Chapter Text
Senju Tsunade-hime looms over him, big and threatening, leaking pure killing intent at his Clan's Head.
"He is my family," she snarls at Fugaku-san, teeth bared and eyes narrowed.
"He is an Uchiha," growls back Fugaku-san, leaning over the table, shooting back the same ugly and deadly glare, eyes burning and furious.
Obito shrinks where he is sitting, hoping to disappear from the room, sensei's warm hand on his shoulder the only thing keeping him from running away.
"I have more claim on him than you do, Uchiha," Tsunade-hime growls, sharp fingernails leaving dents in Fugaku-san's desk. Kami knows how the table is still standing, having so much pressure applied to its surface.
"And where were you all of these years to demand a claim on my Clan member like this?" Fugaku-san shoots back, looking like he'd slice Tsunade-hime's throat if he could.
"She takes after you a lot," comments mildly Shodaime from his spot across the room.
"Tsuna is a killing machine," agrees Nidaime, eyes sharp but proud as he eyes the last Senju as she tries to kill Fugaku-san with her furious gaze alone.
Obito wants to go home.
He wants to go back to his small but cozy kitchen, made bearable by the presence of two dead Hokage over the past year. He never associated that house with the word home, preferring to spend as much time outside as he could before Shodaime and Nidaime crashed in his room months ago, enveloping him in hugs and care and love, turning the empty house, absent of his distant but familiar grandma, into something he was comfortable to relax in.
Obito was stupid. He got injured on a mission (a C-rank, he was so stupid and weak and useless and let Minato-sensei down) and had to stay in the hospital for a week. Shodaime and Nidaime fussed over him, worried and absurdly scared, never leaving his side and whispering broken 'not again, don't get killed again's into his hair as both men hugged his miserable form, laying limp on a hospital bed.
Team Seven went to gather intel on Iwa nin, disguising themselves as civilians in a small remove village of the Fire Country, located close to a possible base of operations of Iwagakure. Obito was reckless and stupid, just like Bakashi had always said, and had leapt in front of a thrown kunai directed at a civilian woman when she refused to serve drinks for Iwa nin in a tavern they were staying at.
He should've stayed still. He was a shinobi, and shinobi were discreet.
Bakashi looked at him like Obito was dirt on his shoes, Obito bleeding from his neck as Rin desperately tried to close off his wound and Minato-sensei rushed to track down Iwa nins to make sure they won't give the HQ the information that a Konoha team was in town.
They were at war and Obito was so stupid. He couldn't let the nice tavern lady die, though. She gave his team warm lunches without knowing they were shinobi and smiled softly with something in her eyes that reminded him of home.
Bakashi snarled as Rin was trembling over Obito's prone form, his eyes sharp and disapproving.
"You are a disgrace to shinobi code, Uchiha," he said, "you are the reason we failed the mission."
Obito gulped, shame overcoming him.
Despite all the training Shodaime and Nidaime gave him, insisted on giving him, he was still trash. Too caring, too soft, not suited to be a shinobi if he kept up with trying to save everybody's lives instead of focusing on what was good for the sake of Konoha.
Useless.
While he was in the hospital, they had taken his blood samples to see if the kunai he was stricken with was poisoned. Iwa nin had taken to poison their blades as of lately, and there was a chance Obito had passive poison circulating in his bloodstream, slowly wearing out his body and draining his Chakra, rendering him useless at a combat field.
Not as effective as Suna's poisons, but still discreet and deadly.
Nidaime was furious, but--not with him, never with him, hand curled protectively over Obito's prone form, red eyes glaring daggers at medics as they went about doing their jobs.
None of the medics--nobody around him--noticed two dead Hokage practically living in his hospital room, attached to his bed. Shodaime clung to Obito like a drowning man, running hands over his body to make sure he was alive, and Obito was drenched in guilt, feeling like he didn't deserve their concern, feeling like they shouldn't worry over him, like they wasted themselves fretting over his stupid self as much as they did.
"Not again, Kawarama," choked off Shodaime, wet eyes searching for something in Obito's face, "not again."
Why are you here, Obito wanted to say but was too afraid to break down were he to open his mouth, I don't deserve this.
He is a stupid useless crybaby of Team Seven.
Whatever Minato-sensei or Kushina-nee said, he is useless and weak and stupid, and none of them should bother themselves with him.
The doctors did some weird testing on his blood samples and found something--he didn't know what exactly, but that warranted them to order a parental test and ask to draw records from Uchiha archives regarding his ancestors.
Obito wanted to fall through the ground when Fugaku-san stormed into a hospital room, eyes narrowed, and demanded from the doctors the meaning of such check-up when Obito was just merely hurt.
Obito didn't understand it too. He didn't know what the hospital had found in his blood samples. Everyone were secretive and silent around him, and he wished to jump out of the window more times than he'd like to admit.
Not that he'd ever do it to Shodaime and Nidaime. They didn't deserve this.
