Chapter 3
"B-b-but that's...that's impossible! You were there too, we both saw him die Kakashi!" I exclaimed as my blood ran cold. I'll admit, part of me was so excited that I could cry. But the other part of me was skeptical and I couldn't allow myself to get my hopes up. Kakashi froze and then slowly turned to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, shaking me lightly, yet sternly.
"Rin! Whether you believe he's not truly Obito or not doesn't matter right now. Just what were you trying to pull, huh? Tell me Rin! Because it looked a lot like you were trying to intercept my chidori! Don't you know I would have killed you just then? Are you on some kind of self-proclaimed suicide mission?" Kakashi lectured me and I refused to meet his gaze while I took a second to collect my thoughts. He was so furious with me. I'd never seen him like that before. Not like this. His entire body was shaking and the color had drained from his face. He looked like he had just seen a ghost. Which I guess was understandable, given the circumstances.
"I...I'm sorry Kakashi...but it's the only way." I stated, looking up into his eye. Kakashi's one visible eye grew wide with terror. I had never seen that look on his face before. Not since Obito's supposed death. Kakashi paused for a moment and then pulled me into a warm embrace, which felt nice considering I was soaked from the cold rain. "K-Kakashi?" I whispered.
"We'll find another way Rin! I know Sensei can help seal Isobu and someone in the village can counsel you on how to control his power. There is ALWAYS another way Rin!" he exclaimed, pulling back to look me in the eyes again, holding onto my shoulders at arm's length. "Suicide is NEVER the answer! Not unless the orders come directly from the hokage himself. Do you know how messed up making me kill you would have made me?! Were you trying to leave me all alone?!" he bellowed and I couldn't help the oncoming breakdown I was going into. Hearing Kakashi say all of these things out loud really made me realize how selfish my heroic self-proclaimed suicide would have truly been. I would have saved the village from total annihilation for now, but I could have just plunged Kakashi down a dark path.
"I'm...I'm so-so sorry Ka-kah-shi!" I practically shouted in a hysterical matter through intermittent sobs. He placed an open palm on top of my head and he smiled in the only way that Kakashi could. With a happy eye close and utter silence.
"Come on, Rin. Let's take Obito home." Kakashi stated and I nodded, wiping my tears with my sleeve. Not that it mattered because I was completely soaked anyway. I was just so scared. I had never felt so much fear than in that moment. The entire journey home, I couldn't help but to be afraid of returning home. The thought that something going wrong and that I would hurt someone or still end up destroying the village. I was terrified that this boy Kakashi was carrying on his back wasn't really Obito. But if that was the case, why would he save my life? The only logical explanation was that he was engineered by the enemy to make sure I made it back to the Leaf so I could set Isobu free and destroy the village. And that thought scared me most of all.
"Rin...It's going to be okay." Kakashi spoke up finally after hours of travel back to the village. I stopped in my tracks and just stared at him. Kakashi came to a halt as well and raised an eyebrow at me in question.
"How do you know that Kakashi? I'm a ticking time bomb! I shouldn't be going back to the village at all." I explained as I approached him and took his hand after signing for my medical ninjutsu in order to heal his wounds. He had been injured during that last battle with the enemy. Actually, I'm pretty sure he busted his knuckles open on Obito's face.
"Then...Alright. You wait here with Obito while I go get Sensei and anyone who can aid in helping to seal and control the three tails." he stated, setting Obito's body down next to a small boulder under a canopy tree. I clammed up as soon as he said that and it was like a rock dropped in my stomach. He was going to leave me alone...with Obito? The boy I loved for so long but thought was dead for 2 years? And now I'm possessed by a demon that wants to destroy everything. Fate had a funny way of kicking me in the ass.
"W-wait a minute! You um...you want me to wait here, alone….with Obito? What if he wakes up?" I questioned, suddenly feeling incredibly nervous. Kakashi placed a hand on top of my head again and smiled with his one visible eye once more. You know, the Kakashi grin.
