The Undesired Second Chance

Chapter 40: Official Business

This probably wasn't going to do much for their overall plan, Obito thought to himself.

It's not that it was a bad idea, honestly—making sure that somebody on the official investigation knew that they had meddled with things meant there wouldn't be any unnecessary questions when it came time to actually get stuff done. Or at least, that there wouldn't be an abundance of unnecessary questions.

But still, it still probably wasn't going to do much right now.

Not that there was much else to do at this point anyway, since it was just a matter of waiting for the vase-trap to get sprung.

"Hello, Obito-kun!"

He startled, turning to his teacher with a slightly guilty expression—a great shinobi really shouldn't let themselves get so distracted. Especially since he had been waiting for him specifically.

"Uh... Hey, Minato-sensei."

His teacher just smiled back at him, amused. "I hope I'm not too late, seeing as you're already out here."

"Hey! I'm not always..." He drifted off, trying to recall the last time he'd actually arrived somewhere on time. "Er, I mean, I can be punct... uhm... punctur..." Giving up on remembering the specific word, Obito instead finished, "I can be not-late if I super definitely need to be!"

His smile turning a touch sly, Minato-sensei asked, "So are you saying our training sessions just aren't worth it?"

Obito blanched, immediately backpedaling, but his teacher just laughed.

"I'm kidding, mostly. Don't worry." Minato-sensei gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Though I would appreciated it if you arrived on time more often."

"I'll try," he replied, looking down at his feet. It's not his fault that stuff always seemed to happen whenever he needed to get somewhere fast!

Then, with a broad gesture for Obito to lead the way, Minato-sensei asked, "Shall we get going, Obito-kun?"

"Oh, uh, yeah!" Setting off down the street, he called, "This way, Sensei!"

All things considered, his teacher probably already knew where they were headed and how to get there. Having an Uchiha as a guide was just one of those weird dumb formality things, as far as Obito could tell.

Though, to be fair, the Uchiha District was basically a whole town in and of itself: a miniature one, sure, but it still had all the bits and pieces. There were lots of houses and small apartment buildings, shops for all sorts of things, restaurants, bars, and even stalls set up to sell street food.

As they made their way through the district, Obito did his best to ignore the curious looks the two of them were getting. They were probably wondering why his teacher was visiting—looking for something new to gossip about, no doubt. Or maybe they were just worried about potential pranks headed their way.

He wasn't on bad terms with the rest of the clan, per se, but he wouldn't really say he was on good terms either: it was more of a... neutral tolerance.

Minato-sensei, however, seemed completely unruffled by the nosy glances, if he even noticed them—which he definitely did, since his teacher is a super awesome shinobi and wouldn't miss something that obvious.

It didn't take long to reach the main house. It was a little bit separate from the rest of the district, with a nice fancy wall and everything. Obito led the way through the gateway, up the little garden-edged path to the entrance, and through the front door.

"You can leave your shoes here, Sensei," he said, grabbing two pairs of slippers that looked to be about the right size. "But, uhm, you probably already knew that... What're you doing?"