Wrong Again
Chapter 11
Hey! I'm alive! There are so many plot bunnies running around in my head at the moment. I just started a new story too! That's bad because school has started so I won't have as much time to write everything out anymore… Hence the really long delay. Sorry!
Anyway, this is out for Hiding From Lies to keep the evil elmos away and for Absentminded Dreamer 1310 for his/her wonderful review. And thanks to everyone else, your reviews made my day XD.
Minato stood at the edge of the cool spring that he had come to call his secret hiding place when he wanted time to himself to think. He had come here when Sarutobi had spoken to him about nominating him for Hokage. He had also come here when he had cut down on all the options of defeating the fox demon and was left with his last plan of action.
The fox had been looming in the distance for days with its red chakra creating a red haze that simulated a sunset that never went away. As the fox had come closer and closer, lives had been lost trying to delay the demon from reaching the village but it had all been in vain.
He had left the clearing with resolute conviction about what he was going to do, yet when he had arrived back into the tower, the Third and Jiraiya had told him otherwise.
Minato let out a sigh and he plopped down onto his butt and fell onto his back with his arms thrown wide. He never thought that if he had gone through with his original plan that he would perhaps regret anything. But seeing his son, his real son, talk about his life as if he hadn't ever been a part of it hurt him deeply.
To think that had this not happened, he would have never known that Naruto was his child. And Kushina! She was Naruto's mother? He couldn't believe it; how could he not have known?
Thinking back on them it had never occurred to him that she might have been pregnant. There was just so much going on. When she had finally confronted him that day he had snapped and so had she. He hated this memory but looked back anyway to see if he had missed any telltale sign.
"Minato?" Kushina yelled through the door to his home office. He hadn't seen her in over a week since they last fought. Kakashi had been distant with him and he hadn't seen Obito lately either. Minato was never around and if he wasn't at the office then he was locked up in his room. Kushina just couldn't take it anymore.
He knew she was angry at him for not making a little time from her. She knew he had duties and there was so much crap going on but he couldn't make time for her with how stressed out he was. The laughing and easy going man Kushina fallen in love with had turned into a serious grim man that she didn't recognize or even like.
It didn't help that her mood swings had earned her probation from missions for the time being. She had attacked an annoying client and a team mate as well. She hadn't been sent on a mission in over a week! Hence the reason that they had fought last time was when he reprimanded her on her conduct.
He hadn't answered her call. She knew he most likely didn't want to talk about anything nor did he have time. With all the shit going on since he became Hokage it was hard to make time for her or anything else. She was being unreasonable; she was being selfish.
The door opened anyway and she came in. He didn't bother looking at her or acknowledging her. He could feel the angry thuds of her foot steps as she marched toward him. Small hands slammed down onto his desk and dislodged several scrolls and an empty glass that clattered to the floor.
Only at the sound of breaking glass did he finally look up with an annoyed scowl.
"What?" he snapped. He didn't have time for her temper tantrums and he sure as hell wasn't in the mood to be patient with whatever ordeal she had gotten into this time. Just because he was the Hokage didn't mean he could keep bailing her out of things. She was lucky she was just on probation for pulling that stunt last week. Any other person and they'd have been arrested and detained until they were deemed fit to return to duty.
"Don't you what me assface!" she shouted at him, "I just wanted to see you! You've been avoiding me!" She returned his glare and pointed an accusing finger at him. He didn't relent.
"I don't have time for you. Can't you see that I'm busy?" he held onto his temper. These days his fuse was short especially with the Uchiha clan dodging his every decision and driving him to wanting to strangle someone.
"You're always busy! Can't you just take a day off? An hour?" she pressed but held back the tears and hurt that threatened to show at the callousness of his words. How could he say that to her? He had promised her that he always had time for her back when they first met. Why was she being so stupid? She never cried yet she had cried more times these past few days than she ever had in her life!
"Just because I'm Hokage doesn't mean I get to do whatever I want, Kushina," his patience was running thin. His words made it worse as her anger dropped to an expression of hurt. He saw the tears gather in her eyes and he hurt but standing firm in his choice he didn't soften up and give in. She had to understand his point of view and if he didn't stand firm then she never would.
"That's just an excuse!" she yelled as her anger resurfaced. After all, she wouldn't cry in front of him, not if he was going to be a jerk. Minato held onto the last of his patience.
"What do you want?" he grounded out. Those words were the final straw it seemed for her. She snapped and shouted at him, "I want you! Damn it Minato!"
