Can Scavenge Whatever They Need
It wasn't until they started sifting through its rubble that Tenten realized that she'd never visited Sakura's house when it had still been standing.
She'd dropped by, of course, been inside, but never really visited, spent time there. It was a little thing, but it filled her with melancholy as she turned aside shattered drywall and lifted up what had once been a refrigerator. In the weeks since the attack, much of the village had been cleaned up, but there were still ruined homes that hadn't been cleared, and that especially went for the places Kimimaro had rampaged.
Technically, the place had been declared a biohazard. She and Sakura were both shinobi so they hadn't been kept out, but being here wouldn't be safe for some time. Even if the terrifying Rain ninja that had almost killed Neji and their sensei was dead, his bones were still alive, and they reacted violently to being touched. They'd been spread across this whole neighborhood and several others like a grisly forest, white trees and shrubs transforming parts of Konoha into an alien landscape. Removing them all would probably take months or even years considering how hard they were to destroy. Despite that, Sakura sifted through the ruins of her home in an apparently light mood, humming something to herself under her breath as she picked through a former life.
It was unsettling, Tenten thought. But since that day, Sakura had been unsettling in general. She'd been sad and split before Haku had shown his face, but that bastard had broken something for her; now, she was both distant and driven, fiercely present but
feeling like she was autopilot at the same time. It wasn't like the girl Tenten had become best friends with at all.
It wasn't the first time she'd felt a surge of self-loathing for being weak enough to lose the rematch and force Sakura into a position she never should have been put in, but Tenten was getting better at pushing the feelings away. Gai-sensei had told her there wasn't any point in regretting doing her best, and Tenten was doing her best to accept that.
Still though. It sucked.
"It was under your bed?" she asked for the second time, and Sakura nodded as she gingerly rotated a crushed washing machine to peek inside.
"Last I saw it," she confirmed. "But my mom might have moved it."
"She woke up, right?" Tenten asked, and Sakura nodded. "That's good."
"She still sleeps, most of the day," Sakura said, sounding like her parents were the least of her concerns. "Dad spends most of his time with her. Everyone says it's a miracle she's alive."
Tenten, who'd never known her parents, felt the urge to scream for just a second to see if she could get Sakura to snap out of it, to appreciate what she still had. But she knew it wasn't the right thing to do, so after a moment the urge faded and she forced out a laugh. "Well, they're right about that," she said. "I mean, that guy almost killed Neji. Compared to a lot of people, your mom did pretty well."
Sakura looked over with a soft smile. "Well, that's true. She did hit him. That's pretty impressive."
They searched for a bit longer in silence before Tenten had another question.
"What'll you do if it's destroyed?" she asked, and that made Sakura pause for a second. Tenten stopped too; Sakura wasn't even breathing. It was like she was frozen in ice.
Then she jerked back into motion, like a movie with a damaged reel. "I guess I'd be disappointed," she said with a little, fake sounding laugh. "It wouldn't change much. I don't really need it. I just think it might come in handy." She let out another, real laugh. "And besides, it survived what happened in Rain. Compared to that, this doesn't seem like much."
"They make the uniforms tough, huh?" Tenten joked, and Sakura started digging with renewed energy.
"Really tough. Fireproof, stab proof, non-reflective… as tough as the Nation, I guess," Sakura said, a statement that Tenten instinctively wanted to challenge but had to consider true enough. After all, Rain had survived whatever Cloud's weapon was, devastated the Hidden Leaf, and pushed back the counterattack. The people leading it might have been dipshits of the highest caliber, but its ninja were tough as nails. Haku was dead, but he'd definitely been proof of that.
They turned over rubble for another couple minutes before Tenten's hand brushed something soft. She paused, checking to make sure it wasn't a weird bone spur set to impale her, and found a red cloud staring up at her.
For a moment, she had the urge to hide it. She could bury it while Sakura wasn't looking, and bury the Akatsuki and what they'd meant to her friend with it. But the thought was crazy. Sakura's beliefs wouldn't change regardless of whether she found her uniform or not, and if she really was going to the Land of Frost, it could help her out. So Tenten, ever pragmatic, shoved aside what had once been a kitchen counter and carefully drew the uniform out, shaking it off a little to dislodge some of the dust and rubble.
"Sakura?" she asked, turning to find her friend staring at her. Tenten felt a chill. How long had Sakura been watching? Had she noticed the moment of hesitation? "Got it."
"Great!" Sakura said, standing up and dusting herself off. "Still in one piece?"
Tenten looked it over. It was; the uniform had survived the destruction of Sakura's home without a scratch. She wasn't much for superstitions, but that struck her as a particularly ominous omen. Still, that didn't keep her from folding it up and handing it over to Sakura with deference. Tenten couldn't tell if it was mocking or not, and Sakura clearly didn't care. She took the uniform gingerly, some stress seeping out of her, and Tenten looked her over. She wished that she looked as relaxed as Sakura, but instead her whole body just ached more.
"If I was cleared for duty, I'd go with you, you know," she said, and Sakura smiled.
"I know," she said. "But from how Naruto talks about her, I don't think disobeying Tsunade would be a good idea."
"She's not what I expected," Tenten admitted. "I told you she'd inspired me, but she's so…"
"Selfish?" Sakura asked, and Tenten shook her head as she carefully stepped out of the rubble towards the street.
"It's not that. She's just not driven, I guess. She has this incredible talent, but it's like she resents it. I thought that one of the legendary Sannin would have more pride in their work."
"She's had a complicated life," Sakura said with a shrug.
"I guess," Tenten said doubtfully. "But now… well, it doesn't matter. You're leaving later today?"
"That's the idea," Sakura confirmed. "Sasuke's finishing up some stuff with the hospital and his family, and Naruto's with his family. We're going to grab Jiraiya and be out by nightfall."
Tenten hesitated as they reached the street, and this one Sakura definitely noticed. "What?" she asked.
"What are you trying to do there, Sakura?" she asked, and once again she saw Sakura stutter, freeze up.
"It's my mission," she seemed to eventually decide.
"Your mission is finished," Tenten said gently, but Sakura shook her head.
"I found out what happened to the Nanabi," she said. "But that isn't what the mission turned into. Rain's attack failed; Leaf's counterattack failed. Neither side knows what to do next, but if no one does anything, we're just going to keep killing each other for no reason. Just like…" She paused, swallowed, and even though Tenten silently begged her to say the name Sakura moved on without acknowledging what was choking her. "So my mission's not finished. Not until the war's over for good."
"That's not your responsibility," Tenten said, and now Sakura frowned.
"It had to be someone's," she said. Tenten couldn't help but gape at the audaciousness of the words. "So I'll make it mine."
"And Naruto and Sasuke?" Tenten said, trying to get Sakura to just say the whole of what she was
saying, to get her to see the insanity of it, but Sakura kept moving forward without hesitation.
