Cheating Fate (運命を浮気)

Chapter Three: Good to be Home

When Obito decided to take an odd, lost little girl back to Konoha with him, he had no clue what to expect. In the span of a week, the girl surprised him by her tenacity, descent and odd quirks. What does he mean by odd quirks? Well, the girl has skewed sense of what's considered dangerous and what's cute.

"Are you not terrified?" asked Kuromaru, the terrifying nin-ken of Tsume Inuzuka. From size alone, most people would flinch away, but with this girl…

"I didn't know you can talk," chirped the auburn-haired little girl, not the least bit bothered by the monstrous size of the dog next to her.

"You do not find it strange that I can?" drawled Kuromaru in bemusement.

"Should I?" asked Kasa with a tilt of her head to look up at the towering dog sitting next to her.

That was the sight he returned to after gathering kindle for the campfire. He and the other kunoichi had gone off with their own tasks. Tsume with patrolling the vicinity, while Kushina etched protective seals around their campsite. Kuromaru was left guarding Kasa if any intruders were to come by before they were finished.

As Obito watched, he thought himself in her position. If he was next to a beast that's at least double his size, if not more, he wouldn't be casually chatting with it. He would worried more that the dog might bite his head off. He never did have any interest in animals. The scratches from the cats he saved were bad enough and dogs were more of his bastard teammate Kakashi's thing.

An uproarious laugh from Kuromaru, brought his attention back to the foreground once more as he spotted the younger girl with her cheeks puffed up and flushed red in embarrassment.

"What's so funny?" asked Obito curiously, but that only drove the nin-ken further into laughter.

"He's making fun of me," pouted the girl childishly.

"Kuromaru?" questioned Tsume when she returned, catching the end of the scene with curiosity. It wasn't everyday her nin-ken would be in such a fit.

It took a moment, but Kuromaru managed to collect himself and gave a wolf-like grin.

"This is an interesting child. I suggest you keep an eye on her in the future," said the canine in amusement as he stood on all fours and made his way back to the Inuzuka kunoichi.

Obito raised a brow at this. That was a fairly high praise for a child that's practically a civilian at this point.

"Hm?" Tsume glanced between Kuromaru and Kasa curiously. The girl curled up, hiding her face behind her legs in embarrassment. A raspy chuckle escaped from the woman as she rested a hand on her hip. "You like dogs don't you?"

Though Obito couldn't see her face, he could see Kasa's ears flushed with a redness you would only associate with embarrassment.

"You're so cute Kasa-chan," teased Kushina with a light-hearted laugh.

"It's not funny," sulked the girl as she peeked up from her knees.

Obito took pity on her and dropped his load of kindle before draping an arm over her shoulders.

"You know, that bastard Kakashi has quite a few ninkens, maybe you can meet them when we get back to Konoha," suggested the Uchiha with a toothy grin. "That sounds fun right?"

The pout didn't linger long before a bright grin crossed her face and she nodded happily at the notion of meeting more dogs in the future. Spirits lifted, the girl resumed chattering to Kuromaru while the intimidating dog looked over her with clear amusement and fondness on his canine face. Obito doubted there were many people that could get away with using him as a stuff animal while they slept.

"Kushina-san, does fondness for dangerous creatures run in your clan by any chance?" asked Obito during the night-watch as he studied the peaceful slumbering face of the little girl.

"Not in particular, but I could see why you would think that," said Kushina with a giggle as she ran a hand through the girl's soft locks. "She does have the Uzumaki spitfire."

"I guess…" said Obito as he poked at the burning embers.

"Obito Uchiha? You're alive!" The shout of disbelief from Ebisu greeted them when they reached the gates of Konoha later that week, He almost forgot that the uptight chunin had gate duty with Genma before he and his team left for missions.

"Yo Ebisu, Genma!" replied Obito cheerily as if he just seen him the day before. "How's it going?"

"How is it going?" said Ebisu indignantly as he stood over his sign-in desk. "Your team came back saying you were KIA and you waltz in here days later asking how's it going? How are you alive?"

News traveled quickly, Obito noted idly in his mind even though he was only days behind his team in getting back. Then again, they were required to report on the field deaths to prevent imposters from using the face of their fallen comrades to infiltrate the village.

"Because I'm awesome! Not even death can take me!" Obito puffed up his chest boastfully with a grin.

