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The ninja world had finally known tragedy by the loss of three of its most powerful and important leaders across the Great ninja villages. The third Hokage, the fourth Kazekage, and the fourth Mizukage had all lost their lives during the time of the collaboration for the chunin exams taking place in Konohagakure.
It would only be found years later that the fourth Mizukage had died long before at the hand of his monster wife's main protector, but for now, the world mourned the loss of their great leaders.
And yet, the great lady Rin of Kirigakure was nowhere to be found and questioned after the chunin exams were deemed over.
After the dust had cleared after the invasion of the sound village, with the help of the sand village, within Konohagakure, all suspicious traces of the three-tailed jinchuuriki had completely disappeared. If not for her strong devotion to her home, her true home in the hidden Leaf rumors would have flown about possible connections between Kirigakure possibly being involved with the Otogakure invasion. But luckily for the damaged village, they were reassured that the leaf didn't believe they were involved in the slightest.
That was the good news.
The bad news was twisted into the three-tailed jinchuuriki somehow being connected with the death of their beloved Mizukage. They seemed happily married together, but they never soured children during their time together and it wasn't hard to see that behind closed doors, their marriage was a shamble.
Yagura hated the three-tailed jinchuuriki, and it only became worse needing to be married to her and all because the village leaders above him thought it would help tighten a bond between Konohagakure and Kirigakure.
Something that happened before he even thought about becoming Mizukage and before he had any knowledge of what a bijuu or jinchuuriki even was. Something about Rin being forced to become a jinchuuriki against her will during the third great ninja war and attempting to attack Konohagakure with her as bait. It failed to work to some degree because the bitch tried to kill herself, but failed miserably. However, that didn't stop from her still being a weak threat when Rin passed through their barrier.
If not for quick thinking between the passed nine-tailed jinchuuriki, the future fourth Hokage, and everyone within the village, the mist’s plans would have worked. Konohagakure would have fallen and the world would have been a much different place than where we currently lived. But one big difference would have been Yagura would have been alive.
They successfully sealed the pathetic and very damaged bijuu back into the broken vessel of Rin Nohara’s body. She learned to live as a jinchuuriki, though the attack left her back at genin level and it was quite painful for her, Rin was happy to be with her sensei, his wife, and her best friend and comrade.
The happy and semi-peace was shortly over when the nine-tailed fox somehow broke from his seal and led to a full-on attack on Konohagakure. The three-tailed jinchuuriki was severely outmatched but wanted to fight one massive beast with another.
A promise and a bit of desperate respect were all it took for Rin to release the three-tailed bijuu to face off against his much stronger brother. It wasn't the best relationship, but the duo had a brief understanding of what it meant if they were to die at the hands of the nine-tailed fox. Something that Isobu refused to accept without a fight. It wasn't an even fight with how slightly pathetic it was, but it held the fox back long enough to wait for her beloved sensei to come to their rescue. It might not have saved that many lives, but even at a loss and more damage to her already broken form, Rin felt it was the right thing to do when getting involved.
Going hard enough to fully blackout during the fight, Rin awoke to find herself forever changed and in major trouble for her dealings with Kurama. It wasn't just her, it was her existence in the first place.
Konohagakure wasn't meant to own the three-tailed bijuu. It wasn't there and though Kirigakure tried to use it as a weapon against the village during the war, the mist village still felt they owed the bijuu. They demanded their bijuu back or faced the consequences. Something Konohagakure could not afford after still recovering from the third great Shinobi war and the new loss of their newest fourth Hokage. The leaf village was in no position for threats or an attack at that level at the moment.
There came the decision that Rin had no choice but to follow. Or her life would be on the line.
Her only supporters when she first woke up had been her sensei and his wife, Rin's only living teammate, and even the old third Hokage himself in a vote to have the three-tailed jinchuuriki stay in Konoha. They would work together to keep anything bad from happening to their most precious healing kunoichi until she was back to full strength and then they could go from there…
But she had lost half her most important support team in just one night and all because she was too weak to save them…
Hiruzen was backed into a wall with what to do with Rin and her now unsealed weapon of mass destruction. He still didn't want to give the poor girl back, especially with all she had been through, but the threats from the mist village were too important to just ignore. They wouldn't go away just because he wished for it. And it sadly only took a little persuading from Danzo and the threats of the people above him to turn the depressing fact that they needed to return the three-tailed jinchuuriki to Kirigakure.
The three-tailed jinchuuriki had become somewhat of a pet to the Mizukage, trained properly and broken to swear allegiance to the mist village. She had to be properly tortured to break that strong devotion and though her body and mind were broken, the will of fire could not be broken. If anything, it trained Rin to lie for her life to protect herself and her beloved bijuu.
There was no one she could trust in the dreaded bloodied mist village and she couldn't trust anyone.
It wasn't until her guardian angel protected her from the cold that she finally found someone she could trust. And he wasn't even from Kirigakure. Some group of some sort known as the Akatsuki. A group Rin knew about from Lord Jiraiya.
Just like Kirigakure, they used her for their own personal gain. But unlike Kirigakure, they treated her as a person. Treated her with love and respect. Just something easy to use her for their cause.. and though Rin knew not to trust them, it didn't stop her from falling in love with their leader.
Their hidden true master from the shadows.
She was one of their targets, but also couldn't just take the three tails from her. Their leader wouldn't allow it and the group was far from ready for such a task when Madara, Konan, and Pein saved her from that horrifying freezer. So they waited. And their leader grew a sick obsession with the three tails.
