A/N: A lot of this dialogue was pulled from the manga, which may be the case for the next chapter too, but after that it shouldn't happen anymore because the story will diverge from cannon.

Also, I don't own Naruto and sadly I'm not making any money off of this. I just wrote it for fun.

Chapter 1 – To Change a Belief

"The most important thing to a shinobi is to be a tool in order to complete the mission. Emotions are unnecessary things."

Obito blinked his ebony eyes and stared incredulously into Kakashi's grey ones. The boy had to be kidding, right? Rin was captured, he and Kakashi were the young kunoichi's teammates and they should be on their way to save her right now. As fellow shinobi of the Leaf, members of the same genin cell, and most of all, as her friends, Obito and Kakashi should already be on route to perform a most heroic rescue. Which would no doubt bring about Rin's complete appreciation and admiration for her knights in shining hitai-ite, complete with numerous thank you's and adoring kisses, followed by devoted declarations of love from the most beautiful member of "Team Yellow Flash". So why in the hell was Kakashi even contemplating leaving their delicate teammate in the hands of the enemy?

"Are you serious? Do you seriously think like that?"

Kakashi stared unmoving at his useless counterpart. The mission came first. Every shinobi worth their salt knew that, it was ninja 101, basic knowledge, even children in the academy were aware of it. Everything else, lucky charms, friends, lovers, teammates, family; they were all distractions, as far as he was concerned. Of course they were all important, but there was a time and a place for caring about them, and in the middle of a mission was certainly not it.

If there was anything Kakashi had learned from the emotionally crippling suicide of Konoha's White Fang, it was that nothing should ever be more important than the mission. Visions of his father's crimson blood puddled around his slightly blue and hardened corpse had seared into the young boys' memory the cost of such distractions. Sakumo's disgrace was a constant reminder to his son that sometimes what was most important for Konoha was not what you believed to be the most important in your heart. That was why during a mission Kakashi knew to leave his heart at home. Unfortunately, Obito still needed to learn that lesson, because he was still foolishly dragging his along with them.

"Yes. That's right." Kakashi said coldly. "Our mission is the destruction of the bridge. Nothing matters until we do that. Including Rin."

Obito's jaw dropped, and then hardened as his disbelief turned to shock turned to outrage. There was no way Obito was leaving Rin behind at the mercy of enemy shinobi. Kakashi was out of his mind if he thought he could force Obito to abandon the sweetest girl he'd ever met, and the kindest member of their genin cell. "I'm going to rescue Rin."

"I'm the leader of this team Uchiha. I'm the one who gives the orders, and you're the one who follows them. Even if you're supposed to be the "elite" ninja, I'm the one who made jounin, so you have to listen to me. If you let your emotions run free and fail your mission, you'll regret it in the future. Because of that, the rule was decided that a shinobi must kill his emotions. You must understand that too."

"Rin, "Obito growled, "gave you that medical pack and healed your injury out of concern for you, and now you have none for her."

"Those were necessary for the success rate of the mission, bud didn't I already tell you if you receive unnecessary things they just become excess baggage?"

Obito scowled and spat at the feet of his grey haired teen leader. "I believe that the White Fang is a true hero. Of course those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called trash. But those who don't care about their companions are even worst then trash. And I'll break the rules if it means saving my comrades. If that's not being a true shinobi then I'll crush that idea of shinobi."

Kakashi watched as Obito ran off in search of their teammate, the Uchiha's words echoing in his ears. "The White Fang is a true hero… true hero… the White Fang… White Fang… the White Fang is… is… is a true hero… true hero… hero." Obito couldn't know what he was saying, could he? "The white Fang is a true hero… a true hero…" Sakumo had died in disgrace. Konoha's "White Fang" nothing but a useless and broken tool, right? There was nothing heroic in that. Right? "The White Fang is a true hero." Was it possible? Could the idolization of his father that Kakashi had carried throughout his youth have been right? Was the man he'd held in such high regard actually worthy of his son's admiration and respect? If he was, then Obito was right, and Rin was more important than the bridge.

Kakashi was torn. What should he do? On one hand, the one that his brain was arguing was the right choice, the bridge was his mission, and his mission was important to Konoha. But on the other hand, the one directly connected to his heart, was Rin, his teammate and his friend, the girl who loved and cared for him, and patched him up every time he made the mistake of falling apart. Could he leave her behind to be tortured or worse? "Before we separate, I'll say it again. The most important thing to a shinobi is teamwork." Minato sensei's crawled into the young jounin's head. How could there be any teamwork for Team Yellow Flash if Kakashi let both his teammates behind? Obito was right, and he, Kakashi, was worse than trash. But maybe there was still time and he could still manage to help Obito save their teammate? Kami knew Obito was too much of an idiot to do it on his own.