13th September, 9am. Granny's Kitchen.
"Thirds please," Kaen said as he inhaled the bowl of rice in front of him.
Granny—ever gullible when it came to Kaen—smiled warmly and handed him another bowl.
By now, Obito had grown used to scenes like this. Still, the same thought crossed his mind every time.
Where does all of that even go anyway?
Kaen caught the look and grinned cheekily. "Where your courage goes when it's against Kakashi."
"OYE!"
Obito shouted, and Kaen burst out laughing.
Granny lightly smacked Kaen on the back of the head as she walked out of the kitchen, shaking her head.
"Whatever," Obito sighed in defeat.
"Sorry, Kyodai…" Kaen apologized, guilt creeping in after poking at his brother's insecurity.
Obito turned his head away.
Kaen stood up, grabbed Obito's arm, and shook it like an annoying little puppy until Obito finally gave in and patted his head.
Kaen blushed. "Bruh…"
He glanced at the clock and nearly jumped. "Yikes… I slept too much today, I think," he said, bolting out of the room.
Obito smiled—then checked the clock himself.
"OH SHIT… I slept too much today… Minato-sensei will be pissed."
---
Classroom CS1, 9am
Kaen stormed through the gate, skidding to a halt.
"Ohayo Gosaimasu Sensei!!!" he blurted out, bowing deeply.
"You're late today," Nozomu-sensei said, his voice heavy with fatigue.
Kaen chuckled nervously. "Ah… the village air is doing something to me, Sensei… my routine is messing up."
"Anyways… get in," Nozomu said.
As Kaen stepped into the classroom proper from the narrow corridor by the door, he froze.
Today, it wasn't just him in the class.
A girl his age with blond hair sat in his usual seat.
It was—YAMANAKA RINKA.
"OYE!!!" Kaen gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"The principal said go take this class," Rinka replied shyly.
"What about your mother's illness??" he asked bluntly.
"Hokage-sama allocated a maid for her…" Rinka answered.
"Wow."
"Ok ok… quit yapping… Rinka, introduce yourself to the class," Nozomu interrupted.
What class?
Rinka glanced at Sensei with a look of disbelief. Still, she stood up.
"I am Yamanaka Rinka… My father and mother are Yamanaka Naoki and Yamanaka Natsumi. My favorite hobby is to read history books and my favorite food is Takoyaki. What I don't like is talking to too many people."
"Hm… nice…" Nozomu muttered.
All the weirdos in one place… including me.
Kaen stared at her for a moment, then slowly raised his hand.
"Yeah, Kaen, speak," Nozomu allowed.
"Sensei… what's a Takoyaki??"
Rinka's eyes widened.
Is he insane… he doesn't know what Takoyaki is… AND HE'S ASKING THIS TO THE SENSEI???
She braced herself for a long lecture on classroom manners.
Instead, Nozomu sighed and reached into his wallet. He pulled out a 200 Ryo bill and handed it to Kaen.
"You know Ichiraku?"
"Yeah," Kaen said, accepting the bill carefully.
"Six or seven shops right is a stall… get some Takoyaki for yourself and her after class," Nozomu said.
Rinka's mouth fell open in shock at the gesture.
Kaen smiled and nodded. "Arigato Sensei."
"It's basically octopus meat… very tasty," Nozomu continued as he turned to the board. "Speaking of octopus… this creature can throw ink at predators."
He quickly sketched a diagram of the eight-tentacled animal.
"This ink is extracted when the creature is caught. In some specific departments of the ANBU Black Ops, it's used to manufacture a very special kind of ink… used for the Beast Scroll Art…"
And just like that, he smoothly redirected the yapping back to the lesson at hand.
The lesson went on for the next two hours. For Kaen, it was a smooth continuation of the previous class, nothing unfamiliar.
For Rinka, however, it never felt like she had joined midway. Nozomu-sensei articulated everything so clearly that she grasped it all without effort. Unlike the Active Shinobi classes—where she was sometimes urged to fight off sleep—this time she was genuinely enjoying herself.
It wasn't the fault of the teachers there.
The gap between them and Nozomu-sensei was simply too wide.
On one side were Chunin deemed too soft for the field, pushed into teaching as a compromise. On the other was Nozomu—an accomplished Special Jonin—forced into a teaching role by his uncle, the Hokage. Not because he lacked ability, but precisely because he didn't.
The children he was assigned to teach weren't ordinary.
They were being shaped as the future backbone of Konoha—the Elite Jonin Council.
Finally, around 11 a.m., the class reached a stopping point.
"Kaen, I want you to provide her with the notes you made in the previous class," Sensei ordered.
"HAII, Sensei," Kaen replied respectfully, hurrying to the back of the room. He pulled the notes from his locker and handed them to her.
Rinka flipped through the pages.
The title page was very clean. The first heading too—neatly written and well spaced. On the second page, however, a small dinosaur was drawn at the bottom. On the fourth page was a strange kunai with three points and gibberish etched along the handle. As she kept flipping, the drawings grew more intense… then suddenly went back to clean, proper notes.
