Chapter 40: Official Business
This probably wasn't going to do much for their overall plan, Obito thought to himself.
It's not that it was a bad idea, honestly—making sure that somebody on the official investigation knew that they had meddled with things meant there wouldn't be any unnecessary questions when it came time to actually get stuff done. Or at least, that there wouldn't be an abundance of unnecessary questions.
But still, it still probably wasn't going to do much right now.
Not that there was much else to do at this point anyway, since it was just a matter of waiting for the vase-trap to get sprung.
"Hello, Obito-kun!"
He startled, turning to his teacher with a slightly guilty expression—a great shinobi really shouldn't let themselves get so distracted. Especially since he had been waiting for him specifically.
"Uh… Hey, Minato-sensei."
His teacher just smiled back at him, amused. "I hope I'm not too late, seeing as you're already out here."
"Hey! I'm not always…" He drifted off, trying to recall the last time he'd actually arrived somewhere on time. "Er, I mean, I can be punct… uhm… punctur…" Giving up on remembering the specific word, Obito instead finished, "I can be not-late if I super definitely need to be!"
His smile turning a touch sly, Minato-sensei asked, "So are you saying our training sessions just aren't worth it?"
Obito blanched, immediately backpedaling, but his teacher just laughed.
"I'm kidding, mostly. Don't worry." Minato-sensei gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Though I would appreciated it if you arrived on time more often."
"I'll try," he replied, looking down at his feet. It's not his fault that stuff always seemed to happen whenever he needed to get somewhere fast!
Then, with a broad gesture for Obito to lead the way, Minato-sensei asked, "Shall we get going, Obito-kun?"
"Oh, uh, yeah!" Setting off down the street, he called, "This way, Sensei!"
All things considered, his teacher probably already knew where they were headed and how to get there. Having an Uchiha as a guide was just one of those weird dumb formality things, as far as Obito could tell.
Though, to be fair, the Uchiha District was basically a whole town in and of itself: a miniature one, sure, but it still had all the bits and pieces. There were lots of houses and small apartment buildings, shops for all sorts of things, restaurants, bars, and even stalls set up to sell street food.
As they made their way through the district, Obito did his best to ignore the curious looks the two of them were getting. They were probably wondering why his teacher was visiting—looking for something new to gossip about, no doubt. Or maybe they were just worried about potential pranks headed their way.
He wasn't on bad terms with the rest of the clan, per se, but he wouldn't really say he was on good terms either: it was more of a… neutral tolerance.
Minato-sensei, however, seemed completely unruffled by the nosy glances, if he even noticed them—which he definitely did, since his teacher is a super awesome shinobi and wouldn't miss something that obvious.
It didn't take long to reach the main house. It was a little bit separate from the rest of the district, with a nice fancy wall and everything. Obito led the way through the gateway, up the little garden-edged path to the entrance, and through the front door.
"You can leave your shoes here, Sensei," he said, grabbing two pairs of slippers that looked to be about the right size. "But, uhm, you probably already knew that… What're you doing?"
Minato-sensei had taken off his sandals, but made no move to set them aside. Instead, he was sort of staring into the middle distance: shoes dangling from his right hand while the left tapped contemplatively at one of the pockets of his vest.
"Just considering something," he answered, thoughtful. "I know it's rude to take your shoes inside, but given the nature of… well, you-know-what, perhaps it would be good to keep them with me."
"Uh… I dunno." Obito blinked down at his own slippered feet. "I mean, if you're not wearing them, it's not like you're tracking in mud or anything." He shrugged, leaving his own shoes behind in one of the designated cubbies.
Apparently deciding against taking his sandals, Minato-sensei tidily put them away and stood up. "Taking off your shoes does help to keep your house clean," he agreed, "but that's not exactly what I was thinking of."
"Huh?"
"Well, keeping your shoes with you has some suspicious implications." He gestured between the shoe cubbies and the door. "In particular, that you're expecting to need a quick escape."
"Okay?" Not quiet following the logic, Obito asked, "But why is that suspicious?"
"Think about it," Minato-sensei said, smiling. "If it was raining outside and you were wearing your raincoat in class, what would your teacher think?"
"Nothing good," he grumbled. "Probably that I was…" he trailed off a bit, eyes widening as comprehension dawned, "gonna try to leave early, or run away, or sneak out… Okay, I guess it makes sense."
He led his teacher down the hall to what was apparently the fancy-guest-welcoming room, where Fugaku-sama was waiting. Obito knew where to go, of course, because he had basically set up this whole meeting.
Kind of.
…Not really, but kind of.
His main contribution had been telling Fugaku-sama that his teacher wanted to speak with him, but it still counts. Plus, since they were being extra sneaky about all this, they even had a good cover story; it centered on the idea that the meeting was just for Minato-sensei to discuss training for his Uchiha student, so Obito figured he could sort of take credit for that, too.
