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Posted: 1 June 2015

Edited: 10 August 2017

Seeing The Future Together Series
My Gift To You
Part One

Rocks of various sizes were collapsing all around Obito and his teammates. He managed to dodge the masses by centimeters with his Sharingan flaring a deep red, galvanizing his body to max power. With Rin and Kakashi by his side, he was confident in their abilities to escape the avalanche and continue their mission. Rin was safe and Kakashi had become the leader Obito knew he could be, protecting his team and no longer focused on the rules and regulations that would have ultimately ended in Rin's death.

He imagined a life back in Konoha where his team fought on equal footing than besting each other. He and Kakashi would have a civil relationship without the spiteful insults, even daring to envision them as friends. Rin would be her usual self, dividing attention between her best friend and her crush, seizing their hands and dragging them to Ichiraku's, Kushina and Minato there to greet them, the former scarfing down her twentieth bowl of shio ramen

Obito craved for the peace within that dream, and it was almost within his grasp.

Until he heard Kakashi cry out.

His heart nearly stopped as he turned to see Kakashi face down on the ground. By the time Rin shrieked the Jōnin's name, Obito was already running towards him. Glancing up, he realized a colossal boulder was above his downed teammate in a position to crush his whole body.

His surroundings blurred and decelerated when he approached Kakashi, and as he launched his body forward, he foresaw a pool of red beneath the rock and Rin bawling with grief, his own cries cursing his failures. They would return to Konoha with one less teammate and guilt pressing down on their shoulders, indescribable pain twisting Minato's face for not being there to save his first student.

A distressed shout scratched his throat, hand reaching out in desperation. He had to protect Kakashi. Losing him, or Rin, was unacceptable- unbearable- inconceivable. Living without either of them- it could not happen.

Almost there- Kakashi!

Suddenly, time reverted to its natural state. Rin's scream faded to an echo and the boulder was inches away from crushing them. He picked Kakashi up, wrapping his arms around the smaller form and pleading. There was no time- I have to save him!

The two tomoe of his Sharingan rotated twice, and in that split second when he was about to hurl Kakashi to the side, three tomoe formed and spun into a black molten mix, shaping into a unique pinwheel.

The last thing he heard before blacking out was a deafening bang.

Kakashi gradually regained consciousness, groaning from the dull ache originating from the back of his head. When he attempted to touch the pained area, his arm remained still. He opened his eyes, or at least tried. His left eye refused to cooperate, staying shut while his right eye lifted half way. Just as he was about to try moving again, memories of the last few hours jolted him into complete awareness.

He remembered Rin's kidnapping, the physical and vocal fight with Obito, his lost eye and retrieving Rin.

The cave in...

He jerked, his right eye widening. He looked around as best he could, only to be faced with a familiar orange and blue jacket, arms firmly clinging to him. Bending his head back, he could see Obito was unconscious, yet somewhat aware of Kakashi since his grip had yet to slacken. When he struggled by pushing against Obito's chest, the arms encasing him squeezed his body.

He scowled at Obito's lax expression, and patience running thin, he used what little spare chakra he had left to send an electric shock through Obito's body. The taller boy instantly released him and rolled over, cursing Kakashi as he rubbed his arms to rid himself of the aftershocks, which caused his curled form to twitch unpleasantly.

Obito heaved to his knees, mumbling in irritation. "Bakashi, you could have just shaken me awake, you know."

He ignored the Uchiha, unable to redirect his gaze from the bizarre location they now found themselves in. The sky was pitch black, not a star in sight, and the only available light illuminated from limitless rectangular prisms resembling giant pillars. Some columns had cracks of differing widths and others were split in half. He and Obito were situated on an unbroken prism. When his hands brushed against the surface, it rivaled the warmth of a heated tea cup. He stood and moved to the ledge, stooping down to see nothing but a cloudy void most likely leading to an endless descent.

"Genjutsu, perhaps?" he murmured.