He had written ten pages so far, and nearly eighty percent of the footers were filled with drawings.
"How's it?" Kaen asked bluntly.
"It's… nice," she said, smiling again.
Nozomu watched them quietly. A faint smile crossed his face as he stood up and gently patted Rinka's head before walking away.
"Oye, let's go," Kaen said.
"To where?" she asked.
Kaen replied in a deadpan tone, "Takoyaki…"
"Oh yeah," she said, remembering.
"But don't you have to attend the Taijutsu period?" she asked.
Kaen rolled his eyes. "I want to but…"
He swallowed the rest of his words.
I'll end up hurting someone.
"But what?" Rinka asked.
Kaen just shrugged. "Nothing really… you can attend if you want to… I'll wait for you outside."
Rinka didn't press further, though she felt it had something to do with their discussion two days ago.
"But… can we really skip? I mean, is it allowed?" she asked.
"Yeah… no… not really, but… who cares," he said flatly.
Before she could say anything, he grabbed her hand and gently pulled her along. She was slightly reluctant, but curiosity outweighed it, and she followed.
They stepped onto the rooftop of the building, which connected directly to the back door of the classroom.
Kaen pointed toward the far wall. "See that abandoned house… we'll jump there and whoosh… we skip the class," he said, wearing a gremlin-like grin, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
"Wha—what???? Are you serious?" she almost yelled.
"SHHH," Kaen shushed her. "If the guard hears, it's game over. I don't want Aunt Enju yelling at me."
Rinka stared at him in shock. She wanted to go back.
Her morals said, Go back.
Her manners said, Go back.
But something in her heart leapt.
Excitement.
The thrill of doing something forbidden.
She gulped. He chuckled.
---
11:30 a.m., Konoha Main Market.
"Ohayo," the flower seller called out to a man passing by.
The man raised his palm and nodded with a smile. "Ohayo, Isao-san."
The man—early thirties, golden-haired, broad-shouldered, a Konoha flak vest snug against his frame—was Yamanaka Naoki. He walked with an ease he hadn't felt in a long while. With his wife's condition worsening over the past months, time outside had been rare. But now, thanks to Hokage-sama appointing a maid, he finally had a sliver of breathing room.
Then he saw her.
Walking toward him from a distance—his six-year-old daughter, Rinka.
And beside her… a boy Naoki recognized far too well.
"What's she doing out at this time? The Academy ends at 1 p.m.," he muttered under his breath.
Without hesitation, he slipped behind a nearby wall, instincts kicking in as he decided to observe.
Rinka, still mad at Kaen, tore open the lollipop wrapper. Kaen, meanwhile, chewed on his candy shamelessly, completely unbothered by the fact that he had bunked class.
"You know it's not fair to buy candies… Sensei gave us money for Takoyaki only," Rinka said, being the good girl she was.
"Come on, it's just 5 Ryo," he shrugged. "Also… Sensei gave the money to me… so I can do what I want with it."
Naoki followed them, his steps quiet as a cat's.
"But we had to return the change back to Sensei… he clearly said go eat the Takoyaki, not candies," Rinka insisted.
Kaen narrowed his eyes and asked, "Did he say, bring back the change?"
"He…" Rinka trailed off, chewing thoughtfully.
She had no answer.
After a moment, she looked up and pointed ahead. A stall stood there, a woman behind it skillfully tending a tray of sizzling octopus balls, steam rising in tempting curls.
Kaen finished his candy and walked straight over, inhaling deeply as the smell hit him. He glanced at Rinka. "Water."
She blinked.
"Water?? Already?"
Still, she reached into her tiny handbag and pulled out her bottle. Kaen drank greedily. "Ahh, now my mouth is fresh."
Oh… he meant removing the sweet taste to taste Takoyaki better.
"Damn… he's drinking straight from her bottle," Naoki thought, a protective jealousy flaring instantly.
The stall lady served them four Takoyaki on a plate, generously drizzled with sauce. Kaen picked one up with his chopsticks and bit into it immediately.
The stall lady, Rinka—and even Naoki behind the wall—all grimaced at the same time.
"Ahh haa haa!" Kaen yelled, face turning red, tears springing to his eyes. "Ow ot is this!!?" he blurted, clutching his tongue.
Rinka burst into laughter. "Idiot… you don't munch it right away."
She picked up her chopsticks and poked a hole into one of the balls. A hiss of steam escaped. "See… it's very hot inside."
Then she lifted it and popped it into her mouth, chewing happily. "Umm, it's as good as ever!!!"
Kaen watched closely and copied her. He brought the Takoyaki toward his mouth… then pulled it away… then closer again.
Rinka chuckled. "Don't worry, it's ok now."
He finally ate it.
His eyes widened as the creamy filling melted across his tongue.
"Oh YEAHH… this is really, really good…"
Naoki's voice trembled behind the wall.
"Ahh, Enji… I don't like this."