Hey guys! I'm Sketchy, and this is my first fanfiction. I used to watch Naruto when I was a kid, but hadn't watched it for years until my friend got me back into it a few months ago. I'm not ashamed to say I binge watched almost every episode in Naruto and Shippuden(except some of those damn fillers :P) in about 8 weeks. It has definitely been one of my best decisions. I love the series.

At the same time, I wanted to change some parts of it. I liked a lot, but also thought it could have gone in a very different direction. So, I wanted to try writing a fanfiction. I have also always been fascinated by the idea of the butterfly effect. I thought it would be cool to see how one event could change the course of history.

Just FYI, the actual point of divergence occurs earlier, but this altered event is more important to the whole story, and will therefore be the event that I will focus on. I also plan to make a chapter, hopefully every week. I have some testing in May, but after that, school is basically over(hooray Senior Year!). Hopefully you guys will like this story. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any parts of Naruto. I just enjoy the series a lot and wanted to write a spinoff.

What if Kakashi didn't kill Rin? What if she had mistimed her jump, and Kakashi had missed her? How would that affect the Shinobi world? See how a split second can change the world forever.

Prologue

It was getting dark out. The sun was dipping below the horizon, bathing the forest in a dark orange color. The leaves in the trees swayed in the evening breeze. The summer heat still hadn't quite dissipated, and the air was heavy, and hard to breathe. Everything seemed natural. Except it was quiet. Too quiet.

He looked around. 'Where the hell are all the animals?' He looked up. 'I don't see a single bird.' He looked back towards the hills that were in front of him. 'I don't like this.'

He launched off of the branch, propelling himself forward. The wind rushed back towards him. He could feel it buffeting him. There had to be enough time. He had to make it. His eye narrowed.

"Hey swirly! How far away are we?"

"Hmmm…about a mile away."

"A MILE!" He grimaced. "Can't we go any faster?"

There was only one body flying through the trees, but upon closer inspection, it could be seen that there was a person inside some kind of white casing, with a swirly white skin over his face, with an opening for an eye for the person inside the casing to see. Turns out that not only was the person in the white casing alive, but the white casing itself also seemed to be self-aware, and was able to speak. And the person seemed a bit perturbed at the casing.

The white casing sighed. "You're still weak. But we are going as fast as we can." It's voice was strange and high-pitched.

The person inside of the white suit was still pissed. He couldn't let his comrades, no, his friends, fall into enemy hands. He refused to let that happen. He had almost failed far too many times. He had always messed up. He was never good enough. But this time is going to be different.

Just then, a series of huge explosions rocked the ground to the north. The person in the white suit stopped and stared. He watched the previously non-existent birds rapidly take to the air to flee the scene, and even the animals this far away from the blast seemed worried. He could see them scurrying out of trees, running in the opposite direction. This wasn't good. He gripped the bark so hard it snapped, leaving him scrambling for a grip.

"Whoa there buddy! We're gonna fall if you keep doing that," the white casing snapped at the person inside him. After wobbling for a few seconds, the person inside the

"I don't care," the person snapped right back. He needed to get going. The person launched himself with renewed gusto towards the fight. He would not let any of his friends die. That was a promise he made to himself a long time ago, and one he intended to keep. Because Uchiha Obito never goes back on his word. That's his nindo, ninja way.

Where the hell do they keep coming from?

Kakashi tore his hand out of the Kirikigure ninja's chest. He'd already taken down over a dozen, but every time one was taken down, two more took his place. Kakashi grimaced. This was gonna take a while, if he even got out alive. He looked behind him. Rin was still hiding in a crevice between two rocks. At this point, the Kiri ninja didn't seem to care about her. Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Something didn't add up. But he couldn't worry about that now. Another Kiri ninja was charging at him. Kakashi dodged two Kunai from the ninja and looked around. He spotted the three other chunin members of his team tied up in their own fights. Even after thinning out their numbers, they were all still outnumbered five to one. 'I better finish this quick.'

