The Gears of Fate Turned, and Madara Uchiha Appeared (Parts One Through Four)
The morning mist had yet to clear, and the sky over the border of the Land of Grass was turning pale.
The meeting point was a secluded clearing in the woods.
Kakashi leaned against a tree with his arms crossed, his visible right eye slightly narrowed above his mask.
Rin Nohara crouched nearby, absently fiddling with a roll of bandages in her ninja tool pouch.
Her brown eyes kept drifting toward the path through the trees.
"Ten minutes late."
Kakashi sounded annoyed.
He had just spoken to Obito about this yesterday, and now Obito was late again.
"Obito must be on his way," Rin Nohara said softly as she stood and brushed the grass from her knees.
Hyuga Ginka's pure white eyes pierced the dense forest.
"I see him."
The corner of Hyuga Ginka's mouth twitched.
"He's running this way—fast, but—"
Before she could finish, hurried footsteps sounded through the trees, followed by the crack of snapping branches.
A dark figure burst from the bushes and promptly fell.
Obito had caught himself on a bush and lost his balance. He landed face-first in front of them in spectacularly undignified fashion.
"Ow, ow, ow—"
Obito pushed himself up, rubbed his reddened nose, and looked straight into the others' varying expressions.
"Are you okay, Obito?"
Rin Nohara hurried over and crouched to check him for injuries.
She gently brushed the hair from his forehead, looking for scrapes.
Obito's face turned bright red.
Rin Nohara's concern seemed to make the pain from his fall miraculously vanish.
"I'm fine."
Obito scrambled to his feet and brushed the dead leaves from his clothes.
"I just tripped. It didn't hurt at all!"
"I really shouldn't have expected anything from you," Kakashi said.
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