A/N: Double Update pt 1.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 23 - Red and Black

Something was wrong.

Something had happened half a year ago to Obito, and she simply didn't know what. She didn't mind not knowing; if he wished to tell her then fine, if he wished to keep his secrets, she could accept it. She wanted to know, though, considering the shocking darkness that had taken residence in him after the Incident—and even now, she could still remember how panicked Minato had been when he relayed the events to her.

Outwardly he had been calm, as though speaking about the weather, but she could feel the agitation and worry ever-present.

Kushina frowned, glaring down at her half-finished seal. After a moment of contemplation, she set aside her brush and stood up, stretching out the kinks in her back with a relieved sigh. She headed out of her room, planning on getting some fresh air as she stewed in her thoughts.

The darkness in the Uchiha's eyes had never abated completely ever since the Incident half a year ago. She had been more than ecstatic when Minato suggested Obito move in with them, even if was only out of duty (since the boy no longer had an apartment, and due to the nature of what occurred it was highly likely landlords across Konoha would refuse him for a good while).

Kushina had never been a morning person, but after moving in with Minato, she had found a true joy in waking up with the sun. The feeling only increased when Obito moved in, for each morning she would see the boy (the shadows, the haunted, absent but unguarded gaze she would see as he shook off the last vestiges of sleep) she would also be privy to his changes. The way his eyes naturally brightened, his spirits seemed to lift whenever he saw Kushina and Minato setting up for breakfast, the way his shoulders would relax from their strain as though the weight of grief lifted with each interaction. The same could be said for dinner, and though the red-head hadn't cooked so religiously before, she had made a point to provide the boy with home-cooked meals at least four out of the seven days of the week whenever she was available, if just to see the light return to his eyes.

This set routine started changing, however, when Minato had decided it would be prudent to have her leave the house with him more often.

(And she had been beyond angry, utterly furious and wondering why, why he wanted to distance himself from his own student. Minato had only shook his head, fueling her ire, until she saw his eyes. The look he had—the haunted, sorrowful look that made her question why both her husband and Obito looked like that—prevented her from questioning further, and she had reluctantly acquiesced without another complaint.)

The red-head let out an aggrieved sigh as she walked out of the apartment, brow furrowing in pensive concentration. And then… More recently, that conversation.

Kushina was not a sensor. And yet, (while she was certain he hadn't even realized it) Minato had been releasing chakra waves of distress, and she had ultimately activated the privacy seals within their homely abode to keep from being disturbed. She had been more than a little shocked over her husband's worries, and though he hadn't overtly revealed anything major, she had learned much more in the span of thirty minutes then she had in half a year.

Minato felt like he had failed Obito. Something drastic had happened during their supposedly simple C-Rank, and for whatever reason, Minato was suspecting the young boy.

Kushina had gently told him exactly what she thought about that, giving her own opinion with advice that the blonde sorely needed. Because, for all the genius, experience and intelligence the man contained in spades, he still had his moments where the opinion of another was needed.

After their conversation, Minato had gone stock still, and she had looked at him with a frown, watching as the gears turned in his head. She tentatively asked him what was wrong, and had been rather shocked when he had all but demanded that he see the fox.

She didn't know why he did, but she had acquiesced anyway—protested when he said he wished to speak to it alone, but acquiesced anyway—and he entered her seal.

After all of a minute, she had begun to worry, only amplified when Minato suddenly drew back with wide eyes and labored breaths. Kushina fussed over him, asking if he was alright, if the fox had done anything to him, if he was going to be okay.

Instead, he looked down at the floor, eyes still-wide as he heaved breaths.

"Traveler…" He had mumbled, almost too quietly for her to hear. "The… The traveler… Obito, you really…"

And then, as though possessed, he had wandered away and shut himself in their room. Her worry for her husband was later abated when she caught snippets of his conversation with Obito when the latter returned home (she felt her eavesdropping was valid, and not rude at all in this case) but she had still been left with ample confusion.

The red-head walked down the steps and descended to the street, heading towards the shopping district with her mind still wandering.

She didn't… She still didn't quite understand what was going on, but she could tell that something far greater than a "minor change" had occurred. Because beyond even that ever-present darkness she had seen in Obito, there was a determined, almost fierce urge to protect. Kushina had the distinct feeling that Obito felt he had to protect them, all of them, for some reason besides what was considered normal for a teenaged boy.

