Chapter 656: Changes
Minato's first reaction after receiving the gift was that it was too precious. He could not accept it.
But the words stopped at his lips.
Strictly speaking, this was not a gift for him. It was for Kushina. And Kushina, who had not yet fully mastered the Nine-Tails' power, truly needed something like this.
"Thank you."
In the end, Minato accepted the gift and thanked Mugetsu with a solemn expression.
"Don't think too much of it. It isn't anything major. To me, the Fuinjutsu Kushina taught me is far more valuable," Mugetsu said with a smile.
Without Kushina acting as a bridge, even with Mugetsu's astonishing talent in Fuinjutsu, it would have been difficult for him to reach such a high level in a short period of time.
What Kushina had given Mugetsu was not just a few sealing techniques, but a complete system.
Minato did not say much after that and focused on preparing the ingredients.
Good friends did not need too many words. When Mugetsu needed him, Minato would also do everything in his power to help him.
…
"What should I do? Go train?"
Obito sat on the grass, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.
The war had finally ended, and Mugetsu had given them a month-long vacation. Obito was ready to properly relax.
Of course, that did not mean completely abandoning training. It simply meant adjusting how much time he spent on it. Normally, Obito spent almost the entire day training.
If he wanted to relax, he definitely had to reduce his training time. Obito felt that four hours of training a day during the vacation would be enough.
However, there was not much fun to be had alone, so Obito wanted to find his friends and hang out.
The first person he went to look for was Rin, but because of her excellent Medical Ninjutsu, Rin had been assigned to Konoha Hospital to treat casualties from the battlefield. She would not be free to play for a while.
Then Obito went to find Kakashi. On the way there, he ran into Guy, who was training.
Guy enthusiastically invited Obito to train with him, but Obito had come out looking for someone to play with, so he politely declined Guy's invitation.
Then something Obito had not expected happened. When he arrived at Kakashi's house, Kakashi was also training.
Guy had always been a training fanatic, so Obito could understand that. But Kakashi being this diligent puzzled him a little. What happened to the relaxation they had talked about?
"The war is over, and history has changed, Kakashi. You should take a break too."
With the mentality of a water ghost trying to drag someone else down with him, Obito tried to persuade Kakashi to go out and play.
"Recently, I've had some inspiration for improving Thoughtless One-Slash," Kakashi said, giving Obito a reason he could not argue with.
Obito knew very well how important Thoughtless One-Slash was to Kakashi.
If it were him, then let alone having inspiration to improve Azure Flame, even if he only had inspiration on how to learn Azure Flame, Obito would immediately push his training intensity to the limit.
After all, he still had not fully learned Azure Flame.
"I brought my camera out, so I might as well wander around."
Obito looked at the camera hanging around his neck and made up his mind.
It was not that he was against training, but since he was already outside, he might as well enjoy himself for a while.
With that thought, Obito began wandering around Konoha, taking pictures of every scene he found interesting.
"Obito, long time no see."
Asuma saw Obito taking pictures of the Hokage Rock and greeted him.
"It's you, Asuma. It really has been a while. What have you been up to lately?" Obito lowered his camera and looked at Asuma.
"I was on a mission at the Land of Hot Water battlefield and only returned recently. What about you?"
"I was on a war mission in the Land of Grass and also just got back to Konoha recently."
The two chatted for a while. Obito felt that talking in the street was a bit awkward, so he suggested, "Want to go eat some dango and chat while we eat?"
Asuma waved his hand.
"No, I have something to do. I'll treat you another day."
"What is it?" Obito asked casually.
"The Ninja Academy is holding an event, and they asked me to give a speech as an outstanding graduate," Asuma explained.
"Hmm?" Obito was a little surprised.
They had invited Asuma as an outstanding graduate? Should it not be him and Kakashi?
It was not that he looked down on Asuma, but there was indeed a clear gap between them. That was a fact.
"Right? I was surprised too. If we're talking about excellence, Shisui should be the most qualified. He became a jonin at eight years old, making him the youngest jonin in Konoha's entire history," Asuma said with a smile.
Obito nodded in agreement. Shisui's record was indeed ridiculous.
"Maybe Shisui, you, and Kakashi are all too outstanding. The Ninja Academy teachers were worried the students would aim too high, so they chose me, someone who only became a jonin at thirteen."
