Obito-Sensei Chapter 60

A Weapon To Surpass Shinobi

It didn't take Obito long to reach the Land of Lightning. His Kamui carried him across the continent, and as he traveled he read the hasty mission briefing his sensei had passed on to him. It had been drawn together so quickly that the assignment and its details were written in the scrawl of the Hokage himself rather than typed up. Minato's fuinjutsu might look like art, but his handwriting definitely wasn't.

Katasuke Touno, in a border outpost in the town of Nadare, near the Land of Frost. An area he'd been to before, a year and some ago, though not to that town in particular. Obito had long ago painstakingly memorized maps of the entire known world with his Sharingan, and making his way to Nadare proved no obstacle. He practically skipped his way there: even if his date had been interrupted, it had still put him in an excellent mood. His hatred of Itachi and his concern for his team were being overwhelmed by the joy of Rin's company, and it made his feet light.

The actual obstacle was in the town, and outlined in the briefing as well. Katasuke had been detained at the border by one of the Daimyo's shinobi guards and some other soldiers. The soldiers were a political concern, not a combat one, but the shinobi selected to defend the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning were no pushovers. His sensei's briefing gave few details: the shinobi was a woman named Mei with a specialty for Earth jutsu. She was holding Katasuke while the Hidden Cloud sent a team to retrieve him.

That alone was interesting, Obito thought. Why not just take him back herself? Something was up there, but he had no idea what. When he emerged from the Kamui, he did so some distance from the town so as to observe it.

Nadare was a larger town than most of the mountainous border settlements, but still tiny compared to a city like Konoha. With probably a couple thousand people at most, it was a series of homes and warehouses clustered among craggy hills and the foothills of the proper mountains that separated the Lands of Frost and Lightning. Most of it was concentrated around a waterway that spanned the length of the peninsula Lightning rested on, the River of Pale Faces; there was a very developed dock around which the town spread. People in Nadare doubtlessly made their living moving material to and from Lightning: that also likely made it a locus for smuggling of both humans and goods.

Obito wouldn't have been surprised if Katasuke had been picked up trying to make his way down the river in a barge heaped high with paper or electronics. He'd have to ask the man himself when he found him.

Observing the town from a scrub-covered northern hill, Obito wondered for a moment where the outpost lay in it exactly, and how best to find it. As soon as he activated his Sharingan, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

Sure, none of the buildings in town stood out too much from this distance… but that didn't matter too much when only one of them had someone flying around above it.

Well, not flying, Obito had to internally amend after observing for a minute or so. He couldn't see all the details from well over a thousand feet away, but that was fine so long as it meant he couldn't be seen either, especially not in the dimness of twilight. It was a woman up there, perhaps sixty or seventy feet above the ground, and she was walking through the air as though it were shifting sand. Obito could not see the finer features of her face or clothes, but she was wearing a long cloak out of which particles of sand and gravel constantly poured, suspending itself in the air where she stepped as she walked a steady patrol around the building intently watching the world below.

It was an ingenious jutsu, and not one he'd ever had a chance to witness before; Obito felt sure this was Mei, the Daimyo's guard. He wasn't sure how Earth jutsu, which this clearly was, could suspend material in defiance of gravity, but from the way the woman walked it could only do so for a moment. By moving quickly while constantly recycling the material and her chakra within it, she was striding through the air on dust and gravel.

Obito nestled himself down into the rough shrubs around him as he watched. Now that he'd marked the building, he could see some soldiers patrolling the rooftop and the streets nearby. They'd obviously been deputized by Mei, and he was under explicit orders not to hurt any of them.

"Well, that's easy," he muttered to himself with a smile. Even with Mei on patrol, they clearly had no idea that a shinobi like him was going to be after Katasuke so quickly. He had a simple tactic for situations like this; make a big kerfuffle, draw the guards, and slip past them with the Kamui. The mission would be over in minutes, and he'd have plenty of time to finish up his date.

Obito bent down, humming to himself while running through several hand signs, and slammed his palms down on the hill. The earth beneath him collapsed, shattering and falling with a loud rumble as the hill broke apart, and in the same breath he threw himself back into the Kamui, leaping forward just a step and some as he navigated the invisible phantom architecture of his inner world. Just a second later he emerged back into the real world.

He was in a small room filled with cells, an obvious holding area. Not too much space, and only one guest and one guard. He'd come out on the wrong side of the bars, but that wasn't too bad; his Kamui wasn't perfect, and could easily miss small details like windows or thin walls. Distinguishing between people was near impossible as well.

