Posted: 7 August 2017
More than a year later and I am finally updating this work. Thank you for those who have reviewed and favorited since my absence. It was a joy to read everyone's comments and I hope you find this collection of specials enjoyable and a pleasant addition to the story, which had been notes I jotted down but never actually wrote.
IMPORTANT: Series Revamped! I was not too happy with everything I wrote for this story, which had been a random idea I made up on the spot. This is mainly why I stopped writing it, but a few weeks ago, I re-read the entire story and realized I could fix what I hated. So from chapters 1-17, I have either corrected mistakes or improved certain scenes to my satisfaction, and chapters 12 and 14 have been completely rewritten. Obito had the most edits to his character, while Kakashi is pretty much the same.
Toying With The Past Is What We Do
Specials Collection
I
Chapter One Alternate Perspective
In the night sky, somewhere above Konohagakure, a black hole opens and ejects a body, which shouts an expletive as it lands painfully on the concrete below. All in the village remain none the wiser, the hole having closed seconds after releasing its baggage.
Obito snarls as he rolls off his back and onto his feet, activating his Mangekyō Sharingan and about to prepare his fists for a fight.
But then he feels a sudden breeze where there should never be a breeze. Obito quickly glances down and lets out the most embarrassed and stupefied scream he ever has. He retrieves his fallen frayed pants, looking around him and dearly hoping not to meet anyone's eyes.
He is alone.
That could have been humiliating… well, more humiliating…
He soon processes what he saw on himself.
Obito swiftly tugs at his pants to peer down, noting three things.
He is a child.
He is fully human again.
And… he is a boy with all his organs intact.
…This body may take some time getting used to again.
II
Goggles
When Kakashi sees his time-travelling partner on their second day in the past, he blurts out, "Where are your goggles?"
Immediately after asking the question, he mentally slaps his forehead.
He already knows the answer.
The Uchiha is wearing his typical Academy attire, the orange and blues seeming duller than he remembered. The discrepancy in his memories attests to how he views this older, jaded Obito compared to the younger. The goggles were once a testament to Obito's sacrifice and heroism, and that they are missing has Kakashi regarding the goggles as a manifestation of Obito's purity, before the Uchiha curse had taken hold.
It only makes sense he would leave the goggles at his apartment, maybe even throw them away.
"I don't need them," Obito promptly replies, indifferent, "so I chucked 'em."
Kakashi should reprimand him for not maintaining appearances, but honestly…
He has never been so glad to not see those damn goggles.
III
Hospital Scare
Kakashi is unconcerned when Obito is absent from the Academy that morning, a week after their arrival from the future.
He suspects the man must be under a lot of stress.
The war prevented much, if any self-reflection besides the usual decision making of which side they belonged to or which jutsu to use for a counterattack. For Obito, who had been the true enemy working in the shadows since his supposed death, there had been no chance to truly reflect on the death and destruction he had caused. He had transitioned to an ally, officially reclaiming his name and fighting against Madara, and then Kaguya.
But psychologically, there was no substantial change.
Kakashi thought, maybe Obito was finally having his vastly needed introspection.
(This was a few weeks before he knew it would be years, maybe even never, before Obito would feel grief and regret over the people he manipulated and murdered. Kakashi was strangely okay with that. He guessed it was because he still blamed himself for leading his friend straight into Madara's clutches, however unknowing or unwilling Kakashi had been.)
When the clock nears noon, Kakashi's heightened hearing catches the words "hospital" and "Uchiha" from two gossiping sensei, and when Obito is the only Uchiha currently attending the Academy, Kakashi has the right to panic and skip the rest of his classes, to rush towards the hospital.
Obito had been acting oddly the last few days. He was unusually temperamental, snapping at Kakashi with little provocation, and fatigued, sleeping through class like his old child self, which of course didn't bother anyone but Kakashi.
There was also the severe headaches Obito waved off, convincing him it was nothing to worry about.
Now, sprinting to the hospital and asking for Obito's location, all Kakashi could imagine was their future bleeding into the past, Obito suffering injuries from the rockfall but without the Hashirama's cells to keep him whole and breathing, and if he himself would soon have a scar over his right eye again. And the headaches… what if Obito is losing his eyesight, or worse, already blind?
The second he gets the room number, he sprints off again. Had he recognized the area was for non-emergency patients only, he would not have slammed the door open, indenting a sizable impression into the wall.
"Obito!" he cries out, aggrieved, expecting his worst nightmare and memory turned real for a second time.
The scene he arrives at, however, has him sinking to his knees, speechless.
…
…
Obito was eating.
Eating.
Not dying of injuries.
Just eating.
The man in a boy's body had three trays of food around him, five empty ones stacked at the foot of the bed. Munch, munch, munch, he heard as Obito masticated faster than Naruto slurping up his ramen.
With barely a glance at him, Obito greets him with a stuffed mouth, "Yo, 'Kashi!"
"What the hell is going on?" His head is already hurting.
What had he been so worried about again?