The Kiri ninja didn't last ten seconds. Kakashi charged at him, making the hand signs necessary for his killer technique. He had to admit, he didn't have many original jutsu; however, the one that he had came up with, was incredibly powerful. He barely needed any time to use it. The hand signs were easy, and just a slight gap in an enemy's defenses and he or she would be dead in an instant. In this case, the Kiri ninja, noticing Kakashi's speed, drew a kunai in order to defend himself, and flung two more at Kakashi. Kakashi easily dodged them and finished his hand signs. "Chidori!" Kakashi's right hand began to glow and chirp with electricity. The Chidori's characteristic sound was the reason it had been dubbed, "a thousand birds." Kakashi's lightning chakra nature allowed him to develop a lethal technique that was almost impossible to stop. The Kiri ninja didn't stand a chance. He hadn't even been able to move his kunai more than an inch when Kakashi had gotten inside of his guard and plunged his hand through his chest. The light faded from the Kiri ninja as he dropped his kunai and slumped to the ground. Kakashi pulled his hand out of the man's chest and then turned to survey the battlefield and find his next target.

The Kiri ninja were no match for his technique. Every time one of them left an opening, Kakashi went for a kill with his chidori. 'Enough gloating' Kakashi thought, as he shook his head and focused on his next target. He rushed back into the fray. Two more Kiri ninja fell and he was charging with chidori at a third who was off balance, when he noticed a shadow cross his sight line. Normally, chidori had a weak spot. By moving so quickly, the chidori only allowed you to focus on one point, giving you tunnel vision. It could be lethal if an opponent could dodge; you would be wide open. However, with Obito's sharingan, he was capable of still keeping an eye on everything that was happening. He had decided to lift up his headband and use the sharingan, since there were so many Kiri jonin and anbu, even though it would tire him out quite quickly. His sharingan had noticed the movement and the shadow, but it took him a second to register what was going on. He quickly deactivated his chidori, dodged, and grabbed the person responsible for the shadow. He jumped back towards the rocks.

"Rin, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Kakashi was fuming. The Kiri ninja had regained his footing and was charging back at them. "Stay here! You're not in fighting condition!" Kakashi turned to face the Kiri ninja but Rin grabbed him.

"Please Kakashi! There's something wrong with me! You have to do this!" Rin was basically sobbing at this point. Kakashi froze for a second but promptly shook off her hand and looked her dead in the eyes.

"I will not let you die Rin. I promised Obito I would protect you, and I intend to keep that promise." With that, Kakashi leaped back into the fight, promptly defeating the Kiri ninja and stabbing him in the chest with his chidori. Rin sank to her knees. With that, she pulled out a kunai, and shakily brought it to her own throat.

Kakashi saw her movement out of the corner of his eye. His eyes shot open, and he reached towards her. 'What is she doing? Is she actually going to kill herself? I have to stop her, but I'll never make it in time.' Kakashi started opening his mouth to yell, but he was promptly cut off by a blur, which zipped by him and tackled Rin.

Startled, Kakashi had to take a second to take in the new scene. Some unknown ninja, since only shinobi could move that fast, had tackled Rin and the two of them were currently sliding along the ground.. Kakashi looked closer at the new shinobi. The newcomer had a cloak on, but that wasn't the reason he couldn't see the guys face. He was covered head to toe in some kind of white goo. Kakashi quickly went through his options. He could charge at the guy, he could wait and see what the guy was going to do, or he could abandon Rin and focus on the Kiri ninja who wanted to cut his head off. Kakashi snorted. 'I guess I have no choice.' He had just stopped her from getting killed by a Kiri ninja by jumping into a fight. He would not let her die just a minute later from some random guy. Kakashi, aware of the promise to Obito he had just mentioned, activated his chidori again and started charging at the newcomer

He was charging towards the newcomer, intent on eliminating the new threat, when he realized the figure wasn't killing Rin. He was merely kneeling over her. 'Oh, what the hell. Does it matter? I have to protect Rin. I will keep my promise to Obito.' He increased the speed of his charge, screaming at the top of his lungs. The figure was reaching up towards his neck. 'Did he have a kunai? Was he going to stab her? Will I make it in ti…' Kakashi's thoughts stopped, as did his charge. '…There's no way…'

Rin hadn't expected to be tackled. Kakashi was too far away to do anything, and there were no other ninja. She had figured out what they had done to her. She knew what she was, and what she had to do to protect the village. But someone, or something, had whizzed out of the woods around the clearing and tackled her without warning. They had been flung backwards and skidded to a stop about twenty feet beyond where she was originally.