Behind the bars was Katasuke Touno, sitting in the corner of his cell and staring at one of the narrow windows near the ceiling. He hadn't changed much in the course of a year; still the same square glasses and squarer face, and dark, inquisitive eyes. But his hair was a mess, his clothes were ripped, and his left leg was gone.

"What?!" Katasuke flinched away in fear as Obito appeared. Obito could hear people shouting and running outside, and the soldier at the sole entrance to the room spun in shock as well at his sudden entrance. As he started to shout, Obito's eyes flashed.

"Sleep," he commanded, and the Daimyo's soldier slumped and fell, his armor and spear clattering as he collapsed. Obito didn't waste time catching him: he stepped through the bars of Katasuke's cell and extended his hand down.

"Come with me," he said as Katasuke stared up at him without comprehension.

"Obito Uchiha?" Katasuke said in disbelief, and Obito rolled his eyes. "You came that quickly?"

"It's what I'm good at," Obito said. It was obvious Katasuke was too stunned to take his hand, so he reached further down and settled his hand on the man's shoulder. "Sorry for the nausea."

As he touched Katasuke, the far wall of the room was completely ripped away, opening it to the air. Obito glanced to his left to find Mei floating in the street about twenty feet away, deep green eyes wide and incredulous. She'd torn off the entire face of the building with a storm of sand and stone, but it was already far too late. Obito smiled, impressed and still hopelessly cheerful. She'd gone right for the prisoner without investigating the disturbance: too bad she'd been up against him.

"Nice reaction time!" he shouted and gave the woman a thumbs-up, and as she raised her hand and a spear of stone pushed itself from her palm, he pulled himself and Katasuke out of reality and into the Kamui.

Instantly safe and ensconced in his own world, Obito relaxed and stood up as Katasuke lay on the ground and retched. "Yeah, it's rough the first couple times," he said sympathetically. "You should adjust in just a second, alright?"

"What…?" the man gagged, and Obito stepped back to give him some space.

"You're in my Kamui," he said as Katasuke looked around in shock at the empty black world. "The Hokage told me you were making a run for it, so he sent me. I figure he wanted you to see a familiar face." He looked around, scratching the scar on his chin. "And I guess I could pick you up the fastest too."

"I don't…" Katasuke took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "I didn't think Fire would get my message that quickly."

Well, that explained how his sensei had known about Katasuke's defection so quickly. "You sent a message?" Obito asked, still giving the man time. He was looking him over carefully with his Sharingan; Katasuke didn't look to have been roughed up, so the damage to his clothes was likely just wear and tear. But his prosthetic leg was missing, his pride and joy. There was no way he would ever have parted with it on purpose; something must have turned sour in the Land of Lightning for him.

"Through a friend. I hope she's okay." He was on the edge of panicking, Obito could see. It was more than just the Kamui; Katasuke was well and truly spooked. What had happened?

"Well, I guess you remembered my little promise," he said, and Katasuke looked up at him. "We'll have to walk a bit: I'll help you along. We'll be back in Konoha in just a couple minutes-"

"No!" Katasuke barked, eyes wide. He blinked, trying to compose himself as Obito stared at him. "Not there. Can't you bring me somewhere else?"

Obito narrowed his eyes, and he saw Katasuke cringe back, his obvious helplessness and fear overwhelming him. "You don't get that much of a choice, unfortunately," he said. "Where you end up after that will be yours and the Hokage's decision, but I'm not just going to dump you out anywhere."

"I can't go to Konoha," Katasuke said, trying to scramble up on his sole leg before collapsing. He barely caught himself, standing to face Obito. "Please-"

"Why not?" Obito asked, taking a step closer to him. Katasuke cringed away. His face and body language were screaming guilt and fear. Obito could feel some of his good mood evaporating in the face of Katasuke's nervous fidgeting. "Why call us for help if you didn't want to come to the village? Didn't you want your prosthetics to help as many people as possible? Speaking of which-"

"I do!" Katasuke shouted. Actually shouted, right in Obito's face, and he couldn't help but blink and back up as the man continued ranting. "I do! But Konoha is in terrible danger!"

On any other day, Obito probably would have grabbed the rogue ninja and demanded an explanation. Instead, he controlled his initial violent reaction and crossed his arms. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked. Katasuke licked his lips, his whole body shaking. "And where's your leg?"

