The Cycle of Hatred
Kakashi was looking over the current intel on the Seven Tails when somebody stabbed a kunai into his left eye. He recoiled away from the combatant when he noticed that he was alone in his makeshift office. This hadn’t happened before. Another jolt exploded in his eye and reflexively Kakashi closed both eyes, bringing his palms to cover both sockets.
His vision, now nothing but blank blackness turned into a checkerboard, and the squares filled in until he could see in front of him. The first thing he saw was Pein’s rinnegan. Which made no sense, Pein wasn’t here. He was still out hunting for the Six Tails. Plus Kakashi could see the blue sky behind Pein’s face, was he hallucinating?
Kakashi’s field of vision shifted down, and he looked down to a familiar set of black robes, and the fist which was protruding from the chest cavity.
Kakashi’s own heart stopped when he saw the shreds of heart and lung which clung to the fist, and fell to the ground below.
He was seeing what Obito saw.
A moment later five black chakra rods pierced Obito’s torso. All hitting vital locations. However, with Obito’s remarkable healing capacity he could have easily recovered from having five vital spots hit. But he could not grow a new heart now that his original had been torn out of his body.
Obito was going to die.
Kakashi leaned over and threw up onto the floor. No…
Pein had been forbidden from entering the Leaf Village, forbidden from attacking the Hokage.
In Kakashi’s left eye he watched as Obito’s narrowing field of vision moved over toward the Hokage monument. He looked at his own scarred visage, and then looked to Minato-sensei. Kakashi let out a wounded sound as Obito’s eyes finally closed as he looked to the blue sky.
Kakashi’s left eye snapped open as he realized that this time, he was really alone. Obito was lost, truly gone this time. Kakashi had failed again. Against his will, his left eye teared up and wetness spilled down his face. Kakashi hadn’t cried since Rin had died, and before that when Obito died.
He thought of the plan that the Akatsuki had been working towards. Yes, the Tailed Beasts were important, necessary even for what they planned to accomplish. But peace that meant Obito had to die wasn’t the kind of peace Kakashi had wanted. Obito had been one of the only shinobi to place his comrades before himself, the only bright spot amidst all the carnage of the Third Great Shinobi war. The one who valued Kakashi’s life more than his own, even Kakashi had been too foolhardy at the time to see the same way.
Obito had always known. Peace where your previous people had to die wasn’t worth it.
Kakashi’s right eye teared up, for the first time since he had found his father. Normal vision returned to his left eye and he knew that this time Obito was gone for good. There wouldn’t be miracles this time.
The emotional side of Kakashi wanted him to use his limited kamuis and teleport to Nagato’s location and kill him. How dare he betray the Akatsuki! How dare he betray Kakashi! But the logical side of Kakashi knew that he couldn’t waltz into Nagato’s lair and kill him. Even using one kamui to teleport himself to Nagato would be a huge strain on his already frayed chakra system. Kakashi needed a plan.
He pulled the scrolls full of notes that he kept on each member of the Akatsuki, centering on Nagato and Konan’s.
~~
“Obito!”
Obito scrunched his eyes. What the…?
He opened his eyes and right in front of him was Rin! Rin..
“Rin.” He whispered. “What?”
She smiled. Even after all this time, Obito hadn’t forgotten her smile or how it made him feel. Even though he had never seen it with the sharingan, it had been one of the things to keep him going through all the pain.
“I’ve been waiting.” She tipped her head to the side and looked down at him. “I thought I would finally get to see you again when I first came here.”
“Oh. So I died?”
“Yes. I was a little surprised by how fast that asshole with the rinnegan took you down. But at least while you were fighting him your shinobi were able to get most of the civilians to safety. You saved a lot of lives.”
Obito raised his eyebrows, “you were watching me?”
She reached out one hand and took Obito’s. “I have been watching over you all this time. I promised didn’t I?”
Tears welled up in his eyes. “I’ve missed you so much Rin. I couldn’t believe that you died while I was gone. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”
“It’s okay. At the time I wasn’t scared because I knew I would get to see you. But when I got here, you weren’t there.”
