Cheating Fate (運命を浮気)

Prologue

"This is the end," drawled Madara. "You've all fought valiantly, but to no avail. This world will reshape into the image I so choose."

"N-no," protested Naruto as he struggled to push himself onto his elbows, but his arms gave way and he hit the ground with a painful wheeze. "I won't let you."

"You won't let me?" chuckled Madara in a low rumble as amusement crossed the ancient Uchiha's face. "Look around you, boy. The world is in ruins, there's nothing left that's worth protecting. Just accept your fate and go quietly to your death. It'd be less painful for you."

"Never," snapped Naruto. "As long as I live, I'll fight you to my very last breath. I won't let you have your way!"

"For what?" droned Madara. "Your friends? Your allies? What could possibly worth this much effort?"

"Will," hissed Naruto as he forced himself up by that word alone.

"Will?" said Madara with a raised brow.

"It's sad, even though you were once a part of Konoha, you have no clue what it is," said Naruto as he raised his determined eyes to meet the single rinnegan.

"You speak of the Will of Fire Hashirama is so fond of," snorted Madara. "Pointless drivel."

"And that why you won't understand why I fight and why I would never submit to the likes of you," said Nartuo as he stumbled to his feet.

"Such futility," commented Madara with disinterest. "I grow tired of your inane ideals. Let me end your misery."

"Not if I end you first!" snapped Naruto, flaring out the last of his chakra in conjunction with Kurama's as he charged at Madara one last time.

...In his sorry state, Naruto was no match for the newly revived Uchiha. Blow after blow, his attacks never even touched the man. Madara made short work of him as he counter each attempt with a more violent and brutal attack. It wasn't long before he beat Naruto into the ground, leaving the blond in a broken and bloody mess. Even so, Naruto feebly continued to fight on, as he forced himself to crawl to his knees again.

"Naruto!" screamed Sakura as she and what's left of the final assault team rushed to his aide, but their hearts dropped in horror at the sight of Madara raising his gunbai over his head.

"Like killing an ant," drawled the Uchiha as he stepped on Naruto, forcing him back onto the ground. "I would ask if you had any last words, but I don't really care."

With one swift motion, Madara drove his gunbai into the back of Naruto's neck, decapitating the helpless blond. As the gunbai hit the ground, Naruto's head rolled away, blood gushing and spilling everywhere. The ancient Uchiha watched with stoic indifference as the blond bled dry. Even flicking his weapon to rid of the blood was a mere afterthought.

"NARUTO!" Anguished screams ripped through the air as they all charged at Madara, but they too posed no threat to him as he easily vanquished them all.

"Now…" drone Madara as he kicked Kakashi's corpse aside and strolled towards Obito, who was still struggling to keep Black Zetsu from taking the rinnegan. "I'm amazed that you're still alive."

"That does seem to be my thing isn't it?" said Obito weakly as his dead eyes glanced at Naruto's headless corpse. He never stood a chance…

"You've always been annoyingly resilient," said Madara before he glanced at the darken portion on Obito's body. "Zetsu, you're free to go, I'll be taking the eye back myself."

"Yes sir," said the Black Zetsu before he left Obito, releasing whatever support that kept the Uchiha standing and dropped him into a broken heap.

"Are you going to spend your last breath opposing me too?" asked Madara as he slowed to a stop.

"Who me?" said Obito with a broken chuckle. "I don't have much will for that."

A wry grin touched Madara's lips. "How contrite, are you going to lecture me on the Will of Fire like that boy?"

"You should know, I all people have no right to lecture anyone," said Obito before a weak twitch raised the corner of his lip. "This whole situation is a bit hilarious and a whole lot ironic. I strove to create a world where all these wars and pointless quarreling would cease, but what I actually did was drive it into ruination and handing it to a monster like you."

"Is that remorse I'm hearing?" said Madara, a low bellow of laughter escaped him as he tilted his head back to look down on them. "It's rather pointless now."

"True, it is the end after all," said Obito, barely above a whisper. "There's no point in doing anything now. You've won."

