Chapter 1
Obito was so tired. He doesn't even know if he wants to stick to Madara's plan anymore. But what else can he do? He is supposed to be dead. And Rin is dead too, because of Kakashi. Minato-sensei and Kushina are dead as well, because of him.
He did everything he could do to make sure Kushina didn't die during the extraction. He could've used his Sharingan and Kamui to extract the Bijuu anytime when she was alone, but he knew due to her parentage if the Bijuu was extracted safely she would survive. So he waited, and when she was giving birth and the seal was weak, he knew she'd survive. But his carefully planned idea went to hell just as quickly. The Bijuu broke free of his genjutsu and attacked Konoha, Minato-sensei chose the village over his life and died sealing the fox into their son.
How was Obito supposed to live with the guilt of killing the two people who loved him unconditionally? Kushina with her loving hugs and delicious lunch, Minato sensei with a gentle smile and neverending patience. So Obito had to stick to the plan now, had to make a world where they'd all be alive once again, where they'd be with him once again. Rin and Kakashi and Minato-sensei and Kushina and his grandmother and his parents and the village and the clan, it will all be like it was supposed to. But knowing this didn't stop him from being tired. From living behind a mask. From abandoning everything that made him Obito .
He watched from the bushes as Kakashi sat in front of his memorial stone, tracing the engravings on it as he spoke so softly that Obito wasn't able to hear him. Part of him wanted to kill him for killing Rin. Another part of him wanted to demand explanations for why he did it? Why he visited their graves every day? Why did he break his promise?
This part of him grew stronger each time he came to Konoha, the Uchiha were on the edge of launching a coup and Obito had to fuel the flames, his cursed clan had to go once and for all. He turned away from the graveyard and towards the Uchiha compound, he just wanted to drop in at the shrine and visit his grandmothers grave before leaving, hopefully for a long time.
As he moved he saw a small boy standing on the road, looking at the bakery in front of him, Oh, that was Minato-sensei and Kushina's son. Naruto. The Kyuubi Jinchuriki. The boy who was an orphan because of him. How it hurt his chest to watch him, he was dressed in dirty clothes and was holding a frog-shaped wallet clutched to his chest. Obito watched as the shopkeeper noticed him and his face turned into an ugly scowl. "Go away you monster! We only serve humans here!" the man sneered and Naruto took a step back. "Please... I have money..." the six-year-old whispered but the man didn't waste a second and threw a heavy book of bills at him.
Naruto flinched bracing for the pain but before the book could reach him a hand caught it. He opened his eyes to see a person with a mask covering his face in front of him. He held his walled to his chest tightly and tried to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. He was so hungry.
"Hey, are you okay?" the person asked and Naruto nodded quickly, not wanting to get in trouble.
Obito watched as the boy moved away from him subconsciously, looking so small and afraid that Obito felt anger bubbling in his chest. Anger at the village. At the Hokage and the council. At the shop owner who lay unconscious on the floor of his shop trapped in an endless nightmare of the Sharingan. Was this the village his teacher died for? The village that treated his own son as a monster.
He slowly and cautiously bent down to the blonde's height and held out a doughnut he had picked from the bakery, "You look hungry, would you like one?" he asked kindly, just the way Minto-sensei had always talked to him. The child's eyes lit up as he saw the food, how much he reminded him of Kushina. Naruto slowly took the treat from his hand and looked at him, "Who are you?" he asked tilting his head.
And Obito couldn't say he was Madara, and he selfishly wanted the boy to know him . So he removed his mask outside of his room for the first time in years and smiled at him. He knew his face wasn't the prettiest with the left half scarred, but the boy didn't seem to mind. "My name is Obito, I was your father's student."
Naruto's eyes widen as he looks at him in wonder, the doughnut already eaten, "I had a dad? You knew him?!" he asked breathlessly and Obito stiffened. Of course, they wouldn't tell him about his parents, would want to keep the Jinchuriki away from any sort of human interaction. How did the Hokage not see the actions of the villagers? How the child of their beloved Yondaime was suffering because of his ignorance? Or maybe he didn't care, maybe he thought since the boy was alive everything was fine.
Obito nodded, "I did, he was my teacher. We were on the same genin team, He looked very much like you."
"But- But Jiji said he doesn't know who my parents are!" he cried.
"The Hokage is a stupid old fool." Obito couldn't keep the venom out of his voice as he said that.
"Obito-nii, can I come with you? I-If my dad was your sensei we're... family, right? Please, I'll be good! I hate this village." Naruto asked looking straight at him. His expression was desperate but scared, like he was ready for the other man to push him away and laugh.
Obito wanted to say no, tell him it was impossible and he was a missing-nin who was supposed to be dead. But he remembered the way the shopkeeper had sneered at Naruto, how he didn't hesitate before throwing a heavy object at a child, how Naruto looked too thin for his age, how even at such a young age his eyes were filled with determination like his sensei's had been. How he called him Obito-nii just as he would've had everything been different and his parents were still alive, if everyone was still alive.
So Obito nodded, watched as the boy's face filled with such sheer happiness that one would think he promised him the world. He blinked and he suddenly had an armful of blonde crying in his chest. Obito bought his hand up to gently stroke the child's back, and he made a promise, ' Minato-sensei, Kushina, I will be there for Naruto just like you were there for me. He won't grow up hated and scorned, he'll be loved and cared for, I will find a way to separate the Kyuubi without hurting him, I swear. I'll protect him with my life.'