Because even with the darkness she often saw in his eyes, the sorrow, the occasional happiness… The only feeling that was constantly there, in his chakra, in his eyes, in his very soul was that protective spark. The love he felt for them. But it was always so, so…

Lonely.

To say that Kushina didn't like how things seemed to be spiraling out of control would be a vast understatement. She liked that about as much as she liked the almost deliberate distance, whether instinctual or on purpose, Obito had seemed to place between himself and the people that cared for him.

The fact was, she didn't have the full story. She had no intention on pursuing it, for she didn't wish to pressure the boy; she could wait for him to make the decision of telling her. But she still wanted him to trust her, to trust them.

After all, they were all there for him if he ever needed him, but… He didn't seem to understand that.

The sky was a brilliant shade of deep, summer blue, contrasting with the sparse but stark-white tufts of clouds spread across the expanse.

The wind was crisp and fresh, a cooling relief against the season's natural heat. Though he sat within the safe confines of the building, he could see the powerful rays of the summer sun reflect off of the surface of the pond across the way of the garden, ensconced in tasteful shrubbery and ornaments in the garden, adjusted to provide ample space for a Shinobi's purpose of training without needing to worry about ruining the scenery or destroying the tōrō structures.

It was a beautiful day.

Too much to be spending it in the Uchiha Compound.

Obito sighed, staring blankly to his left at the quaint, well-kept garden from the room he had been escorted to, the tatami doors settled to the sides and inviting the fresh breeze to circulate. He had been notified by an Uchiha messenger that Fugaku wished to speak with him, and though being informed that the clan leader had some business with Obito was much less worrisome than hearing that the elders wished to speak with him, it was still unnerving nonetheless.

Just the other day he had come to his resolution. He had spent enough time readjusting to this time, regaining his strength and previous abilities, and now it was time to finally act. In that regard, this impromptu meeting with the clan head was completely unexpected and unwanted, but he couldn't simply brush off the request—no matter how much he may've wished.

The time-traveler blinked and immediately shifted his posture, fixing his legs under him in a seiza position as the doors to his right slid open.

"I apologize for the delay," Fugaku greeted, bowing his head slightly in greeting as he stepped into the room. His arms were kept under the sleeves of his kimono, as usual. "I was delayed, unfortunately, and I had not fully expected you to respond to my request so quickly."

Obito's eyelid twitched. "That's fine. What was it that you needed?"

The clan leader sat down across from the other, his usual countenance enigmatic with the exception of the ever present frown lines on his visage. His brow was knit ever so slightly, indicating distress or discontent. "… I called you here to discuss about Itachi."

Obito was thankful for the lack of drawn out platitudes, but he didn't appreciate the fact that the older man refused to simply get to the point. He narrowed his eyes slightly and inclined his head, urging the clan head to elaborate.

"The clan," Fugaku began after a moment, and Obito observed a certain tightness form around the man's eyes, "wishes for Itachi to enter the Academy after his 5th birthday."

"… I see," The time traveler replied simply, his fists clenching on his lap. He was surprised to a certain degree, though he didn't outwardly show it. He knew that Itachi had been young when he entered the Academy, but he didn't know the boy was that young.

The clan leader shook his head, his frown deepening. "The Elders have expressed their hopes that, as Itachi's mentor, you would take him out into the field during your team's next excursion to experience what true war is like."

'This must have been what I overheard,' Obito thought wryly with a hint of disgust, his thoughts trailing. He frowned, realizing that this could very well have been how four-year-old Itachi had gained the Sharingan before. He had always heard about it, but he hadn't been too involved with the clan heir—after all, he was merely the black sheep. All he knew was that Itachi had first activated his Sharingan during the war… But was this truly what the council did?

They threw him, a four-year-old, out into the middle of the battlefield?

And as far as he knew, Itachi didn't have any sort of "mentor" previously. No doubt, the boy was literally assigned to a random Genin or Chūnin team and forced out into the wild with his meagre clan training.

"… What are you asking?" Obito inquired lightly, wresting himself from his thoughts. Fugaku wasn't telling him this just to keep him in the know, he was looking for something. Obito just didn't know what, yet.

Fugaku shook his head, a harsh expression in place. "That's what I wish to know. They have demanded that you comply to their request, but as head I refuse to do so as well. You are an Uchiha of blood and they therefore feel that you must obey, but I realize that you are also an outlier that they cannot legally command." His dark eyes shone with a calculating gleam. "I wish to know what it is that you intend on doing."