"You have me!"
"No I don't! The fucking village does! You don't spend time with me; you're always doing stuff that you won't tell me about! For all I know you could be screwing your secretary with as much time as you spend with her!"
"Is this what this is about? You think I'm cheating on you!?"
"No!"
"Then what?" he didn't bother to lower his voice as he lost the last of his patience. It made him mad that she didn't trust him and for a spontaneous burst he wanted to hurt her.
"What about you? How do I know you're not whoring yourself out?" he bit out. Kushina's eyes widened in surprise and she sputtered but he continued, "You think I don't know about Haruo? Why you punched him? You think-"
He was sent flying by her punch; his chair was overturned and more papers and scrolls went flying. Several items fell off the shelf behind him where he has crashed.
"You son of a bitch!" she roared at him, "Don't you ever fucking talk to me like that! You wouldn't know anything since you're never around!" She slammed a chakra laden fist onto his desk and smashed the wood. With an angry heave she lifted the desk and shoved it over.
"Fine!! You don't have time for me!? Don't worry, I won't ever bother you again!" she shouted and slammed out of the room.
Minato rubbed his eyes and groaned. She had been moody and more angry than usual. There had been more hurtful words thrown around without care but in the heat of the moment he had forgotten some of what he or she had said. He had snapped at her and accused her of sleeping with her teammate.
It had turned out that the bastard had tried to force himself on her. He had found out months later from gossip. Ironically enough he had made time to find the bastard and lay a good one on him. That disgrace would never be a ninja again.
But it had been too late. He hadn't seen her since she stormed out of his house that day. With the damned clan rising up against him he had been too distracted to pay much attention. Then there was that whole shit with Orochimaru and Kakashi as well. The boy had been distant and despite his tries to talk to the boy the teen still remained aloof.
It wasn't until it was almost too late that he had found out what had been going on. Familiar rage welled up inside him but he shoved it away. He didn't have time for that particular memory. Orochimaru had paid for what he did with his life but every now and then he wished he could summon that bastard back and kill him all over again.
His mood completely dropped at the thought that he hadn't saved Kakashi. Maybe if he hadn't been so caught up in everything. If only he had met up with Kakashi like he said he would. So many different scenarios came to mind but in the end he couldn't change what had happened. His regrets were so strong; he fought the urge to just curl up and cry.
If only he had gone after Kushina right away; if not right away then at least within the next day or two. If only he hadn't stayed late at the office to argue with Fugaku and met up with Kakashi instead.
Naruto's words came back to him. Kakashi was alive in the other world that his son apparently came from. They hadn't mentioned Obito and the Hatake never mentioned that either boy knew who he was. Naruto also said that the Third was alive. So a life for a life then?
His mind tried to wrap around the logic of it all but he found it impossible. Just what did one do when there were people from another time? And not just anyone, his son and his son's best friend.
He hadn't stayed long enough to find out why the two were fighting. Now the unanswered questions gnawed at him. He could deal with his regrets later; at the moment he needed to finish interrogating the two boys to see just what they knew.
Then maybe, just maybe, he would know what to do about all of this.
Left alone with Naruto and Sasuke who weren't really Naruto and Sasuke yet they were Obito wasn't quite sure what to do. He could keep questioning them but they'd have to do it all over again anyway with Minato. He had the feeling Minato would be back anyway and he'd want more answers.
But for now, he had a little bit of curiosity that he needed to satisfy. So far neither boy had mentioned him at all. Hell, Sasuke didn't even know who he was. He had said that he was the last Uchiha. There was a whole clan of living breathing jerks so how could he be the last? Unless…when he said that Itachi had killed his family, had he meant the entire clan?
That was impossible! He had to admit the kid was damn good but to take out the entire clan? That was unheard of! No way; Obito didn't believe it, couldn't believe it.
He had to know that much at least. He eyed the pale boy who was currently in a staring contest with Naruto. The two seemed to be communicating with their eyes again but he couldn't be sure since last time it hadn't worked as well as Naruto thought it did.
"Sasuke," he started to get the boy's attention, "When you said that Itachi and you," he hesitated on that part, "Killed your family, did you mean just your parents?" Sasuke broke the staring contest to gaze upon his cousin. His eyes were tired and way too old. How could he not have seen through these two boys before?