"Hn," smirked Madara in amusement. "I'll be merciful and make your death quick and painless since you've so obediently accepted your fate."

"Ah, that's very gracious of you…but I can't die that easily," said Obito. "Or rather, I'm bad at dying."

"Oh?" said Madara as he stood over the younger Uchiha.

"Like I said, I don't have the will to fight you," replied Obito with a weak smile. "That's reserved for the idiot who actually fought you to his dying breath."

"You think you can revive that child in your current state?" droned Madara.

"Revive?" repeated Obito, bemused. "No, nothing that kind. What I have planned is cruel in comparison."

"Hmm?" Madara frowned at his words before realization sunk in and an angry scowl crossed his face. The gunbai found its way into Obito's neck, but instead of decapitation and blood, there was nothing. "Tsk…"

"I know you're still there!" shouted Naruto as he reached for Obito, trying to draw him out from the grasp of the Ten-Tails' power, but the Uchiha showed no response. "Stop running away and just take my hand!"

Much to his surprise, Obito did just that and when Naruto looked up to see if his words had drawn a reaction, he immediately noticed the whiteness in his right eye.

"Obito?" questioned Naruto, uncertainty lacing his voice.

"Naruto…" said Obito, sounding like he was having trouble forming words. "I… will erase…" said Obito.

"What?" said Naruto in confusion as he tried to pull the tailed beasts from him, but the Uchiha kept a firm hold.

"Every skill… every bond… all pain… all joy… leaving only memories," said Obito. "The world…restart…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" snapped Naruto as he grabbed the other's arm, but noticed the Uchiha focus was slipping as if losing himself to the Ten-Tails again.

"You've…asked for me to repent," strained Obito as his brows furrowed and his eyes fighting an unseen force to make the words come. "This is… all I could manage."

"All you could manage? What does that even mean?" asked Naruto as he grabbed the older man's arm, shaking him to get answer. "Hey Obito! Obito!"

The Uchiha said nothing as the rinnegan turned white. Naruto's angry words, along with the world faded into the darkness. All the while, Obito did whatever he could to maintain inazagi and kamui long enough to send Naruto to send back. Without his eyes, he couldn't see how far back he's gone. All he could do was listen to the garble of conversations in reverse and tried to make sense of what he could.

There were many times where he wanted stop and allow time to flow once again, but to give Naruto a fight chance, he had to hold firm, pressing further and further back. He couldn't risk dropping the blond in the middle of volatile events like the Kage Summit. He had to go further, before the invasion of Pain, before the collection of jinchuriki. He had to—

"Otibo!" The familiar scream startled him to a stop. Even through the distortion of time reversal, he could never forget that voice screaming his name.

"…Rin," whisper the Uchiha as he turned to her voice. Much to his surprise, he saw her, clear as day as if his eyes were… His eyes… he could see through them! But…how?

In his surprise, he lost hold of kamui and inazagi, allowing time to flow normally once again. Unfortunately, he couldn't have known that this moment was where everything started. He found himself unable to move as every unfolded before him. The roof of the dome came crumbling down just as it did before on this very day. The boulders fell and…

"Kakashi!" screamed Rin at their fallen teammate.

Everything happened so quickly, he couldn't think before his body moved on its own. It was like watching a recording of himself running to Kakashi, grabbing him and tossing him aside just as the boulders came down. It wasn't until the pain from the impact that he came to his senses long enough to activate kamui again, but even then he suffered quite a bit of damage that he couldn't immediately pull himself away from under the boulder.

"Obito!" screamed Rin.

He wanted to say he was fine, but what came out instead were words from the past. What the? He could feel his consciousness fade as the scene played out like before. Why wasn't he in control anymore? Wasn't this…no, it's not his body. Not anymore. This was the body of a younger Obito, one before everything went to hell. His own body didn't make it back this far because it exist at this point. He was nothing more than a parasitic specter.

If that's the case… If he ended residing in a version of his younger self… Where was Naruto? The blond wasn't even alive at this point…

"Rin… take my sharingan… and plant it into Kakashi's left eye." He couldn't see a thing but he could hear his younger voice rasp out every word from his memory. Telling them to leave him. Telling them to save themselves.