Obito frowned. “How did you die?”
“I sacrificed myself to save my village and my comrades. Like my teammate.” She smiled again.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to meet you.”
“That’s okay! Because now we’re together.”
Obito was transfixed as Rin placed her other hand over the still present hole in his heart and when she lifted it away he was whole. “There. Now there’s no longer a hole in your heart. When we cross over all the pain will be gone.”
More tears fell down his face. At least now he knew that he had saved his people. It was still difficult knowing that he had died without soothing things over with Naruto. But at least Obito had managed to save lives.
“OBITO!”
Obito’s head snapped up just as someone reached strong arms around him and held him tightly.
Rin laughed. “Kushina is here too. She’s been waiting for Naruto, just like I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Kushina?” Obito whispered.
“Thanks for taking care of my baby. I know he wasn’t always a good boy.”
Obito laughed. “He’s wonderful Kushina. In fact, I think he actually saved me from the Curse of Hatred. If I hadn’t had him around after losing everything I would have probably fallen apart. Is Minato here?”
Kushina let go of Obito and took a step backward. Her face sad. “Minato used the reaper death seal on the Nine Tails. He sacrificed himself and is now sealed away. He can’t come here with the rest of us. So I decided that I’m going to wait here until Naruto arrives.”
“I see. Well I hope it hasn’t been too lonely up here, waiting for the rest of us.”
“Obito. About the last thing Naruto said to you, he didn’t mean it.” Kushina’s face was uncharacteristically somber. “He’s still so young, he didn’t mean what he said.”
“I know he didn’t mean it! It’s okay.”
~~
Kakashi put his scrolls in his lockbox. It was go time.
There was no way Nagato should have been able to take Obito down so quickly. Even Kakashi, who had trained with Obito and spent years watching him from the shadows had needed years to figure out the basics of Obito’s visual jutsu. It was like no other.
Nagato had to have had someone give him intel on Obito’s abilities. But who? There were very few who would betray Obito, and even fewer who would have had the opportunity to observe him long enough to figure out the weaknesses of the kamui. If only Obito could use the Susanoo like Itachi, then this whole thing could have been avoided. But given a choice between Susanoo or kamui, the choice was pretty obvious.
“Zetsu!” Kakashi barked. “Where is Nagato?”
Zetsu morphed out of one of the walls. “He’s in the tallest point around Konoha. But I wouldn’t go there if I were you. The Nine Tails is on a rampage.”
Kakashi’s eyes widened. “Naruto went on a rampage?”
“He’s not Naruto anymore.” The Zetsu laughed. “He’s completely changed into the Nine Tails. Pein showed him Obito’s corpse and the kid totally lost it. He’s levelling the landscape, and Pein is actually losing.”
Kakashi took a deep breath to calm himself. With Obito dead, and Tenzou too far away to stop the Nine Tails all that was left was to lure the beast away from settlements. But even then, there was no way to stop it.
“Nagato’s planetary devastation couldn’t even contain the beast. If that didn’t work there’s no hope to capture the Nine Tails.” Zetsu sounded considering.
Well that was obvious. If the Nine Tails broke free of the seal which bound it to Naruto, there was no way the current makeup of the Akatsuki could capture it. Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, Hidan and Itachi were gone.
Truly Itachi was their only hope to stop the beast now that Obito was dead. And Sasuke was still currently catatonic in Kakashi’s hideout after his battle with Itachi.
Kakashi knew that his nearly blind single sharingan wouldn’t be enough to stop the beast either. They were all fucked.
“Huh.” Zetsu hummed. “The Nine Tails suddenly disappeared. That’s strange.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s completely gone. How strange. It’s like when Obito would tame it with the sharingan, it’s suddenly gone and Naruto is back. This is interesting.”
Had Obito tamed the beast from the grave? No, that wasn’t possible. Obito had been dead for too long to do that.
Regardless, it didn’t matter. Now that the Nine Tails wasn’t on a rampage Kakashi could complete his plan.
“Naruto is heading in Nagato’s direction.” Zetsu reported.
