The Reveal | Making Amends
The intruder dropped down onto the platform in the kamui dimension, and for his part appeared unrattled by Obito’s ability. That was abnormal because most ‘visitors’ to the kamui dimension started panicking right away. Obito had been flustered the first time he visited, wondering where the hell the light came from in here.
“Finally showing yourself.” Obito declared as he stood up straight a few feet away from the Akatsuki leader. “Your subordinates have been telling me quite a bit about you.”
The other man turned his head curiously but chose to say nothing. Obito sighed. One of those strong stoic types then.
“Listen, I can’t nullify your attacks in here. Everything is going to hit me. So if you want to kill me and take my eyes now is your chance.”
The other man actually laughed at that. “Maa, it would be a bit ridiculous if I killed you now Obito. Considering how hard I’ve worked to keep you alive these past years.”
The voice was familiar for sure. But didn’t ring any bells. Obito raised an eyebrow. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
The man chuckled again and reached up to lift his mask away from his face. It revealed another mask underneath, but one that only covered from the chin to the bridge of the man’s nose. An uncomfortably familiar mask. Also revealed was one solitary gray eye on the man’s right side, and on the left side was a sharingan. The man’s hair was gray and spiky.
Obito’s eyes widened, and his heart fell to his feet. He gasped and struggled to breathe normally.
“Kakashi… You’re…” Obito couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence, the revulsion filling his gut.
“You really haven’t changed all that much. Obito.”
“A reanimation.” Obito spat out. Then he covered his mouth and made a quiet retching sound. “I didn’t think you’d get reanimated with my eye… This is awful. Who reanimated you? I can send you back.”
Kakashi drew his eyebrows together and looked at his former comrade with concern. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s Lord Second’s technique. It allows the user to raise the dead and use them as soldiers. No doubt someone reanimated you because it would affect me. Lord Third died because Orochimaru reanimated the first two Hokage and they killed him together. Please Kakashi, who reanimated you? I can undo it and send you home.”
“I’m alive. I’ve been alive this entire time.” Kakashi said. “Nobody has reanimated me.”
The gears in Obito’s brain stopped functioning. Alive? His mouth opened and closed a few times. But he couldn’t manage to get any words out.
“I figured you would be speechless. But I am a little concerned about this jutsu you told me about too.. However we should probably talk about more pressing matters.”
Obito’s brain came back online. “More pressing matters?! Like the fact that you’ve had people trying to kidnap my son for years!? What the hell happened to you Bakashi?”
Kakashi reached up and pulled an eyepatch over the sharingan and then used his remaining eye to glare at him. “What happened to me? You did! You sacrificed yourself, playing the hero and left me to live in this broken world. You’re just like Sensei. Too selfish to let others die, and dying instead in their place!”
“What are you talking about? I pushed you out of the way to save you. I didn’t plan to die and leave you behind. In fact I didn’t even die at all.” Obito crossed his arms. “And none of that makes any sense. When someone saves your life you should be grateful! Not angry.”
“How can I be happy when you left me in this broken world?! I’ve wished every single day since then that you had let me die. I know you told Naruto that you have coping methods for when you lose those you love, but when it matters you were always too selfish to let others die!”
“Alright I get it. You wish I’d just let that boulder crush you. Never mind that that would have been be basically ignoring my own philosophy on protecting my comrades. But none of that explains how you got mixed up with the Akatsuki. And why you’ve been hunting my son.”
Kakashi sighed. “I faked my death because I couldn’t serve in the Leaf Village any longer. Sensei, Rin and I thought you as well were all dead, so what was even the point. And I left. I eventually found these shinobi from various villages who were all disillusioned with the current system. Victims of war, orphans created by the Blood mist village, and others who realized that the shinobi system was built upon violence and death. We hatched our plan over the next few years.”
“We realized that if we wanted to truly change the system, we needed substantial sources of power. Because the only reason villages were created in the first place was because of violence and power. And as you know, there’s no greater source of power than the Tailed Beasts. So we set out to capture them and seal their chakra away. We’ve been mostly successful thus far creating our super weapon. Our only stumbling block has been you and Naruto. I ordered every member of the Akatsuki not to kill you or even injure you.”
“But if you’re mad at me for saving you, wouldn’t you want me to die?”
Kakashi turned angrily at him. “You idiot. Of course I don’t want you to die. You’re the only Kage who actually cares about their citizens. You’re the only honest one. And besides, I still consider you my best friend. I was only angry with you because I thought you had given your own life and forced me to live without you.”
