The formatting on this site makes me want to cry so PLEASE come over to ao3. It's just better over there.

Obito heaves in a breath and tries to force away the doubt that settles in his stomach.

He wants to save Rin. He will save Rin. But that doesn't make him any less terrified. He's just a Chuunin, an unremarkable Uchiha, a shinobi who cries too easily and feels too much. He's not brave like Tenzou or as strong as Kakashi, but he has to try.

Tenzou is tense beside him, as is Kakashi on his other side of the tree branch.

Kakashi's face is slightly ashen in a way that almost makes Obito want to stop everything and force him to lie down or something equally ridiculous.

He hated Kakashi for a while. Because Kakashi was rude, and Obito kept jumping to the bait, but since he's heeded Kushina's advice and tried to understand him, he can see all too well.

Kushina says Kakashi isn't really like that, always rude and distrustful. He's adjusting, finding his place in a world that isn't so nice after all. It may not excuse Kakashi's behaviour, it just makes Obito all the more determined to make sure Kakashi gets out of this rut.

Tenzou sends them both worried glances but he's determined, that much Obito can tell.

He's probably still a little shaken from all the yelling Obito had done before and the prospect that they were possibly just walking away from one of the first friends he's ever made.

He'll make sure to treat them both to lunch when they get back to Konoha.

Tenzou seems to snap out of whatever was bothering so immensely, and he glares at the cave entrance as though it has personally offended him.

"I can sense their chakras," Tenzou explains, and tucks a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "There are definitely two other shinobi, and Rin too."

Kakashi hums in agreement, and sniffs the air experimentally. "It's definitely the same two as before as well."

Obito takes another breath, and braces himself. If he's ever going to become a decent shinobi, he needs to follow through with what he says. He's not leaving a friend behind. They will save Rin.

"If we get one to come out here, it'll be easier to handle," Obito says. "They're probably Jounin right? And we're inexperienced in comparison…" he trails off, losing his nerve. He's not the genius here and none of them have anywhere near enough experience to claim they really know what they're doing either.

"That's probably for the best," Tenzou says.

Kakashi flexes his wounded shoulder that Rin had healed, and the pain that jolts through him serves to only steel his resolve.

"So, how do you want to get their attention without making it obvious that that's our plan" Obito says and glances between Tenzou and Kakashi.

Kakashi stills for a moment and something flickers across his gaze that he can't name.

He reaches up and Obito is about to ask what he's doing when wacks him upside the head hard enough that the sound echoes around the trees. Obito has to slam and hand over his mouth to stop himself from squawking.

Tenzou jerks next to him, snorts, and then panics and covers his own mouth.

Obito looks up at Kakashi and rubs the spot that's actually stinging even through cloth, but his resentment dies in his throat.

Kakashi is smiling. It's far from perfect, starting from the fact that cloth is covering his mouth, but Obito can see the curve of his eyes, the creases in the mask and the tease behind it.

Finally, Kakashi is acting like his usual, terrible self.

Obito grins, hard and fierce and flicks Kakashi's forehead.

Tenzou huffs from behind them and tugs a strand of Obito's hair. "Get ready," he says.

They stay crouched, watching the cave entrance for movement. Tenzou hisses next to him and whips his head to face them, "the camouflage – "

The shinobi that had grabbed Rin appears behind him.

They all whip around, Obito pulls out a kunai and deflects the shinobi's own strike. The force throws him off kilter enough that he stumbles. Branches wrap around his waist and push him back to his feet. Obito spares Tenzou a thankful glance and ducks as Kakashi volts over him and swings his tanto.

The blade strikes the shinobi, and blood sprays from the wound. Kakashi lands neatly in front of Tenzou, crouched and shifting from foot to foot slightly.

The shinobi lands on the next thick branch and stares open mouthed for a moment and then speaks, voice coming out low and tinted with an edge of fear. "White hair… that chakra blade… are you the 'white Fang' of Konoha?"

Kakashi shrugs noncommittedly and jerks the tanto in his hand slightly, as if beckoning the shinobi on. "His son," Kakashi says.

The shinobi's face twists, and pulls into a snarl "heh, no need to worry then." He holds up two fingers to his lips and moulds into the surroundings.

Kakashi stands up and they all press their backs against each other. Tenzou presses his palm against the ground and frowns.

