Chapter Text
A blood-lidden hand laid on his face, her eyes full of love towards her children that slowly lost all light. The mesmerizing stars caught inside her eyes began to dim and recede as her body turned lax and he watched in horror-
"Step aside, kid."
A deep yet shrill voice echoed inside his numb mind. Startled, he was pushed away from -his mother- Ai as a man kneeled in front of her.
Black hair and an uchiwa fan pattern on the back of the man's shirt were the first things he noticed.
His green glowing hand atop Ai's bleeding belly the second. Aqua could do nothing but stare as the bleeding abated... and the stab wound began to close on its own.
"Who...Who are you...?" Ai's voice mumbled, her eyes still dull but not- not dimming anymore.
"...Obito. Uchiha Obito." the man-Obito said.
The man was silent, concentrating on his work. The only sounds in the house were the ticks of the clock, Ai's ragged breathing, the strange humming of Obito's healing hand magic... and Ruby's sobbing.
Her crying broke him out of his stupor.
A thousand questions bubbled under his skin. But before he could ask them, the man picked Ai up, whose stab wound was completely closed off now, and... vanished.
One blink he was there. And another blink, he was gone. Ai too.
Aqua was staring at the spot, rubbing his eyes to rub away the tricks his eyes were playing on him. But nothing. Both Ai and the stranger were... gone. As if they had never been there. He felt very inclined to dismiss this-all of this- as some hallucination but the coppery smell and the stickiness of blood-too much of it- on the floor were too vivid to be dismissed as that.... or maybe, he was schizophrenic.
Yup, he hysterically thought, I have finally lost it. Or was I ever right in the head? Maybe all of this-his reincarnation, living on as -his mother's- Ai's child- was all just something his dying mind conjured up. Maybe he would wake up, any second in his old body-
SLAP!
A loud noise echoed in the silent house- no, not silent. The pain registered on his cheek and his ears and eyes began to work again.
Ruby was sobbing loudly and she was babbling. He could only pick out some parts like, 'Mama is gone!',' Badman took her away!' and 'Stupid onii-chan, stop standing there and do something!'
He regained his bearings. Right, it was too quick to jump to the conclusion of this being a hallucination. It was best to work with the assumption of all this being real.
Quickly, he rushed to the telephone to dial the police. Shit, what would he even say? A stalker had stabbed their mother who is an idol and then a stranger with glowy hands healed her and teleported away? He had to think of something believable-
Ruby let out a startled yelp. Before he could even turn, a hand grabbed his waist from behind and lifted him away from the telephone. The world distorted around him, swirling away into oblivion and he suddenly felt nauseous-
The floor changed to a dirty grey. Where the telephone had been, was now a large door he instantly recognized as ER. He realized that he was in a hospital. He was placed back on the floor and a familiar deep voice greeted him.
"Your sister is in ER, receiving care for her stabbing. But she is in no danger. ER is a mere formality. She is expected to recover." Obito- the man who had also grabbed them both and.. taken them to the hospital, said plainly. "Do you two want... to eat something?"
All Aqua and Ruby did was stare at him, dumbfounded.
'This man... has no idea what he is doing.' Aqua thought.
"She is our Mama." Ruby said before she could catch herself, earing the horrified glance of Aqua and the incredulous one of Obito.
It had been two weeks since he had awoken in this strange land.
Last he remembered he had finally finally been reunited with Rin after sacrificing himself to save Naruto when the next thing he knew, he was staring at stars in the night sky, lying on soft grass in the middle of nowhere.
Oh, and he was also butt-naked.
Years and years of honed instincts took over him before panic could and he tried to sense for any lifeforms nearby, to get a sense of where exactly he was but to no avail. The greenery reminded him of the Land of Iron, but without the perpetual winter that plagued the lands. The trees were not the kinds found in the Land of Fire.
So, he just roamed around, at first trying to follow the stars but to no avail. The constellations were completely foreign to him. That was, of course, after he wore some clothes(the Kamui dimension wasn't just useful for storing weapons or scrolls, after all). He also came to realize several things. For one, it was his body from just before his demise, but also not quite. For one, his body wasn't breaking down due to the strain of having had the Juubi extracted from him, and for another, he had a Rinnegan.
After experimenting with it a bit, he came to realize that this eye wasn't Madara's but his. Somehow, his left eye had evolved to Rinnegan. How and why, he had no idea. He could only hypothesize it being due to him having Senju Cells and the strain of getting revived from death. Madara had awakened it when he was about to die. Who could say that actually dying wouldn't do the trick?
There was also the fact that his body still had Zetsu's implants and he could still use Mokuton. Which was good since that meant he didn't need to eat or drink to survive. It would have been a problem otherwise, considering he wasn't able to find any life as far as he walked.
