DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY ASSOCIATED CHARACTERS

Another chapter here. I realize that some of the prologue set of chapters may be a bit controversial, but personally, I don't really care. I will thank everyone who has favorited, reviewed, and followed this story so far, you guys are really helping this thing get off its feet. Check out some of my other stories, too. Anyways, read, review, and as always, enjoy!

Chapter 5 - The Beginnings of a Team

The forest of the training ground was oddly quiet. Sakura had long since lost sight of her more physically gifted teammates, as well as their sensei. Obito was proving just how skilled he really was by disappearing completely. Though Naruto seemed to throw a wrinkle in Obito's confidence when he was able to use the Flying Raijin. Having the Hokage for a father certainly had its perks.

In terms of the challenge that was currently set before them, Sakura certainly had the least chance of the three of them. She didn't have the combat skills, nor the sensory skills to be able to pull something like that off against a Jonin level opponent.

She wasn't even sure that the two prodigies of her class, Naruto and Sasuke, could either. Their teamwork was certainly flawless, and they'd surprised Obito-sensei, but Sakura had a feeling that the elder Uchiha wouldn't fall for something like that again.

As Sakura ran through the undergrowth, she heard crunching sounds to her left, followed by the roar of flames. Immediately turning, she found herself in a small clearing, most of it occupied by the massive fireball that Sasuke was spewing from is mouth. Naruto was in the branches of a nearby tree, his hands moving as he performed a wind jutsu that added and amplified the flames.

If they were attacking in unison, Sakura could only assume that Obito was somewhere in the direction that both attacks were pointed. Unless Naruto and Sasuke had been unable to pinpoint his exact location, in which case, they were using the massive flames to try and flush Obito out of hiding.

It turned out to be the latter, as a shape sprung out of the tall grass and glued itself to the side of a large tree trunk, directly above Sakura's position in some bushes. The shape was clearly Obito, but what amazed Sakura was the fact that Obito was standing sideways, like his feet were glued to the side of the tree.

The bells dangled downwards from their position on his waist, as if they were tempting Sakura to simply reach up and grab them. Only fifteen feet in the air, they were a tempting and easy target for any shinobi, so Sakura decided to take a chance. Gathering chakra in her legs, she shot upwards as if propelled out of a cannon, her hand reaching upwards for the shiny silver pieces.

When her hand was inches away, a strong, rough one grabbed her wrist and flipped her around before tossing her into the center of the clearing. She landed directly on her back, the impact pushing all the air from her body. When her breath finally came to her, she propped herself up on her elbows and glared upwards at Obito.

"Concealing yourself until you are presented with an opportunity, huh? I have to admit, that wasn't the worst strategy. If anything, that is how a true shinobi should think," Obito recognized. "But you have to be able to mask your chakra signature as you hide, otherwise, you're practically broadcasting your location to the enemy."

Sakura grumbled as she stood to her feet. Of course Obito had known she was there. After all, she was just a Genin, there was no way that she could successfully hide from an elite Jonin such as him. Even Naruto and Sasuke would be hard pressed to accomplish that.

Speaking of the two, they lightly touched down next to Sakura and helped her onto her feet. Obito let ut a harsh laugh as he glanced to the sky above them to judge the position of the sun. "It's already been over an hour, and you haven't even come close. At this rate, all three of you will be heading back to the Academy."

Naruto growled low in his throat. "We'll see about that."

The blonde crossed two fingers from each hand, and five shadow clones poofed into existence. They split off into teams of three, and two clones were suddenly launched into the air, being thrown by their identicals. When both airborne clones had flown far enough, Naruto and Sasuke leapt into action.

Sasuke substituted himself with one clone while Naruto used the Flying Raijin to appear directly behind the other. Sasuke pulled out eight shuriken, four for each hand, and tossed them towards Obito, who was forced to leap off of the tree. Naruto then used his shadow clone like a springboard in mid-air, allowing him to attain some extra distance.