"They took it," Katasuke said, speaking haltingly at first until the words began spilling out of him in an unstoppable tide. Obito let him go; interrupting him would be pointless. "They took it to keep me from running, but that didn't stop me! I was a spy, Obito Uchiha. I was sent to the Land of Lightning by the Nation of Rain: I was a freelancer, but they were paying like you couldn't believe. They wanted me to spy on Cloud's weapon programs and sabotage them if possible." He sat down, pressing his face into his hands. "But I'm an awful spy. I'm not good at normal shinobi stuff! That's not my strength! They caught me making a dead-drop in the first month! That quickly! I didn't think it would be a big deal, but they took my leg, and then they forced me to keep working, promising to give it back when I was done! A whole year now, feeding Rain fake intelligence, slaving away for people who wouldn't even give me human dignity!"

Katasuke was shouting now; his hands futilely slammed into the floor. "I was stupid, stupid from the beginning! It was just like you said: they cared about my prosthetics, but that wasn't why they chased me down! It was nothing but weapons!" He snarled. "Nothing but tools for killing! And I made the best, because I am the best! I'm a million years ahead of every other idiot in that country: without me, they never would have gotten any of that worthless garbage working!"

"More weapons?" Obito asked as Katasuke heaved in a breath, and the man frantically nodded.

"Chakra projectors," he said with a grimace. "Using the same principles as my leg. They had working models, but they were inefficient; they'd kill a shinobi from the drain alone unless they were experienced. I helped make them better, smaller, like gloves." He had a look between pride and disgust. "I could make them better with time. I don't know why I can see things people can't, but it's all so simple to me. I could put a fully formed jutsu inside them, ready to be unleashed at the pull of a trigger." He seemed like he was about to cry. "I don't like killing, but it turns out I have a talent for it. Doesn't everyone just want to do what they're good at?"

Obito shifted. Katasuke being a spy for Rain and the weapons he was talking about added some additional factors, but nothing too crazy. His emotional state was far more concerning. "That sounds impressive," he said cautiously. "But that wouldn't be enough to put Konoha in danger. If that's what you're worried about-"

"It's not," Katasuke said with a pleading look. "God, it's not. I'm a coward, Obito Uchiha. I helped make something my life could never have been worth."

"Maybe you've got a high opinion of your work," Obito suggested, and Katasuke laughed and gagged as he shook on the floor.

"I don't," he sobbed. "I hate it. That's why I ran. I couldn't handle it anymore. Knowing what I was helping…" He pressed his fist against his forehead, face twisting beneath it. "They'd made the frame, the idea, but I finished it. I finished it all. A gun; a cannon."

Now, Obito's good mood had been entirely replaced by a sick sense of dread. "What kind of cannon?" he asked sharply. He'd seen cannons before; they were effective siege weapons, but were too large, clumsy, and slow to be used in shinobi wars for anything but bombarding one static position from an extremely well defended one, a situation that simply didn't come up in most engagements between ninja.

"A Tailed Beast Cannon," Katasuke said, and Obito stopped breathing. Speaking of the technicalities seemed to calm the man as he continued, though he still shook. "It's a weapon of unprecedented power. It's charged with the chakra of Cloud's Jinchuriki; they pour the Tailed Beast's power into the gun, and it unleashes it at a distant target after achieving the required explosive mixture: eight to two, positive and negative charge, Yin and Yang." He muttered, hyperventilating. "The chakra is guided by eight shinobi who man the gun, though they have to calculate its trajectory beforehand. Its range is…" He laughed, a slightly hysterical giggle. "It could probably fire around the whole world and hit itself. Nothing and no one is safe. Thanks to me, the Hidden Cloud can probably drop the equivalent of several Bijuudama on top of any city it wants."

"There's no way," Obito said, not sure if he had seen a real hole in Katasuke's explanation or if he was just fumbling for an escape from a horrible truth. "If it was that destructive, any tests would have been noticed. Cloud couldn't fire off that much energy without someone seeing, let alone whatever it fired at being blown to bits."

"It hasn't been fired yet," Katasuke said, staring up at him from the floor. "For precisely that reason. But the test firing is going to be a live firing, and it's going to happen soon, maybe even today. When I learned that, I ran. That was the final straw. I thought, I tricked myself, maybe if it was a weapon of deterrence…"

"A live firing?!" Obito snarled, finally dragging the man up from the floor as he whimpered. "You mean at a military target?"