"They're part of this too. All of us, we're the only ones who can do this because of what we've been through," she declared, sounding a little angry. "I don't like it, Tenten. I can feel it separating us from everyone. Me from you, cause you don't get it, and us from Obito. Even our own sensei can't completely understand us anymore, because he wasn't there. He didn't see what Cloud did; he didn't have to-"
Once again, the freeze. This time, it lasted long enough that Tenten started to raise her hand before Sakura snapped out of it. "You know what I mean," she said. "Even if you can't understand why I feel that way, you have to understand that we're different now. If anyone can make Rain understand why they need to stop, it's me, Naruto, and Sasuke."
It struck her dumb for a minute. But only a minute, because what Sakura was saying finally gave Tenten the courage to speak her mind.
"But Sakura," she said, the sun beating down on both of them. "What about me?"
Sakura stopped. "What about you?" she asked, sounding genuinely confused.
"I'm the Leaf. And why should we stop?" Tenten asked. Sakura stared at her with dawning horror, the first genuine show of emotion besides frustration she'd shown all day. "Rain attacked us. They killed the Third Hokage, almost killed Hinata and Choji and Neji and Lee and Kiba. Naruto's mom,
your mom, that Kimimaro guy put both of them in a coma. If it hadn't been for the Fourth, a ton more people would be dead. And now, he's been driven off by Rain?" She let some heat creep into her voice. "Why should we stop? They're just going to do this again, and that time they'll know how to beat the Hokage with whatever trick they pulled."
"But…" Sakura faltered. "It was a misunderstanding…"
"Who cares?" Tenten said, not trying to be cruel but unable to not be blunt. "If you kill someone in an accident you're still responsible for it, and it's not like this was a mistake. A thousand ninja don't wander into a village and massacre it by accident. Rain made itself the Leaf's enemy for no reason, and now you're trying to make peace with them? Just because you lived there for a year? Was it really that great, being away from us?"
Sakura took a long time to respond. Tenten dreamed that maybe she'd made her friend see sense.
"Do you think war is better than peace?" she eventually asked, and Tenten couldn't help but scoff.
"If you make peace without getting justice, haven't you just put the war on hold?" she said. Sakura flinched.
"We've both hit each other," she said. "That should be enough."
"It's not," Tenten said. "You can do whatever you want in Frost, Sakura. I hope it makes you feel better. But even if you do convince Rain to sue for peace once and for all, everyone here is going to remember what they did." She gestured to the forest of bones that surrounded them. "They left a mark that couldn't be scrubbed off. Whatever you're doing, you're doing for yourself, not for some idea of peace. If you keep thinking this is some sort of mission that only you and your team can do, you're just going to keep isolating yourself. I can't follow you to Frost, and I wouldn't be able to forgive Ame alongside you."
This time, Sakura didn't freeze. It was then that Tenten knew that for now she'd lost her friend to something deeper and darker than she could understand.
"If I have to do it alone," she said, cold as Haku had been, "then I'll do it alone. It's important enough that there can't be another answer."
The gulf between them grew; Tenten felt like the world was rushing away, the space separating her from Sakura racing out into a vast canyon. She couldn't understand her friend anymore, and Sakura couldn't understand her. Her friend's guilt at killing Haku and her desperation to keep anything like it from happening again had consumed her, and now they didn't have a shared language. Sakura wasn't even a ninja of Konoha now; she was basically a rogue, adrift between two countries and belonging in neither of them, and she was determined to run off to a warzone to try and find a place for herself in a world that had destroyed every home she'd had.
What could she say? Was there
anything she could say to make Sakura understand that she loved her, that she cared about her, that she just wanted her to scream or cry or do anything to show that she was still alive and that she didn't need to crush herself under an impossible quest to atone for something that Tenten's own weakness had forced her to do?
If there was something to say, Tenten couldn't come up with it. She searched desperately for the panacea, but it didn't exist.
The friendship cracked; the world split. Sakura walked away without another word, tucking the Akatsuki uniform under her arm and picking up speed, leaping up onto the rooftops and, like the sun dipping below the horizon, vanished from Tenten's life.
###
"A tree?" Mikoto shifted, favoring her left arm. Despite the time that had passed since the battle of Konoha, the wounds Kimimaro had dealt still bothered her, and she wore a medical patch over one of her eyes. Even now, it was sore and sensitive to light; that might have been her new normal. With a patch of his own, Obito felt like he was a strange mirror of her. One man stepping towards eternal light, and one woman towards eternal darkness.
It was a melancholy thought, but he didn't let it drag him down. "What caused it?" he asked. Sasuke and Rin glanced at one another. The four of them were seated in the living room, Rin with a beer in hand. She and Sasuke had returned mostly unharmed from Amegakure to his relief, but Obito couldn't help notice that every once in a while, Sasuke was squinting at bright lights or deep shadows.
He'd used his eyes facing Orochimaru. Even if he hadn't said so, it was obvious.
"I burst his tenketsu," Rin admitted. "I'm no Hyuuga, but any decent medical ninja could have done with the state he was in. His body ran out of control, but I didn't expect him to turn into… whatever that was."
Obito pondered, keeping an eye on Mikoto first and foremost. He was searching for some sign of recognition, but none came. It was all the confirmation he needed; what he'd read on the tablet had only been visible to the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. The only people who could possibly have context for what Rin and Sasuke were saying were himself and Madara Uchiha.
"What is it, Obito?" Rin asked, and he shook his head, making the fateful decision. "You look constipated. Trust me, it was grosser than whatever you're imagining."
He laughed, getting a satisfied grin out of Rin. "It's not that," he said. "Frankly… I'm not sure what it is." He leaned forward, taking all the room's attention. "But him turning into a tree has got me worried. Remember, Madara said that the First Hokage's flesh did the same thing, and the stone below Nakano Shrine, well, it described something similar."
Mikoto didn't seem surprised that Obito had told Rin about the tablet, which was good, because if she'd made an issue of it he would have laughed at her. "You saw something?" she asked urgently. "With your eyes-?"
"I did," Obito admitted. "I didn't care about it much at the time with Madara rambling about his Infinite Tsukuyomi, but I guess it matters a lot more. There was a legend there about a divine tree that was a font of chakra, which became the Ten Tails and ran amok when a woman stole chakra from it."
"A woman?" Sasuke asked, seeming somewhere between curious and fed up. Obito shrugged.
"The tablet claimed it was a princess named Kaguya; the Sage of Six Path's mother."
"Like the clan?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Maybe. It could just be a coincidence, though," Obito said. "Considering how they ended up, I find it hard to believe those wackjobs could be descended from the Sage." He frowned. "Kagami is still in captivity; I suppose we could ask her. She was rejected from the clan, but if they had any founding myths, she might have been told them as a child."