Obito stepped closer. “But Kakashi, if all that is true why didn’t you come home? Why stay with the organization that’s been killing kids? I agree, the Leaf’s prior policy of sending kids to war is deplorable and wrong. And I’ve done my part to make sure it never happens again. But you guys have been killing kid jinchuriki’s for years. You’re no better than the stone shinobi who targeted Rin because she was a 13 year old girl.”
“As Nagato told Naruto, in order to protect something precious, wars are waged. I was okay with hurting those kids because it would give me the power to protect you. Once I had my weapon, I figured you and I could work together to bring peace.”
Obito was horrified. “No way. There’s no way you actually thought that I would work with you. Even after you had killed my son? Don’t you realize how that would break me?!”
Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “Honestly, I never actually planned out how I was going to capture Naruto. I told everyone I had this grand scheme, but I couldn’t figure out what to do. I couldn’t hurt you, but I needed the power of the Nine Tails to change the world.”
He turned to face Obito. “But I no longer feel that way. The last few days have been… enlightening for me. For so long I thought our plan was the only way to change things for the better. I was prepared to be the bad guy, if it meant future generations wouldn’t hurt like we had. I realized that there’s another way.”
“Really?” Obito took a step forward. “What’s your new plan?”
“Naruto!” Kakashi said with a smile and a clap. “You see, after you died, both Naruto and I travelled to meet Nagato in order to separately exact our revenge. But when I got there, I heard your son calmly explaining how he would stop the cycle of hatred to my subordinate. You didn’t get to spend much time with Nagato, but he’s the most dogmatic member of our organization. He has never faltered on his goal to capture the Tailed Beasts, until he talked to your son. Naruto was able to convince him that there was another way to achieve peace. And honestly the kid convinced me too. You’ve got one hell of a kid Obito.”
“Your plan is to harness Naruto’s inner power? Only this time you’re not talking about the Nine Tails?” Obito stared at Kakashi in disbelief. “Naruto is a teenager. I hardly think it’s fair to assign world peace as a homework assignment.”
Kakashi laughed. “That’s not my plan, what I meant to say is that Naruto’s plan to address hatred straight on is preferable. In fact, I think it might be our only way to change things.”
“It’s not as easy as you’re making it sound. The Hidden Mist has been pretending that they’re peaceful, but my spies are still getting intel that they’re killing their bloodlines. The Hidden Stone has hired your goons, even a few weeks ago. The Hidden Cloud doesn’t want to deal with anyone but themselves. The only peaceful relationship we have is with the Hidden Sand, and their Kazekage is Naruto’s age.”
Kakashi took the final step closer to Obito and took both of the Uchiha’s hands. “I didn’t say it would be easy. But between you and Naruto, I think its do-able. Naruto was able to change my most devoted subordinate. And you are the reason I stopped being a heartless shinobi years ago. And I know you’ve inspired countless others since then. I know you and Naruto can do this. And I plan to be there helping you as well.”
Obito’s eyes widened. “You want to help us?”
Kakashi nodded. “Yes. I’m done handling things from the shadows. I’m going to be at your side, keeping you safe because you’re still a self-sacrificing moron even after 20 years.”
A few tears gathered in Obito’s eyes. “I’ve missed you Bakashi. Gods, you’re going to hate dealing with Naruto every day. I don’t get it but he’s exactly like me.” He sniffed.
Kakashi’s one eye crinkled into a smile then straightened out. “But before we go any further, there’s something you need to know. Honestly I should have told you years ago.”
Obito removed one of his hands from Kakashi’s and wiped his tears. “What is it?”
“It’s about Rin. I…” Kakashi took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. “I killed her.”
Obito’s eyes again, widened in alarm. “You did? That’s not what she told me.”
Kakashi raised his head sharply and met Obito’s eyes. “What?!”
“Your subordinate, Pein, killed me a few days ago. After I died I met Rin in the afterlife. Well, I guess it wasn’t quite the afterlife because we hadn’t gone into the bright light just yet.” Obito unconsciously scratched at the scarred side of his face and recalled the experience. “Apparently she’s been waiting for me to join her this entire time. We have to wait a bit longer, and now I realize that it’s a bit stupid of me not to have noticed that you weren’t there. But anyway, when I was there she told me how she died. And she didn’t say you killed her.”
This time it was Kakashi’s turn to cry. “Leave it to her not to blame me. Retract your sharingan Obito, I’ll show you what happened. Then you'll know the real truth about what happened, and how I couldn't keep my promise.”
