Chapter Text
The hauntingly cavernous dungeons underneath Konoha Penitentiary were a sight rarely beheld by anyone who wasn’t Anbu. House to dozens of nukenin and only a handful of truly despicable civilian criminals, they existed as the maximum penalty in Konoha’s penal code: when sentenced to the dungeons, only death could get you out.
For a number of years, the death penalty had been frequent, its rate so high the dungeons were almost empty; this was especially true in times of war, or under martial law, when nukenin were only worthy alive if the Anbu could torture intel out of them.
Chained to the walls, strapped to metal chairs, held in windowless cells, unable to see anything that wasn’t illuminated by the dim and flickering light of the torches, to smell anything that wasn’t their sweat or piss or blood, to feel anything that wasn’t utter solitude and despair, many inmates went mad.
When he had been sentenced to the dungeons by a court-martial, headed by the Gokage, Uchiha Obito had resigned himself to that same fate.
When Senju Tsunade had insisted that, as a former Konoha shinobi, he serve his sentence in Konohagakure, no other Kage objected.
That same court, the very same day, held another trial: that of Uchiha Sasuke. Acknowledged by all five main countries as a terrorist, many had argued in favor of the same sentence. It was only when the Godaime Kazekage, Gaara of the Desert, and Tsunade herself made the case for a lighter sentence, underlying Sasuke’s effort in the war against Uchiha Madara and Obito, as well as his essential role in ending and, most importantly, winning it, that the other Kage agreed to reduce the sentence.
So, Sasuke was still being held in the dungeons, in a cell not far from Obito’s own, but he was to stay there for only seven years.
“Look at the bright side,” croaked Obito, and Sasuke could tell he was moving his hands from the clanking sound of the chains around his wrists. “Well, you can’t.”
He laughed like he was in pain, like he wasn’t having fun at all.
Sasuke scoffed, not resisting the urge to bite back at his uncle not-enough-times removed. “Neither can you.”
This time, Obito’s laughter echoed louder through the caves, earning him some cursing from other inmates.
Sasuke, with both of his eyes covered by a crimson red seal, painted with blood on black sealing paper, sat cross legged on the stone floor of his cell, his one arm free of bondage. With both his rinnegan and sharingan sealed, he was deemed a manageable enough threat not to require further restrictions. Not to mention – though the guards didn’t care about Sasuke’s feelings about Konoha – that he had no intention of causing more trouble or giving anyone any reason to mistrust his loyalty to the village.
Obito, on the other hand, was a completely different case. Despite his decision, on the battlefield, to entrust both of his eyes, as well as the last vestiges of his Sage of Six Paths chakra to his former teammate, Hatake Kakashi, his crimes prior to that had been too great, too unforgivable. He had de facto founded and led the criminal organization Akatsuki, murdered the Yondaime Hokage and his wife after unleashing the Kyūbi on the village, had a relevant role in the Uchiha massacre and single handedly started a world war of unprecedented magnitude. Along with Madara, the two of them alone had even almost won that war.
His sudden about-face, far-sighted though it had been, could not suffice to redeem all his wrongdoing.
This meant that, even blind and with no superior chakra, his hands were bound.
The other inmates were mostly quiet, except for the occasional screams of the mad.
The majority of Sasuke’s day was spent trying to remember how to meditate, so as to not let himself drown further into the darkness both his body and his mind were in.
He remembered the earliest lessons at the Academy, when clearing his mind would come easy and he wasn’t tormented by the sight of his mother’s guts spilled on the tatami every time he closed his eyes.
Several days passed before he could get himself to actually meditate. With all sound around him nullified, he could focus on hearing himself: for perhaps the first time in his life, he paid attention to the way his breath came, to his chest filling up, his ribs bending ever so slightly, and then deflating. With his sight sealed, he looked inward, trying to get a sense of his chakra flow. Without being able to activate his sharingan, he couldn’t even see his own pathways, but the harder he focused, the more acutely he could feel his chakra being slowly depleted by the seal. It wasn’t a significant loss – had he not been paying such close attention, he wouldn’t even have noticed – but he couldn’t help but shiver at the power of the seal.
Coming out of his trance, he felt lightheaded. He grunted as he straightened his back, realizing he must have been meditating for longer than he thought.
“Oh, so you’re still alive.” Obito’s constant, annoying commentary came as fast as always.
“You should try meditating, too. That would shut you up,” mumbled Sasuke.
Obito, in his own cell, shrugged. “I’ve never been good at it.”
Three weeks after their imprisonment, news reached them that Konohagakure had a new Hokage.