"More like even death doesn't want deal with you," sighed Genma dully, twitching the toothpick in his mouth as he turned to greet the two amused kunoichi. "Uzumaki-san, Inuzuka-san. It must've been a hassle dragging his sorry ass back here."

"Hey!" retorted Obito, miffed by his tone of disregard, but he knew full well that Genma was just confirming with the two to make sure he was the real deal and not just an imposter they're playing along with to get him to the interrogations department.

Kushina pinched her fingers together with a giggle. "Maybe a little."

"No fair, you guys are ganging up on me," complained Obito as he played along. While Kushina confirmed his identity, there was still the matter of the little girl we brought back with them.

At the sound of a suppressed giggle, he spotted the little girl doing her best not to laugh. Obito let the indignation fade in his demeanor as he turned to the younger girl. She had no clue the amount of scrutiny she was under, but he supposed that ignorance was a bliss in her situation.

"But at least you're on my side right, Kasa? You and me, we could take them all on!" said Obito as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders protectively and pointed to the two in challenge to show that she's not a threat. She fell into an abrupt fit of laughter as she held her sides and shook with mirth.

"Idiot," muttered Ebisu as he pushed the sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, suspicion still lingered, but he would give Obito the benefit of the doubt.

"You might want to get your ass to the office and clear your current status soon," commented Genma wryly and decided to change the topic. "From what I heard, the Uchiha clan is causing grief for Kakashi and the rest of your team."

"Huh? Why?" asked Obito in genuine confusion.

"Don't know," shrugged Genma. He likely knew, but with an unknown with them, he was unwilling to speak. Times like these, Obito hated the wartime rules. "Just saying, you might want to get it done soon. I heard they're going to drag Kakashi to some council hearing sometime this week or something."

"What!" snapped Obito in incredulity. "What for?"

Kushina placed a hand on his shoulder to remind me not to press further out in the open. "Why don't we go settle things at the office and then go ask Kakashi himself?"

With reluctance, he backed down. "Fine."

"We need to settle the matter concerning Kasa while we're there as well," continued Kushina as she turned to the girl fondly.

Ebisu took this chance to openly focus his attention on the girl. Obito was certain he studied the girl while they spoke earlier in the cover of his dark shades. After all, the main reason why the guy wore shades at all was to hide his wandering eyes. He may seem all prim and proper, but Obito's seen his choice in reading material before. The straight-laced chunin had rather raunchy taste in porn.

"If you don't mind me asking Uzumaki-san, who is this little girl?" asked Ebisu as he pushed his spectacles back up the bridge of his nose.

"Family of mines," chirped Kushina as she planted a fond hand on Kasa's head. "She'll be living with me once we get the paperwork done."

A startled expression crossed her face, further cementing her innocent image for them to let her through.

"Come on, let's get a move on. We've wasted enough time here," prompted Tsume impatiently, annoyed that they needed to go through with the wartime procedures before they could proceed into their own village.

"Yeah, we should get this stuff done ASAP! I'll catch up with you guys later, maybe," said Obito with an uplifting skip in his step and held out his hand to Kasa. "Come on Kasa, I'll give you a tour of the village and introduce you to everyone when we're done!"

"Don't go traumatizing the poor girl, Obito," drawled Genma.

Kasa gave another giggle before grabbing onto his hand.

"Whatever man!" said Obito as they moved on.

Tobi listened quietly in the back of his younger self's mind. The lack of sight during the trek back made it hard to judge where they were and how long it took to get back, but at least he had the sound of chattering to keep him occupied. It was strange hearing his own voice with such a youthful inflection, even stranger with those that he once called friends and allies. Ironically, the only one that didn't share that strangeness was the the odd girl they picked up.

Not that she said much about anything since they've entered the village. She seemed content with just listening to Obito ramble off about his teammates, friends and goals for the future. It could be nerves or the fact that she was in an unfamiliar place with hundreds, if not thousands of people she's never seen before.

Beyond hearing, he could sense nothing else outside of the body, but that was all he needed. The shifting sounds in close proximity told him that the girl was clinging onto Obito to the point that she stumbled and tripped over her own feet several times. She made no sounds of distress, but she couldn't be as easy with how close she clung onto Obito.

"Heya, Hokage-sama! How's it going?" greeted Obito in his usual cheerful manner. He voice sounded clear and undisturbed by the busy noise from the outside. They must've reached the hokage's office.