"Maybe," Rin said, sounding doubtful. "So the Ten Tails started out as a tree?"
"That's the Uchiha's legend. It's what Madara believes, anyway," Obito said ruefully. "And considering what Kushina has confirmed with… the Kyuubi, well, the legend's seem to be more accurate than not. And that, plus the First Hokage's affinity… Orochimaru turning into a tree is…"
He stopped, not sure if he could find the right word. Interesting? Terrifying? It was both, and far more beyond.
"He did say I was close when I mentioned Kimimaro," Rin said. The mystery was clearly fascinating to her; she never could leave something like that alone, which was just one more thing Obito found attractive about her. "Between that, his rambling about immortal chakra and the Rinnegan…" She laughed. "What, you think he'd almost turned himself into something like the Tailed Beasts? Or what the Tailed Beasts were, before? Close enough that when his body fell apart, it returned to an 'original' form?"
"I have no idea." Obito had no interest in trying to sound smarter than he was, so he chose honesty instead. "But turning into a tree studded with eyes is horrible enough that it makes me wonder." He scratched the scar on his chin, leaning back. "It's a combo of the Uchiha and the Senju… the two clans descended from the Sage's son, right? I dunno if the Senju had anything like our tablet; that might be a question for Tsunade, if she were willing to share. But the Shodai had control over nature, and his trees are still standing in places like the Forest of Death. It does seem like there's a connection; trees, the Sage and his sons, the Tailed Beasts, maybe the princess Kaguya and the Kaguya clan. Not to mention him calling Madara and Hashirama's chakra different from everyone else's. There's something binding them all that we're missing, that not even Madara knew about."
With the whole room staring at him, Obito grew self-conscious. "I think, anyway," he clarified. "I might just be trying to tie everything together for the sake of it. It feels less frightening that way, right?"
"It's frightening in different ways," Mikoto said simply, and she was right. "Do you think Orochimaru was speaking of Madara's Will when he spoke of divergent chakra? The Black Zetsu?"
"I think that's the most likely possibility," Obito said. Sasuke nodded with him, but spoke up nonetheless.
"But he mentioned Hashirama as well," he said. "And I don't think the First's shadow ever came alive." He paused. "Unless, well, it did, and no one ever learned about it?"
"A White Zetsu to the Black?" Rin suggested. Obito chuckled.
"Maybe? It's impossible to say now."
"You think we made the wrong decision?" she asked with an arched eyebrow, but Obito shook his head.
"No. I think if Orochimaru had managed to crawl away, even as our prisoner, it would only have been for the worst. Sensei didn't question it, right?" he said. Rin shrugged.
"He didn't. But he was out of it. You've spoken with him?"
"Only a little. But I'll be talking to him about this," Obito confirmed, and everyone in the room nodded in agreement. "Even if Orochimaru's dead, or close enough to it, what he became means his last words were worth listening to."
"Do you think it really matters?" Sasuke asked.
'The world pours things into people beyond hatred, and if you can't understand what those things are, you'll never see what's coming.'
"It does." Obito surprised himself with the confidence in his voice, and Sasuke straightened up. "Whatever Orochimaru was onto is tied into the roots of this whole mess. If we can figure out what it was, we'll have a better idea of how to save Itachi… and maybe how to navigate whatever's going on with Rain. It's-"
There was a knock at the door, and Obito paused, glancing over. After a moment, Mikoto spoke; it was her house, after all.
"Come in."
An Uchiha poked her head in, a woman named Yari that Obito barely knew. She'd distinguished herself in the attack on Konoha after awakening her Sharingan at the relatively late age of twenty-one, and since then had taken to wearing a thin blindfold, apparently overwhelmed by her new visual acuity. "My apologies, Lady Mikoto," she said quietly. "There are some visitors: the Jonin Commander, and some of his advisors. They said they're here to speak with Lord Obito."
Too respectful by a wide margin, and not a title anyone in the clan would have ever used for him even a year ago; especially a year ago, after what had happened with his team. Obito did his best not to react, but he did stand up. "Shikaku's here?"
Yari inclined her head. "We did not want him to stress himself, so we had him wait by the compound entrance."
"We'll finish this later, then," Obito said, and the room nodded in agreement. "I'll report to Skikaku and the Hokage, and we'll figure it out from there. Rin, you're staying?"
"Just for a bit," she said with a smile. "I'll catch up to you."
"Careful what you say, Obito," Mikoto chided as he turned away.
"Don't you think we've kept enough secrets?" he said, and caught a glimpse of Sasuke and Rin's hidden smiles as he left. Yari stepped respectfully aside, and then followed him a step behind like a retainer as he made his way through the compound.
She was quiet, moving silently like a proper shinobi, but Obito could feel her anxiety. He glanced back at her, and she looked away as if she were afraid to meet his quenched eye.
"Something wrong?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"No."
"You're sure?" he asked, genuinely curious, and she nodded. "Okay then."
They were about halfway to the entrance when his curiosity flared back up again, and he spoke against his better judgment.
"Why 'lord?'" he asked. Yari slowed down. "Just curious, that's all."
"It seemed appropriate," she said after a moment.
"It's not what I'm used to," he said.
"You and Lady Mikoto are the de facto clan heads at this point," Yari explained after another pause. "When your team defected, there were… doubts… but they came back such splendid shinobi that it was obviously the intention from the start: to steal our enemy's secrets and teachings."
She glanced over at him. Her Sharingan was visible through the blindfold in faint red lights, and Obito remembered when he had just awoken his own eyes, how addicted he'd been to the feeling of chakra burning in his temple and the razor sharp clarity that had suffused all of existence. "And now, with you having inherited your brother's eye… I don't think I'm the only one who feels ashamed of their ignorance. You have always been one of the greatest of the Uchiha, Lord Obito. The fact that the Jonin Commander himself is here to call on you is only further proof of that. You deserve more respect than we could possibly muster to make up for our past wretchedness."
Obito was too stunned to put together a proper answer, so after a moment he just nodded and said "I see," instead of anything particularly clever. Yari seemed to find that appropriate, and they reached the compound entrance without exchanging another word.
Obito dismissed Yari with a gesture and she departed as he pushed through the small, unlocked door beside the great gates. He'd expected Shikaku on the other side, and with company: he hadn't expected that company to be Koharu and Homura, the withered advisors and former comrades of the Third Hokage.
Obito paused, feeling like he'd stepped into a bear trap, and Shikaku gave him a deadly serious nod. "Glad you could join us. Do you have time to take a walk?" He gestured down at the wheelchair he'd been stuck in for the past week. "Well, you know what I mean."
"A walk?" Obito asked. He liked Shikaku and especially respected the man's strategic genius, but the situation was rubbing him wrong. "What for?"
