Chapter Text
The moment Obito felt the warmth of Naruto’s hands disappear, as well as the burning gaze of his former teammate he knew that this was the end of his life. Knowing that all he has ever worked towards was all for nothing hurt even more than he had originally thought. The memory of Naruto’s desperate attempt to save him and the pitying yet lost look of Sasuke, as well as the broken eyes of Kakashi made Obito want to throw up, if that was even possible anymore.
Obito felt like his body was just some dead weight flowing around in nothingness - no matter in which direction his eyes glanced, all he saw was black. Not knowing where he was didn’t give him as much panic as he had originally thought. It vaguely reminds him of Kamui and it’s dark sky and grey blocks and his blood dripping from his heart when Kakashi-
Forcing his thoughts away from that event Obito felt himself shiver. Oh how much he hated this; him being here unable to do anything while Kami knows what’s going on in the land of the living. He had faith in Naruto and Sasuke and that fierce kunoichi of theirs, as well as in Kakashi because for all that he tried to tell himself Obito still cared for his friend and even longed for him.
’It wasn’t fair’, something in the back of his mind told him, something similar to his younger self that just wouldn’t let this go down in that way but…
… Obito was tired, tired of this guilt and hatred that rested in him and exhausted of this miserable life of his. For the past twenty years he thought that with the infinite tsukuyomi Obito could finally be at peace but even this dream was taken from him and now he was nothing but a failure. Was it all worth it? Was it all worth destroying families and lives, forcing people to feel the same pain he had felt when Rin died? He won’t blame it on Madara, not really at least. While the older did play a huge part in this he was also just another pawn in Zetsu’s game, and in turn Kaguya. Zetsu, that lying bastard. Obito thinks he might just find a way to get back just to tear him apart.
Obito promised himself that he will make it worth it. All of the sacrifices and bonds that he broke won’t be for nothing but seeing as how everything turned out the pit in his stomach started to grow even further. Determined to achieve the peace he longed for, Obito destroyed everything dear to him. Was anything ever going to go his way? Was he always going to be the one at the end of the joke, the one having to face all of the consequences? Because while he is here in nowhere-land, Kakashi and his precious team are fighting for their lives with a goddess. Everyone died because of him and they will too.
His thoughts wandered to the Akatsuki and even though he was rarely with them Obito still enjoyed the time he spent with them. The bickering of Deidara with Sasori and Itachi, though his cousin never took the bait, the calm nature of Konan and how she always made origami to calm her nerves. Even Hidan with his obnoxious beliefs made the hurt worse. The Akatsuki, while always at each other's throat, always cared for one another, Konan made that clear when she hit Hidan over the head after he tried sacrificing Itachi.
“We are in this together, whether you like it or not. We will look after one another even if you try to deny it.”
It was one thing for Obito to feel this type of guilt towards his former teammate and his sensei’s son, but it was another for him to have the same feelings for the organisation he drove towards hell. If he ever had the chance to face them again, would he be able to? Can Obito look them in the eyes and not be overrun by this guilt? He personally killed Konan, that can’t be forgiven. He manipulated the rest into doing whatever he wanted - they all had a death sentence the moment they came in contact with Obito Uchiha, or dare he say Madara or even Tobi.
A bitter taste in his mouth after thinking of these names - each holding a separate story.
Obito, the dead-last with a heart of gold that was worn on his sleeve. A boy that died too young and death impacted everyone around him.
Madara, a fearful name across the entire nation due to its dark history. A man who pulled the strings behind Nagato - Pein - and made everyone his little puppets. He was the one that started the fourth war and lost it the moment he entered the battlefield.
Tobi, an idiot who talks too loud and laughs too much. A man-child who annoys his partners and never dies, even if caught in an explosion. He was the one who always made someone smile when they were down, be it a little kid or one of the members on their bad day.
Three different names and he hated all of them for various reasons.
Three different names and three different times Obito felt like he lost a bit of himself.
Obito could pretend all he wanted, in the end he wasn’t some misunderstood ‘hero’. He wasn’t some villain who finally found the light and returned to it. No, Obito wasn’t any of that.
That’s precisely why he couldn’t understand the determination Naruto had to save him - him, Obito Uchiha! Once they might have been similar, but now? It would be an insult to even think about comparing Naruto to him.
He was deep in his thoughts, or as deep as he allowed himself to go because no matter what there was nothing he could do, nothing he could change since he was officially, finally, dead. Death, he wonders, might have been the best option all of these years ago. He willingly gave his life up for Kakashi, and now he wonders if that time would have been as peaceful if he really had died.
A sudden light was the only warning he got before Obito’s back met the ground.
The cold surface forced his body to shiver slightly before he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His eyes hurt, the brightness from before still affects him, black and white dots were in his field of vision.