Even though it didn’t make much sense for Obito to trust him, he still swirled his sharingan until both of his eyes were their regular inky black. Kakashi lifted his eyepatch, leaned forward and put Obito under a genjutsu. Showing him the memories of the night Rin died.
Once Obito had seen it all he easily broke the genjutsu and wiped the new tears that were gathering in his eyes. “Shit Kakashi, you can’t seriously blame yourself for that! You were in an impossible situation.” This time Obito reached out and took Kakashi’s shaking hands. “Rin doesn’t blame you. And neither do I.”
Kakashi collapsed a little bit and his head fell onto Obito’s shoulder, while a masked nose was pressed between his neck and shoulder. Obito could feel the other man shaking.
“Now that you’ve told me about Rin, what’s next? Are you going to return to the village?”
Kakashi leaned back and tried to compose himself. “I can’t come back just yet. I have a few loose ends I need to tie up. But don’t worry, very soon I will surrender myself to the village. I think I have something to make up for my years of criminal activity too. But first there’s something I have to take care of.”
“What is it?”
“I can’t tell you. But please keep your head down. You’re still in danger even though Nagato is gone. Speaking of which, why the hell are you sleeping in the Hokage office? The village isn’t that destroyed.” Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
“Well… Before Pein showed up and wrecked the village and killed me, Naruto and I had a bit of a fight. He told me that he hated me. Since then a lot has obviously happened, so I’ve been giving Naruto some space. Plus I have enough work to keep me here anyway. But it’s not like anyone is waiting for me at home anyway.”
This time Kakashi was really confused. “That kid is an idiot, but he doesn’t hate you Obito. Nagato showed him your corpse and your kid was so upset he fully transformed into the Nine Tails.”
Obito’s eyes widened. “That’s why he transformed?! No one has been straight forward about what caused it. I can’t believe it.”
Kakashi set his hand on Obito’s shoulder. Obito looked up and met the mismatched gaze. “Listen, I know it’s not my place to butt in, but your kid loves you. You’re probably the only person who has never been afraid of him during his entire life. That kid doesn’t hate you at all. He’s just a dumb kid who’s still learning to control his emotions.”
Obito chuckled quietly. “Thanks Bakashi. I can’t believe you were right there with him when Naruto was convincing Nagato to save everyone.”
Kakashi nodded. “Like I said, that kid is something else. Even if he’s not related to you by blood, he has your heart. Even if I hadn’t had a change of heart, there would be no way I could hope to capture him for our plan.”
Kakashi lowered his hand from Obito’s shoulder and stepped back. “I’m so very sorry for all the pain I have caused you and Naruto. Even though I never wanted you specifically hurt, I still made things difficult and for that I’m sorry. I will do my best to make amends and make things right. For so long all I wanted was to force this world to change for the better. But now all I want is to be by your side. I’ll be back very soon. And this is a promise I intend to keep."
With that Kakashi used his kamui to leave the dimension. Obito gathered himself emotionally, before teleporting back into his office.
He landed next to his bedroll, looked up and met Naruto’s startled blue eyes. Naruto looked upset, and once Obito became tangible Naruto wrapped himself around his father.
“Naruto? What happened?”
“I was in sage mode helping Captain Yamato clear out some wreckage when I felt your chakra suddenly disappear. The last time I felt that you were…”. Naruto sniffed as he pressed his face into Obito’s chest.
Obito had been dead. He hadn’t known Naruto was that strong of a sensor while in sage mode. “I’m okay Naruto. I promise. I just had to handle some things in the kamui dimension.”
“Dad. I need to say that I’m… I’m sorry about what I said when Jiraiya-sensei died. I didn’t mean it. And I regretted it a lot. Especially when it was the last thing I said to you.”
Obito wrapped his arms around Naruto. “I was never angry with you. You were always forgiven. I’m sorry that my death upset you.”
“When I was fighting Nagato I got to meet my other Dad. He was surprised when I told him you raised me, but he said that you had done a good job. An even better job than him. I know you didn’t tell me about him to protect me, but do you think you could tell me what he was like? Now that I know who he was?”
Obito smiled faintly. “Of course. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about both of your parents sooner. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how best to describe them. Your father was one of our best shinobi, and has a bit of a complicated background. You’re much more like your Mom truth be told.”
Naruto’s eyes widened. “You knew my Mom too?” he whispered. “I always wanted to know what she was like.”
