To Be Lost On The Road Of Life (Continuation)

Chapter 21 - Familial Dissent

Chapter 21 - Familial Dissent

Thunk.

Tired, distant eyes gazed at the cluttered training post.

Thunk.

Obito sat on the ground a safe distance from Itachi as the younger boy cooled-down from his training with shurikenjutsu practice. He watched, his eyes glued to the post, but his mind wandering. Escaping.

It had only been a day since Team Seven returned from their C-Rank mission, and to put it plainly, Obito was tired. Earlier's team practice had been no more lax as it had been on the return trip, and it was completely disheartening to the already defeated time traveler.

Outwardly, Minato was the same. Rin and Kakashi made obvious strides to appear unfazed as well, but it was simple to notice how forced and unnatural their behaviors were. Whenever Obito moved a smidgeon too quickly, or spoke from behind the brunette, she would flinch slightly. Quite often, when the Uchiha glanced at Kakashi, he would find his gaze locking with equally dark-colored eyes before the latter looked away abruptly. Even Minato, who was relatively the same, had a rather telling habit that made it clear that everything was not okay. The blonde still refused to make eye contact with Obito, and while that could be construed as fear or cowardice to some, it was more likely that Minato was guarding his thoughts. Now that he knew the truth, knew that Obito was not the one he knew, he had to keep himself guarded so as to prevent a potential enemy from searching him for answers.

Obito sighed. He had been prepared for this, and it still hurt. Not quite as much as it had the previous day, and certainly not as much as it had on the night Minato had confronted him, but it was still an ever-present pain.

And there was still the important question: What was he going to do, when he was questioned again?

To be entirely honest, he was more than a little shocked that he hadn't been yet. Most of all, he was surprised that he was still being kept at his sensei's house, in his same room, without any restriction seals or chains to bind him. The only thing truly different was the fact that Obito took to staying away from that place as much as possible, choosing to stay out until late before coming home when both Minato and Kushina were asleep. In fact, he intended on wandering around Konoha and sitting on the Hokage Monument later, all in order to pass the time-he didn't like the idea of his presence making either of his two hosts uncomfortable.

Regarding the questioning itself, he knew it was going to happen, and he had yet to make a plan. He was hesitant to return to the life of a missing-nin, but comparing it to his team's safety... Well, his own happiness was a small price to pay. Because he had absolutely no doubt that, if they didn't do it straight out, he at least would eventually end up in the hospitality of T&I with a Yamanaka primed to probe his mind. He was certain he would be brought in to be questioned, certain he would be regarded as either clinically insane or an enemy.

Whatever happened, he was not about to let them enter his mind and probe him for information, because letting Konoha get involved in his plans to destroy Madara and the others was something he refused to allow.

Selfish, perhaps. Or maybe it was his sense of responsibility, because he felt it should be him to kill the man, that it was his responsibility to do so.

He knew it was near-sighted and foolish, akin to Sasuke's once-dream. But in his defense, he was no longer certain how much he could trust anyone with his life-how much he could trust the ones he cared for with their own lives, for that matter. Because he was not going to allow a single one of his precious people to martyr themselves, damn it.