Chapter Text
The day they traveled to the past, Obito woke up in his apartment alone.
The old beat-up comforter slipped down his form as he sat up and peered around the room in shock. His mind barely registered the familiarity of his old bed, the nostalgic tan color of his walls, and the precious picture frame of his team that sat on his dresser.
Forget the astonishing fact that he was small again, or that he couldn’t feel the fake limbs, or that he had both of his original eyes. All he could think was one thing.
Where is she?!
His partner, the only person he had left in the world, was nowhere to be seen. Retracing his steps, Obito felt a rush of pain bang against the walls of his head as memories of everything that had transpired flickered to the forefront of his mind.
Kakashi. Rin. Madara. Minato-sensei. Akatsuki. The Fourth Shinobi War.
Rin was gone. Rin died.
And Kakashi. Kakashi died too. Eventually. They all died eventually. Everyone he ever allowed himself to care about.
But Naruto …
Did she not make it?
The Uchiha leapt from his bed and ran around the apartment frantically, before rushing out the door without changing out of the shorts and t-shirt he had been sleeping in. It felt weird, running with short limbs again. With limbs that were his own, even. It was strange seeing out of two eyes that belonged to him and solely him.
But none of that mattered. Not really. Not when he couldn’t find her.
Shoving past people and through the streets of Konoha like a madman was the least of his concerns at the moment. He didn’t even acknowledge the monument in the distance adorned with sculptures of three Hokage heads instead of five.
Obito didn’t know where to search. He didn’t know how this whole time-traveling thing was supposed to work in the first place. How was he supposed to find her? How was he supposed to-
Pathetically he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground, wisps of dirt floated into the air and obscured his vision for just a moment.
“Hey, are you alright?”
It was a quiet voice, full of concern nonetheless, and Obito wanted above all else for it to have been Rin. Or for the love of kami let it be Naruto.
But Naruto never spoke in soft tones, not really. She was brash and loud, obnoxious but empathetic and kind. Her quiet tones were reserved only for times of mourning, of sadness and death. Maybe sometimes she’d wake up groggy and soft-spoken, her voice feather soft and warm, as the morning light created a halo over her blonde hair. But those moments had been few and far between, especially when the last remaining members of humanity tended to wake up stiff and alert, senses powered to the max in fear of Kaguya finding them.
When Obito lifted his head, it wasn’t Naruto or Rin. A woman with ginger hair and wide eyes offered her hand to him. Ginger.
Not blonde.
Obito ignored the concerned citizen – the woman with hair just a tinge brighter than Rin’s, but no other familiarities to speak of. He launched himself off the ground, running past her, through a crowd of onlookers, and towards the outskirts of the market.
He had to find her. But where in the world could she be? Where else could he look?
Obito allowed his legs to do the work. They took him every which way, his brain empty of any concrete thought. It felt like hours as he searched and searched, his throat dry, his face haggard, and his palms littered with little crescents.
Ah. The sun was high in the sky now. It was super bright and so, so similar to his partner. Obito craned his neck and stared past his fingers at the yellow ball of warmth until the sun was obscured by splotches of dark green.
Obito stumbled a bit, and found his eyes wandering away from the light. He had stopped running. Where exactly was he going? The greenery around him sparked a tinge of familiarity, but Obito’s slow mind couldn’t make the connection until his eyes landed on the gray molded rock in the distance.
Yes. Yes. The Memorial Stone. Kakashi’s second home. Obito had seen his old teammate linger around the stone many times before … before …
The future?
Kami, he wanted Kakashi. Needed Kakashi. His teammate turned enemy, turned tentative ally, turned intrinsically linked companion … he’d know what to do. He’d know where to find her. He cared for her, too. He’d know-
Wait. No.
Kakashi died.
Kakashi was dead.
And Obito was alone. So, so alone.
