On a lovely sunny day in Konohagakure, a young boy wearing blue sat in a grassy field. He held a pair of goggles in his hands and stared up at the sky, the clouds passed overhead. The boy was full of hope thinking about all the possibilities for his future.

A rock was thrown and landed on the boy's belly, causing him great pain and discomfort.

The boy in blue got up and looked for the culprit, which was a white-haired boy wearing a mask from the nose down.

"Hey! What was that for?" The boy in blue asked.

The masked boy shrugged, "I needed to get your attention. You've always got your mind somewhere else."

"Leave him alone, Kakashi. He's gonna become the Hokage someday." A girl's voice said from behind the white-haired boy.

The boy in blue looked past Kakashi and saw a brown-haired girl with purple markings on her cheeks. She looked pretty happy and excited, "Come on, Obito. Minato-Sensei is waiting for us at the training grounds. You don't want him to scold us again do you?" She teased.

The boy in blue, Obito got up to his feet. "Minato-Sensei won't scold us, he's too nice to do so."

Kakashi scoffed, "Maybe because you're his favorite."

The brown-haired girl shoved Kakashi slightly, "Be nice."

Kakashi closed his eyes and eased up a little, "Sorry, Rin."

"Come on, let's get going you two," Rin said to the two boys. She turned her back to the boys and began walking away.

The sky began getting dark quickly until it was the black of night, Obito felt uneasy as he looked around.

A crackle of electricity could be heard, Obito looked around and saw Kakashi's right hand engulfed with lightning. Kakashi's left eye was a Sharingan, it shined in the now-darkened night. Kakashi turned toward Rin and began running.

Rin heard Kakashi's running footsteps so she turned around, she felt a great pain in her chest. She had blood dripping from her mouth, "Ka... ...kashi." Her eyes held pain as she breathed her last breath with Kakashi's arm through her heart.

Obito looked on helpless and full of despair, "No!" He screamed out.

"No!" Madara yelled as he woke up in a cold sweat, he kept on having that nightmare for the past six years. He tried placing his mind on something, anything else just so that image was out of his head. He looked toward the window and saw some sunlight peeking in from the blinds. After a couple of breaths, his thoughts were now about the new day. A day he would most likely spend heading back to the hidden rain village with Konan. He wasn't looking forward to it. Not because Konan was irritating, no, far from it. She was one of the few he didn't find revolting in The Akatsuki. But it was just that traveling was annoying and tiring. Madara groaned in frustration, "How bothersome."

He got up from his bed and grabbed the mask that he threw in a fit of rage the prior night. He snuggly put it on and adjusted his clothes, he took a sniff to smell that ever-present smell of fire and ash. He could've taken a shower but then again what would be the point when he was going to be traveling all day.

Madara quickly undid the seals around the room, he didn't want to leave any traces of his being there.

He walked to the door ready to start his day when a knock at his door startled him. He cleared his throat and opened the door, "Yes?" He asked with his Tobi voice.

"My lord." Her hair looked wet, likely from a shower. "Are you prepared to depart?"

"Yes. Let's be off." He replied.

Madara and Konan reached the village gate and were preparing for departure. One of the guards saw them, "Hey. You're the mercenaries who managed to recover Lord Second's lost study, right?"

Madara answered as Tobi, "Yep, that's us." He nodded.

The guards were a little unnerved by the childish nature of Tobi, they just shrugged it off. "Lord Third has another mission for you. That is if you wish to accept it."

Konan looked at Madara for an answer, he seemed indecisive.

Madara replied, "Okie dokie, leave it to Tobi... ...and Kono-chan."

Konan wanted to smack some sense into Madara for his Tobi persona but he was right, people turned a blind eye to him because he played the fool. It didn't make being seen with him less embarrassing though.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage was intrigued by the two mercenaries that managed to enter his sensei's old study. Not even he was able to enter, but some random mercenaries could. And not just that, they had the Second Hokage's scroll of everything he'd worked on before the First's death. They could have easily kept the scroll and sold it to the highest bidder, but they didn't.