Kakashi nodded. “Let me know when he arrives. Once he is there, none of them will notice when I sneak in.”
“Good idea!”
Kakashi settled himself to wait. He checked each of his weapons. His father’s blade, his kunai and shuriken. He then checked his chakra levels. He had enough for a few kamui. One would take him to Nagato and hopefully he would have enough left to deal with whatever he found in Nagato’s location.
Almost an hour later Zetsu piped up “Naruto arrived.”
“Alright.”
And with that Kakashi used his gifted sharingan to take himself to meet Obito’s murderer.
~~
He arrived a little bit away from the tallest point near Konoha. Thanks to Obito’s sharingan, he had memorized the maps of Konoha’s surroundings. Sure enough he spotted Konan’s jutsu concealing their location. Surprisingly he couldn’t feel the chaotic chakra of the fox. How had Naruto suppressed the beast?
Kakshi snuck into the hideout, and as expected, Nagato and Konan were too busy focusing on Naruto to notice Kakashi’s presence.
“I asked you out there how you would stop the cycle of hatred. And you had no answer. In fact, you swore to kill me to avenge your father. I’ve told you of my pain, so what is your answer now? Will you kill me to take your revenge? Continuing the cycle of hatred?” Nagato’s raspy voice travelled across the small space.
“Whenever I think about forgiving you, I see the whole you ripped through in my Dad’s chest. I remember how you senselessly killed our sensei. I hate you!” From the sound of his voice, Naruto was crying. “I can’t forgive you.”
Nagato said nothing.
“But while we were fighting I was able to talk to someone very precious to me. My birth father. Even though I had fully reverted to the Nine Tails and given into rage and hate, he still believed in me. The fact that he believes in me, just like Pervy-sage reminded me that I can’t give into hate. So I won’t kill you.”
“I suppose that’s a start. But you still haven’t answered my question. How will you stop the cycle of hatred? Just because the Fourth Hokage and Jiraiya-sensei believe in you, doesn’t mean that you have an answer.”
“After speaking with my Father, I remembered something my Dad told me years ago. I didn’t pay too much attention at the time because I knew I wasn’t going to get the sharingan so I thought it didn’t apply to me. It’s called the curse of hatred, and it affects members of our clan who develop the sharingan after suffering loss of a loved one.”
Kakashi heart raced. Obito had told Naruto about this?
“Most Uchiha develop the sharingan after losing a loved one, usually a member of their family. But Sasuke and my Dad both developed theirs after protecting a comrade. But the more powerful the sharingan, the more emotional pain the Uchiha has been through. My Dad has the strongest sharingan, so you can guess how much pain he has endured, and how much he has lost. But he didn’t allow the curse of hatred to overtake him. He told me that it didn’t win because he kept loving the people he lost in his heart. Even with them gone, hatred couldn’t overtake his heart because his love for them was still there.” Kakashi grimaced at the thought that said heart was currently ripped to shreds by Nagato’s own hands.
“As I said before, I didn’t pay too much attention at the time because I knew I wouldn’t get the sharingan. But after meeting you, I learned that the curse of hatred doesn’t just affect the Uchiha with sharingans. It affects all of us. But I’m not going to let hatred fill my heart because I still love my Dad, and the Pervy sage and all my friends. And you’re the same way. You still love your parents and your friend Yahiko, so hatred hasn’t filled your heart either.”
Kakashi could hear Naruto take a few steps closer to Nagato. “That’s my answer. I’m going to keep loving those that I have lost and remind others the same. Together we can work together to bring peace. I can’t forgive you Nagato, but I think we do understand each other. We can work together to stop the hatred and bring peace. Will you work with me?”
Kakashi imagined Naruto holding out a hand, with his earnest eyes and kind smile. The kid was the spitting image of Minato, who had inspired so many. But his heart was a mixture of Kushina and Obito.
Kakashi thought about Obito. In his Hokage get up. On the mission to deal with the Three Tails. On all his missions he had undertaken after his return. And how he had been before the Bridge mission. Kakashi still loved him. Even if he was gone.