Obito didn’t understand, it was all too much for him to really comprehend. Where was he? His ears pick up voices, all too familiar voices, and Obito stiffened - this has to be some type of cruel joke. Lifting his hands up to rub the pain away from his eyes he hesitantly lets his gaze fall towards the group once feared around all five nations.
Konan stood next to Nagato, her blue hair still tied in the all too familiar style with the same paper rose. Her mouth was pulled into a frown and her eyes were looking at Sasori and Deidara in disinterest - both too busy arguing about god knows what to really acknowledge her look. Nagato, to Obito’s surprise, had bright red hair and not the grey he had first anticipated. His rinnegan eyes were glancing towards the arguing duo, but he wasn’t giving them any mind, instead he looked like was in his own world - not talking and acknowledging no one.
Opposite from the Amegakure duo was his cousin and Kisame. Itachi, with his passive face and long black hair, looked around before his eyes found Obito. There was a moment of confusion before that melted into something similar to distrust. “Who are you?” his cousin asked with a slight edge to his tone. To him he was just some random guy with a scarred face and white ugly hair but to some…
“Madara?”
… He was the reason they were all currently present in this weird subspace. As soon as the name left Kisame’s mouth everyone snapped their heads towards him. The Ame-duo looked at him with shock and, in Konan’s case, anger and hatred. Obito wanted to disappear more than ever. It was out of instinct mostly, some weird fight or flight response he developed, when he activates his mangekyou. He felt the familiar feeling of Kamui before it suddenly disappeared, in its place was the burning pain in both of his eyes. He cursed loudly, pressing the balm of his palms on his eyes.
His head was spinning, the throbbing pain was getting more and more uncomfortable. He was aware of something happening around him, but he didn’t care - couldn’t because whenever he even attempted to open his eyes they would burn. There was a warm hand pressed against his exposed back and he tensed up for a second before relaxing at the familiar feeling of a healing jutsu. It wasn’t anything like the one Rin performed, and it clearly wasn’t anywhere near the power Kakashi’s little kunoichi had when she - Sakura, her name was Sakura - healed him.
“You don’t have to heal me, Itachi.” Obito grumbled, slowly opening his eyes after a couple of tense seconds. He turned his head and looked at his cousin in an uncomfortable manner. Both of them were Uchiha, the same blood and yet Obito couldn’t help but feel as if they never really were similar.
Itachi didn’t answer, instead he just stared at him, tried to read him like some sort of a book but glared instead. Immediately ripping his hands away from his skin, Itachi took a step back before speaking, the familiar tone of his voice almost managed to force a chuckle out of Obito.
“You’re Madara?”
“Listen kid, I’m the furthest thing from him - pretty sure we aren’t even that closely related.”
The pure confusion on his cousin's face, mixed with the not-so quiet whispers of the others, was enough of a reason for Obito to laugh out loud. It was a broken sound.
“I’m not Madara - never have been. Now, where are we?”
“You can’t just say that and expect us to move on, you inconsiderate excuse of a human being!” Konan yelled, cutting off whatever Itachi planned to say. It wasn’t like Obito didn’t expect this reaction, but it was a little startling to hear her loud voice from across the space they were in. What he didn’t expect, however, was her walking towards them and grabbing his face with a tight grip, squishing his cheeks together.
“Explain, now.”
And explaining he did. In great detail he told his story, his plan and everything else. He was determined to not look away when her glare got venomous, when she held him tighter until he had to forcefully pull away to continue telling his story. The others listened as well, endorsed in all of this. Nagato didn’t have a great reaction, similar to Konan he just glared and crossed his arms across his chest. Deidara, for example, looked ready to tear his head off when he said that he was also Tobi.
It was a mess of a situation for Obito, to put it simply. As uncomfortable as it was to tell them everything, laying himself bare in a way he hadn’t been able to for a long time, was energy draining.
“... so now we are all here.” Obito finished, glancing over the Akatsuki. They all were quiet, some even sat down to process everything. It felt like they were strangers again, just pawns that he carefully moved from behind the scene. It was Nagato who finally broke the tense atmosphere with a distressed huff.
“Well where exactly is ‘here’, Uchiha? It seems like we all have something in common and that is being in the Akatsuki.”
“Yeah no shit!” Deidara said, turning his nose up in a pissed off manner. Sasori and Itachi just looked at him with a deadpan expression, clearly not in the mood to interfere with his complex.
Before having the chance to respond he felt the air around them shift. Obito tensed up, his face paled upon the familiar feeling of something powerful, something wise and old and-
-Otsutsuki
It must have shown on his face, seeing as Konan immediately took a step back and looked around before paling as well. Her body was shaking slightly, terror visible in her body language. It was similar to when Obito held her by her throat and killed her.
