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Obito, if he’s being honest, spends a lot of time being confused by a variable of things.
The only exception to that, has always been his team because he honestly adores Minato-sensei and Rin, and even if he will never ever admit it but also Kakashi in one way or another but only because instead of getting confused he’s mostly ever annoyed and mad at that guy.
That mightier than thou attitude and his own inability to beat Kakashi in a spar also kind of adds to that. He knows Minato-sensei despairs about them sometimes because they aren’t a ‘real’ team and instead just constantly bickering or fighting or what have you.
Which is why it comes as such a surprise when Kakashi seems to switch his complete persona from one day to the next. As in, instead of Obito wanting to tear his hair out in annoyance and anger, he actually wants to tear it out in frustration and sheer stupid confusion.
He doesn’t know what happened. One day everything had been normal, the next, Kakashi got sick and missed a whole week of training and when he came back he proceeded to be even more of an angsting assholes to Obito and nearly send him to the hospital during a spar. Obito would have had no compunction to beat a kid into the ground if Kakashi didn’t just somehow become even better at being a shinobi and dodged all of his attempts at hitting him, but also pulling out jutsu he’s never seen before.
Yes, maybe they were nothing but D or a possibly C rank jutsu, but still.
So, Obito had been extra angry because Kakashi seemed to grow into even more of a dick than he’s already been for no reason. He would have given Kakashi a piece of his mind if he hadn’t also suddenly started to actually see Kakashi. The guy was doing a fantastic job at hiding it but not good enough for an Uchiha who has been taught to read any and all micro expressions since childhood.
And what Obito saw, had managed to turn him straight from angry to confused. Kakashi’s eyes had been filled to the brim with incredible sadness and something that Obito could only describe as bottomless desolation. Not only that, it seemed he was actually trying to be a better person, kinder, but blundering his way along and making everything worse.
When sparring with him, Kakashi doesn’t pull his punches at all but despite suddenly being stronger, he doesn’t attempt to beat Obito up to ‘win’ - except for that one time, mentioned previously - and actually lets them train in a spar . Obito gets better and better at catching up with this new Kakashi. But then sometimes, something will happen and Kakashi either stands there, not doing anything, or honest to kami just leaving training . Sometimes he freezes up in the middle of a fight and suddenly can’t go on anymore.
It’s as if he desperately wants to get closer to him and Rin but doesn’t know what to do.
It doesn’t help that he sometimes flinches when Rin does anything or Kakashi does anything even in her vicinity. Though Rin isn’t the only one, because Kakashi even flinches from Minato-sensei sometimes, and even from Obito but for what reason he really doesn’t know.
And then, when Obito can barely take it anymore, Kakashi really cements his place as the person that gives Obito the most headaches.
Because Kakashi is a chunin already, he can take higher ranked missions with Minato-sensei which they often need to do with the war in full swing. Normally that was that, everyone said goodbye, Minato-sensei grimaced because he had to leave them behind, and a promise that Kushina-san would come and oversee their training for the time being and that was all.
But no, Kakashi had to break the expectation again.
He somehow finds Obito on their training ground, the literally only time that Obito can be considered early if only because no one was there for him to be late for.
Rin had been needed at the hospital on short notice and Kushina had to also go on a mission that had suddenly cropped up. Since Obito had been here anyway he had just started training alone and was thinking about maybe practicing his katon because uncontrolled fire and other people didn’t mix too well. Which meant, training alone wouldn’t result in accidental injuries because a jutsu backfired. Again.
Well…injuries on other people at least.
Which is why it was so surprising when he, after another only mostly failed attempt - at least he managed to breathe a bit of fire this time - turned around with a deep sigh, only to see Kakashi standing only a tiny bit behind him and staring right at him. He is so close, in fact, that Obito stumbles back and he does not yelp in surprise, no matter what anyone says.
Kakashi, like so often now, doesn't say a word and holds out his hands.
His hands and the puppy he had been holding, so tiny that Obito hadn’t even seen it at first.
