AN: Heya! Sorry it's been, what? Six months? Christ.. I feel bad, but in my excuse I've had a lot of stuff going on in my life and I've also had quite a bit of problems writing too. I tried making this chapter right after the last one, but sort of just didn't get anything working and after that I took a break for awhile. Again I've had a bit of a tough period, which has kind of made it hard to focus on this too, but nevertheless, I'm still sorry for taking so long. I hope the wait was worth it still, and I'll try to get another chapter out as soon as I can.

So I edited a bit of the previous chapters again. Pretty much only trying to improve my prose, but also adding small details. The only thing I would recommend checking out is the end of the last chapter. I changed things a bit, around when the akatuski guy showed up, so if you don't read that you might be just a little confused. You might want to reread it anyway since it was awhile ago since I last updated.

Anyhow, here's chapter 5, enjoy!

Note: Surnames are said first just as they are in Japan (and because i watched the anime in japanese this is how i prefer it).

Note: "..." = Thought
Note: "..." = Speech
Note: "..." = Special speech (like Nine-tails)
Note: ~:~ = Flashback (indicates the beginning and end of a flashback)

Chapter 5: The Ghost of Konoha

Obito glared at the man. Threatening him. Obito's grip around his forearm was firm and slowed down the blood flow in his arm.

"Hmmm... so you're Uchiha huh. Mangekyo sharingan no less, that's rar–". The man was cut off mid-sentence when Obito twisted his arm and hurled him to the ground. He got on his back and locked his arms.

As he examined the man, Obito came to the conclusion that might not be as old as he had initially thought. His face was not quite as defined as a fullgrown adult, he might've been at the age of 18. "Who are you?", asked Obito with a low tone of voice. The man sighed.

"If you really need to know, I'm Hasuo of Akatsuki", he said.

"Akatsuki.. is that some sort of orginazation?", Obito wondered.

"Now...", Hasuo said. He cracked a finger. ".. you're in my way".

Obito's sharingan revealed a strange yellow flow of chakra from Hasuo's finger. It started to aim towards him. Quickly. In a flash Obito had made distance from the string of chakra. It it continued to follow him until it eventually faded.

"Heh, guess you'd see that with your sharingan...how boring", said Hasuo and took a leap towards Obito. Obito quickly put his hands together and did hand signs.

"Rope lock jutsu!". A rope slung towards the man and wrapped around him which caused him to fall. Obito made more hand signs. "Earth style: Stone dome!". A dome surrounded Hasuo and trapped him in darkness. "Okay, that'll save us a bit of time".

Obito glanced over at his students. He could see the same yellow chakra flowing through Sakura and Sasuke. "Are you two okay?", he asked.

"I'm fine...", Sasuke struggled to get out. "But.. can't.. move". Sakura nodded in agreement. Obito frowned.

"What should we do, run? No, that won't work when both Sasuke and Sakura are paralysed. I'm going to have to fight him". Obito turned his eyes to Naruto. He saw him stand against a wall. He shook vigorusly and sweat ran down his face. Something had scared him. He didn't have time to calm him down however, as Hasuo's escape would most likely not take long.

"Naruto what happened here? I need to know as much as possible before he escapes", Obito asked Naruto, his eyes kept on the stone dome. He didn't get a response. "Naruto?!", Obito asked again. No response.

Naruto felt a burning sensation on his skin. The heat that had come from his torso felt as if it was going to melt his skin off. Like he had burning lumps of coal pressed against him.

"Brat...". A deep rumbling voice filled the corners of his mind. "... you think you're strong enough to survive through this?". His vision was blocked by images of Konoha, burning. People screaming? Wait, what's happening? "Let me help you, I'll give you the power you need. You don't want people to die because of you do you?". Naruto stands tall, eye to eye with the hokage faces in the mountain. He hears the cries of a child. It stops as a claw infront of him sweeps across multiple building. He sees blood paint the streets as people run away from him in terror.

"No.. stop", Naruto pleads as screams fill the depths of his mind.