"There are some things we wish to discuss," Koharu said, her voice as blunt as usual. "You're not obligated if you don't wish to, Obito Uchiha."
"Jeez, okay," Obito muttered. The grudge he'd felt against the advisors might have faded after working with them to clean up the village, but he still didn't enjoy their company. "Let's take a walk then."
The journey towards the village proper was along a paved path that wove through one the preserved forests and past several training fields. The way was a short one for a ninja, but a ninja in a wheelchair was a different story. Obito walked slowly alongside Shikaku, with Homura on his left and Koharu at Shikaku's right, and as they meandered they spoke to one another in quiet tones.
"You're healing well," he led off with, and Shikaku scoffed.
"I'm healing. I don't know if I'd call it 'well,'" he said, shifting an obviously stiff neck. "Still can't feel anything below my chest."
"Tsunade said it would come back, if I recall. Naruto told me that, anyway," Obito said. Shikaku grunted, but after a moment nodded.
"I'm sure. It's just frustrating," he said. "And how about you? Your eyes feeling better?"
"I think so." Obito was doing his best to be genuine, but the sinking feeling wasn't going away. "Rin thinks it will be fully healed in five or six days. Though the chakra network still isn't fully developed, so I get the feeling it's gonna itch like hell soon."
"That's great," Shikaku said, sounding both sincere and distant. "And you're feeling good in general, aside from that?"
"Okay, what's up?" Obito said, already fed up.
"Have you seen the Hokage since he returned from Ame?" Homura asked, adjusting his glasses. Obito narrowed his eye.
"Briefly. I was going to go speak with him after this, actually."
"He is handling his defeat in Amegakure poorly," the man said bluntly. Obito felt his face twitch into a sneer, but managed to quell it.
"He wasn't defeated," he said, and now it was Homura that was hiding a sneer, though not nearly as well. "He made the decision to retreat before lives were carelessly spent."
"Yahiko lives," Koharu rasps, "and Nagato stole the Flying Thunder God from under Minato's nose. A more conclusive defeat, there has never been in the Fourth's history."
"That's because there haven't been any others," Obito said with a laugh. "Seriously? This is what's happening?" He directed the scornful question at Shikaku. "Sensei doesn't perform perfectly a single time, and these old folks already want to put him out to pasture?" Now, he let the sneer out. "He's been a bulwark against war for more than a decade now; the village has never been on better terms with the Daimyo's court, and even after Rain's attack, no one doubts we're the strongest in the world. I'm sure of that. Is that what this really is about, Shikaku?"
Shikaku stopped, steepling his fingers as he gave Obito an honest look. "It's not come to that. Not nearly," he said, and Obito blew out a frustrated breath. "But there are concerns. What happened in Amegakure has just brought them to a head, that's all."
"What kind of concerns?" Obito said, trying to stay in control, to stay calm. Shikaku sighed.
"I know he's your teacher, Obito. I didn't come here to offend you," he said, which only really offended Obito more. "The conflict with Rain is complicated. With both villages being led by Jiraiya's students, there's always been an uncomfortable personal connection. The Daimyo is aware of that, and frankly, the Jonin are too."
"Minato's been handling it," Obito declared, and Shikaku shook his head.
"I've seen Minato handle everything the world threw at him. He's been a sterling Hokage, a worthy successor to the Third. The Demon Lands Crisis, the assassination of the Guardian Ninja, the tariff wars in the Land of Grass: Minato
handled that. He was decisive; none of us could second guess him." For the first time, Shikaku seemed to take a moment to think and choose his words with utmost care. "But when it comes to Rain, he's been compromised."
"His son blindsided him completely," Koharu said roughly. "Running off on that mission; Minato never saw it coming."
"Kushina did," Obito said, but Koharu just laughed.
"And didn't share her insight, which is its own problem. She had a woman's intuition: she recognized his stubbornness, perhaps. It doesn't matter," she said, moving on and ignoring Obito's obvious distaste at her outdated declaration. "Your team's wholesale defection to the Land of Rain unsettled him, and when Cloud attacked he put their safety before information gathering, which they had been sent there for in the first place." She held up her hand, preempting his objection. "It was your desire as well, and one we cannot blame you for. But it is a father's job to worry for his child, a teacher's job to protect his students. It is the
Hokage's job to make the difficult decisions for the betterment of the village."
"That alone would not have moved us," Homura said, picking up the verbal combo so fluidly that Obito couldn't help but be impressed. It was like he was being attacked from two sides at once, blows slipping through despite his best efforts. "But his lapse in allowing the village to be assaulted-"
"What?" Obito bit out. "What, should he have read Yahiko's mind? He attacked without even most of the Nation of Rain knowing about it!"
"But the assault was nearly a success because Minato had departed on a pointless diplomatic effort," Homura said. He was so calm that Obito found it hard to believe it was his real feelings. "He was desperate to forge a false peace with Rain because they were both students of Jiraiya, and so he believed they could understand one another. But can you look at what happened, and say that is not a mistake?" Now Homura's anger became obvious, though still subtle. "Yahiko took advantage of his sentimentality, and the village suffered for it. The summit was worthless; with any other village, Minato would have known to simply secure Konoha and wait for the situation between Cloud and Rain to resolve itself, rather than stepping out and risking a bite by a rabid dog. And now-"
"I won't hear this," Obito said. "It's insane-"
"It's not." Shikaku's voice cut through Obito's burgeoning rage. The man looked heartbroken, and that was enough to keep Obito from fully going off. "It happened again in Amegakure. Yes, it's admirable that Minato worked to save as many lives as he could." Shikaku Nara was a kind and thoughtful man, but the Jonin Commander was as tough as steel and spared nothing but cold logic for every situation, and it was the latter that was watching Obito with a sorrowful look. "But that wasn't the mission; we did not dispatch more than seven hundred ninja with the expectation they would all return. That's the dreadful reality of war."
The cruel words brought pause to them all, but Shikaku continued without any mercy. "The Minato we know could have won that battle, Obito. You know that. Even if Nagato stole the Flying Thunder God, even if he used it to kill many of our ninja, Minato would have won. He had the Kazekage: he had a Jinchuriki, and Jiraiya, and hundreds of skilled ninja at his side. The cost would have been steep, but he
would have won, and Rain would no longer be a threat."
"Instead, they're a greater danger than ever," Koharu cut in, ever the sharp-tongued elder. "Now, it's not just the Hokage's judgment that is compromised, but his greatest technique as well. It's no exaggeration to say the situation is catastrophic."
Obito stopped, and the others did as well. They watched him, waiting for a reaction, but he didn't give them one. Instead, he took a deep breath.
"Shikaku, you stay here," he eventually decided. "You two, leave."
