Chapter 2

AN: Fair warning. This chapter is a little violent.

One Misstep

"I see."

Obito spun around, watching the injured Iwa-nin rise from the ground. Kakashi turned with him, minutely wincing as another spike of pain from his destroyed eye struck him.

Apparently, Kakashi's strike hadn't killed the man: his vest had stopped most of the blow from getting through. He staggered to his feet, still speaking.

"You two make a good team… but you're still just kids." The man smirked, blood leaking from the slash in his vest. "And right now, you're right where I want you." He began to steadily run through hand-signs.

Obito's eyes went wide: he instinctively reached back and grabbed Rin's hand. Kakashi actually spared a moment to roll his remaining eye.

"Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi!" the man declared, slamming his hand onto the stone floor of the artificial dome of boulders.

There was a rumbling that Obito felt in his bones, and the ceiling shuddered. A single stone slipped from the press of rocks, dust and powder coming with it.

A moment later, dozens of stones began to follow it.

The Stone shinobi turned and ran.

"Go!" Kakashi yelled, taking off into a pained sprint. "Get to the exit! The whole thing is coming down!"

Obito and Rin broke into a dead run, pulling level with their teammate as the dome shattered and dust filled the air.

The din was incredible. Obito had never heard something so loud in his life. It was if the earth itself was roaring in rage, doing its best to crush them under tons of stone and rubble. Pebbles bounced off his head: they stung terribly, but he couldn't afford to slow down, or to shield himself. He focused everything on pumping his arms, increasing his speed.

Rin was doing the same, as was Kakashi.

Then, Obito looked up, and the world changed forever.

A stone fell from the ceiling, headed right for Kakashi's head. If it fell without interruption, it would smash into the silver-haired boy, sending him to the floor in a dazed heap. He would be vulnerable to the rest of the sizable boulders raining down.

To Obito, with his Sharingan, the rock seemed to descend in slow motion. He could see ever detail of it perfectly: every fissure, crack, the pattern of dust on the underside.

His decision about his course of action was far quicker than the stone.

He lunged forward, trying to divert the rock from Kakashi's head. He succeeded: it struck his left arm with a sickening crunch, and white fire filled that side of his body.

Rin snapped her head towards him, her expression horrified, and Obito spared her a shaky grin. The stone hadn't hit Kakashi in the head, so Obito considered it a victory, even if he was positive he'd just broken his arm.

Unfortunately, the pain of his new injury, plus the distraction of Rin's eyes, made Obito trip right over his own feet as a smaller stone struck him in the ankle.

He hit the floor hard and bounced, sending another tidal wave of boiling agony racing down his arm.

Obito screamed. He couldn't help himself.

Kakashi turned, his remaining eye wide. If Obito's vision hadn't been blurred from the pain in his arm, he would have seen Kakashi dart his eye upwards for a moment before he rushed forward.

The jōnin seized Obito by his unbroken arm, and heaved him backwards, towards Rin. The Uchiha spun in midair, facing back towards Kakashi.

This time, no matter how acutely the Sharingan rendered the scene, there was nothing he could do but scream in horror as he saw the massive boulder that had been about to fall on him slam Kakashi to the ground.

The impact was thunderous: the remains of the dome shook, and gravel and dust filled the air, blinding both Obito and Rin.

He yelled, unwilling to believe what he had just seen. Rin echoed his cry.

"Kakashi!"

He hit the ground, and the pain in his arm exploded.

Obito blacked out.

He came to suddenly; one moment he was unconscious, the next, fully aware.

Obito almost wished he wasn't. His arm felt horrific: like someone had jammed a bundle of kunai inside it, and then tossed him off the Hokage monument for good measure.

He hissed, doing his best not to jostle it as he slowly pulled himself up. He cast his eyes around, the Sharingan whirling. Where was Rin? And-

Kakashi!

He spun about frantically, trying to locate his teammate. Even with his new eyes, he could barely see through all the debris.

Where had Kakashi fallen? Or Rin? He couldn't find them anywhere.

"Obito."