And Naruto. She was gone too. She was gone and nowhere to be found and Obito was alone. He’d been alone for so long. He should be used to this feeling of emptiness. He shouldn’t need people like he needed them. This powerful guttural feeling in his stomach that cried out for warmth shouldn’t have so much control over him.
But he couldn’t his emotions. He couldn’t help the panic, the feeling of being hollow. He couldn’t live like this anymore. He couldn’t. Not after everything. Not after finally connecting with Kakashi again. Not after honoring Rin’s memory. Not after finding a friend in the one person who should hate him the most. He couldn’t go back to that. He needed her. He needed someone.
Rin’s death flashed before his mind. Minato-sensei. Kushina. Kakashi’s motionless corpse.
He couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t-
Obito’s rapidly beating heart skipped as his eyesight blurred and his pupils burned. A gasp fell from his lips, followed by a cry of pain.
The ache wasn’t solely from his sharingan swirling to life, followed by the rapid transition to mangekyo. No, this was emotional pain that Obito hadn’t felt in a very long time. Through his tears he tried to blink the red away and laid his cobalt eyes upon the memorial stone once more. It was close enough to touch now.
His parents were on this stone. But he didn’t care. He didn’t know them. Rin had once been carved in there, along with Minato-sensei.
Kakashi never had the chance to receive the same treatment.
And Naruto …
Wherever she was, Obito pleaded that Minato-sensei’s daughter was still alive. He didn’t want to feel anymore guilty than he already did. He refused to be the sole survivor, the only one to survive when he was the least deserving of them all.
A waterfall of tears gushed down his face.
“Oh, Obito …”
He barely had time to register someone calling out to him, so gently and comforting. The next thing he knew, Obito was in the newcomer’s arms and instantly he could tell who it was. That smell was unmistakable, the warmth was irreplaceable, that voice was one-of-a-kind.
Minato-sensei …
The living one. Not an edo tensei. The actual Namikaze Minato. He held Obito so tenderly as the Uchiha boy released his tears. When he had attacked Konoha all those years ago, he had prepared himself to face his sensei. To take his life if he had to. And he did.
But now … Kami how much he wished he could take it all back. He had been so deluded. So dumb.
But now, Delusional mass murderer Obito was reduced back to Crybaby Obito as he snuggled deeper into his sensei’s embrace.
He stayed there for what felt like hours but was more likely just a few minutes. He basked in Minato-sensei’s warmth and sniffed away the tears. Eventually he had to let go and look into his sensei’s eyes. The same person he had been responsible for killing. He could do this. He had to. Maybe if he looked up, he could find Naruto in his eyes.
“Let’s get you home,” Minato-sensei murmured. “We can train with the others tomorrow. How about it?”
Obito nodded, still too much of a baby to look up. Unsurprisingly, the kind-hearted Namikaze took no offence and gently led the man-turned-boy home with a hand on his shoulder to direct him. It was a slow and long walk back, all the while Obito tried to keep his sniffling to a minimum. Minato-sensei said nothing, only offering a comforting squeeze every few minutes.
By the time they made it back, Obito’s cheeks had gone back to being a bit pale, but the evidence of his crying was evident in the wrinkles around his eyes.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Obito,” Minato-sensei said. “And I’m always here if you need to talk or a shoulder to lean on.”
It wasn’t a question but Obito felt he should nod regardless. How nice it felt to be cared for. And how even more horrible it made Obito feel.
Minato hesitated for a brief moment, before flickering away and Obito finally raised his head. With a long sigh he trudged up the stairs and opened his door. In his panic he’d forgotten to lock the door.
Closing it behind him, Obito wondered if anyone stole anything. It was fine if they did. It was the least he deserved.
“Ah! You’re back!!!” came an obnoxiously loud cry of excitement.
Blinking rapidly, Obito looked up and met blue. A brightly lit sky greeted him and poured just a little bit of that brightness into his own cobalt ones. The Uchiha could physically feel as some of the crushing weight and ache that had been consuming him, lifted from his person.