Hiruzen wondered if maybe they were true and honest mercenaries that could be great assets for Konoha. He wanted to test them with a mission that Konoha couldn't quite do themselves because of the strain it could cause with Kirigakure.

There was a knock at the door, "Come in." Hiruzen said.

Kakashi Hatake entered the room wearing his Anbu mask, he kneeled in front of the desk. "You called, Lord Third."

Hiruzen nodded as he placed a scroll on his desk, "Yes, I did." He cleared his throat, "There is a matter that requires the discretion you're quite skilled at. I'll explain the rest when your partners arrive, but all I'll ask of you is to play nice with them."

Kakashi was confused, "What do you mean?"

The door opened again and Konan and Tobi walked in, they bowed and stood behind Kakashi.

Hiruzen took a smoke from his pipe, "Welcome back, I have a mission for you." He handed the scroll to his Anbu guard on his right and they handed it to Konan. "You two are going to be heading down south to the land of Waves to deal with a crime boss disrupting the supply chain."

Konan nodded while Tobi said, "I'm surprised Konoha cares enough to help such a small town in the middle of nowhere."

Konan seemed shocked by the masked man's sudden boldness.

Hiruzen looked at Tobi, not insulted or angry, he understood what he meant and didn't take any offense. "The reason is that Gato has been causing trouble in the land of Fire as well. You may think it selfish to only deal with problems affecting Konohagakure, but that is the duty of the Hokage. Now, back to the matter at hand. He's holed up in the land of Waves but we know nothing else of his whereabouts. Your task is to neutralize Gato and destabilize his crime organization."

Tobi nodded, "Alright, we'll do the mission. Kono-chan and I got it covered." He gave the Hokage a thumbs up.

"But that's not all. To ensure the mission goes as swimmingly as possible, I have arranged the village's top Anbu operative, Kakashi Hatake."

Kakashi stood up and bowed to them, "It's nice to meet you." Kakashi didn't want to waste Lord Third's time by rehashing the events of when he ran into Konan and Tobi.

Hiruzen motioned for them to leave his office, "Now that you're acquainted you may embark. While I move on to the fifty-nine people who are waiting to see me today. Good day." The three left the office in a somewhat fast manner.

As the three left the Hokage's estate Kakashi broke the silence as he took off his Anbu mask, "I'm sure you guys hate me being on this mission with you. But you must know that I didn't know about it until before you walked into the room."

Tobi didn't really care, "With someone like you here we won't be able to mess the mission up."

Konan shrugged, "Your being here shouldn't be a problem unless you can't handle Tobi's senseless annoyingness, that is."

Kakashi seemed somewhat bored, "I deal with Guy on a daily basis. Childish antics won't even bother me."

Konan chuckled slightly, "Fair enough."

Tobi understood he was being insulted, "Hey!"

The first night the two Akatsuki members were venturing with Kakashi they made camp inside a cave near a river. Konan knew that it was her night to obtain wood for a fire, so she scavenged the forest for some branches and twigs.

Meanwhile, the two men set up camp inside the cave, Kakashi lit a lantern for them to see as they worked. Kakashi thought of breaking up the silence, "You and Konan, are you two..."

Tobi stopped him and waved his arms frantically, "No, no no. Konan and I could never be... Well, you know. And also, Tobi is bad at feelings." He pointed to his heart.

Kakashi nodded, "I see. I'm bad at that stuff too, but probably in the opposite way. I haven't been into a girl since... ...my teammate Rin Nohara."

Tobi's muscles tensed at the name, "Did anything get serious?"

"Unfortunately not. We only just barely started dating, and then she died after being kidnapped by Kiri Nin." Kakashi said as if trying to hide the pain that hid behind those words.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Tobi said. Though internally Madara was judging Kakashi for his word choice.

Konan returned with firewood, she would've seen the grim and depressing expressions on the two's faces if they both weren't wearing masks. She organized a fire and arranged her bedroll, she sat down on her bedroll and looked at Kakashi. "So, the green spandex guy. What's his story in accordance to you?"

Kakashi sighed, "Might Guy. He's probably the strongest taijutsu user in the village and my self-proclaimed rival. He's very... ...odd to say the least."

