8Hello, this is Jess! Pippa has been updating my stories for the past year or so and I thought I'd update for her. There's no preview because she doesn't have chapter seven written out. Normally, we would wait to update, but it's been so long since she's updated this, so she's updating it (err I am; you know what I mean :D ). Also, Pippa is going to possibly be doing this apprenticeship for a job. So happy for her :) Fissures of Thirteen hasn't been forgotten about. She's just waiting for Coiled to catch up to it so we can update it together. Enjoy! :)
Chapter 6
Sasuke
I pace around my room. What am I going to do now? I still don't understand how this man is an Uchiha and how Naruto's three friends are Uchiha as well, or well… half Uchiha at least.
I want answers, but I don't feel like I'm going to get any this way. Maybe I should head back to the Uchiha compound for a bit, maybe that will give me some answers.
Yet I can't imagine setting foot in that place again After everything…
A knock on the door signals that someone wants to bother me.
"What?" I demand.
You could be a bit more polite you know."
That voice. It could only belong to Naruto's "mother" Orochimaru.
"What do you want?" I ask ignoring his comment on my rudeness. I just can't bring myself to care right now.
"I just wanted to speak to you."
"If you're here to tell me how there are more Uchiha than I knew and why Itachi did what he did then fine, but if not I'm not interested."
"You certainly do have an attitude," he says. "I may be able to give you the answers you're looking for, but I don't know the whole story. In fact I wonder if even your brother or the older Obito know the truth about what is going on around here.
"That man is not my brother!"
He comes in without my permission. "Whether you accept it or not he is your brother. As much as Obito is your cousin, and so are Kakashi's kids. Just because you don't like them doesn't change that fact. Especially for an Uchiha."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Uchiha are prone to a greater love than most. In fact, even greater than the love of the Senju. So much so that they hide their love away. After all, if they were to lose that deep love then something would happen. Losing a deep love or perhaps in disappointment of themselves a unique chakra is activated in their brains changing their eyes. This is the sharingan; eyes that reflect the heart. Further pain just makes it stronger. There is also another thing that plagues the clan, and maybe lead to their unfortunate end. The Curse of Hatred. Some believe that hate is the opposite of love, but this is not actually the case. In fact it is quite the opposite, hate is born from the loss of love. If we never learned to love we could never learn to hate. Thus a clan who love so deeply are prone to turning to a deep hatred when that love is lost."
"What do you know?!"
"More than you think. One of the things I tend to do is collect knowledge. Admittedly that has come with some… unfortunate side-effects, but that is irrelevant right now. Indeed, your clan and the Senju were of particular interest to me. So I have studied a lot about it. I can't say I know everything, but…"
"But what?! You think you know us!"
"Better than you probably do, child."
"I am an Uchiha!"
"I'm aware of that. You wear their symbol, the fan that fuels the flames. Uchiha are particularly gifted with the use of fire-style. So it is a rather fitting symbol for certain."
"What's your point?"
"It was just an observation. I tend to make those."
"Are you here to lecture me?"
"No, not at all. I just wished to see what you were up to. After all, I can't imagine seeing Obito really helped."
"Who is he?" I demand.
Someone who by all rights should be dead."
"Then why isn't he?!"
"I don't know all the details. He refuses to talk about it. Though what I do know is it has to do with the cells of the First Hokage. Parts of his body are artificial. It gives him quite the healing factor it seems. Not that it's too shocking. Lord First could heal any wound without even weaving seals. His cells are potent healing material."
"Then why aren't they used as that?"
"Because they are also very volatile. Generally speaking the odds of surviving are very low. The cells don't adapt well to other people. It generally causes death. Only a few people have ever survived implanting cells like his. Apparently Obito is one of those few. I can't say why, or how he managed it, but whatever the reason he did."
"If he's so special then why did I never hear of him?"
"Why? Well for one he was supposed to have died before you were even born, and another reason is that he was a loser Uchiha."
"So like Naruto?"
"The very same. He knows it too, but he won't admit it."
"Why would an Uchiha be like that dumbass?"
"Because it happens. Granted he's powerful now. I suppose you could call children like that late bloomers. Naruto will shoot up one day."