"Don't worry. If he wakes up, just treat his wounds and talk to him. He's still Obito. Maybe you should think about telling him all of those things you thought you would never get the chance to." he stated before taking off through the upper branches of the trees. Suddenly I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. What the hell did he mean by that? "And try to find out where the hell he's been for the past two years! Whatever you do, don't let him leave!" Kakashi called out as he disappeared into the camouflaged treeline.
After Kakashi had left, I felt like I was in a daze. I made my way over to sit on the boulder that Obito had been lain down next to. I found myself staring at the boy next to me, watching his chest rise and fall with every breath he took. I wasn't really sure if this guy was Obito or not, but Kakashi had brought up a damn good question. If Obito had survived that rock slide, where the hell had he been for the past two years? What had he been doing that was so important that he couldn't return to the Leaf Village. Granted, the possibility of Obito having survived such horrible injuries are slim to none. Less than ten percent, in fact. He would've had to of had someone of great skill to replace or repair all of his damaged organs in order to be alive right now. Either that or it was a modern day miracle.
As I stared at the Obito in front of me, I couldn't help but to notice how much he had grown since that day. He had to be taller than both Kakashi and I by now. And even though the right side of his face was disfigured, Obito had grown into quite the looker. Not that he wasn't before. I had been crushing on Obito since we were little. But now that we were older, I was experiencing new feelings that I never thought were possible. Especially considering the circumstances, Obito's level of attraction was the last thing that I should have been thinking about. But I just couldn't help but to notice that as he laid there unconscious, older Obito was pretty hot.
About an hour or so passed and Kakashi returned with Minato Sensei and Inoichi Yamanaka. I stood up as they approached us and Sensei turned his attention to me, proceeding to give me a once over to make sure I wasn't injured. Inoichi knelt down next to Obito and proceeded to use his mind transference jutsu just long enough to decipher if who we had brought back with us really was Obito. This was it, the moment of truth. I was about to find out if this was truly Obito or just an imposter. Up until now, I hadn't really felt much about Obito's return. It jarred me at first. But mostly I had felt numb, not allowing myself to get my hopes up. Even though, somewhere deep down my emotions were oozing with anticipation.
"Rin! Are you alright? You haven't been hurt have you?" Minato Sensei asked me, pulling me out of my daze. I shook my head in response as my eyes began to sting with a batch of fresh hot tears welling behind them.
"Sensei I...I can't go back to the Leaf! Not ever…" I told him, refocusing my attention on my Sensei. He just let out a sigh and placed a hand on my shoulder, bending down to be eye level with me. He gave me a small sympathetic smile.
"Kakashi already told me all about it. Rin...I admire your dedication and loyalty to the village. But taking the easy way out is not always the best solution." he replied in a serious tone.
"But I'll destroy the village!" I bellowed, the tears that had begun to well up in my eyes finally slipped down my cheeks as I cringed from the thought. "I'll could kill everyone!"
"You could have, yes Rin! That's true! However, sending Kakashi to retrieve help with this situation was the right call. Rin...you don't have to die to protect the village. Leave that to the adults. Okay? Just because every ninja must be prepared to sacrifice their lives to protect the village is the Will of Fire, doesn't mean you can't exhaust every other option before you decide to throw in the towel." he told me and I opened my eyes to look at him. "I don't think Kakashi and I could take losing another team member. Thank god Obito was-" he stopped himself and then glanced over at the boy lying on the ground as Inoichi continued to shuffle through his memories. Suddenly, Inoichi stood up and looked over in our direction.
"Well...From what I can tell, these memories certainly belong to Obito Uchiha...But Minato...there is much to report about his life after his near death experience. We need to get him back to the Leaf in order for me to extract more information." Inoichi stated, hovering above Obito's body as he scooped him up and threw him over his shoulder and began walking in the direction of the village. "Hurry up and seal that one! We must extract this boy's memories before he wakes up." he added as he disappeared behind the distant treeline.