Tobi spoke his mind, "He seemed like a real valiant warrior and a hard worker."

"Oh, yeah. He's unable to perform ninjutsu, so in order to compensate he puts all his time and energy into taijutsu." Kakashi elaborated.

"He persevered in the face of adversity even when the world told him to stop. Good on him." Konan complimented.

Tobi stretched his arms up, "Well, I'm hitting the hay. Goodnight, Kono-chan. Goodnight, Kakashi-senpai." He rolled to his backside and rolled over. Secretly Tobi didn't fall asleep, he was too worried about murmuring in his sleep and possibly waking up in a cold sweat again. He waited for the other two to go to sleep before he could travel to his own space and drift off to sleep there with no worry.

Konan woke up just before the sun rose, she got up and made her way to the river, she wanted to freshen herself up before the boys woke up. She removed the flower from her hair and the rest of her hair draped down. Konan then took off most of her clothes except for her bra and panties, she left her clothes on a rock as she stepped into the cold river. A bone-chilling shiver went down her spine as the water touched her skin, she knew she couldn't be in the river for too long for fear of the boys waking up and seeing her. Konan sat on the smooth rocks in the river, letting the water wash over her skin.

Just as Konan was leaning her head back to wet her hair, she began hearing a weird swirling sound. She looked around for the cause of the sound and saw a whirlpool in the air begin to form above a rock, and a man manifested from it. It was Madara Uchiha still masked as always. He wasn't facing toward Konan but she knew he looked like he was not where he wished to be.

"Dammit, I don't even know where I am. Stupid Sharingan." Madara muttered to himself in a voice that was different from his deep and gravelly voice and more weathered than his Tobi voice. She'd never heard him speak with that voice and there was no one around to speak to, so it must've been his real voice Konan surmised.

Konan was frozen in fear as Madara looked around until his eye laid on her, he quickly averted his eye and turned around. He cleared his throat, "Ahem. My apologies, I didn't mean to be here. I'll be going now and forget this ever happened." He said in his deep gravelly voice.

Konan stood up out of the river, "It's alright, Lord Madara. Accidents happen." She didn't want to make the situation more awkward so she walked on over to the rock that held her clothes, she had bathed long enough for her to freshen up anyways.

When Konan finished dressing herself she spoke to Madara, "You may turn around if you wish."

Madara hesitated before fully turning around, he was nervous still. He stepped off the rock and walked toward Konan, "Which way is camp?"

Konan didn't say a word as she started walking northeast. Madara took this as a sign to follow her. While he felt ashamed that he'd gotten a glimpse at Konan's bare body, he couldn't help but imagine the rest of her. Those thoughts quickly dwindled away as he could never learn to love a woman that wasn't her.

Madara breathed a sigh of relief when they reached their makeshift camp inside a cave, though there was one problem, Kakashi was reading a cyan-colored book as he sat on his bedroll. Madara prayed that he wouldn't notice that they both arrived at the same time, but it was not to be.

"Konan seems flustered," Kakashi said. He moved his book away from his face, "Did Tobi try peeping on you?"

Konan blushed and shook her head, "Of course not. Tobi just..." She looked toward Madara who seemed very impassive, "...got lost on his morning walk and I found him."

Kakashi knew she was lying but didn't care about pressing them about it, he returned to his book.

Konan returned to her bedroll, she sat down, and looked toward the boys. "So, what will we eat for breakfast?"

Madara pointed his index finger in the air, "I know, I'll go find a rabbit so we can cook it." He said in his Tobi voice.

Kakashi was about to reveal that he had already hunted and killed a deer, "But..." Madara had already run off into the forest.

Kakashi just sighed, "Well, I guess we'll have breakfast without him."

Madara slammed his fist against a tree, "I'm getting sloppy." He said to himself. "I can't be getting sloppy with him around, he's always been smart."

"Then just kill him like you should have done back when you awakened your Mangekyou." A more ghostly version of Madara's voice said. Madara turned around and saw a manifestation of a red-armored Madara Uchiha, he was almost translucent. "Or perhaps you still have some camaraderie bond with him, am I wrong... ...Obito?"