Of all places he could've gotten distracted and stopped, why did it have to be this moment? Though he couldn't move the body, he could still activate kamui to allow the body to phase through the boulders. With things as they are now, would he be able to change anything? Without a body…and without Naruto… what could he do?

"…It hurts," whimpered a small voice in the darkness, sobbing. "I want to go home."

A child? Obito internally frowned as he focused on the sound of the crying. The child was extremely young, too young to be even considered for the field. How did this child get here? Did this happen last time?

"Hey, don't cry," whispered the young Obito, the owner of the body that he had no control over aside from the sharingan's kamui. "Are you lost?"

"I-I don't know where I am," said the child, voice threatening to crack. "I don't know where tou-san is."

He could hear the child's breath speed up as panic set in.

"It's dark, I can't see anything! I want kaa-san! I want tou-san!" The child broke down crying. "I want to go home!"

"Shh… Calm down, can you do that?" continued the younger Obito in his gentle tone as he tried to soothe the frightened child. Was his voice ever that kind? He couldn't remember what he sounded like back then anymore.

Trapped in darkness, all he could do was listen as Obito gain the child's trust using what little energy left to be optimistic. Slowly, little by little, he managed to get the little girl to open up and soon that feeling of angry frustration coursed through him. She was another victim of war, just like so many before her and many more after her.

"…You're dying," mumbled the girl meekly. He couldn't help but think the same for her.

"Yeah," agreed Obito quietly as he did his best to comfort the girl. "Sorry for leaving you alone."

It won't be long before Madara have Zetsu take him away and the horrible cycle starts all over again. That girl was going to die and the miserable chain of deaths will soon follow. Was there no way to cheat fate? Was everything destined to end in such misery?

"Obito, open your mouth," grunted the girl as if she was in pain.

Vaguely, he could feel a slight spike in chakra from the child. It was bright and unrefined just as how the chakra of children should seem, but something was different.

"What's the matter? Are you okay?" asked Obito weakly with concern.

"I'm going to fix you," wheezed the girl, her words breathing becoming more ragged with word.

Obito started with words of concern, but she quickly silenced him by shoving her arm into his mouth. Out of surprise, the Uchiha chomped down and immediately a wave of healing chakra rushed through him… the girl… she was an Uzumaki, just like that Karin girl that followed Sasuke. Though her healing capabilities couldn't match Karin's, as she was at least a decade younger, it did help him regain some semblance feeling in the body.

It was comparably better than what he had in the last life. With kamui active, he avoid the more serious injuries that took his arm last time and left him near cripple until the grafting of Hashirama's cells and the merging with White Zetsu. He found his vision of the world returning once more as he took control of the body. He knew this control wouldn't last, he has probably moments at best before he falls back into the darkness again. The girl laid limply by his side with her arm still stuck in his mouth.

Gingerly, he removed the limb, studying her with a close eye. He may not have Naruto anymore, but with this girl, they might just have a chance before White Zetsu comes and whisks him away to Madara again. She could be of use until he found some way for Naruto to exist once more… He couldn't recall if she was here last time, but something must've changed for this meeting to have happened.

He would have to look into it when he's not fleeing from Madara, but for now… he could use her. What did she say her name was again? Oh right…

"Kasa?" He called out to the Uzumaki child.

"Tired…" murmured the girl in exhaustion as she fell limp next to him.

"Hold on, I'll get us out." He promised as he shifted her unconscious form with his aching arms.

He didn't have much chakra left, not with how long he kept kamui going. Making sure he had a firm hold on the girl, he held kamui until he cleared the stone dome that once buried them. Until he could find a way to permanently gain control of this body, she could be of use.

Author's Notes: I didn't want to put this note on top, just because I didn't want to spoil anything, but now that you've read it, I could say I want. This story is a parallel to Iryo-nin Kasa. There were so many things I wanted to write while doing that story, but I could never find a good place to write them in. I don't want to spoil what's to come, so I'll have to leave the note here. Thanks for reading!