"I doubt it. We were being ambushed by rocks, remember?"

Kakashi frowned, sighing as he exchanged looks with Obito, only to flinch back and gasp. His teammate followed the response with a confused glare, and as he continued gawking, Obito brought his hands to his face. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Your Sharingan-" he paused, unsure of how to address the change in the Uchiha's dōjutsu. He had seen many Sharingan, all with one, two or three tomoe, but Obito's lacked any. Rather, it had the shape of a pinwheel, black swirl lines connecting the ends of each triangle into a circle. He had never seen one like this. It was really a pretty pattern, actually.

Kakashi described the design as best he could, taking in the other boy's look of shock and… dread, or something like it.

Obito began wandering the limited space, passing Kakashi who whipped around to watch him peer down into the abyss. "I thought they were stories, but I guess not," he mumbled, subdued, then covered his eyes with shaking palms. His tense shoulders were trembling and he folded into himself, dropping to his knees.

Kakashi followed him down, grasping one of his arms and wrenching it away to speak without a barrier separating them. Obito's eyes were obsidian again, glossed over with unshed tears, from stress or anxiety, he wasn't quite sure.

He waited in silence, assuming Obito would eventually calm down and elaborate.

With a couple of deep breathes, Obito looped his fingers together and gazed across the landscape. "The Sharingan is a dōjutsu that awakens when we are under a lot of emotional stress. When the Iwa-nin injured you, all I could think about was protecting you from getting hurt again."

Kakashi unconsciously touched his bandaged eye, reliving the moment he had decided to abort the mission and save his teammates as his father before him. Obito's accusation of being worse than scum had cut into him severely, and though he tried to disregard the mounting guilt, in the end, he returned and fought alongside Obito against the enemy.

Losing an eye did not compare to the potential loss of Obito or Rin, he had no doubts about that.

"My clan has passed down tales of an advanced form of the Sharingan, awakened by seeing the death of someone very close to you. It's called the Mangekyō Sharingan. It always resembles a pinwheel, but the design depends on the individual. Those who thought it existed believed Uchiha Madara was the first to activate it."

Obito wilted before him. He appeared both physically and emotionally exhausted, his body hunched, dark shadows beneath his eyes now gleaming an eerie, blood red. A disturbing sight on Obito's normally caring features, Kakashi thought, withholding a flinch as Obito looked at him, offering a dismal smile.

"I was excited to finally have my Sharingan, but considering the circumstances, it feels more like a curse."

There was nothing comforting he could say without sounding ignorant. So he merely patted Obito's shoulder and stood, helping the other boy to his feet. He rubbed the back of his head, wincing. "What happened exactly, after I was knocked unconscious?"

"I am not too sure, but I think it may have something to do with my eyes," Obito answered, drying his unshed tears with a sleeve. He then glared at him. "Bakashi, do you realize how terrified I was back there?" he shakily demanded.

Kakashi resisted shying from Obito's ire, even as his voice cracked on the word "terrified."

"We were finally working as a team. Rin was free and you and I were fighting together against the enemy and everything was going perfect," he rambled, louder and more forceful with each breath. "And then you got hit by a stupid rock, and all I saw was a big ass boulder falling towards you about to crush you and I just had to save you. I didn't care about anything else but getting you out of the way, even if it meant getting crushed myself because you are so much stronger than I am and Rin, Kushina-nee, and Minato-sensei would have been so devastated if you had died and I would have been too because this team would be nothing without you-"

Kakashi never expected him to care whether he lived or died, but knowing Obito wanted to save him- he was overjoyed. He had tried his best to shun everyone around him, to not get attached, but he had been lying to himself and denying the fact his team was the most important thing in his life.

But like always, the damn Uchiha pissed him off as well.

He interrupted Obito's ranting, punching him hard enough to hit the ground. He straddled Obito's waist, seizing him by the collar of his jacket and yelling louder than ever, enraged. "How dare you say that, Obito! You really think I would have been any better watching you dying under a rock, knowing I failed as a teammate, a leader and a Jōnin?!"