He heard the muffled gasp to his left, and jerked towards it, eyes wide. He staggered forward, gritting his teeth and ignoring the pain in his arm.

There was a pile of smaller stones, each only about the size of his hand. The voice had come from it.

He reached it and bent down, his functional arm slowly moving forward. It was trembling. Obito grasped one of the stones on top of the pile, and slowly pulled it off.

Rin's chocolate brown eyes stared up at him, a trail of blood running between them.

He yelped, and began scrabbling at the stones, pulling more and more of them off his teammate. After a couple seconds, her form became clear: hunched over, and shaking. The stones had formed a sort of cairn around her: aside from a multitude of bruises and a nasty cut on her scalp, she didn't look seriously hurt.

"Rin?" Obito whispered. She didn't look away from him. Her breath was coming too quickly; she was hyperventilating.

"Obito?" she asked. "You… you're… her gaze shifted to his side. "Your arm!" She stumbled forward, falling to her knees. Obito bent down, unsure of what to do. He settled for grabbing her hand.

"Rin. It's fine. I'm okay. It's not as…" He looked over, and gulped. His left arm hung limply, a shard of bone sticking out of the elbow.

He couldn't feel it at all. He was pretty sure that wasn't good.

Obito's mouth was suddenly dry, but he tried to not let it show. "It's not as bad as it looks," he finished, doing his best to grin.

Rin just stared up at him in disbelief. He heard a stone shift in the distance: the fragile balance the stones had achieved would likely be short-lived.

"Rin," he said again. "Where's-"

"Kakashi!" she suddenly said, scrambling to her feet. "Where is he? where- he… there was a rock-!"

"I know," Obito said. "I've been looking for him. But-"

"Obito." The croak echoed throughout the collapsed cave. "Rin?"

Obito and Rin both turned towards the voice. "Kakashi?" Rin gasped.

They both limped towards the sound of their teammate. A stone towered over them, blocking their path. They walked around it, Obito desperately trying to suppress the agony in his arm.

They found Kakashi on the other side, sprawled out on the floor, facing up towards the ceiling.

His abdomen, and everything below it, was pinned beneath the boulder. Blood spread in a steadily widening pool around him.

He stared up at Obito with a dark, clear eye. Obito stared back, horrified.

Rin fell to her knees at his side, her hands clamping over her mouth. Tears leaked from her eyes.

"Good. You're okay," the other boy whispered. Obito's legs failed him. He joined Rin on his knees, clutching his broken arm to keep it from moving.

"Kakashi-!" Rin hiccupped, unable to finish her sentence. The Hatake moved his oddly lucid eye to her.

He smiled.

"Don't worry, Rin. There's nothing you can do. I can't even feel a thing down there." He vaguely gestured to his lower body, the movement of his arms halting and feeble. They barely got off the ground. "It's totally crushed. At this point, all I can do is wait for the shock to finish me off."

"Don't talk like that!" Obito hissed. "We're gonna get you out of here! We're Team Awesome, remember? There's not way a rock like this is gonna-"

He choked, his words catching in his rapidly clenching throat. Kakashi just watched him with one calm eye.

"Sorry, Obito. But… this is the end for me." He closed his eye, but his breathing remained, though it grew more and more unsteady.

His teammates just watched, mute. Tears began to leak from Obito's eyes as well.

"No…" he shook his head, his voice steadily growing louder. "No, no, no… it wasn't supposed to go like this. You're the captain, the jōnin. You're the one who's supposed to go become the big war hero."

He lurched to his feet. "You can't do this, Kakashi! I'm just the dead last! The worst Uchiha! You can't just leave-!"

Obito shut his eyes tightly. "Please," he whispered. "Please, don't die."

"I don't have a choice, Obito," Kakashi said, every word a struggle. Obito made a desperate noise, but Kakashi cut him off. "And besides… you've got your Sharingan now… with that you can-"

"I was going to use it to help our teamwork!" Obito yelled. "I can't if you're dead, huh!? Kakashi-!"

"Obito."

Rin's quiet voice snapped the Uchiha out of his indignation. Her tears had ceased, and she watched him with dark but firm eyes.

