AN: I wanted to have this out by Friday but I ended up choosing to rewrite a couple of the scenes and add some things to make everything I wanted to get across in the chapter happen however. I am still looking for a Beta also, and this story will he updated once a week on Friday evenings and I'll be posting one shots and side stories throughout the week from now on. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed and supported my work so far! Please review and let me know how you like this chapter.
Chapter 6: Watching, and Waiting
Minato is there waiting near Rin's personal tent by the time they arrive back at camp. Obito gives an enthusiastic wave at their teacher as he and Kakashi approach. They're both muddy from their antics on the wet ground near the creek, and Obito knows the bandages on his arm have loosened. It's hardly a presentable picture when they walk up, but Minato shakes his head and smiles without any mention of it.
"Good, you two came back just in time," he says. "I was worried I'd have to go looking for you. We need to get going in the next three hours. Pack up everything essential and meet at the camp's south border."
"Hai," says Kakashi as he starts to lead Obito towards the direction of their personal tents.
"You guys go ahead," Obito stalls. "I need to talk to sensei."
Kakashi gives pause glancing at him for a moment before looking back to Rin. He nods letting going over to their female teammate slouching and his hands tucked into his pockets. "How late do you think he'll make us?"
"Oi! Bastard I can hear you!" Obito snaps with no real heat.
"Oh we're not leaving till sunset definitely," Rin says.
They both pretend not to notice him glaring and turn their backs to him walking down the path together. Once they're a good distance away Obito feels a smile creep up his face. They walk close together one occasionally leaning over to say something and looking more comfortable with each other than he can remember in the entire history of their team's existence.
"A nice improvement eh?" Minato speaks his thoughts aloud and Obito turns his head to see the cheerful expression on the blond man's face. "You and Kakashi have been the same way. The three of you actually seem like a team now."
Obito murmurs a quiet 'yeah' in response and shifts his foot in the dirt. "Sensei? I need to ask you something important." His voice is hushed and he's looking straight into his teacher's eyes. "Please tell me the truth...does anyone know about Kakashi's eye yet?"
Sensei goes silent. Obito wants to tear his own hair out. He doesn't understand the taboo around Kakashi's eye between his team. Or rather "the eye" as they've been calling it. The few mentions of it he's been around for were always rushed and the subject changed as soon as possible. The only time he's even seen it were rare occasions of Kakashi uncovering it in front of medical personnel to see how it functions. It's infuriating.
As far as Obito is concerned, that eye belongs to his teammate now. He gave it to him as a sign of their friendship when he thought it would abruptly be brought to an end. A piece of him Kakashi could carry into the future and always remember him by. If this was how they reacted when he was alive and perfectly fine with it, how would they have acted if-
He stops his mind from going on that tangent. It never leads anywhere good and Minato's persisting silence is telling. It takes him too long to give a half sighed answer of "It's complicated Obito."
Things are usually less complicated than people think they are Obito has found. He balls his fist and gives the other man what he hopes is a stern look puffing his chest out and narrowing his remaining dark eye. It's probably not too intimidating coming from a newly recovered thirteen year old boy wrapped in muddy bandages.
"Kakashi isn't allowed to be alone until I talk to my family," Obito states.
"Obito…"
"If you won't stay with him I will!" Obito raises his voice. He clenches his fists and glares down. "I'll make some dumb excuse or bother him until he just goes along with it, but the first thing I'm doing is dragging him to the Uchiha District while I talk to my clan!"
There are so many unknowns about this. The Uchiha clan name carries its weight for better or worse because of the sharingan. A non Uchiha with the sharingan was a wild card for the council, the clan, and anyone else with interest in either. Obito won't let Kakashi face any of it alone. He meant every word he'd said at the river and it was time to show it.
Minato stays silent for a moment. Gazing back at him, and Obito is proud that he doesn't flinch when a tanned hand reaches for him. He's not sure what he was expecting, but for the man to softly ruffle his hair wasn't it. He hears his teachers. Quiet laugh pierce the quiet of the moment.
"Stubborn boy," Minato simply states. His expression is fond, but his mouth i twisted into a frown. "You should go pack up. We have a long road ahead and a lot to think about on the way. All of us. We can talk more later."
Obito nods and turns his back to his teacher. He doesn't know if this just the other man brushing him off and avoiding the conversation, or him actually considering how to talk to him about this. Either way it doesn't matter. Obito has his mind made up and he's not letting Kakashi get pulled around by the village when they get back. He walks away towards the tents trying to take his mind off things.
