Hope Flies on Wind-bent Wings

october 10

When Rin and Kakashi came to visit, they slipped into the stairwell, bypassing Hinako's shop so they wouldn't draw too much attention to themselves.

Obito let them in, feeling a little awkward. The three of them had mostly recovered from the fight against Madara and the draining vines, but they hadn't really had the chance to talk since returning to the village.

"How are you doing?" Rin asked after she and Kakashi came in.

"Feeling better," Obito said. "I haven't been using my Sharingan too much. And I'll be glad when I don't have a roommate to deal with anymore." He tilted his head toward Tobi, who now sat in the living room chair, uniformed minus the etched mask.

"Are you staying, then?" Rin asked Tobi. "We haven't been able to find out much since getting home. Is it true you work for Minato-sensei now?"

"For now, yes."

"And you have Madara's eye," Rin observed.

Tobi smiled, and his left eye became the Sharingan. "Not his, exactly. But it came from his body."

Kakashi halfway sat on one of the bar stools in front of the kitchen counter, keeping one foot on the floor. "What happened with Madara? Rin said you killed him, then Minato-sensei showed up... what the hell was that about?"

Tobi shrugged. "That was a small misunderstanding. I left the village when I realized Madara had the book. Sensei realized I'd taken Obito's place, so he wasted no time in coming after me."

Rin sat on the couch, expression concerned. "But Obito said you and Minato-sensei met before. Why didn't he recognize you? The mood was so tense, I was afraid something terrible would happen when you both left."

"He did recognize me." Tobi directed a placid smile at Obito. "Maybe you would like to explain it? I don't know what you intend to do here."

Kakashi and Rin looked at Obito. He stayed standing in the same spot. He'd spent plentyy of time thinking about what to say to them. But even now, he wasn't sure how far to go.

In the end, he wanted to help them understand how they'd all gotten to that point. Even if it led to more uncomfortable questions.

Obito rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Okay. I guess the simplest way to explain it is... this timeline has changed a lot since I visited the other ones. Things are very different over there. There are a lot of reasons why, but the biggest reasons are Madara... and me."

Kakashi crossed his arms skeptically. "You?"

"The—the other versions of me all carried out Madara's will." Obito took a deep breath. Going into every painful detail wasn't necessary to get his point across. "Remember when we had that mission to cut off Iwa's supply route? That's where everything went wrong. I was supposed to nearly die that day. A huge rock fell and crushed half my body. It happened near Madara's hideout. I ended up stuck in that underground cave. And—well, you saw what he's like. Everything kept going wrong after that. In the end, I—I mean, Tobi..."

Obito felt his face starting to burn. It was too strange, not only telling them the story, but to do it with Tobi listening as well.

Rin noticed his hesitation and turned to Tobi. "That's—terrible. That's what happened to you?"

"Yes." Tobi held up his hands. It was hardly perceptible in the lighting, but they didn't quite match. "Madara replaced the destroyed portions of my body with the same plant-like material his underlings were made of. The war ended far worse for my team than it has in this time. I was presumed killed in action. You were..." Tobi lowered his hands, balling them into fists. He was silent for a few seconds, then gave a bitter smile. "I thought I was tougher than the kid. But, I guess not."