Comforting Kakashi

News of the White Fang's death spread.

With certain people deliberately passing it around, it soon reached every corner of the village.

"Did you hear? Lord White Fang took on a dangerous mission to recover what the village had lost. He completed it, but he was badly wounded and died."

"See? What did I tell you? I said all along Lord White Fang wasn't selfish, but none of you believed me. Convinced now?"

"Oh, give it a rest. You cursed him louder than anyone. I was the one defending Lord White Fang."

"Bullshit! You were the one spewing filth! You stood outside his house and cursed him for days. How do you have the nerve to blame me?"

As the two argued, they came to blows.

The woman with them tried to break it up.

"Stop fighting! Please, both of you, stop!"

A passerby nodded in agreement.

"Exactly. Stop fighting. You'll never kill each other like that."

The two men, who had been dancing up a storm...

No, wait.

The two men, who had been fighting furiously, stopped their dance steps and glared at him.

The passerby adjusted the Forehead Protector on his head and said flatly,

"What are you looking at? Want to fight me too?"

One man's expression changed.

"You must be joking, sir. We'd simply never seen such a handsome face and couldn't help taking another look."

The other man put on a broad smile.

"Exactly!"

The ninja waved a hand, unwilling to waste more time on them.

"Get lost!"

"Right away!"

The two men and the woman fled as if they had been pardoned, ready to find something to do to calm their nerves.

The ninja spat in disdain and muttered,

"Fickle commoners. They make my skin crawl."

His companion gave a helpless smile.

"Don't bother with them. They're just poor souls being played like puppets."

"Let's think about how to comfort our young teammate instead. He hasn't seemed right these past few days."

The first ninja replied irritably,

"You think I haven't tried? That kid keeps to himself and won't give me the time of day!"

"Everything I say goes in one ear and out the other. If I ever bother with him again, I'll take his surname!"

The second ninja's smile grew even more helpless.

"Come on, don't say things you don't mean. You may admire Lord White Fang, but you don't have to change your surname."

"All right, let's get going."

The setting sun dyed the clear sky red, like a fire burning overhead.

Yellow leaves danced across the sky, and gusts of cool wind lent the world an extra touch of sorrow.

A small figure stood beside the lake.

Watching the blood-red sunset and listening to the water's mournful murmur, he felt a tangle of emotions.

Before,

whenever his father had time, he would bring him here for a walk and teach him so much about how to live.

The green hills still stood, and the waters still flowed, but his father would never come back.

Kakashi clenched his fists.

A fire burned in his chest, with nowhere to go.

"Kakashi..."

Obito looked at the figure not far away, his expression complicated.

He had been looking for Kakashi for days.

But Kakashi seemed to be avoiding him and had never once shown himself.

Obito had searched several places today before finally finding him.

He hurried to Kakashi's side and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Kakashi, have you been avoiding me this whole time?"

Kakashi turned his head and looked at Obito without a word, his gaze blank.

Obito sighed at the sight of him and said, his heart aching,

"Kakashi, I know you're hurting, but..."

Kakashi pushed Obito's arm away, his emotions threatening to spill over.

"Stop acting like you know how I feel! How could you possibly understand my pain?!"

Obito raised his face. His black eyes were instantly suffused with crimson.

"Believe me. I do understand. I really do."

Kakashi froze when he saw them, then asked hesitantly,

"You awakened your eyes... When?"

Obito looked straight into Kakashi's eyes and said, enunciating every word,

"The moment I learned Uncle Sakumo had died."

Kakashi lowered his eyes and fell silent again.

He had never imagined that his father's death would cause Obito to awaken his Sharingan...

Obito gently put an arm around Kakashi.

"I understand how you feel. I really do."

"But I want you to know you're not alone. You have me."

"Come on, pull yourself together. Uncle Sakumo wouldn't want to see you like this."

Kakashi's expression finally softened.

After a moment's hesitation, he whispered in Obito's ear,

"Will you fight me?"

Obito nodded firmly.

"Yeah!"

The two boys stood beside the lake

and began trading punches and kicks.

Neither made any attempt to dodge.

Each let the other's blows land, then struck back just as hard.

Before long,

they both looked like little pandas, with bruises around their eyes.

As they fought,

Kakashi began to roar, and Obito howled right along with him.

After letting it all out,

both Kakashi and Obito felt much better.

They sat on the ground, panting.

When they saw each other's bruised and swollen faces, they burst out laughing.

Kakashi said earnestly,

"Thank you, Obito."

Obito waved it off and draped an arm around Kakashi.

"No need to thank me. We're brothers, right, little brother?"

Kakashi: "..."

That evening,

Obito returned home covered in lumps, feeling like one enormous capsule pill.

When Grandmother saw him, her voice trembled with worry.

"Oh, my dear boy, what happened to you this time?"

"Did you get into a fight at school?"

Obito shook his head with a grin.

"No, Grandma."

"I was practicing Taijutsu with someone and accidentally took a few punches."

Grandmother finally relaxed.

"That's what I thought. Your school has such a good atmosphere. Surely no one there would bully you."

Obito didn't quite agree with Grandmother.

Grandmother's way too trusting!

At our school, even Sun Honglei would ask to commute instead of living on campus!

Grandmother fetched some ointment from the house. As she applied it, she scolded him.

"You never think to be careful. All you do is make Grandmother worry."

Obito chuckled and nuzzled against her.

"I'm your grandson. If you don't worry about me, who will?"

Grandmother poked him on the forehead in mock annoyance.

"You little troublemaker! I won't make you anything tasty tonight."

"Oh!" Obito immediately began to plead.

"Come on, Grandma. I'm sorry, okay?"

Pretending to be angry, Grandmother asked with a stern face,

"Then tell me what you did wrong."

Obito scratched his head.

"What did I do wrong?"

His grandmother: "...I'll heat up your dinner. There's braised pork tonight."

Obito threw his arms around her.

"Yay! Grandmother's the best!"

This world isn't so hopeless after all, Obito thought.

There were still wonderful people like Grandma, Kakashi, and Rin for him to protect.

Those schemers trying to drag the Shinobi World into the abyss had better prepare to face Brother Obito's judgment!