The rest of the camp fades into a blur around him. Familiar faces walking through the mud and morning fog, and idle chatter. Their tents aren't too far from the entrance, about a five minute walk and within the same general area. He hears them before he sees them. Both are in Rin's tent to his surprise, shuffling through her things with the flap wide open. The tent looks like a storm blew in through about three other tents and deposited all the debris into Rin's. He considers that a nice way of putting the mess of clothes, old medicinal jars and tubes, and and food wrappers all over the small place.
They're mostly shoving clothes into her pack half hazardly and shoving the trash aside. Occasionally picking up a jar to see how much is left. "You don't have to help me you know?" Rin smiles to Kakashi in the midst of their conversation already going while Obito walks up.
He hums and hunches his shoulders. "This place is a mess, we'll be leaving by midnight if you don't get help with it."
Obito is stuck between laughing and announcing his presence by snapping at him. While he doubts Kakashi means it when he says those things anymore, he still feels justified in giving him trouble for it. Rin beats him to it however.
Her fist collides with his shoulder and the younger boy yelps. "Jerk! I was saving people's lives. Excuse me for being too busy for spring cleaning in the stupid marshlands tent."
They both go still, and Obito thinks it might be shock on their faces as they stare at each other. Rin looks down to where she hit Kakashi, the boy tenderly rubbing the spot. Their eyes meet up again and the medic bursts into soft chuckles. Kakashi rolls his eyes and goes back to picking the mess up.
"Pft maybe if you focused less on making excuses and more on staying organized you'd be ready to go as I am," He gets a last word in and a softer smile crosses Rin's face.
Obito admires the comfortable scene. "You done watching us?" And turns red when Rin stares right at him crossing her arms over her chest.
"Uhm…"
"Quit being weird and go pack up," Kakashi says with his back turned to him still. "Neither of you are making me late. Just because you two are slackers doesn't mean I want to be."
Obito stomps his foot and scoffs. "Bakashi! Don't tell me what to do, and be nicer to Rin! She deserves it for putting up with you so much while we were here." There's not bite in the words and Kakashi waves him off.
Obito storms towards his tent with a huge grin on his face after his back is turned.
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The water glided down his back, kneading into smooth skin he knows from memory appears discolored to any onlooker. He can't bring himself to mind however. Right now Obito, or rather Tobi as he's come to be known around the village, is focused on relaxing while he can. Grounding himself with the roar of falling water and soft caws and mewls of the wildlife in the trees nearby. This training ground had always been his favorite as a child for a reason.
He inhales the scent of fresh air and lets his body go limp where it's sitting under the waterfall on a single large stone. He can't see it, just like anything else these day, but a familiar surge of chakra and some strange instinct of just knowing alerts him to a presence next to him. He thinks rather than speaks out loud.
"I can move without any direction now. Between sound and my chakra control."
"Don't rush things," Kakashi warns. "Doing well doesn't mean you're ready to try anything. You're in village custody no matter how light, one mistake and you're a prisoner. You'll be useless fully restrained."
"It's sweet of you to worry," He actually snorts out loud with the thought. "The longer I wait, the less control I have over how things change and the stronger Madara and Zetsu will be."
"Obito worry about yourself before the world," Kakashi's voice is stern and Obito feels a buzz under his skin on his shoulder. The same strange phantom sensation he always gets when the ghost touches him. "Remember doing the opposite is the cause of this mess."
He sighs steadying himself on his palms and tensing up. The water no longer feels relaxing and beats into his stiff muscles where he still had feeling. "I hate being wrong." He accidentally outloud but corrects himself halfway through the thought. "Even more when it means you're right. You're an insufferable egomaniac already."
"Maa~ you keep me around anyways though, don't you?"
"You know talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," Jiraiya's grating, cheerful voice calls out from his place away from the water. Tobi almost forgot his presence until he had to open his mouth. "You don't look very at peace over there. How about we get going? I know this great place down-"
"Take me home," Tobi snaps out firmly. He stands and walks out from under the water walking across it with ease. "I'm done with being out for the day."
He remembers where he placed his clothes and finds them easily enough. Simple loose clothing in faded greys and black that covers him up and bandages for his unseeing eyes. That's how Inoichi described them when he took him shopping the other day at least. A far cry from the old high collared robes he adopted in the akatsuki or more eye catching outfits he wore as a child.
He looks to Jiraiya, more out of instinct than any visual purposes. "I've got a lot on my mind. I don't feel like dealing with people today. Including you."
"Well that's just putting off the inevitable. If you don't deal with me today, it'll be tomorrow," He laughs and Tobi turns and catches the hand meant to clap his back.