Obito went silent, gauging the man before him. Uchiha Fugaku, while having been blind in his last years of life previously, was no fool. It was no expression of pride that Obito think this, but the Uchiha blood held natural intelligence and an aptness for strategies, whether on the battlefield or the political realm. Just as they were proficient and powerful weavers of Genjutsu, they could cast shadows of doubt to sway the offending party to their own cause, if the situation called for it.

The fact that Fugaku presented his goal so blatantly would be a cause for alarm to most, but Obito was different. While he hadn't gotten to know the man on a personal level, he could at least see that he had earned the man's obeisance, and that within itself was something he felt should be returned in kind with his own, honest opinion.

"… I mean no offense, Fugaku," he started finally, watching in slight bemusement as that man's eye twitched from the casual address. They were mentally around the same age after all, and the man did level a playing field where they were on even terms. "… But your son is four. Prodigious clan heir with immense potential he may be, to push an impressionable child out into the field of war is foolish with many risks. Itachi is my student and your son, and the future of this clan. If the council was more worried about their future leader's well-being as opposed to their gaudy show of pride and power, then I might have considered it." He shrugged. "As it stands, I refuse to comply with their wishes. Frankly, they can shove their 'demands' up their ass with the damn pole occupying it."

Fugaku's lip twitched upwards a fraction—Obito knew he saw it, the faint hint of amusement. "… You are very certain of this."

The time traveler nodded his head. "Yeah." And it was true, he was. He didn't even need to contemplate the subject, since from both an emotional or objective standpoint the very idea was foolish.

"… About the Elders…"

Obito lifted an eyebrow at the decidedly uncertain expression on the usually dauntless leader's face. "What happened?"

After a moment, Fugaku shook his head. "… It does not matter, at the moment. I shall… Deal with it." Obito wasn't given a chance to try and figure out what the man was planning on "dealing" with, for he continued speaking. "That is besides the point. Now that I have heard your answer, there is one more matter I would like to get to before you leave."

The clan leader closed his eyes, and Obito watched as the minor signs of tensing slowly ebbed away from the man's mien. When he looked back up and opened his eyes, Obito coiled in half-expectation of seeing the blazing red of Sharingan in the place of onyx.

"Have you ever wondered why, exactly, I requested that you be Itachi's teacher? Why I asked you to oversee my son's training?"

Obito considered the question as he held the man's gaze. He hadn't exactly wondered all that much, as he had quickly come to his own conclusions—he had shown a certain level of mastery over his Sharingan, and being the "black sheep" it was highly unlikely that anyone besides Fugaku could manipulate Itachi through him. He nodded, anyway.

After a brief moment, Fugaku turned to the open garden, his otherwise unreadable eyes betraying a wistful gleam. "Itachi… Even in infancy, he had shown signs of intelligence well beyond his years. The moment he was born, he did not cry, like most newborns. His eyes were wide and assessing—like that of a lion stalking, observing its prey—as he watched his surroundings and the people around him." He released a sigh, a faint tremble hidden in the quick exhale. "You know how the Elders can sometimes behave. They want respect, they want prestige, and most of all, they want power."

Obito, questioning where Fugaku was going with this conversation, only nodded.

"It has always been a worry of mine, of Mikoto's. As the firstborn of the clean head, Itachi had more eyes on him of the calculating variety than any parent would ever want. And yet, as the leader of the Uchiha, I had a responsibility to the clan—to my family, to my wife and son certainly, but to the clan as well. They wished to exploit Itachi's genius and push him to great heights, all in order to elevate the Uchiha status." His eyes dimmed slightly. "… I could not, can not refuse them."

Fugaku turned back to Obito. "That did not mean that I could not take certain measures against them, that I could not exploit certain loopholes they unwittingly provided. They wished for a killer, a powerful tool to be used by the clan. They wanted Itachi to be placed under the tutorship of an experienced Shinobi, one who could introduce Itachi to the truths of our vocation and groom him to be the perfect, charismatic heir. For my son, for the born genius that had a target on his back the moment he was born… I wanted him to have someone wise and powerful to instruct him, yes. But I also wanted him to have someone he could look up to. Someone that could understand him, guide him, protect him from the clan and its tainted ideals." He paused, closing his eyes before shaking his head. "Our tainted ideals."

