Chapter Twenty-Two
Minato stared out the kitchen window, beyond his reflection and into the growing darkness outside. The afternoon snow was picking up wind, whipping itself into an outright storm.
"…to."
He was glad he had made it home from his latest mission before the weather had turned foul. But his thoughts were weighed with concern for his two students. For them, there would be no reprieve from this blizzard and the freezing temperatures it would bring.
"…Minato!"
He looked over his shoulder, though half his mind still lingered outside. The sight of his wife was a reassuring warmth in his heart, even if he had no idea why she was shouting at him and flailing her hand at something behind him.
"Minato! The pan's on fire!"
He blinked and followed the direction of her finger. A small bonfire was dancing on the stove, using two pieces of fish filets and a generous coating of oil as fuel. The sight was more than enough to snap him out of his reverie.
"Shit!"
He dumped the pan into the sink and turned on the tap, only to yelp and jump back as the water made the oil explode with a loud crackle.
Kushina huffed. She brought her hands together to erect a seal over the sink, draining it of air and effectively dousing the flames. Minato eyed the charred remains of what would have been their dinner and grimaced.
"Sorry."
His wife didn't say anything for a moment, which was frightening in itself, but she took his hand instead, and her gentle touch told him she wasn't mad. Minato glanced down and found several angry splotches where the oil had hit, scattered among countless other scars and callouses marking his rough skin.
"I'm fine," he murmured.
"I know. Hold still."
A pale green light flared at her fingertips. It disappeared nearly as quickly as it had come alive, making Minato raise a brow.
"Are you trying to heal me?" Despite his pensive mood, the corners of his lips quirked in amusement.
"Don't you dare say I can't," Kushina growled. Chakra sparked again, far too intensely for any sort of healing technique, and they both jumped back from the jolt it sent up their arms. "I'm so sorry!"
Minato burst out laughing and shook his hand. "If any of our children have terrible chakra control, we'll know who they took after."
Kushina scowled. "And if any of them don't know when to keep quiet, I'm blaming you!"
That made him laugh even harder. Kushina maintained her indignance for a moment longer, before concern returned to her eyes, sobering Minato. Taking a breath, he reached out and curled his fingers around her hand, enjoying the cool touch of her skin as he led them to the table and sat down.
"I received interim reports on Kakashi and Obito's exams," he explained.
"How are they doing?"
"Not bad… I suppose. Under the circumstances."
In truth, he had been horrified at what he had read in the two scrolls the ANBU operatives had given him that afternoon in the Hokage's office. He had known the examiners would go hard on his students but had never imagined they would take the tests to such extremes.
"What is it?" Kushina asked and he realized how hard he was squeezing her hand. He loosened his grip, but she tightened hers in return, insistent.
So Minato told her what he had heard about Kakashi's trials thus far. The meeting had in part been set with the objective to brief Sandaime on the mission to assassinate the leaders of the insurgent group known only as Kokoro. Kakashi's information had been an added supplement and the ANBU assessment team made it clear that they were impressed with what he had extracted from the targets.
Minato, however, found it odd that Kakashi had taken the risk to engage the targets in the first place. If it hadn't been an order, the reason for the encounter was strangely absent. It made him wonder what else his student – or the examiner – had left unsaid.
"They made him do an ANBU mission?" Kushina asked, the distaste clear in her expression. "Hunting traitors no less? Missions like that are given to the ANBU for a reason!"
"I know. But they have complete control over the Jounin exam. That's the condition. Nobody, not even the Hokage, has the right to interfere."
"Still…"
Minato shook his head. The report had described Kakashi maintaining a stable mental condition, but that meant nothing when ANBU standards were off the charts to begin with, coupled with the fact that Kakashi was frighteningly adept at hiding his emotions. He could only hope his student had found a steadfast belief in something that would pull him through the psychological trials. It was one of the only ways shinobi were able to keep their minds grounded under strains heavy enough to break a person.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" Kushina asked, quieter now.
"I think so," Minato replied, giving voice to his gut feeling.
"What about Obito?"
He hesitated and then admitted, "I don't know. I'm more worried about him. They're trying to force his Sharingan to evolve."
"Is that even possible?"
Minato nodded. "He's been fighting almost nonstop since the exam began. Even with the soldier's pill, he should be far beyond his physical limits by now. That's when they start messing with his mind."