A moment of paranoia overcame him at the thought that Naruto had failed and the world was still stuck in Infinite Tsukuyomi, but he quickly dismissed the notion. If that had been the case, he would also be inside Infinite Tsukuyomi and he was fairly certain that being lost in the forest wasn't his idea of a 'perfect life' and even if he wasn't in it but others were, the moon would be red but it wasn't.
'Or maybe, this is what Kaguya wanted.' he thought. 'Why would she care for our happiness? She would be fine with everyone living in a nightmare so long as she gets what she wants.'
He consciously ignored such intrusive thoughts. It was not good for his sanity.
It was after 7 cycles did he finally found any sign of civilization. A part of him felt unfathomably relieved at seeing actual people. It was afternoon and many were working in fields.
He put on a Henge of some local vagabond and went near one man, in his middle age, working on the field.
'Good sir.' Obito said in a raspy voice fitting of the image he had constructed, 'Would you be so kind as to tell me where we are?'
The man looked at him strangely but told him the answer.
Stupified, Obito let go of the man and undid the Genjutsu.
What was going on?
Was he outside the Elemental Nations? But why did no one know of it? He had to gain more intel before drawing any conclusions.
Two weeks passed and Obito was atop a building, still reeling from the realization that he was in another world entirely. All he had come across had minimal chakra and no ability to manipulate it. He had read about the history of the world and Japan and found very disturbing revelations. It was...
He couldn't even begin to wrap his head around the whole idea.
Why was he here? How was he here? Was this another trick of Kaguya? Just what was-
A sight caught his eye. A man, in sweatpants and a hoodie, running away from an apartment frantically. A little suspicious but nothing worth his attention... except there was blood on the man's face.
Good. He needed a distraction anyway.
His mind settled into a familiar trance and his sharingan unveiled itself. And there- a door wide open of the apartment the man had run away from. He reached it in one leap.
Inside the house, aside from a door lied a woman- no, a young girl bleeding from her abdomen sluggishly, holding a child, nearly 3 years of age, close to her.
'A stabbing, huh?' Obito thought.
And from the pool of blood on the floor, an artery had likely been cut open. She was barely clinging to life as was. It was unlikely for her to survive even if he took her to the hospital. For all the modernization, the modern medicines and techniques paled in contrast to the capabilities of Chakra.
No one had taken any notice of him, yet. He could leave quietly.
He took a step forward and a two and before he knew it, he was kneeling aside her, his hands hovering over her wound as he began to perform an art he hadn't performed in a decade.
He had once learned it in desperation, to have something that would remind him of Rin until his actions and thoughts tainted the memories, corrupted them to be something too painful to entertain.
'This is what Naruto would do.' he thought. The bleeding abated and he could sense the artery joining together. Rusty as he may have been, the medical jutsu came easily to him. Using Mokuton required incredible chakra control and at its core, that is what Medical Jutsu was about.
He glanced at her eyes, which were no longer as dull as before like life was returning to her eyes.
'Strange.' he thought. 'The star pattern; I haven't seen it before in this world. Perhaps a Kekai Genkai?'
He shrugged the thought off when he sensed her pitiful and untamed Chakra Stores. For some reason, though, she seemed really familiar. Dismissing any unwanted thoughts, he got back to the task at hand.
"Who...Who are you...?" her voice mumbled.
For a moment, he entertained the notion of a fake alias.
"Obito. Uchiha Obito." he said.
She let out a shaky smile. Obito didn't think much of it.
Good. The artery was healed. Now, all he had to do was close the wound. With a twist of his will, the gush in the stomach area began to close off until nothing-not even a scar-remained. But he wasn't done yet. She looked far too pale even for someone of her complexion. Anemic, he realized. She had lost plenty of blood after all.
Gently, he picked her up, trying to not cause any strain on the freshly-healed skin. His Sharingan morphed into a familiar swirl pattern.
"Kamui."
The world distorted and they were inside his Kamui Dimension. Walking a few steps forward, he, and the girl in his arms, returned to the world of the living, only this time inside the city hospital. Many surprised glances met him.
Quietly, he sent his Wood Clones out on patrol orders to put a Genjutsu on these people to suppress their memory of this.
He walked towards the astonished receptionist.
"This girl was stabbed and has lost a lot of blood. She isn't in any danger of bleeding out but she is anemic and needs blood transfusion now."
"Uh-wha-?"
Incompetent, he thought with a sneer. He put a calming genjutsu on her and she quickly jumped to action, calling for nurses at hand. As they put her on the medical bed and took her away, he realized that it would be hard to explain away how exactly she was stabbed but had no stab wound or even a scar. It would also be better if she actually was properly attended to, to see if his shabby medical ninjutsu had missed something.