Obito was a coward and a weakling, useless to his village and his clan.
Which was why he was so confused over a long-gone Senju Princess suddenly storming into Clan Head's office, and Obito being dragged in by an elder, having a shouting match with Fugaku-san over... him?
"He is half-Senju," Tsunade-hime screeches, "and you hid his parentage for long enough!"
"Huh," mutters Nidaime, gaze sharp but warm when he directs it in Obito's direction.
Minato-sensei's hand squeezes his shoulder harder.
"He is an Uchiha," yells Fugaku-san, slamming his fist onto a desk.
"Want to go wait for them to finish their screaming match outside?" asks Minato-sensei's voice right above his ear, and Obito shudders, nodding, hand gingerly searching for sensei's hand as he is escorted out of the room.
Both Tsunade-hime and Fugaku-san don't notice that he is gone from the room.
Does my opinion even matter, Obito thinks bitterly, biting his lip, eyes dangerously close to spilling as he shifts goggles and wipes at his face with his sleeve.
They stand right outside the office, Minato-sensei in front of him and both of the dead Hokage right behind him, their reassuring presence giving Obito some comfort.
He clenches his fists, staring firmly onto the ground, lips trembling as he tries to prevent himself from crying again.
Crybaby, says a voice inside his head that sounds suspiciously like Kakashi.
Useless, weak, dumb, says Obito's own voice, echoing inside his skull.
"What do you want, Obito?"
He startles, looking up at Minato-sensei with wet eyes, dumbfounded, as Shodaime's hand rubs soothing circles on his back.
"I don't know," he says earnestly, voice breaking and eyes looking anywhere but at his sensei.
He is an Uchiha. Always had been. He never knew his parents, whoever they were, but he knew he was an Uchiha, if not just by gut feeling but by how he looked and where he grew up.
He can't be a Senju. Shodaime and Nidaime calling him 'little brother' and 'Kawarama' was just a joke between the three of them, surely, because he wasn't a Senju and there were no Senju besides Tsunade-hime, who was never in the village and about whom he had learnt in his Academy classes years ago.
"Kawarama," Nidaime's voice says softly behind him.
Obito chokes on a cry.
"I want to go home," he says and feels as Shodaime's hand tightens on his shoulder, Minato-sensei looking as sad as Obito feels.
"Let's get you home, then," his sensei smiles, and moves towards him, swiftly lifting Obito up like he wasn't a chuunin, like he wasn't an adult in village's eyes, like he was a dumb kid that messed up and needed consoling by adults.
Obito is ashamed to admit he craves this, and eagerly clings to Minato-sensei, hands trembling and body shuddering in silent cries, tucking his face into sensei's neck, undoubtedly staining for uniform with his disgusting tears and snot.
He is brought to his tiny house at the edge of the compound, eyes hidden from all accusatory glances around that scream traitor at him. Obito still feels Shodaime and Nidaime behind him, following Minato-sensei, feeling the need to be protective of stupid weak Obito.
Go away, he wants to croak. Why are you doing this? I am not worth it.
He ends up being swaddled in a blanket on Minato-sensei's lap, rocked into half-sleep, Shodaime's hand on his face and Nidaime's hand in his hair.
He doesn't know how much time had passed before the door to his house is opened unceremoniously, and Minato-sensei growls something out, overprotective, pressing Obito's stupid useless body to his chest.
A beat passes and Minato-sensei talks to someone, Obito's ears still ringing with useless dumb weak, and then someone else's hand is gently cradling his face.
Obito opens his eyes to stare at Tsunade-hime that is crouching in front of him, face unsettliny gentle and sad and broken, like she wants to cry just from looking at him.
"Hi, little cousin," she says like she is trying not to choke on a sob. "You will be living with me now."
Obito always wanted a family. He was so alone after his grandma died, clan members cold and distant, only Shisui and his mom actively seeking him out to come over for dinners or babysit when adults were gone. He heard what the clan had been saying about Shisui and his mom, angry and disgusted 'Nidaime's lapdogs' hanging in the air when they passed by, and he felt closer to them than to anybody else despite spending barely four hours a month in their presence.
Then, Shodaime and Nidaime had shown up, their solid presence enveloping Obito, warm hugs and words of encouragement that didn't make sense whisking him out of his corner. He settled into a nice routine, two dead Hokage and an Uchiha child, two-thirds of his family unseen and unknown and intangible to everybody but him, but still solid and supportive like only Minato-sensei had been to him before.
Obito heaves a breath.
He stares at Tsunade-hime's watery eyes, wondering why she was fighting with Fugaku-san over him, why she cared, why she needed him as desperately as he needed Shodaime and Nidaime at his side.
He stretches out one shaking arm out of Minato-sensei's hold, searching for her, and she chokes on a barely-held off sob, throwing herself at him, gripping his body like he mattered, like she needed him in her life.
He curls his hand around her neck, Shodaime and Nidaime's presence surrounding both of them, and closes his eyes, letting her hug him close to her chest.