He pulled their faces closer together, glaring with a teary eye. "You really think Rin would rather have me than you alive, her best friend and confidante? Or that Kushina-san and Minato-sensei would be any less devastated if they lost you? Do you really believe I am the one who holds this team together, who was ready to sacrifice Rin for our mission? Are you really that stupid, Obito?!"

His face was wet with tears as he wailed, thinking of Obito and his father, the courage and devotion they had to forsake shinobi regulations for their comrades. Hatake Sakumo had been right, not the village quick to condemn him for his humanity. His father was not a tool, but a man with emotions fighting to protect his home and his son. Not a disgrace, but someone who did what he knew was right.

Obito taught him that.

Obito was- he was-

"You are the one who completes our team. You are the one making Rin laugh and Minato-sensei smile. You are the one stopping me from isolating myself from them. You, Obito, are the only one bringing life into our team. We would be nothing without you! Why can't you see your own self-worth? Because everyone says you're a failure? That you can't amount to anything? Well they're wrong! I was wrong! You... don't you dare put yourself down again! Never again, Obito!"

Kakashi choked down a sob, releasing Obito's collar to lay his forehead against the broader chest, the remainder of his strength gone. He was so tired, chakra drained and body weakened, and the overflow of tears had left his eye aching.

As Obito draped his arms around him, he eased into the secure hold.

Obito stared unseeing at the bare sky, dazed by Kakashi's admission, someone whose hair he had to wrench just to receive some form of acknowledgment.

He had known Kakashi since they were children, and in those six years, he had respected him, and envied him even more. Obito was no genius. He had trained days and nights with little reprieve to reach his current level, and it seemed, no matter how much he worked, he was still so far behind.

Kakashi though, he was a genius. He didn't train less diligently than most skilled shinobi, but he accomplished what Obito could not in a mere day. The Jōnin had a right to be arrogant because he had the skills to back it up. He deserved the praise from their generation and sensei.

But here in this soundless realm of near darkness, Kakashi discarded his emotional barriers to assure Obito's role as an essential key to their team and rebuked his self-deprecation, emphasizing his worth as a shinobi and teammate. His chest ached from the appreciation welling up within him, but even more so, from his comrade's agonized tears he had caused. His attempted sacrifice had shattered Kakashi, and he wished he never confessed to nearly getting himself killed.

Obito held him against his chest, as a silent thank you, and as an apology.

"I blacked out," he eventually said, "after I picked you up. That was probably when we got... here..." and then he realized an important issue.

"Where is Rin!?"

Kakashi rolled off and arose, his sluggish figure betraying how fatigued he was. With his sole eye, he looked around the area to only see similar shaped prisms spanning over miles. His stomach twisted unpleasantly as he thought of his other teammate – caring Rin always so determined to mend her team – still fighting Iwa-nin, or perhaps even dead.

Obito searched as well with the stage three Sharingan, having stood as Kakashi did. There were no other bodies in sight and so, he decided to do the next best thing.

He shouted, "Rin!"

His present teammate followed with an "Are you here!" as loud as he could, wincing from the effort.

They paused and waited for a good minute. Then a faint, disjointed feminine echo sounded back. The two boys exchanged relieved expressions, Kakashi's eye shining suspiciously and Obito grinning too wide to be comfortable.

His grin dwindled. "That had to be Rin, but how the hell do we find her?"

Kakashi messaged his temples as he asked another question. "How sure are you that your Sharingan is what brought us here?"

"Um, fairly confident." Obito could think of nothing else but a Genjutsu, which seemed highly unlikely considering their situation back at Kannabi Bridge. "Why?"

"If it really brought us here, you should be able to manipulate the area to bring Rin to us or us to her. Try it."

Rin at the forefront of his mind, Obito activated the highest form of his dōjutsu and forced Kakashi's hands into his. His teammate tried snatching his hands back and failed.

