The Cave

  “Obito….?” Minato’s voice was soft— actually soft, unlike the fake sweetness Obito could always hear coating Hiruzen’s voice anytime he spoke to him. No, Minato looked at him with a gentle look— if not also confusion.

  This was actually the first Obito had seen of the man since the attack. He was a bit surprised to see him, not in his Hokage cloak, but in more civilian-like clothes. The way he stood also favored his left side. Obito guessed he and Kyuubi had done a number on him. Even so, he still looked at him as if they were still teacher and student. With care and compassion and it made Obito sick to his stomach.

  He wasn’t sure in what way, though.

  “Well, now I can say two Hokage have come and seen me. Won’t change anything, though.”

  “I stepped down. Unfortunately, that last attack from Kyuubi before I sealed it away practically crippled me.”

  “Former Hokage, then.” Obito shrugged, and now Minato looks actually upset with him. He could see anger stirring in the man’s eyes.

  Good. Be mad. Hate him.

  Make this easier.

  ”Can I at least know why? This isn’t like you——“

  “What would you know what’s ‘like me?’ You spent so much time on Kakashi, I’m kind of surprised you remember I existed.”

  “Obito!” He sounds offended, his hands clenching into fists. He opens his mouth to say something else, but he’s interrupted by an ANBU operative, coming by to drop off a tray of food for Obito.

  He can’t help the scrunch of his nose as he uses his foot to scotch the tray away from him. He practically glared at it, forgetting for a moment that Minato is there. Minato, meanwhile, was studying Obito.

  The boy didn’t have the cloak he had been wearing when he and Minato had been fighting, and his clothes seemed almost….too big? He wasn’t sure if that was right. But the way they hung on him seemed strange. Like they didn’t quite fit. Like they were made for someone bigger than him. He watches his face as he continued staring at the tray of food. It wasn’t anything unusual. Some onigiri, most likely pretty plain. If Minato remembered correctly, Obito liked onigiri. Usually with some seaweed mixed with the rice, with an umeboshi. But as he looked at the food now, he looked sick.

  It hit Minato why Obito’s clothes fit the way they did, and while he knew he should’ve been angrier with him, he couldn’t help but feel worry. He remembered the feeling in his gut when Kakashi and Rin had told him what happened— about the cave in. That, maybe, if he had been there, it wouldn’t have happened. He felt a similar emptiness now, with Kushina gone. The same guilt.

  And yet, Obito was alive. And by the looks of it, had been alive the entire time.

  And he had had no idea.

  He hadn’t even tried looking.

  And now, he stood before him. So small. Changed. So different from how he had been just a couple of years ago. He was so small. From the looks of it, he hadn’t eaten since he had gotten here a week ago. Minato had to wonder how long it had been since he had eaten before that. Since he had had a night of sleep. A warm bath.

  Minato knew he should’ve been angrier.

  But he just felt guilt.

  He looked so small.

  “I can talk to Hokage-sama about your meals.” His voice is quiet, and he watches as Obito starts at the sound of his voice, turning his attention back to him. There was defiance in his gaze, though Minato had to admit that it wasn’t anything new.

  At least that was still the same. Even if it was tinged with a red hot hatred.

  Perhaps Minato deserved it, though.

  “Don’t waste your breath.” Obito rolled his eye, and Minato gave a quiet sigh.

  “It’s obvious you haven’t been eating, Obito. You should probably be getting liquids.”

  “Obvious.”

  “Yes—-“

  “That would imply someone even paying attention.”

  Minato feels his eyebrows draw together, glancing at the tray and then back to Obito. He knew he was right. For a week straight, all his meals would’ve eventually been sent back uneaten. Untouched. It could be brushed off as Obito being uncooperative. At least, at first. But after a couple of days? Surely, some kind of flag should’ve been raised. Some questions asked.

  He should’ve been angrier. He should’ve been furious, livid. He had attacked Konoha, killed Kushina. Tried to kill him, and his son. He should’ve been cursing his name. Obito was a criminal, one of practically the highest order— he had tried to kill the Hokage!

  But Minato couldn’t help but see the child that Obito was. If Minato remembered correctly, he was 14, just like Kakashi. At least, Minato was pretty sure they were 14. The past couple of years had started blurring together a bit. Even still, he was sure Obito wasn’t working alone.

  No, someone had to have dug him up. And no doubt they had gotten into his head, twisting it and blinding him to who he used to be.

  He should’ve been angrier. Perhaps he was too tired for anger.

  “This cell can’t hold me forever.” It didn’t sound quite like a threat. A warning, perhaps. One tinged with….sadness? Minato wasn’t sure, but there was something in his voice.

  “I can’t say I would be surprised if it didn’t.” He was being truthful, giving a small sigh. “You broke every other seal they tried to put on you, from what I heard. That’s why they can’t just get someone to comb through your memories. This is the only place they’ve been able to keep your chakra contained, but that means the entire cell is the seal.”

  “It’s not my chakra.”

  “What….?” Minato sounded confused, and Obito only shook his head.

  “This cell won’t hold me forever.” His voice is oddly quiet, and for a moment, Minato sees Obito. His precious student. The boy he had known since he had graduated Academy, bright eyed and determined.

  How dark his eye was now.

  “I want to help you, Obito. You may say otherwise, but I know this isn’t you.”

  “You can’t help in a way that matters. It’s too late for that now.”

  Silence stretches between them, and Minato sees Obito flexing his fingers in a kind of restlessness. He gets an idea, a small hope.

  “I will talk to Hokage-sama about your meals. No matter how they think of you, the fact of the matter is that you need to eat. Perhaps, also, if you are cooperative—“ Obito gives a snort that Minato pointedly ignores. “I might be able to talk him into letting you outside every now….and….” He trails off as he notices Obito’s expression, and something dawns on him. A horrible realization.

  They were underground. Below the Hokage Tower. Obito had almost died being crushed to death under rocks– trapped under there for who knows how long– and they had locked him up underground. Of course he was snippish and testy. Though, maybe he was thinking about it too hard.

  He really should’ve been angrier. Perhaps, some part of him was. But he was also tired. So tired. Maybe it was desperation. Maybe he was too soft. Too attached. But he knew this wasn’t actually Obito. This wasn’t who or what he was.

  Minato rubs at his face, giving a quiet sigh. A sick mixture of emotions was swirling around him. Ebbing and flowing within him. He felt like he needed to go somewhere— anywhere else. Somewhere he could breathe—--- he felt he was suffocating.

  “I want to help you, Obito.”

  “And what if I don’t want help?”

  “That’s not going to stop me from trying.” Minato looks at Obito in his eye, determination in his gaze. “You didn’t deserve this. You don’t deserve whatever happened to you. And whoever—-”

  “Why are you so convinced that there’s someone else? Am I really so stupid—--?”

  “You are a child.”

  Obito stares at Minato for a moment, silent, unmoving. Finally, his gaze flickers away, eyebrows drawing together in anger and frustration. His hands clench into fists, nails digging into his palms.

  “It sure never felt like it.”