“I can do more than just tell you about her. I can show you.” Obito swirled his eyes into the sharingan and put Naruto under a genjutsu. He used it to show Naruto his memories of Kushina. The lunches she used to pack them, the scarves she knitted everyone on the team along with the special set of gloves she knitted just for Obito, their verbal and sometimes physical sparring matches. And the one time she had beat up some older kids who had been picking on Obito.
When he retracted the genjutsu and sharingan Naruto was laughing and crying. “My Mom was awesome!”
“How about we call it a night and head home?” Obito asked as he stood up. “Tomorrow you can help Captain Yamato some more, and I can figure out what to do about the life insurance policies.”
~~
Interestingly enough, a few days after that the Raikage requested a Three Kage summit. He only requested that the Hokage and Kazekage meet. Clearly not including the Tsuchikage and Mizukage.
Kakashi isn’t sure why A wants to meet with Obito and Gaara, and not Onoki and Mei. But considering the fact that Onoki was still someone who relied on the Akatsuki, he was happy to keep that man away from Obito. And Mei would have to put the bloodline slaughter to a stop before Kakashi would let her get within feet of Obito.
Using a justu conveniently copied from the Hidden Stone, Kakashi was able to hide his physical and chakra presence and listen in to the Three Kage Summit.
Obito had brought Naruto with him, and the two of them sat together at the table. Gaara had his older brother Kankuro at his side, and A has his younger brother, Killer B next to him.
“Alright everyone’s here. I’m sure you’re wondering why I wanted to see you two, so I’ll get to the point. I want in.”
Obito and Gaara both blinked and looked to one another. “In?” Gaara asked.
“In on your little alliance. The Hidden Cloud wants in.”
Obito looked unimpressed. “Really? Because you sure haven’t seemed like you want an alliance with us.”
“My big bro hasn’t been the nicest, and where he is trouble seems to go, but he’s sincere, so please lend him an ear! Ya hear!” Killer B rapped.
Both Obito and Gaara seemed horrified by this development. “Dad what the hell is he talking about?” Naruto whispered into Obito’s ear. Kakashi quietly snorted at that.
“B is right. I’m serious. And to prove it, I’ll let you know about the Leaf’s next threat.”
Both Obito and Naruto got serious very quickly. “Very well.”
“Three days ago, Sasuke Uchiha attacked my little brother. Killer B. As I’m sure both of you know, he is a jinchuriki. Thankfully B was able to beat him, but he got away before we could capture him. We were however able to capture one of his teammates and she sang like a canary. Apparently Sasuke just wanted to try out his new eyes on a powerful jinchuriki, but his next stop is going to be the Leaf Village”
Naruto turned to Obito in alarm. “Sasuke!” He said but before he could say more Obito motioned for him to shush.
“Sasuke is a rogue ninja from our village, and from my clan. I have been trying to capture him since he defected. I apologize for the harm he has caused your brother.” Obito started. “If it’s okay, may I examine Lord B’s memories to see what happened specifically?”
A rankled from across the table. “How dare you ask us that?! How dare you not trust us when we’re offering you this information willingly?”
“Calm down big Bro.” B raised a hand. “He probably just wants to see what happened in detail. I say let him. Eight-o won’t let him dig around in there too much, he can make sure the Hokage only sees the fight with Sasuke.”
Obito nodded. “I merely want to make sure of something regarding Sasuke’s ‘new’ eyes. If it is what I think it means, the Village and Shinobi world are in grave danger.”
A crossed his arms. “Alright.” He huffed.
Obito activated his mangekyo sharingan and shared a look with Killer B. Half a second later he gasped. “Oh no.”
“What is it Dad?” Naruto asked with concern.
“Sasuke has the mangekyo sharingan. This is not good for anyone.”
“Do you get why we want in on your alliance now? One homicidal maniac with visual prowess managed to destroy the Leaf village, but the other nations didn’t invade because it would have meant war with the Hidden Sand along with the remains of the Leaf.”
Gaara and Kankuro both shared a grin. No doubt proud of what they had accomplished in such a short amount of time.
“The Hidden Cloud wants in. If we get destroyed, we want the other nations to know, its not just us that they would be invading. It would be you two as well. I hoped passing this tidbit of information along would be enough to seal the deal.”
“We greatly appreciate your candid nature.” Gaara spoke up for the first time in a while. “Our goal in starting this alliance was to eventually use it as a means to ensure peace between the nations. I have no issue with your village joining us.”
“There is a lot of paperwork, and inter-village things involved in our alliance. But I would be happy to have you join us as well.” Obito agreed.
