Obito-Sensei Chapter 16

Fear and Fury

Sakura slept-walked through the next hour. Everything that happened seemed distant and cold; she remembered and understood, but it was only in hindsight that it made an impression on her.

One by one, the teams left the tower. Sand was first, and then Rain. They both watched Sakura as they left, but for different reasons. Tenten's team stayed for a while, quietly talking with them, but Sakura spent the conversation staring at the floor, the words washing over her. Eventually, they left as well, and it was just her, Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikaku.

The Nara ushered them out of the training ground, and before Sakura knew it she was in the village, walking alongside her teammates and trapped inside her own head.

I was prepared to fail, she thought to herself, the village grey and lifeless to her despite its winter finery. I told myself that from the beginning. It's my first exam. Most people don't pass the first time. I was totally ready to try again.

But trapped in the grey village, Sakura realized that she had come so far, trounced another team, made allies with foreign shinobi, proved herself worthy of her sword… and all that had accomplished was plant a bitterness in her when she came up against an impassable obstacle at the finish line.

Gaara of the Desert. There wasn't any life in his eyes. He'd murdered the team from Stone and removed almost every Leaf ninja from the field. If he could do that, what chance did Sakura have against him? She should have forfeited there in the tower, before paralysis had taken her. That would have been less humiliating.

"Hey." Naruto's words were faint, and Sakura almost jumped when he seized her shoulder and lightly shook her. "Hey! You home?"

"What?" Sakura asked, and Naruto gave her a concerned look. She looked around, not recognizing where they were. They were in one of Konoha's residential districts running alongside its largest canal; the homes here were squat and large, and trees sprouted everywhere seemingly at random, forming a thin shadowy canopy. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Sasuke said, glancing back at her. He was staring off at the canal, seemingly stuck in his own head as well. Sakura felt a flash of shame. While she was obsessing over the exam and Gaara, Sasuke had probably been struggling with the phantom of his brother. Itachi had appeared and vanished without a trace, and apparently left nothing but a broken arm in his wake. "Can't believe you got matched with Gaara."

"Yeah." Sakura didn't know what else to say. Maybe there wasn't anything else to say in the first place. "Yeah. Where are we?"

Naruto pointed. "My house," he said, and Sakura blinked in surprise, following his finger. The home was like the others, with a short gate wrapped around the front of it enclosing a small, unkempt lawn. Naruto walked up without hesitation (why would he hesitate, it was his own house, not just the Hokage's) and swung the gate open without a sound. "Let's head in. We gotta figure this out."

Sasuke followed after him as Naruto entered the yard, and after a moment of uncertainty, Sakura went too. Naruto opened the front door, and they all made their way into his home.

It wasn't what Sakura had expected, though if she were honest with herself she didn't know what she had been expecting. The house was filled with plants, some hanging from the ceiling of the hall leading deeper into the home. The walls of the hall were lined with pictures. Some were of Naruto at all ages, others of the rest of the family, and a few of people Sakura didn't recognize: a huge man with long, spiky white hair and a wide smirk, a small boy with snow-white hair and a mask, and a man with the black hair and severe features of an Uchiha, wearing a kind smile at odds with his serious demeanor. Naruto led them down the hall to the other end of the home, and into the kitchen.

It was big, twice the size of Sakura's, and one wall was dominated by a window that ran the length of the room. There were plants here too, including what Sakura could only describe as a small palm tree near the window. Beneath the wall-length window, there was a long, wide table made of a dark wood, with two chairs and two benches pulled up to it. It was empty, and there was a small clear stain on one corner.

"Naruto?" A voice came from one of the adjoining rooms, and a woman entered the kitchen from the only other entrance, her face lighting up when she saw them. She wasn't very tall, but she was striking, with light blue eyes and long red hair. Sakura recognized her right away. Kushina Uzumaki, Naruto's mother.

Wait. Sakura stopped, and Sasuke looked back at her with a questioning look. She shook her head.

Uzumaki?