He stared at her, and then back at Kakashi. What was he doing? His teammate, his friend, was dying… and he was spending their last minutes together yelling at him.

He bent back down, watching his team leader the whole time. Both of his arms were limp at his side. He couldn't stop his tears, like Rin had.

She reached out, and took Kakashi's hand in her own. Obito hesitated, before mirroring the movement with Kakashi's other hand.

They were silent for a moment. Kakashi weakly squeezed Obito's hand: Obito returned the favor.

"I'm glad, you know," the Hatake said. "That I'm dying like this."

Neither of his teammates tried to interrupt him.

"I understand my father's choices now, I think. Doing anything for his team… even giving his life…"

Kakashi was silent for a moment. Obito stilled, worrying that he might have died. The fear was unfound.

Kakashi sighed. "Rin… I'm sorry."

The brown-haired girl sucked in a breath, before nodding, a small, sad smile on her face.

And then… "Obito."

"Y-yeah?" Obito said, trying not to sniffle.

He could hear Kakashi trying not to smile. Bastard.

"Three… things to tell you." The jōnin's voice was fading fast.

"I'm listening, Kakashi," Obito promised. He wouldn't forget what his friend said to him for the rest of his life.

"You and Rin… look out for each other. You are… my team. I don't want anything to happen to you." Kakashi's mask was beginning to dampen: he was bleeding into it through his mouth. "Protect each other."

Obito nodded frantically, his lips set in a determined line.

"Second… you may not have… gotten me a gift…" Obito stiffened, while Kakashi continued, "but I have one for you. Take… my sword."

Kakashi gasped, having more and more difficulty making his words clear. His voice was barely above a whisper. "It was my father's… I don't want it to just… lie in here with me. Get… some of those guys, will you?"

Obito couldn't bring himself to say anything. Rin did for him. "Of course, Kakashi," she said gently, squeezing his hand again.

"Last… thing," Kakashi said. Obito had to bend in close, straining to hear him. "Obito. I know… you can do it. You'll become… the greatest of the Uchiha… the greatest ninja in Konoha." Kakashi's eye opened, but it didn't see anything.

"I know it."

And then he went slack, his eye slumping closed once more, and his grip on Obito's and Rin's hands fell away.

Kakashi Hatake was dead.

Obito stared at the body. Rin closed her eyes, rocking back and forth and maintaining her grip on Kakashi's hand.

The Uchiha took a deep, shuddering breath.

His eyes caught fire.

Not literally, fortunately. But the agonizing, steady burn in them emerged from nowhere, and he blinked, too stunned to care that it felt like his eyes were melting.

He gave out a pained grunt, not looking away from Kakashi's sallow face. Rin opened her eyes and looked up at him.

She gasped.

"Obito! Your eyes-!"

"Wha-" Obito raised his arm to his face, trying to scrub away his tears. He could feel them: his cheeks were getting wetter and wetter.

His arm came back down smeared with blood.

His eyes were bleeding. Both of them, sending trails of thick, sticky blood sliding down his cheeks.

Obito stared at the blood on his arm in astonishment. He raised his hand, pressing around his face, feeling the blood.

His eyes kept burning. But it no longer felt like molten copper was circulating throughout his head, filling it with fire. Instead, the flames had become a solid buzzing, warming his head. It felt like the Sharingan, but… heavier. More cloying.

It felt good.

Obito bent forward, undoing the clasp on Kakashi's short blade. He pulled it from the dead boy's back, before tossing the sheath aside and carrying just the blade. He slowly stood up, his legs trembling. Rin watched him with wide eyes.

"Where are you going?" she asked. "Obito-"

"I'm going to go get that bastard," Obito hissed. "He's the one who did this to Kakashi. I'm going to make him pay."

"Obito, you can't!" Rin said. "Your arm, your eyes… just wait for sensei! Please!"

Obito shook his head. "He'll take too long. And there are gonna be more of them. I have to do this now." He turned around, but Rin reached out and grabbed his arm, not rising from her knees.

"At least let me help your arm," she said, looking at him with imploring eyes.

