Tobi bounced on his heels as he followed behind Deidara, humming some nonsensical tune that made the blonde man grit his teeth harder with each step. The forest was dense, the ground soft with layers of damp leaves, and the moonlight barely filtered through the canopy above. Still, their target wasn’t far.

“Are you even taking this seriously, un?” Deidara snapped, glancing over his shoulder.

Tobi gave his usual exaggerated flail and whiny voice, “Of course I am! Deidara-senpai is so scary when he’s mad!”

Deidara groaned and muttered something threatening under his breath, but didn’t stop moving. They were close. The chakra signature was undeniable—a jinchūriki, just like Pain had said. And capturing them meant they were one step closer to their goal.

Tobi knew what this meant. This was the plan. His plan. Every beast, every vessel—they all had to fall eventually. That was the path to peace. That was the future. He reminded himself of that as they came upon the edge of a clearing, cloaked in silence.

And then, he saw them.

His breath caught, just for a second.

There they were—standing just like he remembered, older now, stronger, but with that same spark behind their eyes that he hadn't seen in so many years. His childhood surged back like a gut punch. The way they used to sneak food into training when he was too bruised to move. The way they called him “Obito” without mocking. The way they always believed he could be better than he was.

He hadn’t known where they went after he disappeared. Or maybe he had… and forced himself not to look too hard.

Tobi didn’t move.

He stared, unmoving behind the mask, heart thudding behind layers of denial and calculation. They’re the jinchūriki? Pain hadn’t said a name. Hadn’t known, probably. Tobi clenched his jaw behind the mask, hidden from Deidara’s sight.

The laughter, the jokes, the kind words—they all flitted through his mind in a moment, ghosts of something that didn’t belong in this world anymore.

“Hey,” Deidara said, nudging him with an elbow. “You spacing out again? That’s them, right?”

Tobi tilted his head, voice carefully careless. “Yup! That’s the one! This is gonna be easy!”

Deidara grinned, already reaching for his clay pouch. “Try not to mess it up this time, yeah?”

“Of course, Deidara-senpai!” Tobi chirped, stepping forward.

But the mask didn’t hide the shift in his shoulders, the hesitation in his stride. Because no matter how ridiculous he acted, or how much he tried to bury it— He remembered. And it hurt.

But the plan had to come first. It had to.

Even if it meant losing them. Again.

...Right?