Deal with the Akatsuki
__~RIN~__
"..and there. Doesn't that feel better?" Rin gave her best smile at the kid, Rujia, sitting on the bed. Despite her exhaustion, she had been working at the hospital all day, but nothing made her happier than seeing her patients finally heal up. The child hesitated before moving her arm around slowly; when she felt no pain, the kid's eyes lit up with joy.
"Wow! It doesn't hurt anymore! Mommy said it would never be fixed, right!" Rin laughed.
"Yep, usually it would since you didn't break your arm correctly, but with a bit of chakra and time- well, ta-da!"
"Ch-ka-ra? Isn't that weird ninja's magic?" Rujia tilted her head, and Rin felt a flicker of amusement and fondness. Ruija had been in her care for the last two weeks, and it had been nice to see such excitement and joy from a normal civilian's kid.
"Well- sort of, yes" However, the next words made her fondness wither and die in her chest.
"Well, then, I want to be a ninja! After all, there are cool and-"
"No" The girl looked startled.
"Huh?"
"No, you WILL not be a ninja. Do you understand?" Rin's voice was soft and stern, none of its earlier warmth present.
"O-okay… I'm sorry…Rin-chan" The brown-haired girl realized what she had done and took a breath.
"I'm sorry, Rujia-chan, but I think that they are more fun to do than being a ninja. '' Rin stood up. "Come on, don't you want to show your mommy that you are all better now?" And just like that, the nervousness the child had shown was gone and replaced with a happy squeal. The girl practically jumped off the bed and rushed into the hallway, looking for her mother. Rin walked out, and after a short talk, she explained to Rujia's mom that her daughter should take it easy for a few days, but otherwise, she would be fine. In no time, the mother-daughter duo was gone, and Rin managed to stay composed enough to make it inside her office before she collapsed against the door.
She could hear the words clearly, "I want to be a ninja," repeated in her head over and over like they were haunting her. She couldn't imagine it, seeing that bright, happy face crumble into tears as she had her first kill, as she saw her first death, as she saw her teammate die-
"Urg…" Rin let out a dry sob and curled up tighter into her ball, her eyes too dry to let out any tears. Suddenly her exhaustion seemed to hit her like an A-rank earth jutsu, but she refused to fall asleep. She couldn't. After all, she had 4 more patients to care for, and she couldn't fail them- not like she had to obi-
"Not like him…I can't fail like on- like I failed him" Rin closed her eyes briefly despite her earlier promise, and for a moment, she saw it. She saw the cave- saw the dust clearly- saw him there, still, silent, and oh so wrong-
"Rin? Rin? Could you open the door, please? I brought you some lunch?" A knocking came from the door, and a familiar voice followed, waking her from her memories. She stood up, shoving her emotion deep down, before opening the door.
"Minato-sensei?" Her sensei gave her a small smile and raised a bento box.
"Hi, I came to check up on you, and I brought some lunch. Kushina made it" Run felt her lips twitch into a smile. "Is it ramen? Because if not, we both know the result," Minato winced, knowing full well that his girlfriend was an excellent cook when it came to ramen but struggled to make anything else.
"Not really?" Rin raised an unamused eyebrow, and minato shrugged helplessly. "They are ramen dumplings, her own recipe."
"Well, thank you, Minato-sensei, but if you excuse me, I still have work to do" Rin accepted the bento and took steps forward to leave. Only to frown when her sensei shifted to block her from leaving.
"Sensei?..."
"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that" Rin gave a slow blink.
"Huh?"
"I have come to the conclusion that I have…not been a good sensei to either you or…kakashi" Rin took a breath. She could not remember the last time she had seen her remaining teammate, but knowing him, he was probably suffering worse than her.
"Yet instead of helping, I am here sulking in my grief."
“...so for that, I am sorry.” Rin stared at her sensei with shiny eyes.
“Thank you..but it wasn’t your fault. As much as I wish I could simply place the blame on someone I know better…”
“War is not kind to even the best of people” Minato sighed and suddenly it seemed like he was 10 years older. “But even our own village was not the kindest”
“What do you mean?” Minato pursed his lips looking hesitant.
“Well…Obito wasn’t treated the best by his clan, right?” Rin nodded knowing very well the discrimination her friend had faced. “Sakumo found out about it and mixed it with the fact that they wish to remove Obito’s sharingan from Kakashi's care…” Rin froze and she could feel the familiar sensation of anger growing in her heart rising to her throat.
