6 years post Nine Tails attack.

The rain poured down in torrents, drenching everything in the dreary evening light. In an inconspicuous alleyway, a small blond boy huddled against the wall in a futile attempt to be sheltered from the downpour. His white shirt and gray pants already soaked through. As his stomach ached with hunger, the boy glanced at a nearby dumpster, wondering if he could find anything edible in it. He got up and trudged towards the waste container, his arms wrapped around himself for even a little bit of warmth. Lightning flashed overhead, illuminating a man standing in front of the boy.

The boy froze in place, gazing at the man who seemed to appear out of nowhere. The man wore an entirely black outfit, and carried a bundle of cloth on his back with straps around his torso. His face was completely hidden by an orange, spiral mask with a single eye hole. The bundle on the man's back shifted a bit, revealing the face of a child peeking over his shoulder. The child appeared to be a year younger than the boy. For a second, the boy thought he could see a third eye on the child's forehead, but the child yawned and shifted out of view again, apparently going back to sleep.

"What are you doing out here in the rain?" the masked man asked. His voice was kind, though a bit grizzled, as if his lungs were once damaged.

"I… I have no place to go… sir," the boy answered timidly, shivering from the cold, "E.. everyone I meet… pushes me away."

"You must be hungry," the masked man observed, "Come, I know place where they won't send you away."

With that the masked man turned away, walking down the alley. The boy hesitated for a second before following him. After taking several turns through the back alleys, the masked man stopped at an opening leading to the main street. He looked back as the boy caught up with him.

"Across this street is a ramen stand," the man pointed to a simple food stand, "The owners are good people. They will give you food."

The boy took a few steps forward, before looking back and asking, "Are you coming too?"

"No," the masked man replied, before switching to a joking manner, "I'm probably already late to where ever I have to be next."

The boy was a bit confused, but continued walking towards the warm glow of the open ramen stand. As the boy approached, he became nervous. The masked man could have just been tricking him. No one could be nice for no reason. The boy came to a stop near the corner of the stand, barely within the golden light pouring out into the street. As the boy looked through the opening he saw a cheerful old man working with a ten year old girl to prepare the noodles for the next batch. The smell of the broth enticed the boy to inch closer to the entrance.

The old man turned around and spotted the boy, before raising his arm. The boy quickly jumped behind the corner of the stand to avoid an object being thrown at him. When no object came, he peeked back around to see the old man beckoning him in, a reassuring smile on his face. The boy timidly stepped into the stand. The girl came around the counter with a towel in her hands. The boy shuffled away as the girl came close.

"It's ok, I don't bite," the girl said in soothing tone, "I'm Ayame, and this is my father Teuchi."

The boy relaxed a little bit, and allowed Ayame to get closer. Ayame used the towel to dry off the boy's hair, and rub down his body, though his clothes remained soaked. Ayame set the towel around his shoulders before helping him into a seat at the counter. Teuchi quickly served up some miso ramen, before setting the bowl in front of the boy. The boy's bright blue eyes grew wide at the sight of such a large meal, even though the bowl was the regular size. The boy looked at Teuchi with an expression of awe and hopefulness adorning his whiskered face. Teuchi gestured for the boy to dig in, and the boy's expression broke out into an opened mouth grin. The boy clumsily picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat as much of the ramen as he could.

Back in the alley, the masked man watched the boy begin to eat before turning towards a shadow by the corner.

"I know you're there," the masked man stated. As he said this, another man walked out of the shadow. This man's only visible features were his spikey white hair and his right eye. His lower face was cover by a mask, while his forehead and left eye were covered by a slanted Konoha ninja headband. He was wearing a dark blue shirt and pants, with a green jonin flak jacket.

"Kakashi Hatake," the masked man labeled the newcomer.

"Well, I guess my reputation precedes me," Kakashi calmly joked, while keeping a deceptively relaxed defensive body stance, "Though I wonder who you might be, and what your interest in that boy is."

"I have no interest in that boy," the masked man said, "I was just helping a fellow orphan out. As for who I am, it is better if we find somewhere else to speak."

The masked man leapt up onto the roof of the building and began traversing the village. He moved quickly but steadily from roof to roof, careful not to wake the child on his back. Kakashi followed behind, wary in case he was being led into a trap. Eventually, the two men touched down in the cemetery. The masked man walked up to the memorial stone before turning towards Kakashi.

"Before you can know who I am you should listen to this story I have to tell you," the masked man stated. Kakashi made no response, so the masked man continued, "What would you say? If I told you there was a being, created solely to revive the rabbit goddess sealed away in the moon by the sage of six paths."

"I'd say that sounds like the start to a fairy tale," Kakashi replied.

