The art of growing up
Authors Note: Follows the Naruto universe, some slight changes I tried, let me know if you hate it. Also italicized words indicate thought
Character: Obito Uchiha
Prompt: Canon compliant with I didn’t do it! or Angst with this why I fell in love with you. I chose both.
TRIGGER WARNING: Mention of suicide, death, some gore, and blood
Word Count: 1.5 K
Growing up in Konoha for Obito was arduous. He didn’t know who his parents were and was left in the care of his grandmother. Growing up he felt alone and unimportant. A burden to his clan and his grandmother. He wanted to become Hokage so that he would finally be acknowledged.
Obito was often seen as clumsy, bothersome, and unnecessary to his teammate Kakashi. Obito often was late for training and meetings, and this annoyed Kakashi immensely. He regularly liked to point it out to Obito. This caused a lot of contempt between the two.
Rin, however, was the glue of their team. She was always there to cheer Obito on and settled any flare-up between himself and Kakashi. Obito had known and grown up with Rin. They were best friends, and he liked to believe they were inseparable.
While waiting for their sensei to show up to the team meeting, Obito took this time to stare at Rin. Looking at her is like I am looking at an angel Obito thought. He couldn’t stop staring a the chestnut-haired girl. Kami, she is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Obito was unabashedly and absolutely in love with Rin Nohara. She was unquestionably perfect in his eyes. Her radiant smile lit up his whole world. The giggle of her laugh was music to his ears. The way her hair framed her magnificent face and the way her amber eyes lit up when she talked about the things that interested her was perfection to him. This is why I fell in love with you.
It was a shame to Obito that he had to share Rin with Kakashi. Even though he couldn’t currently bring himself to tell Rin, Obito knew he loved her. He loved her more than anything in the world. Unbeknownst, to him, was that Rin loved Kakashi. Why are all the girls in love with you? I bet you’re ugly underneath that mask. There is nothing special about him anyway.
“Obito, what are you thinking about in that head of yours?” Rin questioned him playfully.
“Yeah, Obito, you’ve got this stupid look on your face,” Kakashi remarked casually.
Seething, Obito bit his tongue knowing that if he said anything to rude back to Kakashi he would never hear the end of it from Rin. She’d go on and on about how they were teammates and were to act as one.
A blush coming over his face, Obito finally said. “I was just thinking.”
“Must be hard for you to do,” Kakashi stated flatly, clearly looking to get a rise out of Obito. Rin gave Obito an apologetic look as Obito stuck his tongue out at Kakashi.
“I am glad we’re all here” Minato- sensei said trying to break the tension.
“Obito was late, as usual,” Kakashi blatantly announced.
“Oi! I was helping an old woman with her groceries!” Obito yelled back.
Minato said while smiling, “ Well, our next mission will be to blow up the Kinnabi Bridge. This bridge is a major supply line for the Hidden Stone Village. With clear indication that there was no more to be said, they all left. Along the way, the team felt an uneasy presence as if they were being watched from the trees. A Hidden Stone ninja silently watched the team looking for an opening to attack. Kakashi thought this was a good time to try out his new technique, the Chidori despite Minato’s reluctance saying it could go awry with so little practice.
Kakashi hastily ran off to attack the enemy ninja. Okay, just go run off and be Mr. Perfect. Obito was distracted with his thoughts to notice that the Hidden Stone Ninja had used the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Kakashi had decided to focus on attacking the clones leaving Obito accessible to the enemy. The Hidden Stone ninja laughed at the look of dumb fright on Obito’s face and without delay, the clones descended upon Obito. While Kakashi was distracted with saving Obito, Kakashi felt a sharp stab of a katana into his right shoulder. At that exact moment, Minato tackled their opponent and attached his special tag to the ninja’s foot, and immediately transported Kakashi to Rin’s location. Instantaneously, Minato was gone.
Perfectly beautiful. Rin sat and worked on Kakashi’s wound taking gentle care not to hurt it or apply too much pressure. Kakashi didn’t seem to mind any and the pain didn’t seem to affect Kakashi at all. Instead, it seemed as if all the pain was redirected as animosity towards Obito.
“You’re a coward Uchiha!” Kakashi spat. Anger boiling deep inside and started to explode. “You hesitated on the battlefield! What an idiot!”