All the tasks given to Obito – learning new techniques, flushing out hidden enemies, navigating the large expanses of land, and even being tested under illusions – had been nothing more than a foil to deplete his stamina and focus. They merely paved the way to the trial his student was now facing, of a nature so controversial on multiple levels that both Minato and Sandaime had spoken out in protest during the meeting. Not that it had amounted to anything.
"They're using Obito's kindness against him," Minato said. "They know it's his biggest strength, as well as his biggest weakness."
Kushina tilted her head in thought. "I've never thought of kindness as a weakness. Neither do you."
"I think it's one of his best traits." Rare and valuable among shinobi these days. "But his heart and mind are in two different places. If he could, Obito's the type of person who wants to save everyone, regardless of war or borders or politics. That's what his heart wants. But in his mind…"
"He knows it's unrealistic?" Kushina finished. "Even dangerous."
Minato gave a nod. He had tried to guide Obito in the months following Midori's death, but he knew that words alone weren't enough to reconcile that sort of fissure.
Obito, by nature, was a boy who followed his heart. But he wasn't dumb, and the world was too good at stripping children of their unconditional kindness. It made Minato wonder what might have been if things were different. If Obito hadn't been fighting on the frontlines from such a young age – if he hadn't been so talented as a shinobi – would he have been a little more honest with his feelings? Could he have avoided being trapped between logic, duty and his inherent compassion?
More than anything, had Minato been wrong to nurture that kindness, knowing it could someday hurt him?
He was pulled from his thoughts when Kushina wrapped her other hand around his and brought her face close to his, so their noses were almost touching.
"There's no point for you to be doubting yourself," she said firmly. "Now tell me, what are they doing?"
Minato sighed. "You know about the POWs held by the Intelligence Division, right?"
Kushina's eyes widened in surprise, then her expression grew dark and she gave a slow nod as Minato began to explain.
.-.-.-.
Half a day earlier, Obito stood staring at four newly arrived ANBU, each leading a shinobi bound with chakra handcuffs.
He was still trying to calm his racing heart, his breaths materializing as thick billows of vapor in the air. In his hand was a scroll – the prize for which he had been chasing Ryo since the crack of dawn. He hadn't even had time to feel pleased with himself before his sadist of an examiner had announced the next mission.
"Can't you give me a…" The griping words trailed into silence when he saw the prisoners.
He recognized them instantly for what they were. There was no mistaking their crumpled clothes and unkempt appearances. One looked nothing short of a fur ball with a mass of tangled hair and overgrown beard hanging from his haggard face. Another was only saved from the same fate by his bald head, which was dressed instead with stained bandages and half-healed scars.
A third was gagged and blindfolded. The fourth almost looked clean by comparison, but the muscles on his face twitched endlessly and the terror-stricken look in his eyes belonged to one who had been driven over the edge of sanity. None of them were armed and nothing on their clothes indicated their allegiance.
Obito turned to Ryo. "Where are they from?"
The owl mask angled marginally to look down on him. "We're never given enough information. Learn to ask the questions that matter."
"What do you want me to do with them?" Obito asked through tight lips.
Ryo crossed his arms and regarded the prisoners standing several feet away. "They're no more use to Intelligence. We're to execute them."
Obito groaned loudly, feigning exasperation to hide the horror creeping into his mind. "I thought this was the Jounin exam, not a hangman's exam."
"We don't hang people in Konoha."
"It was a figure of speech," Obito grumbled. "So, what? You want me to slit their throats?" The thought of killing helpless people made him feel sick.
"No. Prisoners or not, shinobi have the right to die fighting."
"So what are they doing here?"
Ryo didn't reply. He gave a nod and the agent wearing a deer mask tossed four pouches, heavy with weapons, into the snow at the prisoners' feet.
"The last one standing goes free."
Obito turned to his examiner in disbelief. "Don't tell me this is some sick entertainment you hold whenever you need to get rid of prisoners."
"Of course not. This is your test."
"Care to explain that?" He was almost spitting the words.
"Before he does," the Deer cut in, "I'm going to transfer control of the binding seals on these prisoners." He strode forward until he was standing in front of Obito. "Hold out your hands."
"Seals? Why?" Obito asked, nevertheless pocketing the scroll he had forgotten about and extending his hands.
"Because they'll likely try to kill you both and we have better things to do than sit around and babysit." The ANBU formed a short series of signs and then pressed his palm against Obito's, first the left, then the right. The faint form of a seal sank into his sink, disappearing almost as soon as the Deer withdrew his hand. "If they turn on you, use the standard body-bind technique and kill them."