The masked Madara scoffed, "I broke my bonds long ago, you know that. But I can't just kill him while on a mission for the hidden leaf, they'll suspect something is off."

"With Hiruzen Sarutobi as the Hokage? I doubt they'll suspect anything. You should be worrying about Danzo Shimura though, he's a viper." The ghost Madara said.

Obito looked around to check if anyone was nearby, he wasn't a sensory type so he relied on his eye. He returned his gaze back to Madara, "Why did you appear before me now? Why not after we leave for Amegakure?"

Madara folded his arms, "Well, in all honesty. I've grown bored and I wish to see you do things exciting for a change, you're to kill a crime lord yes?"

Obito hated seeing him, "It's bad enough that you gave me all your memories, let alone your spirit stay with me. Just trust that Nagato will revive you using the Rinne rebirth, I'll make sure he does."

"And what if he doesn't?" Madara barked back.

Obito knew that Madara could never trust anyone, even him. It was always annoying having Madara in the back of his mind, "Just leave me alone while I finish my mission." It wasn't a question it was a statement.

Madara chuckled, "Alright, I'll leave for now. Though I should mention that the Amegakure orphan has a nice figure, but I'm sure you already knew that from your nervousness at the river."

Obito's cheeks went red thinking about Konan, she was very pretty and by goodness her body was stunning. But she wasn't Rin, she died to Kakashi at age thirteen. No one could replace Rin to Obito, she was one of a kind.

"You're not one to lecture me on women, since you..."

"Don't. You may have my memories but you are still a boy. You can't comprehend the reasoning behind my decisions." Madara spat out with venom.

As the two stared at each other, Madara inspected Obito's mask, "Where'd the idea of your mask come about? It's ridiculous."

Obito turned around in annoyance, "I'm done dealing with you."

Madara smirked, "Hmph. Very well, we will continue this another time. Hopefully, you'll be less angsty next time." He disappeared back into Obito's subconscious.

Obito hated that even in death Madara was watching him, he only would come out when Obito was straying away from Project Tsuki No Mei. But this was different, Obito's facade as Madara was almost uncovered by the angel in Nagato's ear. Konan could give Nagato the word that Obito wasn't to be trusted and force him to kill them both and start from square one again. He didn't want that, he'd grown accustomed to them. Though Obito didn't realize it, he saw them as his old teammates on Team Minato.

Obito readjusted his posture and decided that he wasn't going to go back with a bunny, he'd just return to them empty-handed. A little thought was in Obito's head, "Is my mask that bad?"

After Kakashi and Konan are some deer, they cleaned up the camp and Kakashi put the deer carcass in a scroll for later. They were ready to leave but were forced to wait for Tobi, who had been gone for twenty minutes.

Kakashi was tired of waiting, "How long have you known Tobi?" He asked trying to pass the time.

Konan sat down and leaned her back against the cave wall, "Well, me and my friends met him six years ago trying to join our mercenary group. We declined him then but I wish we hadn't. The boy I loved, Yahiko, died because we didn't have the manpower to do a mission. And my other friend was crippled as a result of saving me. I wonder if Tobi could have changed all that."

Kakashi understood her pain, "You don't have to continue. I just wanted to make some small talk, I'm sorry if you remember those bad memories because of me."

Konan shook her head, "Don't apologize, I've already grieved. There's no point in grieving more."

Kakashi thought about her words, "I suppose you may have a point, but aren't you worried that he'll be forgotten if you don't grieve a little?"

Konan just stared at the ground, "I don't have to grieve to remember him." She saw his face every day in Amegakure because of Nagato. I guess puppeting Yahiko was his way of remembering him. However it was a grim reminder to Konan that he was dead.

Just then Tobi came into the cave slouching, "Tobi didn't find anything." He noticed that his bedroll was already packed up along with Tobi's pack. "Oh, we're leaving? But we haven't had food."

Kakashi sighed while Konan giggled, both having varied reactions to Tobi.