Obito swallows and picks up a dango stick. "Funny thing, that. Apparently, the Mangekyō still can't blind me, but if I don't eat, I starve." He clears the stick before continuing, "So either Hashirama's cells still influence certain factors, or," he cleared another stick, "my Sharingan and blindness are not correlated. Either way," and there goes another stick, "I need to eat regularly now. I'll end up here again, otherwise," and another, "not that I mind. I forgot how delicious all this food was."
Kakashi rubs his face, his chest bubbling with a desire to cry or laugh, maybe both.
Obito had been unknowingly starving himself because he never had a necessity for nourishment after his body was reinvented.
He isn't suffering.
He isn't dying.
And Kakashi is an idiot.
Instead of crying or laughing, Kakashi steals one of Obito's plates of okonomiyaki, unrepentant even as Obito protests.
He ran all the way here.
He deserves some of this buffet.
Obito can deal with it.
IV
Granny Alert!
Obito is antsy, his hands shaking and eyes darting to civilians walking by him and ignoring the struggling old woman, overloaded with several bags of groceries.
Surely one of these random people have the conscience to help her.
He had abandoned his own conscience a long time ago, had even unleashed the Kyūbi on Konoha without worrying if the Bijū crushed all senior citizens he had aided as a child. Pre-Madara Uchiha Obito died under the avalanche. He cannot adopt that role again just for one petite old lady. It would be lying to himself and those he had helped, who simply saw an innocent child possessing great compassion.
The old woman takes a couple more steps, only to gradually collapse under the weight, falling to her knees. Obito watches this with rising tension, irritated to the point of simmering anger when everyone snubs her, some accelerating their gait after squinting down at her.
Maybe…
Kakashi did say this was like a second chance.
Would it really be so bad, being even a little helpful occasionally?
The old woman readies for a second attempt, but Obito's legs jolt him forward before he could convince himself to dismiss the situation at hand.
(He is aloof, not heartless, Obito rationalizes.)
He swiftly snatches the grocery bags, sliding the handles down to his forearms and then lending a hand for her to accept. Obito is surprised when she says, "Your help is always appreciated, Obito-kun."
Shit.
She knows his name.
What is her name?
Shit.
"You are sturdier each time I see you," she continues teasingly, her delicate fingers curling around his right bicep and squeezing.
Obito nearly stumbles, tickled by the unfamiliar sensations on his right side the old woman has kindled.
He is momentarily blindsided by it, but not because of the startling sensitivity. He has the unexpected epiphany regarding the bodies he and Kakashi now have. He assumed they had replaced their past selves, but if that had been true, they would have awoken in their beds, not dropped from the sky. If their adult bodies had reverted to past conditions, then…
And yet, he is strong, physically. The old woman is correct. Obito is far stronger than a six-year-old should be, than a human should be, and with his chakra still massive and consumed by darkness, this kiddy body should have given out weeks ago.
"Obito-kun?"
Awareness returns to him, disrupting his jumbled analysis.
He and the old woman are standing in front of a house, her house.
Memories, suppressed or forgotten, had piloted his body, it seems.
"Forgive me, Shimazawa-san. It was a rough day at the Academy," he lies.
Shimazawa.
That is her name.
She also passes away in five years, in her sleep.
He had gone to her funeral.
He had cried.
"I know just the thing to cheer you up."
Obito waits in her kitchen to soon receive a pink sucker.
He stares at the candy pinched between her fingers with his hand held out between them.
Brimming inside his chest… it is…
Affection.
Like with Rin.
Like with Kakashi
With a small, content smile, Obito accepts the sucker.
…It is strawberry flavored.
(Obito never hesitates to help the elderly again.)
V
Too Young To Buy
It is here!
Still in its infancy and not yet fanatically popular, but still here and still on the front shelf with colorful pointer signs.
Kakashi presses his face against the glass of the bookstore. Had he been an adult, passing women would have probably sneered or yelled at him for his supposed perverted ways. Which is ridiculous! He is no pervert, he just… appreciates the classics and- and- and art!
(It is beautiful, beautiful art.)
As a kid, he is looking just like a kid. Bonus!
A five-year-old cannot be accused of such dreadful lies… hopefully.
He glances behind himself, paranoid.
No one.
He is safe.
Kakashi then turns his gaze onto the "eighteen and older" sign and stares.
Oh.
Right…
He begins to weep.
…Never mind.
His age is not a bonus. It's a tragic curse!
(Kakashi never notices an employee pausing in his sorting to raise an eyebrow at him. Weird kid.)
Wait!
The waterfall of tears dries up.
He can steal a volume!
Well, Kakashi would never steal, but Obito, not only does he possess Kamui, the man's ethics are skewed enough to steal for him.
It is a perfect plan!
…
In the end, after explaining the contents of Icha Icha, Obito says a resounding, "No."
…Meanie.
VI
Hatake, Uchiha
Sakumo is unsure how to react when he receives a scroll by a Chūnin messenger, the Hokage's seal stamped on the middle.