Obito squinted his eyes and pressed his fingers into his forehead. "I thought they were going to kill each other?"
The Deer shrugged, repeating the process on Ryo's hands. "Ask this guy. Our job is to get rid of the prisoners. Whether that's done by us or you, with poison, beheading, or a battle royal isn't my problem."
"But he's letting one go," Obito pointed out.
"Lucky him." His task finished, the Deer looked between Obito and Ryo and said, "As long as they're gone and no longer a threat to Konoha, I don't care what you do. Just remember, there's only one way to neutralize a shinobi and that's to kill him. As long as they're alive, they're dangerous."
The words sounded like the crack of a whip in Obito's ear. They instantly cleared the fog that seemed to be sinking into his mind, conjuring instead the image of Iku with his one arm, killing Midori.
He clenched, then unclenched his hand. "I know."
"Good," the Deer said. "Ready?"
Obito's head snapped up. "Wait –"
He didn't. His hand rose, and the chakra cuffs fell away from the prisoners' arms. Several things happened in the next seconds. The four ANBU disappeared. The bearded prisoner dove for the weapons and immediately took off, while the bald one wasted no time forming seals. But his ninjutsu was stopped an instant before his hand hit the ground, forcefully restrained by Ryo's paralysis technique.
Obito followed suit a second later, catching the fleeing shinobi mid-air and causing him to crash into the snow. Belatedly, he became aware of the petrified prisoner hunched over in the snow, wailing quietly. The last shinobi was likewise rendered immobile, half his blindfold loose, one hand hooked around his gag while the other was reaching for the weapons.
"Typical," Ryo muttered with a shake of his head. "Give prisoners the freedom of movement and they'll attack without even asking what's going on."
"I'd like to know what's going on," Obito snapped, letting go of the breath he had unconsciously been holding. He looked from one prisoner to the next, making sure they posed no threat. His eyes fell lastly on the sobbing man and he frowned. "What in the world did they do to him?"
"His name is Ando." Ryo paused, as if in hesitation, before continuing. "He was caught two months ago working in a tea shop in Konoha. Turns out he was a spy from the Hidden Rock, so there was plenty of information they wanted out of him. No matter what it cost to extract them."
Obito blinked and stared at his examiner. He hadn't expected a response at all, much less an actual explanation. Ignoring his look of surprise, Ryo went on.
"The bald was one left for dead with heavy head injuries after the last border battle. He doesn't remember anything from the past few years except his name – Tomura – and the fact that he used to lead a Genin team."
"Which Village?"
"Hidden Cloud. Intelligence figured he was either lying or, if not, he would eventually regain his memories. But all he's done is give them trouble. He's sent four guards to the hospital and nearly escaped twice."
Obito regarded the shinobi in question, who was kneeling in the snow and glowering at them. There was plenty of fight still left in him. From an objective viewpoint, his actions during captivity were nothing less than admirable and it was reflected in the way Ryo spoke.
"The other two are Mists," his examiner continued. Indicating the blindfolded man, he said, "That one was discovered trailing one of our teams a few weeks ago. His name is Hinoki. The other one's called Dojima and –"
"Wait," Obito cut in, suspicion finally overriding curiosity at the way his examiner was giving him free information. After all, he had fought tooth and nail for the past few days just to extract simple words of confirmation or even a framework of the tasks he had been given. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because it's beneficial to know who you're going to be working with. The Deer gave me control of Tomura and Hinoki's seals. That makes Ando and Dojima your teammates."
"Wait – working with? Teammates? To do what?"
"The Deer's mission."
"What?" Obito scrunched his face, wondering whether he had suddenly lost half his brain cells or if he was more tired than he had thought. "Could you stop speaking in code?"
Ryo looked down at him, silent. Obito blinked his exhausted eyes and would have sworn time had stopped if the snow hadn't begun to fall thicker and heavier around them. At long last, he thought he heard a small intake of air behind the ANBU mask, but it was quickly disrupted by a nasal voice rising from the ground several feet away from them.
"Are you done whispering love to each other yet? It's getting a little cold down here."
Obito shifted to look at the shinobi – Dojima – half buried in the snow. One of his eyes cleared the white surface and it was glaring at them with clear resentment. Whether it reflected hatred toward Konoha in general, or for being left ignored was beyond Obito's ability to comprehend right now.
