At that moment, there are many things that Satoru could tell Uchiha Obito. There are about a thousand tales atop the tip of his tongue and a thousand more lurking in the back of his mind. There are a thousand happy endings and about a thousand more tragedies.

He could make a beautiful ending for Gojo Kakashi. One that would involve dying of old age, with his body no longer as it used to be and wrinkles upon his features and laughter lines etched upon his features. With his family surrounding him, dying honored and loved.

He could make a beautiful ending and resolve the knot on Uchiha Obito's heart. This obsession that still lurks with the curse even after centuries. The shadow of a man within its heart and the ending that they never had.

He wonders how Uchiha Obito had imagined their lives ending up. He wonders if he could recreate that and put to rest Uchiha Obito's obsession- put to rest Uchiha Obito- the man's- sorrows. Reassure him that Gojo Kakashi was happy, that he died well. That even if there were no ending- at least there is this. At least Uchiha Obito could imagine Gojo Kakashi's smile as he died and not of his bitterness.

Because Satoru knows Gojo Kakashi, knows at least this much-

There are no happy endings that await that man.

He knows it from the way Gojo Kakashi had betrayed the world for Uchiha Obito. He knows it from the way that Gojo Kakashi had exorcised Uchiha Obito from within and felt a regret so immense he was willing to risk the world for it.

He knows it from the way Gojo Kakashi betrayed his own name. Unable to protect Uchiha Obito, and then forsaking the world for a single man's sake- for a chance for him to draw breath again. Even if as a curse.

He imagines himself as Gojo Kakashi. And Suguru as Uchiha Obito. He imagines feeling a regret so profound that he discarded his duties and morals and decided to raise the dead as a curse.

He can't fathom it. That regret, so condensed it must be- to create a curse like so. One etched from regret and sorrow.

Satoru wonders how much of Uchiha Obito's curse energy stems from just himself- as he were, stems from the curse within him and the sorcerer that he was. Satoru wonders how much of this came from Uchiha Obito, the man, and how much of it came from Gojo Kakashi.

There are no tells to that. Satoru doesn't know where Uchiha Obito's sorrow ends and Gojo Kakashi's grief starts.

He wonders if it matters at all, in the grand schemes of things.

Probably not, would be the answer. What matters is that Uchiha Obito was created at all. It matters very little of the events that transpired before then. Because the man that Uchiha Obito was has long been erased and the man that he once cared for has also been stricken from the records.

The story between Uchiha Obito and Gojo Kakashi matters very little at all. It is a story with no records and no bearings in the present. The curse has already been created, the man has long died.

And yet.

Satoru finds himself looking to the past.

In the end, Uchiha Obito and Gojo Kakashi are just names lost to the ashes of time. Erased by a forceful hand and never meant to resurface.

But Uchiha Obito is here, walking amongst them. Almost like an undue vengeance, clinging onto a life that was once his and bearing a heart that does not beat but still breathing regardless. Clawing his way from a past that was erased and a grave that was all too shallow.

Bringing with him history that was long buried and a chance for something that Satoru can't quite verbalize but can still feel within his veins.

Uchiha Obito looks at him now and asks about the fate of Gojo Kakashi.

Satoru does not have an adequate answer. There is no answer for Uchiha Obito's question. It is an answer that has long passed, swept away by the changing winds of the seasons for centuries and centuries. It's buried beneath the growing metropolis of the modern day.

Gojo Kakashi's fate is a mystery. Satoru had only just unearthed the man's name from the Juubi's lips earlier this month.

Satoru does not know how the man died. He's nearly sure that Gojo Kakashi must've outlived nearly everyone of his generation. For he is a Gojo and it is their fate to outlive their peers.

Satoru's pretty sure that Gojo Kakashi died of old age. Of a body that can no longer provide and a heart that can no longer beat- but perhaps had already died years before that.

What he does not know is the life that Gojo Kakashi led to that point. Whether he tried to move forward or became lost in grief. Whether he died alone or died miserable surrounded by his secrets and the knowledge that one day Uchiha Obito will take breath again and he won't be there to see it.