He had not been ignorant to his son's genius in the shinobi arts, aware of Kakashi's knowledge and skill surpassing his classmates, and then there was his boredom with classes and simplistic, time-consuming homework. So he had anticipated the document of a scheduled graduation test for his son – he just didn't expect to get one so soon. He wondered why Kakashi would want this though, considering he finally found a friend.
Uchiha Obito, although mentally questionable, was the only person near Kakashi's age to bring him out of his isolation. His son looked so happy with Obito, and at first, he thought Kakashi had his first crush, but there was something deeper, more convoluted reflected in his eyes. Nothing resembling infatuation, more like… desperation and relief. Kakashi always watched Obito with a twitchy hand, as if frightened by the prospect of Obito suddenly disappearing, and eased when his friend remained beside him.
His son's perplexing blend of emotions has begun to subside, but Sakumo has yet to discover why Kakashi had them in the first place. This is not the only strange development with his son, but it is the most concerning.
The haughtiness his son once displayed also seemed to vanish overnight, replaced by an easygoing attitude Sakumo could explain away by Kakashi's boredom with the Shinobi Academy and Obito's influence.
…
When Sakumo arrives at the tower for a meeting with the Sandaime, he is stunned to be sharing his appointment with Uchiha Fugaku. The expressionless man nods to him, but he does not attempt a physical greeting, his arms firmly folded. They lean against a wall, waiting to be called into the Hokage's office. Sakumo does not bother engaging in conversation with the new Uchiha clan head.
Lost cause, he already knew.
So, he is understandably surprised when Fugaku addresses him.
"Hatake-san, I must thank you for your son's contribution to Obito's rapid growth as a shinobi potential."
Sakumo stares at him, a bit speechless but mindful of his facial expression. Otherwise, his mouth would have been wide open, unattractive and probably very rude in an Uchiha's opinion. The last thing he needs to do is threaten the friendship between Obito and his son, and since the young Uchiha is an orphan, Fugaku would be the overseer to Obito's shinobi education.
He swiftly recovers from the shock of Fugaku speaking to him. Sakumo infers from the situation that Kakashi is not planning on leaving Obito, rather, they had decided to graduate to Genin status together.
"Oh no, Uchiha-sama, all thanks belong solely to Kakashi. I appreciate Obito's contribution to my son, as well. They're good for each other."
"Hn."
Okay.
Conversation over.
He gets it.
…
…What a prick!
(His internal self imagines shaking, maybe even punching and kicking the brooding man.
Bonus points if Obito gets to watch.)
When they are summoned into the Hokage's office, he tries wiping his face of guilty pleasure for a more innocent look.
The Sandaime is hyperaware of how Sakumo's mind works, so the old man takes a long drag from his pipe to obscure his knowing, amused smirk, probably finding the thought of him and Fugaku in one room together comical, their personalities strikingly different, though that is a mild way of putting it.
"Fugaku-kun. Sakumo-kun. Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi have requested early graduation, but I have to inquire any concerns, or objections, to their decisions by their legal guardians, the both of you."
"My council considers an early graduation to be beneficial to Obito's development," Fugaku explains immediately. "With recent reports from the Academy, should he begin missions, we believe his Sharingan will finally awaken."
Of course.
It's all about the Sharingan.
Never mind the Sharingan is a result from trauma.
As a parent, he cannot help but bristle at the implication of a dōjutsu being more important than a child's emotional and mental health.
(Multiple personalities aside.)
When two pairs of eyes catch his, he grimaces.
He hates attention.
Sakumo swallows what he really wants to say to Fugaku.
(And the urge to shove socks down the man's throat.)
"My son considers the Academy to be a hindrance to his potential. His standing in the class will inevitably fall behind should he remain in an environment that bores him."
He has objections, what parent of shinobi hopefuls do not? But he is positive the Sandaime will keep the boys together, and provided they are paired with a skilled and mature third member, any lingering worry would vanish.
They are given details of what the graduation test entails to help prepare the children, and while Sakumo is unsure of Obito's capabilities, he's confident Kakashi will pass without guidance from him. Now he is curious to see his son and Obito fighting one-on-one, as will be required since they are completing the exam together. Would their friendship hinder the Taijutsu portion of the test, or would it motivate them to go all out against each other?
When they are dismissed, Fugaku does not speak to him again and walks away.
The childish part of Sakumo is incapable of holding back uncouth reactions, so with Fugaku's back turned, the White Fang sticks out his tongue with a scrunched face, bent over and hands on his hips, wishing he could add some sound effects.
When he can see again, posture straight and face back to normal, Fugaku is almost out of sight, beginning to decent downstairs.
As he returns home to prepare dinner, Sakumo briefly wonders why the Uchiha's shoulders were convulsing.
Weird.
(Sakumo would have been mortified to know Uchiha Fugaku had turned back a moment to witness his break from adulthood.)
(Luckily, Fugaku was charmed and brought to laughter.
Breath of fresh air, that older shinobi.)