Naruto and Sakura had been granted a special permission to visit Sasuke, which went against so many rules and regulations neither Sasuke or Obito had any doubt about who had been the person to allow it.
“Knew it,” murmured Obito, as soon as he heard the words Kakashi-sensei and Rokudaime Hokage being uttered by Sasuke’s visitors.
“And there’s even greater news!” That was Naruto, way too cheerful – and definitely inconsiderate of the gloom every inmate was immersed in – for his own sake. A thud, which Obito assumed had been a fist perfectly landed on his face. Then, Sakura’s voice.
“Shut up, idiot! You can’t tell him yet!”
Obito tuned out the rest of the conversation, which consisted mostly of Naruto whining and bickering with Sakura anyway.
The greater news came two days later, when both Obito and Sasuke were summoned to the Hokage’s office.
This was unprecedented, as no prisoner had ever been granted such a privilege, least of all a nukenin – not to mention a terrorist and a war criminal.
As he stood before the Hokage’s desk, Obito wished more than ever before to have his eyes back. He knew Kakashi was right there, in his Hokage attire, and he suddenly felt that he would die because he could not see it.
“I apologize for the sudden summons,” Kakashi spoke and it felt so good to hear his voice. Obito felt a warmth spread in his chest and he could only hope it would not show on his face. Countless times Obito had cursed his own sensitiveness, and he cursed it once more.
“You shouldn’t be apologizing!” That voice was unfamiliar to Obito, but he assumed it must have been some sort of advisor. He decided he didn’t like him.
Sasuke immediately identified the voice as Shikamaru’s; so he had become the Hokage’s right hand man. It made sense.
“Sorry,” said Kakashi, to which Obito smiled and Sasuke sneered. Clearing his voice, Kakashi spoke again. “Since we all know each other intimately, there’s no need for pointless formalities, so I’ll get right to it.”
The sound of a chair being moved and of light footsteps told the two Uchiha that Kakashi had stood up and had stepped closer to them.
“Sasuke,” he said, and Sasuke felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He flinched, though not in displeasure, rather in surprise. “You are pardoned.”
Sasuke’s jaw went slack, his face stricken with utter shock.
“What?” He managed after a long moment of silence. He felt the hand on his shoulder squeeze gently.
“You’re pardoned,” Kakashi repeated. “I will remove the seal myself. As Hokage, only I have the authority to do so, but I do need a little help. That is why I summoned you up here.”
Sasuke had felt the presence of five people in the room as soon as he entered it, other than Kakashi; now he knew that one of them was Shikamaru, and he had assumed that the other four were Anbu.
On the contrary, one of them politely introduced herself as Konoha’s sealing master.
“I’m the one who forged your seal,” the woman continued. Judging by her voice, she must have been in her fifties, maybe sixties. Impressive age, for a shinobi. “When I remove the seal, I want you to keep your eyes closed for a few minutes, give them the chance to get used to the light.”
Kakashi’s hand left Sasuke’s shoulder, allowing the sealing master to step in front of him.
Her cold hands found his right temple, where one edge of the seal was, and he could feel warm chakra being channeled into her fingertips; gently, expertly, she removed the seal as she chanted an incantation. From behind his eyelids he could see the green glow of healing chakra, and the discomfort caused by the seal in the past weeks was completely gone from him.
Having waited about three minutes, as recommended by the sealing master, he cautiously blinked his eyes open.
He knew the Hokage's office had large windows which overlooked the whole village, and had expected the light coming from them to be blinding, but he found the room to be actually quite dimly lit. The shutters were drawn and the yellow-orange ceiling lamp was turned on.
Even so, his left eye was still too perceptive, almost to the point of hurting, after having been forcefully suppressed for so long, so he closed it again.
Finally, he focused on the man with silver hair and black mask, his sensei, his new Hokage.
Far from the slouching, carefree, responsibility-abhorred memory of his old sensei, the man who stood before him looked terrifying: the Hokage haori encompassed his tall figure, his unruly silver hair seemed to be shining, reflecting the light from the above lamp. But most striking of all were his eyes: a pair of glowing red orbs, three tomoe each, the sharingan in its base form.
Sasuke remembered when Obito had asked Sakura to take his eyes and give them to Kakashi. The latter had refused, at first, but Obito thought he was about to die, and he didn't want his precious eyes to go to waste, not when they were up against an enemy more powerful than any before. It had been the first time Sasuke saw someone, other than an Uchiha, wield the sharingan in both eyes. It felt wrong, and somewhere, some part of him still refused the sight he was seeing. He shook off that thought, reminding himself of when he suggested that Naruto give Kakashi his fucking rinnegan .