In the middle of his living room, was Uzumaki Naruto.
But not as he remembered her.
She stood before him as a young girl, her clothes from the future falling loosely around her smaller frame. Beyond that, her hair stayed in their two messy pigtails and her skin remained tan. The all-too familiar whisker marks sat evenly on top of her cheeks.
Despite the weird change in height, Obito was so, so happy to see his partner again. The only other person left who shared in his pain.
In an instant she was in his arms, having ran to him when he didn’t seem to be making any other moves forward. “Dammit, Obito-san! Don’t go wandering off. I didn’t know where to look!”
You idiot … “I should be saying that to you.” Obito eventually found his voice.
After a moment of silently holding onto each other and reassuring themselves that this was real, Obito pulled back. He had never been one for hugging. Not after Kannabi Bridge anyway. This was an extreme circumstance.
“Where were you?” Obito’s voice came out a bit raspy, as though the sobs from earlier were threatening to come back and rack his throat.
“That’s what I wanna know,” Naruto huffed, still holding onto him. Her smaller hands clutched deeply into the fabric of his shirt. “I woke up in a tree, dattebayo! And you were nowhere to be found!”
“I woke up in bed. I thought … I thought you’d show up right next to me, but when I couldn’t find you I-” went crazy and almost upturned the whole village looking for you “- left to search.”
Naruto frowned. “But I went to look for you! I kinda remembered where you lived from your memories. Or, well, Kurama did.”
“Kurama made it?”
“Yeah! You wanna talk to him?”
Obito cringed at the thought. “I don’t … think that’s a good idea.”
Naruto seemed offended for a moment, but soon her expression cleared, and she nodded in understanding. “Yeah, that’s probably for the best. Kurama says he’d rather die than speak to you, too.”
And then, the two of them sat down and began to plan.
Obito, who had actually been alive at this point in time, remembered very little about the inner workings of the village. It wasn’t until he began working as Madara that he educated himself on politics within Konoha and outside of it.
“I only have two certainties,” Obito told his blonde companion as they sat idly atop the rumpled comforter of his bed. “First, Danzo and his Root organization are alive and kicking.”
The information made Naruto scowl, anger burning brightly in her eyes. “Danzo …” she grumbled, probably thinking of the suffering the man had caused Sasuke.
Obito sighed. “You do realize that I’m also responsible for killing the Uchiha clan, right?”
“Stop reading my mind, jerk.” Naruto’s shoulders slumped forward, and she frowned his way. “Also, why do you feel the need to remind me of this every other week? I get, okay? You were terrible.”
Because I remind myself practically every two hours.
Obito did not respond verbally and instead carried on. “Danzo was responsible for a lot worse, anyway.”
“Don’t ignore me, dattebayo!”
At this point in time, Danzo was still kidnapping children from the orphanage and turning them into his own little soldiers. He was also sticking his nose in international politics. No doubt his dealings with Hanzo had taken effect.
“So … what’s the second thing that you’re certain of?” Naruto inquired, leaning in.
Obito scoffed. “Well, the Uchiha Clan is the most hated clan in the village.”
“But I thought everyone was wary of the Uchiha because they thought one of them unleashed the fox ...”
“Sort of.” The man turned boy scratched the back of his head. “Some of the citizens are thankful for the Uchiha Military Police Force, but others don’t take too kindly to their constant monitoring. Within the council too, Danzo has already begun stirring the pot.”
Naruto scoffed. “Danzo again, huh …”
Obito shrugged. “He’s just a sad old man, jealous of a power he can’t have.”
“You make it sound like he isn’t a threat, though!”
“He is. But against you, Kurama, and the former Juubi jinchiruki, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t stand a chance.”
Naruto hummed at that, bringing her hands to tap quietly against her chin in thought. “I don’t know … I’m 12 again, and so are you. Do you think we can even fight like we used to?”
“Hm. Good point. Tomorrow we train.” Obito paused. “Wait, no. I think I have to meet with my team tomorrow for training.”