He collided with Obito in the air and wrapped his arms around their sensei's torso. The momentum forced Obito backwards, where his back slammed into the same tree he'd just leapt off of. But to naruto's confusion, he was suddenly holding one of his shadow clones. Obito had substituted with one of Naruto's clones just as Sasuke had.

Twisting his head around as he fell from the tree, Naruto saw that he had appeared next to Sakura. The pinkette had nearly fallen on her butt from the surprise of her sensei appearing in place of one of Naruto's clones that had been left next to her. Before she could even react, the other two clones disappeared in white smoke when Obito thrust kunai into their chests. The Uchiha then saluted to Naruto and Sasuke before leaping off into the trees once again.

"Damn, this isn't going well," Naruto admitted to Sasuke.

The Uchiha nodded to his best friend. "He's definitely not going easy on us."

"He's right, we're running out of time," Naruto said as he observed the position of the sun. "We need to corner him, and fast."

"Well, we know that he hasn't tried to attack us yet, so maybe we could use that," Sasuke theorized, stroking his chin in thought.

Naruto nodded, an idea forming in his head. "Yeah, we can be more reckless than normal. I see where you're going with this."

Sakura, who'd been silent through their exchange, decided to speak up. "Uh guys, I-"

Her two teammates followed after Obito before she could even squeeze out a sentence. She was starting to seriously doubt her own chances of ever being a ninja, much less getting a bell.

Sakura arrived back at the clearing they'd first started at to an amusing sight. Naruto and Sasuke had been hogtied and lay on their stomachs at Obito's feet. The Uchiha sensei looked to be taking a nap with his back against a tree, though it was hard to tell with the sunglasses on. He looked up as Sakura approached.

"It's about time."

Sakura clasped her hands in front of her as she looked down. "I thought you were hiding, so I was looking around in the woods this whole time."

Obito shrugged as he stood. "Doesn't really matter."

Sakura nodded, taking a seat next to her two teammates. All three of them had completely dejected looks on their faces. They had failed, and they knew it. They were angry, but they had only themselves to blame. Each of them thought they were completely useless.

Obito looked down at his three students. "So how do you think you all did?"

"Horrible."

"Failed."

"Going back to the Academy."

Obito almost smirked at that, almost. "Close, but you actually all passed."

Sakura blinked, confusion spreading across her features. "But we didn't get a single bell."

Obito chuckled. "Oh, that. You all royally failed at that."

"Then how did we pass?" Sasuke asked with a raised eyebrow as he struggled against the ropes that bound him.

"Getting a bell was never the real test, merely a deception. You passed the moment you shared food with Sakura," Obito shrugged.

Naruto furrowed his brow. "You mean you were here the entire time, but you watched us for three hours before showing yourself?!"

"That's not the point," Obito dragged a hand across his face in annoyance. He pulled off the sunglasses, revealing his sharingan once again. "Do any of you know the point of this test today?"

"To get a bell?" Sakura tilted her head.

"Try again."

"To test our individual skills in a real combat environment?" Sasuke asked.

"No."

Naruto, the last one to answer, grinned as an idea sprung into his head. He was so sure that this was the right answer that he felt his pride surging before he even gave the answer. "To see if we were responsible enough to eat breakfast?"

Obito practically fell onto his back with disappointment. Looking at the three Genin with his mask of no emotion, he was utterly shocked that they hadn't realized it. Perhaps their respective teachers had been to busy molding their personal strength that they'd forgotten to stress the importance of teamwork. In Itachi's case, that was understandable, but he was shocked that Minato had managed to skip over that information while training Naruto. But, he supposed that the Hokage hadn't been in the greates t state of mind since the death of Kushina.

The three Genin looked expectantly to Obito for the real answer. Deciding to relent, Obito crossed his arms. "Teamwork."

"Sasuke and I were doing teamwork the entire time!" Naruto defended. "Or did you miss the giant fireball that we made?"