It would've been easier if Uchiha Obito had asked him how Gojo Kakashi died.

But Uchiha Obito hadn't. Instead, what Satoru has to answer for is whether Gojo Kakashi lived well or not.

The fact of the matter is this:

Gojo Kakashi does not exist on the records of the Gojo clan.

Satoru does not know the life he led after Uchiha Obito's passing. He does not know Gojo Kakashi's beginnings at all, let alone the ending. He doesn't even know the man's face. He knows the barest shade of the man's hair, but not his eyes. He doesn't know whether the man's eyes were gentle or rough. Whether his face was carved with a soft hand or a chiseled tip. Whether he was more keen on smiling or more likely to frown.

He doesn't know anything at all about Gojo Kakashi.

It's an answer that's bound to hurt. Because it's clear what it means. It's clear that there would be no resolution awaiting Uchiha Obito, no answer to appease the man it once was and this is an obsession that cannot be rid of.

There are many answers that Satoru could give, half of it would be lies- the other half, an unsatisfactory truth.

He looks at Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Obito looks back at him. There is something stricken in its neutral expression. The bracing of its jaw, the small dip of its eyes. Something like a grief experienced all over again and a mourning that never quite stopped. It seemed to already know the answer that Satoru has been holding back and it is an answer that neither of them want but is all they have.

"It's been too long," Satoru says. It's the truth, maybe not. Satoru doesn't know why exactly Gojo Kakashi's name was erased. But he can at least give Uchiha Obito this much. He can at least give Uchiha Obito the thought that Gojo Kakashi is only not mentioned because of the unreliability of history and not due to some malicious act. That his name is forgotten by his descendants only because of the natural wear of time rather than the somber realization that he was forgotten because he was linked to Uchiha Obito and all the tragedies of it.

(It was probably the safest bet, was what the elders thought at the time. To erase it all- Gojo Kakashi and Uchiha Obito and the Uchiha clan. Let them be subsumed by the tides of time and to never resurface again. So that no one could dig further into Gojo Kakashi's life and find pieces missing of a friend that may or may not be held too closely to Gojo Kakashi's heart. Find pieces of the man that once existed by Gojo Kakashi's side and the clan that the man heralded from.

It's best to erase it all, so that no one would dig at a shallow grave. They will not dig, if they do not know it existed in the first place.

The thought is strikingly familiar to the elders of his time. To what they'd do, if placed in that situation.

It's the one thing that doesn't change, Satoru supposes. Even if the age has passed and the city has long been replaced.)

Uchiha Obito doesn't quite react. But perhaps that is, in and of itself, a reaction. It's still- utterly so. Struck in place by some invisible force. Its breath is neutral, as always, its blinks even moreso.

But Satoru can feel the swell of its curse energy. An untold ache that has never subsided. Like the tides of the ocean that has only been held back by an immovable wall.

Uchiha Obito is alive in front of him now, in a way. Alive in all the wrong ways but it's still alive and taking breath and Satoru wonders how Gojo Kakashi must feel.

He wonders if this is what Gojo Kakashi imagined.

The shade of Uchiha Obito's hair, once a solid black, now a wane white. A sign of its inhumanity. A glaring symbol that it's no longer the man that it once was.

Gojo Kakashi must've seen it, he must've witnessed that change first hand.

Satoru wonders what he felt, at that moment. As the ink drained from Uchiha Obito's hair, just as his heart stopped beating and he turned into the very thing that Gojo Kakashi had sworn to protect the world against. He wonders how Gojo Kakashi must've felt, as he held his world in his hand and doomed the rest of the world with him. To hold Uchiha Obito within his arms and realize that this is the one regret that he cannot walk back on, that this is the only chance he'll get to exorcise the curse and become the strongest again.

To know all of that, to know everything he's giving up on- the honor, the glory, the knowledge that he is forever tainted and has failed his name and himself-

And to take the plunge regardless. To walk off the edge of that cliff and let himself be drowned upon its depths just for a chance for Uchiha Obito to breathe again.

Uchiha Obito's white hair, in retrospect, is the physical manifestation of a tragedy.