Obito and Kakashi had both become jonin at ten years old. Many people at that age had not even graduated and become ninja yet, let alone been promoted to jonin.
"Who asked how old you were when you became a jonin?" Obito teased jokingly.
"Haha." Asuma laughed and patted Obito on the shoulder.
Feeling that it was about time, Asuma said goodbye to Obito and prepared to head to the Ninja Academy for the event.
"Since I have nothing to do, I'll go join the fun too," Obito said, following Asuma.
Yamato was attending the Ninja Academy, and Obito was curious about Yamato's school life and academic performance.
Asuma nodded. Although Obito had not received an invitation, he was still a famous genius in the Village. The Ninja Academy would not stop him from entering.
And so, the two went to the Ninja Academy together.
Since Asuma was an outstanding graduate specifically invited by the Ninja Academy, there was a dedicated teacher responsible for receiving and guiding him.
When the reception teacher saw Obito standing beside Asuma, his heart secretly sank.
If they were talking about excellence, Asuma certainly could not compare to Obito and the others. The time it took them to become jonin alone already showed the difference.
However, just as Asuma had analyzed, the age at which Obito and the others had become jonin was too exaggerated. After careful discussion by the Ninja Academy's leadership, they had ultimately chosen Asuma.
"Jonin Asuma, Jonin Obito," the reception teacher greeted, bracing himself.
Obito nodded, curiously looking around the Ninja Academy, and did not interact much with the reception teacher.
Seeing that Obito did not bring up the matter of the outstanding graduate invitation, the reception teacher instantly breathed a sigh of relief and began discussing the event speech with Asuma.
Then the reception teacher led them to the office and handed Asuma the prepared speech for reference.
Obito was bored, so he wandered around the school alone.
Probably because of the event, there were no classes throughout the school today.
"Let's go see Yamato's class. If I remember correctly, it should be Class 1, Grade 1."
Based on his memory of the teaching building's layout, Obito quickly found Yamato's classroom.
Obito did not go in right away. He first observed from outside and noticed that, for some reason, the teacher of Class 1, Grade 1 was absent. Only then did he enter the classroom.
When the wooden classroom door opened, all the students instinctively looked toward the doorway, thinking the teacher had returned.
But when they looked closely, they saw a young ninja who did not look very old.
"Hello, everyone," Obito greeted the students with a mischievous smile.
"Hello, Teacher."
Obito's familiar attitude left the students confused. For a moment, they did not know who Obito was, so they simply called him Teacher.
After all, this was the Ninja Academy. If they saw an unfamiliar ninja here, calling him Teacher could not be wrong.
Being called Teacher amused Obito. It was his first time being addressed that way, and it actually felt pretty good.
"Senior Obito."
Yamato looked at Obito, who had entered the classroom, with a surprised expression. He had not expected to see him here.
"Yamato, do you know him? Is he a new teacher at the school? He looks so young, like he just graduated," Hyuga Oriko asked curiously.
Yamato nodded, then shook his head.
"He's a very powerful senior I know, not a teacher," Yamato explained.
Obito scanned the classroom. Probably because there were no classes, the students were not sitting in their assigned seats as they would during class. Instead, they sat wherever they liked according to personal preference.
And beside Yamato, a group of students had gathered, making him look like the center of the class.
Seeing this, Obito knew he did not have to worry about Yamato's school life. This looked much more enjoyable than his own first year had been.
Just as Obito was wondering whether he should retreat, Hyuga Oriko heard Yamato praising him. Her eyes lit up, and she walked toward Obito with a small notebook.
Yamato secretly thought that this was bad.
Hyuga Oriko was a very studious student. She ranked first in theory in Class 1, Grade 1, and had even started studying advanced theoretical courses ahead of time. Yamato was often asked all kinds of ninja knowledge questions by her.
But Yamato could only answer questions about ninja knowledge. As for subjects like math, language, history, and chemistry, he still had to ask Hyuga Oriko for help.
In Yamato's impression, Obito was not good at theory and was often mocked by Kakashi for it. How embarrassing would it be if Obito was stumped by a first-year student?
"Yamato said you're a very powerful senior. Can I ask you some questions?" Hyuga Oriko asked quickly.
"Haha, of course. No problem."
Obito replied with a relaxed smile, silently giving Yamato a thumbs-up in his heart. It had not been in vain that he had treated Yamato to a meal before. Yamato still knew how to promote his deeds.