"I've been dealing with you for three days and haven't attempted murder," He says. "I think I deserve an afternoon of peace for that. Also...don't touch me." He adds a clear warning to the last part and picks up with long retracting walking stick he's been provided with now. He walks ahead not waiting for the other despite knowing he's not far behind.
"You're a real peach Tobi-san," Jiraiya mutters. "What exactly are you wrong about by the way?" He sounds smug and vindictive and Tobi really hates that the idiot can catch him off guard with that tone when he drops the babbling act.
"It's called thinking out loud," Tobi calls back. "I don't want to talk about this with you."
"Fine, but I'll see Inoichi's reports eventually when you tell him during your little sessions."
"Then you can wait until then! For now but out and leave me alone!" Tobi snarls and walks faster stomping his feet.
He doesn't listen to whatever he has to say next. He's tired of this. Three days and he's ready to pull his hair out. The sannin is a constant thorn in his side following him like an unwanted shadow. Everything invokes a comment of some sort or a prying question obviously meant to get a reaction. The worst part? It keeps working!
He pokes and prods at Tobi until he can't stand it and snaps and then takes note of those hot buttons and brings them up later. A small pause of victory ever time he seems to get something he wants. Practicing his chakra control leads to questions about his shinobi career, kami forbid he produce a jutsu during said practice. Then that inevitably leads to personal questions. About comrades, family, friends. Until he pulls a random piece of information he's already given to someone else and uses it to back Tobi into a corner. It's wearing him down and he wants a break!
He's already back in the populated area of the village by the time he calms his thoughts down and realizes a voice in the back of his head has been shouting out.
"Obito!" Kakashi yells out probably for the dozenth time.
"What?!"
"Calm. Down."
Again stern and a bit of anger there this time. It stops him in the middle of the street. He hears Jiraiya calling his name and catching up but ignores it. He focuses on Kakashi's voice.
"Getting worked up and letting him bother you is making you look more suspicious and putting you in more danger! You're angry and and confused and in a stressful situation and he knows it. Reel yourself in and act like a shinobi instead of a pouting child."
Damn if he hasn't forgotten how cold the bastard could be in their youth. He has a point, but he won't admit it mentally or out loud of course. For now he sighs and let's Jiraiya catch up right behind him, digging his nails into his wrists. He opens his mind and his ears to his surroundings, noting the crowd and it's flow. Enough to realize he's blocking it and forcing people to walk around him.
"Hey."
He braces himself for whatever Jiraiya is keen on saying.
"I'm not easy to get along with I get it, and I'm here to pry whether you or me want me to or not," Jiraiya states sounding more serious than any moment he's spent with him thus far. "But we're stuck in this situation for now. If I can ignore you being a prickly bastard, maybe give a little back and make my job not a nightmare? You and I are stuck together for now regardless of what either of us wants. So let's try and play nice."
"Why don't we just not speak for the rest of the walk?" He glares and walks again, at least he refrains from speeding ahead of him this time.
It's sort of a start.
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The target is walking ahead of his follower. Beautiful in the way his flesh blends, false limbs molded onto a compatible vessel that give off a signature they are all too familiar with. This man, there's something extraordinary about him. An Uchiha, that much is clear. But where did he come from? And why and what is he hiding?
So fascinating, and oh so exciting to follow and unravel the mystery of. He'll be useful someday, they know it. For now they watch, and they wait. For the perfect chance to snatch away the fragile man speeding towards the village.
They wonder if that idiot tasked with getting to the boy is having nearly this much fun?
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They make it back to Tobi's apartment without breaking the quiet truce the other had demanded from Jiraiya. It's a small building well kept but clearly aged and weathered from years of business. Whoever was in charge of arranging the man's living situation thankfully was wise enough to get the blind man a ground floor space. Although he's adapted remarkably quick, and there's little doubt he'd have figured stairs out just as fast as everything else so far.
Jiraiya has been asked to keep an eye out on enough people that reading them is second nature at this point in his life. Yet Tobi, despite all the obvious stuff he can pick out, is a mystery to him. He's read over the man's file at least a dozen time in the past few days he's been assigned to him. He still has nothing to go on aside from what Inoichi has already given or what any shinobi worth even a single ryo would be able to pick up on.
Tobi's skilled without question. No one can rely on their other senses, and weave their chakra as well as he's been able to to make up for his sight without being the sort of shinobi lower ranks have nightmares about. He's also paranoid, rarely letting his surroundings over take him, and even when Jiraiya get's under his skin he seems to always know where he'd going and what's happening around him. Something tell's the sannin that instinct is more a justified survival instinct than an overreaction.
