A/N: Sorry for the late update. Summer holidays are over, which means less free time. Plus I've been lacking inspiration. I know where I want to go with the story, but actually writing it is another thing. Still, I'll try to update at least once a week.

Half of this chapter will probably be slightly confusing, seeing as there are two Obito's. I'll try to make it as clear as possible which one I mean.

Thanks for all the reviews.

Unknown to both Obito Uchiha and Hisa, Hizashi was hiding a lot closer than they knew. He was crouching behind a boulder that was directly to Hisa's left. When he heard what the Uchiha said, and saw him hold the kunai, he closed his eyes. His hands were shaking, but inside, he felt calm. Ever since he found out the truth about his father's death, it was as if he had known this day would come.

Hizashi had spent the first twelve years of his life despising his own father, and he hated himself for that. When his mother had explained the truth to him, she looked so empty. Hizashi had never felt worse. It had been like his insides had gone raw, because the one thing that he never wanted was to see his mother in pain because of him.

But now, now he had the chance to make it alright. What better way to honour his father than to follow his example? To die for your family, not because you're a branch member but because you love them. That had become Hizashi's ninja way. Of course, he never expected that it would happen so soon, but he was ready for it. His hands were shaking, but his legs were steady.

He ran out from behind the boulder and straight towards Hisa. As he ran, his Byakugan took in the speed of the kunai. He should make it in time to block the kunai, but not in time to avoid it himself. He cursed his luck that the invasion had to happen on his day off. He didn't even have any weapons to deflect the kunai, and his rotation was terrible. By the time he got a solid chakra shield going Hisa would be dead. He had no choice.

Even though he had been calm about it up till now, there are things that would snap anyone's control. The fear kicked in in his brain, and he lost all rational thought. With a cry, he jumped in front of the kunai. He had one last second to see the shocked look on Obito Uchiha's face, before he heard the sick sound of the kunai entering flesh. There was no pain though, at least, not yet. He was grateful for that.

!

The kunai came towards Hisa, and she desperately tugged on the wires trapping her arms. There was no time left to use jutsu. The kunai was almost-

Suddenly the air in front of her was filled with a blurred form. Hisa blinked once, then screamed when she saw who was standing in front of her. She froze, her eyes locked with the pair of familiar Byakugan staring straight at her. She noticed that they had already begun to lose their light. It reminded her of the Tsukuyomi, except that this time, it wasn't an illusion. She felt a drop of blood splatter onto her face, but she didn't care. Why had he done this?

"Obito!" she cried, staring at her brother. He grinned back at her, cheerful even though blood was leaking out of his mouth.

"S'up?" he grinned, and she would have rolled her eyes if he wasn't coughing up blood.

Hisa wondered why he hadn't fallen over yet. She tried to see the rest of him but someone's back was blocking her view. Hizashi? Why was he in front of her and why was her brother shielding him with his body? Had Hizashi tried to use himself as a human shield? If so, Obito must have seen him and used the body flicker to get over here and block the kunai himself. The pieces were starting to come together for Hisa, but she was still in too much shock to fully comprehend what had just happened.

Hizashi seemed just as stunned as Hisa. He twisted his head to stare at Obito, who was leaning on him like his life depended on it. Hisa hoped that it wasn't as bad as it looked. To use the body flicker jutsu to get from the boulder he had been lying at to here in a few seconds, while already dazed, was enough to exhaust anyone, prodigy or not.

"Obito… why?" Hizashi stammered.

"Why do you think dummy?" Obito replied gently. Hisa noticed that his head was crusted with dry blood from the boulder Obito Uchiha had thrown him into. "You were going to kill yourself to protect my sister, and while I'm glad that you'd to that for her, what kind of cousin would I be if I just stood by and let you? My dad is Naruto, being recklessly heroic is in my DNA."

"Obito…" Hisa said again, unable to form any other words.

He grinned at her again, but she could see that it was just to hide the fact that he was wincing in pain.

"Mom and Dad are going to kill me for this." he muttered. "Take care of them, ok Hisa?"

"What are you talking about?" she yelled "You're going to be fine! It's just a kunai!"

