit vitriol at, and when he wanted nothing more than to cringe and cry at the cruel remarks people made in his earshot, he smiled as wide as he could and declared that he would be Hokage. Because if he did not show he was hurting inside, they wouldn't accuse him of lying about it.
The point remained that Obito had learnt a lot in his rather short life and he had learnt to accept the insensitivities of people towards him. He had accepted that he would most likely never be fully accepted or liked but he hadn't ever expected that to be true for others. As he stared in shock at his teammate who coolly declared that they would be abandoning Rin in favour of completing the mission, he felt his mask crack ever so slightly.
Even Kakashi had been shocked when he had spat at him in disgust and set off on his own to help Rin, but he hadn't cared. Even if people were cruel and foolish enough to not appreciate her, he did. And he wouldn't leave her alone like he had been.
Kakashi's assistance, while unexpected, had been immensely helpful and when he had finally awakened his Sharingan, he thought that for once, maybe the world was on his side. The three of them managed to reach a sort of shared understanding of near perfect teamwork and between them and his newly awakened Sharingan eyes, he felt as if he was ascending.
Kakashi's lightning chakra crackled through the enemy like a brutal whip, he followed up effortlessly with fire jutsus that for once did not burn him as they took out enemies and Rin's soothing earth chakra was steady as she watched their back. It was perfect and he couldn't help the giddy smiles he shared with his teammates as he thought, 'This is the team I wanted to defend. The one that will support me as well.'
Of course, it all chose that moment to go wrong.
He heard the low rumble of rock above him and Kakashi and knew, with heartbreaking surety, what he had to do. He barely had time to push the grey haired boy out of the path of the rockfall but that moment seemed longer than the entire fight. He met the other's solitary eye,again his fault, always his fault,and managed a weak smile. Kakashi's mouth opened under the mask and he looked simultaneously horrified and broken, like he expected Obito to leave him now that they had finally accepted each other.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered when he had become so good at reading his teammate.
Rin had her arm slightly outstretched, as if to help him but he knew that she wouldn't make it in time. He hoped she wouldn't hurt herself trying to heal him. He hoped Minato sensei would be there soon. He hoped Kakashi would not be blame himself. He hoped it wouldn't hurt. But most of all, he hoped that they had managed to look past his mask so that he would be able to die as the Obito he was and not the one they wanted him to be.
He smiled.
Just as the rock started to fall, at the last second before he was buried under the unforgiving stone, he heard a cry, nearly animalistic in its grief and thescreamed, "Kawarimi no Jutsu!"
Obito was pulled from what he had expected to be his tomb, across the clearing until he found himself just behind Kakashi and Rin, which made no sense, because he was sure he had seen light grey hair take his place under the rock that now stood like a macabre memorial of his near death experience.
"Kakashi?" He managed to get out through the pounding of his heart.
"OBITO!"
"Youidiot!"
There were arms suffocating him- no, hugging him- and he laughed weakly, the vaguely hysterical kind of amusement that comes from impossibilities coming true and he let his own hands come up to hug his teammates.
"You- I can't believe you! You can't just sacrifice yourself like that!" Kakashi was nearly crying and Obito couldn't help the surprise at seeing his stoic teammate so undone like that.
"Don't you dare-" Rin's voice broke as her chakra flew through his system looking for injuries to heal. "Ever, ever, ever try to do that again."
"Stop! Guys, ...someone-! There's someone else! It was a replacement technique! There's someone stuck under there!" Obito said but even as he did he was looking at Kakashi carefully.
The Hatake's eye just widened as he released him and turned to the cave in, no sign of duplicity in his expression whatsoever.
"Rin, check on the injured shinobi. Obito, we'll use a combination technique at the count of three." It was at times like this that Obito was grateful for Kakashi's no-nonsense mission mindset. He had almost completely forgotten the Iwa nin still surrounding them.
A brisk nod and-
"Katon-Gokakyou no Jutsu!"
"Fuuton- Daitoppa!"
The huge fireball, fanned by Kakashi's wind technique engulfed their enemies but the battle wasn't even close to complete, even more enemies seeming to crawl out of the woodwork.
"Oy Bakashi! Is Minato sensei coming soon?" Obito muttered, trying to catch his breath as they fell back.