"Hey mom," Naruto grinned and gave a small wave. "I brought-"

His mother huffed and stormed up to him, sweeping him into a crushing hug, and Naruto squirmed and protested, legs kicking as he was lifted off the ground. "Cut it out!" he said with a laugh, and Kushina deposited him to the ground with a laugh that sounded just like her son.

"Congratulations!" she smiled, first at him and then at all of them. "Minato told me you all passed the second test! You're going on to the finals, y'know? That's an amazing thing!"

"Yeah…" Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Did dad tell you what happened?"

"'What happened?'" Kushina asked, and Naruto winced.

"Guess not," he muttered. "The final's just gonna be a bunch of one on one matches."

"It usually is," his mother noted with a cocked eyebrow, looking around at all of them and picking up on their somber attitude.

"Sasuke and I got matched up," Naruto said, and somehow his mother's eyebrow rose even higher. "And Sakura got set up with Gaara of the Desert. That guy who-"

"I'm familiar," Kushina said shortly, and Sakura wondered why that was. No matter how intimidating he was, Gaara was still just a genin like the rest of them. Why would Naruto's mother already know about him? She guessed that the Hokage had already told her about what the shinobi from Sand had done in the Forest. Kushina turned to face Sakura, and Sakura felt the grey that had dominated her vision recede even farther under the intense focus of the kunoichi.

Kushina crossed her arms, looking Sakura up and down, her eyes appraising. "You scared?" she asked, and after a moment Sakura wordlessly nodded. What would be the point of lying?

"Good," Kushina said with a small laugh, and Sakura blinked. "Gaara's going to be a hell of a guy to go up against, especially in an environment like the final." She stepped forward, extending one hand with a grin. "I dunno if we've officially met before. Naruto's told me plenty about you, but I've never had you over."

Sakura put out her own hand, and Kushina took it in a firm handshake, though her expression was anything but formal. "It's nice to meet you," Sakura rehearsed, and Kushina frowned.

"Don't be so worried," she said. Her smile was just like Naruto's, and it made Sakura feel better just looking at it. "Obito will take care of you, I guarantee it. If I know him, he's not gonna settle for anything less than you kicking that guy's ass."

"He's a freak," Sasuke muttered. "Someone had better."

"Don't say that," Kushina said, her tone suddenly harsh, and Sakura resisted the urge to step backwards. So did Sasuke, obvious surprise flitting across his face. Naruto's mother grimaced. "Sorry."

"What-?" Naruto started to ask, and his mother shook her head.

"He's a victim of circumstances beyond his control, y'know?" she said. "Even if he's the way he is… try not to hold it against him." She frowned. "Maybe you'll understand later. I dunno."

"Mom, what're you talking about?" Naruto demanded, stepping forward. "That guy said it was his 'destiny' to kill me: anyone like that-!"

"Must have something really wrong with them," Kushina finished for him. "Without a doubt. I'm just saying…" She blew out a frustrated breath. "I dunno what I'm saying. Do you guys want some lunch or something? You all gotta be starving."

"Lunch sounds nice," Sakura admitted, feeling more awake. "Do you know where Obito is, Mrs. Uzumaki?"

"Nope," Kushina said, wandering over to the fridge and rifling through it with abandon. She began pulling out ingredients at random. "And don't call me that. It's just Kushina, Sakura."

Sakura found it hard to believe that both of Naruto's parents had insisted on a first name basis on the same day, but that was the reality she presented with. She sighed, and surrendered.

"Sorry, Kushina."

Uzumaki. She couldn't get past the name. Sakura kept tripping over it.

"No problem." Kushina laid out a ridiculous amount of food on the table and began slapping something together that could vaguely be called a sandwich. "Grab a seat. This should just take a sec."

It took more than a second, and the end product was messy and fell apart twice, but when Sakura and her team were finished eating she felt almost human. Kushina sat across the table from her, and when Sakura sighed and expressed her thanks the woman just grinned and waved her off.

