Chapter 2 – A Different Legend Begins
Minato eyed the scorched earth of the battlefield. The once lushly forested area was now barren, or it would be once the smoke dissipated and the bodies and their pieces were cleared from the landscape. The air stunk of sulfur, lightning, and loosened bowels, as only a battle ground filled with shinobi can. Shinobi, Minato thought, are the most destructive force in the universe; capable of destroying or creating mountain with just tiny finger flashes nothing on earth could cause as much damage. A memory of Tsunade-hime demolishing a four story building with a flick of her index finger during one of his early missions with Jiraiya-sensei suddenly came to him and he wished for a moment that she was here with him. Heck, he wished any of the Sannin were here, even the chill inducing Orochimaru, because if any of them were present he wouldn't have to be. He could instead be with his precious students, protecting them from harm.
Minato knew that Kakashi was a capable jounin. The boy was an exceptional shinobi, a genius, and Minato had complete faith in him as a ninja. But this was the first time Team Yellow Flash had been split up and he was having some separating anxiety. What if Obito refused to follow Kakashi's orders? What if Rin succumbed to her daydreams of Kakashi, as she had been prone to do as a genin, and failed to notice an enemy ninja? What if Kakashi decided to ignore his warning and used the as of yet incomplete chidori again? That was just crazy. Minato shook the worries from his mind. Obito would listen, Rin hadn't behaved so childishly in years, and Kakashi knew better. Right now he needed to focus on the battle in front of him, not the one miles away. If he didn't succeed in providing a distraction his team wouldn't be able to blow the bridge, and that would be disastrous.
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Kakashi was getting closer to the location of his teammates. He could smell that they were less than 100 feet away, and as he came abreast of the next hill, he noticed Obito squatting in the branches of a large oak tree peering into the cave that must contain Rin. What he also noticed, that Obito obviously didn't was the stone ninja hiding behind the well intentioned Uchiha. There was no time for a warning, the rock shinobi was moving in for the kill. With all the speed he could summon Kakashi pulled Sakumo's chakra blade and hurled himself at Obito's attacker. The lunge, lacking the usual precision and grace Hatake Kakashi was known for, failed to be a killing blow yet managed to knock the man down and prevent him from injuring the Uchiha.
"Kakashi? What are you doing here?" Obito sputtered out. Had Kakashi really just saved his life? Obito was torn between being grateful that his head was still attached to his body and disappointed that he needed saving again.
"I couldn't leave a cry baby like you to save Rin all by yourself."
The stone ninja perched on a tree branch across from them had recovered from the blow and was now leering at the leaf ninja.
"Impossible…. Konoha's White Fang?" the enemy shinobi gaped.
"That's my father."
At Kakashi's admission the stone nin smirked wickedly and then disappeared. Kakashi could neither see, hear, nor smell him. Obito looked around nervously, and suddenly Kakashi could smell their assailant. Right behind Obito!
"Obito! Behind you!" Kakashi threw his body at his teammate to knock him out of the way, inadvertently putting himself directly in line with the man's attack. His kunai cut through Kakashi's left eyelid and into the delicate orb beneath it. White hot searing pain shot through Kakashi's nerve receptors.
"Gyaah! My eye!" Kakashi's left hand flew up to cradle his eye socket, while his right found its way to the kunai his sensei had presented him with just a day earlier and flung it at his would be executioner. Obito looked at Kakashi in shock. He'd just lost his eye saving Obito yet again. Why did he always need saving? Wasn't he a ninja too? Why wasn't he capable of even the basic concepts? Staying alive should have been second nature to a ninja. Sure he talked big, yelling about how he was going to save Rin, but he'd already been saved twice and hadn't managed to do a thing. If Kakashi hadn't been there he would already be dead, and Rin right along with him. Why was he so useless? He was just a loud mouthed loser, incapable of saving anyone. But… I believe that the White Fang is a true hero… those who don't save their companions are even worse than trash…. His own words came back to echo through his brain. He didn't want them to be just words anymore. With all the determination he possessed Obito turned back to the battle.
"Die!" he shouted as he attacked the enemy ninja.
Kakashi watched as Obito ran his kunai through the still invisible ninja. The now gutted man quickly winked back into sight as he slumped to the ground on his knees. "How? I shouldn't… be seen," he gasped. "Those eyes?"
Kakashi looked up out of his right eye to see Obito's iris's turned crimson, with two tomoe revolving around the center pupil.
"You're eyes Obito!"