Heavy thumps could be heard from within the stone dome. Obito winced. "Naruto!".

"Weakness is the primal cause of death, suffering and pain.. It's your fault if someone dies.". The heat spread up his neck, as if choking him. "You and me, we're the same, I am you". A family is running from him, but he doesn't let them escape, no one escapes. "Now accept what you are. SET ME FREE!".

"SNAP OUT OF IT YOU COWARD!", screamed Sasuke at the top of his lungs.

The visions of Konoha are replaced by the alleyway. The heat that had spread up to his throat began to reside and he felt his pulse slow.

"I–I know that Sasuke-teme!", he said as his breathing became a bit more even.

Another thump was heard from within the stone dome.

Naruto took a deep breath to fully calm himself then finally got to answering Obito's question. "He attacked us. I don't know how, but he paralyzed Sakura-chan and Sasuke. He cracked his fingers or something".

"It's as I suspected then...", Obito thought. "Anything else I should know?".

"He.. he seemed to be after me for some reason", Naruto said hesitantly. Obito furrowed his eyebrows.

"They must be after the kyuubi then. But why, and how would they know that Naruto is a jinchuriki? In any case, it can't be good".

"Obito, how can I help? Should I create some shad–".

"Leave this to me".

"Bu–".

"Naruto, I'm serious. Keep Sasuke and Sakura safe in case something happens. This is outside the qualifications of this mission, besides. I'm pretty strong believe it or not", he said with a confident smile, his sharingan glowing red. Naruto nodded hesitantly and went to Sasuke and Sakura and helped them sit up against the wall. "I want you guys close to me, he might not be alone. Stay alert!"

A final thump came from within the stone dome and shattered it to pieces, revealing Hasuo in the crumbles. Quick hands performed handsigns. Obito inhaled before blowing a fireball in the air. The alley captured Hasuo between it's walls. But to Obito's surprise, the fireball shrunk in size and Hasuo stood behind it with his hand stretched out in the air. It was as if he had vaccumed the jutsu into the palm of his hand.

"So this guy really is a kiretsu huh? Heh, Guess I'll have to resort to taijutsu", Obito thought.

Before he knew it Obito's leg made impact to Hasuo's face and sent him into bricked walls. Dust filled the air from the impact. A right jab came flying from Obito, but Hasuo dodged and kicked Obito in the chest, sending him back a bit. He dashed towards Obito.

A barrage of punches and kicks threatened to injure Obito. Obito's sharingan heightened his reactions however which made the attacks seem to move almost in slowmotion. Block, dodge, counter. He easily fended off his punches.

When none of his attacks made contact, Hasuo let out a grunt, backed off a bit and clenched his right fist. A yellow glow permiated in his arm. He took aim at Obito, this time he was way quicker than Obito had anticipated.

Obito flew some ten meters, away from the alley and into a park, hitting cold muddy soil. He groaned and got off of the ground. A slight taste of blood was present in his mouth. "All right, he packs quite a punch, good to know". He didn't have time to think however as a leg came in full speed against him. Obito blocked with his forearms. Hasuo took another shot at Obito, who ducked and slung his leg to Hasuo's stomach, sending him back a bit. Obito grabbed a kunai and slashed towards Hasuo, but he dodged. Obito made another attempt with the kunai. Hasuo dodged and countered with a punch to Obito's elbow. The kunai fell to the ground. Obito grunted, resorting to hand to hand combat.

Making sure they stayed close to Obito like instructed, Naruto dragged his way through the alley and towards the park, each of his teammates leaning on his shoulders. They had almost regained movement, but weren't quite able to walk yet.

"We should be fighting too", said Sasuke.

"Yeah.. but he told us to stay back", said Sakura. Sasuke grunted in frustration.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan is right", Naruto agreed. "We've gotta trust Obito-sensei 'ttebayo!".