"Least I could do," she set, resting her chin on the back of her hand, arm propped up on the table. "So…" Her eyes slid over all three of them. "What's your next move? You've got a month; what're you doing with it?"

"Should we do anything?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke glanced at him in disbelief.

"I'm gonna train," he said, and Naruto flicked a vegetable at him. Sasuke caught it out of the air and gently set it down on his plate, and Naruto rolled his eyes. For the first time that day, Sakura felt the urge to laugh, and didn't suppress it. She let out a little giggle as her teammates argued, and Kushina smiled at it. "If you want to lose, feel free not to."

"I'm not gonna lose!" Naruto declared. "You're gonna lose!"

"Whichever one of us wins will become chunin," Sasuke said, and Sakura wondered if it really was that simple. "I'm not going to treat this like a spar, Naruto." He was getting worked up, more so than was necessary. "If you-!"

"He's not your brother," Kushina said softly, and Sasuke instantly deflated, looking down at the table. "But it's good that you're both competitive. You should both do your best." She grinned. "You've been ninja together since the beginning. You know your strengths and weaknesses. It'll be a good fight, don't you think?"

"Maybe," Naruto admitted. "I'd rather it be someone else though."

"Me too," Sasuke said quietly, and the nascent tension vanished. He glanced over. "For now, we should focus on Sakura."

"I think…" Sakura didn't quite know how to say it. "I don't know if I should fight."

"Before you go that far," Kushina said, "you should learn more about your opponent." She stood up, clearing their plates from the table. "A shinobi is someone who endures and sacrifices, Sakura. If you think you're ready to be a chunin, you'll fight. If you're not, you shouldn't go any farther, y'know. It's that simple."

Sakura didn't know if it was that simple, or what decision she should make at all, so she just nodded.

"Alright," Kushina said, settling the plates in the sink. "I don't know a thing about how Gaara fights… but I bet those other teams he took out do." She looked over her shoulder with a wry smile. "I do know that both Team Eight and Ten are in the eastern hospital. Maybe you should give them a visit, huh? I bet they'd be happy to have had some of their classmates pass the second test."

"Good idea!" Naruto shot to his feet. He'd been wanting to check on them anyway, Sakura knew. The other Leaf ninja had been the first thing he'd asked his father about. "Thanks mom!"

"No problem. Now, get going." Kushina shooed them out of the kitchen. Sakura looked back, still not sure if any of this was worth it, and the woman winked at her.

"You'd be amazed how quick a month can go," she said. "Don't waste it, alright?"

Sakura nodded, and was the last out the door.

###

"You got matched with him?"

Sakura nodded, her throat tightening. Shikamaru blew out a breath and sat back in his bed, wincing a little at the motion. His left leg was completely covered by a thick cast, and was elevated over the bed.

"So you two were the ones who actually fought him?" Sasuke asked, looking from Shikamaru to the room's other occupant. "Hinata?"

The girl nodded. Sakura thought she was putting on a brave face, and failing. Like Shikamaru, one of her legs was broken. However, she'd suffered something more than him.

The ring finger on her right hand ended at the first joint. A bandage had been tied around the extremity, and as she fiddled with her fingers, something Hinata had always done, her left ring finger kept slipping through the gap, forgetting its partner was gone. Looking at her classmate fidget and seeing how pale she was, Sakura felt totally awake. Hinata had always been a gentle person, sometimes too gentle for her own good.

Seeing her like that...

There was a monstrous anger swelling up inside Sakura, burning away the shadows and fatigue that had clung to her ever since she'd rosen from her sleepless night.

'That bastard.'

"It was all of us," the girl said quietly. She looked around at the full room. Team Seven wasn't the only one there: both Shikamaru and Hinata's teammates had squeezed into the hospital room, and had already been there when Sakura and her teammates had arrived. They all looked how Sakura felt: utterly furious. "We tried to team up; we thought we could pass by handing in the scrolls together."

