Obito Uchiha was on a mission. Not just the assigned mission from his village, but a personal vendetta. As soon as he had heard the vault had been broken into he had appeared in the Hokage office, startling all who were present. After all, who wouldn't be startled when a man appeared out of thin air, interrupting a meeting. Once Obito had learned what had been stolen, and who was most likely behind it, he would not leave the office until he had been assigned the mission. He had not taken no for an answer.

So now here he was, an S-Rank mission in hand, going to chase after the ninja presumed to be working with Orochimaru who had stolen the Scroll of Forbidden Techniques, one of Konoha's prized possessions. It had jutsu in it from all 4 Hokage, as well as plenty of kinjutsu that would be catastrophic in the wrong hands. Of course, Obito was alone on the mission. He was always alone, it just worked better for him. Alone he was untouchable, with a team… he could be hurt through his teammates.

Obito Uchiha wasn't very tall: only about five-foot seven. He's wore a dark blue bodysuit, with the standard Konoha forest green flak jacket over it. He had on steel arm-guards, plain of ornamentation save for the Uchiha clan symbol etched in the center of each one. There was a small sheathed blade sitting on the small of his back, set horizontally for quick and easy access. His hitai-ate, tied around his forehead, was affixed to an orange cloth. This was not the norm for most in Konoha, but being Obito, he was able to break a few rules. His eyes were an onyx color, though every know and then they turned blood red, with 3 black markings spinning around before turning back to their onyx color.

The Sharingan. One of the 3 major dōjutsu you would find in the Elemental Nations, and the bane of shinobi everywhere. With one look Obito could copy your technique, be it ninjutsu, genjutsu, or taijutsu. It could even predict the movements of the opponent he was fighting based on their body movements. This wasn't all he could do with his Sharingan, but those other abilities would only be useful once he had found the culprits. For now, he just used his Sharingan to track the trails the culprits had left behind.

He hopped from branch to branch as he moved through the forest. Thankfully, these guys seemed really sloppy. The trail they left had been clear as day even without the use of his Sharingan. That's why when the trail suddenly disappeared, Obito was baffled. He hoped down from the branch he had been on and started looking around. Are they waiting to ambush me? He quickly activated the Sharingan and looked around the trees, seeing if anything was out of place, anything that might telegraph an incoming attack. Yet nothing happened. The forest was quite and still, minus the little critter that darted past every once in awhile. The trail ended here, and by all accounts the shinobi he had been following had disappeared.

It was moments like this when Obito remembered how much he missed Kakashi, the guy had been a genius and would instantly know what was happening and where the culprits had gone. He found his hand gripping the hilt of the small blade on his back. Kakashi Hatake, his best friend, had been murdered in front of him. Obito had sworn over his friends grave that he would avenge him and kill the man responsible.

Obito closed his eyes, took a deep breath in and held it for 10 seconds, then let it out slowly as he opened his eyes. It was trick he had used growing up on how to clear his head and calm himself down. He used it now to keep his emotions under control, especially useful when he thought of Kakashi. Obito looked around the clearing he was in again, reassessing the situation. The shinobi had been sloppy the entire time they had left the village, most likely they did not suddenly grow a brain and start hiding their tracks. Most likely, there's a hidden area around here, possibly hidden by a genjutsu of some kind. Obito looked around again with his Sharingan active, this time trying to look for anything that might be layered in chakra, denoting a camouflage genjutsu. It took a few minutes, but after walking around a bit Obito got lucky. It was a tree, hidden in the shadows of many other trees, with one spot on the trunk coated in chakra. With a hunch, Obito clasped his hands together into the snake seal and channeled chakra to his hands. He reached out and touched the spot on the tree with his left hand. Suddenly, he found himself in a dark corridor, lit by a few torches. While Obito had never been to this place, the decoration was eerily familiar. Walls covered in strange half circles, torches lighting everything. This was one of Orochimaru's hideouts, not even an hour away from the village walls.

"Looks like the witness was right, it was definitely related to Orochimaru." Obito's voice was quiet, but he still heard it echo through the halls. Dammit, even guys as sloppy as this must have heard that. He cursed his big mouth again, he'd lost track of how many times it had gotten him in trouble with no one around to keep him in check. As he walked along the hallways, wary for any traps or ambushes, he figured it made sense Orochimaru wanted that scroll. It was no secret he had wanted the 4th Hokage seat, so why wouldn't he want the scroll which held powerful techniques that only the Hokage would have access to. Plus, it would be a vital lose to Konoha, and the snake's hatred for the village was equally well known.