Naruto’s eyes widened in interest. “Your team! Oh wow, that means Kakashi-sensei and Dad!”
“Yeah …” the Uchiha sighed. “But don’t get too excited. I don’t think you should …” he hesitated for a moment and Naruto huffed, annoyance seeping from her person.
“What?! You don’t think I should meet them or something?” She glanced away. “I know that, dattebayo. Kurama already warned me about the dangers of my loved ones seeing me too soon.”
Obito nodded. For once he and the fox could agree on something.
“Besides, we haven’t even thought of a cover story for me, yet!”
“If we play this right, we shouldn’t have to make one at all,” Obito told her, already prepared for the protests that began to spill from her mouth. “I just think that we should be safe about this. I don’t want anyone taking notice of you. Danzo especially shouldn’t catch wind that you’re here.”
Naruto’s protests died a bit at that.
“And I honestly don’t want anyone asking questions. I don’t plan on being truthful when they finally do, and even then my coverups might not be enough to get them off our trail,” he explained. “Eventually someone is going to come to the wrong conclusions and possibly put us in even more danger.”
Naruto listened quietly until he was finished. With an insufferable sigh, she floated backward onto the bed, body sprawled out as if she owned the thing. “Fine. I get it, dattebayo. I’ll try not to draw attention to myself.”
“That’s all I ask,” Obito muttered. “If you need anything just ask me to get it for you.”
“Wha- but what about clothes?” Naruto spluttered and Obito suddenly inhaled sharply.
It’d been too long since he had to interact with a girl his age. He forgot how much work they were. As Naruto’s complaints reached his ears once more, he began to realize what he was really asking of her. Of himself.
She needed supplies that he would be too embarrassed to buy. Hell, the vendors probably wouldn’t even sell the stuff to him in the first place. Naruto needed to get her own feminine materials. There was no way Obito was going to get underwear and pads for her. Yikes.
“I take it back,” he quickly interrupted Naruto’s rant. “Please buy your own things. But use a henge at all times.”
“That’s what I thought!” she huffed, sitting back up to grin smugly at him. The look, however, quickly fell from her face. “U-Um … by the way, could I maybe borrow some money?”
Obito groaned. Shit. “I’m going to be paying for everything you do, aren’t I?”
“Not my fault I wasn’t born yet! What else do you expect me to do? Steal money from my parents?”
Obito refused to think that the idea was funny (even though it was). “No, Naruto. You’re not stealing money from your parents.”
“Exactly! So pay up, Obito-san~!”
Obito rolled his eyes. “I’ll give you money tomorrow. You can go shopping while I’m out with my team.”
My team … Obito’s thoughts repeated. He really wasn’t ready to see them again. He could barely even face Minato-sensei just a few minutes ago. The guilt had consumed him, ate away at any courage he once had.
Obito was a coward. A weak, pathetic, coward.
He had been given an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and he couldn’t even confront the people he had hurt, killed even. He didn’t deserve this … any of this.
Languidly, he glanced at Naruto.
She was the one who really deserved this second chance. Naruto wasn’t the “Child of Prophecy” for nothing. Not to say that Obito ever believed in that bull crap from Jiraiya, but …
If the title belonged to anyone, it was her. She was the reason Obito was still alive today. She was the reason they were even able to have this second chance at saving everyone from Kaguya, no matter how much Obito still believed that the shinobi world was incapable of knowing peace.
Tomorrow, he had to go to practice and lay his eyes on Rin again. Precious, dearly beloved, Rin.
I’ve missed her so much, Obito’s soul cried out.
And Kakashi. He’d be able to see Kakashi again. But …
But he still wasn’t worthy. He had done too many terrible things. How could he even dare to look them all in the eye and act like he was still Obito, the loud-mouthed, hyperactive, naive idiot that they called ‘teammate’?
“Hey.”
Obito glanced up and Naruto leaned forward, a hand on his arm steadying him.