"Yes!" Katasuke shrieked. "They're sure it will work! And I am too! I'm confident in my work!" He shrunk away from Obito's murderous eyes, the blood draining from his face. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! But this is why we can't go to Konoha! It's Cloud's rival: if it's the target-!"

"If it's just a blast of chakra, sensei can stop it!" Obito roared. "But he needs to know it's coming! We're going, now!"

He started dragging Katasuke south, the man screaming and resisting as best he could. "There's no way!" the rogue insisted. "It doesn't matter how amazing the Hokage is, how amazing any ninja is! This kind of thing is beyond any one person!"

Obito threw Katasuke up onto his shoulders and started running as he continued to desperately protest. "That just shows your ignorance," he said, cold anger filling his heart. "However incredible you think this thing you've helped make is, there's always going to be someone beyond your comprehension."

He ignored the rest of Katasuke's screaming as he ran, uncaring of the man's belief he was being dragged to his death. Running at near his top speed, Obito made it to the Hidden Leaf in barely five minutes, and burst out the Kamui into the Hokage's Tower with a scream of sundered air as his eye tore a hole in the world.

There was no one there. Obito screamed out a curse, shucking Katasuke from his shoulders and leaving the rogue babbling on the floor of the Hokage's office as he dove back into the Kamui. A frantic dash brought him to the Hokage's home; he materialized on the front lawn mid-yell.

"Minato!" he shouted without decorum. "Get out here!"

People on the streets turned in shock, but Obito didn't wait for a response as he charged towards the door. At the last second, the Hokage flung it open, and both men almost slammed into each other as he stepped out.

"Obito?" Minato asked. He was still wearing his Hokage's uniform, minus his long white cloak; he must have just gotten home. "That was quick. What-?"

"Listen!" Obito demanded, and Minato did. "I retrieved Katasuke Touno, no casualties. He's created a chakra weapon for Cloud."

"A chakra weapon?" Minato asked, and Obito saw Kushina poke her head around the corner of the hallway behind him. It didn't look like she was wearing a shirt; he promptly ignored her. "What do you mean? Cloud's weapons program-"

"Has produced something, according to him." Obito found himself nervously glancing at the dark blue sky; the sun had all but set. "He was a spy for the Nation of Rain, but was caught: I'm sure others were as well, and I can see why Cloud was being so secretive. He claims that they've created a cannon, a chakra cannon, that could strike anywhere in the world with the power of a Tailed Beast." Minato's face barely changed, but Obito could see the moment where his sensei switched himself back into being the Hokage; his eyes went flat, and his back straightened. "He's terrified, sensei. He's convinced that they're going to fire it for the first time soon, maybe even today, and that Konoha will be the target."

"A weapon like that…" Minato mused, stepping fully out of his house and following Obito's look up at the sky. "I could stop that, probably. But that is pretty terrifying. The world could be about to change." He closed his eyes, and stood still.

Obito waited, not sure what his sensei was doing. Five seconds proved too long for him. "Sensei?" he asked. "We have to-"

"Shh," Minato murmured, and Obito shut up, staring around and wondering what was happening. About thirty seconds later, Kushina came out of the house wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

"Back quick, huh Obito?" she asked with a grin. "Looking to finish your date, I bet-" She looked over at her husband, stock still with his eyes closed, and frowned. "Uh, why's he doing that?"

"I don't know what he's doing," Obito said. "Something terrible might be coming-!"

"Oh!" Kushina blinked and turned to Minato. "Well hey, finish up soon, you're spooking him!"

As Obito looked helplessly between them, the Hokage breathed out and opened his eyes, and Obito understood what he'd been sitting still for. Minato's eyes had changed: the iris had turned yellow, the pupil stretched out horizontally, and as he started moving again an orange pigmentation spread around them.

Sage Mode? Obito stepped back as Minato looked around and took in a deep breath. He could count the number of times he'd seen his teacher in Sage Mode on one hand. Even after taking up his own contract with Mount Myoboku, Obito himself had had no luck in trying to learn it; he simply wasn't made for sitting still.

The Hokage cast his eyes about like he was seeing past the horizon in every direction. "Well, nothing's coming right now," he mused. "But I do sense someone in my office. Is that Katasuke Touno?"

"It is," Obito confirmed. "I left him there."

"I'll grab T&I and interrogate him myself then," Minato said, his face falling into a frown. "If this weapon really is so terrible, we'll need everything he knows. And if it fires, I'll sense it coming and deflect it." He paused, giving Kushina a kiss on the forehead. "Sorry. Looks like it'll be a long night."