Before anyone else could add to the conversation, the ceiling of the building caved in as a purple fist shoved its way in. All of the shinobi deftly dodged falling debris as Sasuke lowered himself into the room.
Obito pushed Naruto behind him, even as the kid began yelling at Sasuke to come back to the village.
“What do you want Sasuke? Why are you determined to attack the village?” Obito asked calmly.
“Isn’t it obvious? I came to avenge Itachi. I’m going to make everyone who benefited from his sacrifice pay. Starting with you!”
Obito squared his shoulders. “Naruto, Sasuke probably isn’t here alone. Make sure nothing happens to the Raikage or Kazekage, I’m going to take Sasuke somewhere where we can talk.”
“No Dad! It’s my job to bring Sasuke back! I promised Sakura!”
Obito shook his head. “You’re in no shape to take on the mangekyo sharingan. I’ll handle this.”
With that, Obito used the kamui to teleport himself and Sasuke out of there. Kakashi following shortly behind them.
~~
Obito dumped Sasuke a little ungraciously into a field several miles away from the Three Kage summit. If he was a little rough it was only some payback for making life a diplomatic headache for three years.
Sasuke for his part landed in a crouch and raised himself gracefully to his feet. Once he was standing he made eye contact with Obito, and he saw Sasuke’s mangekyo sharingan for the first time. It was an interesting pattern, nothing at all like Itachi or Fugaku’s mangekyo pattern.
“I always wondered why you chose Naruto over me. After all, why would someone overlook an orphan from his very own clan in favor of some runt blond with no skill at all! But now I know! You were never even a real Uchiha! You’ve always been supporting the Senju and their plans, even down to supporting a Senju orphan over one who shares your very own blood!” Sasuke screams.
“What?” Obito asks in alarm. As far as Obito knew, about a generation ago most of the Senju had dropped their clan name and professed loyalty to the village, forgoing the structure of a typical clan. Even Tsunade chose to style herself as “Princess Tsunade” instead of “Tsunade Senju.” There simply weren’t any Senju orphans anymore. And Naruto wasn’t evem a Senju, so what was Sasuke even talking about?
Obito also tried to recall moments when he would have snubbed Sasuke in favor of Naruto, nothing like that had happened… Oh. He recalled an old memory, shortly after their mission in the Land of Waves Sasuke had asked for Obito’s help with his one tomoe sharingan. For which Obito could offer no advice, he had simply never had one tomoe. The fact that Sasuke couldn’t see chakra the way Obito could when he unlocked the sharingan was so strange. Plus Sasuke’s chakra reserves had been a joke compared to Obito and Naruto’s.
Oops. There had been several moments in which Obito had chosen to focus on Naruto… Simply because he wanted the kid to be able to defend himself, especially since unlike Sasuke, Naruto had actually cared about the other members of his team. Sasuke had just wanted to get strong in order to go off and kill Itachi, a sure suicide mission. Obito didn’t want anything to do with that.
“It’s so revolting that the sharingan manifested the strongest in you! You’re nothing more than a bastard child from the Branch household who has no loyalty to his clan! Who stood by and did nothing while the Senju annihilated us!!”
“We don’t have branch houses, dipshit.” Obito was annoyed.
“Now I’m going to kill you! And I’m going to fix this village once and for all!” The Susanoo manifested around Sasuke and he started walking towards Obito.
Anger must be clouding Sasuke’s mind because even if he had the Susanoo, Obito had the clear upper hand with the kamui. But first Obito would knock some sense into Sasuke.
“Sasuke.” Both Obito and Sasuke turned to see Kakashi standing several feet away with his arms crossed. “Obito didn’t have anything to do with the massacre. The Third Hokage kept him in the dark about the whole thing, and Itachi chose not to kill him because it would have triggered Naruto. Obito is innocent.”
“How can you say that?! He’s benefited every day because of Itachi’s sacrifice! Itachi deserves to be Hokage, not this half-breed!”
Kakashi’s face didn’t change. “Keep talking like that and I’ll leave you here to figure out how much stronger than you that half-breed is. But, if you want me to take you to the real person responsible for the massacre, let me know.”
Sasuke frowned. He glared at Obito and then turned to Kakashi. “Fine. Let’s go.”
“Kakashi! What the hell is going on? What is Sasuke even talking about?” Obito demanded.
“I’ll tell you a little later! We both have a loose end to take care of!” Kakashi sent Obito a thumbs up and then swept both himself and Sasuke up in the kamui. Leaving Obito alone in the field.