Ryo raised his voice to be heard by all four of the prisoners. "As I'm sure you've caught on, this is your execution. Three against three. One of you goes free. You know what that means."
"Three?" Dojima asked.
Ryo indicated himself and Obito. "We're the team leaders."
"What?" Obito didn't even have time to feel foolish before Dojima's voice rose again.
"I suppose we aren't allowed to just kill you and all go free?"
"You can try, but as you can see now, you're at a severe disadvantage."
"No kidding." The Mist snorted. "So you want us to kill the two on the other side first, then turn on our own 'teammate' next. Is that it?"
"More or less."
"Fine, let's go then. I'm cold."
"No, hold up," Obito cut in sharply, turning on Ryo. "This makes no sense! Why are we part of the teams? What does this have to do with me at all?"
Ryo was quiet for a moment. "At the beginning of the exam I asked you what you're fighting for. Do you remember what you said?"
Obito frowned in confusion. "To protect my comrades. What does that –"
"Yes, 'comrades.' That's about as vague as a word can get. Who do you mean by that? Your friends? All of Konoha's shinobi? What about traitors and missing-nin? Suppose we were to form an alliance with the Clouds tomorrow. Could you put aside everything they've stolen from us and protect them too?"
"Is that what this is about? Killing personal emotions?"
"That's for you to think about and decide."
"You could have tested that without forcing these people into a death match. We're more civil than that in Konoha."
Ryo huffed behind the mask. He was laughing. "Civil? That's the first thing that goes down the drain in war. You have two options: kill them all yourself or make them kill each other. Choose whichever you think is more 'civil.'"
Obito shook his head slowly. He wasn't understanding anything. Why was Ryo doing this? What was he testing? All throughout the exam, Ryo's motives had been obscure, but only thinly veiled. A test of stamina, a test of knowledge, a test of aptitude, a test of skills. But this?
This was plain and simple mindless killing.
Was that a qualification for being a Jounin? He thought of the Jounin he knew – Minato, Kushina, his family, other senior members of the Uchiha Clan – and clenched his jaw tight in conviction. No. That wasn't right.
"What if I refuse?" he asked.
"You'll fail."
That was a given. But was status something he wanted so badly he was willing to commit an act like this? The answer was clear.
"I –"
"I forgot to mention," Ryo cut in, "if you willingly withdraw yourself from this exam, Hatake Kakashi will automatically be failed."
"Why?! This is an individual exam!"
"So? I told you, we dictate the rules. Are you still going to finish that thought, now that you have another 'comrade' you need to worry about?"
"You dirty bastard," Obito ground out.
The ANBU laughed again. "Take your time. Think about it. We'll begin when you're ready."
With that, he created a Kage Bunshin and led his two prisoners away, disappearing from sight and beyond Obito's sensory range.
"Seriously, kid, I'm freezing."
Obito sighed and looked at Dojima. True to his words, his rigid limbs were trembling, and his lips were turning blue under the patch of beard.
"Are you a Chuunin or Jounin?"
"Jounin." His teeth chattered. "Why?"
"Shouldn't you know how to regulate body temperature?"
The Mist sputtered. "Are you retarded?! Your oh-so-perfect body-bind paralyzes my chakra too!"
Obito blinked. "Oh, right." The mass of preoccupying thoughts in his mind seemed to be taking its toll.
Dojima continued to rave and rant about kids and idiocy, and was only silenced when Obito raised his hand to signal his willingness to release the technique. A conditional willingness. All the preoccupations in the world couldn't lower his guard in a situation like this.
"What assurance can you give that you won't attack?"
"I wasn't going to anyway."
"Yeah, that's why you took off with those weapons."
"I wanted to shave this damn beard in peace and quiet! Pardon me, but I couldn't exactly see that happening near five ANBU and three prisoners hell bent on killing each other."
Obito studied the Mist for a moment and as bizarre as his attitude was, he felt convinced the prisoner wasn't lying. He released the paralysis and watched Dojima scramble up from the snow and stamp his feet in an effort to warm himself.
With half his attention still on the Mist, Obito glanced at Ando. The man had gone silent and was staring at Obito with wide, fretful eyes. His lips trembled, not out of cold, but something more akin to fear. Obito frowned and weighed his options. It was the first time anyone had shown him such outright terror before they had even fought. He was far more used to dealing with adults like Dojima who mocked and underestimated him.
He took a step in the Rock's direction.
"Don't hurt me! Please!"