Maybe Naruto was onto something. Maybe the Akatsuki wouldn’t have to use the Tailed Beasts to bring about peace and stop the shinobi world from sending children off to their deaths in senseless wars. Maybe there was another way.
“I see. It’s an interesting proposition. You’re quite a mysterious fellow.” Nagato let out a small chuckle. “You remind me of Yahiko. I guess your plan is better than mine. I have no choice but to do what Yahiko would do, to make things right.”
“Nagato no! You can’t use that jutsu!” Konan butted in for first time.
“It’s okay Konan. I trust Naruto to continue our work. But he’s going to need help, and I can give him it right now.”
“What’s he doing?” Naruto asked sharply. The concern in his voice evident.
“His visual prowess extends even to life and death. He’s going to bring everyone back.” Konan said in a resigned tone. “At the cost of his own life.”
A wet gasp sounded. No doubt Naruto realizing his Dad would return.
Without conscious thought, tears gathered in Kakashi’s left eye. Obito would be back.
The Universe was correcting Kakashi’s mistake. Kakashi would not waste this opportunity. He was no longer going to protect Obito from the shadows. No. He would reveal himself, and fight alongside Obito. He wouldn’t waste this second chance with Obito.
But there was still something he needed to do.
Kakashi concealed his chakra. Biding his time until Naruto left. Once he was alone with Nagato’s corpse and Konan, he pounced.
As expected, Konan was an emotional mess after losing her best friend and it was an easy fight. Just to be sure, Kakashi used one of his limited kamuis to suck her into Obito’s dimension.
“Kakashi!” Konan gasped as she looked at her surroundings. “I understand we’re traitors, but Nagato brought Obito back. He should be waking up soon.”
Kakashi couldn’t help but laugh. “I told you two not to attack the Leaf Village or Obito. And both of you betrayed me. It doesn’t matter that he’s alive now, he died because you two killed him! But I know Obito’s abilities. There’s no way that Nagato should have been able to take him down so quickly. So if you tell me how you two did it, I’ll let you live.”
Konan laughed. “Normally I’d tell you to fuck yourself for having the audacity to think I still want to be alive after losing everyone. But I hate the guy who helped us even more than I hate you, so I’ll tell you. It’s Danzo Shimura. He’s high up in the Leaf Village political ladder. He’s the reason Yahiko died, and Nagato and I were very hesitant to take his intel. But he turned out to be right about Obito’s abilities.”
Danzo… That name was familiar. Danzo, Danzo, Danzo. Recognition flared through Kakashi’s brain. This was the man who had ordered Itachi to kill all the Uchiha! That slimy bastard had betrayed Obito. And to the Akatsuki no less!
“What did he want in exchange for his intel?”
“He wanted us to leave Obito’s eyes in his sockets so that he could come get them later. And he wanted us to kill Obito’s right hand woman Tsunade. We refused to kill Tsunade though. She has more than made up for all the lives she took in the Third Great Shinobi war, so killing her would be ethically wrong.”
“Why would he want Tsunade dead? She’s one of the most valuable shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village.”
“Isn’t it obvious? Danzo wants to be Hokage. With Obito and Tsunade out of the way, he would take the position. And Nagato and I had to laugh at the idea that Danzo thought he could control Obito’s eyes. We both know the hell that Obito’s left eye has brought upon your body. That kind of power destroys everyone but Obito. So we knew that if we left Danzo to his own machinations, Obito’s eyes would kill him quickly and he wouldn’t be a problem to us.”
“Seems this guy doesn’t know when to mind his business.” Kakashi crossed his arms. “One last thing Konan, we need to talk about Nagato’s eyes. They can’t fall into the wrong hands. Currently they’re our only way to control the Gedo Statue.”
“I’m going to hide them in the Village Hidden in the Rain. I won’t even tell you where.”
“That’s a pretty obvious hiding place though.” Kakashi scratched his hair underneath his head covering. Then an idea struck. “Let me take one of Nagato’s eyes. I promise I won’t use it to continue our plan, but I need to know that it’s safe.”