Satoru wonders how Uchiha Obito looked with black hair. Whether it makes a difference at all.

But it must've. Satoru imagines a man with fine black hair and just as dark eyes. A man with scars framing half of his features and an uchiwa on his back.

His face must be like so-

Stern and neutral, always impassive.

Satoru wonders if Gojo Kakashi was able to find the minute differences between Uchiha Obito's expressions. The small changes in his breathing and his blinks and his brows.

He must've.

He must've seen it and was delighted in it. Must've loved it enough to give up anything just for Uchiha Obito to breathe again.

Satoru wonders if Gojo Kakashi had hated Uchiha Obito's white hair. Now a wane, pale thing.

Satoru doubts it. Because even if that was the symbol of a tragedy, the physical manifestation of how their story would have no happy ending-

For Gojo Kakashi it must also be the symbol of Uchiha Obito's survival. The physical manifestation of how Uchiha Obito will draw breath again and Gojo Kakashi had succeeded.

Perhaps it could be considered a display of Gojo Kakashi's feelings towards Uchiha Obito. Even if their names are washed away by the waves, even if the world changes and the mountains shift-

This will not change. The strands of Uchiha Obito's hair will forever be drained of color, from Gojo Kakashi's own hand.

And just like that, it becomes an act of affection displayed for all the world to see.

It's annoying, Satoru thinks distantly. And once he thinks about it- it makes sense in the most horrible of ways.

Satoru wonders if Uchiha Obito realizes this at all.

"All that's left is you," Satoru says, breaking the silence between them. And it's the terrible crux of it. Everything is gone or erased, lost to the currents of time or wiped away by a malicious hand. All that's left is Uchiha Obito.

Uchiha Obito draws in a rough, ragged inhale.

"I'm not sure he even existed at all in our clan," Satoru continues. "But your curse seems to think we're pretty similar, don't you think so?"

It's less a question for an answer, but for anything at all. Just for a reaction. Something to draw Uchiha Obito out of its silence and so that it finally says something.

"In a way," Uchiha Obito finally says. Its voice is still impassive, but there's a note of something quiet. Like grief and nostalgia mixed into one.

The silence continues on for a bit, and Satoru almost feels like he should break it before Uchiha Obito speaks again.

"You don't even share the same clan name," Uchiha Obito confesses at last. A wry smile upon its features, something bitter about it. As though it has, too, lost this about not-Gojo Kakashi.

Satoru blinks, he feels off-kilter, if only slightly. If Kakashi does not bear a Gojo clan name then-

"His clan was Hatake," Uchiha Obito continues.

This, too, is a clan that no longer exists and had never existed according to the records. And yet if-

"His hair wasn't the same as yours, either, but-" A breath drawn, then two. "You do feel similar."

Satoru feels his mind racing, his eyes focused on the minute details of Uchiha Obito's expression but also what it had justsaid.Uchiha Obito not looking flustered in the slightest, as though he didn't quite care or know of the magnitude that his words had on Satoru.

Hatake Kakashi, did not bear the Gojo's surname and yet is still similar in appearance to Satoru. Hatake Kakashi, with silver hair instead of the Gojo white, with the Six Eyes and yet not of Gojo-

There's only one answer for it, Satoru thinks distantly.

A union between the Gojo clan and the Hatake. One that bore a child with the Six Eyes. But he did not take upon the Gojo name. Instead, take the Hatake's instead.

This wasn't the norm, not in the slightest. The Gojo clan is fiercely protective of the Six Eyes, and their influence was never small. Any child that had the Six Eyes were taken into the clan. There were rarely any fights put up. Rarely needed at all, for the Gojo clan holds the jujutsu world in its palm and most clans know better than to challenge them.

And yet.

The Hatake clan had.

"Hatake," Satoru repeats slowly. His mind running a thousand paces per second. Something in his veins burns hot and his tongue craves for something sweet.

"Hatake," Uchiha Obito repeats. "I don't suppose you know them either."

Satoru shakes his head, he feels like something is almost at hand. And if only he could reach out and-

Uchiha Obito exhales, it is a quiet thing but feels heavy, nonetheless. He looks at Satoru- studies him for moments upon moments before he settles on an answer.