Obito put his foot down and felt the tile sink into the ground. He had a split second to register what was happening before a hail of senbon shot straight at him. Thankfully, that was all the time he needed. He grinned as the senbon flew through him completely, as if he wasn't even there. A trail of blood came down from his right eye, making it look as if he was crying blood. His right eye had changed shape. While it was still red, the 3 black tomoe had turned into three stretched triangles evenly spaced around the pupil that each curve at the top around the eye to form a circle, making it similar to a pinwheel. Once the hail of Senbon had stopped, his eye returned back to it's normal state, the 3 tomoe lazily spinning in the pool of red.

Obito kept going, a little slower this time, careful of activating any other traps. Even if he would be fine, he'd rather use these abilities when actually fighting someone. He managed to avoid 5 other traps hidden through out the hallway, but had activated 3 others when opening doors he had come across. Each door had led to a dead end. After what felt like hours, but was probably only 40 minutes, Obito made it to the end of the hallway. It opened up into a large open space, about the size of room used for Chunin exam preliminaries in Konoha. 4 figures stood in the back of the room. One was a bit taller than the others. The other three were sorted around the taller one, with the shortest one on the left side. On the right side were too others, a skinny one and a bulkier one. The bulkier one was holding the scroll.

"Huh, I would've expected you to be more beat up with all the traps we had set. I heard at least a handful go off." This voice was gruff and heavy. Definitely sounded like an adult. Perhaps the taller one? Obito couldn't tell who had spoken, each figure was covered in shadow, and the voice echoed due to the size of the room. Even his Sharingan was having trouble piercing this darkness. Genjutsu maybe? He decided to play it safe and keep his distance, trying to come up with a plan to end this quickly. He could use his left eyes ability, but that one can be slower than the right, and would give away who he was to his opponents immediately. A different voice spoke up next.

"We can see your eyes Uchiha scum, we had a feeling one of you would chase us down, though we didn't think you would be so proud as to come alone. We're the perfect match for you."

This second voice was higher pitched, feminine, and incredibly cocky. Obito figured she could be the weak link if he could keep her talking. She was most likely to let something slip.

"Quiet Fuguchi, you don't know what the enemy is capable of." The first voice spoke again, the taller figures head turning to his left to stare at the shorter of the shadows. That gave Obito some more information to work with, and deciding to capitalize on this, he jumped into the conversation to enact his plan.

"Fuguchi right? You should listen to your sensei. Cockiness like that will get you killed." Obito kept his voice steady, though what came out was a very deep voice, something that sounded much more baritone than his normal voice. It was a little trick he had managed to pick up, where he could change the octave of his voice, making him sound like anyone he wanted. He noticed his jab had gotten the desired effect.

"The hell are you talking about!? There are four of us and only one of you. I think I have every right to be cocky as we outnumber you."

The girl had taken a few steps forward, maneuvering out of her sensei's grip. She hadn't refuted the claim about her sensei, Obito assumed he had gotten that correct. In a flash, he threw a kunai at the girl, aiming for her shoulder. If he could get her out of the way, then he could move on the other 3. A sharp yell of pain let him know he had hit the mark, and before she could fall to the ground, he threw a handful of shuriken at the girl. He only managed to strike her in the arm and legs, causing her to fall like a sack of potatoes. Well, that will work for now, she shouldn't be able to make any hand-signs now. One down, 3 to go. Obito smirked, he doubted they could see anything but his eyes. He couldn't resist one last jab. "Told you so." He spoke in the same voice, not giving away anything.

"Fuguchi!" This was a new voice, and given the movement Obito saw, it must have come from the one holding the scroll.