Before Kakashi could vocally protest, he sighed. "If this works, the last thing I need is to be separated from you too, Bakashi."

They glared at each other until another echo was heard. Kakashi sighed and bowed his head, surrendering. There was no time to be stubborn or embarrassed. They needed to retrieve Rin before she began wandering on her own.

He tangled their fingers and closed his eyes, picturing Rin standing on another rectangular prism, covered in dust from the cave in. He sharply inhaled and opened his eyes, meeting Kakashi's wide eye.

The first thing he noticed as his Sharingan deactivated was the boy's shocked look, his pupil contracted from surprise. The second was Rin's earsplitting yell which abruptly cut off. The third was Kakashi's awestricken voice.

"That was amazing, Obito! Everything around us just morphed like a whirlpool."

A flattered smile spread across his face, his cheeks heating from the Jōnin's praise. He wondered if Kakashi offering compliments rather than insults would ever become an ordinary occurrence, maybe then this constant diffidence would fade away. He released his hold on Kakashi's hands and scratched his cheek. "So we really are inside the Sharingan, but how do we get out?"

Rin leaped toward them, landing on ten pillars before reaching their own. Just as he imagined, she was coated in a fine layer of dust and smiling. A few tears escaped as she pulled them into a desperate embrace. Obito thought it was a pleasant feeling... until she took another second to hit both him and Kakashi over the head.

They grabbed their throbbing skulls and groaned.

"Don't you two ever do that to me again! Do you understand!?" She glared at him specifically. "And if you dare treat your life like it's nothing ever again, I will personally eviscerate you."

They nodded in response, Obito dropping his head to veil the shame.

It seemed Rin knew he had almost thrown Kakashi out of the way, sacrificing his own life. Her glare exposed the anger and worry for his life, and causing that sort of pain on his best friend was unforgivable. Part of him still thought the team to be better as a two-man cell, that it would flourish without his lateness and boisterous personality despite Kakashi's previous reassurance. However, Rin's distress forced him to acknowledge his insecurities were foolish.

He gathered his courage and faced Rin with utmost sincerity in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Rin."

Rin's hard exterior diminished. She sighed, relieved. "I'm just glad you're both alright. Now, what did you mean about the Sharingan?"

They exchanged glances, Kakashi motioning him forward.

"We're inside my Sharingan." Obito didn't have to think before his advanced dōjutsu activated again, the change becoming easier with each use.

Her eyes widened, gasping. "But that's not-"

Kakashi interjected, "It's the Mangekyō Sharingan, apparently brought on by seeing the death of someone precious."

"But no one died," she challenged.

Obito nodded in agreement and added, "Yeah, but that's all I really know about it. Besides, it doesn't matter how I got it. We have to get out of here and complete the mission."

Rin sealed her lips together to avoid asking questions. Obito was right.

Intending to interrogate him later, she suggested, "Just do whatever you did to find me."

"But that was just altering the layout," Obito objected. "I have to get us out of... here and into... uh."

"Wait!" After listening to Obito's stumbling, Kakashi suddenly had an idea.

It should have been obvious, especially to someone like him. There was one technique that reminded Kakashi of this – going from one place to another in an instant – utilized by the man who taught them since their team's formation, who had been a mentor to Kakashi for even longer.

Two pairs of eyes turned to him when he continued, "Minato-sensei. This may be similar to the Hiraishin."

Rin followed the thought, hitting a fist against her hand. "You're right, Kakashi! The Mangekyō Sharingan is like sensei's technique, only Obito goes to a different dimension altogether rather than passing through a dimensional void."

The puzzled Uchiha interrupted their excitement. "Okay, what are you guys talking about?"

Kakashi answered without insulting him (which seemed to be his customary reaction now). "The Hiraishin technique is a space-time Ninjutsu. Minato-sensei gave us a basic explanation when we were first assigned under his command. He described it as entering a dimensional void that instantaneously transports him to a different location."