And yet…
Rin had truly helped from her position within the high rankings of Kirigakure. Madara manipulated Yagura at times to help as well, but Rin truly put on a good act to force Kirigakure to help out in the Land of Rain. The three-tailed jinchuuriki grew to become an ally to the Akatsuki and though she didn't know their plans for her, at first, she trusted them as her true friends. She just wanted to help and be of use to a great cause and that turned out to be the Akatsuki from her mind.
Madara protected her the whole time she lived with her in the mist village and her life grew better. Rin was less alone now and he was always there when she needed it. She didn't know who he was and that he had loved her before he had even found her. It took her longer to grow to trust, befriend him, and end up loving him too.
By the time they had shared a night, the two strange partners had known each other for almost ten years… it was longer if Rin truly knew the truth behind the mask wearer, but Rin didn't care. She loved Tobi for who he was and how he acted, not how he looked. Her only suspicion of him truly being an Uchiha was the red sharingan eye she noticed him using at random times. Obito didn't know she had seen it when she did, but growing up with Uchiha gave the jinchuuriki a slight profession over the clan.
The night came and went and it was time for a change for the three-tailed jinchuuriki when Kirigakure was called upon to join the chunin exams to be hosted in Konohagakure. Sunagakure would also help host it, but Kirigakure was also invited. They of course accepted and Rin was sent ahead to get them started when the others would join them.
If only the village, and even Rin, was aware that their beloved Mizukage was long gone by that time. If only Konohagakure understood just the type of enemy that Sunagakure had joined forces with before just inviting him into the village.
Orochimaru knew of Rin. He knew of her return to Kirigakure. He didn't know that she would have returned to Konohagakure just as he planned on taking his old village off the map and he truly didn't understand what she would do when she saw him again.
When news of Orochimaru arrived in the village, the three-tailed jinchuuriki didn't hear about such news. No, she wasn't lucky like that. She didn't know he was targeting the last two known living Uchiha as Rin was aware of the snake bastard having a failed go at Itachi. But the snake truly had no filter or didn't believe that Rin would get in the way of his plans to go after Sasuke when she was truly backed up in a corner herself.
No protector in sight for the mighty, but truly defenseless jinchuuriki.
They had fought. And not the jinchuuriki and that snake in the grass, Orochimaru. Rin and Tobi. Her Tobi. The second love of her life and her protector and she couldn't handle how strange he acted around Rin's only living team member.
She didn't know the hatred he had for that man that had hurt her when he promised to protect her with his life. He couldn't protect her from becoming a jinchuuriki and now Obito was the only person she could ever truly trust to protect her from any harm.
… But you have to be there to be able to protect someone…
“Hey, why are you acting like that?” The jinchuuriki asked her masked protector when she managed to break away from Kakashi and his team. She wanted to spend time and get to know them, especially Naruto, but it was impossible with the negative feelings Tobi was giving off.
When they were just by themselves, sometimes Tobi still acted the same as he always did within the Akatsuki, but Rin knew the truth and now was not the time to make her question him again. “What do you mean?” He turned to look at her, and though his mask looked at her, Rin felt that his mind wasn't really on her at that moment. “Tobi, you can't stop me from speaking to my old friends and comrades,” Rin murmured with her arms crossed over her chest, quick to get defensive.
Tobi never really tried to control Rin like she had seen him do with Rin's so-called husband, but she was smart enough to see when she was being manipulated in subtle ways.
Clicking his teeth at her question, he was annoyed the whole time around their old teammate, but only now could vent it since Rin was the one who brought it out of him. “I saw the way that guy looked at you. He certainly wasn't just your friend, Rin.” He didn't mean to come off with some venom in his tone, but it brought concern to Rin's eyes as she had never seen this side of her love before. “Tobi, Kakashi, and I are just friends. I promise you, what we had in the past was a one-time thing.” She tried to reassure her lover and even uncrossed her arms to reach out toward his hands. Sadly though, he pulled away from her touch.
Obito couldn't handle looking at her without thinking of what Kakashi had done to her. And yet she slept with him … as if what he put her through didn't even fucking matter! He thought he could handle seeing them together and know that she only truly loved him. But then his insecurities kept popping back up whenever he saw the secret way Kakashi looked at her.
The two still admired each other, but it was more pride and joy with how far each of them had gotten, not acting romantic.
The pain that crossed her face was hard to miss, she even looked down at her hands before holding them at her side. “Maybe for you. But I see that he still loves you. How do I know you won't go back to him once you're done with the mist village?” Her hands shook and she needed to hold them behind her back to keep from messing with herself or trying to console someone who didn't want to touch her now for some reason. “Y-you…”
Looking at the ground lost in thought of what to do, her eyes looked all over her teammate’s body and yet he still couldn't look at her. “Do you believe I would abandon you like that, Tobi?” She questioned and hitched her voice. “I might miss my home and old life, but I couldn't see myself going through life without you next to me.” She whispered and was full of love, even though her heart began to ache from him second-guessing her like this and out of nowhere. The jinchuuriki didn't understand what or where this was coming from since she had been introducing him to everyone she knew and emphasizing how truly important Tobi was to her.
The title of protector was the Main one Rin went with as she couldn't just say he was her lover, and the one person she cared about most in the world, but had hoped that it didn't need to be said. “I don't know anymore, Rin.”