"I hope so." He didn't mention that if reinforcements did not arrive, they most likely would not survive. He didn't mention that since their mission was essentially completed, they were not likely to be considered for urgent reinforcements either, and for once Obito was glad for it.
"There is a man under the rocks. I don't think he's dead but he's definitely injured. I can't get to him alone." Rin said, joining them.
"Konoha nin?"
"Not sure. Can't make out any defining features except well-" she paused, looking guiltily at Kakashi.
"What?"
"He has silver hair like yours."
Obito felt his blood run cold. It appeared that he hadn't imagined that after all and he couldn't help the brief flash of guilt at Kakashi's shock.
"That's impossible." The jounin said, "I'm the last living Hatake and we are the only ones in Fire Country with silver-"
"Duck!" Rin vaulted over the younger boy slicing the shinobi with glowing chakra scalpels.
"We'll discuss that later. Any ideas for this?" She said.
Before Obito could suggest anything, they were stopped short by the familiar sound of thousands of chirping birds. His mouth fell open.
"Chidori?" Kakashi whispered incredulously.
Obito remembered when Kakashi first brought up the idea of creating a new jutsu. It was, he suggested, a way to create a signature jutsu, one associated with him. He had inherited the white chakra of the Hatake clan and he wanted to create an assassination technique of sorts. It had taken several months but eventually Kakashi had presented the bare bones of his jutsu to Minati sensei but he hadn't been able to fix all the holes to safely use it in a battle.
The point was, however, that the Chidori was entirely original. Only Kakashi knew how to perform it.
Well, Kakashi and Obito's unknown savior, apparently.
The sound grew louder and even the Iwa nin seemed awestruck as a glowing white hand punched through the rock with a grating cry that made them wince. It was followed by the rest of the shinobi and for the first time, Obito got a good look at his savior.
He was slightly taller than him and dressed in slightly loose but extremely well armoured clothes. His arms were bare and littered with cuts and bruises but Obito could make out the slight marking of a tattoo. His hair was silver like Rin had said and spiky. The pale white ANBU mask in the pattern of a dog only added to the unbelievable picture.
While they couldn't see much of his face obscured by both the ANBU mask and a dark cloth one underneath, they could make out the single patch across one eye.
Simply put they were looking at a near perfect copy of their third teammate who was ...wrinkling his nose?
There was a flash of yellow and Minato sensei appeared beside them but Obito was too busy staring at the ANBU to acknowledge him.
"Does Konoha clone its ninja now?" One of the Iwa nin said incredulously.
"Shut up. It never helps when you talk." The ANBU whispered. He raised his hand to his face and for a second, Obito thought he was removing his mask but he merely pushed his eyepatch upwards. "Chidori."
Minato sensei made a sort of confused choking sound that Obito agreed with entirely.
His hand glowed with lightning once more and he rushed forward, striking quickly and efficiently. The Iwa nin, recognising him as the biggest threat obligingly surrounded him but he was much faster than them.
Before Team Seven's astonished eyes, he ducked under all their attacks, striking with measured strikes that hit only vital points in a horrifyingly beautiful dance.
It was too soon before it was done, Obito thought dazedly.
"Kakashi?" Minato sensei said quietly. "Can you smell him?"
"Pakkun would be better. I think I'm making a mistake." Kakashi said and the battle must have really changed him if he was willing to admit to a mistake in front of them.
"Just tell me anyway."
"Alone. Miserable. Injured. Pretty badly, I reckon. And- and... he smells like pack." Kakashi hesitated.
"A Hatake?"
"Yes. But closer than that. He smells..." His voice dropped. "He smells close enough to be family. Like...him."
Obito didn't know who 'him' was but apparently Minato sensei did because he dropped a hand on Kakashi's shoulder to ground him, looking worried.
"Why are you still here?" The ANBU said suddenly. His eyepatch was back across his eye but his ANBU mask was hanging from his belt. There were thick swathes of blood across his hair and forehead that seemed quite alarming to Obito. "What are you waiting for?"
"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" Minato sensei said carefully.
"What?"
"Why shouldn't we be here?" He pressed.
"This is a dream. For once, a good dream, but it's still a dream." The shinobi said, looking sadly at them.
"A dream?" Minato sensei echoed, startled.
"I managed to actually do something for the first time." He looked so incredibly pained that Obito had to look away from his expression. He did not want to know what the other had lost to have to look like that. "It was ...nice."