Obito winced at the ear-splitting scream, all the more at the desperation that made Ando's voice break into a thin falsetto. Any lingering doubts that he was putting on an act promptly fell away and Obito approached the prisoner.
"Please, please! I've told you everything I know! I'll do anything! Please, just don't hurt me anymore!"
"I won't hurt you," Obito said, "if you do as I say. If you don't – if you even think about attacking me – I'll send you right back to the interrogation room."
"I won't! I swear. I'll listen. I'll do anything you say!"
"Good. I'm going to release you. You'll stand up slowly and wait until I give you further directions. Understand?"
"Yes, yes. Just don't hurt me."
Obito undid the paralysis and watched the Rock rise to his feet on shaking knees.
"So what now?" Dojima asked. He waded through the snow, the weapon's pouch dangling in one hand as he rigorously rubbed his arms. "Can we at least find some shelter so I can shave?"
"There's a cave close by," Obito said, remembering the rocky outcropping he had come across earlier. The snow made it impossible to judge direction, but he picked up on familiar landmarks and led them to it. It was a shallow structure, but the wide mouth guaranteed that he wouldn't get trapped inside if things deteriorated into a fight.
Obito looked around their surroundings but couldn't sense Ryo anywhere nearby. The snow wasn't letting up. Quite the opposite. If he guessed right, it was only mid-afternoon, but it was as dark as dusk and the wind was freezing. If it wasn't for Kakashi's help, he would have been a shivering mess.
Grumbling noisily about the cold, Dojima shook himself like a dog and flopped onto the ground, going right to work on his beard. Ando stood undecided until Obito told him to sit against the wall.
"So you know our names. What's yours?" Dojima asked after a moment of silence. He spared Obito a sideward glance as he hacked off clumps of his beard.
"Obito."
"A pleasure. This your Jounin exam?"
"Supposed to be."
"You don't sound very happy."
"You sound too happy."
Dojima cackled. "You bet. I hate beards. I couldn't be happier right now."
Obito sighed, rubbing his head and trying to gather his thoughts. But it was Dojima who eventually voiced the most pressing, most obvious question.
"What are you going do?"
Obito was silent. There was no way he could reply to that without condemning either one of them to death or betraying Konoha.
"What about you?" he asked instead. "Are you willing to fight a member of your own Village?"
Dojima paused, the kunai angled against his jawline. "You mean the guy called Hinoki? He's not a Mist ninja."
"What?"
"I mean, I can't say I know every member of the Village, but he doesn't have the same… air about him, if you get what I mean."
"I don't."
Dojima shrugged and continued shaving, speaking around grimaces whenever the blade got stuck on a bristle. "The training we go through is unique to say the least. Thanks to that, death doesn't really frighten most of us. But Hinoki was clearly afraid for his life."
"I'd say that's pretty normal," Obito muttered. "If he isn't a Mist, why say so?"
"Beats me. You know that ANBU more than I do. Is he a liar?"
Obito shook his head. "He usually doesn't say anything at all."
Dojima hummed, uninterested. "Doesn't matter anyway. For good or for bad, the Villages we come from isn't important here. If we want to win, we need to work together. Simple as that."
"You actually trust this setup?"
He snorted. "We aren't given much choice. Eh, Ando?"
The Rock ninja flinched and stared at Dojima with wide eyes.
"You want to live, right?"
Through cracked, trembling lips, Ando spoke in a barely audible voice. "I have… no right to. I'm the worst kind of soldier. But they're waiting for me. My family..." He drew his knees closer to his body and hunched over them. "I want to see them. Just one more time."
Dojima stared at the Rock for a while, then went back to shaving. "If you ask me, loyalty is overrated."
"Nobody asked you anything," Obito muttered, but was thoroughly ignored.
"Shinobi aren't made to be loyal. We just happen to swear allegiance to the Village we happened to be born in. We accept it like it's the most natural thing in the world, but we aren't trained to be loyal. We're only trained to follow orders. Loyalty's like an afterthought. When push comes to shove, it means less than shit to us."
Was he talking about Ando or being interrogated in general? Unlike Ando and the other two prisoners, Dojima looked mostly unscathed if somewhat undernourished. It made Obito wonder how much he had revealed to Intelligence. He had heard the underground prison located just outside of Konoha was sparsely populated at any given time, but there had to be more than four POWs. So why had they been chosen? Ryo had said they were useless, but did that mean they had caved under interrogation?