Obito got a hit on Hasuo's cheek, followed by a kick to his chest pushing him back. Hasuo quickly got on the offensive however. He took a leap up in the air, driving his leg down. Obito was sent to the ground, losing his breath for a second. An audible crack was heard and the string of chakra once again came darting towards Obito. Lying on the ground, he wouldn't have time to get up. The strand of chakra threatened to touch him if he didn't do anything. Thankfully Obito had a theory.

Obito put his palms together, resulting in the closing of his tenketsu. Upon touching his body, the yellow chakra didn't manage to enter his chakra system and instead faded. He smirked, as he took a leap off the ground with a kick to Hasuo's chin. Sending him to the ground. He lay flat on the ground, drops of rain spattering on him.

"Way to go Obito-sensei!", Naruto cheered alongside Sakura.

Hasuo took a breath and stood up. Obito threw a kunai at him, but Hasuo took the kunai from the air and sent a blow to Obito's body. Obito hit a tree, and saw a kunai a mere 2 centimeters from his left eyeball. Hasuo tried pushing the kunai, being stopped by Obito's grip on his arm. They both struggled to get the upperhand. The kunai coming threateningly close to Obito's eyeball, his students felt worry. Hasuo ground his teeth as he pushed with all he had, his arm slowly gaining a yellow glow. And then it went through.

"Obito-sensei!", Naruto and Sakura exclaimed.

But when Hasuo felt an elbow smash into his jaw, Obito managed to alleviate his students concern, along with causing confusion. The kunai sat against the bark of the tree, as if taunting Hasuo.

Hasuo grunted. A yellow glow emitted from his arm and his fist came at flying speeds towards Obito's stomach. But, to his surprise his arm passed right through. Obito smirked and countered with a hit to Hasuo's face that sent him flying into mud.

"Did.. did he punch through Obito-sensei?", Sakura asked dumbfounded.

"Obito-sensei's badass!", Naruto shouted. Sasuke was left impressed at their teachers abilities.

"Heh..So you're The ghost of Konoha, huh", said Hasuo. The thought of having such a cool nickname made Naruto go nuts. Hasuo grinned. "Now I'm excited". As he approached Obito his whole body glowed yellow this time. He threw a punch at Obito. Obito dodged, countered with a punch to his ribs, followed by a kick that missed. Hasuo kept throwing punches and kicks at Obito, all of them passing through his body. Obito took a leap through his body, suddenly behind him. The force of Obito's kick sent a subtle taste of blood to Hasuo's mouth.

Turning around he continued his attacks. As one of his punches flew through Obito, Obito took a step to the side, grabbed his right forearm with one hand and his bicep with the other; and then, he pushed.

Snap.

Hasuo's arm fell limp to his side. Blood seeped out his lip, as he bit down on it in pain. He didn't have time to process the pain however as Obito slashed a kunai towards him, he barley evaded, a scratch mark appearing on his cheek. Using hand that wasn't broken, Hasuo threw a yellow charged fist to Obito's face. Apparently he had not managed to get as much power into his punch as before, due to the fact that Obito didn't break his jaw. Still, it sent him flying quite a bit.

Obito groaned as he got up from the ground. He witnessed the scratch mark on Hasuo's face heal with a yellow glow and his broken arm twisted back in place, as he stretched it out.

Obito frowned. "Seriously? He's got insane stamina, none of my attacks seem to weaken him. And if he can heal that fast too, we're in trouble. I'll eventually run out of time with my sharingan, at that point we'll be done for".

"Sakura?", Obito asked.

"Yes sensei?".

"We're gonna need backup, try to find team four". Sakura nodded and took off. Obito brushed blood off his lips and stared into the eyes of Hasuo. "What's your weakness?".

Kakashi sighed. "So this god we've heard talk about is nothing you recognize?", he asked his students. They shook their heads.

"Hanzou had control of the village when we lived here. I didn't even now that he's dead", said Takasu.

Kakashi frowned. "Hanzou was killed by this so called god. And no information of this has been spread at all, I'd surley have heard of it if that was the case. Maybe this god person is behind these kidnappings? All of them were pretty strong shinobi from what we've heard.. what's going on here?". Kakashi's thoughts were interrupted upon seeing a worried Sakura run towards them.