"Don't worry about it," Kushina said with a laugh. "Sounds really serious, y'know? Get going!"

Minato nodded. "Good work, Obito," he said, and then he vanished, carried away by the Hiraishin.

Kushina looked wistfully at the space her husband had once occupied. "So, what exactly's going on?" she asked, and Obito sighed.

"I went and got someone from Cloud. They told me Cloud made a big gun. The kind that could shoot a Bijuudama anywhere," he said, trying to be as succinct as possible. "I'm sure he was telling the truth, at least as he understood it, and he made it sound like he was the primary engineer. He thinks Konoha will be Kumo's first target."

Kushina frowned. "Well, that sounds… bad." She leaned back against the doorframe, looking Obito over. Obito wondered if she was pondering the cannon itself, or the notion of a machine having the same destructive power as the monster sealed inside her. "But I doubt it."

"You doubt it?" Obito asked, starting to pace. "If they had a weapon like that, why wouldn't we be their first target? I remember how sensei humiliated the Raikage in the war."

"Just because of that," Kushina said with a grin. "They know just how scary Minato can be. If the Hidden Cloud has been developing weapons like that, I'd think it's because they don't want to face that strength in the first place."

Obito stopped pacing for a moment, thinking it over, and then started again. "You think they'd target somewhere else to prove their capabilities," he said, and Kushina nodded after a second. "Katasuke said something similar. That he was convinced it was going to be a weapon of deterrence. If we knew they had something like that, something that could attack Konoha directly, you or sensei would have to stay here at all times, just in case. They could massively weaken the village's capabilities without directly threatening it."

"Ah, you think I could handle the big gun? I'm flattered," Kushina said with a grin. "But yeah. I hadn't thought it through that far yet, but that feels more likely to me. Kumo hasn't tried to pick a fight with us yet; I don't see why they'd start with an untested weapon." She picked at one of her nails, thinking out loud. "If they do want to blow someone up instead of just targeting empty territory, wouldn't it make more sense for them to target a minor village with few allies? Someone no one would raise much of a fuss about? Like the Hidden Tea, or…"

She paused. Obito stopped pacing, the both of them staring at each other; he knew they had the same feeling, the sense of stepping down and missing a stair and tumbling forward with no idea of where they'd land. He could hear his heart beating in his ears.

"Or Rain," he said.

The words weighed them both down, crushing them into silence. When Kushina finally spoke, her voice was flat and her face was pale.

"Obito," Kushina said. She pushed herself off the doorframe. "Go. Go right now."

"Are you sure?" he said, his Sharingan already starting to spin. "We don't-"

"I'm not going to risk it!" Kushina snapped, baring her teeth. "He's already been there more than a year; go now, and make sure they can come back!"

It was an order and a plea, and there was no way Obito could ever have resisted it. He spun away, turning to run west and leaving Konoha behind.

There was no way, Obito thought as he ran. He and Kushina were just being paranoid. He had no guarantee Katasuke was telling the truth besides his Sharingan, and even if he was there was no way Cloud would have fired the weapon today, and even if they had there was no way they would have targeted the Land of Rain, and even if they had there was no way they would have target Amegakure, and even if they had there was no way his team would have been unlucky enough to be there when it happened instead of out on a mission or just having fun around the country.

It was impossible, impossible. He'd tried so hard to keep them safe when they'd been at his side, and when they'd been forced to go their own way he'd made sure they had all the right lessons to keep each other safe, that they'd stayed together. He'd done everything he could, so how could things completely beyond his control happen now and destroy all that, reduce his fear and love to ashes? It wouldn't happen; he wouldn't let it. He'd show up, confirm Amegakure was doing business as usual, and then sneak in and extract them. Who cared if Sakura's mission was done or not? It didn't matter anymore. Konoha was safe, maybe one of the only truly safe places in the world if his worst fears were true. When he got them back there, everything would be fine.

When Obito emerged from the Kamui onto the shores of the great lake that surrounded Amegakure, it was as bright as day.

His legs failed him. The legendary invincible ninja Obito Uchiha who was feared the world over collapsed into the mud of the shore, crashing to his knees.

Amegakure was on fire.

Obito stared out across the lake, his mind going blank. A fourth of the city was gone, utterly destroyed and consumed by flames. The rest wasn't doing any better, covered in a thick red mist that hung low and glowed in the light of the fires. Huge spires and skyscrapers had toppled on top of other buildings, and chaos ruled as generators exploded and power lines whipped around wildly. The parts of the city that weren't on fire were rapidly flooding. Vapor, smoke, and ash choked the air, so much that even his eyes could barely penetrate it.