"Heh, I guess so, but everything I'm about to say is true," the masked man affirmed, "This being was called Zetsu. It was a deceitful creature that hid in the shadows for a millennium, quietly influencing certain individuals to shape the world into what it is today. Or at least, what it was during the Warring Clans era. During this time, Zetsu planted the idea of the existence of a powerful genjutsu. Infinite Tsukuyomi, with which the caster could create the perfect world. A world free of war, disease, death. The only requirement was to bring the nine tailed beasts together. But it was all a lie, meant to trick a powerful shinobi into reforming the ten tails, which Zetsu needed to revive the rabbit goddess to her full glory. Madara Uchiha was taken by the idea of a perfect world and laid plans to see it through to completion. I was also tricked into believing in it. Recently, Zetsu and I were sent to recruit a powerful shinobi from the Land of Rain by the name of Nagato. Nagato's closest friend had recently died so he should have been easily swayed, but he was less trusting than we expected. He attacked us, and used a jutsu to steal Zetsu's soul, and in the process learned all of his memories. After that he spared me, and told be the truth of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Thus, I find myself here today."

Kakashi stayed silent for a minute to let it all sink in, before saying, "That is quite the story. What proof do you have to make me believe it?"

"I have only my word," the masked man replied, before reaching up and lifting his mask, "And my face."

"Obito!" Kakashi gasped in surprise. The man's face was horrible deformed on the right side, and his left eye was missing, but Kakashi could still recognize his former teammate.

"Hey, Kakashi," Obito smiled sadly, "Its been awhile, hasn't it?"

"H… How?" Kakashi fell to his knees in shock.

"After I was buried under that rock pile, Zetsu found me and brought be before Madara," Obito explained, "At first, I wasn't interested in Madara's plans, but after Rin died…"

"Obito," Kakashi looked down in guilt, "I couldn't protect her, like I promised you."

"It's ok Kakashi," Obito crouched to look Kakashi in the eye, "I know now that it was a setup to bring me to Madara's side. Zetsu manipulated the Kiri ninja into sealing the Three Tails into Rin. Then he placed a genjutsu on her to make her think the only option she had was to kill herself, instead of waiting for sensei to fix the seal. I don't blame you for what happened."

"I still should have been able to do something," Kakashi mumbled, a tear falling from his eye.

"It's in the past now," Obito stated as he stood back up, "All we can do is to continue moving forward."

Kakashi nodded his head before standing up. After recollecting himself for a minute, he asked, "Will you be returning to Konoha now?"

"No," Obito shook his head, "There are some things that I did under Madara's command, that I have no excuse for. It wouldn't be right to return to Konoha now."

"What happened?" Kakashi inquired.

"I'd rather not say right now," Obito admitted, "Let's leave this conversation on a good note. Maybe if we meet again in the future, I'll tell you the whole story."

At this moment the bundle on Obito's back shifted a little before crying out briefly.

"What's with the child?" Kakashi asked and Obito reached back to soothe the sleeping five year old.

"She was an experiment Zetsu was performing," Obito explained, "If Nagato had joined us, he would have abandoned the project and killed her. When I found her, I decided to give her a chance though. I decided to call her Kaguya. I'm taking her to someone who can look after her, or can deal with her in case she takes after her namesake."

Kakashi only nods in response.

"That boy from earlier," Obito inquires, "He's sensei's son, isn't he?"

"Yes," Kakashi replied, "I've been checking in on him occasionally in between my missions. Sometime during my last mission, which lasted three months, he was kicked out of the orphanage. I was going to bring him to the Hokage, but you found him first."

"Have you spoken to him directly?" Obito asked.

"No," Kakashi admits, "I can't face him without thinking of sensei. It would be better if I just protected him from afar."

"He doesn't need a guardian in the shadows," Obito stated, "He needs someone to acknowledge him. You have to look past your grief and be there to support him. At least be his friend. He needs as many friends as he can get."

"I… I'll try," Kakashi gave in.

"Good," Obito affirmed, "I need to get going now. Goodbye, Kakashi."

Kakashi nods, before Obito disappears into a swilling vortex originating from his eye. Kakashi stands there alone for a minute. He looks over at Obito's and Rin's grave stones, then turns and head back into the villiage.

Back at the ramen stand, the boy is still eating his bowl of ramen. As he chews the last of the noodles he looks up at the stand owner and his daughter. They allowed him into this stand and gave him this food out of kindness. That must make ramen the greatest food ever. As the boy thought this, a man in ninja gear with spikey white hair entered the stand.

"One miso ramen," the man ordered.

"Coming right up," Teuchi responded.

"Oh, hello," the man turned to the boy, "My name is Kakashi. What's yours?"

The man's lone eye seemed to smile in a friendly manner. Ramen is definitely the best, the boy decided before proclaiming, "I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki, dattebayo!"

Author's Note:

Hello, thank you for reading this first chapter. Fair warning: while I do have the general outline for this story complete, I'm unsure whether or not I'll have the time to upload chapters at a steady rate. Especially since I want to create my own original comic, so this story is basically just practice for my storytelling skills. That being said, I'll do my best to finish it eventually, so please review.