We Are Shinobi (Naruto Fanfic)

19: Understanding

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. My eyes are wide and my legs are shaking underneath me, threatening to collapse. He's got a new mask, one that's orange with hypnotizing swirls encircling the single eye hole. I can see his sharingan glaring at me through the dark hole.

"I didn't know what I was pledging myself to, Obito. People do crazy things when they're on the brink of death," I try to argue back but find myself feeling small under his glare. I shrink down and regret not bringing my weapons with me on my night walk.

His hand is on my throat in a split second, squeezing the breath from my lungs as he lifts me, my toes just dangling above the floor."Don't you ever call me by that name," he snarls, voice angry to match his dark presence.

I choke, pulling my hands to my neck and struggling to find breath. He holds me for a few long, agonizing seconds before dropping me. I gasp, taking the air in greedily.

"Okay, so why are you here? To take me back? To kill me? If you wanted to kill me, you should have just done it already."

He shakes his head in long, drawn-out motions. I narrow my eyes at him in frustration. "I have simply come to remind you," he whispers viciously, words floating through the air like snakes, "of our pact. You must not tell anyone about me, not even your little friend Kakashi. I see you getting closer every day to the people in this wretched village."

"Kakashi Hatake is not my friend!" I counter, lunging forward but ultimately stopping myself. He doesn't even flinch. Also, I have no weapons and I probably couldn't kill him if I tried. "How long have you been spying on me?"

"I'm always watching, Mitsuki," he uses my fake name, as if to taunt me further. "So I will know if you ever say anything about me to anyone."

I step back but run into a shelf of magazines. A couple fall off the shelves and onto the street.

"If you do, I will kill you. You have my word."

A few long seconds pass between us and I wonder for a moment why he doesn't just do it; kill me, get it over with. He has every reason to get rid of me, with the knowledge I have of him, and no reason to simply allow me to stay in the Leaf village. I'm his enemy now, a Konoha shinobi fighting against him, yet he doesn't once draw any weapons or jutsu on me.

His words are sharper than a thousand daggers, though, and I can sense that there's something deep down, holding him back. Something drawing a line between the merciless murderer known as Madara and struggling boy named Obito Uchiha. 

And, despite my brain telling me, screaming at me, to stay silent, the words fly out of my mouth. 

"You question my choice but haven't stopped to examine your own." 

He just looks at me from an arm's length away, arms limp at his side and never flinching. He could kill me. He could reach out right now and strangle me to death. But he stands completely still, unmoving, listening to my words without resistance.

"You know, people care about me here. Even people who don't know my name smile at me in the streets when I pass. It makes me sad to think about the life you're living. I mean, really, truly sad. I feel bad for you. You've gone through shit and crawled out on the wrong side. 

"You once taught me that power is everything. You trained me to be strong and independent, but with that kind of power comes darkness. I've always wondered what it means to be a shinobi. Hell, I still wonder. If shinobi didn't exist, it might be a more peaceful world. If people didn't fight, they wouldn't wind up dead, right? Like your friend, Rin. If she weren't a shinobi, she'd be alive today."