"We did the same thing," Sasuke said, watching the Hyuuga intently. "We ended up with the team from Rain." Everyone looked surprised at that, but the Uchiha ignored it. "So Gaara tracked you both down?"

"It was awful," Ino spoke up from the corner, and Sakura looked over at her. The Yamanaka gave her a haunted look. "He was just…"

"We all ganged up on him," Choji added. "Shikamaru figured that one versus six would be good odds."

Shikamaru laughed, gesturing at his leg. "Bad idea."

"What did he do?" Sakura said quietly. The anger in her couldn't stop growing, but it was nearly matched by fear. They both raced up her body in waves of heat and cold, making her feel flushed and confused. "Was it some sort of jutsu?"

"It was sand," Shino said. He was sitting in the corner, his legs crossed beneath him. He'd been so quiet that Sakura had almost forgotten he was there. "He controlled sand."

"Not all of it," Shikamaru clarified. "Some of it was automatic."

"Back up." Naruto made a reeling motion. "Sand? Like, just a bunch of sand?"

The Nara nodded. "Incredibly fast, incredibly strong sand," he confirmed. "It came out of the gourd on his back." Kiba started to speak and Shikamaru glared at him, and the Inuzuka stayed quiet, sulking. "Some of it was directed by him; that went after the attackers. The rest reacted automatically to attacks. It shielded him from Kiba and Hinata, even though they attacked from his blind spot." He leaned forward, interlacing his fingers under his chin. "His teammates didn't even step in; they knew we didn't have a chance."

"It crushed my insects," Shino said.

"And nearly killed Akamaru," Kiba growled, and Hinata nodded.

"I saw it," she said, her voice faint and sad. Sakura wasn't sure whether she wanted to hug the girl or murder everyone who'd ever done her wrong. "The sand was infused with his chakra. He must carry it with him everywhere, constantly pumping more and more chakra into it. His whole body is covered with it, like some sort of armor. He could direct it with just a thought…" She shivered. "And there was another chakra, inside of it. It only came out when it was defending him."

"Another chakra?" Sasuke asked, and the Hyuuga shook her head.

"I couldn't explain it. I could barely tell them apart. Maybe with your Sharingan…" she said, before lowering her head. "I was useless."

"You saved Akamaru!" Kiba barked, his face twisting in fury. "That bastard was about to crush him!" From atop his head, his partner yipped in agreement. "You weren't-!"

"I'm sorry." Hinata shuddered. "I'm sorry." Kiba shut up, looking stricken.

"It was another chakra," Ino said, quiet but certain. She crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "Sakura, I hit him with my Shintenshin, after he caught Shikamaru. I thought I could…" She choked. "There was something there, inside him. It pushed me out immediately. It wasn't human."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, and Ino could only shake her head.

"I don't know," she said. "I'm sorry. I don't know."

None of them knew how to respond to that. The room was silent.

"Your leg," Sasuke said after a moment. His hands had curled into fists, and he nodded at Shikamaru as he spoke, then at Hinata. His voice was like a razor. "And yours. And your finger. What happened?"

"He crushed it," Shikamaru laughed, and Sakura thought the sound was a little sick. "He probably could have ripped it right off if he'd wanted to. I caught him with the Shadow Possession to start everything off, and he ignored it." He got a thoughtful look. "His sand could attack and defend regardless of his body being restrained. It's really an incredible technique. I tried to jump away, but he caught me."

"The same happened to me," Hinata said. "He caught me in the air when I got Akamaru out of the way: Kiba got away." Kiba looked down. He seemed ashamed. "I tried to strike past it…" She closed her eyes. "The sand came up, like a blade. If I hadn't pulled back, I would have lost my whole hand."

Sand that could attack, defend, and form blades, all autonomously, without Gaara moving. Inhuman chakra inside him. Sakura closed her eyes and rolled the situation over in her head, over and over until it was a well-worn stone. Her anger wore it down farther and farther, trying to reach the core. Right now, with her classmates wounded and so obviously frightened, she couldn't consider forfeiting. It didn't even cross her mind.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Naruto asked, looking back and forth between Shikamaru and Hinata. The Nara shrugged.