"You're not wearing the hat," Sasuke noted – for Obito's benefit, though he'd never admit it.
Kakashi chuckled. "It's a heavy crown."
Sasuke eyed the sealing master, who bowed her head politely and took her leave.
Behind Kakashi, Shikamaru looked displeased. Sasuke didn't blame him.
At both sides of the Hokage's desk stood two Anbu guards, and Sasuke repressed the urge to laugh at the ridiculous implication that Hatake Kakashi would ever need their protection.
"Now, Obito." Kakashi stepped in front of the older Uchiha, but this time he looked deadly serious.
Even without his rinnegan augmented perception, he could sense the devastatingly intense energy that flowed between the two of them. Pain and grief and love and resentment, feelings not unlike those that existed in the space between himself and Naruto.
"You have committed crimes too grave to be forgiven." Kakashi was visibly in pain as he spoke those words, his voice almost unsteady. "You have caused far too much pain to far too many people."
Obito's head was hanging low, and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"I thought you weren't gonna sugarcoat it," he snickered, but there was no real levity in his voice. "What, are the dungeons not enough for a monster like me? Is that what you're trying to say?"
Kakashi sighed, closing his eyes for a moment, and Sasuke recognized the fond annoyance in his expression.
"Do you ever shut up?" Kakashi questioned, and Sasuke was almost tempted to answer he doesn't . "Obviously I can't pardon you, so I'm doing the next best thing. Uchiha Obito, you're exiled."
Obito was, shockingly, at a loss for words. He had thought being sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a damp, filthy cave, confined in the space of a cell too dark to see even if he had had eyes, was the worst kind of punishment he could get. He had been fully prepared to accept it, too: he knew he deserved all that and more, for all he had done.
Yet, somehow, exile seemed worse. Exile meant being away from what little of the world he knew, away from the only people who didn't actively want to kill him and desecrate his corpse. Worst of all, exile meant being away from Kakashi.
In all the twenty years Obito had been doing Madara's bidding, he had never once considered killing Kakashi. The Infinite Tsukuyomi was for Kakashi's sake, too: a wonderful world where Obito, Kakashi and Rin would be young forever, where there was no war and Minato-sensei and Uzumaki Kushina would raise their child with love and joy, and nobody would ever die.
He would have had Kakashi put him under the same genjutsu, so that they could dream the same dream forever, never again apart.
When Naruto snapped him out of his decades long delirium, he thought everything left for him to do was to die. Sacrifice himself for the greater good and atone for his sins.
But then Sakura healed him, and Obito realized then that he would have to pay his debt to the shinobi world until his last breath, with every last drop of his blood.
So there it was, exile: Konoha's way of collecting its due.
"I– don't know what to say." He admitted. He heard a soft laughter coming from Kakashi, and it quietly enraged him. How could he laugh about this?
"That's new," said Kakashi. Then, after a pause, his voice came again, commanding. "Leave me with Obito. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura are waiting for you outside. You're all dismissed."
Obito heard the distinct whoosh of the Anbu guards body flickering away, as well as the displeased grunt of Shikamaru as he escorted Sasuke out of the office.
As the door slid shut, Kakashi let out a sigh.
His hands found Obito's shoulders and Obito shuddered. He felt feverish. How he had craved that touch, and how it pained him to lean into it.
"Why?" He asked, "Why exile?"
He felt Kakashi tighten the grip on his shoulders, heard his breathing come harder.
"I won't let you rot in that dungeon."
Obito shook his head, his hand reaching for Kakashi's wrist – dragging his other, bound hand along – squeezing it.
"It's what I deserve, Kakashi, whether you like it or not."
Kakashi was tense, Obito could feel it in his muscles, in his words.
"No," the Hokage insisted. "Besides, I mean to relocate all the inmates anyway. We're not living in the Dark Ages anymore."
"You've been Hokage for a week and you already want to reform the justice system," snorted Obito, trying to hide his admiration behind a joke. He knew it wouldn't be lost on Kakashi, though.
"It will take some time," Kakashi noted, annoyance clear as day in his voice. "There's more pressing matters at hand."
Obito smiled bitterly. "Like fixing what I broke?"
Kakashi hummed. "That, and playing politics with the damiyō."
"Well, you are a politician, now."
Kakashi snarled, but didn't respond.
His hands left Obito's shoulders, and Obito suddenly felt lonelier than he ever had before.