It's clear from an initial observation and the few hints he has given about his background Tobi was once a powerful, and most likely very dangerous shibobi who lived outside the system. The sort of person who would have an 'S' next to their name in the bingo book and being cut down by any loyalist shinobi.
So why is there no record of him in any sort of bounty system? The obvious answer is him being from a smaller village not associated with the main shinobi villages. Yet that answer doesn't sit right with Jiraiya. There's also another large question mark that honestly interests him even more. Why did this rogue ninja who so obviously went out of his way to remain a ghost his entire life throw it all away to save a single child? Was it really just pity for a boy who had been in the same situation as himself? Again, didn't quite sit right with Jiraiya.
For all the obvious and pointless things he could pick up on about Tobi, the things that mattered were still firmly locked away. He always did like a challenge.
He's been given a temporary space in the same building as the other man, but Jiraiya prefers to see him in the door. Get a glance at the small "home" and see what he can gain. Of course he just frames it as barging in.
"Still haven't livened the place up any eh?" Jiraiya sighs louder than necessary and trudges into the center of the main room. A small living area with a kitchen attached. All old and simple appliances on the counters and a single mat to sit on in as the only other furniture. Hasn't changed a bit since the day it was given to the outsider.
"You've been with me every time I leave," Tobi says flatly. "Have you seen me buy furniture? I have food, a roof, and a bed. What else do I need?"
"Fair enough," Jiraiya shrugs. "Most people like to feel a little you know, at home."
"This isn't my home."
It's said quick and firm. With just the barest touch of he thinks sadness that Jiraiya almost misses. Interesting. He walks over to one of the counters and reaches out for something, laying his palm flat against the surface before starting to pat around the area.
"Well it's where you're going to be staying for a while," Jiraiya. "Might-"
"We're leaving."
Jiraiya doesn't have time for a response before Toby is rushing out of the kitchenette in the direction of the door. Jiraiya quickly steps in his path. The hell? The sudden shift is jarring and Tobi's demeanor has taken a drastic turn.
His face is pale there's a slight tremble to his hands. The bandages cover his eyes but his brows arch in a clear glare as he grabs Jiraiya's shoulders. Even shaking his hold his impressive for a man in a coma less than two weeks ago.
"Get out of my way!" he shouts trying to push past.
Jiraiya shoves back knocking the man to the ground. "What's going on?" He raises his voice but doesn't scream it.
Tobi's head snaps up towards him. "I don't care if I'm blind crippled or what the hell ever! Get out of my way or I will make you!" He's yelling at the top of his lungs almost hysterical and Jiraiya can feel the waves of chakra he's sending out.
He get's into a defensive stance expecting an attack at any moment. When he realizes the chakra is similar to the sensory techniques the man has been using all day. Just more potent. He's trying to figure out what's happening around him.
"What are you afraid of?" He asks as he realizes it. He's not being hostile, he's terrified.
"Sh-shut up!" Tobi yells back standing up. "We just need to go! I don't want to be here!"
"Why not?!"
"Because someone's been in here!"
"What?" Jiraiya deadpans. "You think someone broke in?"
"I don't know, but someone's been in here while we were gone," His voice is still tense and he's moving towards Jiraiya again. Jiraiya stops him more gently this time by putting a hand up.
"How do you know?"
Tobi pauses and motions to the counter. "I had something sitting on the counter in the kitchen. I know it was there when I left! It's gone which means someone moved it."
The panic is rising again and whether he's right or not Jiraiya would prefer to defuse the situation before he has a blind shinobi running through the streets in a panic. He walks to the kitchen despite Tobi protesting.
The space doesn't seem to be out of the ordinary. Again a little plain, but nothing unusual. There's no window to come in through so that's not a worry. He looks around and two things catch his eye. A mostly empty trashcan aside from a few pieces of glass, and a note pinned to the side of the fridge above said trashcan. The handwriting is Inoichi's without a doubt. He picks it up and looks at the white glass in the trash before walking back to Tobi.
"That thing on the counter wasn't a teapot was it?" He asks.
"How did you-"
"Inoichi left a note," Jiraiya says bluntly. "He left you some groceries and he's sorry he knocked the teapot off the counter. Said he'll buy you a new one and bring it by tomorrow."
"..."
Tobi's face goes from ghostly to red impressivley fast and the other man stumbles over to the nearest counter. He drops his elbows onto it and buries his face into his palms letting out a deep breath. Jiraiya notices a quiver in his torso and is about to say something when he hears a loud cackle.
