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"Your stance has gotten better since I last saw you, Kawarama. Good job."
Obito preens at that, head ducking slightly, cheeks coloured a glorious red. He is gripping a shuriken, other five he had in his pouch sticking firmly out of a training log across the clearing. He didn't quite make them hit the mark as he wanted to, but they did hit, and he was giddily proud of himself.
Take that, Bakashi.
"You did so well, Kawarama! I'm so proud of you!"
Obito sneaks a glance at two people standing next to the log.
Shodaime flashes him a brilliant smile, baring his teeth and eyes sparkling in the morning light. His deep-red armour plates were removed, dropped gracelessly nearby, and the man had the sleeves of his outdated shinobi dress rolled up, arms spread wide as if he wanted Obito to run at him for a hug.
Nidaime stood nearby, arms crossed over his chest, white fur across his neck soft and puffy (Obito checked), happuri glistening in the morning light. He had a tiny smile on his face, looking over the arrangement of shuriken stuck in the upright-standing log nearby.
"Ah," Obito says, sheepishly. "Minato-sensei helped me train yesterday."
"That Namikaze kid?" asks Nidaime, arching a pale brow and finally shifting his gaze onto Obito. "He finally started paying more attention to his other students other than the Hatake brat?"
"Tobirama," Shodaime scolds, pouting, placing his hands on his hips. "Don't be rude. Namikaze is doing his best."
"Not good enough," bites off Nidaime, scoffing and rolling his eyes.
"He pays a lot of attention to me," offers Obito, feeling the need to defend his sensei's honour. "I'm just not as good as Bakashi yet. I'll prove that I'm strong and Minato-sensei will train me more, then!"
"Kawarama," Nidaime flashes him an unimpressed look, "this is the opposite of what a sensei should do."
Obito sulks a bit, eyes dropping as he twirls his shuriken in his palm. Sure, Minato-sensei had spent more time with Bakashi than he did with him and Rin, but surely it wasn't because he thought he was stupid or something. He was always nice to Obito, and taught him a lot about short range kunai combat. He also encouraged him to train his Katon more, despite Obito failing at it miserably, and no clan members helping him figure it out, leaving him to his own devices.
"Namikaze is doting over little Hatake because the kid is all alone," he hears Shodaime say.
Nidaime huffs as Obito sneaks a glance at two men. They are facing each other, Shodaime still grinning and Nidaime looking incredibly annoyed. Bakashi usually had a similar expression on his face, but it was always directed at him, like Obito was a little stupid bug, or something.
Nidaime never looked annoyed at Obito. He was always nice and encouraging with him, and half the time Obito didn't know what to do with all that support.
"Besides," Shodaime says, "Kawarama will always have us. We will make sure he is training plenty enough."
When Shodaime and Nidaime first appeared in his bedroom half a year ago, Obito half-delirious with fever he had caught on a previous mission, he thought he had gone mad out of both the flu and the lack of human contact. His grandma died three years ago and other clan members didn't like him that much, so he was left to his own devices to battle with a bone-crushing exhaustion, huddled under two blankets to keep some warmth in his body as he sneezed his soul out of his body. Rin-chan had warned him to wear a warmer coat when going on a mission out of the village during the winter, but Obito didn't have that much clothes to pick from. The money he had received from C- and D-rank missions mainly went for Clan taxes and food, so he went against her advice and wore his usual jacket, insisting he was fine and not freezing his ass off at all. He also had just received his custom-tailored outfit from an Uchiha tailor, red and white uchiwa engraved onto his back, navy blue with orange accents standing out against it. He had saved money to get new clothes for a while now since he grew out of his old standart wide-collar-Uchiha shirt he got from some other clansmen that outgrew it.
Even if the clan didn't like him much, Obito will make them like him later when he becomes a Godaime Hokage.
Obviously, Minato-sensei will be the Yondaime. Obito heard rumours that old man Sarutobi was gonna offer him the hat, and he couldn't be more proud of his sensei.
So when two dead Hokages showed up in his stuffy room, he thought he was dreaming. Both of them looked disheveled, glancing around like they didn't know where they were, and when their eyes landed on Obito's shivering form they blanched out, Shodaime looking like he was about to cry and Nidaime shocked out of his mind, jaw slack and eyes wide.
They both called him Kawarama which wasn't Obito's name, and he tried to correct them multiple times, both of them dismissing his weak protests as Shodaime hugged him and cried while Nidaime breathed heavily into Obito's sticky and greasy hair.
They stayed at his side until Obito's fever reduced, bringing him warm food and making him shower, huddling him in more blankets until he was strong enough to stand on his own feet.
Obito had questioned himself if he had gone mad during that bout of sickness, poking Shodaime couple of times after to check if he was real which had just earned him a hearty laugh and another hug. Nidaime was smiling at them with soft eyes, peeking from under his tousled hair and iconic happuri that he never removed from his head.
He thought they'd be gone by the time he had returned after a trip to get more groceries, but when he came back they were still there, arguing in hushed tones, Nidaime hissing out something that sounded like 'how come he had reincarnated into an Uchiha' before both of the Hokage turned back to shocked Obito to whisk him into another hug that just turned into him napping between them, still too exhausted after being sick for too long.