His whole body grew stiff as he answered what he was feeling and truly believing at that moment. He finally turned his mask to look at her pathetic form and anger just couldn't stop. “How can you say you want to stay friends with someone who hurt you like that!? How could you sink so low to sleep with him too? And he couldn't even stop them from making you into this…!” He waved his gloved hand at her and Rin's eyes grew bigger and sharper.
It was clear that each level of regret the female jinchuuriki went through and it seemed all the color drained from her face in an instant. A sharp inhale and she stepped back from the insult. He didn't need to say what he meant, she took it as horribly as any weapon made human would. And it broke her. The jinchuuriki's mind and heart completely shattered in that instant. He didn't trust her judgment it seemed, and even worse was he didn't seem to see her as a human. Only a monster. Fine. She can play that role.
It took but less than a second for Obito to figure out that he had majorly fucked up. His inner voice became an outer voice and he didn't mean to blow up on the one person he loved most in the world and wanted to protect. He trusted her, but he didn't.. no.. more like couldn't understand why she seemed to forgive Kakashi like that. She made it look so easy, but Obito couldn't. Not even after over 13 years since that Chidori attack.
Without even thinking for herself, Rin's hands clenched into fists and she stepped up closer to the masked man. She glared up at him with pure anger, rage, and hatred for what he just said. “I don't need to explain myself to someone like you. Someone who has to hide himself behind a mask from even someone he believes he loves most in this world.” She scoffed and turned her back on him. “Don't speak to me and act as if you know anything about what Kakashi and I went through in the past, Tobi. I don't know what you think you might have read up on me and Kakashi, or even the night I got these ugly scars, but what happened between us is no one's concern but our own.”
Facing her head toward the floor, she shook her head and began to walk away only for Tobi to follow a few steps. “Now hold on! I didn't mean anything like that, Rin. Just… just give me a second to explain myself. Please…” Obito spoke out with determination, but couldn't put two and two that he truly hurt Rin with what he said. Again, he could only blame Kakashi. And his own stubbornness and clouded hatred affected even those he didn't mean to aim at.
“Don't even bother, you bastard! Don't follow me. Go back to your precious Akatsuki without me… I quit. You guys didn't need me anymore anyway, you never did. Whatever I am, I guess. And I don't need you, Tobi. Or whatever your name is. Madara, I guess. Right?” She spoke with a hiss from her bijuu's mannerisms, glared down at her hands, and just kept walking. “Rin! Wait please!” He called out to her, but Rin kept walking. A small cloud of mist passed by her lips as she exhaled while leaving. “Itachi missed more than just his brother during that night. Pathetic.”
They weren't sure if those last ones hurt her or Obito more.
That night Obito couldn't find Rin no matter how hard he tried to look for her. She wasn't near that bastard Kakashi and there weren't any signs near even the nine-tailed brat. She truly was gone, but in truth, Rin spent the whole day and night not moving at Obito's own memorial grave.
It was the one space he failed to try to find her and truly the only space Rin could find some true answers. ” Damn it Obito. What am I going to do now? I… I don't want to be alone… Konohagakure isn't my home anymore and I can't return to Kirigakure. I need a sign.” She put her hands together. “Obito, please give me a sign of what I need to do. I can't live like this anymore. I-it hurts, my love. I can't do this anymore.”
She stayed there until even Kakashi found her far into the morning of the next day. And yet the only help she would accept was going with her to the entry of the Forest of Death. Not much was spoken from the heartbroken jinchuuriki and not even bringing up Obito seemed to help so the jonin had no choice but to leave her at the entrance as he was needed inside as well. He promised to see her inside when she felt like going in, but it wasn't hard to see that was in a funk. Not even Isobu helped much.
There was no one to blame but herself for ending up cornered by a ruthless snake in the forest of death. And to her credit, Rin was no match for one of the legendary sannins. Even a perfect jinchuuriki of her level couldn't break the powerful and scary genjutsu he had used to immobilize his new little plaything. However, one thing to learn about turtles and snakes, they like to bite when cornered.
Orochimaru wasn't happy when Rin took a bite out of him just like he took a bite out of her. Only the snake bastard left her a much bigger present to send back to the mist village. While Rin took a chunk out of his shoulder that would take a while to heal.
His gift from one monster to another is how Orochimaru put it. And to no one's surprise, Orochimaru offered Rin a little advice.
He spoke to her as she struggled through the pain to keep herself and Isobu under control. This pain level was more extreme than even the Chidori attack, and it felt like hot lava was pouring through her cold-blooded veins.
“Oh, little three-tails, use this little gift to try to find your way in life. Two homes and nowhere to live to call your own. We're just like. You and I.”
He laughed so smoothly and got closer to the darkened and frightened Jinchuuriki. “The Akatsuki don't have a use for you. They only want your bijuu for their plans. Konohagakure threw you away and even Kirigakure can't stand to have you around. But I can have a use for you. I'm sure I can find a good use for a weapon like yourself. Come find me later when I'm done with this pathetic place. I can find a home for you.” He mocked her. Called her names and made her feel weak… and Rin believed him…
Too bad for Orochimaru, Konohagakure might have abandoned her, but she would never betray her home like that. She might leave it, but Rin couldn't ever fully turn her back against her village. She would rather die than attack again.
But Orochimaru leaves her before she can give him a proper answer as the pain causes her to lose consciousness.
Again, Obito tried to track her down to the best of his ability, but it was only Lord Hiruzen and his group of Anbu who found her in the dangerous woods.