"Don't think you can dismiss us so easily, Obito," Koharu said, bristling. "We-"
"You're not helping," Obito said. "Frankly, you're just pissing me off. But I want to finish this conversation. You can leave, or I can."
Homura moved to say something, and Obito shifted his eye to him. The man froze, blinked, and backed down. Obito was sure that last week there would have been no concession, but times had changed.
"Koharu," Homura said after a moment. "We'll finish this later. If he wishes to speak with Shikaku alone, that won't be a problem."
Koharu looked like someone had just handed her a plate of rusty nails for dinner, but when Homura turned to leave, she followed without even sparing a nasty look. Obito watched them walk away, sure that they were trying to eavesdrop, not speaking until the elder's had gained some real distance along the path.
He swiveled, crouching down in front of Shikaku to bring them eye to eye. The Jonin Commander was resolute, not shifting from his gaze.
"Why are you telling me this?" Obito asked.
"You know why," Shikaku said, his voice a whisper. "You're not as clueless as you act, Obito."
"I want to hear you say it," Obito said, just as quiet.
Shikaku considered his words carefully. "There hasn't been any pressure. Not yet. Lord Sugawara adores Minato, but his court is already reacting to the failure to punish Rain, and us initially ignoring the bounty for freeing Rain's Daimyo. There have always been members of the government convinced that Minato had sympathies for the Nation of Rain, and was dangerous for it: what Homura and Koharu spoke of, and my own concerns, will just be the spark that lights the fire."
"The Daimyo will try to remove sensei?" Obito confirmed, a question that wasn't a question. Shikaku nodded.
"Obviously, he does not have the power to do so directly. But with a war on the horizon… government missions are only going to get more lucrative, and he will direct those as his court demands. Konoha would suffer; the reconstruction isn't proving cheap, and with the existing casualties…" Shikaki sighed. "If the worst comes, a replacement will have to be found."
"Who did you have in mind?" Obito asked.
Shikaku stared at him.
"Seriously?" he asked. Obito frowned.
"What?" he said, but it was already slowly dawning on him. "Wait, you don't mean-"
"Obito," Shikaku said, the ghost of a laugh in his words, "I'm going to assume, for my own sake, that you weren't being serious just now."
"Shikaku," Obito said, deadly serious. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"That's what makes you an excellent choice," Shikaku said, which was absurd. Obito started to speak, but he held up a hand. "You must have noticed; you're practically an idol in the village now. Your leadership in the assault, holding off the Sanbi until Minato got back, and all without your Sharingan; it made people who thought you were just the product of that Mangekyo reconsider."
Obito shifted, feeling uncomfortable, but Shikaku didn't give him a chance to interrupt. "Your students are a model for every ninja: Sakura took down Rain's Jinchuriki and saved Kushina's life with Naruto, and Sasuke saved
me. It was too late for Choza, but he faced down a legendary rogue and came out on top, even if the Sandaime had to give everything in the process."
He leaned in, his eyes hard, both friendly and calculating. "
You are the role model everyone is looking for now, not Minato. And when your eyes are finished healing, your Kamui is going to be fully unleashed. The Flying Thunder God might have been stolen from the village, but
no one can take your power from you, not unless you're dead. If anyone can be relied upon to defend the village and uphold the Will of Fire, Obito… it's you."
Obito grimaced. "You know what my clan has done. After what happened-"
"Planned to do. They didn't manage anything real before Itachi dealt with it," Shikaku said, clearly unimpressed. "I don't care about the ancient rivalries, and however that influenced the Shodai and Nidaime's decisions, and I don't care about any perceived grievances the Uchiha had nearly a decade ago. The Senju had integrated so heavily most haven't even kept the name, or died off: the Uchiha are still strong, even after the Massacre, and you're the strongest of them, Obito. Of the other founding clans, there are perhaps three ninja that could be considered, but none of them compare to you."
"It's-"
"Just shut up and consider it, will you?" Shikaku said, halfway between amused and frustrated. "You said the exact same thing to Minato when he picked you for Team Seven, didn't you?"
'You really think that's a good idea?'
Shikaku saw Obito remember, and grinned. "Everyone can see you've come a long way, Obito; you have to stop doubting yourself and see, really see, who you are, what you're capable of, and the people who are relying on you. Your team all became incredible ninja thanks to you: the village isn't a lake thanks to you." He threw one hand out, encompassing the world. "You're Minato's student; it's your job to surpass him. Nothing is set in stone yet, but if this keeps up, someone else might need to lead the village in his place."
"I don't feel like I would be ready," Obito said, but this time he managed to cut Shikaku off before he could start up again. "And I'm sure you're going to say that no one is ever ready. That's probably true. But the Hokage is more than just a figurehead. They're a leader,
the leader. I'm not a strategic guy; I don't know the first thing about policy. I've never even met the Daimyo face to face."
"Minato hadn't either," Shikaku said with a shrug. "And not everyone's a polymath like him. The Hokage has advisors, both here in the village and in the Daimyo's Court. The job isn't a lonely one."
"I don't like a lot of the people giving the Hokage advice," Obito said, glancing in Homura and Koharu's direction. The farther away they got, the slower they went, obviously trying to judge the conversation from a distance.
Shikaku laughed. "And they don't like you. In their eyes, you killed a lot of perfectly good Leaf ninja when you helped rip up ROOT," he said. "But Minato didn't keep them around just because he likes arguing with them. They're experienced, even if they're sometimes wrongheaded, and there aren't many direct disciples of the Nidaime left."
"What if I was Hokage, though?" Obito said, saying the words fully for the first time. "Would I be under any obligation to invite them into my confidence?"
"That would be your call," Shikaku said. "Like you said, the Hokage is the leader. The position is chosen by democracy, but its powers are anything but democratic."
Obito mulled. There wasn't much else he felt he could do. What Shikaku was saying was so enormous that he had no choice. His literal childhood dream was being presented to him, but he never would have dreamed the circumstances around it would be so toxic. He'd given up on leadership after Kakashi had died, but that had been an old him, a weaker him. One who hadn't reawakened the fires of ambition, which despite his protest were even now rumbling through him.
The Hokage was one of the most powerful people in the world. They were one of the few people who could enact change, real long lasting change, with more tools than just violence or greed. How could he look at that with the feeling that something was wrong, that the world was wrong, and that maybe he could do something to fix it, and simply say 'No?' Was he that afraid of embracing power? Shinobi were taught all their life to be both ambitious and pragmatic, to take all they could but never try for too much and die in the attempt. Obito had shunned every shred of agency and forsaken all the autonomy he could for decades, trying to make up for what Rin had rightfully pointed out weren't his failures. Could he go from that, to
this, and not become someone wholly different in the process?
"I don't know," he decided. "I'll keep it in mind." He straightened up, standing and blowing out a heavy breath. "I'll speak with sensei about it."
