Chapter Text
Obito comes back to himself to the screams of civilians and shinobi alike. From his perch, he can see shinobi attempting to put out the fires and prevent any more buildings from collapsing. They scramble to treat their wounded and collect their dead. However, none of this is what draws him from the recesses of his mind. What makes the smoke catch in his throat is the fading light of two familiar chakra signatures. Kushina. Sensei. He races to find the sources as fast as his feet will carry him. The shreds of his logic and rationale tell him it’s too late to save them, but he has to try.
He lands in the clearing with a stumble but refuses to slow his pace until he falls to his knees next to his teacher and the former jinchūriki. None of Madara’s training could have prepared him for this. Obito focuses on the chakra signatures just like Madara had taught him, trying to wrap his head around what he finds. Minato-sensei’s signature feels jagged and empty like his soul was ripped from his body, leaving only shredded fragments that fade with each passing moment. But Kushina… Kushina still has some life in her. Obito scrambles to her side.
He ignores the tears clouding his vision and places his remaining hand over the gaping hole in her stomach. Pushing his chakra to his palm, he tries to mold it into the minor healing ninjutsu Rin had taught him to treat his own scrapes and bruises. His chakra flickers unsteadily with the thought that Kushina will die regardless, but he holds onto the old wives’ tale of the Uzumaki being able to heal their bodies from any wound because of their incredible chakra reserves and life-force. He thinks that maybe if he provides her with enough chakra, she’d be able to heal herself. Sure enough, it starts to work; he can see her wound begin to close. But it’s not enough. He can still feel her fading away.
He feels a flicker of awareness from her before a hand settles on his. He blinks away his tears as best he can. Kushina smiles up at him unseeingly.
“Obito?” she rasps.
He has to rip his mask off because he can’t breathe past the sobs that tear from him. This is all his fault, Obito knows. He should have said no. He should have run away sooner. If he had just said no, none of this would have happened and Kushina wouldn’t be bleeding out and Minato-sensei wouldn’t be –
Dead.
Minato-sensei wouldn’t have died because of him.
A hand wipes away his tears, startling him from his spiraling thoughts. He opens his eye to see Kushina’s smile brighten. Absentmindedly, he reaches up to hold that hand in place. When was the last time he felt a touch that wasn’t followed by pain?
“Obito, you’re alive?” she manages before a bloody cough interrupts her.
Grief, fear, regret cut like a knife through the shroud of apathy and numbness that has plagued him since Rin’s death. And it hurts .
He can only stare wordlessly as the life leaves her eyes. He can even feel the moment her soul departs. The hand in his hold goes limp and it feels like watching Rin die once more. Only this time, the blood is on his hands.
“Kushina?” he begs in a voice so small it startles him. Obito feels the scream that wants to tear from his throat, but it can’t escape past the sobs that shake his slight, battle-torn frame.
He cries into the front of Kushina’s blouse until the approaching chakra signatures force him to leave the clearing and abandon the last remnants of the only family he ever knew.