Obito decided to take the bait. "Or the time when you used a combination of clones and Sasuke's taijutsu to sneak behind me with the Flying Raijin and try to steal a bell?"

Naruto nodded vigorously. "Yeah! See? You get it!"

"And where was Sakura during both of those scenarios? How about when you left her in the woods and chased after me again?"

Naruto immediately fell silent. Sasuke was also speechless, and Sakura's mouth was agape in realization. Obito looked between the two male students, a stern expression displayed on his face. "She was never included in your joint attacks. Why is that?"

"We just figured that she had the lowest chance of getting a bell, so Naruto and I worked together to get one each," Sasuke admitted in a low voice.

The comment from her crush made Sakura's head drop. It was true. On this squad, she was undoubtedly the weakest link. Suddenly, she felt a pressure begin to build up in front of her. It was powerful, and felt like fear itself was emanating from one point.

"Comrades are everything," Obito said in a low tone, genuinely scaring the three Genin with both his power, as well as cold eyes and harsh expression.

Once he released his killer intent, the air seemed to calm back down. All at once, the three Genin had the same thought. Were Obito's eyes a different pattern during that ordeal? They couldn't confirm their suspicions, because Obito's eyes were back to their normal sharingan now, but they were definitely going to investigate further into their sensei.

Then, Sakura remembered the comment Sasuke made. She bowed her head and began to mentally scold herself for being so weak. At least she did until she felt a hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're thinking."

"You do?" she asked, looking up at Obito.

The oldest living Uchiha nodded. While his words certainly carried emotion, she was still amazed that his eyes showed no sign of it. The man was a little off-putting. He had clearly seen a lot of things in his life. That was the only possible explanation for one's eyes to be as cold as those. Every time she looked into them, she knew that he'd killed people, but she also knew that he'd lost people he loved as well.

"You're thinking that you're the weak link, right? I've seen it before. But individual strength doesn't matter when you have a team around you. They carry any slack you may have, and each of you is equal," Obito said to her, but then rose up slightly to speak to the three of them as a group. "You all subconsciously knew that, which is why you provided Sakura with food, Naruto. Yes, I was observing you even then. That is the definition of teamwork. So don't get cocky because you think you passed a combat test, because you didn't. I'm accepting you as my students because you understand teamwork, even though you don't realize it."

In truth, Obito would have accepted them as his students either way. The civilian council had been breathing down his neck about it all week. They think that two valuable weapons like the sharingan and the Nine Tails jinchuriki couldn't afford to be sent back to the Academy for another year. In fact, it was a miracle that Minato had been able to convince them to allow Naruto and Sasuke to stay in the Academy. After all, they'd shown the aptitude to graduate several years early.

Watching the looks of realization his his students, Obito actually seemed to feel a little warm inside. It felt like a bonfire was burning in his stomach since he'd been so cold and withdrawn all these years. He felt the smallest of shifts towards what could be considered as happy, but he still had a long way to go. Sweeping his mental issues to the side, Obito pulled out a kunai and tossed it so the point stuck into the ground in front of Sakura.

"Untie them," Obito jerked his thumb towards Naruto and Sasuke. As Sakura moved to cut the ropes, Obito began to speak. "As of right now, we are officially considered Team 7. As in, I am your direct superior and sensei, and we will be going on all missions together. I have only two rules. One, disregard the mission if a comrade is in danger. And two, always be on time. We will meet at the Hokage's tower at 7 A.M. sharp."

With that, Obito held up a lazy peace sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto, finally free of his bonds, stood to his feet as Sakura began to work on Sasuke. When the Uchiha heir was free as well, he looked awkwardly to Sakura. "Thanks."

Sakura's cheeks flushed pink. "Um...you're welcome."

Naruto was looking at her with the same look as Sasuke. Sakura was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable, as if something had happened that she didn't know about. Then, out of nowhere, Naruto said, "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving you behind. I got so caught up in getting a bell that I didn't even think about you, and it's my fault that we almost failed."

