Obito-Sensei Chapter 55

The Uchiha Massacre

It started with Obito waking up in the middle of the night.

He turned over, blinking at the clock next to his bed. Two in the morning? Why the hell was he up? Obito Uchiha, twenty-one years old, was a heavy sleeper when he did manage to nod off. He groaned, turned over, and closed his eyes. He was sure that if he did that, he'd be able to get back to sleep in just a couple minutes.

But a couple minutes passed, and sleep didn't come.

(if I hadn't tried to fall back asleep, how many people wouldn't be dead?)

Obito sighed, rolling out of bed and stumbling to his mess of a kitchen. He got himself a glass of tap water, drank it to wet his dry throat, and then groaned, looking around in a grumpy funk. He'd had a bad feeling all day. This must have been because of that. It was irrational, just a sense of tension that he couldn't shake. The feeling you got when you had a near miss, something that could have changed your life forever just barely passing by and leaving you with the realization that there was nothing you had done to earn the rest of your life as it was.

He looked outside and found it cool and pitch black. The village was lit up, but it seemed muted under oppressive winter weather and thick dark clouds. Or maybe that was just his vision failing. Obito sighed.

"Grm," he grumbled, which roughly translated to "Maybe I should take a walk. I'm not gonna sleep like this."

He got dressed, waiting for the feeling that would tell him his body was ready to sleep again, but it never came. His limbs tingled, full of life, and his eyes ached, the right one in particular. He'd used it on a mission three days ago, and since then it had felt like a perpetual black eye. Despite everyone's goodhearted assurances, Obito could feel in his heart that his time was running out.

Eight years was pretty good for the Mangekyo, he figured, especially when he'd had to use it so much on the day it had awakened. He'd started out behind the curve, and twenty-one years old was pretty old anyway. He didn't have the luxury of being like Shisui and having a Sharingan with niche uses; he'd burned his life and light at both ends in service to sensei and the village and accomplished more in eight years than almost any other ninja would in a lifetime.

But when Obito was fully dressed in light black clothes, he stepped outside and looked up at the stars, and the dull smeared gleams in the sky made his throat clench. He closed his right eye, and they sharpened up. Better than any non-ninja could see, he was sure, but still not what his Sharingan should be capable of.

(I thought I'd be blind by next year, and dead the year after that)

He wandered to the east without a destination in mind, listening to the scuff of his sandals on the street as he watched Konoha at rest. The village was peaceful; there were no other midnight travelers like himself. Obito's mind wandered. He wondered if his friends were awake as well, but he knew that they would all be sleeping restfully in their beds. He was the only one stupid enough to get up at this hour.

The moon was full, its light casting thick shadows across the village. Obito stopped and stared at it, enjoying being able to see something in full detail even with his degraded vision. It was particularly bright tonight: he wondered why that was.

(then I noticed it)

Then he noticed a shadow move across the moon. Obito cocked his head, watching curiously. Another shadow, just a bit thicker than the first. Thin clouds, high up?

No, he realized after a moment. They were too dark, and too close to be clouds. He was seeing smoke. He followed the line, closing his right eye as he focused on the trail, just barely able to pick it out against the midnight sky.

The smoke, Obito realized with a start, was coming from right around the Uchiha Compound. He frowned and broke into a jog to the east. He couldn't see the light from a fire, so it wasn't anything that dramatic. Maybe a training accident? Sasuke was always trying to learn the Grand Fireball, despite his age; had he been stupid enough to get up in the middle of the night and light something on fire? Maybe Obito could at least watch Mikoto scold him.

He smirked at the thought and sped up a little, moving at a comfortable run through the streets of the village. As an afterthought, Obito created a shadow clone; it ran off, headed for his sensei's home. Just in case it wasn't something as harmless as a training accident, the Hokage would definitely want to know.

(how much worse would it have been if I hadn't done that?)

When he arrived at the compound, it was dead silent, and the gate was shut. Not a soul was to be seen. Obito frowned. There was always someone supposed to keep watch at the compound gate, no matter the hour; an old tradition that was basically useless now, but the Uchiha Clan was nothing without its old, useless traditions.

"Hey?" he called. "What's up?" He tried the gate, finding it unlocked. "Fall asleep on duty over there? For shame-!"