They kept her in the medical squad within the confines of the Forest of Death and though they offered Rin help, she refused and pushed what was happening to her body from their concern. She forced them to focus on finding Orochimaru and not worry about her. Just like the past 10 years.
And just like Obito to show up extremely late to that party while the genin teams were fighting one-on-one the day after. He showed up in the arena side while Rin watched from afar, only to get up and move when he suddenly popped into the room. She was used to this little Kamui travel, but it even threw Hiruzen off from another person who suddenly showed up in the huge room.
He tried to speak to her. Tried his damndest to get her attention, only for Kakashi and Maito to step in when she moved to stand on the other side of them. Rin didn't tell them details on what they fought about, or what they squabbled about but it was clear that Obito wasn't welcomed there and they weren't going to allow Rin near him. She couldn't even look at him. And again he would leave with no words said. It just hurt too much…
It wasn't like the pathetic leaf ninja could stop him if he truly wanted to speak to Rin. She knew but prayed he wouldn't make a scene in front of everyone. So he left…
Obito would give her time and he would be stuck in his pitiful hell the whole time. Unsure of what he needed to do to fix it and not even knowing that she had suffered while he was away, Rin was a master at hiding her pain at that point in her life...
He shouldn't have been surprised to find the jinchuuriki at the memorial once again once the fighting had finished in the Forest of Death. Only it was the middle of the damn night and there was no way she had eaten or slept properly since he last saw her.” Why this place of all places?” Obito didn't know the true feelings the jinchuuriki had for him. The real him. Not the fake personas he went by in his daily life. But his true self. All he cared about was hoping she would talk to him without needing to force their interaction.
When he found her once again, Rin looked sickly, more pale than usual, and was losing her battle with control over her body. She shook within the pain from her body, and yet she still couldn't look at the one person she wanted to fix it all. Looking at the three logs across the training fields, the kunoichi sat with her legs pressed tightly together and her head resting on her knees. Her hand pressed flush to her neck and she felt like she was sweating, but it was hard for the cold-blooded jinchuuriki to sweat. She was hot and cold at the same time… she wanted to die.
Not realizing the bad state the kunoichi was in at first, he chose to give her some time to see him while walking across the training grounds. However, his pacing quickly increased when he noticed something truly off for once in a long time. Noticing the shaking, panting, and soft whimpers coming off the love of his life, Obito was quick to pick up the pace and drop to his knees right in front of her. “Rin!? You look terrible, what happened to you?” He tried to sound like his normal self, Obito's hands hovered around her frail, overly pale-looking body only for her to pull back ever so slightly and nuzzle her head between her knees. Praying he would just go away.
When she didn't say anything, he looked between Rin and the memorial stone but his eye grew larger when another sudden painful fit ravaged the female. Needing to bite her lower lip to try to keep herself quiet, a small stream of blood dripped down her chin and even followed down her shoulder as her demonic claws pressed deep into her flesh. “Tobi… Madara…” She groaned out his name and finally lifted her head to look at him through teary eyes. “P-please. I'll be good. I-I won’t… I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!”
Her voice broke constantly and he watched as she used the front of her wrists to rub them over her now yellow eyes. He still had no idea what was causing her so many issues, but they were affecting her control over her own body and even over her bijuu. She couldn't control her breathing, coughing a few times from how hard her emotions suddenly crashed once she saw him before her.
” Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Obito cursed himself deep down in his blackened heart as the love of his life cried in front of him. He could only blame himself at this point for causing her such distress in a place where she should feel at home and at peace. It seemed at this point, the two could only truly find peace in each other. “N-no, Rin. Please. I'm sorry. Please don't cry. You didn't do anything wrong. ” He tried to speak in a soothing voice, but he couldn't control how seeing her like this completely broke him.
Rin wasn't the type of girl to be self-destructive around him and seeing her draw her blood for no apparent reason caused all sorts of alarm bells to go off in his mind. “Rin! Stop! You're hurting yourself!” He growled out with concern while grabbing a hold of her wrists and attempting to pull them back from her shoulder. The jinchuuriki was stronger than him, but Obito was faster right now; he wished it was the other way around. “What's wrong? Why are you doing this to yourself?” He grunted out for some answers, only for Rin to finally and regretfully pull her hands away from her Chidori scarred shoulder.
Blood and injuries of different shades decorated her shoulder as if she had been trying to claw at it for a while, but she didn't mean to. Rin was only trying to make the pain stop and make the ugly mark go away. “It… it won't go away. I can't make it stop and neither can isobu.” Falling forward to rest her panting and sweating face against his shoulder, her hands stopped moving against his strong grip and rested upon his shoulders so she had something to hold.
Placing his hand upon her thigh, rubbing it a few times to try to calm her in some way, his eye looked upon the pained expression in her closed and exhausted face, while trying to examine the almost fully destroyed skin on her shoulder. His breath hitched and he glared at the sight of a new mystery mark that was seemingly too inked on her neck. “I tried to rip it off.. but it won't come off..I-I…” It was a complete contrast to the beautiful dull red Chidori scars that were given to her on that horrible night and it burned completely red while Rin shivered in pain.
Obito felt her swallow some of her fear and watched as she clinched to his shoulders to keep from trying to claw it off of her again. ”Who did this to you, Rin? What happened?” The high chakra count within the jinchuuriki already healed up her claw marks and Obito used one of the sleeves of his Akatsuki jacket to clean up what blood he could, but Rin was going to need to shower to truly clean herself up.