"I'm sorry, too. The same for me. I was so focused on the bell that you never crossed my mind," Sasuke apologized as well.

Sakura's eyes widened as she looked between her two teammates. Both of them were too ashamed to look her in the eye, but she found that she wasn't even angry. She smiled happily at the pair of them. "It's okay, I'm not mad!"

Naruto did a double take. "You're what? Seriously?"

"How are you not angry with us?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Sakura giggled. "We passed, and that's all that matters, right? After all, Naruto, you're the one who gave me food. We definitely wouldn't have passed without that."

"But still…" Naruto trailed off.

"Don't beat yourselves up over a fake test. Obito-sensei even said that we passed before the bell test even began. So don't worry! I'll get stronger and I'll be able to keep up with you guys in no time!"

Naruto gave a small smile at that and held his thumb up. "Sounds like a plan to me! Who knew we'd have such a cool teammate, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shook his head, smirking at that. "Not me. It's good to have you, Sakura."

Sakura blushed slightly at that, but nodded back. "You, too, Sasuke."

Obito seated himself in his usual seat at his favorite bar, the Rusty Kunai. It was a favorite spot of their friend group, but Obito frequented it more than they did. It was small, but clean and well-maintained. It had a wooden bar that ran in a square in the center of the room, with smaller tables surrounding it for any that wished to eat their food, which was nothing special. Mostly, Obito just came here to brood and get drunk when something was on his mind.

When he was a quarter of the way through his bottle of sake, a familiar presence plopped down next to him and slapped him on the back. Obito nearly choked on his sake as Guy beamed at him. "Hello there, my rival! Whaddya say we have another challenge?"

"Can't I just drink in peace, Guy?" Obito regarded the taijutsu user with his sharingan as he took another sip.

Guy laughed heartily at that. "Are the youthful flames of your new Genin too strong for you?"

"Something like that."

Before Guy had a chance to reply, another pair of newcomers popped up on the other side of Obito. The man had a thick beard, and his eyes were those of someone who enjoyed their life. A woman's head popped out from behind his to stare at Obito. She had striking red eyes that were often mistaken for the sharingan.

Asuma and Kurenai grinned widely at their Uchiha friend. "So how'd it go with the kids?"

"Why the hell is everyone so curious?" Obito downed another cup of sake. "It's like you thought I'd kill them or something."

"Oh, it's not that, my eternal rival," Guy proclaimed. "We just assumed you would fail the latest set of youthful Genin just as you did with all the others!"

"I can't very well do that when I have the Council and the Hokage breathing down my neck, now can I?" Obito fired back.

Kurenai giggled at Obito's mood. "Someone's not happy. How were the kids, though?"

"Naruto and Sasuke are stronger than most Chunin. Kami, they're gonna give me a headache in the future," Obito shivered at the thought. "At least they understand the general concept of teamwork."

Kurenai nodded in understanding. "Kiba is like that. He wants to do everything himself. Shino is incredibly intelligent, even if he is completely antisocial. Hinata, on the other hand...asking that girl to speak her mind is like asking her to fly to the moon and back."

"Sakura's like that," Obito commented as he downed another cup of sake.

Asuma chuckled as he received his own drink from the bartender. "It's conversations like these that make me glad I'm one of the Hokage's personal guards and not teaching a team of brats like you guys."

Guy seemed to take offense at that. "How dare you, Asuma! Teaching the next generation to fan their flames of youth is our responsibility as the older generation! Have you forgotten your own flames?!"

Asuma exhaled through his nose as he glanced over to Kurenai. To them, Guy was like the one friend that they never actively invited to things, he kind of just showed up on his own and acted like he was supposed to be there. Every person there knew never to insult the flames of youth. It had only taken one street brawl to convince them of that.

Obito seemed to always treat his friends like mild annoyances, but he knew that after Minato, they were the closest thing that he had to family, so he wasn't going to push them away. Itachi and Sasuke were technically part of his family, but Obito only ever showed up to help with Sasuke's development. He didn't want a repeat of his own childhood with the current heir.