"Kakasahi-sensei!", she said. "We got attacked, Obito-sensei is in a fight right now, but he needs help".

Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at his students. "Let's go. Sakura tell me everthing that happened on the way".

Obito's breathing had gone heavy, he was starting to get tired. He'd almost used up his sharingan at this point, he was just pushing it as much as he could for now.

"Obito-sensei, let us help!", Sasuke insisted. Both him and Naruto had been on the sidelines for quite awhile now. They both felt a need to help, seeing Obito get more and more tired. Obito flinched as he blocked a kick from Hasuo.

"Don't, I've got this!", said Obito. Sasuke grunted.

Obito dodged as a hit came from Hasuo, he countered with a kick. Obito made quick hand signs. Balls of fire appeared in his hands and he threw multiple at Hasuo, whilst in sprint towards him. Although Hasuo managed to put the fire out with his hands, this gave Obito a moment of advantage, distracting Hasuo from his coming attack. Obito took all he had into a swing to Hasuo's chest. Hasuo gasped, feeling a sharp pain in his ribcage, probably having broken a couple of his ribs. Obito pressed a kunai into Hasuo's stomach, making him cough up blood.

"It's over", Obito said.

"Not yet!". Hasuo put his hand to Obito's head, and suddenly. Pain. A throbbing, aching, nauseating pain filled the confines of Obito's head. He felt chakra from all the way down at his feet travel upwards to his skull, penetrating out of his head and then being sucked out into Hasuo's palm. Obito tried to hit him, push him, anything to get away from him, but he wasn't even able to lift his arm. His vision started to fade, the face of Hasuo infront of him became blurry. His hearing faded too, the intense pouring rain had just turned into a subtle hum. He couldn't make out whatever Naruto was shouting. His eyelids dropped and things went dark. He had experienced something like this before. Dying. This time, he wouldn't come back though, would he?

He could hear the burning of a fire. It was pleasant. It warmed his skin and made him feel at peace. Kakashi and Rin sat beside him, gathered around a fireplace.

~:~

"Obito, is that smell coming from you?", said Kakashi, pinching his nose to demonstrate.

"WHAT?! I don't smell, closet perv!", Obito said to defend himself. "... I don't right?", he asked looking at Rin. Rin leaned close to him and took in his scent with a sniff. Obito's cheeks turned bright red. She leaned back and put a thoughtful finger to her chin.

"You do actually smell a bit weird", she said. Obito's head fell. Rin giggled. "I'm just kidding, you smell great", she said, Obito blushed a little and evaded his gaze. She had a tendancy to tease him recently, and Obito had a hard time deciding wether to be happy about it or embaressed.

Kakashi, who was reading 'Icha Icha paradise'—a newfound hobby of his—gave a thoughtful glance at the two. "Maybe it was the smell of sexual tension", he commented, turning both of them red. Kakashi grinned under his mask.

"Wha–wha–what?! Kakashi!", Obito struggled to get out. Rin fidgeted with her fingers.

"That is from the book of course. The mc and the herione should get together already", he commented. Obito sighed and Rin laughed nervously.

"What a jerk. That doesn't even make sense, how can something like that even smell?", Obito thought.

"Hey you guys, time to get to bed! We gotta get up early tomorrow", said their teacher Minato, otherwise known as the yellow flash of konoha. He smiled at his students warmly. They all agreed and started to pack for the following day. "And Kakashi.. tomorrow, maybe don't read that book during the mission... I get you're 15 and hormones and all, but eh...".

"Minato-sensei, that's kinda rude. The Icha Icha series is about more than mindless ***, ****** and **** you know. It's about love, and passion. Besides I can concentrate while reading it anyways", Kakashi said absentmindedly. Minato let out a stiff chuckle. He gave up on convincing anything on to Kakashi, he was a little stubborn. And honestly he did somehow manage to stay concentrated, and he put away the book when needed.