"Obito Uchiha," mused the old man. "I didn't expect to speak with you again. Your team was quite downtrodden when they returned with news of your death."

Tobi resisted the urge to snort, the man doesn't waste any time in getting into the heart of the matter. Not that there was time to be wasted with a war going on. He would likely send Obito back onto the field once he's recovered. The Third Shinobi War took quite a number of their forces, even injured, unless permanently debilitated, were deployed.

"Yeah, that sucks. They're not taking it too badly are they?" said Obito sheepishly as if death was not a big deal.

"Depends what your definition of badly means," humored the old man.

"That bad huh? Well, if you can reinstate me as a ninja that'd be great. I'll go and tell them the good news about me being alive," murmured Obito, a grimace clear in his voice as he soaked in the information.

Tobi wondered how he got as far as he did as his younger self with how openly he wore his heart on his sleeve. Naivety was dangerous for shinobi, if anything it was their worst enemy. He knew that first hand, in trying to create a perfect world where no one ever suffered, he destroyed it both metaphorically and physically.

He tuned out the second recount of Obito's close brush with death and even parts of the hokage's not so subtle interrogation against the Uzumaki girl. While she didn't carry the actual name, she was in every sense still an Uzumaki.

"Kushina, I know why you brought this child here, but you are aware of the current laws," said the aged man, his voice rasp from the years of smoking.

"Yes, I'm aware we are in a state of war," said Kushina with a grimace in her voice. "But I will take full responsibility of Kasa."

"I trust you Kushina. However, I cannot bend the law on your words alone. Unless you can find out what sort of information is on those seals, we cannot risk having someone, even a child, wandering in the village with information we know nothing about. It would take too long to train her how to activate such seals."

"It's an information seal, there are no coercion commands drawn into it. Kasa isn't a sleeper agent," argued Kushina.

"Be as that may, unless I have solid proof, I cannot protect her from the council if they ask for her ejection from the village," said the man firmly. "I know you want to protect what's left of your kin Kushina and I don't want to send any child away during times of war."

"Are you kidding me Hokage-sama!" snapped Obito in protest. "Kasa's four and a civilian! She doesn't have an ounce of formal training yet or anyone to turn to, if you kick her out of the village, she will die!"

Tobi doubted the soft-hearted old man would ever do so to any child. He allowed Kabuto to stay even though he was a war-orphan with an undetermined background. No doubt he was just testing her, trying to see what she was like and being an Uzumaki, she didn't disappoint.

"I-I could tell you what information is in the seals," stuttered out the girl. She was terrified, but determined to stay.

Tobi couldn't see what happened next, but judging by the line of questioning and the frantic screams that followed, the girl tried to activate the seals on her arms and dropped like a deadweight. If he could, Tobi would shake his head at the girl's recklessness, but he supposed that was just part of the Uzumaki charm.

After the nerve-wrecking meeting with the hokage, Kasa overexerted herself with the seals on her arms and ended up collapsing with a seizure and a severe nosebleed. The aged leader managed to pull her out of her convulsions and promptly sent her and Obito the hospital for a thorough checkup. The girl, in her frantic state, spewed whatever she saw through the seals when she was under, but the hokage took pity on her and eased her worries of expulsion and gave an open invitation for her to enter the village.

The hospital trip, while necessary, was a tedious pit stop they needed to make in order to make sure Kasa didn't do any lasting damage to herself with the stunt back in the office. Compared to his own treatment, hers didn't take nearly half as long. Despite his various fractures, broken bones and the nurse threatening him an overnight stay, Obito somehow managed to charm his way out. With his teammates still grieving for his death, he didn't want to extend it any longer than necessary.

"Come on!" urged Obito as they left the hospital. "I want to go find Minato sensei and the others. Can you image the look on their faces when they see me?"

"Really Obito?" Kushina sighed with a roll of her eyes. "You died in front of their eyes and the first thing you want to do is show yourself like nothing happened?"

Obito scratched the back of his head sheepishly, feeling guilty of his thoughtlessness. "…I guess I wasn't thinking."

"Exactly!" Kushina propped a hand on her hip in a disappointed manner. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Sorry, I—" He ducked his head down and started apologizing, but was promptly cut off.

"You should totally prank them instead!" cackled Kushina with glee. "Let's make them crap their pants!"

Obito paused for a moment to let her words sink in before the widest grin crossed his face. "I knew I liked you for a reason Kushina-san!"