“THEY WHAT?” Obito’s last act was to give his precious eye to Kakashi, the last thing either of them had from obito since they couldn’t even retrieve his body, and they wanted to take it?
“Yes, I know Rin, but you don’t have to worry about it since it is being taken care of” The brown-haired girl frowned.
“By who?”
“Sakumo Hatake, himself” Minato licked his lips and winced looking uneasy “And I will say that he destroyed the elders in every possible way except physically so badly that not only did the Uchiha elders change their minds very quickly but Lord Third had to intervene” Hearing the news, Rin couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction at getting back at the clan that had hurt obito so much. Then she frowned at a realization
“Even Sakumo-sama is getting up to do something despite his grief and yet here I sit here hiding…” She closed her eyes and took a breath before opening her determined eyes. “No more”
“What?” Minato questioned, confused at her words.
“No more will I hide, Thank you Minato-sensei. I realize that hiding will help no one and that I am not the only one who misses obito.” her voice became softer “...After all that would mean he would have died for nothing”
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__~OBITO~__
Obito sat in his cell bored out of his mind. Konan had taken him to one of the nearby Akatsuki bases and thrown him in a prison cell. The Uchiha had been expecting an interrogation or something but instead, he had been left alone for the last 2 hours.
“It is strange, nothing has happened- or maybe this is a form of interrogation?” Obito wondered idly, but if that was the case then the purple kunoichi was in for a shock because this was nothing compared to the solitude he felt while stuck in Madara’s cave.
“Obito?” Swirly whispered quietly “What are we waiting for? I’m bored” Obito immediately reminded himself that he wasn’t alone and still had his strange friend.
“No idea, but what I find strange is that no one is here to guard us” Obito commented, after all, he had checked his map and there was no one outside his door.
“Maybe they think you aren’t really strong?” Uchiha shook his head.
“No, because the purple woman saw what I did in the village and she was wary of me so it can’t be that” Swirly was quiet for a moment.
“Do you think maybe there is something special about the cells?” Obito shook his head again.
“Not- sure the bars are made from chakra absorbing metal but otherwise this is a normal cell. I honestly wonder what they are even thinking. If it had been anybody but me so long as they are a B-rank or above they can easily escape” Swirly went silent before letting out a groan
“Nope! I don’t understand! Humans are weird” The corners of black haired male rose into an amused smile. Obito could almost hear the childish pout from a swirly voice.
“I’ll be honest neither do I sometimes…neither do I” The two proceed to fall into a comfortable silence for a while until obito spotted a group of people approaching their cell. “Looks like someone is finally coming. Make sure to stay quite alright swirly?”
“Okay obito-kun” Obito stayed still as the door to his cell swung open and three figures walked in. The first was an orange-haired male with a serious expression who was none other than the leader of the Akatsuki himself, Yahiko. Then following right at his heels by either side of him were Konan and Nagato.
> Yahiko (LV - 62) Akatsuki’s Leader__OP=0_
> Nagato Uzumaki (LV - 45 {85})__OP=-35_
“Why does Nagato hate me more than Konan and Yahiko combined?” Obito was puzzled as he hid it and waited for the other group to speak.
“Who are you, and what are your intentions?” Yahiko questioned staring deep into obito’s eyes, and the Uchiha had never been more glad to have been wearing swirly so his expression would be hidden.
“...you can call me Tobi, and my intentions are simple” Obito smirked under Swirly’s mask “There is a group, who so happen to be my enemy, that for one reason or another has ended up here and is working to do something.”
“Therefore you came to us, why?” Yahiko asked.
“I didn’t come to you, it was by chance that I meet your….subordinates while I was tracking them down and gained information about your group which gave me an idea”
“You…wish to join forces, am I correct?”
“Yes, at least until I can find out what their plan is” Yahiko stood before turning to Nagato.
“Well?” Nagato looked at his leader and then to obito.
“He …is telling the…truth” Yahiko nodded and turned back to the Uchiha.
“Very well, you and I will join forces until this group has left the land of rain.” Obito smiled and stood up excited
“Great! But we should lay down a few conditions for our partnership!” Yahiko nodded in agreement.
“Yes, mine is simple. Share any information you find, follow my orders, and don’t betray us.” Obito nodded, finding the terms easy enough to fulfill.
“Mine are also simple, don’t ask anything about me.” Yahiko blinked
“That's it?”
“Yep, easy right?” Obito then proceeds to raise his hand to confirm their deal. The orange-haired male stared before grasping obito’s hand in a tight grip.
“Very well, I look forward to working with you, TOBI”