"It won't be forever," Kakashi spoke after a long silence, his voice hoarse. The awkward pause after that suggested that he wanted to say something else, but he didn't. Perhaps he couldn't find the right words.
"Maybe it should be," stated Obito, mournful.
Without a warning, he felt Kakashi's arms wrap around his torso and just hold him . Tightly but gently, lovingly, like he was saying goodbye. And he was.
"I would have you take these eyes back, you know?" Kakashi whispered in Obito's ear, his breath sending shivers down Obito's spine.
Obito raised his hands above Kakashi's head and wrapped them around his neck, the only way he could hug him back with his wrists chained together.
"I know, but I would refuse," he murmured back into the crook of Kakashi's neck. "They are my gift to you, and the only way to make sure I'm no longer a threat."
"Obito–"
"No," interrupted Obito, parting slightly to lay his forehead against Kakashi's. "You're already putting yourself in an uncomfortable position, letting me go. What would everyone think if you also gave me such powerful weapons?"
"That I'm giving you back what is rightfully yours."
Obito scoffed. "Don't insult me, Bakashi. Gifts are meant to be kept."
Kakashi clung to Obito in a way that surprised him: when had he become so physical ? Maybe twenty years spent by Maito Gai's side did that to him.
"I mostly keep them covered, anyway."
Obito laughed into Kakashi's shoulder; a hearty, warm laughter, so foreign to his ears, especially coming from himself.
"Please," he giggled, "describe to me what that looks like."
Kakashi snorted, detangling himself from Obito and taking a step back.
"It's not like I know what I look like, but ," Kakashi told Obito about how, every morning, he would wrap bandages around his head, to keep his eyes firmly shut, then lift his signature black mask over the bridge of his nose, which – he said – actually helped keep the bandages in place, and finally, to not look like a mummy, he'd wear a black veil over his face.
"It's a bit of a pain to take it on and off, but it's a necessity. Your Sage of Six Paths chakra allowed my body to take Shodai-sama's cells implants with no risk of rejection, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm only Hatake."
Obito lowered his head. His only regret, regarding his gift to Kakashi, was that he couldn't give him more , like the ability to turn the sharingan off.
"You should have been born with those eyes, not me. The world would have been a lot better off."
"Enough of this," Kakashi growled. "Self-pity is not a good look on you. It never was, crybaby ."
Obito smirked, nodding in defeat. "Alright."
"Kakashi-sensei! Finally!"
Naruto's voice was so loud it could be heard from the heavens above, making it very easy for Obito to locate him. It was immediately followed by Sakura's own, almost equally loud.
"Stop shouting, you idiot!"
"And that's Rokudaime-sama to you, now," scolded Shikamaru.
"Whatever! We need your help!" Naruto ran up to Kakashi, stopping just a breath away from him.
"Is everything okay?" Kakashi asked, though Obito didn't hear any hint of worry in his voice. He must have identified the cause of Naruto's screams as ultimately harmless.
"Absolutely not! Sasuke wants to leave!"
Surprised, Obito automatically turned in Kakashi’s direction, feeling for a change in the air around him, but he couldn’t sense anything. Was Kakashi truly unmoved?
And what was Sasuke thinking? He had not been exiled, so why was he talking about leaving? If Obito had been pardoned like Sasuke, he would have spent every waking hour by Kakashi’s side; the idea of leaving would never have even crossed his mind.
He had imagined it to be the same for Sasuke. He could have sworn Sasuke wanted nothing more than to be with Naruto. Perhaps he was wrong.
The three of them approached the rest of the group, and Sasuke made an amused sound.
“What’s with the veil?” He asked, making Obito realize Kakashi had covered his eyes before leaving the office.
“Sun’s too bright,” shrugged Kakashi. Clearly one more of his innocent lies, but Sasuke was too used to it to question it. “What’s with the talk about leaving?”
Sasuke sighed, lowering his head. “It’s something I have to do. I wanna call Konoha home again, but first I need to feel like I belong here.”
“You do, moron!” Naruto shouted. He grabbed Sasuke’s collar, fisting the fabric of his white shirt so tightly it creased. “You belong here with us! And if anyone has anything to say about that, I will make them eat their words, trust me!”
“Naruto–” Kakashi tried to intervene, but Naruto shook his head vigorously.
“No! I just got you back, I won’t let you leave again!” Naruto snarled, his face a mask of rage. “If anyone dares to make you feel like an outsider, I will stand between them and you! I will protect you, even if I have to lose my one arm!”