He'd seen destruction and death before, but never anything to this scale. Even the sacking of the Hidden Waterfall was tame compared to this. Obito stared, feeling his lips pull back, his teeth bared to the world.

Something deep inside him snapped, like a tendon but in his heart.

Obito Uchiha had never felt such purity of purpose and clarity of existence up until that exact moment. He realized, as suddenly as if that step he'd taken together with Kushina had finally slammed down to the ground, that he needed to kill everyone who'd caused this. He needed to kill everyone in the Hidden Cloud, for a start, along with Katasuke Touno, and then anyone who was left in Amegakure for forcing his team to come here. If he were still going after that, it would be best to kill Minato as well for sending Sakura in the first place. And then, he would surely have to kill himself, for allowing them all to go.

He sat there, a being of pure murder, as orange chakra crackled around him and skeletal hands pushed their way out of his arms to claw at the mud around him. He could do it. He was a ghost. He couldn't save anyone, but he could certainly kill everyone.

Then, whether because of the shock of the moment finally washing over him or the intense burning pain in his eyes, he stopped, became human again, and sanity reasserted itself.

For more than a minute, Obito sat and watched the burning city with no idea of what to do. He barely remembered his insane, murderous rage. He had to go, to see if they were still alive, but things suddenly weren't that simple. Amegakure had been attacked but it was still alive, thrashing in agony. Now that he was looking with clearer eyes he could see ninja everywhere, putting out fires and blocking off floods and keeping more buildings from collapsing, the entire half the city that he could see alive like a tremendous anthill.

If he ran in, was there any chance he would find his team in that chaos? Even if they were still alive? And even if he did find them, could he do so without being seen? He wasn't sure.

Obito sat, his mind finally waking up, moving faster than it ever had in his life. If he was seen, a shinobi from Konoha, and especially one like him, Rain would rightfully wonder why he was there so soon after the disaster. He wasn't just one person: he represented all of Konoha as one of its most famous ninja. He had to act with a clear head. He was in a position where the actions of a single man could start a war.

But still, it took all of his self control to not sprint across the lake and leap into the city.

"What do I do?" he whispered to himself, still unable to stand. "Please… help me…"

Oh.

'Angry little Yahiko…'

Duh.

Obito bit his thumb and drew a few drops of blood and then gently placed his hand down, forming a seal array in the mud. There was a puff of smoke and a small blue toad appeared, about the size of his hand. It looked up at him, and then down at the mud it was surrounded by.

"Well hey!" it croaked in a high voice, flopping down and rolling in the mud. "That's a nice change of-!" As it rolled, it caught sight of the burning city and stopped, entranced by the conflagration. "Oh… dear."

"Gamaden, right?" Obito asked listlessly, and the toad came to attention. He was still memorizing their names and chakra signatures; summoning the right toad wasn't always guaranteed, especially when he was this distracted. "You have storage and reverse summoning jutsu."

"Sure do," the toad said. "Is that… Amegakure?" He stood up on his hind legs to get a better look at the catastrophe. "I don't…"

"Yahiko has a contract with Myoboku as well, correct?" Obito asked, scared at how cold his own voice sounded. The toad was apparently frightened as well. "Yahiko the Amekage?" When the toad nodded, he sighed in relief. "I'm going to show you three people," he continued, and with a blast of chakra he shoved a genjutsu into Gamaden's mind: an image of his team, together and alive. "I need you to go find them. If they're hurt or… or dead, bring them back to me. If they're alive, tell them I'm coming to get them, and then report back to me. If anyone in the city stops you, tell them you were summoned by Yahiko. I don't care for what reason. I have to get back to Konohagakure; I will meet you there. Got it?"

"I got it," Gamaden said, crossing his arms. "You can count on me." Without another word he leapt into the lake and made towards Amegakure, swimming with tremendous speed. Obito watched him go, marveling at how cold he felt despite what was probably the largest fire in the world burning less than a mile away.

I think I get it too, Obito thought as the toad dipped below the surface and out of sight. I was able to forget for a time, but now I remember.

I thought I could hide them from it, or shield them from it, or make them strong enough to fight it. But it doesn't matter how well you hide or where you go or how strong you are, because the thing I was trying to protect them from was violence, loss, fear, and pain, and that's what life is, that's what the world is.

This world is hell.