"Ah, I remember now." Obito covered an eye with his palm. "So my Sharingan transported us to an entirely different dimension, unlike sensei who passes through an empty dimension and then back into ours."

Rin nodded. "I believe so."

He dropped his arm and sighed. "So picture where I want to go, hold onto you both, and then teleport." Obito deliberated aloud, "Since I wasn't holding Rin at the time and she's currently here, then I guess there's no need to keep contact, but I also don't know what I'm doing, so maybe it's better to stay together until I perfect this space-time travel."

"You're right about sticking together," Rin agreed. "As for me being here, maybe it's because your subconscious didn't want to leave me behind with the enemy. Your dōjutsu's ability could rely on willpower alone, and your chakra, of course."

Obito stretched out his limbs as he mulled over her speculation. When that boulder was about to crush Kakashi, all he thought about was protecting them, even at the cost of his own life.

He considered Rin and Kakashi, along with Minato and Kushina, to be more his family than the Uchiha clan. He was the black sheep, a Chūnin without the Sharingan, an orphan of civilian decent, a pathetic excuse of an Uchiha for being kind, generous and outgoing, and forced to reside in a home far from the main district. His affections, his loyalties- they resided with Team Minato only.

So yes, perhaps the Mangekyō Sharingan awakened because of that bond, an ingrained desire to protect those precious to him. No one died today, but he or Kakashi would have. Self-preservation, friendship, or familial love: either way, the Sharingan had saved his true family.

For that, he was grateful.

With a frolicsome grin, Obito grasped his teammates' hands who grabbed each other's, forming a circle. He coughed twice and yelled, "Transportation activation!"

Nothing happened.

Rin and Kakashi rolled their eyes at the same time, the latter shaking his head and sighing.

"Really, Obito?" she huffed.

Kakashi drawled, "Remind me to forbid you from naming any techniques you may create in the future."

"Oh yeah?" Obito puffed out his cheeks. "Then how about you name whatever this is."

"Fine, I will." Kakashi closed his eye and contemplated. He eventually decided on, "Kamui."

Rin laughed. "A name relating to the gods? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Well, the Uchiha clan has quite a few shrines back in the compound, right, Obito?"

"That's right. I don't bother with them, but the older generations visit the shrines every day." He jiggled Kakashi's hand. "Kamui it is then."

This time he put in real effort, visualizing the forest where Kakashi had lost his eye. Trees were in full bloom, meaning a better place to shroud themselves from any potential enemies. From the viewpoint of his teammates, Obito's pinwheel eyes spun. There was an odd tingling in his stomach, spreading as the area around them began to swirl and mix into pitch black. Then all he saw was blue.

Rin and Kakashi marveled as the scenery changed into familiar azure, clouded skies. Then they realized there was nothing else, just when the swirling patterns disappeared. Obito looked down and back up with a guilty grimace.

"Oh shit."

With startled screams, the trio began to plummet to the intended destination. Obito tightened his grip on their hands and chanted in a panic, "In the forest not above, in the forest not above, in the forest not above...!"

"Damn it, Obito!" Kakashi's legs were comically waving back and forth, single eye flared with fury.

Rin screamed at him, "Don't curse at him! He's still learning!"

"In the forest not above, in the forest not above, please...! Kamui!"

His Mangekyō Sharingan flashed, and instead of colliding with the surrounding trees, Team Minato phased right through leaves and sharp branches. They lost their grips on Obito's hands and hit the ground softer than expected, watching in disbelief as Obito's bottom half disappeared into the ground. They swiftly captured his arms and heaved until his entire body was lying on the ground between them.

On their backs and gasping for air, Team Minato gawked up at the light piercing through green leaves.

Obito, always one for breaking silence, commented, "Intangibility. What can I not do these days?"

"Transport us to a safe environment," Kakashi dryly replied.

Rin groaned, "Oh, don't even start, boys."