I'm not leaving you

Tsunade, Please

Team 7 made their way back to Konoha. They made it about halfway. They had been getting slower the longer they went. Kakashi and Rin had been going purely on adrenaline. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off. Rin was falling behind and Kakashi was in pain. Rin had already slipped twice and Kakashi nearly fell off a branch. Minato had noticed their struggle. As stubborn as his kids were, they weren't going to complain or say anything until they both collapsed.
"That's it! We're taking a break!" Minato called back to his students.
"But-" Kakashi and Rin were about to argue but were cut off.
"No. We are taking a break. Now, sit down tend to him." He instructed as he lowered Obito to the ground.
"Fine." Kakashi agreed.
"Make a fire and I'll be back in approximately an hour." He said as he pulled out three slips of paper from his kunai pouch.
"What are the papers for?" Rin asked.
"They are Hiraishin seals. If I'm not back in an hour, keep going. I'll use Hiraishin to get back to you guys." He explained as he handed Kakashi the three slips.
     Kakashi handed Rin one of the slips. She tucked it behind the metal in her headband and Kakashi did the same. He tucked the last slip into Obito's waistband. Minato nodded and took off back towards the bridge. Kakashi went to gather sticks and branches for the fire. Rin stayed to make sure Obito was okay. She sat against a tree and Obito's head was resting on her lap. Kakashi returned with small branches and sticks. Rin looked up at him and muttered, "Please, make the fire. I'm just too...tired...I can't." Kakashi simply nodded and started making the fire.
     When Kakashi was satisfied with the fire, he sat next to Rin. Within a few minutes of him sitting there, she was fast asleep. He pulled out a kunai and just waited. He decided to stay awake and act as the lookout since Obito was unable to fight and Rin was asleep. He sat, leaning against Rin, just staring at the flickering flames in front of him. The recent events played through his head on loop. He couldn't stand it anymore. He began sharpening his kunai and shuriken to take his mind off of it. He had sharpened almost all of his, Obito's, and Rin's weapons. He didn't bother with Rin's senbon, after all he didn't know much about the medical tools she used. By the time he had finished sharpening the last of their shuriken, Rin had woken up.
"How long was I asleep?" She asked frantically.
"About 40 minutes. How you holding up?" He replied.
"I'm okay. How about you?" She responded.
"I'm okay, except my eye hurts, well, lack of." He answered.
"Here let help." She reached up and pushed his headband up.
"No, I'm fine. Save your chakra." He argued.
"No. Please, Kakashi, let me help. I can fight if I'm low on chakra, you can't fight if you're not used to being half blind." She argued back.
     He stopped arguing and sat still so she could work. She stopped any bleeding that hadn't already clotted. The only other thing she could really do was soothe the pain with chakra. When she finished doing what she could, he sat up picking up his kunai. She took the kunai from him and sat it down, pulling out one of her own. All she said was, "Sleep."
     Rin sat in between her teammates, no, her brothers. Kakashi was sleeping heavily, Rin was on lookout, and Obito was unconscious. It was peaceful for a about 15 minutes. To Rin's amazement, Obito started stirring. He opened his eye and started looking around frantically. She gently helped him sit up so he could look around properly.
"Where am I? Am I dead? Are you dead? What happened? Why does everything hurt?" He bombarded Rin with questions.
"Shh. It's okay. We're in the forest waiting for Minato-Sensei. You're alive, I'm alive, and so is Kakashi. You passed out so we carried you. We were attacked and your right side was pinned under a boulder." Rin explained calmly.
"No...I'm so sor..." He didn't finish his sentence. He passed out as all the memories came rushing back.
Minato arrived with just a few minutes to spare. He sat down across from his students and let out a heavy sigh. How could he let this happen to his students? He was just happy that they were all alive. Kakashi sat up and rubbed his eye, Obito shifted a bit, and Rin slid down the tree a bit further.
"Anything happen while I was gone?" Minato asked.
"Obito was awake for about two minutes. That's all." Rin replied.
"That is very good. Are you guys able to travel?" Minato asked.
"I am." Kakashi answered.
"Same." Rin added.
     Minato stood up and walked over to Obito. He picked him up and looked at his other two students. They both nodded and grabbed the gear. They headed back to Konoha. They could only hope Konoha's best medic would on hand. They moved faster than before. Minato hadn't yet explained why he left and his students wanted to know.