When Obito pulled the gate fully open, a body toppled out, no longer propped up against the door. He stared down at it without comprehension, the sleep that had still clouded a fraction of his mind vaporizing in a moment.

It was Tekka. A boisterous member of the military police, a strong ninja with all three tomoe unlocked from a young age. One of the people who'd bullied him despite being a year or two younger, before Obito had awakened the Mangekyo and the bullying had turned to pathetic ingratiating. His eyes were glassy, long dead: he'd been stabbed through the stomach, a foot long hole ripped in his gut. As his body collapsed, something long and rubbery flopped out of him and onto Obito's foot.

Obito blinked. A member of the military police was dead, and inside the Uchiha's own home. The feeling of dread that had hung over him all day crystalized into a knife pressing against the back of his skull.

(you don't have time to waste thinking, you moron. Go, start running)

He started running, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Hey!" he shouted, then again, louder. "Hey! Anyone there?!"

There wasn't a response. Obito's blood ran cold. He dashed down the streets, looking around. There, a body in an alley. There, two more lay out in the middle of the street, one missing its head and the other both arms. There was blood everywhere, splattered across the walls of nearby buildings, rushing into storm drains. Dozens of Uchiha lay recently slain, some in their pajamas. Of any attackers, there was no sign. The smoke had been from charred bodies.

Obito searched wildly, sure for a sick second that his entire clan was dead. Then, he noticed that some of the bodies were breathing.

He jerked to a stop, dashing to the nearest one. It was an older woman, Chika, one of his distant aunts. He rolled her over, feeling his whole body shudder with his heartbeat. Her eyes were closed and she was muttering rapidly. Now that he was close, not panicking, Obito could see that her chakra was rolling, in flux: a powerful genjutsu. He laid his hands on either side of her head and focused himself.

"Kai!" he grunted, and reset her chakra like flicking a light switch. Her eyes burst open and she screamed, scrambling away.

"It's okay!" he shouted, chasing after her. How many of his clansmen were like this, knocked out and coated in the blood of their family instead of dead? What reason could there be for this? "Chika, it's okay! It's me! Obito!"

"Obito?" she gasped. "What… no, Taiko…?" She looked over, and Obito followed her gaze. Her husband of thirty years, Taiko, was splayed out on the ground nearby. The entire front of his chest had been burned away revealing ribs cracked by flames, but by some cruel miracle his face was nearly untouched.

"No, no…" she muttered, falling at his side. "Please, no-"

"Who did this?!" Obito demanded. "Chika, you have to tell me!"

"Itachi!" she sobbed. Obito froze.

Itachi? Quiet, studious, serious Itachi? Itachi who treated his little brother with such love and his family with endless respect? One of the only people in the clan Shisui was genuine friends with?

"That's impossible," he heard himself say. "There's no way."

"It was him!" she cried, writhing at her husband's side. "He was like a demon! We heard someone call for help, and rushed out, and, and-" She was hyperventilating; Chika had retired as an active ninja, but Taiko hadn't. Was that why she had been spared?

(or did he not retire because he believed the clan needed all the ninja it could for the coup?)

"Shisui!" she said suddenly, desperately. "Shisui was trying to protect us! They were fighting; they were heading for the center of the compound!" She looked up at him, pleading. "Obito, you have to stop him! He's gone mad: he's going to kill us all!"

Obito didn't pause to offer another word. He ran off so fast that Chika was almost knocked over by the force of his passage.

Shisui was fighting. That meant Itachi would be stopped before this insanity continued, Obito thought. His younger brother was the prodigy, the pride of their family before their father had passed away. Even if Obito's Mangekyo had come first, Shisui's hadn't been far behind. He was a peacemaker, a genius, the fastest Uchiha, maybe the fastest ninja alive besides the Yellow Flash. Even if Itachi had gone mad, Shisui would stop him in his tracks with the Kotoamatsukami.

All those thoughts tore Obito's heart in half when he turned one of the main street corners heading towards the clan head's home and found Shisui.