"Stand down Osagi! We don't know who we are dealing with. Our mission is to guard the scroll until one of them comes to pick it up." The way he said them, Obito could hear the mix of fear and disgust from the man. Obito began to work with the new information. Time was not on his side, so he needed to end this quickly and get the scroll. Obito quickly ran through hands signs, molding a fiery chakra in his system, while the enemy shinobi were distracted.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

With a yell, Obito released a large fireball at the enemy team. The sensei pushed the shadow holding the scroll out of the way, taking the full force of the fireball. The skinnier shadow seemed to dodge out of the blast in time on their own. It seemed like the sensei was not able to escape the fireball, given the charred remains on the ground.

With the light the fireball provided, Obito was able to take in exactly what his enemies looked like. The one he had incapacitated already had indeed been a girl. She had short cut brown hair, and was currently writhing in pain on the ground. The skinnier guy was a male wearing a porcelain mask, not dissimilar from those of the ANBU. It was plain white with no markings except for the two slits for eyes. He had longer black hair coming down to his shoulders. The bulkier one was actually quite muscular now that the light was on him, though he had a bit of a pudgy face. He had no hair. All three of them wore the same outfit, purple pants and shirts that covered their full body with a chestnut flak jacket. None of them wore hitai-ate, which made sense given they were in league with Orochimaru. He couldn't make out any other finer details before the light faded away.

Obito formed a tiger seal with his hands, activating a seal array on the underside of his arm-guards. A large four pronged windmill appeared in his hand. A fūma shuriken, much larger than your normal shuriken. Obito threw it at the boy wearing the mask, forcing him to jump away from the muscular boy. Once it was clear, Obito activated his right eye, focusing on the scroll. A whirring sound filled the room, distracting the two standing shinobi. After a second passed, the scroll was no longer being held by the boy. In fact, the scroll was no longer in the room. Another trail of blood came down Obito's face, but he smirked anyway. Mission Accomplished. Now just to get out of here.

"Well, it has been a pleasure, but I'm afraid I must be going now. Let this be a lesson to you, don't steal from Konoha." He kept up the baritone voice, if for no other reason then he sometimes enjoyed the sound of it. With that he turned to run back down the hallway, but not before throwing two kunai with some tags tied to the ends as he passed some supports. With another tiger seal, he activated the tags, causing an explosion behind him. Just another thing I wouldn't be able to do if I had a team to worry about. He made it back to the entrance finding a similar chakra signature to what he saw on the tree. Repeating the same maneuver as before, he found himself back above ground next to the tree. He immediately took off towards Konoha, eager to be done with this mission and to get as far away as he could before those reinforcements arrived. He had used his Mangekyō abilities around 8 times during this mission already, and he felt the drain on his body. Worse still, was the blurriness creeping into his vision. He knew what it meant, he knew there was nothing the doctors could do about Just another thing I need to live with, the curse attached to this power.

He made it back to Konoha in record time, this time he walked into the Hokage's office the normal way. As he stepped in he stared at the desk where the Hokage, his old sensei, sat. The whirring noise filled the air and the scroll appeared on the desk, intact and unharmed. The Hokage, Minato, looked up and met Obito's eyes, a frown on his face as he saw the fresh and dried blood trails on his face.

"Well done Obito. That is a mission success, and in record time if I do say so myself. Now, report." Minato did not remove his eyes from Obito's face through the entire report. Once Obito completed his report, Minato leaned back into his chair, seeming content with the information provided.

"It looks like the eyewitnesses were right Minato sensei, it was a group of people related to Orochimaru. I just wish I had been able to capture one so we could have Ibiki take a crack at them." Obito had a fun little daydream about Ibiki torturing one of the snakes supporters. Ibiki wasn't the head of Torture and Interrogation just for how he looked. Minato's calm voice brought him back to reality.

"Be that as it may Obito, the scroll was the mission, not your vendetta. You did good keeping that in check, and heading back after getting the scroll. Well, mostly in check. There was really no need to destroy the hide out and risk the lives of those shinobi, especially if you did succeed in killing their sensei." Blue eyes continued to meet onyx eyes. He continued, "I have decided Obito, it's time for this to stop. I know the pain you are feeling, and I gave you the space you needed to heal and grieve. I thought having you take mission after mission would help you, but it seems to have helped all it can. We've noticed you start to grow more and more distant, Rin and I are worried about you, Obito. Now, it's time for you to come back and focus on something positive. Perhaps then you will find what you are missing, the final piece of your healing."

