Obito's Redemption Story (CURRENTLY EDITING FIRST 15 CHAPTERS OR SO.) SEQUEL OUT

Waking Up

"Oi, Obito." Kakashi started. His usual look of utter boredom replaced by annoyance. And quite a bit of it. "You're late, again. You have to be doing it on purpose at this point."

Obito hadn't really been hearing him, feeling a bit weird to see the younger face of his best friend. It brought him back to those times; times where everything for him was simple. A simple goal; become Hokage. A simple team; a medic he had a crush on, a sensei he respected, and a prodigy he was secretly jealous of. The only thing that wasn't simple was his role as a ninja, but honestly it was never that bad despite the war.

Two Hours Before

Obito woke up.

And that was the first thing he noticed. The groggy feeling he had died almost instantly; replaced with intense awareness. He looked around his small flat. It was exactly how he remembered it to be. A large bookcase filled with books he read to try and catch up with everyone of his year. A small desk stood in front of the window, one he remembered he used for studying and to remember events that he was still late for. On the other side of the room was a pretty lame and small dresser he used to stash what little clothes he had been able to buy way back when.

The room sort of filled him with nostalgia. Of corse he hadn't always had the best of times here, but it was certainly better than anything he experienced as a rogue ninja.

Flexing his hand was enough of a reminder that he was in his younger body. He looked down at it before frowning. He had blue, long sleeves pajamas on with the Uchiha symbol randomly thrown upon it. Sometimes it was facing sideways or upside down. Wow was really all he could think. He wasn't much for fashion but it seemed his child self was way worse off.

Ignoring it for now, he stood up. The feeling of his smaller body was not lost upon him but he was able to ignore it. He walked over a pile of open books to get to his desk which had his orange googles upon them. To others it had always looked silly but he loved them and even now, he knew he still did. He slowly put them on but didn't have them over his eyes and instead over his forehead. He didn't have to worry about his Ninja Headband since he knew that he used to sleep with it on because he had it on so much that he forgot it was on.

He turned to go see his bathroom. Nothing remarkable of even memorable had been inside but the broken left side of the toilet. He scowled at it. That had caused him a few injuries he wouldn't speak about to this day. His eyes caught a mirror to his left and when he turned he saw his unscarred, childlike face. He touched the right side of it, feeling it to see if the scars could be underneath. Of course it was illogical but he just had to check, for some reason.

Then a thought crossed his mind. The Sharingan; did he still have it? He decided to answer his own question. He formed a seal and chakra started sealing into his coils before his eyes turned a menacing red. All three tomoes appeared telling him that he had the final stage to his Sharingan. He decided to up the level and added more chakra in his eyes, activating his Mangekyō Sharingan. He looked at it normally, as his curiosity had been sated. His head turned to the showers. He definitely needed a cold one.

XxX

"And the loser's late again. How unsurprising." Kakashi remarked standing idly beside a tree as the rest of Team Minato awaited on Obito. Every single meetup had been like this and it was honestly getting on his nerves. No one was late this many times and it was simply an accident. But, like always, Minato and Rin had given him the benefit of the doubt.

Rin laughed awkwardly. "I'm sure he has a good reason. He always does."

Kakashi sent her a look. "You mean you always give him one."

"Ok, enough of that." Minato interrupted giving both his students a kind look. "He's always late, Kakashi. I'd assume you'd be used to that by now."

"You get used to being a ninja. You get used to having a team. And you get used to having missions." Every time he said used it had caused Rin to flinch. He had said the word with so much venom and bitterness. "You don't get used to someone wasting your time because he's late on purpose and for no reason."

"Kakashi," Minato started, giving his student a stern look. "Drop it."

Kakashi looked down and glared at the floor beneath him but relented and didn't say a word. The three were quiet until Rin's usual meek voice broke through it.

"Um, sensei? About my medical ninjutsu."

"Yes go on." He egged, aiming to push the conversation away from the previous topic. Kakashi didn't care to get into the new conversation.

XxX
An Hour and a Half Later

Obito sighed contently as he walked out of his bathroom. He had forgotten to grab clothes before he got in so he was only in a towel. His entire body felt very wrinkly from the effects of having stayed under the shower for too long. He really hadn't kept up with the time inside, relishing the cool water against his skin. It had probably been the best he felt since he graduated the academy.

A knock on his door took him out of his thoughts. He quickly grabbed a towel and tied it around himself before answering the door. He opened it to his team, all who gave a reaction to seeing him almost naked. Rin blushed and adverted her eyes, Minato gave a nervous chuckle, and Kakashi who had been in the front of the two took a step back in surprise.

Obito himself gave no reaction. Something typical of his clan. "What is it? I was taking a shower."

The way he spoke had took all of them from their stupor. They all gained confused looks, clearly expecting Obito to get embarrassed and run to change quickly. Minato was the first to respond to this.

"Um, Obito? Are you ok?"

"Yea, why wouldn't I be." Obito said evenly. He hadn't realized that they way he was acting was the problem they were talking about. To be fair, he was trying to get used to living again and being back in time.

Before Minato could retort, Kakashi interrupted with an annoyed glare. "Go put some clothes on and come on. We have a mission briefing to attend and we're more than enough late as is."

Without even questioning Obito agreed. "Ok." Then he just shut the door to go and put some clothes on. When he did Rin had looked at her sensei.

"What was that about?"

Minato shrugged. His guess was as good as hers. "I don't know."

Kakashi clicked his tongue in annoyance before turning away from the door. "Probably learned how to act like a Uchiha for once. I for one like this Obito a bit better." He might've said that but he didn't mean it. Honestly, he liked Obito just the way he was. He would never say this out loud however. Not in a million years.

"Let's just ask him when he comes out." Rin suggested with a small smile in her crush's direction. Of course she was optimistic that it was nothing serious and that he was just in the bad mood. Probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Yea, that was probably it!

Minato, on the other hand, thought it was something else. Something much bigger. Maybe. Just maybe.