"He's too much of an idiot."
"You think so? I wouldn't be so sure. Just because the child is weak right now doesn't mean he will always be weak. Obito is a good example. My teammate and husband is as well. Jiraiya spent much of our youth messing around and being an idiot, but now not only is he the only one of the three of us who can use sage mode, even if not complete, he is also one of Konoha's best spies."
"Him?"
"Exactly," Orochimaru smirks.
"What?"
"The fact you think he wouldn't be a good spy is exactly what makes him such a good spy. See if he was obvious people would pay attention to him. He is able to slip under the radar for most people and that allows him to spy more effectively."
"So your point is that Naruto isn't weak, and nor is the younger Obito?"
"Exactly, you shouldn't judge by what you see at first."
"But that still doesn't explain things about the Uchiha, and how there are more Uchiha around. I thought Itachi killed them all."
"Apparently he didn't know about Kakashi's wife. I think few Uchiha did actually. Though Obito did. We got there before he killed the kids though."
"So he had a hand in killing everyone?"
"Oh come now, did you really think one man could kill the whole clan, even as powerful as Itachi is."
Now that he puts it that way…
Anger boils inside of me though.
"And you're just going to let him live! Then again I want to be the one to kill him!" I launch forwards, but Orochimaru stops me. "Move!"
"You wouldn't stand a chance against Obito at your current strength. He is much too powerful, in fact in some ways he may be more powerful than Itachi. Don't you remember when you attacked him before? You slipped right through him. You can't beat him with normal attacks."
"Then what should I do! Just let the people who murdered my clan go free?!"
"No, but there are two things you should do before rushing into battle with them."
"And what's that?"
"One, get stronger, you need to grow more, and see how your wind will blow, but also decide how you want it to blow, don't let others force your wind in a certain direction, but another thing you need to do is find out all the information you can, after all… nothing is ever as it seems, we are ninja after all, it's just our nature."
Sarutobi
I still can't believe it came to this. The whole Uchiha clan… I'm still amazed Itachi not only pulled it off, but had the mental fortitude to. Poor child. I feel terrible for all that has happened.
I look over at the pictures of the other Hokage. Minato, if you were alive, would you have been able to protect the Uchiha better than I?
I'm sorry Lord Hashirama, I was not able to uphold your wish. Please forgive me for failing you.
I know what you'd say, Tobirama-sensei, you would tell me it was for the village's good, and you are right, but at the same time…
There's a knock at the door breaking me out of my thoughts.
"Come in."
Two of my students and one of Minato's walk into the room.
"Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Kakashi, what is it?"
"Sarutobi-sensei, we need to talk to you about something, privately," Jiraiya says. For someone who knows him like I do I can tell when he's serious and when he's just goofing off, right now he is dead serious.
"What is it you need to talk about?"
Orochimaru's eyes scan the room landing on the place where every guard is positioned. "We need to talk privately, Sarutobi-sensei."
I wonder what could be so serious that they don't even want the ANBU who are sworn not to speak of anything outside this room to hear. Of course I trust these three with my life.
That's an odd thing to say about Orochimaru these days, but he has proven himself once again. I am proud of him for that.
"Please, Lord Hokage," Kakashi speaks up. "It's very important."
"Very well," I say putting up the barriers. "Sit down then."
The three of them take seats looking at me.
"What is this about?"
"In some part the Uchiha incident," Kakashi starts. "You see, my wife was actually an Uchiha, but few actually knew that. In fact, she Obito's sister, but she didn't live with them as she didn't have sight."
"Yet she still died that night?"
"I never told Itachi the truth about my wife,and he never asked. I don't know if his clan ever told him or not, but regardless it doesn't matter because it wasn't Itachi who killed her."
"I see, so Itachi wasn't working alone then."
"Even you must have known that would be too big of a task for just one man, even as talented as Itachi was," Orochimaru says. His look tells me he knows exactly what happened that night. Knowing well enough that it was not fully itachi's choice.
"It was admittedly a tall order for him. I have to admit."