"Hey, Minato-Sensei, where did you go?" Rin asked the question both her and Kakashi wanted an answer to.
"The mission is complete." He said simply.
"Wait, you went and destroyed the bridge?" Kakashi was surprised.
"Yup. I'll just say in the report that you destroyed the bridge first. Then, everything else happened." He replied casually.
"Thank you, Sensei." Rin let out a sigh of relief. Looks like the mission wasn't failed after all.
"By the way, when this war is over, all three of you are going to take a mental evaluation. No arguments." He added as he picked up speed.
     Kakashi opened his mouth to say something stopped when Rin gave him a look of "don't even". He closed his mouth picked up speed to match Minato's. The rest of the trip was silent. No one had anything to say. No one knew what to say. The only sound Obito's occasional mumbling.
    After 30 minutes of painful and anxious silence, they could see the gates of Konoha in the distance. Without saying anything, they picked up their pace. They were running as fast as their exhausted bodies could carry them. They reached the gates and finally slowed down. Gai and Asuma were on gate duty and didn't even look when they asked for identification.
"Kakashi Hatake, 009720. Rin Nohara, 010885. Obito Uchiha, 010886. Minato Namikaze, 006510." Kakashi quickly named off each of their registration numbers.
"Let's see..." Asuma started flipping through a log book for missions.
"For Kami's sake! We need to see Tsunade before Obito dies!" Rin shouted desperately. Gai looked up to see them all covered in blood and injured.
"Quick! Go! I'll handle this with the power of youth!" Gai shouted, snatching the log book from Asuma, who still hadn't registered what was happening.
     Team 7 took off without saying anything else. Rin took the lead while weaving through the village towards the hospital. She knew the hospital like the back of her hand from volunteering so often. She led them towards the floor Tsunade worked on. The nurses and doctors were busy and they recognized Rin, so no one stopped them from running through the halls. Thankfully, they found Tsunade quickly. She was talking to Jiraiya and by the looks of it, she just got back since she was still wearing her flak jacket.
"Tsunade, please, we need you." Minato interrupted their conversation.
"What so important? What do you-dear Kami, what happened!?!" She shouted.
"He was crushed under a boulder." Kakashi answered.
"Here give him to me. Sorry, Jiraiya. Both of you, come with me." She instructed pointing at Kakashi and Rin.
     Tsunade started sprinting down the hall towards to one of the operating rooms, leaving Rin and Kakashi to follow. They soon took off after her. She started checking the rooms to see which was empty. While jogging through the hall she spun around to face Rin and Kakashi, but kept going in the same direction. She looked them over to check for injuries, but saw none.
"Explain." She demanded.
"First, Rin was kidnapped. So, we went back for her. Then, we rescued her. After that, the cave started collapsing and a boulder came down over me. Obito shoved me out of the way and got pinned." The memories started flashing through his mind. He subconsciously pushed his headband up and brushed his hair out of his face, showing his closed eye that had started bleeding again.
"Seriously? Why didn't you say anything about your eye?" Tsunade blurted out.
"It wasn't that important." He said casually.
     Tsunade finally found an empty room and walked in. Rin and Kakashi just waited outside, assuming they weren't needed. She adjusted her grip on Obito so she was holding him with one arm and she used the other to grab Rin and Kakashi. She grabbed the the back of their headbands and pulled them into the room. Once all of them were in the room, she closed the door with her foot. She pointed to the spinning stool and chair next to the hospital bed. She laid Obito down on the bed and connected several chords and tubes the his chest and arm. Rin sat on the stool and started slowly spinning in circles. Tsunade knelt down in front of Kakashi.
"Rin, dear, please stop spinning, you'll get dizzy. Now, Kakashi, please take off your headband and mask." She said. Rin stopped spinning and started pacing instead.
"Shouldn't you be taking care of Obito? I'm fine." He argued.
"No. His procedure will take a while. Yours is fast. By the time I would finish his, your wound probably infected. Now take off your headband and mask." She explained.
     Kakashi just grumbled before taking his headband off. He hesitated before taking his mask off. When Rin heard Tsunade tell him to take off his mask, she stopped pacing because she knew he would refuse to take it off if other people were watching. Across the room, she turned her back to him and held her arm out to side and gave him a thumbs up. He smiled a bit before he pulled his mask down.  Tsunade healed the cut over his face. She couldn't save his eye, so she had to remove what was left of it and just healed the socket. She wrapped it bandages and sat on the empty stool. She waved Rin over to her and scooted over to Obito.