Rin was so surprised that she couldn't even say anything. She had the air knocked out of her, so she couldn't scream when she saw who, or what, tackled her. It was a white figure, in a black cloak, with a white face with a spiral that ended in small hole with a sharingan staring out from behind it. Rin opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Whether it was fear, surprise, or merely resignation to her fate, Rin's body wouldn't move. 'Had someone in the village figured out the reason why I had been kidnapped? Had they sent someone to kill me? Was he going to use some sharingan power to put me under a spell? Or rip the beast out of me?' Whatever the case, it would almost certainly end with her dead. She couldn't go back to the village, and if they had sent an assassin, especially an Uchiha, the village must know that too. She had heard the legends of some of the Sharingan's powers, and she knew they could be used to subdue people like her. So she closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

"RIN! RIN! It's ME! OBITO!"

Time seemed to stop. Everything was moving slowly, except for Rin's mind. Her eyes shot open. 'That voice. It couldn't be. How is that even possible? No, it's not. He's dead. You know that. Stop hallucinating. He's not coming back.' The thoughts went rushing through her head. She hadn't heard that voice in months. It couldn't be real. How is that even possible? But she couldn't stop herself from looking at the figure. Doing so even helped her clear her head. 'How could this be Obito? Sure, it had a sharingan. But plenty of people have sharingans. Every member of the uchiha clan has a sharingan. Not to mention the fact that this strange figure didn't even have a face and was covered in some kind of white, gooey casing.

"You're not Obito. You're not even human." Rin struggled to say. But she could have almost swore she saw hurt in the sharingan, before the eye widened. 'What now? A genjutsu? If you're going to kill me just do it, or let me do it. At least that way the village will be safe.' Rin was about to start crying again before the figure started talking.

"No it really is me, Rin!" 'How the hell did it know my name? Then again, it was much faster than Kakashi, and it was probably sent to kill me.' Rin still looked up into the eye, and watched as it grabbed at a part of its neck. 'What the he…' Rin never finished that thought. Because when the figure pulled its neck, the skin sprung open. Rin saw a ghost.

Staring down at her, smiling, was Obito Uchiha. Yeah, the goggles were gone, and the right side of his face was messed up, and there was no left eye, but the same hair, the same facial expression. It was Obito. Rin's mouth started moving but nothing came out. And it was about time Obito revealed himself, since Kakashi was charging at him with a chidori, intent on keeping his promise to the very same figure he saw kneeling over Rin.

Kakashi himself was so stunned he just stopped dead in his tracks. Kakashi had taken Obito's death harder than anyone else. Whatever he said about Obito, Kakashi still felt he was not just a comrade, but a friend. Their last mission together, which ended in Obito's death, was a total failure. Obito had saved Kakashi from a boulder, and then given Kakashi his own left eye. A part of Obito lived on in Kakashi, and Kakashi felt a debt to his dead friend, to follow in his footsteps. Now, though, he was staring at his friend. A little older, no goggles, and a slightly messed up face, but his friend nonetheless. Obito.

Obito had noticed Kakashi standing there, so stunned he couldn't even move. It had been months since they had seen each other, and Obito cocked his head and smiled.

"Hey Kakashi! Long time no see haha!" Obito smiled and scratched the back of his head. Kakashi didn't know what took over at that point, but he charged right at Obito grabbed him by the weird white things sticking out around his neck and shook him.

"OW! THAT HURTS!" It seemed the white thing itself could talk, but Kakashi didn't care. He was…outraged.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME OBITO? YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ BACK IN HERE AFTER WHAT YOU DID? WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! WE WERE GRIEVING! AND YOU THINK YOU CAN MAKE IT ALL OKAY BY JUST SAYING 'LONG TIME NO SEE' AND SMILING?" Kakashi was visibly shaking at this point. Rin was just as stunned but hadn't said much since Obito revealed himself. She was too overwhelmed.

"Kakashi, you don't need to…" Rin trailed off, because she didn't need to say anything. Kakashi was shaking, and seemed angry, but she could see now what was happening. Tears were running down his face. Obito seemed surprised at the outburst, but Rin wasn't sure his eye could go any wider when Kakashi smothered him in a hug. Obito was so stunned, it took him a few seconds to be able to reciprocate the hug. Kakashi leaned in towards Obito's ears.

"Don't you ever do that again." Kakashi whispered in a voice Obito didn't even realize Kakashi had. 'Did I really mean this much to them?' Obito closed his eyes and embraced Kakashi. 'I made the right choice. That old guy was wrong. This is where I belong.'