With a sigh Obito teleported back to the Three Kage summit to check on things there.
~~
Kakashi took Sasuke to murder Danzo. Obito read over the report. Sasuke had managed to dispatch Danzo’s ROOT guards and kill the man, somehow.
What was disturbing was that Danzo’s right arm was nearly identical to Obito’s, except for the fact that it had several useless sharingan in it. Sharingan that had used the forbidden Izanagi technique to keep Danzo alive while he fought Sasuke. However, Shisui’s eye had managed to survive the melee, and was now stashed away in the Hokage tower.
Somehow, Orochimaru had managed to copy Madara’s technique and upgraded Danzo’s body to hold that many sharingan. Not only had Orcochimaru managed to figure out the reanimation jutsu, but he had also copied Madara’s work with the Hashirama cells. But where Madara had figured out how to equip Obito’s entire body with Hashirama’s healing abilities, Orochimaru had not managed to get that far. So Danzo was truly kill-able during the fight.
It was clear that Danzo had been up to some really illegal stuff right under Obito’s nose. The armful of sharingan was probably the most disturbing aspect of the man’s activities. But why had Sasuke killed him? That was what Obito wanted to know.
It looked like it was going to be another long night. A few hours passed as Obito steadily worked his way through paperwork.
It was completely dark outside, and no doubt Naruto and everyone at the Hokage residence had had their dinners and were settling down for the night, when the air in Obito’s office began to swirl and Kakashi stepped out of the kamui dimension. He looked pretty good for having assisted Sasuke commit murder.
“Yo.” He waved at Obito.
Obito frowned at him. “I didn’t think the loose ends you had to deal with would mean killing one of my council members.”
Kakashi looked sheepish as he scratched his head. “Danzo really had it coming for him. He was the reason Pein was able to kill you so easily. It was his ROOT ninja who passed the information about your sharingan on to Nagato and Konan. In fact, he’s tried to kill you multiple times over the years, it just happened to be Nagato who could actually do it this time.”
Obito blinked. “That’s still not an excuse to kill him Kakashi! You could have just given me the evidence and I could have handled it!”
“Yeah, something tells me that wouldn’t work. Look, you’re much safer now. And the village is much safer as well. That guy was bad news. But if you really want it, I can give you the evidence of all his misdeeds.” Kakashi rolled his one eye. And pulled a sealing scroll out of his waist pack, unrolling it and summoning another scroll, before handing it over to Obito. “I’ve had spies watching Danzo for years, it’s how I was able to save your life during the Uchiha massacre.”
Obito’s face contorted in confusion. “What do you mean you saved me during the Uchiha massacre? That was so long ago, and I’m pretty sure Itachi was too scared to try and kill me.”
“Itachi was under orders from the village elders to kill every Uchiha that night. The clan was planning a revolt, and in order to avoid a civil war, Itachi was ordered to take pre-emptive action. You weren’t part of the Uchiha’s planning, but they had a plan to include you and Naruto in the revolt. Itachi made a deal that he would kill every last Uchiha, excluding his little brother. He gassed you and Naruto with a nerve agent and would have killed you, had I not intervened.”
“But why?” Obito cocked his head to the side. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to capture Naruto with me out of the picture?”
Kakashi’s chakra went ablaze with anger. Obito, who had never been all that good at sensing out chakra emotions, could feel it. “You idiot. Do you really think I would stand by and do nothing while some little Uchiha runt killed you? It’s like with the stone ninja, my body just moved and I had to save you. The thought of you dying… has never sat all that well with me.”
Obito blinked. Kakashi was really serious. “But if my death really upsets you that much, why not come back to the village earlier? You and I could have been working side by side for years now! Hell, if you had been around you could have helped me with Sasuke and the little brat might have never gone off with Orochimaru.”
“I’ve been a coward. With myself in charge of the Akatsuki I thought that would be enough to stop them from killing you. But I still failed. Pein got fed up with me not taking any action when you were around and he went rogue and attacked you and the village. But I’m done with that life. I’m going to return to the village and to your side.”
Obito blinked. “Kakashi-“
“In fact, I brought something that I think will make the council lenient with my criminal activity. But first, I have to explain something.”
Kakashi strode across the room and sat on Obito’s desk. “We’ve been sealing each of the Tailed Beasts inside this thing called the Gedo Statue. And with each Tailed Beast, the statue gets stronger. Right now it has the One Tail, Two Tails, Four Tails, Five Tails, Six Tails and Seven Tails. It’s only missing three tailed beasts. So it’s very strong.”