Obito was shocked. He knew he had been getting reckless when it came to the missions he was doing, but he always completed them and he never had a scratch on him, for the most part. No one should be able to argue with those results.

"Minato sensei, I don-"

"How are you're eyes Obito?" Minato's question cut Obito off before he could even start. There was no warmth in the voice, not due to anger, but due to concern and worry. Obito averted his eyes from his sensei for the first time this whole conversation. That was answer enough, but he still spoke up.

"The blurriness is coming in faster the more I use them. At my current rate of use I give myself 3 years before fully losing my sight." Obito's voice was hollow at admitting this. His Uchiha pride made it difficult to admit his precious eyes were becoming his greatest weakness, despite how strong they made him.

"That's strange, Rin said she would only give you a year and a half after her last check up. Considering I'm sure you have fudged the numbers on your reports about how often you use them, I think I'll take her word over yours." Minato was being incredibly blunt, which wasn't like him. Seeing his student continue to hurt and degrade his health… it was difficult.

"What are you going to do Minato sensei?" Obito still wouldn't meet his sensei's eyes, though he could feel their gaze on him never waver.

"I'm bringing you into the village for the indefinite future. You will no longer be allowed to use your Mangekyō abilities. You will be meeting with Rin every other week to discuss treatments to help heal your eyes. You are one of our best shinobi, along with your brother, so I need you to keep your vision for quite a bit longer then our current estimates. I cant lose one of the few remaining sets of Mangekyō this village has seen, especially with the Pure's growing more and more ambitious every day."

"I understand Minato sensei."

"Also, I am assigning you a genin team. The graduation test is in a week."

"What?!"

Obito had been heading for the door, when he suddenly turned around towards Minato. His sensei now had his normal smile back on his face, the warmth in his eyes returning.

"You're a Jonin Obito, I've been giving you special treatment for awhile, but it's time for you to join the other Jonin in training the next generation. Besides, I already have the perfect team picked out for you. The timing couldn't be more perfect!" With this Minato slid a paper across his desk, motioning for Obito to pick it up. Obito read the assigned team name. Team 7 huh? Then he saw who the 3 listed genin were, their photos staring up at him, and his eyes went wide again.

"Minato sensei, are you serious about this? I mean he's-"

"Yes, and Fugaku is aware of my choice as well. In fact he petitioned for me to make this call once the class had started in the Academy." Minato let out a laugh as he remembered that conversation with Fugaku Uchiha, his closest friend. He continued, "The girl will require some extra work on your part, but overall this team has the makings of greatness already. I think there is no one better to teach them and lead them to that greatness than you, Obito."

Obito continued to stare at the paper, then he looked back up at the still smiling Hokage. He nodded at Obito, who nodded back.

"Well, I know I learned from the best. Still, I wont go easy on them. You know that right, sensei?"

"I would expect nothing less, Obito."

With that, Minato sent him on his way. Obito kept the team assignment paper, it was a lot to think about. He was going to have a team, he was going to have to protect a team. And not just a team of other ninja, no, a new green, fresh, genin team! Plus, he couldn't use his Mangekyō abilities, or as he had taken to calling it, Kamui, anymore either. Perhaps it was time to visit Kakashi and talk with him. That always helped clear his head in the past. Obito walked towards the memorial stone, he was walking slowly, as he thought about everything Minato had told him, and about his new team. When he finally made it, he scanned the list until he found his best friend, and old teammates name.

Kakashi Hatake.

Obito clasped his hand together, to pray, and bowed his head closing his eyes.

"Hey Kakashi, been awhile since we last talked, huh? A lot just got dumped on me man, you wouldn't believe it! I really need your advice right now, mind if we chat a little?" If anyone had been around, they would have seen tears falling down Obito's face. The wet liquid clearing off some of the dried blood on his face. Obito didn't go home for another 3 hours, once the sun had fully set leaving the village in darkness. When he lifted his head up, he had a smile on his face, a true smile, not just a smile to mask his other feelings. Something which hadn't been seen in the last half decade. He made a vow to Kakashi, that he would train these genin and make them the strongest shinobi the village had ever seen! They would be a team that Kakashi the prodigy would be proud of. He would also follow Minato's order, not that there was a question on if he would. No more Kamui for now. It should be fine, training genin isn't likely to put him in situations where he needs Kamui anyway. Right?