The journey to the Leaf village was quieter than normal, most likely due to everyone's compliance or wariness. Kakashi occasionally opened and looked at Tobi with his Sharingan, the chakra surged back into his eye. It only made Kakashi question even more of who was really under that mask.

Meanwhile, Obito was busy looking among the trees, noticing someone started stalking them when they got a certain distance to the village. Judging by their distance it had to have been a tracker. But normally there wouldn't be one following them, this one wasn't following orders. Obito enhanced his vision further to see it was the boy, Itachi. "What's your plan, boy?" Obito wondered.

Obito had a thought, "I might be lucky, I can ask him to put me under a genjutsu so Kiyomi can't."

Madara murmured in his head, "What are you thinking, Obito?"

Obito elaborated, "Itachi Uchiha is tailing us. I think it'd be wise to talk to him about Kiyomi and her jutsu."

"I disagree. Yes, telling him to help you now would be beneficial. But in the long run, it would only harm our progress and identity. Itachi is a smart child, if he sees even the slightest bit of weakness he will exploit it and reveal to Konoha and the whole world who we are. And not to mention Kakashi could uncover your identity, again."

Obito wasn't someone who looked further beyond the here and now, most of the time it was out of laziness and or a disregard for consequences. However, Madara was very helpful as he could see futures, not in a literal sense but in a metaphorical one. He planned for the future about almost every possibility but if Obito had to guess it was more luck and assumptions on Madara's part. His help was good regardless.

Itachi followed Madara and his group because he couldn't trust him, not because he thought he was a liar but more because Madara was a bomb waiting to explode in his home. He'd stealthily been watching Madara in the village throughout some of his free time. He'd seen Madara order food to take home, he'd wander around the village with his "Friends" occasionally shopping and paying for the stuff Konan wanted. It got Itachi wondering what the relationship between those two was. Madara as his Tobi persona was goofy and lighthearted but when it came to things with women he seemed shifty and quiet, sometimes breathing a lot faster.

Itachi was on patrol outside of Konoha when he saw Kakashi, Jiraiya, Konan, and Madara approaching the village with a brunette woman. It wasn't a normal protocol to bring people back to the village after a mission, especially if they weren't a prisoner. Itachi felt like Madara was plotting something, "What are you planning, Madara?"

As the four were continuing to the Leaf, Kakashi kept thinking about the morning, he knew that Tobi was unique but there were many mysteries yet untold. Kakashi knew that any mystery had one of two outcomes, positive or negative. At the moment Tobi was neither, but for how long? Kakashi felt that he would have to report it to Lord Third.

Jiraiya thought about his conversation with Tobi in the morning, them being under a genjutsu and all. It was most likely true because he saw Tsunade and she was too nice. Even though he knew he was under genjutsu he had no choice but to listen and do what she said. He worried why the foreign Shinobi would want to be escorted into the Leaf village but he fully realized that she would try and get The Hokage under the same genjutsu. Jiraiya had to come up with something to prevent that from happening, but how?

They reached the gate of the village and there were no guards strangely enough. Kiyomi continued walking in front, the sight of the Hidden Leaf village was very different from the Mist. She hoped she could have a home here and no longer be hunted by the Cloud, or eventually Mist Shinobi.

Kakashi stepped forward, "Alright, this is where we part ways, Rin. We'll see you later." He started walking away.

Obito believed that Kakashi had a plan, "He's not foolish enough to believe she's the real Rin, so that means he already knows." Obito thought. He would play along for now, he walked forward holding both of his arms behind his head. "Tobi agrees with Kakashi-senpai. We'll report to our superiors and Tobi will have the rest of the day off."

Jiraiya and Konan looked at each other, they had a nod of understanding to follow Kakashi and Tobi.

Kiyomi wanted to say something but she didn't know what to say, anything she said could be heard by anyone nearby and possibly cause her to be swarmed by Leaf Shinobi. She decided to wander for now, maybe she'd get a chance at the Hokage later.

Team Kakashi and Jiraiya handed in their reports to the Hokage's office, but the Hokage wasn't there. At the moment he was out and about, no one at the office knew exactly where he was.

This only resulted in the four having the time to formulate a plan to dispose of Kiyomi. They gathered on a rooftop near the Hokage's estate, and Kakashi began formulating the plan. "Even though we're all affected by that genjutsu, we still can do something. If what we think is true then she wants Lord Third and we can't allow it. We need to quarantine her within a section of the village."

Konan spoke up, "But we can't do it just the four of us?"

