Sometimes, Dead is Better

Chapter 1

Children crowded in front of Edgewood School for Boys; it's green bricked walls stood delicately between the tall looming buildings that the city offered. Chipped and worn cinder showed years of use and abuse from its many students. The grass was brown-patched and dying, the gravel path leading up to creaky doors was messy, the pebbles spread sporadically across the lawn. The few leaves that had managed to clutch to their branches were brown and dry as they clung hopelessly to the scrawny trees they were stationed upon.

Kids huddled in droves, chattering wildly and loudly, trying to speak over the rumbling hum of cars driving on the city streets.

This was Obito's fourth school.

He had been here a little over a month now, Summer had bled into the chilly season of Autumn, then turned to the freezing temperatures of winter. With each day his restlessness grew.

The city was nearly suffocating, skyscrapers littered every street of Manhattan, he couldn't walk anywhere without feeling the stifling heat of the thousands of other bodies pressed next to him as he navigated the filthy streets.

Pollution was so thick he could taste it. With every breath, the blanket of smog settled on his tongue, it stung his eyes, it was nothing like the open lands of Fire Country. He couldn't even see stars here, the glittering balls of light that had always been a consistency in his life were shrouded by the bright artificial light given off by every neon sign in this godforsaken city.

Even between the small opening between the looming apartments and factories that held his new academy he felt asphyxiated, it was smothering. Kami- he couldn't breathe, there was no air here, he felt like he was choking, it was strangling him-

He broke from his stupor at the shrill ringing that signaled the morning bell.

Boys of many ages raced into the building in a pointless rush, several bumping into Obito's shoulder in their hurry to enter the building. Obito stood still, drawing in heaving breaths as he struggled to regain air into his lungs.

He took shaky steps towards the front entrance, he was not too far behind the other boy's- not enough to draw much speculation, anyways- and there was still a massive crowd pushing through the doors by the time he joined the back of the frenzy.

Edgewood was a school for what teachers called "troubled children," it was a more subtle and friendly way of saying it was a school for child-thugs and the socially inept. Obito knew he belonged here, even if no one here knew of his past life as a martyr, he had still caused enough distress to many people in this world.

The first time he got expelled, he was nine. One of the larger boys of his class, a dark-haired boy whose name Obito didn't even bother to remember, had been demanding some sort of special card that was important in a trading game. It had led to the boy threatening a smaller kid.

All Obito could remember thinking was, My school would be better without the likes of him.

He saw red and launched himself at the boy, his fist connecting with the weak points he had memorized from years upon years of training. It was muscle memory, though he knew his new body lacked its old muscle when it had been reborn. The kid beneath him didn't stand a chance against his taijutsu, even when Obito was at his weakest.

He didn't register the possessiveness of his earlier thought until after he was being hauled off the boy, whose eyes were already turning black and blue. Obito remembered smirking in satisfaction.

The second time was a similar experience, this time, however, he retained more control over his hits. And the girl he had fought was let off with only some nasty bruises and scrapes. That time, she had been shoving a younger student to get to the front of the lunch line.