“Why the hell would I let you do that?”
“Because I listened with you to Naruto’s plan. I think the kid is right. But if the rinnegan end up with the wrong person, we’re all fucked. Please Konan. I promise on my father’s life that I will not misuse Nagato’s power.”
Konan’s face drifted into concentration as she considered Kakashi’s plans. Finally she acquiesced. “Very well. Take us back to Nagato’s body and I’ll let you take one of his eyes.”
Konan chose not to say anything as Kakashi took Nagato’s left eye. Good. Let her think he planned to implant it in the socket which held his nearly blind sharingan.
He used the kamui to teleport away. He would keep the eye hidden in the kamui dimension for now. But soon, he would give it to the one person who could likely harness its power.
~~
Rin’s soft hand pulled Obito gently toward where the light was brightest. “It’s time Obito, let’s go.”
Tears fell down Obito’s face as they bid farewell to Kushina. They were finally going to have peace. Him and Rin, for the rest of time.
Just as Obito was about to step into the light, something green shot by in his peripheral, and exploded into his body.
His eyes widened. “Rin? What’s happening ?!”
Emotions danced across Rin’s face. Sadness, regret and finally joy. “The world of the living isn’t done with you Obito. You’re going back.”
Against his will, Obito was pulled away from Rin. “Rin!! I just got here, what do you mean I’m going back?!”
“Don’t worry Obito. I’ll still be here when you return. And in the meantime, I will watch over you as I always have. I love you.” She smiled at him one last time as he was pulled violently away.
The next thing Obito knew he was taking a deep breath and opening his eyes, and the sky greeted him along with Tsunade’s face.
“Oh good. You’re alright.” She smiled kindly. “I very nearly became Hokage while you were gone.”
“What happened. Obito struggled to sit up. He brought his left hand up to his chest and met warm flesh instead of the gaping hole Pein had punched into him.
“Everyone who died is coming back to life. Naruto managed to convince Pein to bring everyone back.”
Obito looked around. He was in a big crater, but based on what he could see around him he wasn’t in the spot where he had died. Pein had moved his corpse around. How grim.
But Naruto had managed to convince that man to save everyone? How incredible!
Even Obito? Who Naruto wanted nothing to do with? Obito smiled as he looked up at everyone. “Leave it to Naruto to do the impossible. Come on Tsunade, let’s start rebuilding our village!”
~ A few days later ~
Obito leaned back from the scrolls on his desk and rubbed at his eyes. Who knew that having Pein kill him and subsequently wreck the village would cause this much paperwork. The bank scroll in front of him would be funny if Obito hadn’t been one of the shinobi who died on that day. Several leaf shinobi were trying to cash out their life insurance policies, arguing that they had died, so the bank should pay. The banks had asked for the Hokage’s opinion.
Obito was still rattled from getting to meet Rin and Kushina in the afterlife while he’d been dead. And he’d heard from Tsunade that Naruto had met Minato when the Nine Tails seal broke. Everyone had been tightlipped as to why the seal had broken during Pein’s assault, but Tsunade and several of the village sealing experts had reassured Obito that the seal was stable and stronger than it had been in years. Which was a good sign.
But now Naruto knew that Obito had been withholding information on his birth father, for Naruto’s entire life. That on top of what happened with Jiraiya had probably ended Naruto and Obito’s relationship for good.
Obito set the scroll down. He would deal with the banks and life insurance policies tomorrow.
He unrolled a bed roll and settled down on the floor of the Hokage office. Tenzou had been busy rebuilding houses for the village, starting with lodgings for the Hokage. But Obito hadn’t spent the night there. Instead, Naruto and his team, along with Tsunade and Shizune had been staying in the home. Obito decided to give his son space.
Obito had just settled under a thin blanket when a presence appeared behind him in the office. He whirled around and saw a man entirely in black, with a mask covering his face. However, according to intel this was the true leader of the Akatsuki and apparently the guy who wanted his eyes. Finally this coward was showing himself!
Obito wasted no time sending him into the kamui dimension, following shortly himself.