Hizashi got a firm grip on Obito's shoulders and spun him around. Hisa gasped when she saw the gaping hole in his back. The kunai was completely buried in him. Hizashi gently helped him sit down on the ground, propping his back against a small boulder. Hisa gave Obito Uchiha a quick glance, but he was watching the whole scene calmly. It looked like he would wait to see if Obito would live or die.

"Hang in there Obito." she told him "We'll get you a medic soon."

"Out here? All the medics will be in Konoha, and I don't think Uchiha over there is going to let us escape."

Hisa gnawed on her lip. Hizashi had a point. She could try to distract Obito Uchiha, but with his teleporting he could easily catch them. Her brother's breathing was becoming more laboured. They needed help quickly.

"Hizashi." she muttered "What's his vital signs like? How long does he have left?"

Hizashi didn't appear to be paying attention to her. He was staring at Obito with a desperate look on his face. Obito smiled up at him. It never failed to surprise Hisa how her brother could go from joking to calm and serious in a matter of seconds. Hisa noticed that the rock he was leaning against had started to get a dark red hue, but kept her mouth shut. It was clear that Obito was dying, and there was no point trying to think otherwise. She needed to let him say what he needed to.

"Hizashi." Obito spoke, his voice rough "There's a kunai in that holster. Use it to cut Hisa free."

Hizashi quickly obeyed, his eyes never leaving Obito. Hisa rubbed the angry red marks around her wrists. The wire had been sharper than she thought.

"Why did you do it?" Hizashi asked quietly. "You were the heir to the Hyuga clan, a prodigy! What kind of Hyuga heir are you, dying to protect a branch member who can't even do a rotation? It doesn't matter if you love me; you're letting down the clan!"

"Actually, I think I'm doing the opposite." Obito replied calmly "Ever since she became the head of the clan, Mom's been determined to destroy the line between branch and main. What kind of heir would I be if I let you die, just because of that seal on your forehead? Besides," he added "in a few minutes you'll be clan heir instead of me."

"No…" Hisa whispered, her brain racing to come up with a plan. There had to be some way to keep Obito alive.

Obito gave her a small smile, before focusing back on Hizashi.

"Look after Hisa ok? She'll be busy looking after Mom and Dad. So listen to me Hizashi, I know Hisa's going to kick that Uchiha's ass, but you stay alive too. Otherwise my noble sacrifice will be in vain."

"Really? You just had to call it a noble sacrifice?" Hisa couldn't let it go this time.

Obito turned his head towards her, shuddering slightly. Hisa was scared. Her brother was more serious that she had ever seen him.

"I need you to promise me one thing." he said, his voice low.

"Sure." she said immediately.

"When I die, don't get the Mangekyo."

"What?" Hisa cried, looking at Obito's serious expression in confusion "How am I supposed to do that? You're my brother! Of course your death is going to traumatize me! I can't control how I get this thing."

"Please Hisa." he said, still so serious. "The only person I've met whose more emotionally constipated than you is Sasuke. If anyone can resist this thing, it's you."

She opened her mouth, probably to deny that she was emotionally constipated, but he kept going.

"Look, I don't know what Mom and Dad were high on when they named me after that douche, but I don't want my death to help him in any way. So please, promise you won't get the Mangekyo because of me."

She opened her mouth to argue, but all that came out was "I promise."

Obito smiled, back to his usual self. Hisa realized that this was the last time he would ever look so… energetic.

"Alright then." he said cheerfully, all colour gone from his face. "I guess I'll see you both on the other side."

The soil around him was stained red, and his eyes were rapidly beginning to dull, but Hisa still couldn't accept the fact that he was dying.

"Medic!" she screamed "Anyone! Help! Please hurry!"

"No one's coming."

Obito Uchiha spoke for the first time since he had thrown the kunai. Hisa's eyes narrowed as she started at him with pure hatred. He seemed to be enjoying the entire event immensely. She started to stand up, but Hizashi grabbed her hand.

"He's almost gone." he said, his voice thick with tears.

Hisa looked back down. For a second, her brother's eyes met her own, and he seemed to grin wider. Then his eyes became vacant, staring at nothing.

Hisa waited calmly. This was it. If the Mangekyo was going to appear, it would appear now. She could almost feel the anticipation rolling off Obito Uchiha. Beside her, Hizashi was shaking. Hisa wasn't sure if it was from fear, grief, anger or a mixture of all three. She kept her eyes open, staring down at her brother's corpse.