“One day at a time,” she murmured softly. “We can do this. You can do this.”
Obito released a shaky breath as Naruto pulled him into another hug. He sank into her embrace like a weighted yet extremely stiff doll, needing her comfort but still so afraid of it at the same time.
This was another one of those things that he didn’t deserve.
She should hate him.
But she didn’t. And every day Obito would love and hate her for it.
Tenderly, she reached up and began softly carding her hand through his hair. He wasn’t a baby. He was a grown man twice her age, dammit. But he melted into her touch regardless. He didn’t deserve it, but he took it. Once again making him the lowest of the low.
The two of them fell asleep like that, curled together, providing one another warmth and comfort.
When Obito woke up the next day, he carefully extracted himself from her and knocked a hand gently against her cheek, thanking her for last night and everything else.
“If you knew what was good for you, you’d move that hand away before I bite it off.”
Naruto’s eyelids pried open, revealing red. The whisker marks on her cheeks frayed out a bit and her nails lengthened.
Ah. The Kyuubi.
“Nice to see you again, Kurama,” Obito drawled, pulling away.
“Hn. I don’t like it when you talk so familiar with me,” the fox grumbled, pulling Naruto’s body up in a sitting position.
“How’s Kurama-sama?”
“Watch the attitude, Uchiha scum.”
Obito sighed. “You wished to speak with me?”
Kurama huffed. “Not particularly … I just want to warn you that your main priority is to this child here.”
“You don’t think I don’t know that, already?” Obito scowled, his scorn on full display for the fox to see. Usually he would be more careful with how he spoke to Kurama, but he was tired. The Kyuubi had been breathing down his neck about this issue the whole time he and Naruto had been traveling together as they fled from Kaguya. “Your jinchuriki is the most important thing to me, right now. So, there’s no need to constantly remind me of my allegiances.”
The fox scoffed at him, voice blending with Naruto’s as he spoke, “We’re in the past now, idiot. That girl you love so much is still alive. But what happens if she dies again? How can you be so sure that you won’t fall back into your old ways?”
The question cut deep, and unfortunately, Obito had no concrete answer.
“This girl is more than just my jinchuriki. She is the future of this world,” Kurama continued, snappishly, “and you’d do well to not forget that fact.”
“I won’t-”
“Your duty is to protect her any way you can, even at the cost of your own life,” the fox ordered. “Even at the cost of others that you claim to love. Kaguya cannot win again.”
Obito’s body sagged at Kurama’s words. “… I know.”
After he said this, a moment of silence dragged on by. The Uchiha, like the coward he was, didn’t meet Kurama’s gaze and waited for more of the fox’s nagging. Fortunately, the next thing he heard was Naruto’s lighter voice, yawning to kingdom come.
The blonde girl stretched tall, mouth hanging open as even more ungodly noises came out. “Oh man! That was the best sleep I’ve ever had in ages!” she exclaimed, hand traveling under her baggy clothes and scratching above her left boob.
Obito quickly glanced away before standing to his feet. “I’ll see if I can make some breakfast,” he told her. “There should be an extra toothbrush somewhere that you can use.”
Naruto sluggishly nodded at Obito’s departing figure and the two began their second day in the past.
If he thought there’d be more to this whole time-traveling business, Obito had been sorely mistaken. After leaving Naruto with some money and a key to the apartment, he departed to the training grounds he vaguely remembered always meeting his team at.
Honestly, it was horrible.
He couldn’t look either of his teammates in the eyes.
Beautiful, strong, breath-taking, Rin had been so happy to see him at first. Apparently, he had missed training yesterday and when he hadn’t shown up after an hour or so, they all began to get really worried.
Of course, Kakashi denied this.
Kakashi.
Fuck. Obito remembered this version of him, the small elitist whose whole schtick was that the mission came before anything else. It was strange, witnessing him like this again, especially after spending years stalking him at the memorial stone and seeing him wracked with guilt and self-hate.