Satoru's not sure as to what it's an answerfor, but Uchiha Obito nevertheless settles into one.

"I'll tell you about them," Uchiha Obito says, something in its voice that's wholly determined. "Free of charge."

"That's generous of you," Satoru says, though lacking his usual lighthearted humor. He wishes he could muster up some. But all of his everything is going into his mind, going into the revisions and marks that's being made to the story written in the pages of his brain.

"He never cared much for his legacy," Uchiha Obito explains. A wry smile upon its features. "But I do."

There's something about those words. Something that's more intimate than a kiss and more affectionate than any words of confession could express. Something soft about its tone that Satoru had never quite heard before and something bitter to its features- but the kind of bitterness that could've only come from caring.

There's nothing Satoru could say to that.

"The Hatake were once of some prestige," Uchiha Obito begins, almost as though in a rush to impart its words onto Satoru. As though it wishes to ingrain all there is to know about Hatake Kakashi upon Satoru's mind- so that Hatake Kakashi could be remembered by someone that's not dead and will turn into a curse. So that Hatake Kakashi can- "Though, I suppose they must mean little to you now. But they were prestigious, not as much as the Uchiha in my time. But they did have weight to their name. Especially with Kakashi's father. But the clan itself didn't matter much at that time when Kakashi and his father were the last Hatake."

There's something wistful about the way Uchiha Obito speaks of Kakashi's father. Satoru has no doubt that Uchiha Obito had probably met the man when it was alive, and probably was fond of him from the way it speaks of the man.

"His mother?" Satoru asks.

"She died giving birth to him," Uchiha Obito answers easily. Its words are spoken fast, faster than normal. This is perhaps the first time it's been so willing to divulge any kind of information. Looking at Satoru as though wanting him to question. As though it's willing to answer almost everything and anything so long as it's about Hatake Kakashi.

He can see why, now. Why the Hatake clan fought against letting the Gojo clan take Hatake Kakashi.

A clan that was once prestigious, who still had weight to their name- but it was less so about the clan and more about the individual talented enough to bear its honor.

Kakashi's father must've been a strong man, no doubt. For him to propel a clan that was in decline towards noble heights.

But that isn't enough. A clan is only worth so much as its members, and with his wife having give to childbirth-

Hatake Kakashi must've been his father's only hope. A widower who has little else other than the legacy of a clan that once was great but now only has him to prop up its name. Him and now his son that his wife gave up her life for.

Perhaps it was an arranged marriage, but Satoru doubts it. The Gojo clan would not have looked twice at a clan in such obvious decline. So it must've been a marriage of love. It must've been at least a union between two that held some affection for each other. And to lose her must've been a blow that meant even more that Kakashi cannot be given away. Even if his opponents were the Gojo clan.

What else did he have to lose? Such must've been the man's thoughts. For he would have no clan and no remembrance of a wife he cared for if he were to give up his son. It is not a rational decision by any means, but for a grief-stricken widow his son was his only lifeline. And so he had done as were his habit- as he had done to continue his clan's prestige-

He fought.

It must've been quite a scandal at the time, Satoru is sure. For a child with the Six Eyes- what was the Gojo clan not willing to do? During such a chaotic time as the one Hatake Kakashi was born into, no doubt removing a declining clan such as the Hatake would've been troublesome. But for the Six Eyes, any trouble was negligent.

And yet, Hatake Kakashi retained his surname. Retained it so that all Uchiha Obito knows him as is Hatake Kakashi, and not Gojo Kakashi.

It is unprecedented, something that, too, has been stricken off the records. For it is another shame to the Gojo clan alongside being linked with Hatake Kakashi- who feels more and more like a figure that the Gojo clan couldn't wait to be rid of the further he grew and the more he fit into his Hatake name rather than bearing that of the Gojo's.

"And what happened to his father?" Satoru asks.

Satoru doubts that Kakashi's father was victorious. For no one wins against the Gojo clan.

And he is proven right.