Unable to control her breathing when he asked, they became erratic and she held him close for dear life. “P-please, no. I don't want to lose you… I-I can't lose someone else important in my life and all because I screwed up again.” Obito pulled his head back to look over the desperation on her face and felt her strengthen the grip on his clothing as if letting go for one moment he might disappear again.
Placing his hand upon her bloodied hand and clinching it close to his chest, he leaned forward and pressed his mask against the side of her cheek as his way of kissing her. “I'm not going anywhere, light of my life. No matter what happened, or you've done, I'll make whoever did this to you pay with their life. I promise.” He whispered and Rin just kissed the base of his neck, and again the underside of his chin. Her demonic eyes just looked at the base of his mask. The only flesh that reminded her that there was a human underneath. And not to guess what he looked like, but her emotional vulnerability was making her want and need to speak to the person underneath… not someone with a mask, but she didn't want to push her luck. Not out in the open like this.
“You're one of the most powerful shinobi I've ever met, Tobi. But you can't beat this guy. Even in the Akatsuki.. h-he…” She tried to keep her wits amongst herself but by bringing up their other group, she might have slipped up a bit more than she should have. “Rin, just tell me who it was. I promise to not lose to such low garbage that would hurt someone as kind and beautiful as you.”
Seeing the dull pain in her eyes slowly shine a bit, and even a small blush from over her cheeks, she glared to the side with one more harsh mistful sigh. She let out such a breath that it almost was like it would be the last one she ever took. “You know who it is. The one who got away from everyone.. Orochimaru...” She hissed and felt Obito tighten his grip upon her body and he suddenly became very quiet.
“..Tobi…?” She breathed out his name ever so hesitantly as his body slowly pulled away from the pained jinchuuriki. He was so angered from hearing that name and he could only blame himself for Orochimaru even being alive at that point. The Akatsuki had a target on him but their priorities were on other things at that point, and not someone as low tier as that bastard snake… well that certainly changed.
Obito was so angry that he needed to fully pull back from the jinchuuriki, even with her strength Rin had no choice in letting go as he activated his sharingan and passed through her fingers. Looking helplessly down at her hands, she couldn't remember the last time he had used his sharingan technique on her and Rin could say for certain she hated it. Her eyes followed his movements as he walked back and forth, debating on what he wanted to do in that situation.
Contacting Pein, Konan, and the others was the first to come to his mind to deal with this threat. He stopped in front of Rin and stood a little tall as if he could handle things by himself, something she knew he could do, but she also understood how nearsighted it could be when dealing with tasks that had to do with her. Especially if someone had wronged her. He had his plans to deal with it, but Rin didn't want that to be his main priority right then and there.
She needed him more than she needed Orochimaru to deal with.
“Tobi!” Rin cried out his name as the jinchuuriki pushed up from her sitting position and with a slight lunge propelled herself toward her partner. He noticed her approach thanks to his sharingan, and eagerly caught her in his arms, wrapping them weakly around her chest to hold her close. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know. I know. I'm not going anywhere.” Obito repeated a few times to try to reassure the jinchuuriki of his priorities. He would wait till she was safe to sneak away for a second, or just use a clone to pass his message.. maybe even Zetsu would be the man for the job.
Clinging to him for dear life, her eyes turned back to look at the memorial and then back up at Tobi with a weak smile. “I-I'm sorry for what I said about that night. I don't know how you survived or the details behind the night of the massacre, but I'm glad Itachi didn't kill you, Madara…” She whispered to him so delicately that no one would hear it. “I'm sorry for implying that what you are was a bad thing. I didn't mean anything terrible about it, Rin. I love you the way you are. Bijuu chakra and all.” Obito pulled Rin closer to allow her to fully stand up, but use him as support for her weakening stature.
Wrapping his arms around her hips, Rin could only wrap her arms loosely around his head and grew a bigger smile from how close and warm he felt against her body. “Besides Itachi couldn't take me down, even if he wanted to.” The thoughts of that night and every other big thing that he had helped in making come true in the village twisted his heart a bit. He didn't regret it, or so he told himself. “My amazing hero.”
Rin made that soft side of him come out and think of the past. She didn't know who he truly was and what he had done to end up where he was. This charade was only exhausting for him because of her. Because he missed what they used to be together. Their friendship and their companionship were nothing compared to even their relationship now. Everything was more innocent, Obito felt. Even in the middle of war, everything was simple and he was a fool in love. Obito loved Rin, but Rin loved Kakashi.. and now she loved him, but not the real him. The secrets on the Uchiha's side made it all moot at some point.
Even where they were was a joke at that point. It made Obito lift his head ever so slightly to look at the memorial, staring as if it was mocking him in a way. “Why did you come here of all places, Rin? What's so special about this rock?” He questioned as Rin had chortled a bit from his comment on Itachi, but tilted her head back to glance at the memorial stone. Another grin grew upon her lips but sharply disappeared when the curse mark started to act out causing her to clinch to Obito for dear life and struggle to keep it under control.
Pulling her closer, his eye grew ever so slightly when the mark grew red and danced across her neck, shoulder, and across her face. Rin's eyes shut and she hissed as she fought for control over her own body once again. ” I will rip that snake's head off, yeah!” Isobu spoke through his jinchuuriki's lips and hissed out mist toward the patient Uchiha who simply glared at the bijuu. “Give Rin back control, three tails.” He spoke calmly and still held her close, not allowing the bijuu to move to try to claw at their neck again.