Kakashi unceremoniously plops the puppy into Obito’s arms who instinctively catches it before the little body meets the ground.
Obito, too confused to think before he speaks, asks intelligently, “What’s that?”
Kakashi manages to scowl even harder to an honestly terrifying degree and then sniffs somewhat haughtily, scathingly replying, “It’s a dog. A puppy. Surely you know what these are?”
“Of course-” Obito said loudly, on the cusp of blowing up before the puppy sniffles and he tunes the volume down to not scare it. “Of course I know what a puppy is!” He whispers loudly, “I’m asking why you gave it to me!”
“He,” Kakashi emphasizes coldly, “is called Maru and he will need to be taken care of while I am away. You can at least manage that, can’t you?”
And without another word he’s gone in a body flicker, leaving Obito once again alone save for the presence of little Maru.
If he hadn’t been so surprised and annoyed, he would have probably said something. Like ‘why him?’ or ‘of course i can manage that!’ or ‘what the hell Bakashi’ but as is, he can only think all of that at his teammate and cling to the hope that Kakashi falls face first into a mud puddle. Or steps on poop.
Would serve him right.
With nothing else to do, Obito sits down on the ground and puts Maru down next to him.
Maru gives him a look - one that very much looks like he learned it from Kakashi - and climbs into his lap, sitting down.
Obito looks at the spotted little puppy in his lap. Maru looks back, waves his tail once, and then yawns before deciding his lap is the best place in the world for a nap. It curls on itself and Obito pushes his legs further together on instinct because the puppy seems so small that he’s scared he’ll fall through the space between where he sits cross-legged.
He looks up when he senses someone and hears their footsteps across the training ground, just to see Rin coming in and waving, calling a greeting. Obito grins back brightly and waves and would have immediately jumped up if not for the puppy in his lap.
“Rin! Hi!” Obito beams and then pauses, before asking, “I thought you were needed at the hospital?”
“Not anymore, the emergency got resolved and another medic took over for me,” Rin says and smiles. “I guessed right you’d still be here, we can train even without… Kushina-san… here…”
Rin trails off when she realizes that Obito still hasn’t gotten up and finds this to be caused by the little dog, sitting on top of him.
“Obito…” Rin says slowly, “Why is there a puppy sitting on you?”
Obito tries his best to show her that he’s just as confused as her which doesn’t really work if he doesn’t speak up and only ends up with him shrugging and then flailing his arms about. “I don’t know!” He says then, still baffled.
Maru doesn’t seem to care and doesn’t even twitch.
“You don’t know?” Rin asks, incredulous. “Well, how did it get here?”
“He,” Obito corrects and then grimaces because that’s the exact same thing Kakashi did. “Kakashi came by with Maru in his hand and then basically plopped him down into my hands.”
“Just…like that?” Rin tries to reconstruct the happening with some skepticism.
“Yeah!” Obito says, “Literally just like that, one moment I was alone and the nex he was there, puppy under his arm, giving it to me. Then he tells me Maru’s name, says something along the lines of ‘you can at least take care of a puppy, can’t you?’ and then leaves on his mission.”
Obito waves his arms again for emphasis because the confusion is still not over and Rin at least, might notice how freaking weird this is.
“That’s weird,” Rin says, thank kami.
“That’s what I thought!” Obito whisper-yells and then slumps. He doesn’t actually know anything about how to take care of a dog, lest of all a puppy. He knows a bit about how to take care of cats, or nin-cats but dogs ? It’s not ever something that came up.
Rin and Obito both stare at little Maru who doesn’t seem to care at all that he’s the center of attention right now, and only cares about sleeping. Obito doesn’t want to piss the little guy off the first hour he has to take care of it so he doesn’t want to stand up and disturb him.