Obito eyed the Uchiha leader warily. It was never a good sign when an Uchiha was this open with his or her thoughts—he would know. "… I… I am thankful you chose me, which I expressed the day you proposed this idea." He paused, frowning at the distinctly (and strangely) emotional yet formal air. "But, if I may, is there a purpose to…?"

His wariness only grew at the small hints of wry amusement that graced Fugaku's face. "At first, I had been wary. Certainly, you were the primary choice, with your full mastery of the dōjutsu and disconnection from the clan's rules. But I was still unsure."

"When we had first met years ago, I thought you were nothing but an immature nuisance that tainted the Uchiha name, a foolish disgrace without an ounce of hope for improvement." Obito's hand twitched at the blatant, rather rude comment, but remained quiet. "I thought that you would prove to be a brash and insufferable brat at an older age, incapable of doing the most menial of tasks, and I admit that I feared this behavior would reflect on my son."

A few moments of silence passed before the time traveler realized Fugaku was waiting for an outward response. There really wasn't much he could reply with; if he were to be completely honest he preferred his own childish antics to the pole-up-ass syndrome that most of the Uchiha had… But there was an element of truth to the man's words. So, Obito nodded.

He tensed when the clan leader laughed, something so outlandish and strange that Obito struggled to keep the incredulous look off of his face. Though it was a subdued sort of laugh, sounding more like a quiet huff, the mirth in Fugaku's eyes was unmistakable. "This is precisely what changed my view of you. You had proven your knowledge, true aptitude, and much wiser outlook to me. You may not have been a born genius, but you are someone that has an uncanny understanding of what goes on around yourself, offensively and politically, to a degree that could rival most if not all Jōnin. It is precisely because you are not a genius, however, that makes you the perfect teacher and role model for my son." By now, Fugaku's expression had settled back into his usual, impassive gaze, though it was clearly without the condescension that Obito knew the man was capable of. "You are not a power-hungry elder looking for a new tool to your arsenal. You are not an ignorant boy with too much power and responsibility. And you are most certainly not a weak child that is far too reliant on others. Instead, you are someone whose knowledge and actions speak of experience and hard work, as opposed to inherent genius."

His eyes held a glint of strange, unequivocal understanding, and Obito couldn't help but wonder if somehow, the man knew. It was an impossible thought, and quickly dismissed.

"You are someone that could guide Itachi in the practical, Shinobi-applied arts, of course, but also in living a fulfilling life. That was my main purpose in appointing you as Itachi's teacher. For all of his prodigious tendencies, the boy needs someone to look up to that will allow him to behave as the child he is, not a teacher looking to train the next weapon of the Uchiha clan."

Obito stared at the clan leader with an impassive gaze, but inwardly was a different story.

He had made plans for Itachi and Shisui previously, thinking he could train them and use them for his ambitions. At the time, he hadn't really considered it, and at this point, he had completely forgotten about that idea until now.

They were young, that much was obvious. The fact that Uchiha Fugaku understood this, the man that Obito had once thought was a major instigator of the Uchiha's foolish coup, made the choice simple enough. Besides, he had been planning on embarking on this endeavor on his own when he made his decision, and even if he did acquiesce to taking Itachi with him on his next mission, and said mission happened to be the Kannabi Bridge one… The boy would be little help, at this point.

He would not involve Uchiha Itachi or Uchiha Shisui in his scheme.

The time traveler blinked, realizing that the clan head was staring at him. "Well, er… I… I don't really know what to say, to be honest." He scratched the back of his head as the full weight of the Fugaku told him slammed into him. "I appreciate the praise, Fugaku-san, thank you. I will continue doing my best to teach Itachi."

Obito himself didn't catch his accidental change of address this time, but Fugaku did, his eyes holding faint amusement. "… Well, I'd prefer if you didn't continue teaching my son the more colloquial terms that are apparently in your vocabulary."

Obito paled.

Fugaku stood up, turning to walk towards the engawa. "It is unnecessary for the heir of the clan to have such words in his arsenal at this age." He paused just before he disappeared past the shoji screen, inclining his head slightly. "Thank you for your time, Obito. I must be going now, please see yourself out."

And then he left.

"… Hell." Obito mumbled irritably, standing up to leave. The minute twitch of his mouth belied his ire, and he shook his head.

They were worth protecting too, he realized.