"You're welcome to." Shikaku nodded. "You should. He knows better than anyone what might happen now. I'm sure he'd welcome your input."
"He's at the tower?" Obito confirmed, and Shikaku shook his head. "Where, then?"
"With Kushina."
Not surprising, and Obito wouldn't mind talking to the both of them. Naruto was probably there as well. "Well, I was going to see him anyway. There's something I think you should hear about first, though. Regarding Orochimaru."
"Please, then," Shikaku said, gesturing at the distant elders to rejoin the conversation. "At this point, nothing could surprise me."
###
After badly surprising Shikaku, Obito made his way to the spiral home at a brisk pace. The streets were heavily patrolled by shinobi but none delayed him, and he arrived just as the sun began to set. He didn't know much of the history of the spiral home, just that it had been built with Uzumaki secrets as a means to suppress the Kyuubi early in Kushina's life, but looking at it always made him queasy.
It had a wide set of double doors as the main entrance at the end of a path that led off the street, and two ANBU stood guard. They gave Obito respectful nods as he approached and let himself in without a word, closing the door behind him. The sound of a quiet discussion greeted him, though all involved paused when they heard him enter.
"Obito?" Kushina's voice echoed through the entry hall, carrying over from an adjacent living room. "That you?"
"It's me," Obito said, making his way to the room. His instinct had been right: Kushina, Minato, and Naruto were all here, seated around a low table with a small meal, either a late lunch or an early dinner. Naruto gave a grin and a two finger salute, but Kushina and Minato just nodded; they seemed equally serious.
"Interrupting something?" Obito asked, and his sensei shook his head.
"It's nothing," he said, gesturing. "Grab a seat if you want. We were just finishing up."
Obito did, taking the spot across from Naruto, and tried to figure out exactly what to say next.
"You're looking glummer than usual, Obito," Kushina said after a moment with a mischievous grin. Her eyes still hadn't gone back to normal: ever since Naruto had woken her up, they'd been affected by the Kyuubi's chakra, distending the pupils vertically. Even though Obito knew the Kyuubi hadn't taken control, it still felt disturbingly like being watched by a predator.
"I just had a talk with Shikaku," Obito said. "It didn't put me in a good mood."
"About me being replaced?" Minato said mildly. Obito coughed.
"Sensei-?" he started to ask, but Minato waved him off. Kushina was frowning, while Naruto just looked confused.
"Am I wrong? It seems to be happening more lately," Minato said with a trace of good humor, and Obito couldn't help but chuckle.
"No, that's basically it. But there was some other stuff I wanted to check with you two about," he said, and Minato showed a spark of curiosity. "So pick your poison, I guess."
Minato seemed unsure, but Naruto ended up picking it for them. "Shikamaru's dad is talking about replacing you?" he asked his father. Minato shrugged, an extremely unusual motion for him. "What, just because of what happened at Amegakure?"
"Most likely," Minato said, still perfectly calm and balanced. "After failing to punish Rain sufficiently for their attack, I'm sure many of the Jonin have doubts about me, to say nothing of the Daimyo's Court. An unpopular Hokage isn't Hokage for long; even the Sandaime had to head off a couple votes over the years."
"That seems unbelievably stupid," Naruto said, just looking more confused and concerned. "I mean… I don't know a lot about that kind of thing, but replacing the guy in charge when a war's on can't be a good idea, right?"
"It depends on the situation," Minato said, but he didn't have the energy he usually did before launching into an explanation. Obito chose that moment to step in.
"The Jonin Commander, among others, is concerned that your dad's judgment is compromised when it comes to Rain," he explained. Naruto frowned, but didn't interrupt. "Because of their connection to Jiraiya-sensei, among other things."
"Well, that's dumb. Nagato's just… really strong. Right?" Naruto asked, looking to his father.
Minato shook his head.
"They're right," he said, and Obito had to admit some shock. If there was anyone he would have thought could have completely separated their shared past, it would have been his sensei. But apparently he'd been wrong, and now he was bearing witness to something he'd thought impossible: Minato Namikaze looking embarrassed.
"My judgment has been compromised. Calling you all back too soon," he said to Naruto, "because I was frightened of what might happen to you, instead of trusting you to do your job. Taking it easy on someone bearing the Rinnegan, of all people, because of a promise I made to sensei." Minato looked distant, running over everything again and again. "You remember, Obito, I was told I had fettered myself. I don't think that's true, but it was definitely the case in Rain, and it put us all in a terrible position."
"Sensei," Obito said carefully. "I
really don't think you take any of that to heart."
"I'm not," Minato said with a reassuring smile. "Trust me. It's just close to this particular truth, that's all." He sat back, leaning back on both hands. "Nagato had me dead to rights.".
Kushina flinched, but it was Naruto that spoke once more. "No way," he said, shaking his head. "Even if he stole the Hiraishin-"
"He caught me," Minato said, not being harsh but authoritative enough to stop Naruto from saying another word. "He had me by the hand. Jiraiya and you all told me enough about the Rinnegan for me to know that was it. He could have torn it off: he had the strength for that. But that would have been getting off easy compared to having my chakra drained away, or my soul ripped out."
With the room struck dumb, Minato continued in the same musing tone. "Yahiko knew it too. He demanded Nagato kill me. But he didn't; he was determined to negotiate, even though we'd come there to kill his people. At the time, I barely considered it. My only thoughts were for winning the fight, even though I'd lost it right in that moment." He laughed. "My heart knew what my mind was too slow to realize; as soon as he put one of my ninja in danger, I rolled over like a beaten dog."
"Sensei, you were preventing a disaster," Obito argued. "If you hadn't withdrawn, Nagato could have come all the way here, to the Hidden Leaf. Both villages would be even more devastated. Withdrawing then-"
"If Nagato had wanted to devastate the village, he would have done so," Minato said. "He wouldn't have wasted time with Fukoro; he would have gone to the Leaf, and come back with proof. That was well within his ability, before I destroyed the Hiraishin seals here." He leaned forward, more serious. "If we're to continue to prosecute a war with Rain, which may be inevitable however unfortunate it is, Shikaku is probably right, as usual. I'm not cut out to command it."
"Who would be, if not you?" Obito asked, but Minato shook his head.
"I'm sure Shikaku has his own opinions on that, and I would defer to them," he said. But there was a lot in his eyes; shame, introspection, and cleverness alongside them. The way he was looking at Obito made it seem like he already knew exactly what Shikaku had said. "I wouldn't hold a grudge against my successor; it's not like I would be exiled, or anything that dramatic. The village would still need me, and I it: I would just be another Jonin. Given how things have developed, I would probably be put in charge of the Barrier Corp and the QRF, to focus on defending Konoha."