A small part of him missed the adult Kakashi. (That was a lie. It was more than a small part).
The older Kakashi had been someone who he would have gladly spent his last moments with if Kaguya hadn’t ripped that chance away from him. Just looking at him as a child now, elicited detailed memories of Kakashi’s death.
The same happened with all of his teammates really. Rin’s blood-soaked and lifeless body followed her like a shadow every time Obito tried to face her. And Minato-sensei …
Well. Obito’s self-hatred would blossom even more whenever the taller blonde smiled down at him.
He hated it. He couldn’t stand being near them for too long. Couldn’t stand how weak and shaken he felt.
As training continued into the later hours of the day, Obito tried to focus on his abilities. Could he still fight like he used to? His reflexes seemed only slightly slower, but it was hard to tell when sparring with someone he couldn’t even attempt to go all out with.
What about his sharingan? How quickly or efficiently could he activate and use it?
Most of these questions he’d have to answer when he went out training with Naruto later.
When the sun began to lower itself behind the cover of the trees, Team Seven finally finished. When Minato-sensei offered to take them out for dinner, worry etched in his features as his gaze traveled over Obito, the Uchiha denied the invitation and hurried home to Naruto.
There, he found that Naruto would no doubt clear him out of all his money by the end of the month if he didn’t go on any missions soon. He also realized that neither of them was that great at cooking. Obito wasn’t as hopeless as his time-traveling companion, but even then it was probably for the best that he didn’t push it.
They ate cupped ramen for dinner and promised to get some training in first thing tomorrow, before eventually clambering into bed, side by side, and falling into each other’s arms.
The next day, they woke up without any hassle, got dressed, ate more cupped ramen for breakfast (Obito gagged), and took off to an empty training ground.
Obito was careful not to draw too much attention to them as he led her through the back alleys and side streets to get to their destination. Once there, they began experimenting with what they could do.
It wasn’t all too surprising that they both lacked as much chakra control as they once had. Naruto didn’t feel comfortable relying on sage chakra or going into Kyuubi mode, and Obito found that his ninjutsu attacks seemed slightly weaker.
Relief and dread flowed through him when he activated his sharingan again. Of course, he still had that damn dojutsu. He vaguely recalled activating it on the first day that they arrived in the past. This … this was good. Obito had once relied on kamui for everything, and he didn’t think he could truly live life without it.
Naruto cheered for him before demanding they spar. “Time to see who’s the strongest!”
“… I don’t think this spar is going to be all that fair …”
“Shut up and fight me!”
The next few weeks, the two of them spent their time getting reacquainted with their new bodies and building up their stamina.
“I know you want to do something about Danzo, and eventually we’ll have to deal with Orochimaru,” Obito told Naruto as they were getting ready on their fifth day in the past. “All this training is necessary if we want to stand any chance against them.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it, dattebayo!”
About a month in, Obito was starting to feel more comfortable in his own abilities, a lot more than Naruto at least. She didn’t get as many opportunities as he did to train, considering most of his mornings and early afternoons were spent in the company of his team as Minato-sensei ‘taught’ them and had them spar against one another.
There were a few times that he had to leave the village to go on a mission (and Obito hated those times the most. He couldn’t stand not knowing Naruto’s whereabouts), but beyond that, most of his free time was spent with his time-traveling companion.
Whenever they weren’t together, Naruto spent her days playing around with seals on the floor and chatting with Kurama. Every so often she’d go to the market to buy a few things (with Obito’s money), but more often than not she didn’t leave the apartment. She was bored, Obito could tell. She was restless, too, which didn’t bode too well for them.
If left to her own devices for too long, the Uchiha worried that she might do something reckless.
“Fuck!” Naruto screamed as her latest attempt at a seal blew up in her face.
… Well, something even more reckless, anyway …
“Naruto, seriously, stop messing with seals on my living room floor,” Obito scolded her, not for the twelfth time.