"But you ran out of options. You felt you had no other choice, but to destroy the clan, so you went for it even knowing that Itachi could possibly die from the encounter with his clan."
I rub the bridge of my nose. I really am too old for this. I was very happy to retire, but now I have to go back. I don't know how Onoki can still go strong like this.
"My children thus are part Uchiha in fact one of them has the sharingan, but I would hope that doesn't mean anything. They haven't really had much contact with their clan."
"Your children will be safe, Kakashi; however, you said that Itachi wasn't the one who killed your wife."
"Indeed not, that's the very interesting part about this whole situation. We were out, Kagerou was taking care of the kids and Naruto as well. We were out, but we felt something in the seals we placed. It was odd, since the person didn't come in the usual way. So we weren't alerted until Kagerou was already dead. However, the kids were trying to fight the person."
"So who was this person?"
"He told us he was Madara Uchiha."
"Madara? But shouldn't he be dead by this point?"
"By all rights, we have to assume so, but really someone like him it could actually be tricker to tell. That being said we can confirm that he is in fact not Madara."
"Then who is he?"
Kakashi closes his visible eye. It seems like this admission actually hurts him. Who could it be that would hurt Kakashi like that? There is only one Uchiha who could cause Kakashi ain, but it can't…
"I don't want this to become well known. I don't want to cause a panic right now. We are still trying to figure things out, and whether or not he may be swayed back on our side, but the person… is… Obito."
Obito, that sweet innocent boy who dreamed of being Hokage?
"How…?"
"We're not sure what turned him into the man he is today, but it does seem like the death of his best friend Rin, caused some imbalance in his mind. Seems even he is a victim of the curse of his clan. It seems also that he survived with the help of Lord First's cells. I can't say who grafted them on him, and he hasn't provided that information, but whoever did it has great knowledge of those cells."
"I see, and where is he now?"
"At my house. I know I should turn him in, but I'm hoping that…"
Sometimes it's hard to remember that Kakashi only turned a man a few years ago. It feels like he has been a man for a long time. Of course as far as ninja go he has been a ninja for a long time.
As for me… I really am getting far too old for this.
"Alright, but you will keep an eye on him and keep me informed?"
"Of course."
"And what of Sasuke?"
"He's also at my house. I'm hoping we can change his feelings of hatred."
"He knows about Obito and his three younger cousins, but I have talked to him. I'm hoping to sway his mind away from the path of revenge."
I look at my brightest student. His intelligence and the pushing of war made him turn towards a darker path, but it seems the influence of Jiraiya and taking care of Minato's son has really helped with that.
"Alright you three, just keep me posted. I won't tell anyone about this. It will only be between the four of us for now until we can decide what more to do about it. The village is already hurting enough with the Kyuubi incident and now this. We don't need more chaos."
"Thank you."
They get up, bow then leave.
I look over at the pictures again. "Minato… I'm sorry."
Obito
I open my eye. "I can feel you, Zetsu."
"Hey!" White Zetsu, Shiro, says with a grin. I roll my eyes at him.
"What are you doing?" Black Zetsu, Kuro, demands. Most people think they are the same person, but I know better. I know that one is just the synthetic human created by madara from Hashirama, and the other is his will incarnate.
"Sitting here."
"Don't be smart with me," Kuro growls. He's always disliked me. I'm not sure why, but I always seem to get on his nerves.
"But Obito's a good boy!"
"No he's not!"
"He is!" Shiro protests.
"You were supposed to come straight back with Itachi once you killed the Uchiha," Kuro snaps.
"Something else came up."
"Yes, you were discovered like an idiot!"
"Aww, don't be so mean to him."
"He needs to remember the plan. He was supposed to take Madara's name, and now that is ruined!"
"I haven't ruined anything."
"How can you say that? It's one thing you going off, the Akatsuki doesn't need you right now. Nagato listens to me, but even so you've been discovered. What is stopping them from telling everyone who you really are?"
"They won't. Konoha is in too much stress. Even if they tell the Hokage they won't act. It would cause too much panic. Konoha is in a very delicate situation right now."
"So what? You think that excuses you being found out by these people?"
"Don't you get it?" I scoff.