Surprisingly gentle, Minato sensei spoke softly. "Please state your name, allegiance, rank, registration number and age. Then recall the last date you remember clearly."
"I'm not disconcerted." The shinobi said petulantly.
"That's fine. Just answer the question, please."
He sighed heavily. "Hatake Kakashi, Konoha nin. I was a jounin, ANBU as you can see, registration number 009720. I'm sixteen years. Yesterday's date was 4th March, 65 years after Konoha's founding."
There was complete and utter silence broken surprisingly by Rin's voice.
"What the fuck."
Kakashi made a sort of choking sound beside him and fair enough, because Obito completely agreed with Rin's statement.
Perhaps predictably, he exploded. "How the hell did Bakakashi manage to discover time travel!?"
Kakashi's fist landed solidly on his head and he scowled angrily as he rubbed the stinging pain. Beside him Rin facepalmed at their ridiculous antics but he was more interested in the ANBU's reaction.
His one good eye welled up with tears and he gazed at them like they were an oasis in the desert. Desperately hungry but so, so hesitant as if he didn't even deserve to look at them. Obito felt guilty and oddly self conscious.
Minato sensei must have also seen the brokenness of their new acquaintance, his own guilt at letting presumably, Kakashi become like this showing in his face. "Look, we need to discuss some things, I think. There's a cave-"
The suggestion was met with a derisive snort. "No thank you Minat-" his voice broke around the name, and he winced, his emotions blanking unnaturally. "No thanks. I'm going to take a nap over here and maybe when I wake up, I will find that I managed to get at least three hours of sleep tonight."
Okay, older or not, Kakashi was just as annoying as usual. "Oy idiot! What the heck are you playing at? This is not a dream!" Obito yelled, glaring at the taller boy.
"Aren't you not supposed to be able to feel pain in a dream? You're still limping." Rin interjected hesitantly still gazing at him in wonder.
"No can do. I've felt enough and more pain in dreams." He was very obviously not looking at her as he spoke and Obito wondered at the change from his earlier obsessive staring.
"We need to talk, even if you don't believe it's real. It's important. You are an unknown and while I understand your circumstances-" Minato sensei began.
"It's not real. It's can't be real." He really looked terrible, with the blood beading his forehead. Even his eye was bloodshot. "Please don't give me hope that this might be real. It's finally a good dream and I don't want to ruin that with hope. I'm begging you.Please."
"Count their fingers."
It takes Obito a second to realise Kakashi was the one who had spoken.
"They never have ten fingers in dreams." He sounded irritated but also like he had realised something terrible that he didn't want to dwell on. With a muttered curse, he grabbed Obito's hand and showed his fingers. "See, ten fingers."
He repeated the action with Rin and Minato sensei. "It's not a dream." He muttered angrily. "It's not a dream. You- I apparently, travelled in time."
There was a thud and Obito thought that the other boy had fainted but he had just fallen to his knees. His head was bowed and his shoulder shook with great, gasping and completely silent sobs.
He wept like a child and why not? He was a child, Obito realised. He had been blinded by the fighting prowess but he had said that he was only sixteen years, barely a few months older than himself. He had sworn not to be like the other people who couldn't see past their prejudices but here he was, deciding that despite the obvious scars, Kakashi was just as stuck up as he had always seemed. He had promised not to look away from the people no one could look at but here he was, averting his gaze from the crying boy in front of him because it was out of his comfort zone.
There were tears in his own eyes and he found himself kneeling beside the time traveller, ignoring Minato sensei's half hearted attempt to stop him. "I'm so sorry." He didn't know what he was apologising for. For ignoring the promises he made to himself? For forcing the realisation on him? For not being there to stop whatever horrific thing had broken the boy so thoroughly? He didn't know but an apology was a good place to start healing whatever had happened.
"You're okay", Rin said, on his other side. "I'm going to run a diagnostic jutsu now, okay."
Obito almost laughed at the typical Rin response. Her first impulse was to try and heal anyone and he wondered how long she had been itching to check the injured shinobi. A shudder of what might have been laughter ran through the ANBU but he didn't do anything to stop the glowing green hand that was placed gently on his shoulder.