"I don't know how you can take this more calmly," Kushina said with a chuckle. "I'd be spitting fire by about now, Minato."
"It's justified. And it will give me more time to focus on you," Minato said, effortlessly inspiring a blush. Naruto stuck out his tongue in a mock gag, but still seemed conflicted. To his credit, he was keeping his mouth shut, waiting to gather his thoughts to speak. "But there's not much to worry about now; these sorts of things take time. I'll still be Hokage when your eyes are healed, Obito." Minato smiled. "I can rely on you for the operation against Cloud, right?"
"Of course," Obito said. "I'll smash that Cannon if it's the last thing I do."
"Well, try to make sure it's not," Minato said dryly. "Since you're more important to the village than ever, after all."
"So that's happening, for sure?" Naruto said, and his father nodded. "When?"
"Most likely this time next week," Minato said. "Obito's projected to be healed by then, and he'll be leading the assault."
"I am?" Obito asked, surprised, and Minato nodded.
"You are," he confirmed. "Mission scrolls are being dispatched at midnight tonight; we're doing our best to keep everything as quiet as possible, since Cloud may have better spies than we gave them credit for. Rin will be your second in command: sorry if that's not your ideal date."
That got a chuckle from everyone, thankfully lowering the tension a little, but Naruto had more questions. "So then, Sakura and Sasuke and Jiraiya and I…" he pondered. "What should we do, once the Cannon is busted?"
"That depends on how Cloud and Rain react," Obito said, feeling the opening Minato was leaving him. "Frankly, I don't think you should be going, and I doubt your parents feel differently," he said, getting nods from Minato and Kushina. "But it is an important opportunity, even if it's dangerous. Konan is likely Rain's leader or second in command, depending on how Nagato conducts himself going forward. Trying to keep relationships positive with her will be important if we don't want this war to drag on forever, and you were right that you three are the best fit to handle that." He sighed. "And with Jiraiya there, I'm not too worried about you. War is chaos, but I have faith he'll keep you safe. Really, you're all Chunin or Jonin by now: it'll be your job to follow your gut, both on your own safety and the betterment of the situation."
"Well, that's helpful," Naruto said with a roll of his eyes. "I'll keep an eye on Sakura, then. See what she and Sasuke think." He paused. "Have you seen her, sensei?"
"Barely," Obito admitted. "Everything's been so busy, and it feels like she's made herself scarce."
"She's not doing good," Naruto said frankly. "It's like she's frozen."
"Frozen?"
"Like she's not letting herself think things," Naruto said, all the adults paying him their full attention. He didn't wilt under it at all. "She's not grieving. Even though she had to kill Haku, I've never seen her cry. I feel like… half the reason I'm going to Frost is just to make sure she's okay."
"She had to make an impossible choice," Kushina said softly. "I told her that's what the Akatsuki was built around: I never thought it would go that far. She was close to Haku, right Naruto?"
"Very," Naruto confirmed, and Obito detected a hint of jealousy in him for just a second before it was washed away by concern. "I can't imagine how she feels. "
"Then the best thing you
can do is be there for her," Kushina said, doing her best to comfort him. "When she does grieve, and she will, it's going to be something terrible. The longer she waits, the more intense it will be. She'll need you there to keep her in one piece." She leaned forward, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It sucks, but that's part of what love is. Sometimes, you can't keep someone from suffering. All you can do is help them through it. No matter how bad it is."
Naruto didn't protest; he just seemed to absorb his mother's words, and then he nodded, determination plain on his face.
Obito reflected, not for the first time, that he had a marvelous team. The subject dampened the whole room, but after a couple seconds of silence Kushina pushed through it as she turned on Obito.
"So, what was the other thing?" she asked. "You came here with two, remember?"
"Orochimaru turned into a tree," he said, and Minato was the only one who didn't give a baffled look. "Obviously that sounds crazy, don't look at me like that. It's what Rin and Sasuke reported, right sensei?"
"It is," Minato confirmed. "Though I wasn't very concerned with it at the time."
"The Ten Tails was a tree starting off," Obito said, trying to be as efficient as possible. Kushina stiffened, though the reaction was a little strong for what he'd said. "And Orochimaru's tree was covered in Sharingan. He'd taken genetic material from both Madara and the First Hokage; Mikoto and I are concerned that there's a connection between them, the divergent chakra Orochimaru mentioned, and the Sage and the Ten Tails."
"How did you know that stuff about the Ten Tails?" Kushina asked. Obito gave her a curious look.
"It's on a rock the Uchiha have kept around forever," he said. "The same place Madara got his information about the Tailed Beasts in the first place, but I can read it now."
"Kurama's curious," Kushina said, and Obito blinked.
"Wait," he said slowly. "It's still talking to you?"
"Oh, right," Kushina said cheerfully, like a demon wasn't chattering in her brain. "I forgot you weren't here for that part. Yeah, he's still talking to me, y'know." She paused. "Oh c'mon. Everyone calls you an 'it' starting off. Get over it."
Obito looked over at Minato in disbelief, but the Hokage just shrugged. "The seal is beyond repair," he said. "And making a new one will be months of work. So long as Kushina stays here, she's safe, but the barrier between her and the Kyuubi is dangerously thin. She says she can hear its voice at all times, and it has access to all her senses. Hence the eyes."
"Hey," Kushina chided. "He, remember? He doesn't like being called 'it,' even if he doesn't really have like, a gender." She paused, listening. "I'm not telling them that. But he wants to know where the rock comes from."
"Mikoto said the Sage passed it down to the clan," Obito said, trying and failing to take the twist in the conversation in stride. Of them all, Naruto seemed to be handling it the best; he was staring at his mom with obvious fascination. "As a way of keeping history clear."
"He doesn't know anything about that," Kushina said after a moment, listening to words only she could hear. "So it was probably a gift to Indra, in that case. I wonder if he also gave one to the other brother?"
"I thought the same thing," Obito said. "But Tsunade is probably the only one who'd know, and I doubt she'd want to tell me about it. There may also be a connection to the Kaguya, so I intend to speak with Kagami, see if she knows anything."
"With the Kaguya? And Kagami's still here?" Naruto asked, and Obito nodded.
"Held prisoner," he confirmed. "And apparently the Sage's mother was a princess named Kaguya. It could just be a coincidence, but I think it's worth following up on."
"Why're you digging?" Kushina asked.
"Same reason you were," Obito said. "There's lost history between the Beasts, Madara, Nagato, all of it. I dunno if it's actually going to be
helpful, but understanding how all this came to be isn't going to hurt anything."
"Hmm." She leaned back, thinking it over. "One second."
She fell silent, her eyes occasionally twitching or her mouth half-forming words. It was incredibly disconcerting, and Obito shuffled closer to Minato.
"You're okay with this?" he whispered. Naruto watched them both suspiciously, torn between eavesdropping and continuing to watch his mother.