"Probably," he said. "The bone is intact. The only reason we're alive is because of that guy's teammates. He brought his hand up-" he mimicked the motion, "and the girl started screaming at him about how their father would punish all of them. That made him hesitate." He frowned. "The Kazekage must keep him on a real tight leash. After that, he just crushed our legs, and demanded our scrolls."

"We turned them over," Choji said, shaking his head. "What else were we supposed to do?"

"You did the right thing," Sakura said faintly, her eyes narrowing. "It was just a test. It wasn't worth… that."

"Dying?" Shikamaru said, and Sakura nodded. He laughed. "Seems that's all being a ninja is. Maybe the whole thing isn't worth it."

Maybe, Sakura thought, but she didn't say it out loud.

"What are you going to do then?" Ino asked. "Sakura… can you even fight that?"

"I don't know," Sakura said. She looked at Shikamaru's leg, and Hinata's missing finger.

She really didn't know. Gaara had defeated two teams without moving. In all likelihood, she couldn't even be a speedbump to him.

But the fear inside her was fading, and the anger was all that remained.

###

When Obito found them on the roof of the academy, the sun was starting to set. Team Seven had grabbed an early dinner and was eating it on top of the building, a mix of dumplings and rice from a food cart. Naruto was practicing his balance while he ate, crouching on the railing surrounding the roof and not using chakra to stick himself in place.

When Obito appeared in a spiral of chakra from out of nowhere, Naruto almost slipped and fell off.

Their sensei looked around, his eyes eventually fixing on Sasuke as his strange seven-point Sharingan receded. Sasuke was sitting besides Sakura on the steps that led from one part of the roof to the other, and he gave Obito a look as the man's Sharingan fully vanished.

Their sensei shook his head, and Sasuke looked down.

"Sorry, Sasuke," Obito said, stepping forward to join them as Naruto inched back over the railing, carefully holding his meal in one hand. "I couldn't catch him."

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke said with a frown, taking another bite from a dumpling. "I didn't think you would."

"Hey now," Obito said, coming to a stop next to them and turning to sit at Sasuke's side. "Have a little more faith in me."

"I don't think there's a person in the world you couldn't catch, Obito," Sasuke said quietly. "Except for Itachi."

Their sensei scratched at the scar that ran past his jaw. "Yeah," he said eventually. "Maybe you're right." He looked past Sasuke to Sakura, and smiled a little dourly. "I heard you visited the hospital."

"Rin?" Sakura asked, and Obito nodded. Rin didn't work at the eastern hospital usually, but she was a jonin and one of the heads of Konoha's medical division: when it came to the injured, she was as good as omniscient. Sakura knew that, at least.

"Yeah," her sensei said. "I also heard who you were matched up with." His eyes narrowed. "Looking for some information?"

"Mom sent us that way," Naruto said, hopping down off the railing and striding over. "She said the other guys might know something about Gaara."

"She was right," Sasuke said.

"Oh?" Obito crossed his arms, looking at Sakura. "What did you learn?"

Sakura swallowed a bite of rice, thinking it over and watching the sun set behind her sensei. "He can control sand," she said, and Obito nodded. "He doesn't need to move to do it, and it's fast enough that it caught all of Team Eight and Ten off guard. He was immune to both the Shadow Possession because of that, and the Mind-Body Switch jutsu because of another chakra inside him." Obito looked a little surprised at that. Sakura took another bite, chewing thoughtfully and marveling at her own calmness. "The sand can defend him automatically, but it seems like he has to direct it to attack, because he didn't kill Hinata right away, only blocked her attack."

"That's good," Obito said, and Sasuke felt a bit of warmth at the praise. "Do you think you can win?"

"Right now?" Sakura asked, and her sensei nodded. "No. I don't stand a chance."

"Okay, that's good," Obito said, and then laughed at Sakura's expression and Naruto's protest. "That you're being realistic! You've got a handle on the situation. That's the good part. That means the important question is…" He mulled for a moment, and then smiled. "Do you want to win?"