“That’s really, really weird,” Rin says again and then sits down next to him holding out a hand towards Maru. Maru’s nose twitches and he uncurls himself long enough to get a sniff of Rin’s hand before deciding that he isn’t offended by it and going back to sleep. Rin carefully strokes over Maru’s head and scratches behind his ears which the little dog is more than willing to allow by how his tiny tail is wagging, despite his furthering attempt of seeming like he’s sleeping.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Obito grumbles and can’t help himself but also pet Maru who seems to like that even more. “Kakashi’s such a little creep and he’s somehow gotten worse and yet better over the past two weeks, no idea what happened but one moment he’s something approaching nice before he turns around and is honestly such an asshole again!”
For once Rin doesn’t correct him and just shrugs because she noticed it too. “Do you know why any of that would make him give you a puppy to care for?”
“No!” Obito bites out and groans, “I don’t even really know how to take care of a puppy! Dogs in general - most of the Uchiha compound has cats and there is only really very seldom the odd guard dog. But I grew up with cats and nin-cats, what if I accidentally hurt Maru? What can he even eat? Can he eat, is he old enough?”
“Well,” Rin says and thinks before standing up and dusting off her clothes. “I can help with that at least, I’m part Inuzuka, I grew up with dogs and the like.”
“Thank you,” Obito says fervently and, after some consideration, he scoops up the puppy to deposit him into the crook of his arm and stand up. “What will we do first? He needs supplies right?”
“Yes!” Rin says and smiles a smile that makes Obito all gooey inside. “We should probably head to your home first and see what you have or what can be repurposed before we try and buy something - and leave little Maru there for an hour or so because most vendors don’t like dogs in their shops.”
Obito nods in agreement, “Makes sense, I just hope the little guy can’t be too destructive…”
Rin winces and Obito suddenly remembers several stories she told them about this exact scenario happening. “Maybe let’s take him with us still, one of us will just have to wait outside while the other gets everything.”
“Good idea, Rin!” Obito says and smiles at her, his heart giving a little flutter when she smiles back. Alright, onward!”
In the end, it turns out that doing any shopping wouldn’t be necessary. It starts with Rin and Obito and little Maru arriving at his house on the edge of the Uchiha compound and finding a note taped on his door which has nothing else but a Henohenomoheji on it.
Warily, Obito opens his door and he and Rin explore the house for anything unusual, finding it in the kitchen.
The ‘it’ being a pile of dog supplies from food to pillows to other things like a brush, a vest and possibly everything one would need for puppy raising. There is another note taped to one of the food bags that reads; ‘Your traps are atrocious.’ and is signed with another Henohenomoheji.
Obito is too bewildered to be angry and Rin also doesn’t seem to know what to do.
“Well I guess we don’t need to go out then, I think.” She says, voice incredulous while she looks over the pile stuff. “At least he also provided everything before he shoved a puppy into your arms?”
“Well!” Obito says a little but too loudly, “That’s the least he could do, isn’t it! Imagine if I had to pay so much from my hard earned money to get puppy stuff that I won’t use anymore after Bakashi is back and takes Maru again.”
Rin nods sagely, “It would have been really rude of him if he had just ditched you with the costs.”
It warms Obito’s heart that Rin is agreeing with him and that while criticizing Kakashi, no less. Though his mind doesn’t stay long on that topic and rather decides to go with a sudden realization. “Wait, did that bastard break into my house?!”
Rin snorts and then claps a hand in front of her mouth to giggle. “I think- I think he did.”
“Also my traps aren’t atrocious, they’re good!” Obito grumbles, “Just because Mr. I am better than you and can evade them, doesn’t mean they’re bad.”
“I believe you,” Rin says. “Your traps are always very good.”
“Thank you!” Obito says and grumbles a bit more. “Also it’s not like I can put seals into my home, like Kakashi who’s already gotten trained on them from Minato-sensei.”
“He did?” Rin asks, turning to look at Obito who blinks in confusion.
“I- yeah? I saw him drawing some seals like, a few weeks back and asked about it,” Obito says and then shrugs. “No idea what the seal was for but he looked like he knew what he was doing and you know he’s known Sensei way longer than we have.”
“Oh that makes sense,” Rin says, smoothing down the wrinkles in her skirt and forehead scrunched up in thought.