“Fine,” she coughed. “I’ll go to the kitchen.”
“On any of the floors,” Obito re-iterated. “What is it for, anyway?”
Naruto pouted, but answered him, nonetheless. “I wanna create a seal that can hold all of the knowledge in my head. You know … in case I forget anything from the future.”
Obito frowned down at her, folding a pair of her new pants, and placing it beside the rest of her clean clothes. “You don’t need a seal for that. Just write it down in a journal.”
In response, Naruto stared at him as though he were an idiot.
And okay, maybe he was. “Right,” Obito muttered, realizing the problems with what he’d just said. Writing all that information down somewhere was not safe. Anyone could get their hands on it if they tried hard enough. Unless …
“You know,” he began. “You could write it all down and hide it in my kamui dimension.”
“Huh!” Naruto perked up, before suddenly shaking her head. “Nah! My idea is cooler!”
“… Please stop messing around with seals on my floor.”
She did not, in fact, stop messing around with seals on his floor.
It was still morning, when Naruto jumped out of the shower all cheery with wide and innocent smiles, her tan skin still flushed red from the humid bathroom and hair just a little damp. Obito furrowed his eyebrows at her insistence that he get in the shower right now, but he shrugged it off, not at all that interested in whatever plan she had today.
But of course. He should’ve known she wanted him out of the way so she could try some more fuinjutsu with Kurama. And because the fox hated him, he didn’t do anything to stop her.
The loud sound of the seal once again exploding in her face alerted Obito to what was really going on. Instantly, he was out of the shower and stomping over to her in anger.
“Naruto, I swear to kami-” he began, but instantly stopped upon seeing who else was in the room.
This was the day his team found out about Naruto.
He wasn’t exactly happy with this development, but Naruto’s whole world instantly brightened upon being able to meet her father and her Kakashi-sensei. When they all finally left, Naruto, still slightly starstruck, hummed happily to herself as she scrubbed at the burnt floorboards.
It was her punishment for going behind his back, but because of what had transpired that day, she didn’t seem to mind. Every so often, she would giggle to herself.
“Dad looked kinda cool, dattebayo,” she told him later once they were in bed.
“Yeah, Minato-sensei was-”
“Is.”
“-is amazing,” Obito corrected himself.
“And,” she continued. “Maybe now that they’ve seen me and everything … I could, uh, go out more? As myself?”
Fuck, Obito hated that she even had to ask. Of course, it was smart to lie low. They had both agreed that it was the right thing to do. But Obito felt terrible that she had to hide away from a village that was still more of a home to her than it was to him at this point.
“Yeah, Naruto,” he replied, turning away from her to stare up at the ceiling.
A triumphant huff of laughter escaped her mouth. “Ichiraku Ramen here I come,” she murmured happily.
A small smile tugged at his lips.
After a few more minutes of silence, Naruto squirmed a bit on her side of the bed. The bed shifted and groaned under her awkward movement, and after a while, the blonde finally faced her Uchiha partner and spoke her mind, “So, uh, that was Rin-chan …”
Obito didn’t meet her gaze. “Yeah. That was her.”
Naruto hesitated. “It’s obvious she really cares about you …”
He didn’t respond.
“Honestly, she made it really hard to get angry at her.”
This made Obito’s eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. Quickly he turned to look at her.
As his eyes pinned her down, Naruto squirmed once more. “Just … I felt kinda annoyed by how much she put Kakashi-sensei through.”
Obito blinked and Naruto sighed in annoyance.
“I’m just saying that if you know a teammate has a guilt complex about saving his teammates, then you probably shouldn’t just go and jump in front of his ninjutsu like that, dattebayo!”
“How do you-”
“I saw your memories, remember?” she huffed and glanced away. “I don’t think I ever wanna see that look on Kaka-sensei’s face ever again.”