Kakashi replied, "That's why we'll have Guy, Anko, and Tenzo. That way we'll have people not under her control."

Jiraiya nodded, "I'll take the Eastside with Tenzo, if need be he can use wood style to constrain me or her from a distance."

Konan pointed to the south, "I can block the south with Anko and my paper jutsu. She can use her snakes to suppress me... hopefully."

Kakashi pointed to the west, "I'll take the West with Guy. If I find her I'll show her that this Sharingan isn't just for show."

Everyone turned to look where Tobi was... But he was no longer there. Konan looked around until she saw Madara running and jumping with his arms flailing. Konan felt embarrassed just seeing the idiotic and unpredictable pupil of Madara.

A little while later, Obito stood atop a rooftop looking down for any trace of Rin. No, Kiyomi, that was her name. She could never compare to Rin, too pure for this world, no it was hell. He had to remember that. Everything in this world was inconsequential to the eternal dream, he had to remember it. It was the only thing keeping him going.

But if it was then why didn't he pursue it faster? Why? What stopped him from doing so? An attachment to the Leaf? To Kakashi? To the Akatsuki? No. None of them. But if it was none of them then what stopped him? What caused him to be lazy? He could press Nagato into securing the tailed beasts faster but he didn't, why?

Obito's inner turmoil started to show through his body language, Madara noted this as he appeared to his right. "Thinking so much to yourself will only make you lose your sanity. Slowly but surely."

Obito turned, "Thinking is the only thing that keeps me sane. You know that."

Madara hummed, "Hmm, I suppose you have a point. Just remember that thinking too much about something is dangerous. But thinking too little can lead to failure."

Obito returned his vision to the streets below, his eye shifting from woman to woman in search of Kiyomi. And that's when he saw the Third Hokage walking down the street. The Hokage had a group of Jounin surrounding him as an escort. The Hokage greeted civilians on his way down the street.

Obito felt like nothing was out of the ordinary, but he still felt like he should be seeing something. He activated his Sharingan to try and locate Kiyomi.

He noticed that a woman with a heavy amount of chakra swirled around her, "There you are..."

Obito blocked the path between Kiyomi and the Hokage with a giant wooden wall that went all the way to the rooftops of the nearby buildings. Obito walked on top of the wall and yelled down to the Hokage, "Mr Hokage sir, run! There's an enemy Shinobi trying to get to you!" The goofy voice of Tobi said.

Hiruzen looked up at Tobi, he knew that Tobi was a goofball but he wouldn't lie about something that important. Hiruzen and his guards ran the other way, Obito assumed that they were taking Hiruzen to a panic room.

Obito turned to the other side of the wall to see Kiyomi running up the wall, Kiyomi jumped up and tried to hit him but he jumped back. Obito created a large platform and boxed both of them inside. Kiyomi tried to attack Obito but he effortlessly dodged everything, she understood that he had the skill to back up his claim of being Madara.

"You will let me get past and control the Hokage!" She yelled as she continued to attack him.

Obito just laughed in his Madara voice, "Trying to use your genjutsu, eh? Well, I'd hate to say I didn't come prepared but I did."

Kiyomi was concerned, "What do you mean?"

"I was hoping your jutsu wouldn't affect clones like the main body, and like so, I was right." The wood clone said.

The wood clone struck Kiyomi with a kick, she hit the wall of the box. Constraints held her chest and legs together.

"Now, I suppose I have to dispose of you. You have too much information for the Leaf to use." The clone approached, but as the clone approached he brandished a kunai.

Kiyomi felt that she had no other choice, there was another forbidden jutsu she learned from the Cloud's scroll, a jutsu that launched a great bird of flame that would consume anything and grow in size. And the only way to stop it was for the bird to burn everything, there's a reason why the Cloud Village was mostly in the mountains.

Before Kiyomi launched it she had hoped she had done right by her village, "Though it's not against the cloud, this is for the comrades I lost."

She performed nine hand signs, "Fire style: Flame of the all-consuming Phoenix!" A giant bird of fire formed from her mouth. The box erupted in flames and destroyed the wood clone, Kiyomi managed to land on a nearby building before it caught fire. She jumped down to the street and watched as the Phoenix consumed an entire building in mere seconds.

Luckily the building had been evacuated, the next couple of blocks were in the process of evacuating. But at the rate the Phoenix went it wouldn't be enough. Nearby Shinobi tried dousing it with water style but the flames just got bigger.

