To Be Lost On The Road To Life

Concentric Ripples

Twin onyx eyes blinked lazily as Obito took in his surroundings, still disoriented from sleep. He was in the middle of sitting up when he froze at the unexpected warmth he felt from both of his sides.

Of course, when he identified the sources as his teammates, he merely smiled as he carefully maneuvered himself out of the odd sleeping arrangement, leaving Kakashi and Rin on the couch and in their dreams. He had then gone to look for Minato and Kushina, but found a small note on their bedroom door saying that they were out. Apparently, Team Seven was to complete a D-Rank mission that day, and Minato wanted the team to head to the Hokage tower as soon as they woke up and were ready. He would meet them there at around 8am for the briefing, but would have to leave again afterwards.

The Uchiha frowned lightly—never had Minato simply left their team to handle a mission on their own at this time; the man even made sure to supervise their D-Ranks—but went to the guest room anyway where he found his selection of clothes stashed away, from both his little excursion with Minato and the time he had fully come to accept his place in the past.

A few minutes later he stood in front of the mirror, giving a quick glance at his outfit. He wore a dark, navy-blue jacket with an orange up-turned collar and trimmings, the sleeves rolled up to hit elbows to reveal the orange lining. The color of the jacket was a shade darker than his forehead protector and Shinobi sandals. and fit comfortably around his frame. His mesh under-armor was tucked under his black pants that ended mid-shin, and had his calves wrapped in bandages as he had them when he was a child.

Obito smiled as he fitted his new pair of goggles with his ensemble. Everything was different and new. But, it was also familiar, and it gave the man-boy a new sense of self while also adhering to the fact that he wasn't quite the same as any past incarnation of himself.

Something caught his attention just as he was about to walked away, and his eyes narrowed as he assessed the figure before him. Or rather, the face reflected in the mirror.

He let out a quiet snort as he noted the scars on the right side of his face, left over from the burns he had suffered but a week ago. It was some irony that the medics were able to fully restore the left side of Obito's face while his right had some residual scarring, though it wasn't as severe as the rippled pattern that he once identified as a part of himself after years of getting accustomed to it. The scars themselves were faint; only the barest shade darker than his normal skin tone and they didn't completely litter the right side of his face. In fact, from a distance, one would be hard-pressed to see the scars at all.

Shaking his head as he shelved his musings, he quickly scanned the room until his eyes fell on a small clock that rested next to their team photo.

"6:30am," Obito whispered quietly. If he was correct, he and Kakashi had passed out sometime just before midnight, and Rin most likely after. Obito decided to allow his teammates to rest; if his own body was protesting about the lack of sleep despite the fact that his mind was trained for otherwise, then he had no doubt that his teammates could use the extra shut-eye. Besides, he had something that needed to be done soon, and now was a perfect time to do it.

He scoured the room for paper and a writing utensil, and once he found what he needed, he plopped down on the floor and began to write.

His memories prior to his time as "Tobi" were hazy at best, but it would help him to write down what he knew for future reference. He could come back to it should his mind fill some of the holes and gaps in his memory, but for now, marking the major events in sequential order was all he needed to do.

First, was obviously the Kannabi Bridge mission. That mission was Obito's first step into the darkness, however small.

Next was Rin's death. Prior to that was the sealing of the Sanbi wherein she became it's Jinchūriki, the label being the cause of her death. This event was not so much of a step so much as a complete(-ly stupid) leap into darkness and insanity for Obito. Obviously, the same wouldn't happen again this time, whether she died or not. Not like he would let her die, however; she was one of the three people he decided he would save. And that was exactly what he was going to do, damn it.