"Itachi killed the entire clan, leaving me alive," the boy said in a dead voice and he added for clarification, "I killed Itachi." Obito was in shock. So his thought had been correct then.
"That's impossible!" he denied the claim yet how those eyes could lie he wasn't sure. Sasuke merely shrugged and said, "He had help from someone." Obito perked up at this tidbit of information as did Naruto. The blond boy raised a brow and opened his mouth to speak but Sasuke beat him to it.
"I'd rather say this only once," he made his case. Obito agreed; this was a tough subject so he let the boy remain silent. He decided to ask the other question on his mind.
"So how come you guys don't know me? Surely Sasuke you would have seen me at one point or another before Itachi, you know," he pressed. Sasuke reacted with a shrug.
"I don't recall ever meeting anyone like you nor did I ever hear anything about someone named Obito." His cold words deflated the pale man's hopes. So he turned to Naruto who only shook his head in the negative.
"Kakashi never mentioned anything about his original team," Naruto confirmed. Obito's hope plummeted once more. The chance that he had been alive at all in their world was fast receding. Naruto, blunt as ever, jumped up as an idea hit him.
"Hey! I don't even know why I didn't think of it before!" he exclaimed excitedly. Sasuke merely raised a brow and asked, "What, dobe?"
"Shut it teme! I bet you'll be jealous that you didn't think of this first!" he taunted and proceeded to dance around in victory. Obito sighed; the boy was so easily distracted.
"What is it?" he asked the blond. Naruto stopped dancing and glanced at him with a confused expression, "What?"
"What did you come up with?" Sasuke asked exasperated.
"Oh," he chuckled as he forgot that he hadn't told them yet, "Well, you know Kakashi-sensei has the sharingan thingy, and since Obito was his teammate, do you think that's how he got it?" Sasuke's brows furrowed in thought and he nodded slightly.
"Yeah, I think so," he said slowly as he eyed Obito. Obito however was confused at the conversation. What sharingan? He'd never heard anyone call it a thingy before either. And Kakashi wasn't an Uchiha; he was a Hatake, a clan of another completely different blood line limit.
"What?" he asked, "What are you guys talking about?"
To enlighten the confused man, Sasuke took it upon himself to explain.
"Kakashi has a sharingan in his left eye. It's not his, not originally anyway. What Naruto is saying is that maybe you might have given the sharingan to Kakashi."
His mind was reeling. I gave him my sharingan? The thought was hard to process. Why the hell would he do that? Not unless he had died but then his clan would have taken care of his body so that the blood line limit wouldn't fall into enemy hands. Not that Kakashi was anywhere close to being the enemy. And thinking about it, he'd rather Kakashi have it then it going back to the damned clan anyway.
"Do you know why?" he asked in hopes that they would know. Both boys shook their heads and he knew, for sure, the only way he'd have given his sharingan away was if he had died.
So he really was dead then. No wonder the two brats didn't know who he was. Wow, that sucked. No wonder Minato had left. Knowing that he hadn't made it long enough to even meet the two boys left him stunned. To think that his counterpart never…never mind he wouldn't think about it right now.
He had so many questions. Minato needed to get his butt back now so that they could get all the details out of these boys. In the meantime he had to keep an eye on them. God help him if anything happened. Last time he had been told to keep an eye on them one had been kidnapped. That had not been good at all.
He briefly toyed with the idea of activating Minato's three-pronged kunai but decided against it. He would come back when he was ready. It wouldn't do to summon him when he wasn't expecting it.
"Alright, let's begin." The man spoke and he closed his eyes to begin the process of searching the dead's mind. The preparations had been long and hard especially considering the state that the body was in. Whatever had gotten to the body sure as hell made a mess of it.
His subordinates along with several medics had to piece the body back together; the most important part was re-attaching the head properly back onto the body. With the Uchiha clan in shame, there were no restrictions with what they could do to the body.
No one stood in the way; the only one who could was now the body that they were going to use. The Hokage had ordered Fugaku's body to be tested and his mind raided to find information. With all the mess going on, who knew what they would find in the man.
A/N:
I rewrote this damn chapter three times. I started it off with Naruto and Sasuke telling Obito what happened in their lives but then it just sounded so boring and blah blah so I deleted it and tried again but with the same results. Then I figured I'd go to Minato and let you guys in on what kinda happened with Kushina and Kakashi.
So I revealed stuff and hinted at stuff! Hope you like it; I really had trouble with this chapter. Thanks so much for reading everyone! XD