"Sorry, Senior Obito. I'll treat you to a meal to apologize when I have time," Yamato silently apologized to Obito in his heart.
"Thank you so much! Then I'll start asking," Hyuga Oriko said with a happy smile.
Immediately afterward, Hyuga Oriko began asking questions. From the history of the Village's early days, to questions about geographical strategy, and finally to classic math problems like the chicken and rabbit in a cage problem.
To Yamato's surprise, Obito answered smoothly. He did not hesitate on a single question, though he was a bit slower when answering math problems.
Was this still the Obito who struggled with theory?
Yamato was very surprised.
"Have you ever seen a desk at midnight?"
Feeling the surprised and admiring gazes of the surrounding students, Obito remained calm on the surface, but inside, he was extremely proud.
He was no longer the Uchiha Obito who could not be promoted to jonin because of poor theoretical grades. Now, aside from daily training, he also read a lot.
At first, Obito had found studying very difficult. He would become sleepy after reading for only a short while.
But when he thought about the possibility of being mocked by Kakashi, who might become Hokage, because he lacked cultural knowledge, Obito gritted his teeth and forced himself to read.
After studying for some time, Obito gradually formed a habit. Later, even when he read dry and boring math books, he no longer felt sleepy.
Just then, the assembly bell rang, and the students in the classroom began to move.
Yamato walked up to Obito.
"Senior Obito, why are you here today? Are you here for our school event?"
"Yes. I'm just here to wander around since I have nothing to do," Obito nodded.
The two chatted as they walked toward the assembly point.
On the way, Obito also saw his former homeroom teacher, Ikeya Yu.
"Teacher Ikeya," Obito said enthusiastically, walking over to greet him.
He still had not forgotten Ikeya Yu's kindness in granting him leave back then.
"You just returned to Konoha, right? I've heard about you guys. You're all very impressive! I heard Guy can even fight Kitsuchi from Iwagakure to a standstill," Ikeya Yu said, showing a surprised expression when he saw Obito.
He probably found it difficult to forget Obito and Guy.
Because the two of them had not only brought him extra bonuses while they were students, they had continued to positively influence Ikeya Yu's teaching career even after graduating.
Sometimes, Ikeya Yu even felt a little unworthy of it all. At first, he had felt unlucky to have taken over a class with the two most notorious dead-last students in the entire school. During the first semester, he had often troubled Mugetsu to substitute for him because of his blind dates.
"I should have listened to Ueda back then and focused all my attention on teaching," Ikeya Yu sighed, having ultimately failed to win over the goddess of his heart.
"It's a good thing you didn't listen, Teacher Ikeya. Otherwise, Class 2, Grade 4 would have suffered a huge loss," Obito said with a relieved expression.
If Mugetsu had not substituted for their class, where would he have found such a good teacher?
"You really are too direct, kid," Ikeya Yu said, not angry as he jokingly scolded him.
After all, Obito was not wrong. The substitute teacher had been Mugetsu, who was currently Konoha's most popular candidate for Hokage.
Ikeya Yu now felt that reality was truly magical. The future Hokage had once substituted for him, drunk with him, and worked in the same office.
He had even borrowed money from the future Hokage.
"Hehe." Obito chuckled and returned to Yamato's side.
After the assembly began, it was time for the leader's speech, which was the part Obito was least interested in. After listening for a few minutes and finding it boring, he quietly slipped away.
After all, he was neither a student nor a special guest.
After leaving, Obito did not continue wandering aimlessly. He went straight to train near the Uchiha Clan compound.
The thought of Kakashi researching a powerful new move made it impossible for Obito to completely enjoy himself.
…
Obito's departure did not affect the Ninja Academy's event.
In order to let everyone understand just how outstanding a thirteen-year-old jonin was, the Ninja Academy had even prepared a special segment. Asuma would fight a Ninja Academy teacher, then select Ninja Academy students and give them combat guidance.
Without question, the Ninja Academy's chunin teacher was easily defeated by Asuma, earning a round of applause from the audience.
Finally, it was time for the student guidance segment.
"You. Come up," Asuma said, pointing at Yamato.
He had seen Obito and Yamato standing together and talking. Since this was guidance either way, Asuma preferred to guide the junior of a friend.
"Me?" Yamato asked uncertainly.
"Yes, you," Asuma replied calmly.
[TL: bruh]
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