"Of course!" She raised her nose in the air with pride. "How could you ever doubt my awesomeness? Life is not worth living without good pranks!"

"How foolish of me!" declared Obito, decidedly taking a leaf out Gai's book for enthusiasm. "Please teach me more Kushina-sama!"

"That's what I like to see!" nodded Kushina. "Now listen closely, this is what we're going to do…"

Even though he and Kushina sounded giddy throughout the planning process, Obito quickly noticed that the little auburn-haired girl grew quiet and lost in thought. He and Kushina traded a glance and decided to draw the girl out with whatever silly actions they could make, but she didn't seem to notice until…

"I'm not worthy!" shouted Obito as he comically praised and bow to Kushina with his arms raised up and down. When the girl's eyes focused to attention again, Kushina decided to step in to distract her.

"Kasa-chan, you're going to help us!" declared the woman with full confidence and gave the girl no chance in backing out.

"Huh?" squeaked out the girl before they hauled her off her feet and dragged her to the training grounds.

The easiest one to find was likely Kakashi, he was always in one training ground or another. Aside from the hospital, Obito knew little other places that his crush would go to since most of her time was spent in the hospital with patients. As for their sensei Minato… He was quite sure Kushina would know where her boyfriend is, but he rather prank his stick in the mud teammate instead.

Yet, when he found the silver-haired jounin, all glee slipped from his thoughts. His stoic teammate stood in front of the memorial in silent grieving. He never seen the other cry and likely he would never see him cry, but here he grieved, for him. The thought was mind boggling. Obito knew they didn't part with the best of terms, but he didn't think it would affect the other so much.

"Man, oh man," murmured Obito quietly as he watched from his hiding spot. "You're killing me Kakashi."

"Don't worry, after we're done, he won't stay like that," grinned Kushina in turn.

"…Can I not do this?" asked Kasa quietly. "That's just mean."

The sullen look returned to the girl's face and Obito found himself guilty for putting the girl through this. She suffered real losses, but at the same time she was still young enough pull her out of that grief unlike the rest of them.

"You so totally got to do this!" whispered Obito, trying to make the situation sound more fun an enticing than it really is. "It'll make my entrance all the more awesome. Pretty please Kasa?"

She gnawed at her lower lip and Obito felt a pang of guilt run through him.

"Kasa-chan, if you feel uncomfortable about this, you don't have to," said Kushina softly, the girl didn't seem to believe her words. "But this prank will help Kakashi more so than hurt him."

"…What do you mean?" she asked in confusion, there was still a chance that this could be salvaged.

"You don't know Kakashi, he is a stoic bastard," explained Obito. "He may look cool and all, but knowing what I know about him now, the bastard is probably blaming himself."

The girl frown with concentration, still not understanding what he was trying to say.

"He is totally ignoring my sacrifice to save his sorry ass! He should be living, not guilt tripping himself into misery!" grumbled Obito with a sigh as he tried to make the girl understand. "Kakashi could be bastard when it comes to his own emotions, always bottling it up and being an ass to everyone because of it."

"Oh…" murmured Kasa thoughtfully as it finally clicked in her mind. At the look of Kushina's sly grin he realized he made himself look like he cared more about his stoic teammate than he should.

"That's why I need you to help me on this okay? We need to fix him," said Obito before he made a show to cross his arms indignantly. "That and if I showed myself this early, he's just going to get emotionally constipated and totally ruin my dramatic return."

Kushina didn't buy the act for a second, but she said nothing as she continued to watch with that knowing grin on her face.

"Oh, try to get my goggles back if you can," he added as a last ditch attempt to get the woman to stop smiling, but she shook her head in amusement instead.

Kasa seemed hesitant at first, but eventually she screwed up her courage and walked up to Kakashi. From their distance, Obito could see that the girl was still nervous and uncertain on how to initial conversation with the silver-haired jounin, but much to their luck. Kakashi started first.

"What?" said Kakashi, the quietness of his voice made it near impossible to hear everything he said, but with some straining, Obito could still catch bits and pieces of what was said between the two.

"You… sad," mumbled Kasa.

"…So?" replied Kakashi.

"You know…sad... if…" Kasa's voice was too soft, he couldn't catch most of what she was saying, but at the stiffening of his teammate, she must've said something he didn't like.

Kakashi's not the type to attack little girls, right? Obito thought nervously.