"Broken ribs and a broken left arm and cracked femur from the rockfall, I'm guessing. Cuts and abrasions. Short term malnutrition, maybe the last year or so?" Obito caught the flinch at that and wondered at the reason. "Chakra exhaustion, from the battle. I didn't know the Chidori was so draining. Were you fighting before you came here?" She didn't wait for a reply but continued, with a slight frown. "Your eye is inflamed."
She reached up to remove his eyepatch but the next second, he is standing five feet away, adjusting it more securely.
"Your eye-" Rin began.
"Not my eye," he muttered inexplicably.
"We'll be talking about that as well." Minato sensei said firmly. "There is a cave ahead where we'll build camp. You'll come with us Kaka-"
He was interrupted by a violent flinch from the ANBU. "Don't- don't call me that. You can use Inu for now." He indicated the mask at his hip.
"Inu, then." The jounin sensei's voice grew hard even as he winced at the reminder that the teenager was a part of the Black ops. "Presumably you'll also explain why you have a Sharingan."
Obito's blood turned to ice.
"What." he managed, through numb lips. He turned to Kakashi in horrified shock. He wouldn't have. He couldn't have. They were teammates, for God's sake!
Kakashi, thankfully looked just as horrified. "I would never steal a Sharingan! I swear!"
"I didn't steal it." Inu interrupted. "D'you honestly think Konoha would let me be a loyal shinobi if I had stolen it?"
"You're not even wearing the hitai-ate. How do we know you're loyal?" Obito replied, still reeling from the realisation. "You could be a nuke nin for all we know!"
"ANBU don't wear hitai-ate on missions, Obito." Rin replied before Inu could. "But there are other ways of checking their loyalty that Minato sensei must have done." She turned questioningly to their teacher.
"He's loyal. But there are some things we need to know. Come on."
They made their way to the cave without any fanfare. The only strange occurence being Rin insisting on going between Inu and Minato sensei. Her timid steps and slightly faster breathing made Obito want to kick himself. She had just been kidnapped and held captive in a cave. Obviously she would be panicked at the idea of going into another.
Before he could do anything however, he saw Inu bend down and whisper something in her ear that seemed to make her relax slightly before letting out a weak chuckle and punching him in the shoulder.
Obito sighed in relief. Apparently Kakashi managed to discover a heart in the future. He saw Minato sensei surreptitiously glance back at them with a sad smile. It was a pity that this was the price it took.
Rin wanted to try and heal the broken bones before they spoke and Minato sensei agreed, sending the two boys to collect firewood and set up camp while he supervised. Obito was a bit disgruntled but at Kakashi's quiet acquiescence, he agreed with bad grace.
The Hatake was oddly quiet the whole time and quite ill at ease even as he performed the familiar tasks, dropping twigs as they walked back and Obito was, although he would never admit it, worried about the younger boy. It took him a while before he realised the reason behind Kakashi's uncharacteristic clumsiness as he tried to account for distances he couldn't quite make out with only one eye. Finally after he tripped on a perfectly visible root, he couldn't stay silent any longer.
"Is your eye okay?"
Kakashi flinched violently and glared at him defensively. "I told you I didn't take that damned Doujutsu-"
"I meant your injury, Bakashi." Obito yelled back, annoyed at the remembrance, all trace of geniality gone.
"Oh." He looked embarrassed. "I thought- Well, there's no chance of saving it, according to Rin. She stopped the bleeding but she couldn't do anything else for it. I suppose I will just have to learn to fight with the handicap." He shrugged.
"I'm sorry. You were helping me and-"
"Shut up, deadlast. I wanted to save you. It's not your fault." Kakashi said dismissively.
Obito's fists clenched. "But still if I hadn't-"
"Besides, those who abandon their teammates are trash, aren't they?" Kakashi was looking resolutely away from him but Obito could hear the unasked question in the words, the vulnerability he was showing and swallowed his protests.
"Yeah. And", he swallowed, "It'll be fine. I'll help you train with- without your eye."
"Whatever deadlast, you still can't beat me." Kakashi said and Obito grinned at the faux annoyed tone.
"Think that's where Inu lost his eye?" The Uchiha said after a few minutes of silence and Kakashi stiffened again.
"I don't know. Probably." His tone was coolly dismissive and this time Obito didn't push the issue. There was something Kakashi had realised about his older self that had unbalanced the normally calm jounin.