Uchiha Obito's expression shifts from its usual impassivity, a feat in and of itself. Changing into something more somber, something infinitely more bitter.

"A mission went wrong, he gave it up for his comrades," Uchiha Obito elaborates. "They blamed him for the consequences, even those he helped. It drove him to take his own life." A moment, then two. "Kakashi was six. He was the only one in the compound at that time. You can infer the rest."

No one wins against the Gojo clan in the end.

This, too, is something that the jujutsu world knows.

And this must've been ingrained in Hatake Kakashi at that moment. When he discovered his father's corpse at six. Perhaps he didn't know why at that time other than the fact that his father failed a mission- but he surely must've known the truth as he grew older. He must've known that it was by instigation of the Gojo clan. For no one can stand up against the Gojo clan without slight, and they were looking for a chance to bring Kakashi's father down to take him into their clan. To right the wrong that they couldn't six years prior.

Satoru wonders if it haunts the man until his death. Of how his father died so that he could keep his name. And perhaps that is why Hatake Kakashi never became Gojo Kakashi, even if they offer him untold benefits over that of the declined Hatake clan.

"What happened after that?"

There's a small hint of a smile on Uchiha Obito's lips.

It's not pleasant.

"He grew up." Spoken wistfully, bitterly. "He was already a genius of his generation, he just moved onto the field. Onto becoming an adult."

An adult at six. Left behind in the wreckage of his father's death, with the image of his father's corpse etched onto the back of his eye. Growing up hearing of how his father failed- feeling the tension between his own clan and the Gojo clan. Knowing that his father is of Hatake and his mother is Gojo and yet the Gojo clan had helped to drive his father to death-

How must it have felt? For a child of six, for the world to crumble around you. For your father to leave following your mother. For you to be the last of your clan, for your mother's clan to wish to take you back but only for your eyes. For the world to judge you by your genius and for you to grow hearing of how they talk of your father.

How must it have felt? Being six and having your world crumble in front of you.

Satoru had once imagined that Hatake Kakashi led a charmed life as a Gojo; this is anything but.

Hatake Kakashi's life, it seemed. Was a tragedy from the very day it began. From his mother's death, to growing up in a world full of tension. Of a clan that wishes to take advantage of his genius and eyes. Of a father that fought and eventually couldn't anymore.

Being six, knowing that he is the last of his clan.

Knowing that he cannot lose the Hatake clan, too. And so Hatake Kakashi grew up. He grew up at six to fill in the footsteps of a clan head. He grew up at six and became a sorcerer to gain his own autonomy. Using the same system that drove his father to his death to regain any semblance of control of his life.

He became an adult in name. Taking over the title of head of clan as a sorcerer is right to due. Utilizing his genius to his advantage and becoming an adult at six. Filled with all the strife of the adult world that he's neck deep in and diving in further because that's the only thing he could do to keep being Hatake Kakashi.

He must've been a genius, one that was also powerful. For his gambit had paid off and he was Hatake Kakashi unto whenever Uchiha Obito saw him last.

He succeeded. But the cost of his gamble must've been of untold fortunes.

Because he was just six.

A child.

One that just saw his father's cooling body and had to pick up the pieces right after to fight.

The jujutsu world is a terribly ugly thing, especially during the heralded golden age.

There is no gold without blood. No prosperity without suffering. No honor without misery.

Hatake Kakashi, sorcerer at six, must've embodied this.

For he did grow into becoming honored. Did grow into his power and prestige.

But the cost of that-

Must've been utterly devastating.

Fighting curses at six. Exorcising them during the time when he should've been enjoying his childhood. Learning to fight and survive on the field at a time when his limbs weren't even grown and his voice had not yet cracked.

Even if he had the Six Eyes, even if he were a genius-

He was a child.

But Satoru supposes the world did not care much for that. And for just as much as the Gojo clan hated Hatake Kakashi for defying them, they must also surely thrive in his genius- his prowess, his power.

"We were friends before that," Uchiha Obito divulges. A soft nostalgia in its tone. "He grew distant after that. There was no time for me in his life, and I wasn't talented enough to catch up to him then." A wry smile, a small curve of the lips. "He became rule-abiding, completing his missions at any cost. But he hated it, really. He just-" Inhale- exhale-

"He just didn't want to be like his father."