It took a while for Kakashi to finally separate from Obito, but when he did, they both looked around. A number of Kiri ninja were seemingly waiting to see what the new addition to their enemies was able to do. Anyone could feel the tension in the air as both sides sized each other up. Obito stood up and stared back at them.

"Hey swirly, you ready for this?" Obito addressed no one in particular. To an uninformed viewer, it seemed he was just talking to himself. But it was difficult for them to realize that the white suit he had on was living as well…well, it was sentient at least. "Living" was a debate for another time.

"I have a name you know?" Kakashi almost fell on his butt when he realized that the white suit was talking. Not only could it talk, but it seemed quite indignant at the idea that Obito was calling it "swirly." Obito didn't seem fazed at all though.

"Well then what the hell is your name? I've called you Swirly this whole time." Obito was talking to Swirly, but he was scanning the environment, pinpointing the enemy positions, who had what weapons. He had seen a small part of the fight before he had rushed into stop Rin from killing herself. His mind started to wander back to that incident but he shook his head to clear his mind and focus. He could think about that later. Right now, he had to protect his friends.

"My name is Tobi." The white suit still seemed more caught up on the name than the fact that a group of Kiri ninja were coming at them, seemingly with the intent to kill. Obito laughed and shook his head.

"Alright then Tobi, let's do this." Tobi seemed to agree, since Obito felt the suit tense around him.

Obito was so focused on the Kiri ninja that he didn't hear Kakashi approach him from behind.

"Alright Obito. You take the four on the left. I'll take the…"

"No." Kakashi jumped at the strength in Obito's refusal. "But Obito, we need to…" Kakashi stammered out.

Obito shook his head. "No Kakashi. You need to stay with Rin. I don't know what's wrong with her, but if I hadn't gotten here, she would have killed herself. I can't let her do that. We can't let her do that. You promised to protect Rin, and you have. And I am grateful. But now, I need you to protect Rin from herself. Please Kakashi."

Kakashi looked over his old teammate. 'Something is definitely different, besides the weird white thing that's on him and can talk.' He shook his head and looked back at Rin. She was still staring at Obito. His appearance hadn't seemed to sink in yet for her. 'But still…' Kakashi sighed. Obito was right. For some reason he didn't understand, Rin wanted to take her own life, something he refused to let happen. He glanced out of the side of his eye toward Obito.

"You sure you can do this?" Kakashi didn't want to lose Rin, but he also didn't want to lose Obito so soon after finding out he was alive. He couldn't deal with that pain again. He'd probably kill himself. But Obito seemed more determined than any time he had known him. And calmer too.

Obito smirked. "I got this." He leaned forward, eyes scanning the crowd, and then was off in a blur.

The Kiri ninja didn't see it coming. With the combination of his sharingan, and the obvious benefits of Tobi's stronger body helping him, Obito moved faster than the Kiri could react. He took down three before the rest could even think of retreating. But it wasn't his speed or strength that made Kakashi's jaw hit the ground, it was the way he defeated them. Because sticking out of multiple parts of Obito's body, were spikes of wood.

Kakashi had learned about wood release a long time ago. It was a kekkai genkai, a bloodline trait, used by the first Hokage, Hashirama Senju. It was extremely powerful, but could never be used by others. And yet, here was his friend, an Uchiha, the Senju's historic enemy, using the wood release. Rin somehow looked even more shocked. Although it was difficult to tell if she was actually watching the battle or still in shock from seeing one of her closest friends resurrected.

Within a minute, the battle was almost over. The ground was covered in blood, which seemed to almost have a sickly red glow, as the moonlight reflected off of it. The bodies of the defeated Kiri ninja were strewn around Obito, who stood in the middle of the battlefield. There was only one Kiri ninja left, and he was visibly shaking. Then again, that wasn't surprising considering Obito had relished taking down his comrades as viciously as possible. Obito, on the other hand, looked malevolent, as the blood of his enemies had turned much of Tobi red, matching Obito's sharingan, which flashed in the moonlight.

'Nine down. One to go.' Obito locked eyes with the final remaining Kiri ninja. He could see the fear in the ninja's eyes as he scanned for an escape. Obito almost felt pity for this man. Almost. Instead, Obito's lip curled. 'He tried to kill my friends and he thinks I'm going to let him get away?' Obito was pissed. He'd killed the last nine ninja ruthlessly. He had no mercy. Gone were the old days of him unable to do anything. And gone were the days he couldn't protect his friends. He was Uchiha Obito. And he would obliterate anyone who so much as laid a finger on Rin or Kakashi.