“Do you think…”
“Hm?”
“Do you think we could ask Sensei to also teach us seals?” Rin asks, unsure.
Obito blinks, “Huh? Why though?”
“Why not?” Rin counters, “Seals can be really useful and storage scrolls are really, really expensive if you buy them even if they’re lifesavers if you are gone a really long time at the front.
“I bet you could combine them with your traps and I could store emergency medical supplies - I’ve seen both Sensei and Kushina-san have them on their clothing even; haven’t you wondered about Kushina-san’s bracelet? Shinobi never really wear jewelry, so I asked, and she said she has about an entire pouch’s worth of kunai stored in there at all times.”
Rin seems to get more and more excited and rambling the longer she goes on and Obito has to focus not to moon, “You sound really excited about that, if you knew this for a while why did you never ask Sensei?”
Rin shrugs, “I didn’t think about it I guess? Like…Minato-sensei is. Well. Sensei. I thought he’d teach us what he thought would be best and I didn’t want to be rude.”
“Why would asking be rude?” Obito asks, honestly a little bit lost.
Rin frowns at him, “Did you sleep through history again when we covered this? Sealing was an art in Uzushiogakure, the village that the Uzumaki lived in until it got destroyed almost a little bit more than a decade back.”
“Uzumaki like…?”
“Like Kushina-san, yes, because she came to Konoha she is probably the only Uzumaki left and so sealing is kind of her heritage, that’s why I felt it would be rude to ask.” Rin explains.
Obito nods, he remembers now. It was only ever a footnote in the academy and he never really paid attention in history anyway but they did mention that, if briefly. He frowns, “And because Kakashi can use seals, something that Minato-sensei presumably taught him, you think it’s not rude to ask anymore?”
“Yes!” Rin says, before adding, “Though I’ll still be prepared if he says no. Things like sealing are really delicate and kind of like a legacy - like, you wouldn’t try and teach me Uchiha style kata.”
Obito shakes his head, yeah, no - even if he wanted to, the Uchiha would probably skin him alive. “I get it - but why did you ask if we could ask Sensei? You can learn without me.”
Rin bites her lip, “I could…but I would want you there with me. It could be a real team bonding thing.”
“Maybe I’m not gonna be any good at it and then what?” Obito asks because he’s used to being no good. Used to being discarded because he doesn’t get things as fast, he knows Minato-sensei wouldn’t do that on purpose but…well, he is a genius. Sometimes it’s really hard for him to connect to Obito and explain things in a way that he gets them. And it leaves Obito frustrated that he can’t just grasp concepts as fast as Kakashi, or even Rin.
“You’re never going to know until you try, no?” Rin says a defiant glint in her eyes that Obito knows and has never, ever managed to say no to.
“Fine,” he grumbles. “But when I humiliate myself I can say, I told you so.”
“Learn at least until we can manage to make our own storage seals, I heard Kushina-san say that they’re the next easiest after exploding seals.” Rin urges.
“Sure I guess,” Obito says. “I mean if it makes you happy.”
“It would,” Rin says, “Obito we’re in a war, I know we’re just genin now but we will become chunin and then be sent out, an extra kunai could save your life.”
“If we're very real I don’t think an extra kunai will help in a situation where I’ve already used up all of my normal ones,” Obito mutters. “But I’ll do it, especially if you think it will help.”
“I really do,” Rin grins. “Also, explosion tags! Maybe if we can get farther we can even make smoke bombs or something, don’t tell me you wouldn’t love to let someone walk into your trap and then get blasted. You can train with prank traps, if someone triggers it they get a full face of paint or something instead of an explosion.”
“You’re actually evil,” Obito laughs. “Why do people always assume I’m the worst when you’re clearly superior.”
“Because you wear your emotions on your sleeves and can’t stop looking pleased when someone runs into your prank,” Rin says and laughs, “Meanwhile I am clearly just the timid and shy civilian kunoichi you dragged along against her will.”