Sighing internally, he prepared to use even more Genjutsu on the doctor and the nurses. He was lucky that these people had no resistance to Genjutsu.
He really had turned sloppy.
It had been nearly two minutes since he had fulfilled his task of putting all of the Hospital Staff under his Genjutsu. The girl was in ER now. It was nothing serious but apparently, the girl was a famous personality and it was a custom procedure.
All in all, she was expected to survive.
Obito let out a sigh, strangely feeling drained. Had his endurance truly dropped so low in a few weeks of inactivity? He found it hard to believe that from a man who singlehandedly defeated the armies of the Great Nations, he had stooped to the level of winding up after just a few Genjutsu and Kamui.
Or perhaps he was viewing it wrongly?
He was a dangerous man, even by the standards of Shinobi. He had killed countless people, almost burnt a Great Nation to the ground and nearly destroyed the entire Shinobi World... but he had never saved anyone's life before.
True, he had once deluded himself into thinking that Infinite Tsukuyomi was salvation but in the end, even that was little more than a deception. A lie crafted by Black Zetsu for the purpose of Kaguya's resurrection. He had honed the art of killing, and become a master at it... but never did he save a life. Not until today, at least.
It was far too easy, laughably so, to take a life. But an incredulously hard task to save it, to preserve it. His respect for Sakura and Tsunade grew even more.
....
In silence, Obito brooded over the notion.
'It is... good I arrived when I did.' he thought as his thoughts turned darker. 'No matter the world, there will always be trash. Even in the absence of war and conflict, humans find a reason to turn to violence and death. To stab a girl like that and run away like a coward... Pathetic. To think that even in a world like this, kids have to experience this pai-.'
His trail of thoughts stopped before he cursed at himself. The kid! How could he have forgotten about the kid?
Cursing himself, Obito used the Kamui to get back to the house. There he also saw a young girl, seeming the same age as the boy, and promptly picked her and the boy up in his arms before returning to the hospital, right in front of the ER.
More startled yelps greeted him and not just from the kids. With a frown, he sent his Wood Clones another order to erase the memory of all those who had seen him teleport... again.
He would have never faced that issue back in Elemental Nations. Then again, he had been a Nuke-Nin so maybe he would have.
The little girl was sobbing loudly while the boy looked as if in shock.
Shit, he didn't know what to do. What would he say to two toddlers who witnessed their sisters' stabbing, watched her nearly bleed out to death, before witnessing her getting kidnapped by the very man who had now picked them up and teleported to a hospital?
Quickly, he tried to dig up his past. During the Third Shinobi World War, whenever he lost any comrades... oh nobody had really consoled him. He had bottled it up, instead. Okay, what about when Rin died?..... Never mind, telling them to go on slaughter and pledge themself to make a dream world was clearly not the solution. And after that period, well, he himself killed or contributed to the demise of his once close ones or comrades.
Fine, he was not an ideal adult. What would Minato-sensei do? Yes, he would calmly explain the situation and offer hope, with a warm smile.
"Your sister is in ER, receiving care for her stabbing. But she is in no danger. ER is a mere formality. She is expected to recover." Obito said, more stoically than he wanted to. Now, what would Minato-sensei do? Maybe offer some treat or food to divert their minds?
"Do you two want... to eat something?"
....
Looking at the rather profound baffled looks on the faces of the toddlers, it seemed that it wasn't the right thing to say. He was officially out of ideas. Why was he even here? Why did he, of all people, get this second chance? It should have been someone like Minato-sensei or Kushina-nee-chan instead of someone as horrible as him-
"She is our Mama." the little girl said, before putting her hands on her mouth, horrified at what she had said.
....What?
From the looks of the boy and the girl, it was probably meant to be a secret.
...
So it was a teen pregnancy, then.
His body turned cold and a familiar sensation enveloped him. The anger, the hatred coursed through him, feeling much like old friends.
In Elemental Nations, Shinobi led a hard life. But for them, death or torture had often been the worst of fates. But for Kunoichi, it was often the beginning of their suffering...
In many ways, it had been why he had been so overprotective of Rin back then... even though, it was her who often protected him instead.
He sneered in spite of himself. No matter the world, humans were truly depraved. Scum and trash were present everywhere in this wretched world. This was a world, far more peaceful than he could have ever imagined. Despite the past and the ever-present conflicts, it was still far more tranquil than Shinobi World had ever been. And even then.....
He pauses as he looks at the fright on the kids' faces. The boy was shielding the girl behind him, looking at him like he was a monster.
....He had let out his killing intent.
Taking a deep breath, he receded and called it in. He really had lost his touch. In the past, he would never have blatantly revealed his emotions.
"I...apo-"
"I won't let you harm her!" the boy spit out, looking rather murderous for someone his age. Obito frowned. It would appear he had given the wrong impression of himself.