And, well, Obito could understand where she was coming from. Rin’s death had broken Kakashi in a very similar fashion to Obito’s ‘death’. At least with both him and Minato-sensei, Kakashi barely had much control over what had happened. But Rin … well, Kakashi’s hand was the one that had driven deep through her chest.
The memory of that night made Obito tremble. He hated seeing her death, couldn’t stand it. But maybe there should have been more than one reason why Obito was appalled by the scene.
Something within Kakashi had died that night and the copy-nin would never get it back.
“It was pretty cruel,” Naruto muttered.
“True,” Obito eventually conceded. “But what else would you have had her do?”
Naruto went silent at the question. No doubt her mind went to the same place Obito’s had. “She wasn’t able to take her own life,” he told the blonde. “There was no other choice. Not one I can see anyway.”
Naruto could have said a plethora of different things in response to that: “You always think there’s no other choice! How do you think you were able to convince yourself that the Tsuki no me was the only solution to bringing about peace?!” or maybe, “There’s always another option, you just have to look hard enough!”
But unsurprisingly, she didn’t say any of this. Instead, she snuggled closer to him and sighed. “I guess you’re right,” she murmured softly, and Obito’s tense shoulders relaxed. “She’s real pretty, you know? No wonder you have a crush on her.”
Immediately, his shoulders tensed back up. “Can you not?”
Naruto laughed. “Just saying that you have good taste.” Her nose then scrunched up. “Actually, then again, you also had a crush on Kaka-sensei and I wouldn’t exactly give him stellar reviews.”
Obito immediately shot up and spluttered at this declaration. “I- What?! I don’t- didn’t-”
“Hey, I’m just calling it like I see it,” Naruto muttered, judging him harshly for his denial. “You followed him around a lot, kinda like you did Rin-chan. Only you were always trying to make him acknowledge you and praise you.”
The blonde girl chuckled as she continued.
“Trust me, I’ve been there. I was like that with Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme back in the day.”
“I didn’t have a crush on Bakakashi,” Obito growled, his cheeks burning at just the thought. No, no, no, he refused to allow Naruto to bring up old memories and feelings. He refused. “And I didn’t have a crush on Rin, either. I love … I loved her. She was my dearest friend.”
He released a melancholic sigh. “Rin was always there, always looking out for me.”
And I wasn’t even fast enough to protect her …
“What I felt for her was more than just some passing attraction. It was a deep love, something so entrenched in me that I could feel it in my bones. And when her light was snuffed out from this world, something in me broke. The very foundation that I relied upon to live collapsed in on itself.” Obito scoffed. What good was a world that wouldn’t allow people like Rin to live in it? What was this injustice? Why was life so cruel?
A moment of silence passed between them until Naruto finally spoke again. “I guess I don’t really get romantic love,” she muttered. “But I do understand love in general. I think I get where you’re coming from too. Sure what I had on Sakura was just a crush for awhile, and maybe it was like that with Sasuke too. But regardless, I still loved them, you know? Now that they’re gone I-”
Her breath hitched.
“I felt empty for so long,” she sniffed. “Even Kakashi-sensei died, and … and they were all I had left, dattebayo. I don’t want to lose my loved ones again. I don’t want to feel that pain. That same crushing feeling I had in my chest when Ero-sennin died … it still haunts me.”
Her dismayed whispers dissolved into sobs that wracked her small body. Obito quickly pulled her close, allowing her head to press into his chest as the tears fell.
His grip around her tightened as he molded her frame against him, refusing to let her go anytime soon. True, he wasn’t one for hugs. But Naruto deserved it. She deserved it all. And it pained him how much she still had to suffer for his mistakes. His dumb, stupid mistakes.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, his body pulled taut with the feeling of regret.
The girl in his arms shook her head through her sobs.
“I’m sorry,” Obito repeated.
Once again, she shook her head and pounded at his chest.
“No,” Naruto bit out before wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly.
Stop apologizing, her actions demanded.
Obediently, he shut up and continued to hold her through the night.
When they both woke up the next morning, neither of them brought it up.