Sakura thought about it. She wasn't ambitious, and she didn't resent people, she'd always thought.

'But you can't let that guy just walk away.'

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't want to lose."

"Close enough." Obito grinned. "More than close enough." He leaned forward. "You're scared, I can see it. That's also good. A lot of the time, that's what being a ninja is, you know. Only a real idiot isn't scared."

Sakura felt more angry than scared right now, but she'd never known Obito to be wrong when it came to observing people.

'Are you angry, or are you just using that to cover your fear?'

"No way my dad's ever been scared," Naruto declared, and Obito turned to him with a wry look.

"You should ask him sometime," he said. "I can guarantee that sensei's probably been more scared than you've ever been. He has a lot more to worry about, you know."

Naruto looked a little shocked, but it made sense to Sakura. The Hokage wasn't just a ninja; they were someone who had to balance the village, the shinobi system, the economy driven by violence, the demands of the Daimyo, both Fire's and foreigners, and even more all on their back. She couldn't imagine how difficult or how frightening the position could be. Compared to that, a single deranged ninja like Gaara was nothing.

"Obito," Sasuke said, and their sensei turned towards him.

"Sensei," he said with exasperation, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Obito-sensei," he said with a grin, and Obito grinned back. "Naruto and I are just up against each other. You heard?"

"Yeah. Interesting match," Obito said. "You both gonna-?"

"We're gonna train with our families," Naruto cut in, sitting down on the floor in front of all of them. "I don't want this guy knowing about what I'm working on."

Sasuke chuckled. "Same goes for you, I guess," he said, and Naruto gave him a mean grin.

"We're both gonna try our best," he continued to Obito. "And we've all agreed," he said, gesturing between himself, Sakura, and Sasuke, "that you should focus on Sakura. We're not gonna kill each other, but Gaara…" He grew a little quiet, looking at Sakura with a subdued expression. "If Gaara thinks he can get away with it, he'll definitely kill her."

"Sensei," Sakura said when Naruto was finished. "I want to train with you, for the month. I don't know if I can win, but I don't want to just…" She struggled with the words, and they finally burst out of her, unable to be controlled.

"I don't want to just give up!" She shot to her feet, the whole team looking at her with surprise. "After what he did to Hinata, and Shikamaru, and that team from Stone, it's unforgivable!" She knew that she was saying too much, speaking too loudly, but she couldn't contain herself. "Someone has to teach him a lesson!"

Obito's mouth opened and closed; her sensei was clearly unsure how to respond to her outburst. Naruto had no such hesitation.

"Exactly!" he said, coming to his feet as well. "You've got to show him, Sakura!" He grinned, fierce and furious, and for the first time in her life Sakura felt like they were equals, on the same plane and feeling the same thing. "He can't just go around killing people! If you've got the chance, you've got to show him that!"

"If that's really how you feel," Obito said, slowly standing up, "we should probably get started right away." Sasuke was the only one left sitting, and he looked around curiously, taking another bite of his dumpling. "There's a lot of work to get done, and there's no time to lose."

"You have to tell me what to do," Sakura said. Her heart felt like a stone, and her mind like steel. She was furious, the anger pushing her forward. "I don't even know where to start."

'You're stupid if you think that will last forever. When the month's done, will you still be angry?'

She pushed the voice back. In that moment, Sakura was sure she had enough anger for the rest of her life. It wasn't just Gaara that her fury was directed at: it was the entire world that had brought him into existence. Everything Haku had told her just twenty hours ago was mixing together with the blank eyes of the boy from Sand, and all Sakura could feel at that was frustration and a desire to tear him down.

'I don't want to be scared," she told herself. 'I'm sick of being scared. I want to fight.'

'If I'm going to be a ninja, I want to be the best one possible.'

"Okay," her sensei said, a faint smile creeping over his face. "Leave it to me then. For today, just get some rest. We'll be starting tomorrow."