"It wasn't-"
"It is scums like you," the boy interrupted with venom in his tone, "who think that just because you like an idol, you have a monopoly on them. Sick fucks like you would not think twice before stabbing a girl just for having children because you feel betrayed-'
"Your mother was stabbed because of that?!" Obito unintentionally interrupted.
But why? Was it their intention to kidnap the children? But why wouldn't the man take them away after stabbing her? Maybe it was to send a message instead? Yet, the stabber had clearly been a novice...
"Why?" he asked.
"What do you mean why?", the boy's anger simmered and confusion took its place. "That stalker felt betrayed because A-our mother had children."
The boy stated as if it was obvious. And yet, Obito didn't understand.
"A stalker? Why.. did he feel betrayed because of that?"
"Because he was a sad lowlife with a para-social relationship towards our mother."
A para-social what now? He was hearing that for the first time. Was it something exclusive to this world only, or had it been yet another thing he had neglected to understand back in Elemental Nations, in pursuit of the Eye-Moon Plan?
"Whatever this 'para-social' thing is, I assure you I have no such relationship with your... mother. In fact, that was the first time I even met her."
"That.... is kinda the point."
The boy and the girl, who was no longer sobbing, looked at him weirdly as if he wasn't understanding something obvious. Like a new being, entirely.
....These toddlers were quite bizarre. Even the clan heirs had not been so... mature wasn't the word he was looking for. More like introspective and observant. That, and their unnaturally clear and fluent speech at such a young age. In many ways, they reminded him of Itachi, yet not quite. Itachi had been a child prodigy, with eyes that looked far too deeply. But even he had been an innocent child once. Well, as innocent as the Shinobi World and the Uchiha Clan had allowed him to be, anyway.
Food for thought for later, he supposed.
"Regardless of that, is there anyone you need to... communicate with?" Obito said awkwardly, still not familiar with this world's terms of summons.
They both looked at him strangely again and shared a look with each other as if talking to each other. The girl was silent and still looked quite unsettled-
Oh, and maybe he should call them something other than 'boy' and 'girl'.
'" almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Uchiha Obito." Obito said, injecting some of the chipperness of 'Tobi' in his words, to make them feel... safe in his presence.
Looking at the grimaces on their faces though, he had failed rather miserably in that. His people skills had really deteriorated, it seemed. Manipulating Talking to S-rank Nukenins and mass murderers didn't count.
"My name is Hoshino Ruby. Nice to meet you." the little girl-Ruby as it was- said cheerfully, while giving a small bow at the end. Yes, he had read it was custom to bow in this country while introducing yourself.
"....Hoshino Aquamarine." the boy said, looking none too pleased at sharing his name. It was smart of him to not trust anyone blindly, even if he had saved his mother's life. Shinobi rarely did anything out of the goodness of their hearts.
Naruto had been the sole exception. And... he too, a long time ago.
"So, as I was saying earlier, should I report to someone about what happened?" Obito asked again. Aqua seemed to think for a moment.
"I will go call the President of the agency mama works in and you can go call the police.'"Aqua suggested. Obito stilled.
"No," he said. "You need to call the police and tell them about the incident. Tell them that someone called the ambulance and they arrived just in time and where you both are, right now."
He didn't want to alert the authorities of his presence. Not when there were too many variables.
Aqua looked stupified for a moment before a sudden realization dawned on him.
"Wait a minute!" Aqua said. "How did you even do all that? You healed A-mama with that glowy magic and then you teleported her and us to this hospital!"
Ah yes, that is what had slipped his mind; in his hurry, he had used his abilities in front of the kids. Somehow, they didn't even register in his mind as threats to him.
'....'
He could use Genjutsu on them, making them forget about it but it was not advisable. The Genjutsu were always made or designed keeping in mind that the target had a fully developed mind. Using them on children with still-developing brains had... catastrophic effects. And he was in no hurry to replicate them in these kids.
"That is for me to know and you to guess. Do not worry about lying or getting found out. I have... taken care of that." Obito said. "Under any circumstances, do not tell them about me. Understood?"
Aqua and Ruby nodded, albeit rather reluctantly.
"Good." Obito said. He was glad that he was able to refrain from threatening them. Naruto likely won't have approved of it.
A blare of sound from outside averted his attention. He recognized it as the Police Siren. Strange. Why were they here-?
Ah yes, the Killing Intent Scene. Someone had likely reported him. He scowled. This world was turning out to be more problematic than he had anticipated.
"The police are already here. I will take care of this. When they come in, tell them exactly what I told you to say. No mention of me at all." Obito said. "They would likely set up some patrols to stay with you and your mother. I will be nearby, just in case."
Obito went, bracing himself for another Genjutsu purge.