Rewind

It had been 12 years since Kakashi had left the village. The one to suffer the most was Obito. During the first years they kept exchanging lett then they simply stopped. By both parts. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen or heard, and Obito was just too busy in the village to actually think about the Hatake. It was a messy situation, but in between the building of worldwide peace, the birth of the fourth's child, and the Anbu, Obito had been improving.

Rin also was busy, and eventually she left the village for around 5 years before returning, stronger than ever and with a new dedication: to be a medical ninja on the same level as Tsunade.

They never stopped their friendship, and despite their jobs, they still found time to hang out once in a while, just to be disturbed by Naruto and his classmates. 

Obito loved those moments. He loved talking to the kids about Kakashi; he loved telling them about the war and even more showing the kids his jutsus. Naruto was vivid with jealousy when he showed he could do the rasengan. 

Obito found it amusing how the kid was extremely busy with pointing out that his father could defeat them all. Which, to be fair, it was true. Obito and Rin kept challenging the fourth whenever the blonde had time, just for the sake of good old times. 

But the void left by Kakashi was still there, and Obito couldn't erase it. 

Most of his friends were together. Asuma and Kurenai, Rin and Hikari. Even Gai was nonstop talking about a girl he had met. Everyone had a place in the world, and he was still waiting for something that he knew couldn't just be undone. 

The bijuu needed Kakashi; the world needed it. But he needed Kakashi. Didn't that count too?

Maybe his struggles were the reason Minato gave him Team 7. They were all kids he knew. Naruto was Minato's child. A hotheaded guy with a lot of trouble following the rules. Obito couldn't deny he now got to see Kakashi's struggle with him. Sasuke was part of his clan. Son of the clan head and younger brother to his good friend and teammate Itachi. They worked together in the anbu after all. And Sasuke was the copy of the Hatake. Too busy into proving something to realize the importance of friends. Too much into the belief that his clan was the best. To be honest, that was something the Uchiha had. They thought they were the best to take care of Kakashi back then, without even caring to mistreat him. 

Surely with Minato as the Hokage, things changed, but the Uchiha was still into the old mindset. 

Then there was Sakura. A girl who had eyes for Sasuke, not realizing Naruto had eyes on her. Totally like Rin at their age. Despite not belonging to a powerful clan like all the rest of her classmates that made it this far, Sakura had signs to become a great ninja too. 

Teaching these three teamwork would have been hard. Sasuke and Naruto argued a lot; Sakura was someone that didn't seem to care about Naruto's lineage, which Obito couldn't help but approve of. Just because someone was the child of someone else, it didn't automatically make automatically the kid their parent. Kakashi was a prime example of that. Some lessons were to be learned the hard way. 

The test was easy. It was a test his team went through, but it was a test that showed how much teamwork lacked in the team. Minato had admitted it himself. He didn't notice that they weren't exactly a team, and Obito came clean with the fact that he never understood the effects Sakumo's death had on Kakashi. They had learned it too late, but it was a lesson that made them who they were today. 

He had vowed he wouldn't make the same mistakes again. He acknowledged Naruto's understanding of being seen just because of who his father was. He saw Sasuke's mindset. He saw Sakura's feelings. They were a mess, and the test was one as well. 

Naruto ended up tied to the training pole, and the other two weren't in a better situation.

"Naruto. You did everything without thinking. And you tried to steal the food. Sakura, you thought only of Sasuke. Not even once did you think about Naruto. And you, dear Sasuke, you looked your teammate's up and down as if they were trash," he scolded the trio. Maybe if Minato gave the same lesson to their team, maybe Kakashi wouldn't have felt the need to do this on his own. He didn't even hear himself explaining the importance of teamwork; his eyes were fixated on something else. 

"Come with me," Obito instructed them, guiding them to a lonely grave, two names on it. 

"What's this grave about, Obito-niisan?" Naruto asked, looking at the names. 

"These are two heroes that sacrificed everything for their friends," Obito explained. "One was someone that I saw little of. He was a ninja that, during a critical mission...he decided to break the rules and leave the mission for the sake of his team. Thus caused the leaf immense losses, and eventually even those that saved him turned their backs on him. Ultimately his body and mind suffered so much that the only escape he had...was suicide," he explained. "The other one," he stopped to look at the grave. 

*Kakashi Hatake*

It wasn't fair. Obito hated it. The Hatake was proclaimed dead just 6 years after the beginning of his mission. Ninjas were sent to look out for him; the countries never reported seeing him. Dogs failed to track him down, and messenger birds returned with their message. No one celebrated his funeral; no one was there for that. Rin was away, Minato was too busy, and Kushina had Naruto. The only one that showed up with flowers was Hikari. 

There was never an exchange of words, nor a tear for their fallen friend. 

Maybe if Obito had gone with him that day, he could have saved Kakashi from whatever consequences he suffered. Maybe in his mission to collect bijuus he died; maybe it was them that killed him.

"The other was my best friend. The hero of the stories I talked to you about"

"The guy that saved you twice in the third ninja war," Sasuke came to a realization.

"He...found himself in a peculiar situation. He needed to save some friends. Because of this the village kicked him out. He had left 12 years ago, and we never found him. Eventually we had to pronounce him dead," Obito explained as the trio looked at the grave.