'How the hell did he do that?' Kakashi stared at Obito, standing over the final Kiri ninja. The other chunnin on Kakashi's team had gotten out with many injuries, but they were okay. But he was less interested in them, and more interested in the kid pulling a spike made of wood out of the chest of a dead man. 'What happened to you Obito?'

Obito didn't notice Kakashi's expression. But he did glance around the clearing to make sure there were no more enemies before he turned and walked back over to Kakashi and Rin. There were no other Kiri ninja left. The three chunnin that had accompanied Kakashi were together, with two tending to the wounds of a third. The third seemed to be in pretty bad condition. Obito would have gone over to help, had he not been preoccupied with Rin. 'Why would she try to kill herself?' Obito still didn't fully understand the situation, but he couldn't stop thinking about the test subjects Tobi and the other white guys were talking about. His eyes narrowed. 'What is going on?'

But his train of thought was stopped when Rin charged at him and hugged him so hard he fell to the ground and had all the air knocked out of his lungs. Obito was so stunned, that it took his lungs screaming for air for him to react.

"Rin…I can't…breathe." Obito struggled out, as Rin crushed him in a bear hug. Hearing this, she quickly let him go and held him at arm's length. She inspected him, and her eyes rested on his face, especially his now empty left eye-socket and the right side of his face, which still had a strange texture and look due to the special cells that the old guy had implanted in him. She seemed lost for words, but before Obito could say anything,…

"Obito."

Rin had tears in her eyes. Obito had started to tear up as well. Just that one word was necessary. Nothing else had to be said. Rin may not have been as interested in Obito as she was in Kakashi, but she still saw him as a friend, and enjoyed spending time with him. Rin reached up and placed her hand on Obito's face. Obito, surprised, leaned into her hand. She traced her fingers down the right side of his face, feeling the new skin, which seemed artificial. 'What is this?' Rin was confused, but she honestly didn't care. Obito was back. Both her friends were okay. She drew Obito back into a hug, and he wrapped his arms around her and held her just as tight.

Obito hadn't expected either Kakashi or Rin to react this way. He always thought he was the reject. The dead-last, never good enough, perpetual sidekick of the great Kakashi. They had seemed upset when he had been crushed under the boulder, but he thought that was how everyone felt when you lost a fellow ninja. But now he realized: that's how you react when you lose a friend. He held Rin closer and nestled his face in her hair. He closed his eyes and just savored the moment, being this close to Rin.

Kakashi had still not fully recovered from Obito's sudden appearance. After Obito's death, he had gone into a deep depression, unable to even leave his own apartment for a week due to the pain of the loss. It had taken months for Kakashi to accept that his friend was dead. In fact, it was only recently that he had stopped seeing his face in posters around Konoha, or hearing his voice coming from empty alleys. He still didn't trust his eyes, but if Rin accepted Obito being back…well, he could too.

Kakashi stepped forward. He didn't want to interrupt Obito and Rin's moment. He knew Obito liked Rin, and Obito clearly enjoyed that Rin was so happy he returned. Honestly, Kakashi was just as happy, if not moreso, that Obito was back; he just had difficulty expressing it. Kakashi had lost his parents early, and even though he criticized Obito constantly, he still thought of Obito as a brother. So it was barely a second after Rin had let go of Obito that Kakashi lunged forward and crushed his friend in another bear hug.

Obito's eyes already looked too wide to be human, but as Kakashi started to speak, it also seemed his eyebrows were attempting to defect to his hairline. "Obito. I'm so happy you're alive. I…I couldn't believe you were dead. I kept seeing your face and hearing your voice everywhere I would go." Tears were streaming down Kakashi's face as he started choking his words. "Don't you ever die on me again Obito. I don't think I could bear that." Kakashi was shaking, while Obito seemed to have finally found his voice, even though he too was crying at this point. He looked at the spiky white hair and trademark facemask of his friend, and smiled.

"Thank you Kakashi. And don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I will protect my comrades no matter what. I promise."

Wow! That was really enjoyable to write! I hope to get at least one of these out each week. I'm hoping to make this a really long series, tracking everone's adventures. Anyways, follow/favorite if you enjoyed and please give me any constructive criticism in the comments! This is my first fanfiction and I'd be grateful if any of you guys pointed out a mistake! Thanks again!