The three walked on the main path to the land of Waves until nightfall, they finally made it to a small village. The three walked into the village noticing that anyone that was outside stared them down like they were the grim reaper come to take their souls.

A man with a greying goatee gained enough courage to walk up to them, "You three! Please leave us alone, Gato has already taken all he can. We can't give anymore!"

Konan being the only one not wearing a mask was visibly concerned, "You think us enforcers for Gato?"

He still seemed afraid of them, "Of course. The only people that come around here dressed like that are Shinobi, Shinobi Gato employed. We're fishermen and carpenters, not fools."

Madara was for sure going to do something outlandish and childish, Konan worried that he'd scare them off. Tobi cleared his throat before pretending to be trapped inside of a box and finding an invisible door handle and opening it. He then pretended to grab a rope on the floor and started pulling it but pretended to be unable to do so until he fell over and rolled continuously before hitting a wall. Tobi shook his dizziness off and got up, but he noticed that a table in a shop had decorated and intricate masks on display. One was orange and swirly, he liked that one for some reason.

The villagers watched him with interested eyes, some chuckled due to Tobi's act, while others were curious what he was going to do next.

Madara walked forward before stepping on a real-as-can-be rake, the handle hit him straight in the mask and cracked it a little. Everyone burst out laughing, they had never seen someone so foolish to the point it was funny.

Obito on the inside enjoyed hearing their laughter, it felt refreshing compared to... ...everything else.

Konan watched Madara closely, she didn't want to laugh because he might take it as an insult. But she still smiled nonetheless.

Kakashi watched on at the goofball mercenary, he wondered how this guy had been a mercenary for six years. He shouldn't survive a year let alone a fight. There was an odd suspicion deep in his stomach about Tobi, something was wrong and perhaps even familiar. He didn't quite know.

The goateed man stopped laughing and introduced himself, "Well, knowing Gato he'd never hire mercenaries like that. My name is Tazuna, I'm a carpenter."

Konan bowed, "I'm Konan and these are my two partners, Kakashi and Tobi. We were just passing by, we're looking for a place to stay for the night."

Tazuna seemed somewhat relieved, he had an idea, "Please follow me, you can stay with me for the night."

The three shrugged to each other before Konan looked back at Tazuna, "Thank you. We accept your generosity."

They followed Tazuna just outside the small village to a riverside house.

It was a house big enough for a family of six, unfortunately, there weren't six people living in the house. Tazuna escorted them inside to greet Tazuna's daughter, who was roughly older than them.

Tazuna spoke up as they entered the living room, "There's a bathroom at the end of the hall upstairs, and two guest rooms upstairs next door to each other. Please make yourself comfortable." The three bowed to Tazuna and his daughter.

The three averted their attention to the stairs. Konan walked up the stairs first. Madara and Kakashi followed afterward, Konan walked into the bathroom first before going into the guest room.

Tobi opened the closest guest bedroom, it was dimly lit from the moonlight shining inside from a window on the left side of the room. There were two beds against the wall and a wardrobe in between both of them. Tobi plopped himself on the right bed because it was further away from the window. His mask hit the bed with a soft plop noise, he turned his head so he could look at Kakashi.

Kakashi unrolled the neatly tidied covers and climbed in the bed, he didn't bother pulling the covers back up. Obito assumed it was because he was more acclimated to cold with his Hatake heritage, much like Obito was acclimated to warm temperatures because of his Uchiha heritage.

Kakashi removed his headband and placed it under the pillow along with a kunai. He never trusted foreign places, especially when he was sleeping in the same room as a mercenary he didn't trust.

Obito on the other hand could go to sleep without a kunai under his pillow, he was a light sleeper since he began wearing masks. To think he was a heavy sleeper when he was a kid, how far he was from then.

Obito wondered about Madara's words, he could kill Kakashi and take his Sharingan back but that would infer the attention of the Leaf. And the Akatsuki wasn't ready to take that attention now.

The night before was hard for him to sleep, but somehow the bed almost sucked him into a deep sleep. Kakashi was much the same, but Kakashi muttered a name before succumbing to sleep, "Rin..."