Blinking back tears Obito retorted, “At least, I didn’t rush out there blindly!” The boys were at one another’s throat. Rin just stood there nervously.
Minato’s voice boomed out, “Alright! Now that the threat is neutralized, for now, I think we should rest.” He is visibly upset by Kakashi’s biting behavior. Why did Kakashi act that way? Why does he act like he’s better than everyone?
After a while, feeling restless and unable to sleep, Obito got up to find Minato. After a bit, he found his sensei and sat down next to him asking, “Why did Kakashi act out like that?”
Minato took a deep breath and said, “Well, Kakashi’s father was the White Fang. Instead of finishing a mission, he decided to save his team. He was ridiculed and eventually killed himself.”
Obito sat and pondered Minato’s words and eventually drifted into a dreamless sleep. It wasn’t a surprise when the next day Minato disclosed to the group that Kakashi would be the leader for the next part of the mission.
“We will be separated at this point. You will be a team of three, with Kakashi as the leader.” Minato announced. Obito didn’t reject this decision. I hope this makes you proud of me, Rin. Rin was caught by surprise by Obito’s maturity, as much as Kakashi was. She looked at Obito with astonishment and curiosity. Am I better than Kakashi? Minato nodded and headed off alone.
Kakashi led the team farther into the enemy territory, where they were suddenly ambushed by two ninjas’ looking for their fallen comrade. They captured Rin before escaping.
NO! NOT RIN! Obito panicked without a second of hesitation, he told Kakashi plainly, “I’m going after her.” His heartbeat racing.
“I think that we should complete our mission.” Kakashi bit back.
With a huff, rage boiled inside of Obito, followed by a punch directly to Kakashi’s face. “Your father was a true hero when he saved his friends.” With that, Obito turned around and left to go save Rin on his own while Kakashi went the other way. Obito’s words weighed heavily upon Kakashi. Obito frantically searched for where Rin was being held captive. Where are you? Please be safe. If I ever- When I find them I will kill them for taking you away from us.
Obito came upon the hideout concealed deep in a cave where Rin was being kept. Okay, I need a plan. What is the best way to get Rin out of here? While Obito was planning Rin’s rescue, a Hidden Stone Ninja crept upon him. Using his camouflage technique to hide, the enemy ninja snuck closer to Obito. Just as the foe was ready to attack, Kakashi suddenly appeared.
“I don’t think that you could handle this all by yourself, idiot,” Kakashi said as he fought off the incoming attack, that would’ve maimed Obito. The consequence was the loss of Kakashi’s left eye. Oh, my kami. Oh no! What do I do? Panicking and afraid Obito began to cry when he saw Kakashi. I can’t- I can’t- I. NEED. TO. GET. TO. RIN!!!!
Refocusing his attention on the battle happening before him, Obito awakened his Sharingan. He was able to see the enemy, Obito quickly killed him. Kakashi looked at Obito with wide-eyed surprise, “Obito- You. Your- Sharingan.” With a quick shake of his head to acknowledge Kakashi’s stammering, he replied, “ Bandage yourself up and then let’s go get Rin.” Kakashi quickly bandaged himself up. The duo made their way to the cave where Rin was being held.
Wordlessly and effortlessly, the two entered to find Rin tied up and weak. Using their teamwork, Obito’s newly obtained Sharingan, and Kakashi’s skills, they fought off the last of the three Hidden Stone Ninjas that were following them in the forest. While battling inside the cave the walls had weakened significantly around the group. With all hope lost for the enemy, he made one last effort to defeat Obito and Kakashi which caused the cave to fall in on them. With all of the rocks collapsing around them, Obito noticed a rock plunging toward Kakashi. Leaping forward with extended arms, Obito threw Kakashi out of the way. The boulder landing on Obito and crushing the entire right side of his body. “Rin, take my Sharingan and transplant it in Kakashi’s eye. As a late gift for making Jounin.” Obito smiled weakly.
Rin and Kakashi were forced to leave Obito behind while the cave was crumbling around them. The last thing Obito saw before darkness took over was the tears in Kakashi’s eyes and the hopeless look of failure on Rin’s face. This can’t be the end. Shutting his eyes and surrendering to the void Obito’s final thought was ‘I didn’t do it! I didn’t get to tell you I’ll love you always and forever.’
