how did this even happen...

[mooneye]

It wasn't a bad sort of place. Lots of things to do and people to see. Plenty of freedom to dart over the rooftops and down the alleys--or out of the village and into the woods and rocky wild places beyond. Obito liked Michi no Sato.

He had stopped for lunch and was eating at a table outside the restaurant, watching people walk past. The food was good. The cold breeze was nice. Ah, yes. Years and years trapped in a cave with a crazy old man and a bunch of plant monsters--it had left him really able to appreciate the little things.

[ooc: here is an AU Obito in his twenties. Got through the time with Madara, and Rin's death, but didn't go completely evil after all of it...]

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[mooneye]

"Ibiki." Obito thought back on the man with his scars, his somber attire, his casual small cruelties. "Ah. Do you... use what he taught you?"

[youngesthokage]

"I do. Iruka took to them especially well." He hummed once softly. "Better than I did. I'm far better with classic Genjutsu than those that strictly affect emotion."

[mooneye]

Obito drummed his fingers against the tabletop, thinking that one over. "It's useful. It's what we're known for, I guess. The Uchiha. Being good with illusions."

[youngesthokage]

He inclined his head slightly. "Because we are. Well. Not all of us." His voice colored with humor. "They're not Sasuke's best skill, he far prefers to electrocute things."

[mooneye]

"Ha, he would. Kakashi was his teacher, where you're from?"

[youngesthokage]

He couldn't help the tiny smirk that crossed his lips. "Yes, yes he was. I felt it was a fitting gift for all his deliberate lateness to meetings since I became Hokage. Naruto and Sasuke quarrel. Constantly. I made sure he got them both." He looked much too pleased about this.

[mooneye]

He laughed, looking genuinely thrilled by the news. "Good! I hope they give him nothing but trouble." And then, a bit more thoughtfully. "You know, he never used to be late to anything. It was me, usually."

[youngesthokage]

"After you died he changed a lot." He looked sideways at him. "His rallying motto is that comrades -always- come first."

[mooneye]

Obito was quiet for a while after that. "I didn't know that," he said. "I haven't talked to him much, since I got back. But I'm glad to hear he picked that up. It will probably make him a good teacher."

[youngesthokage]

He stared at him a moment, just... stared. "....Not even a little, but I shoved a decree down his throats and his students did the rest so it worked out."

[mooneye]

"Ha! Well, close enough." His expression said that he was still surprised to know that Kakashi turned out to be the kind of guy who would need a decree to motivate him.

[youngesthokage]

He snorted softly. "Kakashi is a very hands off teacher. He'll protect them, true, but he likes the idea of telling them something then making them figure it out on their own. It's improved some since the Bad Mission but, well. They scared the tar out of him when Sakura nearly got killed."

[mooneye]

He looked more intent and serious, at that. "What happened?"

[youngesthokage]

"I've come to learn that this only happened in my timeline, but on their first C-rank, a messenger mission, they were given higher profile documents than we'd been informed of. They got attacked by a band of missing nin. Sakura ended up with a gaping wound and separated with Sasuke from Naruto and Kakashi both. He had to burn the wound shut to keep her from dying. Kakashi was barely conscious when they arrived back home, and Naruto was practically carrying everyone else." He grimaced. "I thought mother was going to murder Kakashi when she heard about everything but it didn't happen. Sakura still has an impressive scar on her side and has taken to frighteningly effective taijutsu, Sasuke got into medical things, and Naruto studied all his options until he tripped over seals and he's been running with that since. I think it really scared them."

[mooneye]

He listened to the story, resting his chin on one fist and leaning forward over the table. By the end of it he was frowning deeply. "At least nobody was killed," he mused. "Or damaged any worse."

[youngesthokage]

He nodded slightly and was quiet for a beat. "I haven't really gotten to talk about home much. My home that is. There's just... too much to overcome to get to where I -can-... I don't want to rub Sasuke's face in what his world was never like, and Tenten... I really do get the sense that there are some things she simply wouldn't care about if I tried to go on about them. Its probably not the case but..."

[mooneye]

"Ah, well. A lot of us come out of different worlds, but they all seem to have... a lot of violence in common. A lot of things that have gone wrong. It makes it hard to talk about with anyone." A pause. "Yours is less violent than most, I think. I can see why your brother might resent that."

[youngesthokage]

He gave him a sad smile then. "I'm not really his Itachi just like he's not really my Sasuke. I still love him, so much, but there are moments when the rift is there and it hurts." He looked down. "It's gotten better but it's... not the kind of relationship most people would approve, now."

[mooneye]

He just watched him, for a moment. "Why not?" he asked. "You sound like you're both get along well enough, considering."

[youngesthokage]

He cleared his throat and straightened further in his chair, tense. "I believe the term would be too well in this case."

[mooneye]

It took him a moment, but he got it, and leaned back in his chair a bit, surprised. "Oh."

[youngesthokage]

The reaction didn't let him relax in the least, and he watched him through the fringe of his bangs, utterly rigid in his chair. There were many people for whom he would not care about their reaction.

He was not speaking to one such person.

[mooneye]

Obito just thought about it, for a bit. It was unexpected. And it changed the way he had been imagining the two of them--not as individuals, but as a pair. Or, no. With the girl, too. All three. Kinky.

Once the initial surprise wore off, Obito gave a bark of a laugh, shrugging and shaking his head. He liked the idea, really. Found it amusing, appealing. Twists like that, the tangles between people, they interested him. "All right. Now you have to tell me how that happened."

[youngesthokage]

There was no maliciousness in the reaction and he slowly relaxed, a tiny, cautious smile touching his lips. "We were all together in the place before here. If anything Sasuke was even more fortunate than I was, the only person he kept running into was -me-... but not as himself exactly." He paused, thinking about it. "The place made very convincing illusions. You wouldn't remember your real life while you were in them. I got to see sides of Sasuke I... had not truly realized were there, this Sasuke that is."

He sucked in a breath as he realized something, eyes widening as his thoughts seemed to derail. "But it never changed who a person was. She was-the. No. I clearly need to find a medic and sit on them while they formulate the results because something was -wrong- with my medical staff if her worries... and that particular -theme-... that's not good."

[mooneye]

His attention became sharper at the description of the place. Madara--his Madara, at least--had been capable of illusions like that, intricate dreamworlds full of forgetfulness, where sometimes many years would pass while just a few hours went by in the real world.

And he listened to the next part, curious. "Realize something?" he asked.