Sasuke’s mouth was slightly ajar, and actually audibly gasped when Naruto yanked him closer to him. For a second, Sasuke lost himself in Naruto’s blown pupils, and had to close his own eyes to prevent his resolve to falter.
“Naruto,” his voice was thick, every word felt heavy, as though he was forcing himself to speak. “It’s not about other people. And–”
He peered up at Naruto through the curtain of his own hair and found, again, that he couldn’t bear to hold his gaze.
Sasuke was determined to leave: he had to see what had become of the world after the war, how his actions had shaped it, what he could learn from it. They were on the verge of a whole new era, and he had to find a place for himself in it. And though leaving Naruto was like tearing himself in two, he had to do it.
“And it’s not about you.” He said it bitterly, knowing it would leave a scar, but it was the only way. “I have to do this, Naruto. Not even you can stop me.”
Naruto loosened his grip on Sasuke’s shirt, eventually letting him go. His blonde head dropped, his eyes filled with tears. Shaking, angry and defeated, he ran away.
The entire time, Sakura had remained silent and still as a statue. When Naruto was already far away, she let out a sigh.
“I’ll see you off, then, when you leave.” She sounded cold, her eyes never meeting Sasuke’s, and he shuddered. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Naruto and Sakura like this again, but here he was, and there it was. She left before he could mumble an apology.
Shikamaru left too, muttering an excuse about finishing some paperwork, and reassured Kakashi he’d wait for him at the office.
Obito couldn’t leave if he wanted to, being under special surveillance by the Hokage himself. The truth was, though, that he had just had an idea.
He heard Kakashi take a step closer to Sasuke, but before he could speak, Obito cleared his voice.
“I’ll go with you.”
Even blind, Obito could practically feel Sasuke raising his eyebrows so high his forehead crinkled.
“What?” This was Kakashi, equally confused. A tinge of something else colored his voice, perhaps worry, perhaps sadness.
“I’m an exile, aren’t I? It’s not like I have somewhere to be.” He crossed his arms, and the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced it was the right thing to do. “Besides, what’s he gonna do with one arm? He can’t even blow his nose.”
“Dude,” groaned Sasuke, “you’re literally blind.”
“Then we can help each other,” Obito smirked. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.
“An Uchiha family trip. What could go wrong.”
Sasuke waited for Obito and Kakashi at the village gates, making small talk with Sakura. It had been years since they’d had that opportunity, and they wasted it on commenting on the weather and their sensei’s tardiness.
“There they are,” Sakura pointed at the two men behind Sasuke. They walked side by side like old friends, like the last twenty years had never happened, like they hadn’t tried to kill each other less than a month ago.
“Sorry we’re late,” began Kakashi.
“We were saying goodbye to some friends,” finished Obito.
Sasuke hummed; he didn’t care.
“Try not to cause trouble while you’re away,” Kakashi warned them, though not unkindly. “Remember that you’re only free because I made it so. But, as Hokage, I take responsibility for your misconduct.”
Both Obito and Sasuke nodded.
“We know,” said Sasuke. Then, surprisingly, “Thank you.”
After holding all her emotions in for days, Sakura finally let it out.
“Let me come with you!” She cried, her hands curled up in fists so tight her knuckles were white. “Please, I won’t be a bother.”
Obito was taken aback, but he didn’t say anything, as it wasn’t his choice to make.
“Sakura…” Sasuke whispered, “the village needs you. Especially at a time like this.”
Sakura lowered her head, and Sasuke felt awful.
“He’s right,” Kakashi chimed in, laying a hand on Sakura’s shoulder. “And I really can’t afford to lose my best student right now.”
He managed to make Sakura smile softly, and it was enough to prevent Sasuke from departing with a heavy heart.
“Maybe,” Sasuke added, tapping her forehead with his fingertips – the fondest memory he had of his brother – right on top of her seal, “next time.”
A couple dozen meters away from the gates, half hidden in the trees, Naruto had also shown up.
Obito walked ahead for another minute or so, to give them a moment alone to give each other a proper goodbye.
After a while, he heard Sasuke’s footsteps and, following him, he resumed walking.
Leaving Konohagakure behind, Sasuke led them through the vast forest outside the village. They walked past caravans of merchants heading in the opposite direction, past hunters claiming that they spooked their prey, past fishermen heading back home from the river.
Once they were out of the forest, Obito stopped in his tracks.
Turning his body towards Sasuke, he crossed his arms. “Where to?” He asked.
Sasuke inhaled the fresh morning air, exhaled, and, looking around, said, “I don’t know.”