"Is that what they told you when you lost someone you care about? You do know those words won't change a thing. They're still gone," said Kakashi bitterly, this time his voice a tad bit clearer and easier to hear.

Obito grimaced at his choice of words and glanced over to the smaller girl. He thought she would cry at being told off so harshly, but to his surprise he found an odd look of determination on her face instead.

"No," said the girl firmly. "Your friend told me."

"Friend?" A frown crossed Kakashi's face as suspicion set in.

This wasn't looking good.

"Yep!" chirped the girl with her hands behind my back in a cute and childish manner and leaned sideways to look up at him. "He said he's angry at you for being a bastard and wasting his sacrifice and he wants his goggles back."

"Pft," snorted both Obito and Kushina as they tried to hide their laugh. Neither of them expected her to parrot Obito's words so well.

Kakashi stood stunned for a moment, but quickly composed himself. Unlike Obito and Kushina, he did not look amused.

"Who told you to tell me this?" demanded Kakashi with a darken voice and the girl took a defensive step back in fear.

"Not if you're going to be like that," said the girl in an attempt to sound brave, but cowered away when the older teen stepped closer.

"Tell me who told you to tell me this," Kakashi all but growled, cold anger laced his words.

"Eep!" shouted Kasa as she turned to flee, but the other caught her with ease.

"Geez," sighed Obito as he pulled himself out of his hiding spot. "He's taking this too far."

"I'll ask one last time. Who told you to do this?" growled Kakashi as he hauled the girl to eye level. A weak wave of killing intent poured out from him as he stared the girl down. "Tell me."

Unable to handle the panice, Kasa flailed and screamed for help. "Obito help! He's going to kill me!"

"Obito?" repeated Kakashi in a whisper, surprised by the name.

The Uchiha body-flickered and sped to his teammate's right side and swung his fist. His sudden appearance startled the shocked Kakashi and he was forced to drop Kasa out of self-preservation and blocked his blow. With a grip of his wrist, his teammate grabbed his arm and chucked him over his shoulder and pinned him to the ground. Obito let out a pained breath and grimaced at the pain.

"Oww… what the hell Kakashi!" whined Obito as he tried to brush it off. "This was supposed to be my badass return!"

"…O…Obito?" croaked out Kakashi weakly, but he shook his head with vehemence, his kunai pressed firmly against the Uchiha's throat. "You're not him! Who are you? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hey, hey! Watch where you're pointing that! I just got out of the hospital! I don't want to go back there again!" protested Obito as he tried to inch away, but Kakashi wasn't letting up.

"Who are you?" repeated Kakashi with a growl before he glanced up to Kasa who scrambled back the moment she touched the ground. "Who are either of you? Did the Uchiha send you to do this?"

"Uchiha? Why would they do that?" frowned Obito, but Kakashi kept his eye on the girl instead of him "Hey, I'm talking to you, bastard!"

Obito shifted a leg out from under Kakashi and kicked him off. The kunai didn't manage to hit any of his arteries, but it did manage to nick the side of his face. A pained hiss escaped his lips as he raised his sleeve to press against the cut.

"Why is it always the face? Man, that stings," complained Obito.

Kakashi reoriented himself in the air and forced himself to land in a fighting stance. "Your genjutsu skills are good to be able to maintain the illusion even after taking damage. Show me your true face."

"This is my true face dipshit!" shouted Obito in agitation. "For a prodigy you're freaking stupid if you haven't notice that I'm not dead!"

"I don't believe you," glared Kakashi.

"For the love of—" Obito threw his hands up in the air. "You know what? Screw this! If you want a fight bastard, you got one! Jounin or no jounin! I'm going to kick your ass! Kasa-chan, take cover. I'm going to teach this bastard a lesson!"

The girl scurried away at his command, Kakashi spared a brief glance at the corner of his eye, but this time he kept his attention on Obito.

"As if you'll get the chance," growled out Kakashi as he charged forward.

"Bring it on!" roared Obito as he too pulled out his own kunai and charged.

Kunais clashes, punches were thrown and the two of them fought for ten minutes straight, only to find themselves in a standstill.

"Shit," wheezed Obito as he eyed the other. It was odd that he managed a standstill at all in his condition was he holding back? Or did he sustain more injuries from the mission and he didn't know? "Had enough yet?"

"You?" ragged out Kakashi as he was out of breath as well. His hand tightened over his kunai.