His little brother was propped up against the wall of a bakery, one hand clutching his gut and the other his face. He was breathing shallowly, each breath more labored than the last. His left leg was missing, ripped off at the mid-thigh, and his blood soaked the stone beneath him, a puddle of dark crimson that grew larger every second. There was a hole in his chest over his heart, the edges of it cauterized, and his hand covered half of his face, black blood pouring out from under it and dripping onto his chest and lap.

One hazy eye looked up from beneath his splayed fingers at Obito.

"No," Obito muttered. He was there at Shisui's side in the blink of an eye, kneeling down, his pant legs soaking in blood. "No no no no no no no."

"Obito," Shisui said hoarsely. There was a hole in his lung, Obito immediately knew, and maybe his heart as well. Blood dripped from his brother's mouth as he spoke. "You're here…"

"Hold on!" Obito said. Could he not see because his eyes were failing, or because he was starting to cry? The world was swimming, falling away. He put his hand on Shisui's shoulder, revving up the Kamui, ready for the boiling pain that would inevitably follow. "It'll be okay! I'll get you to the hospital-!"

"No," Shisui whispered. "There's no time." His hand fell away, revealing an empty eye socket thick with blood. "He took it. He ran. You have to go." His remaining eye hardened. "You have to go now, before more people die."

"Shisui…!" Obito could barely speak, couldn't breathe at all. His chest was being crushed by an invisible weight. He couldn't do this, not again.

"I'm already dead," Shisui said. Somehow, impossibly, he smiled, blood dribbling out from behind his grin. "Don't make the same mistake I did, okay? Don't hesitate."

Then, slowly, his head fell to his chest.

Those were Shisui Uchiha's last words.

(I didn't have time to say goodbye)

Obito stayed there, unmoving, for an essentially infinite amount of time. The sight of his brother's body was burned into his mind for the rest of his life.

He screamed, his whole body arching, trying to blow away the world with the violence of his voice. Maybe if he poured out his entire heart and soul in a single act of defiance, this would turn out to be a lie or a mistake, and his brother would be alive.

But Obito's scream reached the heavens and found no purchase there, and when it faded away it was answered by a scream in kind.

"Big brother! Stop!"

Obito moved without thought, leaving the body of his brother behind. His entire being became an arrow fired from a bow, moving towards the voice. It was Sasuke, screaming in obvious terror. Obito went in the straightest path possible, moving through buildings in his way as blood ran from his right eye. He felt no pain, no fear, no sense of worry for the future or curiosity about the past.

All that was left in the world was a rage burning hot enough to reduce everything else to ash.

Obito heard violence up ahead through two walls: sword on steel, a grunt of pain. More screaming. It made no impression on him. He threw himself forward through the last wall and slammed to the ground on all fours, his blood dripping onto immaculate wood paneling as he looked up with a snarl.

In a flash, he understood the situation. He was in Itachi's home. The entire family was here, in the large living room which was made for sitting and talking. Sasuke was pressed up in the corner, arms over his head, shaking and screaming for everyone to stop. Fugaku and Mikoto were both fighting, both dressed in their night clothes. Fugaku had produced a sword of flame from his bare hands filling the room with stark light and shadows, while Mikoto fought with her bare hands.

Dancing among them was a shadow with baleful red eyes coated in fresh blood. Itachi Uchiha fought in complete silence, his eyes tracers in the dark. Every movement splattered fresh blood across the room, but he was unharmed. He carried a sword with a snapped blade, reducing it to a savage knife, and every blow he struck at his parents was a potentially fatal one. He was the only combatant armed and armored for battle.

Obito saw all this, and Shisui's advice was embedded in his heart. He leapt forward, determined to grab Itachi and suck him into the Kamui. It was a straightforward attack with straightforward logic behind it: he would put Itachi inside the Kamui, and then leave him there until he starved to death. He'd done it before.

He flew between Fugaku and Mikoto, and his hand latched onto Itachi's face. The Kamui began, the both of them being sucked down an infinite drain.

"Ah," Itachi said, and then he kicked Obito in the chest. Hard. Two ribs broke, and Obito was thrown back into the wall. Bits of the skin on Itachi's face came off, stuck to Obito's hand.

(fast, much faster than he should have been. Stronger too)

Obito hit the ground and went down with a crash. He saw Fugaku track him for just a fraction of a second, shock plain on his face. It was a fatal mistake. In the heartbeat cut short where Obito was sent flying back but before he hit the wall, Itachi lunged towards his father.