A strangled mix between a laugh and a cry rings out from Tobi followed by a litany of identical sounds. It's hysterical and unhinged. Tobi lets it flow from him and doesn't bother to stop Jiraiya from coming closer. He notices the damp spots in the bandages once he's standing right next to him.
"A fucking teapot," Tobi spits out mid laugh. He gasping in air as he continues. "I lost it over a missing teapot. What's wrong with me?"
"From my observations?" Jiraiya says slowly inching his hand to the other man's back. "You're traumatized and severely paranoid as a result. Typical shinobi problem really. I've had a friend or two with the same issue." More than that. Far more than that.
The laughter dies down into long deep breaths. "I have to be better than that."
"Why?"
He jumps away from Jiraiya like he's been startled and hunches in on himself a few steps away. "...None of your business," Tobi stiffens up and raises up his body. "Not yours and not your village's either."
"You're staying in my village and I'm your handler for as long as you are," Jiraiya points out.
Tobi scoffs at him. "And who made that decision? I didn't ask to be trapped in this village like a glorified prisoner so you could poke and prod to see what makes me tick."
"Forgetting you ran onto a battlefield and interfered with our shinobi and have been stuck in a coma and taken care of by our people for the past two months," Jiraiya spat back. "Perhaps if you were a bit more forth coming there wouldn't be so much suspicion around you. You can't even give a clear explanation for what you were doing there that day, you expect our village to trust you?"
"Damn your stupid village and it's paranoid leaders!" Tobi shouted. "I have more things to worry about than Konohagakure. You want to answers? Here's a few!" He marches up to Jiraiya and shouts right in his face.
"The only reason I was there was because I was fleeing from the bastard that did this to me!" He pulls up his sleeve showing the discolored limb. None of the hospital staff had an explanation to it, just that the tissue was highly regenerative. Personally Jiraiya found how vague the report on it was somewhat suspicious.
"I ran across that kid in the cave while I was running away, and you know what?" He grits through his teeth. "I was going to put him out of his misery and finish him off so he wouldn't suffer like I did when the same thing happened to me! But I didn't. All because some dead asshole deluded himself into thinking I was a good person and I felt like it's what he would have wanted me to do."
He gestures openly to the apartment, Jiraiya and himself. "And just look at all the good it's done me. I'm stuck here in this village with some annoying bastard who makes a game out of pressing me until I spill out my secrets. So there you go. Go report that your superiors and tell me when they get bored of me and are ready to toss me aside."
Jiraiya stands there without a word for a bit watching as Tobi turns his back to him and starts to make his way to the door that leads to the arely functional bedroom this place has been equipped with. He's still tense and partially hunched, and is leaning slightly to the left with every step. Almost as if he expects there to he something or someone for him to lean into. It's a bit of a pathetic sight. Jiraiya maybe understand Inoichi's pity for him a bit more.
"I think this conversation can stay between us, don't you?" Jiraiya says.
"What?" Tobi stops in the doorway. "I just gave you a listful of things to report back. Why wouldn't you?"
"I like having the bigger picture," Jiraiya states in a flippant tone. "Especially when other people don't. I get the feeling working with you instead of against you will help me get a little closer to that. Even if it means keeping certain people in the dark. Understand?"
Tobi shakes his head and goes into his room. "Even if I believed you, I don't owe you anything." He closes the door behind him and locks from the soft click Jiraiya hears.
"Of course not Tobi-san," he calls out.
He takes his cue to leave giving the sparse living space one last look. Maybe this assignment would be less of a chore than he thought.
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Finally! He thought they would never leave. The children and the blond man had spent an infuriating amount of time in the camp. Surrounded by allies and reinforcements, there was no touching them as long as they were within a few minutes walk from the camp. Now though? Now they were leaving and heading down the muddy path fpr at least the next three weeks.
Several rarely traveled roads along the way between towns surrounded by woods to hide them from protective eyes. Except for the dear teacher of course. He would be annoying. The figure watches from the treelines, focusing on the children.
He only needs one specific child among them, but he'll take two if he has to. If that's the only time the little dark haired boy will wander out of his sensei's sight is with the other boy or the girl. If they become a pain he can just kill them, and if they're good maybe they can be useful?
The figure bounces practically with glee. He knows his master will be so happy with him. He'll bring them the boy and maybe even a friend to keep! Yes, everything is falling perfectly into place.
He just has to wait for the young Uchiha to wander off from the teacher.