“Holy shit. Kakashi, you made a weapon of mass destruction!”
“It wasn’t all me! But, I brought this.” Kakashi unrolled his sealing scroll a little farther and summoned a clear jar which had an eyeball floating inside it. “This is Nagato’s rinnegan, and the only way to control the Gedo Statue. I’m going to give it to you. You’re the only person who has the ocular ability to control it. Plus with it, no one will be able to control the Gedo Statue but you.”
“Oh gross! You can’t mean you want to transplant some dead guy’s eye into one of my own?!”
Kakashi frowned. “Itachi told Sasuke about this thing called the Uchiha stone tablet, that thing says that generations of Uchiha have been trading each other’s eyes around. This is just like that!”
“No the fuck it is not! The Uchiha only did sharingan transplants in order to ease use the mangekyo without going blind. Close family members would trade eyes in that case. It was not used to transplant eyes from who knows where into the Uchiha! Plus why would I want to give up my mangekyo for a rinnegan I might not be able to use?”
“Look Obito, we both know your right eye is significantly stronger than the left. Afterall, I have the left and I can use two kamui abilities, whereas you have the rest. If you transplant the rinnegan into your left eye, you would still keep almost all of the kamui abilities and would gain all of the rinnegan powers. It’s a win!”
“But if I lose my long range kamui, I wouldn’t be able to protect people as I have been over all these years. Do you know how many times I’ve had to use it to stop projectiles from hitting Naruto alone? That kid has a danger magnet.” Obito frowned and looked at the jar.
“That’s where I come in.” Kakashi reached out and took Obito’s hand, as he had when they had reunited a few days ago. “I have the long range kamui, and I’m not going anywhere ever again. I’ll be your left eye, Obito. Only this time we’re not going to be separated again. You won’t be without the long range kamui as long as I’m around.”
Obito’s eyes widened. “I see.” A faint blush colored his cheeks. He coughed to clear away some of the awkwardness. “Very well, then I’ll ask Tsunade to look at the rinnegan and see if it can be transplanted. We can’t have your weapon of mass destruction falling into the wrong hands, Bakashi.”
Kakashi grinned at the old nickname.
“For now you’re going to have to stay with me. We’ll meet with the council tomorrow and decide what to do with you. But you’re going to stay in my custody for now.”
Obito used the kamui to teleport them into the Hokage home, sensing that Naruto was already passed out in his room. Tsunade was also asleep, while Shizune read quietly in her room. Tenzou was out clearing debris and Sai was on a patrol.
“Are you hungry?” Obito asked.
“No.” Kakashi blinked. He didn’t make it a habit to eat in the middle of the night.
Obito gestured to his wardrobe, “find something you want to sleep in, because I’m tired and going to bed and you should too. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.” Then he went into his little walk in bathroom to clean up.
Kakashi rooted through Obito’s clothing. Everything was long sleeved and high necked. Very strange, he remembered years ago when Obito liked to wear just a plain mesh shirt underneath his jacket. Kakashi picked out some of the more casual clothing and held it up to his torso. Obito was taller and broader than him, with bigger muscles. He bet Obito could hold him up easily – and Kakashi needed to change his train of thought. It wasn’t proper to fantasize about somebody while you were a criminal they had to keep an eye on.
Obito left the bathroom and settled in his bed. He patted the spot next to him. “Come on, this isn’t the first time we’ve had to bunk together. And if you’re sure about returning to the village, I’m sure it won’t be the last.”
Kakashi slipped in and pulled his mask off. Cuddling into the pillows which all smelled like Obito. Back when they had been kids, Obito had smelled of smoke and candy, but now that he wasn’t seeing as much combat he just smelled of ink and expensive paper.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Where the hell is Sasuke now?” Obito whispered in the darkness.
Kakashi laughed. “Poor kid was really worn out after fighting Danzo. He’ll be unconscious for several days. But I’ve got Kisame watching him, so he’s not going anywhere.”
Obito turned to face away. “Well, if he gets past Kisame I guess he’ll become my problem too. But I’ll worry about that tomorrow. Good night Bakashi, thanks for coming back.” His back and shoulders relaxed as he fell into sleep almost immediately.
~~
The Council was feeling incredibly docile for once. They listened closely as Kakashi explained the trauma and pain he had gone through. While normally it was protocol to kill ninjas who left the village, they made concessions for Kakashi because he had never put a leaf shinobi directly in danger, and in fact had made sure that leaf shinobi and their Hokage survived while the Akatsuki went on their mission.