"They were father and son." Obito crouched down to fix new fresh flowers. "And in a way... they died both doing the same thing. Save their friends. The problem with that was that they tried to work alone.

"But... if your friend had to save a bunch of friends... where were they when he needed help?" Sakura asked.

"Doesn't matter. But even if it did matter... for once I don't doubt they did their best to keep him safe. They had promised me," Obito darkly explained before clapping his hands.

"I'll give you a chance to fix your mistakes. Eat up and gain energy. The next test will be harder.

"Yes! Finally!' Naruto raised his hands in the air.

"I'm not done." Obito claimed, "Sasuke and Sakura will eat. As for you, Naruto...you're staying tied to the pole again. They aren't allowed to give you food. Whoever does will be sent to the academy. And don't worry. I talked to your families. They gave me all the authority to do so. If you're not ready to become ninjas, you're going back to learn how to be one".

But his instructions were ignored. Sasuke was the first to offer his food, and Obito couldn't help but smile at the decision. They did understand. They did get teamwork. And maybe it was too early to fix their personalities, but there was hope. 

Until there wasn't.

"I refuse to go on another dumb mission, Dad!" Naruto sat down in the middle of the Hokage's office. There wasn't any hope for this kid.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama." Obito laughed nervously. While Minato was gentle, Kushina surely wasn't because she quickly jumped into scolding Naruto. And Naruto seemed to be able to argue back.

"Very well then," Minato cut off the argument. "I'm going to give you a mission of rank B." 

"Finally!" Naruto yelled out. Surely Minato had to give a lot of explanation to Kushina because she looked like she was having none of this. 

The mission was relatively easy. Escort Tazuna to the Land of Waves and help him with the bridge. An easy mission for a curious team. He didn't really expect an early attack on them, and he was having none of the lies of Tazuna. The man lied about his situation and put in danger the trio of genin. If he hadn't ended the entire fight before it could break up, they would have been in a bad situation. Not that they avoided it entirely, because right when they reached the land of waves, the attack became more serious.

It became a question of life and death, and Obito barely managed to pass it through. To be fair, he could have ended it pretty soon, but he didn't want to reveal his secrets just yet. Or maybe he just underestimated Zabuza at all. Considering the outcome and the teamwork of his own team, he couldn't call it a complete loss. Zabuza was gone, and they finally had finally a path to go to Tazuna's house. A dirty trick he pulled out with the excuse of a daughter and a nephew. It's not like they were all heartless here. 

But at least he was telling the truth. His daughter and nephew did welcome them there and filled them with food and a shelter for doing this and not retrieving. But the bad sensations returned days later. 

Obito couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. He wasn't convinced about Zabuza's death, and he was putting himself on the cross wondering if he had made a mistake. Turned out he did. A mistake that was now putting his team on the line.

Thankfully Naruto wasn't with them, and Sasuke was at least trained in a bunch of jutsus from his big brother. All Obito had to do was hope for the younger Uchiha to succeed even though it seemed impossible. 

Obito wished to be the one against Haku. He trained with Rin countless times; Ice Release was something he was used to. Water release put him at a disadvantage. He never had time to learn Chidori; Kakashi never had time to show him. 

"I'm here, guys, Dattebayo!" Naruto's scream broke the silence in between the increasing mist.

"Naruto! I need your help!" Sasuke yelled out to him. He didn't expect the blonde to enter the mirror technique of Hku.

"Are you stupid?! I needed you outside!" Sasuke screamed at him. 

"Naruto! Sasuke!" Obito yelled, trying to reach his students but being stopped by Zabuza. 

"Did you forget? You're my opponent now." The rogue ninja smirked. Things couldn't get any worse.

Obito couldn't see in the mist; by the sounds of it, even Sasuke and Naruto couldn't handle Haku.

Then a blue explosion started in between the mirrors, dispelling some of the mist. The other two happened near him and in front of Zabuza, further clearing the mist. 

"What's this?" The mist ninja asked, looking around.

Haku was getting up and ready to go back to his mirrors, but a blue sphere destroyed them within seconds, creating a new explosion. 

Obito looked around, sensing all he could. But he could clearly tell his students were still alive; Tazuna was as well, and so were their enemies. 

Out of the blue, a bone landed in front of him and a few more around Haku and Zabuza.

"What?" Obito asked. Was there a new enemy? Another to save Zabuza and Haku again? It didn't make sense considering Haku was actually attacked and Zabuza sounded paranoid.

Then he saw it. A bipedal blue wolf teleporting in front of the bone. There were spikes coming out of his front paws and chest, and he had fur that was bicolored. Mainly blue, but his chest was yellowish. By what he could see, Obito saw a black stripe, like a mask over the beast's face, and four black appendages hanging out at the back of his head. 

"Is this a summoning of yours?" Zabuza laughed, "I'll end him before you can recall it.".

The wolf turned toward Obito, and that's when Obito noticed his scarred eye. His sharingan sprung to life reading the chakra in it. 

"This chakra," he nearly whispered, "I can't believe it."

"Sensei! Watch out!" Sakura yelled.

The beast turned around to intercept the blade with the bone staff that had landed in front of Obito. The Uchiha couldn't understand what was going on, but he understood something more valuable.

"Kakashi!"