Konan and Anko saw the large bird of fire, both knew it was the enemy. Konan knew that any attempt to stop the fire with her paper would make it worse. Her only option was to help evacuate civilians. As she began helping she hoped Madara would be able to do something to stop the fire.

Obito stared at the Phoenix from a lone water tower nearby, he didn't know what to do. If he should leave the village to its fate or attempt to stop it.

Madara manifested to Obito's right once more, "I say that we've done enough for the village, we owe it nothing. Let's just return to Amegakure with Konan and continue to further the eye of the moon plan."

Obito agreed, "Yes." It was slow and long. He didn't want the village to be destroyed but it was no longer his decision.

In the distance, Obito saw that the Phoenix was approaching the ninja academy, but it hadn't been evacuated. Now his mind was even more confused on what to do.

A blonde boy left his swing to see the massive firebird, he didn't run away in fear but was frozen in place.

A memory jolted in Obito's mind, Minato and Kushina's deaths. They both jumped in front of the nine tails' claw to protect their son, Naruto.

Obito felt a hand touch his left hand, "Go. Protect our home, Future Hokage." He knew the voice but he knew it wasn't real. A trick from Kiyomi perhaps? No. The feeling he had in his heart knew it was more. In a swift moment, Obito disappeared from the water tower.

Some Shinobi tried using earth-style walls to stop the Phoenix but nothing stopped it for long. Kakashi felt hopeless about the situation, he had helped bring the threat to their doorstep. And now it blew up in their face. "If only Minato-Sensei were here."

The Phoenix rapidly destroyed several buildings until it reached the academy. Naruto closed his eyes and held his hands up in an attempt to stop the firebird, but even a young boy knew that his actions would be in vain.

After a moment of nothing happening Naruto opened his eyes to see a man standing in front of him, his long black hair reached his waist.

Obito held his hands out to stop the firebird, chakra on his fingertips to withstand the heat. And then his eye began to glow red with a shuriken-like design, and a swirl erupted from his eye. The fire began slowly growing smaller like it was being drained.

Everyone in sight of the Phoenix noticed it was shrinking but no one knew why. They all looked toward the street to see a Shinobi standing in front of a boy, the man had so much courage to jump into his impending doom.

Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan lit ablaze as the fire was being sucked into his Kamui dimension. So much fire swirling around caught Obito's sleeves and gloves ablaze, the pain he felt was nothing compared to what pain Naruto would feel if he stopped struggling.

Obito attempted to push the fire upward toward his eye, sucking more of the fire away.

Konan watched as the Phoenix grew smaller and Madara was the source of why. She saw him standing in front of the blonde boy that he'd been watching, "Why are you risking your life for others? It's not like you."

Obito continued absorbing the fire into Kamui until there was none left. He fell to one knee holding his eye, he hadn't used Kamui for that long before, it put a lot of strain on him but he was slowly recovering.

As Obito tried to stand back up he deactivated his Sharingan and turned around to see if Naruto was okay. The boy looked up at him in awe with an open smile and he hugged the masked ninja at the waist, "Thank you, swirly man." Naruto said.

Obito felt uncomfortable, this was the boy he'd almost killed and now he was thanking him for saving him. "You're welcome..." He didn't speak as Tobi nor Madara, it was a spur-of-the-moment response as just himself.

Kiyomi seeing that she was foiled once again by Madara decided to do one final thing. "Kill him! Kill the boy! Show them the monster you are!" She activated the controlled mode of her genjutsu. She would leave nothing to chance this time.

Obito heard Rin's voice say, "Kill him. Kill the boy. Show them the monster you are." Obito knew it was false but his body began moving on its own. He pulled out a kunai with his right hand, still burnt from a moment ago. He felt like a passenger in his body as the kunai was approaching Naruto.

Konan saw that Madara was doing something and it looked like he wasn't doing it willingly. She attempted to use a paper jutsu to save the boy but it would be too late, her paper wouldn't be fast enough.

Obito looked down at Naruto's warm eyes, reminding him of himself when he was younger. Obito tried severing himself from his past self many times but he could never do it fully, there was a part of himself that still wanted to become the Hokage and be recognized by everyone. Just from Naruto's eyes could Obito tell that he had the same dream as his past self.

Obito tried with all his will to stop the kunai by any means from touching Naruto. He couldn't stop his right hand but there was still an option. He slammed his left hand into the kunai, piercing through to the other side. Naruto saw what happened to the man's hand and touched it, without knowing Naruto gave a sliver of chakra to Obito.

Obito's mind blanked for a moment before being in a white void, he looked around not knowing what happened.