Itachi had ascended to the rank of clan head after the death of Fugaku. While Itachi was directly in line, they had offered the position to Obito first, due to his age. He had declined, because additional responsibilities were the last thing he needed. So the mantle had passed to the then fourteen year old Itachi. Of course Obito had given the kid advice from time to time, but he was already ridiculously responsible, so he kind of had it down from the beginning. After all, it wasn't like he was managing a massive clan or anything. There were only two members besides Itachi. One kind of did his own thing, and the other was his younger brother.

The responsibility had forced Itachi to quit the Anbu, so he was now a simple on-call Jonin. Raising Sasuke had been hard at first, due to the child hating him, but Obito had kind of served as a middle-man until they had healed their relationship enough to carry on civil conversations without Sasuke completely losing his shit.

In addition to Sasuke duties, Obito often stopped by Minato's house to hang out with Naruto. The little guy didn't have a mom, after all, so he was alone for most of the time anyways. Obito served as somewhat of a big brother figure for the blonde, which would be why he was referred to as 'Big Bro Obito'. He'd even introduced Naruto and Sasuke after the Uchiha Rebellion, and the pair had been nigh inseparable ever since.

Still, even with all of this extended family, there was one person in the village that he felt should still be among his family, but he refused to put up with her after their argument. Speaking of said woman, she walked into the bar and took up a position next to Guy, her infectious smile seeming to light up the entire bar.

"Hey everyone! How was Genin training? I know my team was a handful!" Rin beamed as she seated herself.

Without so much as a sideways glance her direction, Obito fished the money for his tab out of his pocket and slapped it on the wooden bar before rising from his seat. His sharingan blazed in anger as he left, something that didn't go unnoticed by the four people he left behind, but it wasn't like he cared.

Rin simply didn't understand. She had ripped Obito's heart out of his chest the day she chose the traitorous Kakashi over him. And now, over fifteen years later, she wanted to act like nothing had happened. Aside from mission briefings or meeting with the Hokage in which they'd been forced to interact, Obito had more appendages than words he'd spoken her direction.

Even in said meetings, the tension could always be felt, at least by Obito. Rin seemed to want to act like nothing had happened and go back to being friends with him, but Obito knew better. Given the chance, she'd side with Kakashi. She still defended the missing-nin after Shisui's murder and the theft of his eyes, so Obito doubted that six years had changed anything.

As far as Obito was concerned, if she wanted to reconcile, she was going to have to seriously rethink her priorities. She knew where he lived, after all.

Obito did not like to be awoken by anything but the sun or his alarm. Needless to say, he was incredibly irritated at the repetitive knocking on his door. Wondering who in their right mind could be at his apartment past midnight, Obito trudged over to the door, makin sure to activate his sharingan before he opened it.

The figure that gave a soft smile to him from outside was not out of the ordinary, though they rarely dropped by this late. They looked Obito up and down, taking in his shirtless form and general disheveled appearance.

The Uchiha left the door open and turned on a few lights as he stalked into his kitchen. The visitor knew that was an invitation to enter, so they stepped inside and closed the door. Turning the corner, they observed their host making coffee.

Visits like these rarely ended quickly, so Obito needed to make something to keep himself awake. At least he was known as someone who never arrived on time, even if he did that on purpose. His Genin would definitely have to wait on him tomorrow.

"How'd it go?" the visitor asked lightly.

Obito set his mouth in a hard line. "Your son is as gifted as you are. Nearly shit myself when he pulled the Flying Raijin on me."

Minato let out a chuckle at that. "He's more like his mother than me. All he has are my looks."

"What looks?" Obito handed Minato a mug of the dark liquid.

The Hokage graciously accepted it with a chuckle at Obito's sarcasm and seated himself at the table. Taking his first sip, he asked, "What about the others?"