Obito let out a satsified sigh as he slipped into his sleeping bag. He lay on his back, hands propped behind his head. With a relaxed smile he looked at the sky. It was beautiful. It was filled with stars that glittered brightly against the dark. There was something special about it, something peaceful.

"Star gazing are we? How romantic", said Kakashi from above him.

"Erotica gazing are we? How perverted", countered Obito.

Rin couldn't help but giggle at their exchange. "You guys are idiots".

~:~

The memory of his teammates brought him determination. It was too early for him to die here, to give up. There were still people he wanted to spend more time with. Rin, Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, heck even Gai. He had people to protect, a village to protect. He still wanted to be hokage for christ sakes. He wouldn't die.

He didn't have much chakra left, it was do or die at this point. Obito forced his eyes open, and with his last ounce of energy, he concentrated all he had into one final move. Kamui.

A twisting feeling arose from Hasuo's arm. Quickly the feeling escalated into pain. Hasuo's right arm fell to the ground, blood dripping down his shoulder where his limb had been severed.

Just as Obito was about to lose concioussness, orange filled his field of view along with the Uchiha symbol. Hasuo recieved a kick to the face from Sasuke and fifteen Naruto clones were wrestling him down to the ground. Obito couldn't help but crack a smile, this wasn't optimal, but he was no less proud of his students. "You should've run".

"We're not gonna let you die sensei!", the original Naruto said with a smile as he helped him up against a tree. Obito chuckled.

"Thought as much", he said before giving attention to his two students. "Listen, I've not trained much yet, so be careful. When he cracks a finger close your tenktestu to avoid gettig paralyzed", he said. Sasuke nodded understandingly, Naruto was left confused.

"Tenketsu?", he asked. Obito sighed, he should've known that Naruto was not quite as educated as most.

"I don't have time to explain right now, just put your palms together like this and channel chakra to the palms of your hands", he said demonstrating what to do.

"I don't know how to do that, 'ttebayo".

"Just keep your distance from him okay?", Obito said getting a nod. "If you see him glow yellow at any part of his body, watch out. Focus on drawing out as much time as possible. Sakura should come with team four soon. And work together all right?", he said. Naruto and Sasuke nodded. Despite both of them not too keen to work together, this was a dangerous situation, and they both felt that they should listen to their teacher.

The last of Narutos clones vanished in smoke as Hasuo got up from the ground. He took out the kunai Obito had put in his stomach. After the wound healed he ran towards the two genin. Naruto made two clones that darted off towards him. At the same time Sasuke took out a couple of shuriken and threw them towards Hasuo. He dodged all but two, getting them in his chest. He didn't even flinch as he took the two shuriken out of his chest. He threw them at Naruto's clones, dispelling them. Sasuke did a couple of hand signs before letting a fireball flow through the air. Hasuo's view was blocked by it. He put his hand forward, draining all the chakra from it into his hand. As the fireball shrunk in size he saw a kunai infront of him, he evaded to his right, but a kick quickly came flying from Sasuke. He lost his footing for a second, but quickly prepared a counter. His arm glowed yellow as he drove a fist towards Sasuke. A clone of Naruto jumped infront of it however. It took the hit and launched into Sasuke, sending both of them flying a bit. The clone dispersed and Sasuke sighed, mud having gotten all over his clothes.

"I could've avoided that without your help deadlast", he said to Naruto who was standing a meter or so away from him. Naruto grunted.

"So much for thanks".

"Sasuke, stay on the defensive!", Obito said. Sasuke sighed, but agreed nontheless. They stood beside each other, waiting for Hasuo's attack. Hasuo cracked a finger. Sasuke quickly put his palms together and Naruto took a leap in the opposite direction.

Obito saw the strands of chakra through his sharingan. Sasuke had sucessfully managed to avoid it. It followed Naruto still, who felt strange about running away from something he couldn't see. When the yellow chakra eventually faded. "You're clear Naruto!".

Naruto quickly ran back to join Sasuke. They held off continued attempts of attack from Hasuo, who had started showing signs of agitation. Obito had weared him down quite a bit, so he wasn't even close to his strongest, but it still frustrated him that two genin was able to hold off his attacks.