"Get what?" He growls.
"What this means for us? You always think I can't come up with anything. I admit this was not my plan, and honestly I did not expect this to happen the way it did, but there are ways to work things out."
"What are you talking about?"
"Yeah, I want to know too."
"Shut up, Shiro."
"Don't tell him to shut up. At least he does his job right."
"I'm a good boy!"
I look at the two of them. Something always seems off when I'm around them. Apparently Kuro is Madara's will, but sometimes it seems like he doesn't act like Madara would. Or maybe it's just that I don't really know Madara very well.
I don't know exactly how to explain the feeling I get, but even so. I don't know how I feel about him.
Or Madara in general. Sure he's my great grandfather, but what does that mean for me? I don't really care. I will be the one who will change this world.
"Well, Obito," he practically spits out my name, like it's' dirty or something. Really though? That's supposed to make me listen to him? Then again he is a god spy so…
"It's simple, don't you get it?"
"You really push your luck."
"Yeah."
"Listen, this could work out in our favour, alright?"
"Explain yourself."
"If I'm able to gain their trust they'll let their guard down with me. They'll think I'm on their side, then I can crush them from the inside out. As I said it was not what I had in mind, but we can use this to our advantage. This does not have to be a weakness."
"And what's stopping you from being an idiot?"
I reach out a hand and he hands me a kunai. I don't know why he keeps them on him since he doesn't fight, but whatever. I run it down the length of my arm watching as blood pools from the wound.
"I will never forget."
"Good, because you must always remember this world is hell."
"I know that. I haven't forgotten about that."
"I'm glad you haven't. So this family…"
"Don't worry, they aren't a problem. The kids aren't a threat. They may have some Uchiha blood, but it's hardly anything to worry about . They are only five after all. The only one who activated the sharingan is also not too much to worry about."
"Perhaps, but they also have the Hatake blood."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't know," Shiro laughs. "I mean you were teammates with Stupid Kakashi, shouldn't you know?"
"The fool doesn't talk about his clan much. Few people know about the noble summoning clans. I suppose it doesn't help that there are only a few left alive from each clan. What a shame. And really Kakashi doesn't even have the power right now. The last person to have full power of his clan was his father."
"Yeah, and he died," Shiro laughs.
"That's not something to laugh at, Shiro. Death isn't funny."
"Aww, but…"
"I think it was funny, Shiro," Kuro says reaching over with his hand stroking the side of Shiro's half of their face.
That's creepy. I hate it when they do that! It's like Kuro wants to have sex with his other half or something weird…
There was that one time he and Swirly...
Oh gods no! I nearly forgot about that! Now the image is back in my head! Damn it all!
"Hehe, I think he's thinking about Swirly's reward."
"Am not!"
"He needs to be thinking about the punishment I'll give him if he doesn't behave."
"I'm already doing that."
"Not enough it seems," he scoffs.
"You know, Kuro, if you want me on your side, you probably shouldn't be treating me like that."
"Arrogant brat," he snarls. "I will teach you to behave yourself accordingly."
"You need me," I remind him. "So I'd say you are the one who needs to listen, Kuro."
"Idiot."
"Maybe we should listen to his plan, Kuro, I mean we don't need him right now, the Akatsuki is going alright without his help, so…"
"Fine! Do what you please! If you can get these fools to obey you then very well, but if you try to join them or tell them about our plan I will kill you."
I look at him. He's not a fighter, but at the same time I probably shouldn't underestimate him just because of that. I close my eye sighing slightly. "I'm not about to join them."
"Good. Here."
I catch the object he throws at me. I open my eye again looking at the orange mask that spirals around the right eye-hole like Swirly's face.
"What do I want this for?"
"For when you plan on joining the Akatsuki, it'll be needed eventually."
"What?" I ask voice going higher like Swirly's. "You really want me to be like this?"
"Yes."
"That's kind of creepy."
"Good," I say putting the mask under the blankets with the kunai. I'll hide them in Kamui in a bit.
"See you later," Shiro waves.
I watch them leave. It's all for the sake of the plan. I really am just doing this to spy on Konoha…
Right?