"Well Sasuke is just as, if not more, gifted than Naruto. He would probably be better if Itachi and I allowed him to use his sharingan. The two of them work better together than any pair of Academy students I've seen."

Minato could feel a 'but' coming.

"But they completely disregarded Sakura. Their vision was completely focused on the bells."

"So how did they pass?"

Obito placed his palms on the counter, looking to Minato with a serious gaze. So far, this was all just small talk, and the both of them knew it. "They shared food with Sakura before the test even began. Lucky for my sanity."

"Did they at least seem like they were getting along?" Minato asked.

Obito nodded wordlessly, taking another sip of his coffee. Minato mimicked the action before he spoke again. "Well I suppose that is a gift. At least they didn't have any repeats of the three of you," he said, eyes wandering to the team picture that Obito kept on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

It was the picture taken the day that Team Minato was formed. Minato stood in the back, and Rin was directly in front of him, holding up two peace signs with a wide smile. Obito occupied the right spot, his face captured in a scowl due to the fact that he was turning away from someone. What really stood out about the picture, though, was that the entire left side had been completely removed in a half-circle shape, as if someone had taken a bite out of it.

"You three always seemed so innocent back then. Sometimes, I think-"

Obito cut off his sensei by slamming his mug down on the counter. "Cut the shit, sensei. You didn't come here to talk about Genin or reminisce about failed teams, did you?"

"No," Minato admitted quietly.

Obito's sharingan blazed brightly. "Then what is it?"

Minato sighed deeply. "Guy showed up at my office today."

Obito cursed under his breath. He already knew where this was heading. "That idiot can't keep his nose out of other people's business, can he?"

Shadows fell over Minato's eyes as he lowered his head. "He just wants what's best for you, Obito. We all do."

"Well what did he say, hm?"

"That you stormed out of a bar in quite the hurry after Rin showed up."

"We've been over this, sensei," Obito growled. He was starting to want to throw his sensei out the window. The only thing stopping him was the fact that he was the Hokage and he had too much respect for the office, even if he no longer wanted the position.

Minato gave a small chuckle. "I know we have. But I have to agree with Guy. It's bee far too long since the pair of you have talked."

"There's a perfectly good reason for that, sensei. Every time we do, we grow farther apart."

"It doesn't have to be like that," Minato tried, but Obito wasn't having it.

"No. Just no. If she wants to make up, she's had years to do it. She's the one who defends Kakashi with her every breath. The guy almost killed her. If that wasn't bad enough, he killed Shisui and stole his eyes. What the hell is there to defend, huh? I'm sorry that I'm the rational one here," Obito gripped the countertop so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"I know," Minato said again, finally raising his head. A lone tear ran is way down his right cheek. "But she used to be in love with him. Just as you were with her. I just...I just want you to be happy again, Obito. I can't remember the last time I saw you smile. What happened to that cheerful boy that used to shout about wanting to be Hokage?"

"He died a long time ago," Obito said darkly. "You don't like what's left of him? That's your problem."

Minato leaned forward , clasping his hands in front of him as he rested his elbows on his knees. "You deserve to be happy, Obito. You shouldn't go through life alone. I'm not saying marry the next woman you see, but try and make an effort to enjoy yourself with your friends, okay?"

Obito didn't respond. The pattern on the countertop was far more interesting than this conversation. He wanted Minato to leave, but he was the man he looked up to the most in the world, so he wouldn't just kick him out. Luckily, Minato seemed to take the hint. The Hokage rose from his seat and placed the forgotten coffee mug on the counter in front of Obito, who never looked up.

"I'm sorry," Minato said in a low voice before opening the door and letting himself out. The sound of a coffee mug shattering against the door followed him down the hall.

So I'm curious as to how everyone is perceiving my dark yet still good Obito. Personally, I like the character, but I guess that goes without saying since I'm the one writing this after all. There's a recent change in the description of this story that many of you may have picked up on by now, but in case you haven't, I won't spoil the surprise. That's all for now, hope to see your thoughts in the form of reviews!