Remembering the bald shinobi's rebellious eyes made him doubt it. "The guy from Hidden Cloud seemed pretty loyal even without his memories," he pointed out.
"Oh, Tomura. He was in the cell next to mine." Dojima waved the kunai dismissively. "Everything he did wasn't out of loyalty to his Village. He just wants to get back to his team."
"Sounds like loyalty to me."
"To his team, not his Village. When you don't have anyone you care for, your Village means nothing."
"So you're saying we're only loyal to our Villages because that's where our friends and family are."
"Generally speaking." The Mist paused. "I mean, there are some shinobi who are loyal to their Villages above anything else, but I pity those kinds of people to be honest. They must be pretty empty inside."
Obito rubbed a hand over his face, realizing that the conversation was veering off topic. He needed to think about what to do. What was the best option? What was he supposed to do? Things had escalated far beyond the scope of an exam now. He was alone with two enemies – told to cooperate with them, kill the other prisoners, and then watch them fight each other to the death.
Dojima was rational and perceptive, but Ando was like an animal driven into a corner. Obito had no idea what either of their skills or specialties were. Despite Ryo's words, he knew they didn't have long. No matter how many times he reviewed his options, they all led to a dead end. Ultimately, he realized it wasn't a matter of choosing anything. He had to make up his resolve.
"How do I look?"
Obito looked up with a start and blinked. Dojima – cleanly shaven and with his hair tied back in a knot – looked ten years younger, no older than Minato's age. His grin stretched lopsided on side, inviting humor and promising easy banter.
Despite the situation, Obito couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "How long haven't you shaven?"
"A year and a half? Nearly two?" Dojima angled his face this way and that to check his beardless appearance in the dull reflection of the kunai's blade. "Ever since I turned myself in."
"You… what?"
"I surrendered. My team was wiped out by a Konoha squad, so I could either die with them or live."
Obito raised a brow. It was no wonder he thought lightly of loyalty.
Dojima chuckled, as if knowing exactly what Obito was thinking. But the subject went to rest with a careless shrug, and he sheathed the kunai back in its holster with a flourish.
"So, Ando," he said, turning to his fellow prisoner. "Here's the plan: we're going to kill Hinoki and Tomura. Then you're going to kill me. After that, you're free. Simple, right?"
Obito gawked. Even Ando looked up in surprise.
"Are you crazy?" Obito muttered. Half his mind immediately weighed the possibility of it being a trap, but Dojima's wry smile wordlessly waved the notion away.
"Believe it or not, I like Konoha," he said. "With no one left waiting for me in the Hidden Mist, I definitely prefer your Village to mine now. Besides, I'll be killed the moment I step foot back home. I told your Intelligence everything I know, after all."
"But if you want to live, you could become a missing-nin or –"
Dojima laughed. "Who said I want to live? I was curious what other Villages were like, so I went along with Konoha. I don't regret it. We had some fun conversations in the interrogation room." He rubbed his smooth chin. "And now that I've shaven, I have no regrets."
"I don't believe you," Obito accused flat out.
"Well, okay," the Mist conceded with a roll of his shoulders, "I offered to become a double agent, so long as they'd allow me to leak some credible information to regain trust back home. But they refused. I can understand why. I wouldn't trust myself either if I were them."
Obito felt like a knot was coming loose in his mind. Strangely, he found himself calming down. Nothing had changed, and he was still surrounded by more predicaments than he cared to think about, but at least he was starting to understand one of them.
"That's it?" he asked. "That's all you wanted?"
"That's it."
Obito rolled his eyes. "You're an idiot."
"I –" Dojima faltered. "What?"
Feeling more like himself than he had since parting ways with Kakashi, Obito stuck a finger into the Mist's face. "Anyone with your sort of attitude is an idiot. You know how many people want to live but can't? How many people we try to save but can't?"
Dojima stared at him for a second before coming to himself and swatting the hand away. "Of course I do. So? You're saying I should want to live because they couldn't?"
"I'm just telling you to stop hating yourself so much."
The pause was longer, more tangible this time.
"What makes you think I hate myself?" Dojima asked quietly.
"A hunch."
Dojima burst into laughter, making Ando flinch again. "A hunch?" He grabbed Obito's head with both hands and scrambled his hair.
Obito yelped and jerked back, but there was no malice in the Mist's actions.
"You cocky brat, lecturing adults on a hunch," he drawled, his shoulders still bouncing with laughter. "An enemy no less! You should be more worried about yourself. Remember what that ANBU was saying?"