"So you're the one," a man's voice rang out. "Who attacked me and freed the nine tails."

Obito turned around to the voice to be mask to face with the spirit of the Fourth Hokage, his sensei. "So this is your doing. I must say, I'm surprised that you put some of your chakra into your son. But that doesn't mean you can do anything about it." He did his Madara impression.

Minato stepped forward, "I may not. But I still wish to speak with you, you can do a dead man that much."

"Oh? What does the deceased fourth Hokage want with me?"

"I wish to know who you are and why you want the nine tails. And don't say you're Madara Uchiha when it's not possible, the tales say you'd be a lot stronger if you were."

Obito thought he could agree to his requests, "Alright." He began to reach for his mask. Throwing his mask aside he was bare before his sensei, "Happy now?" He stopped his impersonation.

Minato's face contorted into shock, "Obito?! Is that you?!"

Obito stared directly into Minato's eyes, the resentment clear in his eye. "This failure of a student was destined to die on the battlefield at the age of twelve. Crushed by a cave-in, alone. No family to grieve him, nor any friends. That was the sad life of Obito Uchiha."

Minato saw the scars on the right side of Obito's face, "What happened to you?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, yellow flash..."

Minato wanted to know what led his student down this dark path, "Why? Why did you attack the leaf village?"

Obito let his stare burn a metaphorical hole through Minato, "Nothing matters, so why should my actions matter to you?"

Minato was quiet, "You were like a son to me."

"If that's true then why didn't you try to search for me? I was trapped and the only person who tried to save me was Madara."

Minato couldn't believe it, the real Madara Uchiha was alive and had saved Obito from death.

Obito continued his anger showing, "He grafted artificial cells of the First Hokage in place of my right side. I spent a year training my new body parts, strengthening my resolve to reunite with Kakashi and Rin. But when I was ready to escape Madara's lair I was thrust into witnessing Kakashi skewer Rin's heart with his chidori. Enveloped in agony I awakened my Mangekyou Sharingan and massacred the Mist Anbu that previously tried to kill Kakashi and Rin. Not only did you fail me, you failed Rin, Kakashi, and even Kushina."

Minato was just speechless, he felt there was nothing he could say to Obito. Obito sighed, "You were my master but after that day Obito, the one you knew died. I am what remains."

Minato just looked away, "If you wish to go down this path I cannot stop you. But please just don't hurt Naruto. And if you can please protect him."

"Goodbye, Sensei," Obito said, returning to the real world.

"I'll be waiting here if you want to talk, just know that Obito."

A Chunin walked out of the academy and called for Naruto. Naruto forgot he had to return to class, he looked up at Obito's mask and smiled before running away. Obito just stood where he was, blood oozing down his left hand, the pain not bothering him as he was relieved Naruto was safe.

Kiyomi fell to her knees as she watched Madara resist her command, "Impossible. He shouldn't have been able to..." She ran out of chakra completely.

Kakashi and Guy jumped down in front of Kiyomi, "Seems like you've run out of tricks." Kakashi said.

Kiyomi looked up at Kakashi and felt a burning sensation throughout her body, but the burning soon turned into her being boiled alive. She screamed for help, anything to soothe her pain. "Help me!"

Kakashi saw as the woman's body began burning up, he couldn't tell if it was one final effort of attack or a real plea for help.

Guy asked, "What's wrong with her?" Kakashi went with his gut and enclosed her within a box of stone. He awaited another explosion but more screams followed. Eventually, the screams stopped and silence enveloped the area. Kakashi lowered the stone barrier and saw what was left of the enemy, scorched bones and ash.

Kakashi wondered what happened but at the moment it didn't matter. Jiraiya and Tenzo arrived to see the charred remains of the enemy Shinobi. "Did you do that?" Jiraiya asked.

"No. It seemed to me she had a technique to prevent her capture." Kakashi replied. Though he didn't say it out loud, he wondered if Tobi might've had anything to do with the woman's death.

Obito stared at the ninja academy, his mind was foggy, confused over everything he was feeling. He was confused by both what he did and why, but he was also conflicted because of his reunion with his sensei.

Minato-Sensei wasn't angry at him, even though he was the one who killed him and Kushina. And his final words stuck with him. He wanted to talk with him again, but why? There was no reason for them to talk again, not one. So why would he still act kind to him after all he'd done? It was perplexing.

Konan saw Madara and walked to him, his back facing her. "Tobi, are you okay?" She asked.

