Prologue

Obito walked through the marshy grass, mud squelching between his uncut toes (clearly Madara had not made them top priority). Grime covered his pale skin, which had not seen the light of day for months. But the mud wasn't bothering him. Obito was oblivious to the slopping mud and whatever else was mixed into the cold dark brown earth. He was numb to everything, except for the harsh painful hurt he could feel in his chest.

After the red hazy fog of rage had left his mind, Obito could finally recall what had happened. He'd slaughtered all the Kiri-nin with the new mukton ninjutsu he'd somehow unlocked (who knew what Madara had done to him? That crazy old coot. Obito had been sure that only the first Hokage had the kekkai genkai, but what did he know about history?) after finding out about . . . it.

Obito had seen some of it, through his sharingan. Rin. Rin. Rin. No—Obito had known surly it couldn't have been, right? There was no she was dead—a white glowing mass of chakra—This was Rin—Giant gaping hole sitting right above her belly-button, an arm going right through to the elbow—Sweet unbeatable Rin the medic-nin who treated Obito's cuts and bruises—Eyes wide open in shock but at the same time behind the surprise there was—His comrade whom he'd promised not to let die—Acceptance. Joy even. Joy at being set free—His best friend—His crush, even now—Her whispering as death creeps up upon her—He'd promised that she wouldn't die!—"K-Kakashi."

Obito had rushed over to the place, with the help of GuruGuru encasing him. Despite it being the first time the white Zetsu had encased him and allowed him full mobility, it felt surprisingly light-weight, and Obito had been able to move unhindered, and with more power than before behind his movements thanks to GuruGuru's strength.

Now fully aware of his senses, Obito stared in awe and slight disgust at the bloodied marsh that spread out from above him. (Don't get him wrong) he definitely knew the shinobi had deserved it, but how had he done that? He, the so-called 'failure' of the Uchiha had destroyed a whole troop of Kiri-nin, most of them chunin and jounin. Adrenaline rush oozing away, Obito could now feel a rip in a shoulder—a pulled muscle perhaps—and had a feeling it was going to bruise later on.

He somehow managed to trudge through the flattened undergrowth, making haste over to Rin.

He ran forward, blood, stale water, and goo splashing on GuruGuru's shell as he raced towards his goal—Rin's corpse. He didn't care how it had happened—it had happened and now the light from his world was dying. Obito stared up at the pale moon that taunted him from above. How dare the moon keep shining after what had happened?!

Rin was dead. The world was dead. Everyone on this miserable chunk of rock could be dead for all Obito cared! Rin was the sun, Obito's very own light, and now she was gone, the world's colors had faded to bleak shades of grey.

"You promised you would keep watching me! You promised you'd be there to help me!" Obito screamed to the empty air. Because no one was going to answer. Not Rin, not Minato, not anyone. Obito felt more alone than ever.

GuruGuru, sensing his foul mood, stopped making jokes to him, leaving Obito to continue trying to gather his scrambled thoughts. He hadn't even felt this ruffled and distraught when he'd messed up on a field mission, which had almost ended with Rin nearly getting her arm chopped up. She'd reassured him it was fine, weeks after the mission had been completed, but Obito still couldn't help but wonder if she had ever really been mad at him, yet hid her true feelings from him.

From what he could remember, he'd killed all the Kiri-nin. Made them pay. They hadn't expected such a fight out of a person half their height. But no matter how satisfying it had been to feel their forms crumpled underneath his fists that didn't change what had happened. Rin was still dead. And with her, another part of Obito's heart had shattered.

Obito hadn't known his parents, and team Minato had been the family he'd never had. The Uchiha clan disliked him (to say the least) and deemed him useless after it seemed he had failed to have been passed on the Uchiha sharingan. Minato had been like a father, despite seemed to slightly favor Kakashi more in arguments. Then Kakashi—the brother he'd never had. (Obito couldn't help but think of the child-prodigy Itachi, and how Fugaku (the Clan head who just happened to have disliking of Obito) and Mikoto (Obito's mother figure who might be one of the only Uchihas who actually liked Obito) were expecting another child. Despite not really liking him, Fugaku and Mikoto would be good parents, and the child would have an amazing brother in Itachi. Obito sighed wistfully at those thoughts). And then Rin, sweet, sweet Rin.

Obito would've called Rin his sister, but he loved her too much for that. A mere 'sister' tag slapped onto Rin wouldn't do. She was too magnificent and beautiful to just be a sister.

The cold touch of skin with his toe notified Obito that he had reached his destination. Shaking himself out of his mind, Obito look down and saw her. Floating slightly in a pool of blood—Kiri-nins' and hers—Rin's wide open brown eyes looked up at Obito accusingly, as if asking: why were you late this time, Obito? The one time you had to be on time. . . .

Her brown hair looked black, or even maroon, thanks to the blood soaking in her hair. Lying to rot in a pool of the liquid, with only maggots for company was a too cruel of a death for his Rin.

Obito picked her up gingerly, and hugged her, careful to avoid touching the gaping hole in her chest. Charred ends of her intestines dripped slightly out, and her whole torso smelled of charred flesh. Was the world really so cold to do this to Rin? To do this to him?

Madara is right.

This world. . . .

This place. . . .

It is all corrupt.

It must end.

For the eternal solution.

For the ultimate peace.

For Rin.

"I won't forget you Rin." Obito muttered into Rin's blood-matted hair. By now, he could only feel blood. It was under his clothes, icy cold to his skin. It was in in his hair. Under his nails, digging into their beds. Smears made tracks all over his body. "I won't forget you!" He shouted louder.

He glanced to the side at another part of his family. Obito looked at Kakashi, his silver mop of hair, no longer looking so silver, it too taking on the red theme of the marsh. Did he dare to hope? Leaning forward, Obito placed his hand on Kakashi's chest. The faintest throb was felt. Obito knew it was risky—it was unlikely Kakashi would survive, and if he did, did he really want to see Kakashi anymore? Wouldn't it spare his old friend pain if he never knew that Obito had survived? Anyways, Minato and the others would come for Kakashi eventually. . . .

Minato.

His father, his teacher, his friend.

Obito's hands tightened into fists.

No. When Obito himself had 'died' Minato hadn't been there in time.

Kakashi had lost an eye because Minato hadn't been there on time.

When Rin died, Minato didn't come in time.

How could he trust Minato with the last part of Obito's family?

Minato had let him down one too many times, and Obito wasn't going to let Kakashi die if he could help it.

After burying Rin and covering her grave with every wildflower to be found in the battle-torn marsh, Obito came back to Kakashi's unconscious form. "Come on Kakashi!" Obito muttered, and he ran off with chakra powering his steps. He bounded through the marsh, blood splashing in his footsteps.

Madara had told him the outlines of the Eye-of-the-Moon plan, but the grumpy old Uchiha hadn't said anything about Obito not being able to have friends. After all, had the old coot seen Kakashi, he would've probably said he was more capable than Obito himself.

The first thing Obito would concern himself with was getting Kakashi a medic. The fact that Obito had found Kakashi lying in a pool of blood was probably not the best thing for his friend's health.

"Come on Kakashi! Don't fail on me now baka!"