To Be Lost On The Road To Life

Responsibility

Minato stood in front of the grand gates and was more than a little lost. And not in the traditional sense.

It had been only a handful of days from the fire incident, and when Obito woke up, all hell broke loose. Quite literally, if one were to consider the flames that suddenly burst forth like a damned hell threat.

Was it so strange that he had frozen up and lost all coherent thought for a full minute? Kakashi had ended up in a similar state, Rin had gone into hysterics, and Obito remained unconscious. It was already a shock when Obito's Sharingan had activated, and he had no doubt that he wasn't the only one in the room with the question, "when did that happen?" upon seeing the sight.

And then, as things escalated, the Sharingan bled into something... Different. As far as Minato knew, three tomoe was the most advanced stage of Sharingan, and that was exactly what Obito had when it activated. But then, the three tomoe swirled into an odd pinwheel shape—befitting the dōjutsu's namesake—and that was when the black flames burst forth, only to die out almost immediately after the boy lost consciousness.

Despite everything, the most prominent thought on Minato's mind was, "what the hell happened to him?"

Certainly, he didn't know much about the Sharingan, aside from the information that was passed around and known to the public. It could predict the future to a certain extent, it allowed the user a photographic-like memory, there were three stages, the purer the Uchiha blood the more likely the activation, and over-use could lead to eye strain. Most importantly, initial awakening required great emotional and mental strain to the user. He knew from past cases that it needed to be rather extreme, as quite often, Fugaku had come to him with worries about the clan's younger generation. Most of the time, trauma accompanied the activation of the powerful dōjutsu, and it was a growing problem.

Hence his worry for the boy. The very fact that he had activated his clan's famed eyes to three tomoe—and whatever the hell that pinwheel stage was—meant that he had experienced something truly horrific. Minato was terrified for his student, and the words the boy spoke didn't help either.

He had mentioned that he "wasn't supposed to be here." The most incriminating evidence was the fact that he had explicitly stated, "Let me die. Just let me fucking-die." Minato felt his shoulders sag slightly at the thought. What had he done wrong? How could the bright, boisterous boy change so much in a mere couple of days? He had given Team Seven two days to take a break and recover from the C-Rank they had attempted prior, and then suddenly, Obito was...

But no. There was more information, and something just wasn't right.

Obito had mentioned that they were "imposters," and he yelled a name—Minato, for the life of him, could not remember it—while saying that everything was an illusion.

'A Genjutsu, then?' Minato pondered. It was likely and very well possible. But there were few Genjutsu specialists that could overpower an Uchiha with one, dōjutsu activated or not. The clan was well-known for their prowess with Katon jutsu, but their focus was typically Genjutsu(which allowed them to maximize the usefulness of their Sharingan). Being the focus, it was not off the mark to say that the Uchiha had an almost ingrained resistance to most Genjutsu, Sharingan-induced or otherwise, thanks to their history in the subject.

The blonde shook his head. He didn't have enough information to draw solid conclusions. Not yet.

With a steadying breath, he knocked on the foreboding doors of the Uchiha Compound. He'd get his answers, and there was only one person he could trust with information on the recent developments. He wasn't going to abandon his student, not now, not when the boy needed him.