Obito looked at her, his Sharingan still. He swallowed, unable to keep the fear swallowing him up out of his voice.

"Okay."

Rin rose and bent forward, running her glowing green hands over Obito's arm. He shivered at the sensation.

She bit her lip. "Okay," she said steadily. "I've set the bone. But you won't be able to use it."

Obito smiled grimly. "I won't need it." He turned and strode towards where light peeked through the shattered dome of stone, headed for the outside world. "Stay with Kakashi! Protect his body."

"Obito…"

He stopped for the last time, not turning around.

"Please come back."

He nodded, and left the tomb.

"So you're still alive, huh?"

Obito didn't respond to the bushy haired ninja staring up at him with an amused glint in his eyes. He just glared back, his broken arm rigid at his side, his grip on Kakashi's tanto turning his fingers white.

He stood on top of the former dome: it had been reduced to so much piled rubble. He'd managed to worm his way to the top of it, only to find his teammates murderer sitting at the base, sipping from a canteen.

Obito's arm was still unusable: hand-signs were out of the question. All he had was his new sword, and his new eyes.

The Stone jōnin shook his head. "How stubborn. But it doesn't matter. You're still just a kid." He smiled. "And crying, too. Tears of blood… how dramatic."

Obito shifted a foot back, raising his sword. The Iwa nin cocked his head, twin steel blades sliding from his forearm wrappings.

"C'mon then, brat. Let's finish this."

Obito didn't attack. Not right away. Instead, he continued to glare, his Sharingan, and the tomoe in it, whirling rapidly. Faster.

Faster.

They began to spiral inward, meeting at the pupil. The rotation began to slow, then reverse: but as the tomoe pulled away, they seemed to pull the pupil with them, into their rotation.

A three-point figure formed: a triangle without sides, with dashes of black moving from each point, like the tail of a comet. The pupil became a red dot at the center of the design.

The Iwa jōnin, a man named Kakkō who delighted in simple things like torture, murder, and burying men alive, blinked. 'His eyes… that's no ordinary Sharingan.'

Obito spoke quietly. His voice was cold, and it trembled.

"You killed my friend."

He blinked heavily, and the new Sharingan design began to spiral about again.

"You killed Kakashi!" Obito roared.

And then he leapt off the stone tomb, sword held high.

Kakkō smirked, and raised his blades to meet him.

To Obito, the man seemed to be moving in slow motion. He could see his every movement. He could see what he intended to do, before he did it.

He looked so… clumsy. Like he was flailing underwater.

So this was the power of the Sharingan. No wonder his clan could be so arrogant.

Obito watched the man's swords come up. If he simply went on falling, he would be impaled.

He couldn't let that happen. If he died here, then so would Rin.

And Rin would not die.

Obito's arm shot out, and he flung his tanto at the man, sending it end over end.

Kakkō's eyes widened, and he altered the path of his blades, crossing them in front of his chest. The former sword of the White Fang crashed into it, and was deflected into the soil.

Obito landed on the still crossed blades a moment later, the steel digging into but not cutting through his thick sandals. Chakra kept his balance steady for the one second that the Iwa ninja had to look at the child perched on his crossed blades.

On any other day, Obito would have considered his expression hilarious. But today, all he felt was dreadfully cold anger.

The Uchiha punched the man in the face. Hard.

Kakkō slid back, his face bloodied. Obito fell to the ground, landing painfully on his tailbone and gritting his teeth. He rolled backwards, his hand grasping for his new sword, and came back to his feet with it in hand.

"Nggh." The jōnin spat out a bloodied tooth. "What the hell was-"

Obito charged him. He was done talking.

The tanto came around, trailing silver chakra, and suddenly Kakkō was too busy desperately defending himself.

Steel clanged on steel as Obito pushed the older ninja back across the clearing. His recently broken arm hung slack at his side, but he didn't need it: the Sharingan allowed him to redirect the other man's strikes before they even happened.

Two blades flashed out in a desperate uppercut, trying to knock Obito's guard up, but the Uchiha didn't attempt to meet the strike.

Instead, he dropped his sword and spun back.

