To Be Lost On The Road To Life

ReBirthday

When Obito had woken up in the morning, he had felt oddly refreshed.

And then, when the memories from the previous day returned to him, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. It was a strange yet welcome feeling, knowing that Minato seemed to care for him enough to support him through his little breakdown.

He had gotten out of his bed(no doubt Minato had tucked him in when the Uchiha had cried himself to exhaustion) to say hello to the blonde, and hopefully, Kushina and his team. However, before he could so much as make his way to the middle of the room, his door burst open revealing a rather irritable Minato.

Well, most people wouldn't have been able to see the small details that hinted at his clear ire—the slight, almost imperceptible twitch of his left eyelid, the tapping of his left pointer finger on his leg, and the overall tenseness the man seemed to exude—but to Obito, these details were as clear as day.

"Obito, we have to go somewhere today," Minato stated plainly while holding out his hand.

The Uchiha only raised an eyebrow, but complied nonetheless.

And when he found himself in the middle of the council chamber, surrounded by stern gazes and sneers, everything made sense.

He and Minato stood in the center of the room, surrounded by people looking down on them at varying levels of height. A rather beaten-up table stood off to the side next to a lonely-looking chair, which Obito quickly commandeered. From where he sat, the seats fanned up and out, giving the convicted a sense of oppression and weakness. The room was shaped in such a way that he was kept on the bottom-most level, in the spotlight, and at the center of the room. It was a decent intimidation tactic for the setting, typically used for condemned criminals. Perhaps they thought it would work on a boy his age... but he wasn't really the boy he looked to be, was he?

Minato stepped in front of Obito and stood in such a way that was almost protective of him. His irritation seemed to only grow at the change of locations, and Obito couldn't help but give a low whistle at the level of anger the blonde had reached. The raven-haired boy didn't think he had ever seen the man so... Pissed off, for lack of a better description. Normally, such a foul word wouldn't be thought fit to be associated with the man known as Namikaze Minato, who was not only an exemplary example for all aspiring Shinobi of all ages, but also thought of as a gentleman. But in this case...

Well.

The fact that Obito didn't even have to see his sensei's face to know that he was angered(all he had to do was look at the poor fools who were obviously under the man's gaze, if their I-shit-myself faces were any indication) was proof enough.

So all in all, Obito couldn't find it in himself to be angry. He actually found the situation rather amusing, if one were to compare his past crimes to what he was most likely accused of that very moment.

"Uchiha Obito," the Sandaime started in a low drawl that hinted at power, but with underlying exasperation. Clearly, the man was only going through the motions as his position demanded of him, and would much rather be at home drinking tea or something. "Do you know why you are here?"

The Uchiha glanced around the room, noting that few of the attendees were actually Shinobi, and most were civilians. His eyes fell on the somewhat familiar face of a cantankerous old man that lived on the floor below him of his old apartment, and his suspicions were confirmed.

He nodded. "I assume it is related to the incident from a week ago, involving the apartment complex that I resided in," he stated plainly. The anger that was displayed outwardly on the faces of the civilians all but verbally spoke, "yes."