"Ha!" coughed Obito. "I'm just getting started! But uh…" He rested his free hand on his knee as he caught his breath. "If you want to give up, I'm totally cool with that! You know, uh… because I'm generous like that!"

Kakashi stood still, his ragged breath slowly evened out as he studied Obito. His brows furrowed as if trying to make sense of something.

"You can't continue, can you?" murmured Kakashi.

"What?" snapped Obito as he stood up with indignation. How dare the bastard insinuate that he was better than him! "You want to go again? Come on! I can do this all day!"

The silver-haired teen stared at him for a moment longer before he sighed and pocketed his kunai. "You're an idiot, Obito."

"You want to say that to my face again bastard? I could—Hey wait, you said my name!" Obito switched in mid-sentence, completely disregarding whatever he was going to say.

"Yes," confirmed Kakashi as he brushed off the mild layer of dust on him, gathered from the fight.

"About time bastard!" A bright grin broke out on Obito's face as he pocketed his kunai. "What changed your mind?"

"Only an idiot like you would bluff an enemy while exhausted and obviously defeated," said Kakashi in a deadpan.

Obito huffed. "I could've so continued the fight!"

Kakashi gave a snort as he turned his attention to the trees. "Sensei, Kushina-san, you guys can stop hiding."

Obito jumped in surprise, startled that there was another spectator aside from Kushina and Kasa.

"Ah, he caught us!" said Kushina unabashed as she jumped out of hiding.

"Minato sensei! When the hell did you get here?" shouted Obito. "I was totally going to go surprise you next! No fair!"

"It's not very nice of you to tell us you're alive with a prank," chided Minato warmly.

"Sensei, you know he was alive?" asked Kakashi with mild annoyance.

"Not a clue," chirped their blond sensei. "I didn't find out until a couple of minutes ago, myself."

"Kushina-san," whined Obito, rubbing his bruised and bandaged arms. "You could've cut in at least. Kakashi is a beast when it comes to taijutsu. My arms are killing me!"

"I would've cut in earlier to explain everything, but no Minato had to stop me." Kushina huffed and turned a glare at Minato.

"If I let you cut in, Kakashi would've been even more furious that you two decided to play such a mean prank on him," reasoned Minato with a deceptively friendly smile. "Then it would be much harder to drag both of them to see Rin. I'm quite sure she'll be happy to know both of you avoided her for an entire week."

Obito's jaw dropped in horror while Kakashi's body tensed up at the mention of their teammate.

"Minato sensei! I wasn't avoiding her! I was nearly dead! It took me a week to get back!" protested Obito.

"Hmm," hummed Minato thoughtfully. "But the first person you came to see after coming back wasn't her or me, but Kakashi. I wonder what would she think?"

"Argh!" screamed Obito and grabbed his hair as he realized his error. "I'm so stupid! I should've gone to see her first! She's going to kill me! Kakashi this is all your fault!"

"My fault?" said Kakashi in disbelief. "You're the one that wanted to prank me when I thought you were still dead!"

"You're the one that's emotionally constipated! And what's this about Minato sensei saying you've been avoiding her for a week? What the hell man?" accused Obito.

"You're one to talk, Mr. I've come back from the dead!" snapped Kakashi.

They bickering became more and more heated with each line that they neither of them notice that Rin were present and watching from the shadows. It wasn't until she spoke that either of them realized the gravity of their situation.

"O…bi…to… Ka…ka…shi…" grounded out Rin slowly.

"Rin!" the two shouted in horror before she paralyzed them both and knocked them senseless.

There was nothing like a woman's wrath as Obito and Kakashi learned in the aftermath as she bandaged the two of them.

"No message, no letter, no nothing! You were alive and you didn't even think to drop a word back to us?" snapped Rin as she re-bandaged Obito's injuries.

"There were no messenger birds at the outpost free for something like that!" defended Obito. He yelped when Rin tightened the bandages over his bruises. "Ow, ow, ow! Sorry! Sorry!"

"Next time you do that to us again, I will kill you myself!" threatened Rin, tears welded at her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am!" squeaked Obito guiltily.

"Defeats the purpose of encouraging him to survive," murmured Kakashi offhandedly.

"Don't you dare start, Kakashi! I haven't gotten to you yet!" growled the girl. "You've been avoiding me since we got back to the village. I didn't even know you had trouble with your chakra until Minato sensei told me! I thought we were teammates! Why would you keep something like that from me?"