Kakkō stared as Obito's blade fell between his two extended ones, both of them missing it and its owner completely. He had overextended himself: there was too much power behind his swing. Both of his arms were up, leaving his body open.

Obito finished his spin. His hand darted out and caught the tanto as it fell.

He pushed forward, and buried it up to its hilt in the jōnin's chest.

The Iwa-nin stumbled back, dragging the tanto from Obito's hand. He stared at the smaller boy in astonishment. Obito looked back fearlessly.

The man chuckled. "Heh. Figures…" Blood splashed across his jacket and chin as he spoke, pouring from his mouth. "All I put up with… and a little punk like you offs me."

He sank to his knees. Obito walked towards him, wary, but the dying jōnin made no move.

He grabbed the handle of the tanto.

"Jokes on the you, though," the man said, and Obito looked at him dispassionately.

"I'm not alone."

Obito's Sharingan widened, and he yanked the sword from the man's chest, spinning to the left.

He was too slow.

A foot hammered into his broken arm, and he flew back, bouncing along the grass.

A broken scream of pain tore itself out of him.

He slid to a stop and stared back at where he'd come from. His arm flared in agony, and his vision blurred, but that didn't matter.

Iwa ninja filled the field. There were more than a dozen of them, all tall, heavy-set men. Some were twice Obito's height, and all of them were certainly heavier. They wore standard flak-vests, denoting them as chūnin. They had probably been the jōnin's subordinates.

And they were all staring at him, with hate filled eyes.

"Kakkō-taichou!" One of the younger men was shaking the jōnin that Obito had stabbed, trying to slow the bleeding from the sizable wound in his chest.

He was failing. But the slender man didn't seem to care. He was watching Obito with a spiteful smile.

He spoke up, and all of the Stone ninja imperceptivity shifted as they listened to him.

"Listen up!" he rasped. "That brat's killed me! But he's got something we need! Forget the information!" He leveled a finger at Obito, who shook as another flash of agony shot up his arm, making his heart jump a beat.

"He's got a fully-formed Sharingan! Take it, and the village will owe you a debt!" He smiled fully, revealing his bloodstained teeth, and then sank back, falling to the ground.

Obito knew that the man was dead, or would be in a moment.

And that he would probably soon be joining him soon.

The Iwa-nin roared together, and charged.

Obito watched them approach with whirling eyes, his grip tightening once more on his tanto.

He took a deep breath.

The first ninja to reach Obito had a snarl on his face and a kunai clenched in each of his fists: he swept them in towards the boy's chest, attempting to gut him. The smaller Uchiha didn't give him a chance. The tanto swept out, knocking one of the kunai off course, and he spun between the man guard, putting his back to him.

The man made to grab him, but the tanto was already shooting back, burying itself in his gut. The taller ninja grunted in pain… and then fell as Obito ripped the sword upwards, opening a wound across the whole of the man's abdomen.

Something slippery fell from the man, who keeled over. Obito didn't spare him a glance. There were still over a dozen ninja surrounding him.

The next attack came more quickly: one man from in front of him, and another to his side.

The one approaching from the front jumped into a roundhouse kick. Obito ducked it, swinging his tanto up to take off the Iwa-nin's foot. But a trio of shuriken, thrown by the man to his side, leapt into his peripheral vision, and he twisted, interpreting the tanto between him and them.

The new angle gave him just enough time to realize that another enemy was approaching him from behind before the man tackled him to the ground.

For the third time that day, Obito hit the ground like a sack of bricks. He tried to roll away, but the enemy ninja had him pinned.

The man loomed over him, a tanto of his own held in his hand. Obito made to raise his… and someone stomped down on his hand, hard.

The feeling of his fingers breaking was barely worse than the sound they made as they did.

The White Fang's sword fell from his ruined fingers. Obito glared up at the man on top of him, who leered down.

"Nice try, kid. But there was no way this would go any other way!" he growled, swinging the blade down. Obito snarled.

Time stopped.

Obito watched his death coming for his throat, a foot and a half of dirtied steel.

His death, and Rin's death.

These men had killed Kakashi. These men were about to kill him.