” Kakashi can seal it away, hm! But because of you, Rin doesn't want anything to do with her. Take her to see him, or I'll force her to go, yeah.” Another small threat, but Obito didn't falter, only blinking slowly as Isobu calmed down enough when he managed to get the curse mark under control after a few minutes.
It was always subtle whenever they changed who ran their vessel, but Rin was much more exhausted this go around as they both fought to keep from losing control to an added poison on their broken body. When she returned in control, the jinchuuriki collapsed within his arms, her head falling against his chest and he had to sturdy himself to keep her standing once again. Wild panting again, she clinched to his arms and gently looked up to his worried eye, but just grinned a bit. “I-it's getting easier each time… it.. it happens… I got this… I promise…” A few more pants and she shakily pointed towards the memorial behind them.
“T-this place is my safe place. I came… “ She swallowed and her breathing became sturdy to try to explain what she wanted from her heart and keep herself under control. “I come here because it's a memorial for the people lost during wars and battles. Even those who fell during the battle with the nine-tailed fox are there. I was lucky that my name wasn't there, but that's for another story.
If you look, the name Obito Uchiha is engraved there.” Her eyes stayed on the grave while speaking and the smile grew warmer on her lips, but he just deadpanned between her and the grave marker. She finally turned to look up at him, patted his shoulder to allow Obito to let her go, and guided her back to the memorial stone. Placing her hand upon the stone, Rin pointed to the name out of the list and drew Obito's attention to his name. Even he didn't know where it was on the list and would have taken a bit to find it if he ever wanted to. It probably never would have happened. But he just looked her over as she used the Akatsuki jacket to clean it again.
“I guess you could say I have a type, Tobi. Uchiha and heroic gets my strange heartbeat going, you know.” Teasing a bit before standing back up and putting her hands together to pray. “Forgive me, Tobi. I haven't prayed yet for Obito in a while.” Standing in silence, it was overly awkward for her to be praying for him, but he didn't say anything as that part of him was very much dead and gone… at least he hoped it was. “What do you mean he was your type? I thought you liked the mysterious type, like Kakashi…How would you describe me then?” He questioned while leaning on the memorial stone to get slightly comfortable and slip a bit into his Tobi persona side.
After another minute of silence, Rin tilted her head toward the masked man. She chortled slightly and blushed brighter than he had seen her do in such a long time. Even her face became noticeable, and yet she didn't turn away as she wasn't shy about it. “Well, hm, let's see.” She laughed again and had to think a bit before turning to take a seat on top of the marble stone. Lifting her flat palm out, Rin used her coral power to form a small bust of Obito in his familiar goggles and his biggest grin. “He was funny, courageous to a fault, stubborn when he came to a challenge. Very optimistic about his dream to become Hokage one day and extremely kind to anyone who needed help. Especially the old people in the village. He was always late when it came to meeting us for important things, even missions because an old person crossed his path.” Though he thought she was nagging about that part, she could only sigh rather lovingly.
“I always trusted he would show up eventually and even when he was late, he always made up for it later in some way.” She sighed soothingly and tilted her head against her free hand. Tobi could only scoff at the nice words she was giving his past self. It only angered him, but he still only listened. “Sounds like a burden of a Shinobi.” That earned him the coral bust being thrown at him, but Tobi just dodged it by leaning down. “Shut up. Don't speak ill of the dead, Tobi.” She grumbled and smiled a few moments later as she pushed his complaint from her mind.
“When he put his mind to it, Obito would do anything in his mind and power to make it happen. And that stubborn side never let him fail at anything he put his mind and focus on. He would have been the perfect Hokage and I promised to watch over him as he lived out his dream…” Her voice softened as she got closer to the end of her sentence, both Shinobi looked down at the hand that held each other before that last mission that would separate them for a long time.
“On a mission during the third Shinobi war, before I was turned into… well… this… I was captured by the enemy side and they took me to try to steal information from our side. I expected them to kill me as I wasn't going to give them anything. Maybe rape me if they tried that route, but I would have killed myself before I ever gave up information about my village.” A pitiful shrug came from her side and this whole time Obito remembered that day as if it was yesterday. His breathing was calm, but he kept his eye on her back the whole time. Her heartbeat increased and the tone in her voice went through all sorts of emotions.
“I don't know how he did it, but Obito managed to change Kakashi's heart to work together to save me. They worked together to save me and I was so happy they came for me. He even activated his beautiful sharingan in the act to save me. It was so amazing!” Her voice exploded with excitement, but slowly she let out a sigh with a cross of her arms over her chest. Her excitement was addictive causing a smile to grow upon Obito's lips and he leaned closer in her direction. “Sounds like a hell of a friend.”
Rin placed her hands behind her and let a short laugh from her mouth. She looked over her shoulder in his direction. “He was more than that. Obito was the first love of my life. My best friend. I just didn't realize it until it was too late to say anything.” Her eyes lit up and Obito's hand rested upon the top of the memorial stone as if all energy was drained from him. Her eyes looked him over before turning back around and enjoying the sudden wind that blew over the training field.
“But then war wouldn't be a war without fatalities. The people they saved me from had friends, they caused a cave in which Obito saves Kakashi. He gave his life and even his beautiful sharingan to make sure our mission could succeed. And because of his sacrifice, Konohagakure was able to succeed and change the tides of war for the better.