Nothing happened. Her eyes remained the same, one Sharingan and one Rinnegan.

She stood up and calmly turned to face Obito. She wouldn't say he looked shocked, but he was definitely confused. Slowly, Hisa began to walk towards him.

"You killed my brother." she said, swallowing the lump in her throat "Now I'm going to kill you."

Obito smirked suddenly, which made Hisa's eyes flash dangerously.

"This is quite fascinating." he remarked. "Itachi Uchiha killed his brother's entire family, then tortured him mentally and made sure that Sasuke would hate him for the rest of his life. And yet, when his brother died, Sasuke still got the Mangekyo Sharingan. Your brother never did any of that, and you don't have the Mangekyo. You're body language seems to show that you're traumatized, but your sharingan shows the truth. What does that say about you, Hisa Uzumaki?"

"I made a promise to my brother." she replied, still slowly walking towards him, like a predator stalking its prey.

"Nonsense. Do you know what I think? I think that your brother knew the Mangekyo wouldn't activate in you. He must have known that you didn't love him enough. I think that his whole 'promise' was a way of making you feel better about it."

Her hand shot forward, and even though Obito used Kamui, the force of the push was enough to knock him backwards. It didn't stop him from talking though.

"You mustn't blame yourself Hisa. It's not your fault that you are… colder than most people on the inside. Perhaps it has something to do with the Rinnegan. Either way, I'm sure we can find someone who could trigger the Mangekyo. Your friend Oki perhaps? How about your mother? We'll try both of them first, and if that doesn't work I'll think about using Naruto. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like a load of crap." she snarled, blinking back angry tears. Obito's words were getting to her, mainly because he had the smug tone to his voice that screamed: 'I told you so!'

Obito stood back up, dusting himself off and giving her a smile that sent shivers down her back. Suddenly, she noticed something that she hadn't before. She was close enough to Obito… would it work?

"Now then," he said "I suppose I need to capture you again. Let's get sta-"

Hisa appeared directly in front of him, reaching into his front pocket and grabbing a handful of her kunai. Just as she had expected, a few were full of chakra. Obito's constant use of Kamui made it hard for her to get a clear connection to them, but this time he had been too busy gloating to guess her plan.

"Yes, let's." she said placing her hand on his head, directly over his sharingan.

"Almighty Push!"

She didn't think his Kamui was strong enough to handle her push, and Obito seemed to think so too. Instead of using Kamui, he let the push hit him, sending him head-over-heels backwards until he smashed into a boulder. Despite the fact that he was bruised, he still had that smirk on his face. Hisa scowled.

"Don't let him get to you Hisa." she heard Hizashi yell "Obito believed in you!"

She smiled, but focused again on Obito when he started to talk.

"I had the displeasure of fighting your grandfather once." Obito stated, almost casually "He is the only man who ever beat my Kamui in a battle of speed." His smirk turned into a grin. "Do you want to try?"

"I'm not even going to answer that." Hisa said.

Obito's smile grew.

And then he vanished.

Hisa heard a gasp from behind her. She turned around just in time to see Obito's kunai coming down towards Hizashi's throat. She threw one of her special kunai as hard as she could, and then she teleported.

Obito's kunai was literally an inch away when Hisa grabbed his hand, forcing the kunai wide of its mark. She reached her other hand out, letting her fingers brush over Hizashi's shoulder. In the blink of an eye, she teleported both of them to the other side of the training ground. Hizashi stumbled slightly, unused to the teleportation. He opened his mouth, but Hisa cut him off.

"Listen Hizashi, I need you to get out of here." she said quietly, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Obito. "My brother had two dying wishes, and one of them was that you would live to be the next clan leader. So please, go quickly."

"But what about you?" he asked.

She smiled grimly, and Hizashi finally saw why the Uchiha had called her cold on the inside. Her smile promised death, but there was no emotion behind it. Hizashi knew that she loved her brother, but if she was full of grief and anger about his death, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it now.

"Don't worry about me." she said firmly "I'll kick his ass, just like Obito said. Then I'll kill him."

Hizashi gave her one last worried glance, before sprinting away.