Sakura smiled back.

###

"Asuma!" At around midnight, Obito burst into a bar somewhere in the south of Konoha, and Asuma Sarutobi, Kurenai Yuhi, and several other ninja glanced up from their table, drinks, and cards.

"Obito?" the Third Hokage's son asked, looking a little flushed. Kurenai scowled next to him, nursing her drink. "What're you doing?" It wasn't a secret in Konoha that Obito didn't drink; it was definitely unusual to find him in a bar.

"I need your help," Obito said, striding over to the table, and Kurenai snorted.

"Your team passed," she said, obviously a little tipsy. "Why're you the one needing help?" She leaned her drink back and forth, watching the liquid inside rise and fall. "Your students are all fine."

"Sakura's going up against Gaara alone," Obito said. He didn't take a seat. "You know what that means."

"Yeah," Asuma admitted, sliding off his chair and to his feet. "What're you saying?"

"I'm saying, if you wanna make sure your teams didn't get knocked out for nothing-" Obito shook his head. "No, sorry. That's not right. I don't want what happened to Hinata and Shikamaru to happen to Sakura. I want your help. I'm figuring something out."

"Oh?" At that, Kurenai looked up. "Whadya mean?"

"Both your teams collected a lot of info about how Gaara fights," Obito said, and Kurenai rose from the table too, to a chorus of heckling from the other ninja there. Obito rolled his eyes. "Wanna head outside?"

The two jonin-sensei followed him out the door, the cool night air sobering them up a little. Asuma sighed and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it with a snap of his fingers, and Kurenai let him get away with it, offering only a sardonic glance.

"He's a terrifying opponent," Obito said, looking up at the stars. So distant and bright, he thought. He smiled. "Sakura's not there yet; she's not going to be able to take him on even footing, no matter how much I train her for the month before the final."

"That's a given," Asuma said. "He's a damn jinchuriki. It's never gonna be a fair match." He took a deep puff of his cigarette and breathed out, settling himself. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm still figuring it out," Obito said. "But I got the start of something, and I think I'm gonna need you for some of it. It's not really my specialty."

"You're being pretty coy," Kurenai said slyly, and Obito shuffled his feet. "Not like you, Obito."

"I don't wanna…" Obito started to say, and then gave up, frustrated. "I wish I could teach her myself. But something like Gaara, with that sand… my Sharingan has always given me the tools to surpass that sort of thing. I haven't had to develop the skills to defeat it with normal jutsu." He rubbed his temple, and then grinned, one of his eyes flashing red in the dim light of the street. "You're not like me, you two. You've got your specialties, but you've put something into just about everything. All I've got are copies. Sakura is going to need something new… and I don't know if I can make that."

Asuma chuckled. "All you've got is a lack of confidence," he said, his lips heating up and burning the cigarette to ash. Obito frowned, and Asuma shook the ash out into the lightly blowing wind. "But I won't lie, helping train someone to take down that little punk does sound pretty appealing."

"You'll help?" Obito asked, and Asuma grunted.

"I'll come by tomorrow and check her out," he said. Kurenai took his arm and began leading him away, and he called back over his shoulder at Obito. "If I like what I see, I'll consider it!"

Obito watched the two jonin walk into the night, and then looked back at the stars.

If he was being honest with himself, he was terrified. He hadn't shown that to Sakura, couldn't, and he wouldn't dare show it to any of the other jonin. He was Mangekyo no Obito: he had no right to be scared.

But he'd seen what remained of the team from Stone, left out like smears from an overly ambitious butcher-bird, and he'd seen Sakura in every one of them. It was like a tribute, he thought. He tribute to something he couldn't understand, a message in crushed bone and solidified blood.

Even if there was no way in hell he'd let Sakura become another tribute, the fear gnawed at him all the way back to his apartment. It was an old fear, burning anew with concern for his student.

You're a ghost, Obito. You were blessed with a power to save yourself from whatever the world threw at you.

But only yourself.