"Kushina's convinced the Kyuubi can be negotiated with," Minato whispered back. "Since learning its name, she's come to believe it's a rational actor. But it doesn't matter if I'm okay with it or not: there's nothing we can do for now, short of tearing her chakra system out." He made a face somewhere between a grimace and a grin. "Which obviously isn't an option."
Was the Nine-Tails a rational actor? Obito had only had two interactions with it and neither had been pleasant, but the conversation had at least shown it capable of planning, and it had spoken truthfully by the terms of their agreement. If it had complete access to Kushina's chakra system, maybe negotiations were the way to go, even if they were unsettling.
"Oh for-!" Kushina suddenly blurted out. "You little asshole. It's not like I had much of a choice, y'know!" As everyone stared at her, she kept speaking to herself, her tone getting more and more irritated. "You
are a little asshole! I don't care how big you were: right now you're technically smaller than me!" Another pause, and then she laughed. "We're both stuck in the situation, Kurama! It's literally a prisoner's dilemma! Well, not literally, cause we can talk to each other, but y'know!"
She stood up, and Minato did as well. "Kushina?"
Obito and Naruto stood as well, but Kushina ignored them all as she started pacing. "I'm sure you've been burned before, but he's a good guy! Even if he did reseal you, it was just to save me! What, should he have just let me die?" She stopped. "Well, that's rude. I think I've been a pretty good host since I-" Another pause. "Well… I guess that's a bad example. Stealing your chakra was pretty harsh. But it was a desperate situation, y'know?"
Obito saw her have a minor epiphany. "But I guess that's how people will justify anything…" she said quietly, before falling into thought.
"Mom?" Naruto asked. "What's wrong?"
"He's pissed off," Kushina said bluntly. "He doesn't think we have any right to go digging more into the Sage's past, especially when Obito's descended from one of the kids that fucked it all up."
"What would it take for him to trust us?" Naruto said, but Minato shook his head.
"He says there's nothing," Kushina said, gritting her teeth. She started stomping off, and Obito and the rest trailed after her as she grew more and more furious. "But he's wrong. You think I'm just another human, huh? You're a real shithead, y'know that? How many people have you told your name, huh? Would you have just told any other human your name?!"
Kushina picked up speed, and Obito's heart skipped a beat: she was heading for the front door. Minato and Naruto had noticed the same thing and were speeding up as well, but none of them could believe that Kushina would really be heading towards the exit. Stepping outside would be suicide, after all; in her current state, the Kyuubi would overwhelm her immediately.
"Would any other human do this?!" Kushina demanded, and before anyone could grab hold of her she flung the door open and barged outside into the setting sun.
Obito's heart stopped; he, Minato, Naruto, and both of the ABNU, who had been standing guard but had seemingly also been too shocked to prevent the door from opening, tackled Kushina in a tangle of limbs and dragged her inside; she was outside the seals for barely more than a second, but it felt like an eternity. Kushina didn't resist. Instead, the moment she was back through the doors, she started laughing.
Her eyes were still blue: no crimson chakra raced across her skin or through her hair. The Kyuubi was still safely locked away.
"Oooh, so scary," she laughed. "Why didn't you do it then? You had your chance: I think you hesitated!"
"Kushina!" Minato barked, and Obito couldn't tell if he was the frightened husband or the disturbed Hokage as everyone else scrambled off of her, leaving Minato holding her alone.
"Oh, it's fine Minato," she said. "He talks a big game; he doesn't know how to deal with this any better than you do."
"I
don't know how to deal with this," Minato said, fixing her with a stern gaze. "But it doesn't matter if you need to prove a point or not. You
can't do that again. Even if he has a name, there was nothing stopping him from killing you. The whole village could have been at risk-"
"Nothing stopping him but himself," Kushina said with a grin. "I'll do it as many times as I need to, it doesn't matter-" As Minato helped her to her feet, she laughed again. "Well, they won't let me now, y'know? But listen-!"
She gave Minato, Naruto, and Obito the same serious look at the same time, talking to both herself and them at the same time. "The most important thing right now is
learning to trust one another. And that goes for more than just me and you, Kurama! It's the way out of a lot more messes than this one! All of us know that: we're just too afraid to take the first step! Well-!" She pointed at the half-open door. "I took the first step! So now it's your turn! Show me I can trust
you!"
She dropped her hand, smirking. "He's sulking," she said after a moment. Lightning fast, she grabbed Minato and pulled him close, kissing him deeply. Naruto didn't have time to turn away, and let out a protesting sound as Obito chuckled and averted his eyes.
"Sorry," she said, drawing away. "It just feels weird doing that while he's watching. Had to take the moment."
"It's fine," Minato said, looking like his mood had improved a little. "Well, actually, it's not fine. I'm serious. Don't do that again. For my sake, at least."
Kushina crossed her arms. "That's fine. It's his turn anyway, y'know," she said. "Might take him a while, though."
"Okay…" Obito said. "Sorry, I didn't mean to cause… all of that."
"Don't worry about it, Obito," Kushina said. "It's gonna happen one way or another." She sighed. "I'm hoping to convince him to leave, but leave enough of himself behind so I don't, you know, die. But it's gonna be hard work. Convincing a
person with that much history would be tough: Kurama's basically a demigod, from what we've learned. It's a tough one."
"Kushina…" Obito said. "That's crazy."
"A little. But what else is there?" Kushina said.
"The seal will be repaired," Minato reassured her. Obito couldn't help but notice he didn't say one thing or another about the Kyuubi being released. "I'll have time, once things have calmed down. You're my first priority."
"I know you could," Kushina said with a sad smile. "But I dunno if I could live with myself if you did." She put a hand over her stomach. "Knowing that he's not just a demon… it changes everything, even if he's still an asshole. I don't much like the idea of being a prison for something that might not need it."
"The Kyuubi's still destroyed countless lives," Obito pointed out. "You said yourself when you woke up that it… he acknowledged that."
"He did," Kushina agreed. "But that was because he'd lost hope. I mean, obviously it's messed up, but he can't die, y'know?" She sighed. "Wouldn't it be better, for me, for the whole world even, if he could go back to what he was supposed to be doing? Not destroying, but teaching instead?"
"It'd be better," Naruto spoke up. "If it's possible. But mom… do you really think you can help with something like that?"
Kushina was scared. Obito could see that now, now that the adrenaline had subsided. She had an unexpected passenger that was doubtlessly saying all sorts of nasty things to her, and her entire role in the world had been upended; she'd been forcibly brought to question everything she knew about her life. He was familiar with the feeling. Maybe he was the only one who could see it because of that. They made eye contact, and he felt that Kushina was thinking the exact same thing.
"I dunno," she admitted.
"But I'm still gonna try."