His broken sword entered Fugaku's chest right below the solar plexus, and then with a grunt Itachi drew it up with terrible strength. The short blade carved through Fugaku's ribs with a gruesome series of cracks, up through his chest, and then out his shoulder with a grotesque crunch and a tremendous spray of blood, so much it coated the ceiling. Fugaku gasped, the light leaving his eyes and his Sharingan fading to black. He wavered and collapsed, his right arm drooping and limp, almost completely severed from his body.

(he died before I ever saw what his eyes could do)

"FATHER!" Sasuke screamed. Itachi spun on his mother without a word, his blade coated in his father's lifeblood.

As Obito scrambled back to his feet, rushing forward like an animal on all fours, Mikoto charged. The suicidal move apparently surprised even Itachi; she slammed into him with concrete-shattering force and bore him to the ground, pinning him between her legs and raising one fist over her head.

"What have you done to my son?!" she screamed, bringing her fist down on Itachi's face with a crack. His nose broke, but Itachi didn't flinch.

(there's something else I missed)

Amaterasu.

Black flames bloomed on Mikoto's face. She didn't fall back, raising another fist to strike at Itachi, and in response he buried his blade in her side. She gagged, and he shoved her away. It was only when she hit the ground that she started screaming, rolling around in agony as the legendary flames ate half of her face.

(how did she survive that? It must have been the same way she deactivated my Kamui. Her Mangekyo is about to awaken)

"MOM!"

Obito charged in, leveled a kick at Itachi's face that was meant to break his neck, and tripped on his shadow. The kick went wide and Itachi rolled to his feet, flawlessly transitioning from that movement to a roundhouse kick that passed through Obito's chest. Obito reached out, trying to devour him once more, and then the followup kick came as Itachi spun with the momentum of his first attack. It slammed into Obito's jaw just as he touched Itachi's chest, and his head snapped back so violently that he heard something click in his spine.

(I tripped on his shadow. A Nara jutsu? When would he have learned that?)

Obito fell, stunned, his brain rattling around in his skull. This must have been a nightmare. Fugaku was dead, and he and Mikoto were about to be. Itachi really was fighting like a demon, faster and stronger and better than he ever had before. It couldn't be comprehended. He tried to stand, but his arms and legs wouldn't obey as he spasmed on the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Itachi turn away from him and towards the corner. Towards Sasuke.

"Sasuke," he said, speaking for the first time. His voice was smooth and sure. "Let me show you the purpose of our cursed clan." Chakra gathered around him like more dark flames, crackling off him with enough force to shatter the wood beneath him. His left eye spun, preparing. It was different, three blades spinning out. A Mangekyo Sharingan, Obito thought clearly. When did that happen?

Itachi stepped forward. There was a crack.

The wall behind Sasuke exploded. Minato Namikaze came through it like a golden bullet.

Obito saw through his Sharingan's predictive sight precisely how things were supposed to go. It was common knowledge across the entire damn world that if it was one on one, Minato Namikaze would win. It didn't matter what sort of advantage the opponent held, the Yondaime's speed was simply too impressive to deal with. It was more than his Hiraishin; his reflexes were impossibly good, and the sheer velocity that he could muster for an attack just couldn't be responded to.

Minato was an untouchable Yellow Flash that killed anyone who dared to challenge him alone in mere moments, and it was exactly that future that Obito's Sharingan saw: Minato slamming into Itachi like a falling star, his blade piercing the younger Uchiha's skull and killing him instantly. No question; only death.

Then, Itachi reacted to that which could not be reacted to. The jutsu in his left eye fired a blast of chakra so thick that it was visible to Obito as an afterimage of purple light. It struck Minato Namikaze squarely in his right eye, which was narrow and focused on the kill.

Tsukuyomi.

The Hokage collapsed mid-charge, and bounced like a tossed sandbag.

Obito blinked as Itachi let out a ragged breath and straightened up, blood running freely from his left eye. The Hokage was down. His sensei was unconscious. It was the first and only time he would ever see it happen.