We won the war and Kakashi gained a piece of Obito to keep Team Minato stronger than ever. He was always with us and we were going to make history… it didn't last of course, but it was a good few weeks until war broke our little team apart again.”
Obito was speechless the whole time. His eyes grew wider as he had to process what she told him. He wasn't sure if he truly believed her or not, but why would she lie?... Why would she love someone like he used to be though? Why did the two of them suffer like this…?
“Rin…”He spoke her name delicately as if he shouted it, he might wake up from this dream. Turning her head to look at Obito with the biggest grin she could have, the blush was still there, but this time she was tearing up a bit. “You would have gotten along with Obito, Tobi. You're just like him. You both help me laugh even with how dark life can be sometimes, and I love you both so much I could scream.
One day I'll die, probably protecting you or our children, and then I'll wait for you with him so I can introduce you two.” Running her fingers along her chidori scars on the non cursed shoulder, she gave a nod of her head. “We can compare scars too-” She was looking at her scars before being aggressively approached by Obito from the front. He pulled her to her feet and left her slightly frightened by how angered he seemed to be.
“Rin!” He called out her name and held her at a strange angle to make sure she didn't fall when he let her go. “B-be quiet for a second.” He ordered her, but Rin's surprised expression lightened into one of concern. “What's wro-” She watched in horror as Obito lifted his mask ever so slightly to show his lips and pressed them firmly to her to finally shut her up.
Melting into the kiss, Rin closed her eyes and ran her fingers in his soft, black hair as she enjoyed their first kiss in so long. She was exhausted and burning in different areas of her body, but wasn't going to complain about his kiss. A slight verbal gasp came from the jinchuuriki when Obito instantly introduced his tongue into the kunoichi's mouth, but she instantly allowed him to kiss her as much and as aggressively as he wanted.
Rin desired more, but she was simply too exhausted to indulge in this sort of thing after what she had been through. She broke the kiss and panted some more mist to the side, resting her chin against the white side of his body and shoulder, but kept her eyes shut out of respect. “I-i can't Tobi. I'm exhausted if you want me like that.” She grumbled out, before feeling Obito lift his hand and tap the mist headband on her forehead. “Cover your eyes, like when we made love, Rin.” He whispered into her ear causing her to gasp out from the effects his soothing voice had on her body along with the chills his warm breath caused her as well.
Her temptation to question him and look crossed her mind, but she just nodded and slowly moved her headband to cover her eyes like before. “I'm not kidding, Tobi.” She whispered as he finally moved her body to sit back down on the marble as his idea was a change-on-the-go type deal. “I'm not either, Rin. I wish I was. Just trust me, alright? I don't have sex on my mind right now, not even close.” Holding her hand in his, the jinchuuriki nodded and smiled so caringly toward the love of her life.
“Of course my love. I trust you with my life.” Again he hesitated but needed to keep his courage as he got to his knees like before. He could swear that she could hear his heart as it was going to explode from his body from all the crazy feelings going through it and his brain. ” Gods give me strength.” He prayed deep within and squeezed her hand.
“That Obito guy,” Speaking about himself was going to get annoying fast. He lifted her hand and allowed it to rest against the scarred side of his face, the side he hated more in this world than anything and felt extreme happiness when she rubbed her thumb against it. He nuzzled into her hold, even moving his mask up further to the top of his head, and watched her so closely. “What side did he give his sharingan from?” He questioned while allowing Rin to use her other hand to rub against his cheek. She seemed like she was in heaven feeling something so ugly in his mind, but so precious and strong in hers.
“The left one. I did the surgery and implanted it in Kakashi's head myself. It was complicated, especially during the circumstances we were given, but it went alright in the end.” It hurt to speak so nonchalantly about it, but Rin had buried the past long ago so was immune to its effect for the most part. Not fully, but better than she was. “Why do you ask?” She tilted her head about to pull her hands away when she was happy with what she felt, but Obito caught her wrist. He returned her hand to the side of his scarred face and nuzzled tightly into it.
“What side of his body got caught under a giant boulder that Kakashi couldn't lift no matter how hard he tried?” His voice became aggressive and Rin caught on to his anger or desperate nature as he asked, but the jinchuuriki slowly turned her smile into a frown. “Tobi… why are you asking these types of questions?” Her hand stopped moving against his cheek, but he grabbed her other one and pressed it against his face. “Just answer the question, Rin. What side?” He leaned in close to her face and she felt the heat of his breath upon her uncovered skin. “Tobi…” She whispered his nickname with concern, and before the love of life could even touch her headband, he pressed his lips to hers once again.
It was surprising how quick he could be when he wanted, and it was enough to pull her hands from his face and rest them upon his chest. He was aggressive with his kisses and couldn't let her breathe for even a second or the whole thing would be ruined. “Tobi-!” She gasped out but only ended up with a growl from the love of her life. “No. Say my name.” He ordered with another kiss while pulling the Akatsuki jacket down her shoulders and arms to slightly expose her more for him.
Another break in the kiss. “M-madara…” Rin gasped out again but Obito just squinted his eye for one last moment as if he was deciding on if this was happening.
“No. Rin. Say my real name.”
Another kiss, but this time Obito felt her completely tense up. She didn't return the kiss at all and even felt like he was kissing a wall. He panted himself and tried to think of ways to keep this energy going and not fall back into how things were. Obito was going to force a change and he was bringing her with him this time.