What ended up saving him was the fact that the Leaf kept its jinchuriki, and the rinnegan. As Kakashi had expected, the Council was very excited to get their hands on the rinnegan.
The only stipulation is that the ANBU black ops would be observing Kakashi for as long as the Council wanted. And of course, Kakashi would be given no missions, nor access to any confidential information in the meantime. All in all, not a bad deal.
~~
Kakashi and Obito both sat in Tsunade’s office. Her research into the rinnegan had been completed.
“Kakashi, who did you say had this rinnegan?”
“Nagato. He is a shinobi from the Hidden Rain village.”
Tsunade clasped her hands together. “Did he have any Uchiha ancestry?”
“None. As you know, the only Uchihas were all in this village.”
“Well then the rinnegan you delivered is a medical mystery. As both of you know, Uchiha ocular anatomy is very different compared to the rest of us. The structures of every Uchiha’s eyes are unique, and ready to activate the sharingan at a moment’s notice. The rinnegan I examined has the same structures as the sharingan.”
Obito frowned. This didn’t make any sense at all.
“I have no clue why the rinnegan would be identical to the sharingan. But this should be good news right? If it’s the same as the sharingan Obito should be able to use it.” Kakashi noted.
“Indeed. I’m ready to do the transplant whenever you are.” Tsunade looked at Obito. “Which eye do you want to remove in order to have the rinnegan?”
“My left eye. My right holds most of my abilities.”
Tsunade nodded. “Good choice. When should we transplant?”
“Let’s get it over with now. The other eye is unaccounted for, so we need to be sure that we can utilize this one if someone gets the other one. Plus I've got to be in tip top shape when Sasuke inevitably shows up."
Tsunade nodded. “Give me an hour and I’ll transplant.”
~ After the surgery ~
The rinnegan hurt. Obito felt like he had a hot coal in his left eye. Plus whenever he opened his right eye he saw shifting shapes and bright lights, which definitely wasn’t what his hospital room looked like. His entire body was wracked with fever as well. He couldn’t remember the last time he had sweat or had a fever.
Tsunade had told him that his chakra system would need an adjustment period to acclimate to the rinnegan, which was to be expected. But holy shit, this process was incredibly painful. And to add salt to the wound, Obito couldn’t do anything useful while he writhed in pain in a hospital bed.
Naruto had been in and out since the surgery. Obito had been able to feel the bright warmth of Naruto’s chakra, as well as Naruto’s sweaty hand when it held his own. And had recoiled in pain when Naruto spoke too loudly.
Kakashi hadn’t left Obito’s side throughout the procedure and afterward and was the one who had been shushing Naruto and kicking him out when his loud voice gave Obito an additional headache.
Obito had been in and out of fever dreams for a few hours. When he was finally lucid, he felt Kakashi and Naruto in the room again. Only he could sense Naruto brimming with energy. Something was up.
Kakashi took one of Obito’s outstretched hands and rubbed each knuckle in between his own fingers. Obito felt Kakashi press a kiss into his brow right above the rinnegan, and Kakashi’s other hand smoothed his hair back.
“Naruto and I have to go take care of a little garden snake. It’s making a mess in some gardens, but we’ll be right back. And I’ll keep Naruto safe, I promise.” Kakashi murmured quietly.
Obito opened his right eye a sliver and could see Kakashi’s gray hair and his entire face. He tried to ask what he was talking about, but the only noise Obito could make was a groan.
“Don’t you think we should tell him what’s really going on?!” Naruto asked loudly from the door.
“Please, for once be quiet Naruto. Your father has just gone through major surgery.” Kakashi said with disappointment lacing his tone, Obito sensed that this conversation had happened more than once.
Naruto stepped over to the bed and hugged Obito and whispered “alright alright, I’ll be right back Dad! Love you!”
Then Naruto left the room in a whirl. Obito tried to get up, only for the room to start spinning. Kakashi helped him get comfortable on the bed again. “It’ll be fine! There’s nothing that the Hokage needs to worry about. Here, to help keep you company I’ll summon Bull.”
Bull was one of the older summons, Obito remembered him from way back in the day. And it was easy enough to settle back into the bed with a huge dog keeping him company.
Once Obito was comfortable with all his pillows and with both eyes closed he felt Kakashi tuck the blankets back around him and whisper something to Bull. Obito was too busy falling back to sleep to listen, but he figured catching snakes wasn’t that hard. No telling what all the fuss was about.