And then they would kill Rin.

Kill Rin.

Kill Rin.

His eyes went wide; the Sharingan was whirling so fast the three points seemed to form on continuous circle. Obito's left eye strained: a trickle of blood ran from it, down the side of his face.

The tanto disappeared.

The man swiped his empty hand across Obito's throat, and then suddenly stopped. He stared in astonishment at where his blade had been a second ago, and then at the boy under him.

"Wuh?"

Obito kicked him in the back of the head. He toppled forward, and the young Uchiha surged forward, breaking the older man's nose with a headbutt.

The Iwa-nin reeled back, and Obito scrambled back to his feet.

His eyes burned...

But it was good.

He bared his teeth, his lips pulling back into something that by no means could be called a smile. The blood on his face began to dry.

Even with both of his hands useless, even with his head burning... he felt invincible.

"C'mon!" he yelled to the rest of the Stone ninja, who were watching him. A couple of them looked confused, the rest, just angry.

But no matter how they looked, they all obliged him, rushing in.

Obito moved. Two men found themselves with concussions before they could blink: the small Uchiha leapt from one to the others head, flooring them with bone-shattering kicks.

A man jumped high into the air, falling like a meteor armed with a sword, and Obito glanced up at him.

His eye bled again.

The Iwa-nin's katana vanished, and he had just enough time to look enraged before Obito nailed him in the chin with a powerful kick, snapping his head up. The man hit the ground limply; dead or unconscious, Obito didn't care.

"Enough!" Obito heard the yell behind him and spun, sweeping a leg low. He turned just in time to find a kunai inches from his forehead.

'No!'

His right eye quivered. A drop of blood leaked from it.

The kunai hit him in the forehead.

And went straight through.

A man behind Obito screamed briefly as the knife struck him in the throat. He gurgled as he fell, scrabbling at the weapons hilt.

Obito didn't give himself any time to wonder what had allowed him to escape an impromptu lobotomy. Nor did he give any of the other ninja any time to figure out what the hell they had just seen.

He rushed forward. His eyes tingled, and the tanto that had disappeared less than a minute earlier fell into existence right in front of his face.

He caught it in his teeth.

The man he was rushing, who had thrown the kunai, stumbled back, eyes wide.

Obito leapt on top of him, bearing him to the ground under his knees, and drove the tanto up to its hilt into the man jaw, and out through the top of his head.

Blood splattered across Obito's face, mingling with what had come from his eyes, but he ignored its warmth.

The rest of the Iwa-nin watched, horrified, as he rose from the body of the man he had just killed. Bending slightly, he took a kunai from the man's pouch: his broken fingers were barely able to lift it, but he ignored their protests.

He turned his head to the side and opened a pouch on his shoulder with his teeth. A spool of ninja wire lay within, and he bit down on it and teased it out.

"What are you just standing around for?" one of the older looking men yelled as Obito raised his broken hand to his face, the knife clutched in it. "Kill him!"

Kunai, senbon, shuriken, and several more esoteric weapons appeared in the hands of the Stone shinobi. They all threw them at the same unspoken moment.

Obito ignored them.

The rain of steel and needles passed through him, not even ruffling his clothes with their passing. Many of the Iwa-nin had to dive out of the way of their comrades weapons: one took a shuriken to the knee, another a kunai through the hand.

Obito began tying the ninja wire around his hands with his teeth, securing the kunai there. As the Iwa-nin watched in astonishment and fear, he finished. His right hand came back down: the kunai was affixed to it, held in place by the wire wrapped around his fingers.

"What the hell are you?" the one whose hand had been impaled by a kunai said.

Obito glared at him, and the man's head twisted out of existence. He didn't have time to scream before it vanished, and his body fell to the soil, copiously spurting blood from his empty neck.

More liquid trickled from the Uchiha's left eye, but he paid it no mind.

Every single man present took several steps back. One turned and ran.

"What am I?" Obito asked, casting more glares around. None of them were as lethal as the last one had been.

"I am the least of the Uchiha. I'm Obito." He raised his hand, and the kunai with it. "I'm the Yellow Flash's student."