"Rin, I need you to help. You can stay if you want, Kakashi." She said as she started removing the makeshift splint.
"But I'm low on chakra. What can I even help with?" Rin asked.
"I'll leave so you can focus." Kakashi stated.
"Here, Rin, I'll share some of my chakra with you." She said. Rin walked over to her and Tsunade placed her hands on Rin's shoulders. She started pumping chakra into Rin's system and let go when she was finished.
"Thank you. Now, what do you need me to do?" Rin asked.
"Can you work on his leg? Did you wrap his wounds with the fabric?" Tsunade asked.
"Yes and yes." Rin answered as she began numbing the area.
"This is excellent field work. Are you planning on becoming a medic after the war?" Tsunade asked as she began undoing Obito's sling.
"Yes. I want to become as good as you one day." Rin replied, pulling her hair up.
"That's a good start. Let's see what you can do. If you can prove yourself, I'll train you as my student." She said as she began slowly healing the damaged part of his respiratory system. Rin nodded excitedly and kept working.
For the next day and a half, Rin and Tsunade worked on Obito. The procedure was long and draining. Tsunade activated her Byakugo Seal to keep a consistent flow of healing chakra and to make sure Rin had enough chakra to work. Tsunade focused on his respiratory system and rib cage. Rin focused on rebuilding his face and leg. After putting a cast over his leg, she worked on reconstructing his face. Tsunade worked on his organs and tissues while Rin worked on his bones. After 38 hours of surgery, they had successfully healed all of his physical wounds. The mental scars left behind would be more damaging than the ones on his body.
Meanwhile, Kakashi waited outside the door for the entire 38 hour surgery. Minato sat across from him almost the whole time. He would occasionally leave and return with snacks and drinks. He tried in vain to get Kakashi to go home. Kakashi insisted on waiting the entire time. He hadn't slept since they left for the mission and still refused to sleep, leaving him sleep deprived and anxious. He was on the verge of falling asleep, when the door flung open, almost smacking him in the face.
"Where's Kakashi?!?" Rin shouted at Minato, who was sitting across the hall, to which he just pointed to her left.
"Kakashi!" She shouted as she spun to meet him.
"What?!? Is he okay?!?" He questioned as stood up from his spot on the floor.
"Yes, he is going to be okay! He might even fully recover!" She began sobbing into his chest. He hugged her back, even in his sleep deprived state.
"I don't want to see any of those kids on active duty for a month, maybe more. Got it?" Tsunade whispered to Minato.
"Yes, ma'am." He replied.
"They're going to need some mental help when this whole war is over. They need to see Inoichi or Suki Yamanaka."
"Will do." He nodded before walking over to students. He waited until they were done talking before he said anything.
"How long should his recovery be?" He asked Rin.
"He sh-should recover in ab-bout 2 months. You can g-go see him if you want. B-both of yo-ou. But we n-need to mov-ve him fi-irst." She said in between sobs.
Tsunade went into the room and disconnected all the tubes and chords attached to Obito. She rolled his bed out of the room and down the hallway. She found one of the rooms for patients that stay longer. She rolled his bed in and pushed it up against the wall. She connected an IV and a heart monitor before she left for a few moments. Rin led Kakashi and Minato to Obito's new room and immediately rushed inside. Minato grabbed Obito's hand just stood there for a moment. He hugged his other two students and apologized for needing to leave for a meeting. As he left, Tsunade pushed past him, several pillows and blankets in her arms.
"I figured you guys weren't going to leave him for a while, so I brought you guys some things so you would at least be comfortable." She tossed them the bedding before turning to leave.
"Oh, and all three of you have been taken off active duty for about a month." She added. She kept walking but was stopped when Kakashi got her attention.
"But there is a war going on. Shouldn't we be fighting as soon as possible?" He argued.
"You're not much use if you're an emotional wreck on the field. Besides, you are not used to being half blind." She pointed out and left.
Kakashi couldn't find a way to argue her point, so he just shut his mouth and sat down. Rin did the same across from him. He sat on Obito's left, Rin on his right. She put her pillow at the foot of the bed, wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, and laid her head down. She gently put her hand on Obito's and murmured something that sounded like "I'm sorry". Kakashi put his pillow right in front of him, a little below Obito's hand. He gripped his hand and laid his head down, too.

"I love you."

"I love you, too"