Obito stared ahead in amazement. "Yeah, it seems like the sharingan. I can see the chakra moving and flowing around."
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In the middle of the shunshin no jutsu Minato felt the surge of chakra that would alert him to the use of Kakashi's kunai. If their mission was going smoothly they should have just blown the bridge and gotten out of there. Kakashi shouldn't have had to use the kunai. Something was wrong, he could feel it. He had to finish here quickly. His team needed him.
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Kakashi and Obito entered the cave to see Rin crouched on her knees, her hands tied behind her back. Cuts and bruises mottled her face where she must have been beaten in attempts to get information about their mission. A lone enemy ninja stood beside her smirking at the two leaf shinobi, believing them to be harmless children. It was a shame for him that his assumption was incorrect. Obito's newly acquired sharingan whirled and he moved quicker then anyone's eyes could see to knock his opponent across the span of the cave, easily allowing Kakashi to cut the rope binding their teammate. Apparently too easily.
"Now you're right in my hands. Dolon iwo Yado Kuzushi!"
Suddenly the rocks inside the cave began falling from the ceiling. Rin, Kakashi, and Obito began to run for the exit, avoiding the stones as they fell around them. Unable to see out of his left eye Kakashi felt a blow to the side of his head and crumpled to the hard rock floor. Dust and debris clouded the air around them as larger and larger stones dislodged from the cave ceiling.
Obito looked up to see a large boulder about to land on Kakashi's sprawled out body. Without concern for his own safety Obito pushed Kakashi out of the way just as the rock crushed his own body beneath it.
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Minato flashed from the battlefield, rushing to the aid of his most precious people, a growing feeling of dread spreading through his entire being, hoping against hope that he wasn't too late.
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"Kakashi? Rin? Are you okay?' Obito gasped.
"Obito!" Kakashi screamed as the dust settled and he was able to take in the sight of his comrade stuck beneath the largest rock he'd ever seen. He ran to the boulder, gripping the jagged edge and futilely straining his muscles in an attempt to lift the enormous stone.
"Kakashi stop. It's ok. That's enough. Its over for me. My body is smashed."
"Obito! No!" Rin sobbed. "Why? You're going to be okay. We're going to get you out of here. It's going to be ok. We'll get you back to the hospital and Tsunade-hime is going to fix you up. Stop saying things like that."
Kakashi dropped to his knees and beat his fists against the floor. "This is my fault. If I'd just gone with you when you said we should go rescue Rin this wouldn't have happened. I'm the leader and I've failed. What kind of leader am I? What kind of jounin? I don't even deserve to be one."
"Stop Kakashi. Please. That's not true. Come here. I'm the only one who didn't give you a present at your jounin celebration. I was thinking… what would be good? And now I know… don't worry; it's not useless baggage, Kakashi. It's this sharingan of mine. The people of the village must be saying that you're a great jounin and that's how I feel too. Please accept it. Rin use your medical jutsu. Take it out and put it in Kakashi's left eye. The one he lost saving me."
Rin wiped the tears from her face, instantly all business. "Come here Kakashi. We have to do this quickly."
Minato arrived at the scene to see two of his students huddled around a giant boulder. Rocks precariously perched around them, ready to begin falling on their precious heads. What were they doing? Why didn't they get out of there? And then he saw it. Obito pinned under a gigantic rock, an excessive amount of blood dripping down his face. Shit! There was no way he could lift that monstrosity. Once again he wished for the presence of Tsunade-hime, and then he got an idea.
"Kakashi!" he shouted down into the collapsed hole. "Chidori! Rin get out of there!"
"I'm not fast enough sensei. I won't be able to get him out in time. The smaller rocks will crush him anyway," the young jounin looked up at Minato, mismatched eyes filled with anguish and despair.
"Do what I say Kakashi! And do it now!"
Kakashi loudly drew breath through his nose, and composed himself. With a mission to accomplish and orders given to him again he could focus his mind again. He was a jounin of the great hidden village of Konoha, and he needed to act like it. He nodded at Rin who took off running for the exit. He concentrated his chakra in the palm of his hand, drawing more and more through the tenketsu; the sound of a thousand birds filled the small cave. Lightning fast, Kakashi floated over the crumbling rocks as he brought his fist in contact with the offending piece of rubble. Chidori cleaved through the center of the rock, splitting it into two pieces that began to fall. And even as Kakashi was watching, the helpless Obito be crushed beneath them his body vanished, and then he too was abruptly removed from the cave.