Obito got back up again, and Itachi turned to him. "Obito," he said, his voice flat. Sasuke was wailing, Mikoto screaming. It was a nightmare without end. "This isn't-"

Kushina Uzumaki came down through the ceiling like a red lightning bolt, and almost crushed Itachi beneath her. She saw her husband on the ground and howled, a primal sound, and dozens of golden chains burst from her back, filling the room and nearly impaling Itachi. He somehow avoided the barrage, but nothing could stop them from constricting and wrapping around him as Kushina drew them back in. Obito suffered the same fate, Kushina indiscriminately imprisoning everyone in the room. He couldn't blame her: the situation was too bad to take careful stock of.

His shadow clone must have brought them here, Obito thought, but it still hadn't returned to him. It must have been standing by waiting to intercept Itachi, or helping some of the injured. It's what he would have done, after all.

Mikoto stopped screaming. The flames on her face had gone out.

(I thought it was the chains, but that couldn't have been it because of what came next)

The room was quiet for a fraction of a second but for the creak of chains. Then, Kushina turned towards Itachi, teeth bared. She was smart: she averted her eyes, knowing not to make eye contact with the Sharingan. The only reason Minato must have was because he hadn't known Itachi could possibly respond.

(he shouldn't have been able to)

Once again, the new Mangekyo spun.

"Kyuubi," Itachi said in a calm, authoritative tone, as if he wasn't about to be crushed to death. "Rebel."

As if to replace Mikoto's agony, Kushina started screaming. She fell to her knees, the golden chains shattering. Obito and Itachi were freed; Sasuke whimpered. Mikoto was crawling, still alive, her face smoking. As Itachi backed up, Kushina's screams grew more and more intense, so loud that Obito thought his eardrums might burst. She doubled over, violent red chakra boiling out of her and scalding her skin. Obito watched in horror as a face manifested in the chakra.

A fox made of teeth and hatred began to try and push its way out of Kushina's stomach.

Itachi ran for the door, and Obito swung his head towards him with a snarl. The Kamui reached out and tore off most of Itachi's hair and a chunk of the doorframe, but the murderer cleared the house with his body intact. Obito doubled over in agony as blood ran freely from his eye.

What could he do? Chase him or help Kushina? Could his Sharingan tame the Kyuubi? It was supposed to do something like that, right?! Paralyzed by indecision, Obito's mind rebelled as the Kyuubi began to break free from Kushina. The chakra around it formed into distinctive tails, from one to seven in just a second, and the thick red chakra began coalescing, forming bones and a skull that leered out from Kushina's torso. Her scream was growing more and more agonized, the flesh melting off her arms and her blood mixing in with the steadily growing chakra cloak.

"Obito," Mikoto croaked, dragging herself across the ground towards Minato. He glanced at her, eyes wide and panicked. "Suppress it!"

The words broke his paralysis. Obito glared at the fox that was murdering Kushina, feeling the rage inside him burn into an eternal flame.

"Stop!" he commanded, and the Bijuu paused. For a moment, he felt like he was somewhere else, on a plane of bones stood before a creature so massive that it broke his concept of scale. The fox leered down at him, its head the size of a building. In the face of something so titanic, even his invincible Mangekyo seemed like nothing.

I WILL NOT STOP. I WILL BE FREE FROM MY PRISON, AND YOU WILL BE DEAD, it said with glee. It took a step forward and Obito pushed back with his will, the both of them in a deadlock. It felt like his bones would shatter from the force it was exerting on him. Itachi's Mangekyo had half undone the seal on its own, and he could just barely hold this thing back? What had happened?

(who taught him how to do that? Was it part of the planning for the coup?)

In the real world, he watched as Mikoto crawled to Minato's side and pressed her hand to him. "Wake up, Lord Hokage," she rasped, and Minato sat up with a jerk. Mikoto groaned and collapsed, her face covered in blood and melted flesh.

(it hid the blood from her eyes. That must be what her Mangekyo does. It stops chakra techniques. That's how she hit me)

Minato looked around the room, saw the state of his wife, and his face went white with fury. He scrambled to Kushina's side, pressing his hands against the Kyuubi's face and searing them with its fierce fire as he began to physically shove it back inside her. A jutsu formula burned through the air in front of him, bloody ink dripping down on both him and Kushina. Obito immediately felt a weight lift off him, and he pushed back against the Kyuubi with a roar. His sensei was rebuilding the seal in a situation like this? The man was insane.