He took a deep breath, in and out. Then, trying to remember the proper introductions he was supposed to give, Obito knocked on the frame of the shoji.
"Min— Er…" crap, he already messed up, "Namikaze-sensei is here, sir."
"Enter."
Swallowing drily and shooting his teacher a quick glance—which got a reassuring nod in return—Obito pushed aside the door.
Fugaku-sama was kneeling at a small table, whetstones and other blade-maintenance things carefully arrayed before him. The knife he was sharpening didn't really look much like a regular kunai though: more like one of those weird specialty throwing knives that Axel had in his shop.
"It's been a while, Fugaku-san," said Minato-sensei, nodding a polite greeting.
"That is has." He set aside the knife he had been working on and settled his hands on his knees. "What did you want to discuss, Minato-san?"
"You don't think I wanted to talk to you about Obito-kun?" he replied, eyebrows raised in innocent surprise.
To Obito's eternal shock, he was pretty darn sure Fugaku-sama actually cracked a small smile—but that couldn't be right, so he was probably just imagining things.
"If you wanted to talk to anyone about your student, I expect you would have gone to his grandmother." Fugaku-sama touched the handle of the knife, contemplative. "And given certain current events, I have my suspicions on why you'd want to speak to me, specifically."
Minato-sensei simply nodded, taking a seat. "True, though I suspect what I have to say will still come as a surprise."
In a very matter-of-fact tone, his teacher explained the whole situation with the vase and the genjutsu. He even let Obito chime in when it came to explaining how the illusion had been discovered in the first place: finding the shard, sneaking in, realizing that there was something wrong with the vase—namely, that they had a broken piece of it but it looked perfectly fine.
And, of course, Minato-sensei shared how he had turned the fake vase into a trap for whoever had set the genjutsu in the first place.
Fugaku-sama simply listened, silent.
"I see," he said, after the explanation came to a close. There was a crease on his brow, a slight frown, and Obito wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad one. "Though I would have preferred to be informed before you tampered with an active investigation, even if I understand why you did not."
His teacher smiled. "Better late than never, right?"
"That said," Fugaku-sama continued, "I am curious why you would tell me, rather than the officer in charge at the site."
"Well… that's something of a separate issue."
There was a long pause—somehow both considering and skeptical—weighed down further still by something else that Obito couldn't quite put his finger on. It was as if the two shinobi were having an entirely silent conversation.
Then, finally: "Perhaps we should discuss this further in private, Minato-san."
As Fugaku-sama spoke, he gave a rather significant glance in Obito's direction. Now, Obito may have trouble paying attention in the academy, but he was certainly observant enough to notice that.
His teacher sighed. "…That may be for the best," he agreed.
"What?! No way!" Obito yelped. "Minato-sensei, you can't—"
But he could, and he did, and so Obito found himself glaring futilely at the outside of a very firmly shut door. He had been hoping he'd get to overhear some new details or something while he stood in on their meeting, stuff he could share with the rest of his team to help their own search efforts.
Unfortunately, even pressing his ear up to the wood, he couldn't make out anything being said on the other side.
"…Nuts."
Author's Note:
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
So, hi, yeah… this is a very late post, and not very long either. I know it might be a bit disappointing, but I wanted to get something out today, for the sake of my own sanity.
The original plan was to have a whole other section after this, and that section is actually well on it's way (thank goodness). At the moment, though, I have mainly the key-frames of those events worked out and not all the transition bits, so it's not quite ready to post
I kept going back and forth and back and forth as to how I wanted that next section to play out, and I think I might have blue screened or something because I just couldn't get anything done. I genuinely had to resort to rolling dice D&D style to decide once and for all which option actually happens.
(Honestly that worked really well, and I strongly recommend it as a treatment for that sort of too-many-options writing freeze. I just wish I'd tried it earlier!)
This story generally (genuinely) attempts to update once a month on the 15th.
I'm feeling optimistic at this moment (who knows how long that will last), so I'm going to try and get that next section I mentioned tidied up for this upcoming 15th. If that doesn't work out though, you can expect an update on May 15th.
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! And extra thanks for sticking with me, even though my update schedule has been crumbling for, like, the whole past year or so.
(It feels like I'm shoring up a sandcastle while the tide is coming in. Oof.)
Sorry this is so late!
(I'm sure there's a thematically appropriate Obito joke in there somewhere…)
EDIT:
Alas, the optimism did not last long enough. This is so frustrating! All the pieces are there, but they just won't fit together nicely for me!
I will keep working on it, and will post at some point between now and the end of June. A vague timeline, I know, but given my recent estimation skills, it will have to do!
Good luck to everyone with finals soon!
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Here's the invite code: m3CFXnC
Stay safe out there, and I'll see ya on the flipside, everyone!