They cooked him dinner, Shodaime cheerfully asking questions about him, hand warm and solid in Obito's hair as Nidaime was fussing over a tiny stove in Obito's kitchen.
He quickly figured out that no one else could see the two men other than him. When he went to babysit tiny Shisui, drawing bright shapes on a paper with a happy toddler, both of the Hokage went with him, settling around his cousin's place while Obito was preoccupied with making sure Shisui doesn't choke after chewing on his dirty sandals he left at the entrance (he pretended not to hear Nidaime suck in a sharp breath, muttering 'Kagami' before scolding his face into his usual blank expression).
No one had noticed extra people in the house, even as Shisui's mother came back with another clanswoman, settling down groceries and ruffling Obito's hair again.
Both Hokages were very tangible to him, though. With how many hugs Shodaime gave him, they ought to be more than Obito's post-fever dream.
(He had cried and clinged to Shodaime once, after Nidaime asked him about his family. He never had one; it was just him and his grandma until one day she was gone, but he felt a bone-deep ache for people he never knew, for people he shouldn't remember.)
Each time Obito went for a mission with his team, Hokages always waited for him to return, never abandoning him or disappearing or leaving, their warm presence bright in his lonely and tiny clan-issued house at the edge of the compound. He was expecting, fearing them to disappear one day, but it had been six months and they were still there, waiting for his return like they enjoyed his company.
Like they cared for him.
It felt nice.
They started training him soon after he complained over dinner that Bakashi is stupid and strong and annoying, and never cares to wait for him and Rin and sensei, always staying aloof and always beating Obito up at their team training sessions.
"You do know you don't have to fight, Kawarama," Shodaime offered gently, his usually cheerful smile sad and longing. "Children shouldn't fight for the sake of the village. You can be whatever you want to be without it."
"But I want to be the Hokage," Obito offered stubbornly, brows furrowed as he looked at the two men sitting beside him. "I have to fight. I have to become strong to protect the people around me. That's what Hokages do!"
Nidaime's hand scratched his head, his big and warm presence solid and reassuring next to Obito.
"That's right," Nidaime gave him one of his tiny smiles, eyes soft and sad. "That's what Hokages do."
None of the Hokage denied that he can become one as well. None of them ever said he is too dumb, too weak, too useless to be a shinobi.
It was nice.
It felt like having a family.
Obito wasn't a child anymore; he was a chuunin, an active-field Uchiha clan member, and even if he didn't have a Sharingan yet then so what? Shodaime and Nidaime will surely train him well enough so he develops one sooner rather than later.
(He told them he wanted to get his Sharingan to have his clan recognise him more. The clan didn't care for him now, but surely they would after he develops their shared kekkei genkai. He just needed to try a little harder at training, and then people will start liking him instead of ignoring him or shooing him away.
Shodaime looked so sad after he said it that Obito had regretted ever opening his mouth.
"It's not a nice experience, developing your Sharingan," Shodaime offered softly.
"You are enough without the Sharingan, Kawarama," Nidaime said, hugging Obito tightly, letting him wrap his small hands around bigger man's frame, burying his nose in a warm fuzzy collar of his. "You are enough for us without your Sharingan."
If Obito shakily heaved at that, clutching to Nidaime harder, none of them mentioned that.)
Obito was cautious about going around the village with Shodaime and Nidaime in a tow. Both of them refused to leave him, firmly staying at his side wherever he went like his own personal bodyguards, and he reluctantly let them do whatever they wanted.
Not like he could argue with dead Hokage about anything. They always got an upper hand.
He was late for a training yesterday. Ume-baa-chan needed help with groceries, and a tiny wailing Yamanaka kid had his toy stuck in a drain, and Toketsu-jiji lost his cane and couldn't get outside without its help. Obito knew he was late, but he couldn't just leave everybody alone, too much of a bleeding heart, promising everyone to help and spending some two hours busy running around and doing stuff for people while Shodaime and Nidaime looked gently over him, following Obito around but not commenting on anything he did.
They never accused him of being late. Not like Bakashi.
"You are just like I remember," Shodaime smiled, wrapping his arms around him when he finished fishing out Toketsu-jiji's cane out of the canal. "Never change, Kawarama, you hear me?"
He nodded at that earnestly, dashing back to Toketsu-jiji, cane held triumphantly over his head, before sprinting to the training grounds, not even remotely worried about Bakashi's scoffing.
Hokages approved of what he was doing and that was the only thing that mattered.
"Come on, little brother," Obito hears as he is getting pulled out of his thoughts, Nidaime's big and warm body pressing into his side. "That's enough for today. Go gather the shuriken and we will treat you to some dango."
"Really?" Obito beams at him, rubbing his cheek over Nidaime's plated stomach, feeling like a well-fed cat lounging in the sun.
"Really," says Shodaime, placing a hand on the back of Obito's neck, rubbing gentle circles with his fingers. "It's your birthday after all! Let your brothers treat you to something nice. You made us so proud during the training today. You are improving so well, Kawarama."
Obito wants to say that it isn't his birthday, and he doesn't think he did that well, but the warm feeling in his chest is spreading all over his body. He gives a brief but fierce hug to both laughing men and sprints off towards the log, plucking shuriken out of it giddily.
He doesn't know what he did to deserve them in his life, but he is very glad his family is here when he needs them most.