"Obito!" Minato roared. "After him, now!" When Obito took a step back, hesitating, his sensei grit his teeth and screamed louder than Obito had ever heard. "I'll take care of this! I'm the only one who can! GO!"

As Obito turned to run, Sasuke screamed after him. "That wasn't him!" he shouted, his voice full of denial. "You've got to save Itachi, Obito!"

He was traumatized. He didn't want to acknowledge that he'd just watch his brother murder his father. Obito ignored him.

(right?)

Obito didn't know how long he ran for. The compound was full of screams: Itachi cut down two people who got in his way on the way out. Obito followed the blood, and then followed his murderous heart. He hopped in and out of the Kamui, recklessly burning his eyes for an extra couple feet every time, moving faster than Itachi physically could.

But they were still outside the village beyond the southern gate when Obito finally caught up.

When Obito caught sight of Itachi's fleeing back, he started screaming. It was just incoherent anger at first, the howling of a mad beast, but it gradually resolved into words.

"Why!?" he howled. Itachi didn't turn back. "Itachi, why did you do this?! I'll kill you!"

"I was the only one who could," Itachi said, still running. "This was my purpose."

Obito snapped, his eyes burning. "Is that what you meant?! Was that the purpose of our clan?! To be slaughtered by you?!"

Itachi hesitated.

Obito, at the time, did not notice. He was blinded by blood and hatred. He dove forward, drawing a kunai in his hands.

"Yes." Itachi suddenly came to a stop, spinning back with his broken blade in hand. "The purpose of the Uchiha clan was to create me."

(why did he hesitate? Was he thinking about telling me about the coup? Or something else?)

Itachi slashed out and Obito phased through the first hit. He stabbed up, trying to cut his cousin's throat. But once again, Itachi reacted faster than he ever could have been expected to. In the same moment Obito's kunai made deep contact with his neck, he slashed up with his blade and took Obito across the face, carving a deep gash from under his chin past his mouth to just below his left eye. Blood gushed down both their chests.

Obito fell back and lashed out with a cry of fury, and felt his blade score Itachi across the chest, a long but shallow cut. The teenager pressed the attack, laying into Obito with his sword with unbelievable speed. The sting of the Kamui carried him away and Obito passed through Itachi, solidifying behind him and wrapping one arm around his neck, the other dropping to drive his knife into Itachi's back.

He roared and pulled, trying to snap Itachi's neck, but the murderer rolled with the force of the attack, dodging the knife as he flipped over Obito and landed in front of him. An elbow snapped back which Obito phased through before he kicked out, striking Itachi in the kidney. At the same moment, Itachi spun and threw another punch directly at Obito's face.

Obito kicked again, feeling something in Itachi's torso rupture, and opened his mouth wide in a feral scream. The punch smashed into his mouth and Obito slammed his jaws shut in the same moment, trapping half of Itachi's hand.

For the first time, Itachi let out a shout of pain. He pulled back, and Obito kicked him again, their hands grappling as they both tried to stab each other. Obito bit down with a snarl like a rabid dog, his mouth filling with blood, until finally Itachi gave one final scream and violently pulled himself back. His hand came away, but his pinky and ring finger stayed in Obito's mouth.

Obito spat out the digits like bullets and buried his knife in Itachi's retreating arm, and Itachi slammed a kick into his chest in response, sending him flying backwards. He crashed into a thick tree and passed through it with the Kamui. For a moment, he lost sight of his opponent.

When Obito came back to his feet and lunged around the tree, Itachi was gone, leaving behind blood, two fingers, and black flames. His face was in agony, and the forests were full of impossible flames spreading with incredible speed. The heat drove Obito back, his eyes watering as he searched the darkness for the murderer.

But after a minute of searching and screaming, it became clear that Itachi was gone.

Obito fell to his knees, feeling for a moment that he should just let the flames consume him. But his self pity didn't last. The murderer had gotten away, but some of the people he'd tried to kill were still alive.

He swirled out of reality and back to the compound, and Obito Uchiha left the past with more questions than answers.