End up like his father, is the implied message. Uchiha Obito hadn't said that, though. Almost like it would be crude to say. Rude to Hatake Kakashi who is dead and his father who is even moreso.

Satoru can understand why. Hatake Kakashi must've been terrified to end up like his father. Disgraced and slandered for failing a mission. With all the deaths that came afterwards with that curse living ending up on his young shoulders.

He must've hated it, in the same breath. Because he must've cared for his father. Must've at least treasured the man's legacy to fight so hard to keep the Hatake name. So he must've hated going against what were his father's ideals.

It is being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It is either to betray his father's ideals or to become dishonored. And Hatake Kakashi chose to become perfect. To be perfect enough to uphold the Hatake name, all by his lonesome. To be perfect enough that the Gojo clan could find no faults within him. To complete missions, to exorcise curses so that he- and in extension, his clan- would be honored.

There is another point here. Small but noticeable all the same:

Uchiha Obito had became friends with Hatake Kakashi even prior.

The 'how', is unknown. What matters is that they have known each other before the start of the tragedy, before Hatake Kakashi's father died and left him in the ashes.

The Uchiha clan probably didn't care enough for Uchiha Obito to monitor his friendships. But Uchiha Obito must've known of the tension, of the talks of Hatake Kakashi's father. And yet he still considered them friends. And even after that-

He had still wanted to catch up with Hatake Kakashi, who had long left him behind in pursuit of perfection.

This, too, is perhaps the start of another tragedy.

Of a boy that was naive and considered the runt of his clan. One that was foolish and charged right into a conflict that he had no right and no power to be in, but nevertheless reaching out for a boy in the footsteps of an adult. Reaching out towards a genius boy that heralded the strongest technique of his generation. Without any external wants, just a pure wish to be friends.

It is perhaps that hand that Hatake Kakashi found himself reaching for. At the very end, when he surely must've been made the executioner to Uchiha Obito as he still has the technique of the Gojo clan even if he bears the name of Hatake.

But what it started as is just this: two children who didn't know better and who just wanted to be friends. Who held their hands towards each other and grabbed. A boy from a prestigious clan who didn't care for him, and a boy from a declining clan with a power conflict brewing from the date of his birth.

He wonders what Uchiha Obito must've been like as a child. Whether he was just as surly or bright with the naivety that hasn't been crushed by a falling boulder and a curse unto himself.

He imagines a frowning child, one that tries to imitate an adult to try to be mature at something despite his talents.

He imagines a bright one, one that smiles and reaches out with desperation for any stray connections because he didn't have any.

In the end, what he's left with is this-

The image of a boy with wide, black eyes and dark hair. One with a round face that would one day become that of Uchiha Obito's. One that is not talented but nevertheless wants to be, one that wasn't cared for by his clan but wishes to be-

One that would one day grow up to be a terrible curse.

Satoru doesn't know what to say to this, to Hatake Kakashi's upbringing. To the fact of a child of six upon the fields having to dance with curses. Even with the Six Eyes-

Satoru can understand why Hatake Kakashi did not care much for legacies. There is no need to care much about it when you're too busy trying to live in the midst of one of the most turbulent times of the jujutsu world. Legacies are a thing for when you're dead, and Hatake Kakashi had seemingly resigned himself to dying early. Where legacies would be a small footnote, if even that.

It's inhumane, as most things about the jujutsu world were and are.

"He grew up, and eventually he became an apprentice under our teacher, Minato-sensei." Uchiha Obito's gaze is lost in the current of time again. Gazing towards Satoru but not at him. "And then, when he turned eleven, me and Rin became a team with him."

"Rin?"

Something fluctuates in the air, insidiously mournful.

"Rin," Uchiha Obito repeats. "Nohara Rin. She was a smart and kind girl. The medic of our team."

Uchiha Obito does not mention her fate, only what she existed as. And perhaps that, too, is a sign of what became of her.

Nothing kind, surely.