Kakashi sniffs the air, "there's no scent, we have to listen for any movement."

Tenzou hums low in acknowledgement before his eyes widen. He jerks upright and whispers harshly, "above!"

Obito curses to himself. The Iwa-nin leaps from above, he slices the kunai down as he lands.

For a moment everything is silent and Obito considers that maybe the shinobi missed. But the silence is shattered as the shinobi snarls again.

Kakashi's hand flies up to his face and he lists backwards, Obito darts across and throws his arms out. He catches Kakashi and he jerks in his hold and groans.

Obito feels the panic rising like a tsunami, but the rage, cold and icy that burns through his veins overrides any other emotion.

He grips Kakashi in his arms, looks at the blood that streaming from his face like red tears and he lets himself get angry.

He looks up in time to see Tenzou slam the shinobi into the tree trunk with enough force to break bones and growl – growl – at the man.

Obito lowers Kakashi to the lay on the branch and stands.

The shinobi disappears again and Tenzou whips his head around frantically. He looks at Kakashi and stills, his whole body tensing. One hundred emotions flicker across his face. Tenzou looks up at him and his face is bloody and he's gripping his deep cut on his arm.

There's tears on Obito's cheeks and he blinks them away furiously. He can't keep relying on other people to save him. Kakashi is the one that needs saving now. There's no time for unnecessary tears.

The kunai is cold in his hand. A wave of calm washes over him. He's still furious but suddenly he doesn't feel so useless.

There's a movement of air behind him and Obito spins around. And slams the kunai forward. The kunai bites through flesh, warm blood soaks his skin and shinobi's camouflage jutsu dissipates.

The Iwa-nin looks down at him, face etched into confusion. He gasps out a syllable before Obito tears the kunai out and the shinobi lists to the side.

Kakashi makes a shocked, choked noise behind him along with Tenzou's quiet gasp.

Obito's vision clears, like he's seeing for the first time. He blinks and turns around.

Tenzou has Kakashi's head in his lap and Kakashi's eye widens and he grunts out "your eyes, Obito..."

Obito blinks again, and sees the chakra flowing through Kakashi, wild yet calm, electric yet smooth. Tenzou's chakra blooms like a flower, flows gently and feels unspeakably calm against his senses.

The Sharingan.

"Oh," is all Obito says and holds his hand out, staring at it. "I have the sharingan."

Kakashi grunts again and it forces Obito out of his daze.

Sharingan is the not the priority right now.

Tenzou works at prying Kakashi's hand from his face and he slowly complies. There is long, deep gash running from just passed his eyebrow to his cheekbone across the eyelid and the eye is shut.

"My eye isn't working," Kakashi grits out.

Tenzou lets go of Kakashi's hand in favour of fishing for bandages in one of his pouches. Obito slips his hand under Kakashi's back and eases him upright.

Tenzou works at wiping the blood away from the wound and disinfecting it as best as the situation allows.

"I'm all done, Obito," Tenzou says and hands the bandages over to him.

The next few moments are spent in silence as Obito bandages up Kakashi's face. The end result isn't pretty. The bandages bulge from Kakashi's face and spike his hair at all the wrong angles. What's available of Kakashi's face is almost as white as the bandages aside from the smears of dirt.

Kakashi looks up at Tenzou then and raises his only visible eyebrow. Tenzou stares back, mattered hair falling into his face.

"Tenzou, you're bleeding too," Kakashi says.

Obito quickly reaches over and moves to wipe the blood of Tenzou's face. Tenzou stills under his touch obligingly.

Kakashi busies himself cleaning the wound on Tenzou's arm, patting it gently when he finishes.

They pack away the bandages and Tenzou glances back at the dead shinobi behind them. "Rin is waiting," he says.

Obito smiles and stands up, holding out his hands. Tenzou grasps one and Kakashi grasps the other and they pull themselves up.

Obito just killed someone. But it comes with the job. He needs to get over it.

He activates his sharingan and forces himself to look back at the body. There is no chakra, just a blank abyss and it feels wrong. So, so wrong.

Tenzou taps his shoulder in a comforting way that Obito has come to know from him and he turns back to face them.

Tenzou and Kakashi both look at him, their faces are blank. As probably as blank as Obito's own. They're shinobi. This is their life. They need to own it.

"Let's not keep her waiting then," Obito says, failing to hide the snark in his voice.