Obito grins and then grumbles, “On one hand that's devious, on the other hand some people are really dumb. Why does it matter if someone isn’t born to a clan, not like we are anything that great either. Civilian born shinobi can be just as strong or even stronger than clan kids - case in point Minato-sensei. And you aren’t even civilian born, just because your family isn’t well known… Also you’re kick ass, people wish they could be like you.”
Rin blushes and waves her hand at Obito, “Thank you, Obito. And…you’re right, I don’t get it either but you know, many people are just idiots.”
“Of course!” Obito says and smiles a bit shyly, though before he can say anything else Maru seems to have woken up and wiggles around in his arms.
Obito looks down at the tiny puppy and then at Rin.
“Maybe he wants down,” Rin guesses.
Obito looks at Maru again and asks, “Do you want down?”
Maru gives a tiny, high-pitched yip at Obito and then does the same yip at the table with all the supplies on. “Oh…are you hungry?”
Maru gives another yip, this time sounding a bit like an agreement.
Rin smiles, “I think that was a yes.”
“I think so too,” Obito says. “Though I can’t make you food while I’m carrying you, Maru.”
Maru looks at Obito and then somehow snuggles more into his arms, apparently his declaration that he won’t get off.
Obito looks on in bewilderment while Rin laughs, “Don’t worry Obito, I’ll prepare the food today, you probably don’t know how much he should get and how to prepare it anyway. You can watch and hold Maru while I do it.”
“Are you sure?” Obito asks. “I can help, probably. And you’re in my house.”
“Of course I’m sure!” Rin says, already picking various things up from the table and bringing it over to the kitchen counter. “And I’ve been in your house now often enough, and again I’ll show you what to do now and what else you can feed. It’s not like I don’t know and if I weren’t here you would probably have to pay and then listen to a lecture on nutrition for dogs by an Inuzuka vet.”
“Thank you!” Obito says and smiles at Rin, who smiles back. “Wait, why would I have to pay?”
“Hmm?” Rin asks, looking at what Kakashi deemed worthy to be fed to a puppy. “Oh, the Inuzuka thing? Well, generally if you get a new dog, the Inuzuka are the most well known vets out there so you would likely go to them for a check up on your new dog but the fee for a first time check up also includes them teaching you about your new dog, diet included. Maru, being probably a ninken summon, is being taken care of in the summon realm and wouldn’t need a check up, but you’d have to pay the normal fee anyway just to also get the lecture.”
Obito scrunches up his face, it does make sense in a way but he wouldn’t have been able to pay for that check up anyway on his budget. Minato-sensei would have maybe made Kakashi pay him back but Obito has no idea how long he’ll be gone and he kind of needs money in the meantime to feed himself.
Rin walks him through the food preparation and also educates him about what Maru can eat and shouldn’t eat, especially in regards to human food. Obito can’t help but hang on to her every word because Rin is a really great teacher and he’s so happy that she decided to help him.
Maru, when the food is done, basically throws himself on it and devours it in record time. It makes both Rin and him laugh especially when he steps back, looking extremely self-satisfied and wags his little tail.
Not long after, Rin excuses herself and even hugs Obito goodbye with a promise to come by tomorrow as well.
“Man, Rin is such a good person, isn’t she? Right, Maru?” He looks down at the little puppy who wags his tail harder which Obito will take as agreement. He slides down the wall to sit on the floor which Maru exploits to clamber up on his lap and demand pats.
Obito laughs but gives into the demands because really, who could deny Maru that? “You’re a good boy, aren’t you.” He says and Maru wags his tail even harder, basically shaking his whole body this way and giving a tiny, adorable yip.
“Well, I think we’re going to be great friends until Bakashi comes back.” Obito says quietly, laughing when Maru starts chasing his own tail before flopping over and panting, giving him another pleading look.
Obito can’t even pretend to resist before he buries his hand into his soft and fluffy fur again. He really hopes he can keep Maru for a while, it’s nice to have a companion - even if only for a little while.
