To Be Lost On The Road To Life

Broken Souls

Hatake Kakashi was not someone known for his patience.

Prowess, sure. Innate genius, of course. Strength and potential, indubitably.

Patience? ... Well, he could admit that he needed some work on that.

Which was precisely the reason why he had dreaded the very moment he found out that he was on a team with Uchiha Obito, the loud-mouthed, always-late, presumptuous, lame, annoying, black-sheep, and downright idiotic dead last. And he still did. Whether it was a matter of staying quiet, arriving on time, doing something—anything right, the boy always had a way of irking Kakashi. Sometimes, he would struggle immensely to maintain his aloof facade. And it was all Obito's fault.

Today was one such day. The dead last always had a habit of being late to missions, even when Minato specified that tardiness was not an option.

Now, this time Minato had told Obito to arrive an hour earlier (therefore making sure that he would be right on time, as he was customarily exactly one hour late), just to give Team 7 that much-needed cushion of time. Sadly, today seemed to be the day where Obito went above and beyond his idiotic-idiosyncratic habits.

The silver-haired Chūnin looked up at the rising sun, ignoring the nervous side-glances from his female teammate and the exasperated sigh from his Jōnin-sensei. It was almost noon, and there was still no sign of their teammate. His eye twitched.

"Minato-sensei." The addressed man looked up from a scroll he had taken out while waiting. "The idiot is almost two hours late. Can we just go without him?"

With a tired sigh, Minato closed the scroll and shook his head, earning him a scowl from Kakashi. "No. This is a team operation, and if Obito isn't here, then we need to go find him." The blonde turned back towards the direction he knew Obito's house was situated and mumbled under his breath. "He's never been this late..."

Kakashi supposed that he wasn't meant to hear the blonde's mumbling, but he replied anyway. "But he's always been late. Because he's Obito. He might be taking advantage of the fact that you never really scold him for it, sensei."

Minato gave an easy shrug as he readjusted his backpack. "I don't think Obito is that kind of person, Kakashi. Let's go check on him, though, he might've gotten himself in trouble." He began walking at a slow and seemingly relaxed pace, but not without the hint of tenseness.

"Yes, sensei," both Kakashi and Rin chorused, falling into step behind the man.

When they were within fifty meters of the Uchiha's house, Kakashi wrinkled his nose as the faint smell of smoke accosted his senses. It wasn't the smell of barbeque or a fireplace. There was a faint smell of wood, but it was not strong enough to be identified as a nearby forest fire. He sniffed the air a few times to identify the source. No, the smoke had a chemical smell to it, fumes from paint and scorched cement...

Wait, what?

His head whipped around to Minato, who had frozen in place with wide eyes. Suddenly, the blonde darted forward and Kakashi followed with Rin closely behind, their eyes fixed on a growing cloud of smoke situated right above a certain street. A certain apartment complex. Where a certain Uchiha boy lived.

Despite himself, Kakashi found that a sickening worry had made its way into his stomach, settling like a leadened rock.

Obito was stupid, but surely he wouldn't have ended up in the fire? He was a Shinobi, and he would've been able to escape from a small house fire...

Right?

As they neared the burning building, the group of three were mortified to find that it truly was Obito's apartment complex that was the source of the flames. If the boy really was in there, then there was no doubt that he would have trouble escaping without the use of Shunshin, Hiraishin, or a technique similar. The flames had fully engulfed the old and decrepit building, turning it into a splendid display of bright yellow and orange dancing with the searing heat and charged air.