Something Precious

Chapter Seventy Six

"Obito?" Sasuke asked. His voice was low, almost a growl but not quite.

Like someone had snapped their fingers, the humor wilted and Naruto sobered up. The mood became more serious. He sighed as he leaned his hip against the foot of the bed instead of sitting back in his toppled chair. He had wanted to wait until later to discuss this, maybe when Sasuke had had a little more time to recover and adjust to the whole time travel business.

Naruto could see that Minato regretted his comment as he realized his mistake. He probably remembered the few things Naruto had said about the Obito from their time and realized it may still be a touchy subject for Sasuke whose wounds were still fresh. Yet Naruto wondered if he knew just how bad he had been. Naruto had told Minato how Obito had killed Kakashi, but how could Naruto have betrayed the carelessness in which he did so? He told him about how he slaughtered, but how could he describe the smile on his face when he watched his once comrades fall lifeless.

Still, Obito wasn't like Madara. His malevolence came from a madness that was without a cure. Madness that was like a tumor that had rooted itself in the boy's mind when Rin died, and slowly grew with time and pulsed with every drop of blood that stained his dripping hands. It possessed him, rotted him. But for now he remained untouched by such things and Naruto truly believed that he could be guided down a different path away from the tumor-like madness that drove him to commit such crimes.

"Sasuke-" Naruto began, already knowing his friend would not be so quick to share his beliefs. And it would make Naruto quite the hypocrite to ask him to. After all, it had taken Naruto almost all the way up until Obito's 'accident' to completely let go of the future Obito. To really stop seeing them as the same person.

"When you said you were on a rescue mission." Sasuke interrupted. He struggled to sit up more proper in his bed, ignoring the help his friend offered.

Minato looked at Naruto who narrowed his eyes sternly. "He's innocent, Sasuke." he said. His tone was almost, though not quite, commanding.

Sasuke eyes flashed dangerously. "Innocent?!" he hissed and Minato flinched. He felt like maybe he should step out for a minute. This didn't involve him. But the fascination of the future and Naruto's time compelled him to stay. To listen. To get another perspective besides Naruto. Maybe it was because he was holding on to the feeble hope that things weren't as bad as they had been made out to be. Or maybe because he subconsciously knew that they were worse. He knew that, if anything, Naruto was the kind of person to edit out the worst things to spare others the worry. Sasuke wouldn't.

Also, this was about Obito, his student. Even though he knew what he had become in Naruto and Saskue's time, he still wanted to protect him. If it came down to it, he would fight Sasuke should he be moved to action against the child.

Sasuke continued. "How can you call him innocent? Or have you forgotten what he did to Kakashi? He is the reason you grew up an orphan. How many friends have you lost by him? How can you can call him innocent when he is capable of all that?" he said. His voice was low and dangerous. Minato felt his guard rising.

Naruto also corrected his posture as the conversation turned more hostile. "But he hasn't done any of that yet. For all we know, he never will." he matched Sasuke's  tone, challenging him and adding to the tense air.

"And you are really going to bet everything on that? You really think you can change him? I know the darkness that is in him. If we kill him now we can prevent so much suffering. Not just our own, but his too." There was no hostility in his voice as he suggested such a heinous thing. His eyes remained cold and unfeeling. It was almost like he was suggesting a restaurant to eat at.

"I won't let you do that." Minato interrupted. "If you want to kill Obito, you will have to go through me." both Naruto and Sasuke looked at him as if they had forgotten he was even there. But now he had stood, leaving both chairs beside the bed empty, and fixed Sasuke with a hard glare. Believe it or not, The Yellow Flash of the Leaf could be quite intimidating.