Pulling his head to the side of her very hardened body, Obito nipped at the already healed, but curse-marked side of her body causing Rin to groan from the surprising move. He nipped at her neck again and panted into her ear. “Say. My. Name. Rin.” He licked the outside of her ear, earning him a whimper but a soft moan at the same time.
“O… Obito.” The wrists he held on to for dear life slowly clenched into fists and she suddenly leaned forward to use his body against him. With one sudden rub of her face against his shoulder, the headband came off enough for her to see him. It wasn't completely off, only sliding enough for one eye to pop out from under the headband, but Obito had already pressed his head over her shoulder so she couldn't see him straight on.
“Y-you bastard.” She didn't fight his hold on her wrists but maneuvered her fingertips to completely rip the headband from her forehead and face, even throwing it to the side as it wasn't important. She hissed out of anger and mostly confusion, her heart feeling all sorts of emotions and too much for her to truly understand at that exhausting moment. “Look at me.” She spoke low, but Obito only moved back a little bit, still not enough for her to look at him.
“Obito Uchiha. You will look at me, damn it.” She pulled back her body from his, causing Obito to need to adjust his knees to hold himself up.
He finally looked at her without any sort of covering of his face. And what she saw in his sharingan eye was just how broken the man underneath truly looked at that moment. He deadpanned but frowned as he truly looked at her like she wanted him to. Her breath hitched and the words stayed clogged in her throat, but Obito noticed just how quickly the tears started to form in the jinchuuriki's eyes without anything being said between the two.
She was so angry at him, but other feelings quickly overcame Rin's heart and soul. “You're alive. You're alive and you're here with me.” She cried out and Obito's expression softened when she spoke, finally feeling her break from his weak grasp and Rin quickly pulled the man into her chest. The kunoichi o held him as she had before as if he would disappear if she let go. It almost hurt how much she held onto his head and upper chest for dear life, but he just listened to her wail and cried for him.
“I-I looked for you. I looked for you on the other side. But you weren't there.” He lifted his head and felt her tears fall upon his face, but still only expressed sadness for this whole thing. Obito didn't know what to say. “I didn't think you would have suffered after getting crushed in that cave-in. I thought you were dead and gone. And… and waiting for me. I didn't want to die, but thinking you were on the other side made it alright.” Rin didn't mean to rub her tears against the sides of his face, but a part of her couldn't believe this was happening.
“R-Rin. Please stop crying. You're going to activate your curse seal if you aren't careful.” Obito whispered as he turned to rest his chin on her lap and stroke her hand. “F-fuck the curse mark! I don't care.” She went from sadness back to anger when he brought it up only to lean down as close as she could and rest her head on his back.
She took deep breaths as the tears kept falling, but her eyes just scanned the field. “Please tell me you didn't suffer, all alone in that cave or wherever you recovered from? Please don't tell me I left you there when we could have rescued you after the war.” It didn't make sense, but neither of them survived death like this. “No, Rin. I didn't suffer alone. Zetsu was with me the whole time and helped me survive. There wasn't anything you could have done.” He didn't say all the details, but he wasn't going to anyway. Not yet…
“D-did you…”She had to think for a moment, before finally sitting up and shifting to sit next to him on the ground. She placed her hand on his hand, with a cute tilt of her head. “Did you really love me?” Another pathetic, tearful smile fell upon her exhausted face and Obito could only smirk ever so slightly. “What do you mean, did? I still do, Rin. And I always have.” Though hesitantly, Obito leaned forward and crawled toward the light of his life.
Lifting her head slightly, she watched him get closer, seeing the gleam of the moon on his third tomoe sharingan, and turned her head in embarrassment. “Do you still love me, Rin? Even after seeing my ugly scarred face like this?” He asked in a slightly accusing tone, but Rin just kept her blushing face pointed away. “Y-yes.. I still love you deeply, Obito … and… s-shut up. You're not ugly.” She lifted her hand to cover her face and murmured some things even Obito couldn't understand or hear. “What? What did you say?” He squinted his eye and got closer to press his chest against the corner of her shoulder.
She gasped out when he breathed some warm air along her neck. “I-i said… you're actually quite handsome. Beautiful to say the least.” She murmured and looked at him from the corner of her eyes only to see him smirking pridefully and a little coy. “You're just saying that because I'm right here, aren't you?” He turned his head to take a nip out of her neck again and caused her to moan again. “O-Obito…no I'm not, you cheeky bastard.
I can't wait to have your children now.” That last blurt out caused both of them to turn completely red.
Obito flew back to his legs while Rin just fell over onto her stomach as her legs weren't listening at the moment. “C-children?!” Like a deer in headlights, he looked her over and Rin just glanced wildly at the floor. “What do you mean children, Rin?” Obito calmed faster than Rin did but took a few steps to pick her up. He rested her around his hips and dusted off her body in different places.
Again he cursed Orochimaru for what he had done…
“Let's find Hiruzen or Kakashi, get this curse seal removed or taken care of, and then… maybe I'll let you know what I mean.” She pressed her lips to his for a moment before resting her chin on his shoulder again.
Hearing the name of his rival caused Obito to glare slightly, but now wasn't the time to be jealous when he got the girl in the end. There was a lot to talk about, but at least they had time with each other forever.
“Don't worry, Obito. I won't give away your secret.” She reached up and pulled his mask down to rest where it normally was while Obito just nuzzled it against the base of her neck.
“I love you, more than anything. Light of my life.”
“I love you too, Obito.,”