There was a hissed exclamation from the same man who had ordered the projectile barrage moments before, and most of the shinobi shared meaningful looks. Two men dropped their weapons, their fingers unable to hold them.

Obito took a step forward. All of the other ninja took another step back.

"And I am your death!"

He charged.

Rin sat on the ground, watching Kakashi's body. She stroked his head, running her fingers through his hair, and looked out towards the entrance of the dome.

She hadn't heard anything since Obito had left, aside from some brief yelling.

She had no idea what was happening outside.

But it had been more than ten minutes, and she was starting to think that Obito wouldn't be coming back.

She wasn't crying. She had resolved not to.

But that didn't stop the occasional quiver of her lips, or the palpitation of her heartbeat.

She'd lost both of her teammates in the same day: to the same man.

And now, they were going to fail their mission, and more Konoha shinobi would die because of their own deaths.

The sheer unfairness of the situation made her clench her hand. She stopped when she realized what it was doing to Kakashi's hair.

She moved her hand to her knees… and then stood up.

If she was going to die, she wanted to see Obito one last time before she did. And he might still be out there.

She turned, before looking back at Kakashi's body.

Rin sucked in a breath and whipped her head back around, closing her eyes tightly.

Then, there was a near silent rush of air from behind her.

She turned back around, and found Minato Namikaze standing there. He stared at her, and then down at the body of his other student.

Rin gasped. Minato just closed his eyes.

"Oh… Kakashi…" he whispered, bending down to check the silver haired body.

"Sensei?" the girl murmured, stepping closer to him.

He looked at her, and his face grew alarmed. He stepped forward, drawing her in.

"I'm here. I'm here, Rin," he said. She looked up at him, unbelieving.

The Yellow Flash smiled: somehow, he made it look genuine. "It's okay."

Rin burst into tears. He just wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"Sensei!" she cried.

"I know. Rin, I know. But please: where's Obito?" His voice was… dull. Minato normally sounded carelessly cheerful: today was not a normal day.

Rin just shook her head. Minato grabbed her shoulder, and bent down to her level.

"Rin? Where is he?" he said patiently, looking into her eyes.

"He's gone too!" she burst out, gesturing wildly to the exit. "He left to fight the men who killed Kakashi! But he hasn't come back!" She fell backwards, but Minato kept her from hitting the ground.

Rin kept talking. "And he had a broken arm and his eyes were bleeding and he was such-an-idiot-and-now-cause-I-didn't-stop-him-he's-probably-DEAD!" she babbled, barely able to speak past her tears.

Minato looked stricken. Rin tore herself out of his grip and stumbled to the floor, holding her head in her hands.

"Rin…" he said again, but he didn't seem to know what to follow it with.

For a moment, the tomb was silent. Only Rin's weeping disturbed the quiet.

For a moment.

"Rin?!"

The girl in questions head snapped up, her tears instantly ceasing. Minato stared as well, his eyes wide.

Obito Uchiha stumbled into the shattered dome, covered head to toe in bright, fresh blood. His eyes were the same color, the Sharingan scanning everything.

A broken kunai was wound to his right hand, the fingers of which were mangled, by steel wire. His left arm hung completely limply, twisted in a manner that was wholly unnatural.

He found his sensei first. A small smile broke out on his face, and he fell to his knees. Slowly, his eyes fell upon Rin, who stared back, mute.

Obito sighed in relief. "You're okay…" he muttered.

And then he collapsed, unconscious before he hit the floor.

AN: I didn't expect to get this out so quickly, but the response to Chapter One was more than I'd expected. I couldn't help myself.

Anyway: yeah. Probably not what you were expecting, huh?

This story is going to be moving along two paths: the present, where the teams have just been put together, and the past, where the consequences of Obito's survival will be fleshed out.

If you haven't noticed, the tone between them is... pretty contrasting. It's going to get interesting, I think.

Also: yeah, Obito got pretty OOC there for a second. The Mangekyo is a hell of a thing, huh?

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review if you did, favorite if you want others to as well, or follow if you want to see more.

Serendipity, out.