Obito turned around shortly after hearing her voice, "Yeah, Tobi's fine." He hid his left hand from her sight, he hadn't removed the kunai yet.

But Konan wasn't fooled, she saw the blood dripping from behind his back, "Don't hide your wounds from me," Konan said.

Obito froze in place upon hearing those words again, he began to hear an echo of Rin saying the same thing way back when. It made the fact that when he saw Konan as Rin he felt like his past and present were mashed together with mixed emotions.

Konan grabbed Obito's left hand and saw the kunai, she slowly pulled it out. "Though I may not be a medical Shinobi I can still treat your wounds the best I can til your healing factor kicks in." She pulled a bandage from one of the pouches on her flak jacket, and began wrapping Obito's hand, he was silent the whole time.

When she finished wrapping Obito's hand she looked at him fully, seeing the battle damage he'd taken from taking the brunt of the fire. She noticed his gloves were reduced to cinders on the ground, his sleeves were barely to his elbow, his flak jacket charred, his mask... surprisingly unharmed, and his hair was burnt to the point his hair was as short as Yahiko's was.

Konan patted Obito's hair to get rid of all the embers still burning. "There. We wouldn't want you to lose all your hair now would we." She chuckled.

There was something about Konan that made Obito feel something, it was a spark that lit ablaze in his heart. She made him feel like he was loved, even if it wasn't romantical. He struggled to bring his words out, "Th-than...k you." He spoke as himself, another sloppy choice on his part.

Konan heard him speak normally, it caught her off guard, but she didn't want it to turn things awkward. She just smiled, "Anytime, Tobi."

The Hokage walked toward the two with his escort, "Tobi, it seems you managed to stop the Phoenix from consuming the academy."

Obito cleared his throat, "Tobi was just doing his duty."

"True that may be, but none would have done what you did. Especially after so many tried to douse the flames with water but were unsuccessful, only you were able to stop it completely."

Obito nodded, "Tobi only stopped it with an absorption jutsu of his. If Tobi hadn't had it then I doubt Tobi would've jumped in front of it like he did." He lied.

Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe, "If that is the case then the village is in your debt. There were surprisingly no casualties, but some were injured. It's thanks to you that no one was killed today. Hmm, I think an award of some kind is in order."

Obito shook his head and his hands, "That's not necessary, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen smirked, "Please, I insist. Just go to the hospital and get checked up. Tomorrow I'll arrange a small ceremony in your honor. It won't be anything too fancy, so dress as you normally would. I'll see you then unless anything comes up." He walked back to his escort and they headed toward the Hokage estate.

Obito was speechless, he couldn't believe that he was going to have an award ceremony about him. He wanted something like that when he was younger, sure it didn't matter now but it was still nice.

Konan was happy for Madara, "A ceremony just for you. That sounds nice." She smiled at him. She didn't expect to know if he was smiling back, and she wouldn't, but he was, ever so slightly.

Obito looked down at his arms and hands, "The fire banged me up pretty good." He felt lighter than before, he tried feeling his hair but it was so short, just like when he was younger. He didn't fully pay attention to Konan earlier but now he understood what she meant. "Oh, you're right, my hair is short."

"Huh, that's strange. I didn't expect you to get a haircut during a battle, Tobi." A man said as he walked by. Obito looked toward the direction to see Tenzo, "Oh, Tenzo-Senpai. I didn't get a haircut because it was burned off."

Tenzo sweat dropped, "I still can't believe this guy's wood style is stronger than mine." He thought. "Well, see you around Tobi." Tenzo walked away to help some members of the Anbu clean up some debris that the Phoenix caused.

Obito sighed, "I guess I'll go to the hospital to see if there's anything else wrong with me." He turned to Konan, "What will you do in the meantime?" He asked as Tobi.

She looked over to the wreckage leftover from the Phoenix, "I suppose I'll lend a hand here. It seems like they could use it."

"Okie dokie," Obito nodded and went on his way to the hospital.

Itachi watched him from a nearby rooftop, "I'll find your weakness, Madara. Even if it kills me." He mumbled to himself.

"Even if what kills you?" Kakashi asked from behind Itachi.

Itachi sighed, "Captain Kakashi, I didn't expect you here. Were you watching me?"

"For a little bit. But it's fine, I just wanted to know if you have anything on Tobi since the last time I asked."

Itachi felt like he became seven degrees warmer, "I unfortunately don't have a whole lot. Well, besides that he gets nervous near women. But it's not everyone."

Kakashi glared at Itachi, "Give me everything you have on him. Cause I need everything I can before I make a move on Tobi."