He grunted and let yellow chakra charge his body. His attacks got too quick for both Naruto and Sasuke to dodge. Naruto got a kick to his chest and fell to the ground. Sasuke was able to avoid two of his attacks but eventually he too fell to the ground after taking a hit to the face.

Hasuo sighed in relief, thinking he had finally managed to get control of the situation. But his attention was brought to the intense sound of chirping birds. He turned his head, seeing Kakashi stand infront of Sakura and team four. Lightning was channeling through his forearm, it was the source of the chirping sounds. Hasuo ground his teeth in frustration.

Kakashi charged towards him at high speeds and before he knew it, Hasuo had a hole through his chest. He coughed up blood as he backed away and cracked his finger in the process. Kakashi put his hands together, closing his tenketsu and avoiding Hasuo's attack.

Hasuo felt the ground rumble violently. He looked down and saw the earth form a large fist. It shot up from the ground and hit him in the chin, sending him up in the air. Haruka stood a couple of meters back, grinning with her hands down on the floor.

"Takasu, you're up!", she said to her teammate. A jet of water drenched Hasuo, who had been hit too hard to have any time to react to the jutsu. The impact of Takasu's jutsu brought him back to the ground. Before being able to get up from the ground, Kinzo impaled his shoulder with a metal blade that stuck out from his forearm. And then, lightning channeled through it. In a violent manner, the lightning spread through Hasuo's soaked body, finally leaving him unconsious. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were left in awe at their fluent teamwork.

Kakashi took a look at the man. Blood was seeping out of his mouth and he didn't move a finger. Obito had regained a little bit of his powers and was now able to stand up.

"We should get out of here. I'll send a letter through Pakkun to the hokage and let anbu take care of him. Our priority is to get out of here safely", he said as he put Obito's arm over his shoulder. Obito nodded beside him. Haruka walked up to the Akatsuki member, examining him.

"This guy doesn't seem too dangerous, we took him out rather easily", she said.

"Yeah, thanks to me wearing him down", Obito said, with a passive-aggresive tone being quite evident in his voice.

"You think this is over?!", Hasuo suddenly exclaimed. Before anyone had any time to react, Hasuo roared furiously as his hands glowed a blinding yellow color. He slapped them together and a massive shock wave sent them all flying. Upon getting up from the ground, they witnessed Hasuo holding Haruka. Obito could see yellow chakra flow through her as it had with Sasuke and Sakura before.

"Haruka!", shouts Takasu. He and Kinzo charged towards him.

"Move and I'll snap her neck", he threatened between coughs of blood. They both stopped in their tracks. "I'll trade her for the Uzumaki", he said and nodded towards Naruto. "Be here in three days. Send help and the girl dies", he said as he took up a black ball from his pocket. He crushed it in his hand and in an instant he vanished, being sucked into a vortex where the ball had been crushed.

The area was filled with silence. The only sound being that of spattering rain hitting the ground.

Next chapter: How to climb trees

AN: Honestly, I'm not very happy with this chapter. I like what happened in it, but I just felt like my writing didn't convey the images I had in my head very well, guess that's the result of barley writing anything for half a year. Plus, this whole chapter was pretty much just a bunch of fight scenes, which is what I find most difficult to write.

I would've liked to spend more time on editing, but I have a cold atm which is making me kind of tired so it's just going very slow, and I'd like to get this out before school starts again so this will have to do for now. I usually go back and improve on previous chapters anyway, and I'll definetly do that with this one in the future.

Something I want to clear up is that all of the abilities in these fights will be explained more in depth next chapter. As you might've noticed, there are some changes to the sharingan. Chakra in general works a bit differently too and I'll explain that as the fic goes. So even though some things might not make sense at the moment, I'll explain the details later, so don't worry if you felt a little bit lost.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll get another chapter out in less than a year.. Favorites, follows and reviews are highly appreciated, feel free to give me constructive critcism too!