Obito can do this. With these friends, they'll save Rin. The other Jounin won't know what hit him.

Tenzou blinks to adjust his vision to the darkness of the cave. He sticks to Kakashi's left side, prepared to compensate for his sudden loss of vision. The air in the cave is sticky and hot, sweat drips down his face.

This is a real mission, Tenzou thinks as he spots Rin at the back of the cave. These are real stakes.

He tucks a strand of tangled hair behind his ear and he sends his most vicious glare at the shinobi standing between them and Rin.

The shinobi gives him a long stare that Tenzou's not sure what to make of. Tenzou brushes his hair over his shoulder and tilts his head, edging him on. Kushina said he looked 'unnerving' when he did that, and he should most definitely use it to his advantage.

The shinobi takes a step back and then stops himself, cursing. Tenzou grins at the small victory.

"Rin's chakra," Obito starts, and frowns, "it's disturbed. It's not like any of ours."

Kakashi leans back to look at them both, "she must be under a Genjutsu. They wasted no time trying to get information from her."

They eye the shinobi in front of them and he tilts his head, cracking joints, and they all tense. Kakashi reaches behind him, gripping the tanto but not unsheathing it. Obito's sharingan flare to life and Tenzou falls into a familiar defensive stance.

Rin doesn't even twitch, which means what Kakashi said is likely to be true.

The shinobi darts forward and they pounce at each other. The Shinobi whips out long knives on either hand and swipes. Obito jumps over the blades and lands on his hands, going straight into a roll.

Kakashi meets the Iwa-nin's blades with his own and is forced back. He ducks under the shinobi's arm as he swings at Obito.

Tenzou comes from the side and throws himself onto his hands. He spins, and manages to strike the shinobi in the face. The stumbles and regains his footing but not quick enough to avoid the slice of Kakashi's tanto across his shoulder.

He snarls and jumps over Obito's next attack, spinning neatly mid-air and landing behind him. He kicks out and Tenzou is only just able to avoid it.

Obito charges at the shinobi just as he crosses his arms over swings them out, aiming for Obito's neck like scissors.

Obito bends back, head almost touching the ground and Kakashi runs forwards. The shinobi brings his arms back in, this time aiming for Kakashi.

Obito leans back on one hand, throws his legs up and knocks the shinobi's arms away from Kakashi.

Tenzou pulls the strongest vines he can muster from the earth, and they wrap around the shinobi, tightening hard enough that the shinobi cries out. Kakashi reaches the shinobi and slices down through vulnerable flesh.

The momentum carries him over the shinobi and he lands one foot on the shinobi's back and vaults off.

Obito rolls out of the way and Tenzou uses the vines to slam the Iwa-nin into the dirt.

Obito and Kakashi charge over to Rin and Tenzou remains rooted to the spot. The shinobi is still an enemy and there's no way in hell he's leaving his, or his comrades backs bare to him.

He pulls more roots from the ground and they wrap around the shinobi, immobilising him.

He looks over at his friends and can't help his small smile as Rin grins back at him.

They saved Rin. They succeeded.

They walk up to him and Obito marvels at the vines holding the shinobi down, wrapping an arm around Tenzou's shoulders. Kakashi nods at him, his eye curving in a small, hesitant but genuine smile of his own.

Rin pulls Kakashi forward and nudges Obito and Tenzou forward with her shoulder. "Sorry about that boys," she says, as they walk out of the cave into the sun. "Looks like we can start the mission now."

Obito breathes in the fresh air and nods. "Let's make Kushina and Minato-sensei proud."

They dart off into the trees and Tenzou pulls his mind to the present. He saved Rin. He was able to make a difference. He was able to help. He savours the feeling of been useful, of having value. He savours his team's smiles, their conversations, their laughter.

He's never had a team before. He's never had friends before, but Tenzou might have finally found some.

And some pretty special ones, it seems.

It's late but I got excited and wanted to post this as soon as I was finished! I'll go over any mistakes in the morning XD

Also, I remembered that Tenzou doesn't have his face plate (bc he obv didn't have it with oro) should I write how he ends up with the faceplate or not bother? Have our boy wear a normal forehead protector? Pls share your thoughts!

50 subscribers to this story?! Thank you! God, I hope you guys like this chapter, it hurt my brain writing it lol.