Chapter Text
Flashback.
The night sky casts a shadow over Konoha, the moonlight was barely a spectacle of light in the area as the figure of the Nine tails emerges from the middle of the village. Obito stands up from his position, watching as the fox destroys everything in its path.
And Obito thinks, deserved. This village was the dammed reason why Rin died, why many young men and women lost their lives. Konoha was just false propaganda of hope. He’d be dammed if he ever came back for no apparent reason. After Rin’s death, nothing was a reason to stay in this world.
Obito jumped from roof to roof, eventually he ended up near the border between the village and the forest, opposite side from where shinobi were rushed for protection. Fools. He thinks bitterly, the name Konoha on his tongue has a haste to it, a sour note to the side.
Obito had fought against his Sensei, who failed to recognize him even after removing his hood, what a fool. And a failure as a sensei. Minato never deserved that title, not before, and certainly not after. Because he was late, Rin died, because he wasn’t there, Obito had been crushed under boulders. Because he wasn’t there, Kakashi was barely holding onto the last thread of sanity.
It was a disgrace. Obito had devoted his life into destroying Konoha at first, only out of pure anger and hatred towards the village and its unfairness. After Rin died, he found no purpose in life, that was, until he saw her face swimming among the crowd of shinobi. Rin was there, alive and well as she guided children and elders to safety. Her purple makeup on her cheeks, that long, brown, silky hair and her shining eyes. Sweet Rin, she was well and alive.
Obito had stopped dead in his tracks, shock and confusion running through his veins as the color from his face twisted into pale colors. How..? Obito had stood there, completely lost and silent as his eyes shut and opened, but no, Rin really was alive. But how? How was she alive?! Obito saw her die, he saw as her body was impaled on Kakashi’s buzzing chidori. How.
“Kakashi no! We were given orders! Stay back!” Rin yelled, her voice filled with worry as the familiar silver haired fang appeared from an alley. “No! I won’t just stand here and wait until one man does everything, I’m going to help Sensei!” The brunette had ran up to the eager boy, her hand tugging at his wrist in desperation to hold him back. But the Hatake would not comply.
“Rin, let me go! Please, I won’t let sensei do it all himself, even if I know he can!” The elder was going to speak again, maybe tell him off or force him back, but Kakashi nudged her hand off and hurried into the destroyed parts of the village. Completely disappearing into the crowd of people.
“Shit! Kakashi!!” Rin was taking a step to run and go after him, but a purple haired kunoichi pulled her back, Obito had watched as both girls ran back to safety, leaving a clueless Kakashi and a newly formed family back.
Suddenly, Obito didn’t want to do this anymore. He wanted to step out and cast away the nine tails. As the guilt devoured him, he hurried back to where Minato and the others were. But the mere sight he came across with was nothing but horror. As he stood several feet away, he watched as the large, sharp nail of the nine tails pierced through Kakashi’s body, and the little baby too. Kakashi had pushed Minato and Kushina out of the way, why was he so desperate to always die?
The silver haired boy gasped as blood poured down his lips, crimson bleeding through black as it pilled down to where his feet did not touch the ground. Kakashi had always been the shortest in their group, the youngest, but now he looked like an absolute child mauled onto the beasts nail, small and fragile, like a dove caught in blooded strings.
The baby- Naruto, had barely let out a cry before his little body stopped moving, his little mouth shutting as his tiny fists fell backwards back onto the blanket. Obito’s eyes widened. He heard a familiar voice from a distance scream, horror and despair fused into the sound. It was Rin. Sweet Rin. The beast was sealed away, Obito doesn’t remember how, but all he sees now is Minato and Kushina weep along with Rin, all beside Kakashi’s body that had fallen to the ground with a silent thump.
Rin immediately bundled up his body in her arms, hands pressing onto his chest where the enormous hole in his body was. A green energy around her palms grew larger, eager to stop the blood loss even though she knew Kakashi was dead for good. A gasp escaped her lips before a haunting sob bled. She held the boy in her arms, one arm snaking around his waist and the other on his head as she collected him in her lap. “Kakashi..” Her voice trembled, her salty tears running down like a water hose from her face, smearing with the makeup and Kakashi’s blood. Minato gently set a hand on his forehead, his silvery white hair now caked in blood, streaks of it along the pure color.
Kushina was holding Naruto’s little body in her arms, weeping loudly as she brought herself forward and knelt beside Kakashi who still remained tightly wrapped in Rins arms. Naruto was gently pressed on the Hatake’s arms.
The next day, the news about Kakashi and little Naruto spread. The village seemed to have lost its spark that day, for one, the Hokage’s son was dead, and two, the last Hatake had fallen to the ground, joining his father in the afterlife. Gai had been corrupted, his mood changed, and he wasn’t the same happy person he was before. Rin felt as though she had been killed as well, and Minato grieved the loss of another student yet along with his newborn son that he didn’t quite get to meet.
Obito was there for the funeral, watched as many people cried. He was there to see Rin holding tightly onto Kakashi’s casket, Minato as well, watched as they had to be dragged away by shinobi as they closed the casket and took it away. With Kakashi inside. And it was all because of him.