They entered the cave and set their load down, Obito coaxing the little bundle into a fire with a Katon jutsu.
"Just so you know." He said to Kakashi before they joined the others. "I believe you. I know you wouldn't steal an eye. There's something else going on here."
"That 'something else' is what I'm worried about." Kakashi replied darkly before striding forward and sitting beside Minato sensei. He was sitting, Obito noticed, as far away from his future self as he could.
"Let the interrogation begin then, ne?" Inu said, his visible eye folding in an insincere smile.
"When did Obito die?" Kakashi asked bluntly and Minato sensei blanched while Rin gasped.
"I wasn't very tactful at that age, was I?" He tutted disapprovingly.
"I'm not an idiot. I lost an eye today, Obito activated his Sharingan and had a near death experience. One you saved him from. I don't know any other Uchiha." Kakashi shifted uneasily, his voice dropping. "Is there anything else I need to save him from or did you change it?"
"I'll have you know Uchiha Shisui is a very good friend of mine." Inu said with a theatrical pout.
"My cousin?" Obito asked inspite of himself.
"Answer the fucking question!"
The shock of Kakashi's swearing made even Minato sensei startle but Inu just stared at his younger self, an unreadable look in his visible eye.
"I changed it." He said quietly. "He would have died today under those rocks and given you his eye as a present for your jounin promotion."
Obito blanched. That was dark, even for him.
Rin's grip on his hand was starting to hurt but he didn't say anything. Kakashi was looking anywhere but him but Obito could see the minute tremble to his hands while Minato sensei was looking at him as if he was going to disappear.
"Wha-what about the rest of us?" Rin asked shakily.
"What do you think?" Inu said nonchalantly. "There's no way any of you would have let me into ANBU."
"Stop joking around! Don't you even care? What kind of shinobi are you?" Kakashi said angrily.
It was a very Kakashi dialogue, one that Obito had heard probably a hundred times but Inu straightened out of his slouch, and the faintest hint of Killing Intent filled the air.
"Nakamagoroshi Kakashi." He said, softly but with an edge that sent chills running down Obito's spine. It was a disgusting name, a horrible moniker. He didn't want to know what had happened for anyone to have earned such a terrible title.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
"Comrade murderer. Friend Killer Kakashi." The pale grey eye was boring into his younger self's face, forcing him to bare himself to the part of him he couldn't hide from. "That's what they called me. When they saw me returning with the eye of my dead teammate in my skull."
Obito winced.
Inu wasn't done. "When Rin commited suicide by throwing herself on my Chidori."
Rin's hands came up to cover her mouth and Obito felt his mouth go dry. It wasn't pleasant hearing about his own death but Rin's death was so much worse.
But Inu still continued. "When Minato sensei and Kushina nee chan were killed by the Kyuubi while I was supposed to be on guard."
Minato sensei let out a pained groan but knowing him it was probably because of Kushina san and not his own death. Kakashi was motionless, just staring at his future self in horror but Inu didn't seem to care and continued mercilessly.
"Congratulations, Kakashi kun. You wanted to be different from 'him'? You're as different as they get. He saved his comrades, you killed them." His words were softly spoken but so filled with venom that it made Kakashi flinch violently.
He was crying, Obito noticed distantly, silent tears running down his cheeks, and that shook him from his stupor.
"Oy! Leave Kakashi alone!"
It was absurd to yell at a future version of his teammate for hurting a present version of the same teammate but Obito didn't really care. All he could think of was how Kakashi had repeated his own words to him with the tentative hope that he hadn't let his team down. How he had looked, blood oozing from his eye as he defended Obito. How he had done his best to be a teammate they could depend on.
He put his arm around Kakashi's shoulder turning him away from the ANBU. He could feel the soft sobs wracking his slim shoulders and felt his anger grow.
"Just because you were a horrible person doesn't mean Kakashi is. He's already a better teammate than you probably were. At least he's learning from his mistakes." Obito spat at the older boy.
"He would have let Rin die! Let you die! Why are you defending him?" Inu said incredulously.
"He hasn't done anything yet! Besides he still came to save her anddidsave me! He's my teammate. And if I abandon my teammate-"
"-then you would be worse than trash." Inu finished softly, looking pained.
"You remembered it." The Uchiha said in surprise.