"And how old were you?" Satoru asks, finding himself at the beginnings of a timeline.

"Rin and I were twelve," Uchiha Obito admits easily, as though that weren't something terrible.

Between twelve and thirteen- there's a year there. A year between when Uchiha Obito, the boy, would turn into Uchiha Obito, the man.

A year between when Uchiha Obito would die and come back all the more wrong for it.

Satoru can picture it. A team of three, with a teacher of nondescript name but must've been respectable enough for Uchiha Obito to still call him 'sensei'. A team with one Six Eyes, one reverse curse user, and one Uchiha.

It is a deadly team, chalked full of potential and power. Political power, too, at that. With both the Uchiha clan and Gojo clan having stakes within it. Their teacher and last teammate withstanding.

It is a deadly team, meant for deadly missions and even stronger curses. One that an untalented child had no business being in. But one that Uchiha Obito found himself within for reasons unknown.

It surely must've been something political, for there is the Six Eyes within his team, that, and a reverse curse user. One talented enough to be used while she was still so young. That meant that Uchiha Obito did not belong in the slightest- it meant that there was a secondary factor to him being chosen for this team meant to face the deadliest of curses.

What that factor is-

Satoru can infer.

"We didn't get along, me and him," Uchiha Obito admits. The smile upon its lips now is less so bitter and more fond. "He didn't like that I was so weak yet loud, I didn't like that he was an asshole about everything but was so talented." A small laugh- nothing more than an exhale, really. But Satoru recognizes it for the laughter that it is. The only laughter that Uchiha Obito can make, on most days, no doubt. "We argue often, I couldn't understand his point of view, and he couldn't understand why I was so idiotic." An intake of breath. "But we were still the same brats that shared a meal of grilled fish in his empty clan compound, at the end of the day. And I did care for him, as he did me."

Another laugh, this one much more wry. "Or at least, I think so."

Satoru can't imagine Uchiha Obito ever being an idiot. Or loud.

He can't imagine a boy that would argue loudly, or one that would make stupid arguments against his friend. He can't imagine what Uchiha Obito looks like, animated.

He can't imagine Uchiha Obito's voice ever being loud, ever beingyoung, even. He imagines Uchiha Obito and it feels like Uchiha Obito was meant to be this.This imposing figure of stone and snow.

Cold to the touch and with a barren heart. Not a boisterous boy with a loud voice and too much emotions in his veins and not enough power.

A boy who would fight with his teammate over various matters and was too stubborn to give up on his friend.

That boy died under that boulder. He died and he never came back.

Surely Hatake Kakashi must've thought the same.

Because the man standing in front of Satoru was never loud, never emotional.

Uchiha Obito died, and the jujutsu world killed him. First with the boulder, then with the curse, and lastly-

By Hatake Kakashi's own hand.

Satoru wonders how they went from two boys sharing a dinner in the quiet of an empty clan compound, to one with his hand in the other's heart.

It must've been the jujutsu world, at the crux of it all.

Of the politics that ruled those two boys' lives and all the conflict that's created because of it.

"You cared for him," Satoru states. It's not so much a question. There are no doubts about that. From the way that Uchiha Obito just speaks about Hatake Kakashi. There is no doubt that Uchiha Obito cared for Hatake Kakashi in ways that little others did.

That Uchiha Obito, the boy, had cared deeply for Hatake Kakahsi's opinions. Had desperately wanted to be a part of his world.

To catch up to a genius boy's shadow without thinking much of what catching up even means. To catch up to his friend and share another meal within an empty clan compound, that of grilled fish.

It must've been a meal that Uchiha Obito had looked forward to. For he still remembers it, even now. Years and years and centuries and centuries after.

Satoru wonders if they ever got to share that meal, afterwards. After the boulders came crashing down and Uchiha Obito came from the corpse of his past self.

You care for him, Satoru says, and it's not so much a repetition of Uchiha Obito's statement as it is just a confirmation.

"I did," Uchiha Obito admits easily. As though there are no other truths than this. That the sky is blue and snow is cold and Uchiha Obito irrevocably cares for Hatake Kakashi. It's one of the easiest answers Satoru has drawn from Uchiha Obito.