That night he didn’t sleep, he couldn’t. He tried closing his eyes but all he saw was his friend’s face wrenched in pain as blood oozed out from his lips. And the worst part was that he would never forget the moment, his sharingan had captured it all.
For weeks, that’s all he dreamt about, all he saw, and Obito wondered what would be of him. That was until he decided to go back to Konoha, but the thought of stepping place back into the village after the incident made him nauseous. Nonetheless, he took the opportunity before Madara completed the seal in him, he ran away from the damned cave and set out a plan to somehow loose Zetsu.
Weeks later, the border patrol sent out a message to Minato. Him, Rin, and Kushina were all in the Hokage office, finally emotionally recovering little by little as they laughed and joked about last night’s incident at the Ramen shop. Until Gemma knocked on his door and handed him a scroll, but it was the man’s face that sent dread down his stomach.
“Genma? What is it?” Minato cleared his throat upon seeing the expression his guard carried. “Hokage-sama, t-there is something you all might want to see.” The shinobi muttered. “There’s this man at the border who is demanding to you see you, he claims to be…Obito Uchiha.”
Minato wasn’t sure what noises everyone made, but it was clear that the news made them all gasp in shock. Obito? Minato was furious, who had the guts to claim to be his dead student? Rin seemed to be thinking the same thing as him. But they all held onto a little hope, maybe it is Obito.
They had all ran as fast as they could to the border, Minato was so out of it that he completely forgot he could teleport. As soon as they got there, they saw other shinobi having a talk with a familiar face. Rin gasped again, her eyes wielding in tears as she muttered a silent Obito? Minato and Kushina stopped dead in their tracks, the view was certainly unexpected, especially after everything that happened.
“Obito?..” they all said, the man turned to look at them completely, short black hair and tan skin, except this time he had scars on his face, but he still looked like old Obito. “Hi Rin, Sensei, Kushina.” The Uchiha smiled at them, something in their hearts aligned together that day.
Obito never confessed about that day, never said the truth to his sensei and Kushina that the murderer of their son was right before them, he never told Rin and Minato that he was the reason why the younger one in their team was dead. And Obito was sure that he would never say it, for the burden is too much to carry.
-
The afternoon sky in Konoha is beautiful, a blue sky with white clouds and a shining sun. It’s a beautiful day. Obito silently walks alone along the familiar trail from his everyday routine, a lollipop in his mouth cracked as his teeth chomped onto the sweet. He sighed and crossed his arms behind his head, sighing as his emotions spread all over the place. He was exhausted, anyone would after training with 3 little terrors. Sasuke Uchiha was one of a kind, he was his little cousin after all. Sakura Haruno was a great kunoichi too, she had major potential despite not being from a clan. And Sai, he sure was one interesting kid.
Sasuke was always straight forward, a prodigy in the making, sometimes he reminds him of his dead friend in some way. Obito remembers their first test, the bell test. Sasuke had been the only one to touch the bells, but not take them. That caused him to remember their bell test with Minato sensei, Kakashi had been the only one to touch the bells but not take them. It’s either that Obito just misses Kakashi so much, or there really is similarities between his little cousin and his once best friend.
Obito sighed again and continued to walk before he stopped at his destination. The cemetery was empty today, like usual. The Uchiha softened and knelt down onto the stone that read Hatake Kakashi. The fresh white magnolias from yesterday were sitting there beautifully, their petals flowing in the wind. Kakashi never told them his favorite flower, Obito was fully convinced that he didn’t like flowers at all.
Until one day he caught the boy near the river collecting white magnolias, he looked so happy while picking them too. And every time Obito came over to Kakashi’s place, he always saw a vase of white magnolias in the center of the table, sometimes they were different colors, but white magnolias seemed to be his preferred shade.
Obito let his shoulders fall, just staring at the stone that had his friend’s name carved into its base. “Kakashi..” The Uchiha muttered. “Sorry I couldn’t come earlier, I was promoted to be a Jonin Sensei as you know….my students are great though! Their teamwork is getting better, and Sasuke awfully reminds me of you in some way, ya know? A prodigy, duh.” Obito laughed. “Unfortunately, my visit today has to be cut short, we have a small mission tomorrow, and I promised to my students I wouldn’t be late so I’ll take care of my duties now. I hope you enjoyed the flowers Kashi, I’ll visit again tomorrow.”
Obito stood back up, he glanced at the stone once more before taking his final leave and fall into his same routine all over again. Wake up, visit Kashi, train his students, visit Kashi again, take care of additional duties, sleep, and repeat. Sometimes if he’s lucky, then he’ll hang out with Rin or spend time by himself at the river. But these days Rin herself was usually busy with her duties or girlfriend, and Minato, well he was Hokage and had a wife, so that’s not much time on his shoulders.
When Obito got home he shed his vest and shoes, today wasn’t so tiring, but it was enough to put him to sleep. The Uchiha made sure to brush his teeth before passing out on the bed. Tomorrow was still to be decided.