"Obito... over these years... have you gotten married and had children?"
"That Kakashi is in his thirties, yet he still goes around everywhere with a copy of Icha Icha Paradise with its flashy cover."
"He really gives me, your Minato-sensei, a headache."
Minato released the stunned Obito and rested both hands on his shoulders, his eyes filled with nostalgia.
How had he been all these years?
Had he been eating every meal on time?
Why hadn't he returned to Konoha?
Minato had many questions he wanted to ask Obito, but after experiencing death once, he realized that none of those questions mattered anymore.
As long as all the people he cared about were alive, that was enough.
"Minato-sensei, actually... I..."
Obito opened his mouth and managed a few words, but he didn't know how to begin.
All along, the one he loved had been Rin Nohara, the gentle, kind, warm, and generous girl with starlight in her eyes, who believed he would definitely become Hokage.
Rin had already found her home in Azure Tide Port.
He probably would never marry or have children in this lifetime.
Xuandou stepped closer then.
"Minato, Obito is exactly like Kakashi. He's been alone all these years... if you want to see a grandstudent, just come to Azure Tide Port and meet Yunyou."
Uchiha Xuantou?
Why was he here?
At the thought of the Mangekyō Sharingan and the hundred thousand White Zetsu that Xuandou had forcibly taken from him,
a dull ache returned to Obito's right arm, which Xuandou and Konan had each wounded.
He was about to flicker away, but the sight of Minato made him force down the impulse to leave.
"Uchiha Xuantou, what are you doing here?"
"Obito, be more polite to Xuantou. He saved your teacher's life."
To Obito's surprise, before