Pale brown hair and horns sprouting from his forehead, purple ringed eyes and a similar red one on his forehead, as well as a cloak that seemed out of this world. Obito didn’t believe it at first when Kakashi mentioned in a rushed manner that Sasuke and Naruto met the sage of six paths but now, seeing said man right in front of them with a distraught expression made Obito regret not believing him.
“It’s quite refreshing seeing so many new faces. I apologize for bringing you all here without proper notice.”
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‘They’re dead.’
Obito couldn’t look away from Hagoromo. Dread already clung to his mind in a desperate manner, not letting him think about another reason as to why the sage of six paths was here in front of them looking like someone killed his precious people.
His eyes followed the movement of the older man but he couldn’t make out anything he was saying. It was silent, a deafening silence he has never experienced before. If Obito didn’t want to acknowledge something, for example Rin’s death, it was usually loud, so loud that he often covered his ears. But now? Now it was just quiet.
Obito once more wished to die. Wished to be eliminated and never reborn. There was no comfort in watching the reactions of the others, the way they glanced over at him with pity and a certain knowledge that even after Obito gave his life up it didn’t mean shit because they died.
Obito flinched at the warm palm settling down on his shoulder, the face of his younger cousin, now more upset than at the beginning (who could blame him, he just found out his brother died) looking at him with an understanding that wasn’t there before. Once they were family, enemies and acquaintances and after everything was laid out open for them to see it seemed like Itachi wasn’t blaming Obito for everything after all.
“I’m giving you a second chance to make things right. You weren’t my first option but seeing as you all are the reason for this disaster I think it is quite fitting for you to fix it.”
“None of us knew what we were doing.” Konan said, not trying to defend anything but still snapping back. “If you ask me, do it yourself.”
“I cannot do that.”
“Well cry about it then! We are done being some type of pawns to the game you gods have going on!” Deidara jumped in, stomping his feet in an attempt to make his point clear. Sasori just nodded, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You humans are quite stubborn. While I admit it started with us it ended with you unleashing the Juubi.” Hagoromo wasn’t letting them forget, wasn't letting Obito forget his foolishness. He was just as stubborn as they were, he realized and shook his head. Obito finally stood up, brushing Itachi’s hand away.
“I’ll do it. Just send me back and I will fix it.” Obito looked at the older man in a determined manner, clenching his fists to suppress his urge to not lash out.
Hagoromo stared at him for a moment, looking deep into his soul before laughing slightly. “I will not only send you back, boy. You all will fix this - one way or another.”
“They don’t want to, so stop being picky and just use me instead.”
“How about a compromise? I will send you back to a moment you deeply desire.”
A couple of heads snapped upwards and gawked at his words.
Any point in time? A moment we deeply desire?
Rin flashed into his mind and Obito had to ignore the longing, ignore the obvious desire to immediately say yes. ‘ There has to be a catch’ , Obito thought, ‘ There is no way we would all be send to a moment we desire-”
“Only one moment? That means we have to come to an agreement concerning the point in time.” Obito said, tilting his head to the side. He narrowed his eyes when the sage of six paths chuckled lightly before nodding.
“Indeed. So, do we have a deal?”
“We don’t have to say what point in time we want to go to?” Konan asked, still glaring at Hagoromo.
“There is no need for that - this is my space after all. Your thoughts are directly connected to me.”
Obito looked around and his eyes met Nagato who was already staring at him. He gave him an unsure look to which the redhead responded with a nod, a clear ‘go ahead’. Konan also met his eyes and gave a simple short nod before turning towards the rest of the Akatsuki, silently asking for their opinion. They looked hesitant but in the end simply agreed - they had nothing to really lose after all. Deidara still glared at the Sage but kept his mouth shut, same goes for Sasori and Kisame.
Itachi stood next to Obito, unlike the others he wasn’t looking at Obito, instead his gaze was fixated on Hagoromo. Trustworthy looked different in the eyes of Itachi and Obito knew that the Sage in front of them wasn’t in Itachi’s good book. He had to admit even Obito was a bit sceptical about this entire thing but what else could he do? He had to fix this, fix everything in order to not drown in this growing guilt.
“We’ll do it.”
“I’m glad you decided to cooperate.” Hagoromo said, clapping his hands. Obito felt his eyelids get heavier, his body lost all of his senses once again and his surroundings seemed to dissolve into nothingness. Obito locked eyes with the sage and stiffened up when the older one smiled sadly.
“I must apologize, however, for not telling you the entire truth. While it’s true that I know your thoughts, I already had a specific moment in mind for you to return to.
Do not disappoint me, Akatsuki.”