And yet.

It leaves him anything but happy. There is no satisfaction that runs through his veins. There is nothing but this- the quiet thought that Uchiha Obito cares an awful lot about Hatake Kakashi and is still caring about the man's legacy now. Even if Hatake Kakashi killed him and made him a curse.

"And what happened?" Satoru asks, wanting for them to move along this topic. This blatant affection in front of his eyes.

"We went on as a team for about a year. We never quite reconciled, me and him. Rin was stuck in between us and Minato-sensei couldn't solve our conflict." Minato-sensei and Rin, those two names again. Both people who Satoru does not know of and both of whom no doubt will not show up in the history books, but Satoru will check, just in case. "Then came that mission."

Uchiha Obito's expression changes from reminiscent to somber, again. It's a heavy thing, that look.

Satoru knows precisely which mission it is.

"We were on our way to our mission location, but halfway there an urgent missive came. The higher ups, in there profound glory decided that Minato-sensei was needed elsewhere. Which meant that, Kakashi was our captain for the rest of that day while Minato-sensei dealt with whatever he was needed for. While Sensei was not to happy about the higher ups decision, he ultimately had not say in it. Since despite his prowess and record, he was still born of a civilian family and had no ckln backing. It also didn't help that the matter fact is that his speed and capabilities were desperately needed as well, or so we were told at least. See, Minato Sensei's Flying thunder god technique had the ability to teleport between locations he has previously marked at any given time. And he could also mark individuals as well as inanimated objects, which made him a terrifying individual to fight. Specially so, since he could use his cursed energy freely to do some insane amount of damage."

And here it is, the beginnings of Uchiha Obito's death. The beginning of the death of a boy and the revival of a ghost. "Things went fine, at first at least. Kakashi protected me again because I was too weak. But it was fine- and then-"

A rough inhale, something sharp and rushed.

"Rin got taken."

Uchiha Obito's expression is heavy, there is no softness about it.

"If we go after her, then our mission would be tantamount to a failure," Uchiha Obito says, though it does not explain more than that. Perhaps there is no need to. Satoru can read between the lines, he knows what Uchiha Obito is saying- he knows the comparison being made between Hatake Kakashi and his father.

The mission that ruined Hatake Kakashi's life from years prior has resurfaced.

The same choice- to save one's comrades or to complete the mission. To save a friend, or to exorcise a deadly curse.

The friend, or the curse- the friend, or the untold amount of chaos a curse could inflict upon a village, civilians, if left unattended for however long it takes to rescue your friend. Even moreso if you have to pull back in order to save her life- in order to get her the care that she needs.

Hatake Kakashi may have the Six Eyes, he may be a genius of his generation.

But at the same time-

He was just twelve.

He was a boy that was all too fallible. Made the captain of a mission that had him repeating his father's footsteps.

He was a boy that had no place on the field, having to make such a choice between his friend and civilian lives at the cost of rescuing her instead of intercepting a curse.

"I didn't understand him," Uchiha Obito says, again, its voice heavy. "We argued. I punched him. We decided to part ways."

"That's an awful summary," Satoru says in response. This makes Uchiha Obito laugh, again, a light thing that's awfully wry.

"We argued. He told me I would regret it, and I told him that his father was a hero," Uchiha Obito continues. "He remembered that for the rest of his life."

Perhaps Satoru shouldn't have asked, in the end, he thinks distantly.

"I was in over my head, I was weak and pathetic and he came to rescue me- again." Uchiha Obito smiles here, but it looks terribly miserable. "He got injured. My sharingan awoke to protect him- and we came to rescue Rin in that damned cave, together. And then they made the cave collapse and-"

Uchiha Obito gestures vaguely.

"I told him to see the future for me."

Kento returns to find one Gojo Satoru lounging over his coffee table.

It is very much the stuff of his nightmares.

"Nanamin," Gojo begins, obnoxiously. "Did you know my no-good, terribly ugly, and not-Gojo ancestor was cursed by Uchiha Obito first?"

"What?"