Obito glanced at Kakashi curiously, that was new. "You're having trouble with your chakra?"

"It's nothing," murmured the silver-haired teen as he turned away.

"That's not nothing!" retorted Obito. "How are you going to continue to go on missions if you can't even defend yourself?"

Kakashi remained silent. Obito wanted to press on further with such a serious matter, but…

Growl…

The sound of a growling stomach drew their attention to the small girl and her face flushed red in embarrassment.

"Kasa-chan are you hungry?" asked Kushina with amusement.

"…I can wait," mumbled the girl quietly as she snuck a glance up at Kakashi. "Until Kakashi admits he needs a hug, it might be dangerous to go eating with him… He might just try to hurt himself with the splinters on a chopstick."

Obito grinned gleefully at her deviousness act of genius. Kakashi glared at her with vehemence, but she shot back with an innocent grin.

"Whoops, you didn't want them to know that?" said Kasa innocently.

"Kakashi needs a hug?" said Obito slyly, obviously enjoying his teammate's torment.

"No, I don't need a hug!" snapped his silver-haired teammate as he turned to him with a glare.

"Aw!" gushed Obito teasingly. "You were being such a bastard because you just needed a hug?"

"Don't you dare Obito!" warned Kakashi as he backed away from him.

"I believe he does need a hug," added Rin with a grin as she joined Obito's efforts. "Should we give you a hug?"

"No, I don't need a hug!" snapped Kakashi as he turned to Minato. "Sensei, tell them to back down."

Minato hid a smile behind his hand. "No, I agree with them. I think you do need a hug."

Kakashi's eyes widened, surprised that even his trusted teacher betrayed him.

"Get him team!" shouted Kushina enthusiastically before the silver-haired teen turned tail and ran.

Obito and Rin chased after him dutifully, but laughed all the same as they piled onto the reluctant jounin.

"All right, I think Kakashi has enough hugs for today," said Minato as he took pity on his stoic student, but only by a little. "You can give him more tomorrow if you want."

Kakashi shot him a look of betrayal and grumbled under his breath.

"It's been a taxing day for everyone and we should all go home and get some rest, but how about I treat you all to dinner before then? As a celebration for Obito's return," said Minato.

"Serious?" said Obito excitedly as he jumped to his feet. "All right! Let's go for yakiniku!"

"Too heavy, pick something lighter," noted Kakashi as he sat up from the ground.

"I thought this was to celebrate my return?" grumbled Obito.

"How come you guys get to pick?" retorted Rin. "I say we go for dango and anmitsu!"

Before another fight could break out, Kushina promptly cut in.

"Kids," said the woman sternly. "If you guys can't make up your mind, I get to choose."

"But you always choose ramen!" huffed Obito.

"Is that a problem?" scoffed Kushina.

"Kushina-san, that's not fair, we should be able to choose this time," protested Rin.

"It's not like you don't have other opportunities to attack Minato sensei's wallet anyway," muttered Kakashi as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Oh, ho, is this a challenge I here?" said Kushina boldly as she stood in a battle stance.

"What if it is?" braved Obito.

"Three on one! I like the odds!" cackled the red-haired woman. "Bring it little minions! Bring it on!"

And so… Team 7 found themselves in the fight for their dinner as they faced off Konoha's Red Hot Habanero… only to be beaten senseless and left in a pile of twitching limbs on the training field.

"Come along Kasa-chan," chirped Kushina as she rolled her shoulder and arm in triumph. They all knew they would never win against Kushina when it came to choosing dinner locations, but it was a routine they've grown used to and with some fondness. "We're going for ramen."

"Coming!" chirped the girl as she tailed after her. Minato said nothing as he followed in amusement to give the three a moment alone.

This wasn't how he envisioned his return to Konoha, but he wasn't complaining. He was home and with the people he care about. That was all that mattered.

"…Hey Obito?" grunted Kakashi from the pile.

"Yeah?" groaned Obito as he turned to his teammate.

"…Welcome back," muttered the other.

Surprised cross his face briefly before followed by a wide grin.

"Good to be back," said Obito.

Author's Notes: Okay, I procrastinated with this chapter long enough. This is covers chapters 4, 5 and half of 6 of Iryo-nin Kasa. At the moment, the story likely is going to follow Obito and Tobi for now. Future Naruto will show up… eventually, but who knows how long that would be. Thanks for reading! And we'll see how long it'll be before I update this story again!