"Huh?"
"About comrades. You need to be finding an answer to that."
"There's nothing to it," Obito said. "My comrades are the people of Konoha and our allies."
"You don't have friends in other countries?"
"It's kind of hard making friends with people trying to kill you."
Dojima chuckled. "True enough. You're lucky then. It's damn hard coming face to face with someone you know on a battlefield and – What?"
"I take it back," Obito muttered, going suddenly very still. A bitter taste rose in the back of his throat as he stared, unseeing, at the cave floor. Just like that, his fleeting equilibrium was toppled. "I know that feeling."
They had defended Misa and her team – people who weren't friends or even comrades – bound only by a naive promise made years ago. What if he had been able to prioritize comrades over others, just as he had told Kakashi the other night? If they hadn't hesitated to kill Misa and her team, would they have been in time to save Midori?
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he wanted to smash his exhausted head somewhere. What was he thinking. What sort of human did that make him?
"You know," Dojima mused, "I've seen people who can throw away just about everything they love and value for the sake of something they believe in."
Obito slowly looked up, dragged from his hopeless thoughts and self-disgust.
The Mist met his eyes and went on, "But in your case, I think it's a lot simpler than that. How you define comrades isn't about logic or an ideal. It's emotions."
"Meaning?"
"You're thinking too hard. Just save the people you like and don't give a rat's ass about anyone else. Doesn't matter what Village or country or alliance."
It took a moment for the meaning behind those statements to fully sink in and when they did, Obito was forced to clap a hand over his mouth to smother the snort that rose in his throat.
"You find that funny, huh?"
"No, it's just…" Obito gave up and let the grin break out across his face. "You sound like a kid in the playground."
"You're the last person who has the right to be calling people kids," Dojima grouched.
Obito gave a bitter smile. "Just save the people I like, huh? That sounds pretty selfish."
"Suits me fine." The Mist threw his weight against the wall with a petulant twist of his lips – and then lurched forward just as quickly in the next second.
Obito too, was on his feet, the Sharingan activated and straining to catch sight of the three approaching presences. "He's earlier than I thought," he muttered. "So much for coming up with a plan."
"Sometimes the best plans are no plans," Dojima said, rising to his feet with a stretch. He glanced at Obito's eyes and raised a brow. "An Uchiha, huh?"
Obito frowned, undecided for a moment. "Are you really a prisoner?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just… wondering." In truth, he had suspected Dojima was aligned with Ryo in some way. A Konoha shinobi in disguise or cooperating in exchange for freedom. But his look of confusion just now had been genuine.
He sighed. Whatever the case, they were out of time.
Steeling his heart, Obito turned his focus out into the snowstorm and swallowed the irritation he felt toward himself for still being unable to make up his mind. He had no plan. He didn't know what Ryo's real objective was. There was no guarantee he was doing the right thing. But prisoners or not – enemies or not – Ando and Dojima were his responsibility now. He wasn't going to let them die.
"Here's my only order," Obito said. "When we're finished with Hinoki and Tomura, stop right where you are. I'm not going to let you kill each other."
"I don't think you'll have much choice," Dojima said. "Besides, there is no 'we.' You're going to stand back and keep an eye on that ANBU. Find out what he's up to."
"Fine. Ando," Obito glanced at the Rock, who was still balled up against the wall. "If you want to live, get up and fight."
"You want to see your family again, don't you?" Dojima added. He hooked a finger around the kunai he had been using to shave and took a step outside the cave. "All you have to do is kill three more people."
"Two," Obito corrected, but his voice was muted by the wind.
Ando lurched to his feet and stumbled after them, muttering a string of incoherence under his breath. His teeth chattered, and his breaths came in ragged gasps. Obito spared him a glance, even as he glimpsed the first shadow of their opponents emerging through the blizzard.
"Fight back," he commanded.
His impromptu words echoed in his head as they took off in different directions. Fight back? With a start, he recognized just how distorted the perspective was, and then he realized exactly where it had come from – pity. A chill far colder than the wind and snow spread inside him.
Wasn't it pity that had driven him to spare Iku?
A/N: Soooo. I'm late, I know. Sorry!
I received some requests to show Obito's part of the exam, so this is it. I was planning to fit it all into one chapter, but it snowballed into something a little bigger.
I hope you enjoyed it! Thank you for your patience and support!
.LinSetsu.