"I never forgot it." He confirmed. He averted his eyes from his former teammate, something very much like desolation bleeding through the anger. "It was my nindo, my ninja way. After- after you guys, I never lost a teammate ever again. I made sure that they survived any and all missions we were sent on. Even ANBU missions."
"Oh." Obito was at a loss as to what he could say to that. He hadn't expected his words to have such a profound impact on his teammate that he would remember it years down the line. It was humbling, to hear that this Kakashi, older and far more careworn, had held his words as gospel and upheld them for so long.
Minato sensei stood up suddenly and wrapped his arms around Inu, who flinched violently at the contact.
"That's why you fight like that." He muttered sadly. His voice may have been quiet but in the silence they could hear it all to clearly. "Inu,Kakashi. Obito did not mean you save your teammates by sacrificingyourself."
"I don't. I-"
"You replaced Obito with your own body despite knowing he di-died in that rockfall." Rin cut in, looking fierce despite her stutter.
"The ANBU uniform is more armoured. I would have been fine. Iwasfine!" Inu said equally fiercely.
"I ran that diagnostic jutsu! I know what life threatening chakra exhaustion looks like! The Sharingan is ridiculously chakra draining on a non Uchiha!"
"It doesn't matter. I would not have let any of you die again. Not on this godforsaken mission." The masked shinobi said over his teacher's shoulder.
"That's what I'm talking about." Minato sensei said looking pained. "You may be older but you're only sixteen years old, Kakashi. ANBU itself has a life expectancy of barely a year. It's not a place fit for a teenager, especially not one without a stable support system. You fight like a shinobi sent on a suicide mission. You said that you barely get three hours of sleep in a night and Rin said that you are malnourished. Please believe me, it isn't healthy." He didn't loosen his grip on the teenager, rubbing slow circles on the tensed shoulders.
"I deserved it."
The whispered words sounded so damning in the silence and the younger Kakashi flinched beside Obito.
"You don't." Obito didn't even recognise his own voice, it sounded so furious. He didn't know how to convince the other but he sure as hell would find a way to. "There is not one single thing that you did that would deserve you attempting to kill yourself slowly."
The ANBU opened his mouth to refute the claim but Obito continued on relentlessly. "If my death went exactly as it would have today, then it isn't your fault. You came with me to help Rin, heck you lost your eye defending my useless back! You worked with us together as a team.Ichose to save you by pushing you out of the rockfall. That wasn't your fault."
He had everyone's attention but he ignored them all, staring directly at the slight form of his friend. He was ridiculously skinny, maybe even thinner than his younger self. "I don't know the reasons behind Rin's death, but you said that she threw herself on your technique. I know Rin well enough to know that there is more to the story than just that but even then youdid not kill her."
"As for Minato sensei and Kushina san, if Konoha expects you to defeat the fuckingKyuubi, then I think I'm moving to Kiri. And you!" He turned to the younger Kakashi, who was staring at him with a single widened eye. "Don't you dare begin to feel guilty over things that haven't even happened yet. I can't give you this lecture again." He finished with a deadly glare and apparently his Sharingan had activated at some point during his speech because he had to cut the chakra flow to his eyes before looking away.
There was complete silence. Then,
"You should move to Suna."
"What?"
"Kiri has a bloodline purge going on right now. You should move to Suna." Inu's voice was hoarse and he sounded near tears but he managed an eye smile that seemed far more genuine than his saccharine sweet ones earlier.
"You're insane." Kakashi said, disguising his choked up tone far better. He shook his head slightly. "Apparently I go insane in the future."
Obito let out a surprised snicker that eventually devolved into a full on belly laugh. He was joined by Rin's watery giggles and Kakashi's faux annoyed snort. Even Minato sensei was chuckling and underneath the mask, he could see the bewildered grin that stretched the older Kakashi's lips.
Maybe some people were fickle and didn't look beyond his clan. But he had found the ones who wanted Obito before Uchiha and in turn he was willing to look beyond their first impressions.
Maybe some people were luckier than others. But they were not always perfect. It just meant looking underneath the underneath. He would just have to look beneath the masks, both figuratively and literally, and the right ones would be willing to do the same for him.
Maybe the world did not like to see the ones they had wronged. But that didn't mean they did not exist. He could still find them and join them. He could still be the one to accept them, he knew better than most what having even one supporter meant.
After all, broken soldiers didn't fight alone.