"Right. We're right behind you Inoichi!" Minato Sensei called out before turning to Kakashi who had been standing idly nearby. "Kakashi. Can you hold Rin down while I perform the sealing?" he asked him and Kakashi nodded, making his way over to me. "Rin. I'm sorry about this but I'm going to have restrain you. Kakashi is going to tie you up against that training stub over there nice and snug. Then he's going to put you into a meditative state with his sharingan. And Rin...this sealing is going to hurt. It's not a strong seal, but it will hold until we can put a stronger one on you once we get back to the village. I'm going to need a lot more chakara to completely seal a tailed beast. Whoever bestowed Isobu upon you initially set the seal to break easily upon command. I can do a basic sealing for now, but I will need help strengthening it further. " Sensei explained.
I swallowed hard in response, fear suddenly piercing through my heart. Kakashi's sharingan had a way of giving it's prisoners a false sense of time. On the outside world, it could only be mere minutes. Whereas inside the sharingan, it could feel like weeks. At this point, I was really wishing Obito hadn't interfered with my suicide mission. Kakashi took my hand and led me over to the empty stump in the clearing where many ninja of the Leaf came to train in confidence. He followed Sensei's instructions and tied me up rather tightly.
"Rin. I'm going to cast the sealing now. Just relax and allow Kakashi to suck you into his sharingan. You'll be under his sharingan's control for a while Rin. But don't worry too much. Once the temporary seal is complete, Kakashi can control what you see. However, once we reach the village, we'll have to officially seal Isobu properly. Which means that you'll have to endure some excruciating pain for a second time, but more intensely. You won't be tortured or anything like that in between though. So just try to relax and stay positive. Your reward when you wake up will be that you'll get to talk to Obito. So just try to hang in there. You're a good girl Rin." Minato Sensei explained, placing a hand on top of my head. Why was everyone doing that? Did they see me as some kind of kid?
"Rin...It's time." Kakashi stated, making his way over and placing a hand on my shoulder. "It's all going to be okay. When you wake up, we can be a team again. With all of us." he added, with a genuine smile in his eye.
"R-right." I replied, my hands beginning to shake. I was okay with ending my life several hours ago, but I had never been so scared in my life. I had no idea what being a jinchuriki meant. How was I supposed to live with this beast inside of me for the rest of my life? "But wait! Minato Sensei, isn't there a way to extract the tailed beast out of me? I have no idea how to be a jinchuriki!" I bellowed as I attempted to bargain for my own fate.
"If there was a way to do so without endangering your life or those around you I would say absolutely. But the unfortunate truth of the matter is that if we did such a thing you would not survive the process Rin. Every Jinchuuriki who has ever had their tailed beast extracted has died. Rin, I'm sorry. But this is just a burden and great responsibility that you're going to have learn to live with for the entirety of your lifespan." I swallowed hard and nodded in response. This was just great! I had to live the rest of my life as a freak!
"I...I see." I stated, my voice shaky. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. "Okay Kakashi...I'm not ready. But let's do this!" I exclaimed, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him over to the stump where I was to be restrained. If this was the price I had to pay to get Obito back, I would gladly pay it. I suppose I should have counted myself luck seeing as I didn't have to pay for it with my life. As much as I had wished for it to all just be over, I would follow Obito wherever he went. I was willing to follow him into the afterlife, I would be willing to follow him back into the mortal world too. Of course I know I never actually died or anything, thanks to Obito. But I would have gone through with it. I could have finally been at peace together with the one I loved, or so I thought. But since the circumstances had changed, I would be damned if I gave up now.
Kakashi tied me up snuggly so that I could barely move an inch. I looked up at him with a new determination. I was going back to the Leaf village and I was going to give Obito a piece of my mind for leaving me the way he did. I was also going to demand that he tell us where the hell he's been for two and half years! What was he doing? Why the hell didn't he come back? I had so many questions for him and I would be damned if I didn't live through this jinchuriki thing to get the answers I deserved.
"Rin...whatever happens in there...survive. For Obito." Kakashi stated as he positioned himself in front of me and placed both hands on my shoulders. Suddenly, a single tear slipped down my cheek as I smiled back at my comrade.
"For Obito." I repeated back to him before Kakashi's eye began to glow red with the burning intensity of the Uchiha sharingan.