A month passed quietly.
The days had been steady, almost repetitive. Training had become part of Obito's daily routine, like brushing his teeth or eating breakfast. It felt natural now.
On this particular evening, he stood in front of a tall tree at the edge of the training ground.
The sun was sinking behind the rooftops of the clan compound, turning the sky orange with streaks of purple. Shadows stretched long across the ground.
Then he stepped forward and gathered chakra at the soles of his feet. Once he was sure the flow was steady, he lifted his left foot and placed it against the tree trunk.
The bark was rough under his sandal. He applied a little more chakra, then placed his right foot beside it.
The next moment, he was standing straight against the tree, almost like he was glued to it. His arms hung at his sides, and his feet held firm against the bark without shaking.
"Alright," he muttered quietly, then started walking up. His steps were slow but smooth. Inch by inch, the ground moved farther away.
He climbed past the lower branches, then the middle of the tree, then up into the higher part where the air felt a little cooler and cleaner.
After a while, he finally reached the top.
Stepping onto a thick branch that looked like it could hold his weight, Obito stood still for a moment.
When he looked down, the village spread out below him. The rooftops stretched far into the distance, touched by the last bit of sunlight.
A small smile appeared on his face. He let the breeze hit him, listened to the faint sounds of cicadas, and just enjoyed the height.
Leaf-sticking had been easy for him. After a few days he could already hold it steadily for ten minutes, so he naturally moved on to the next step of chakra control—tree walking.
This one proved to be much harder than leaf-sticking.
Both basically trained a ninja's ability to maintain a constant, controlled output of chakra, but the latter required him to release it from the soles of the feet, which happened to be the most difficult part of the body to release chakra from.
This was also why he struggled a lot initially. Only after a long while of slipping down and falling on his ass did he get the hang of it. From then on, it was just a matter of grinding it.
The improvement it brought to his chakra control was also immense, pushing it to intermediate on the panel. Obito could now refine chakra to his full capacity.
Of course, chakra control wasn't the only skill in his arsenal that had improved.
He closed his eyes for a second and willed the familiar display to appear in his consciousness.
The panel shimmered to life.
...
Name: Uchiha Obito
Age: 7
Physique: 6 —> 7
Spirit: 10
Bloodline: Sharingan (One Tomoe)
Chakra: 5591/5599
SKILLS
Chakra Refining: Beginner (22/100) —> Beginner (84/100)
Chakra Control: Beginner (29/100) —> Intermediate (11/500)
Cloning technique: Intermediate (1/500) —> Intermediate (288/500)
Substitution Technique: Intermidate (1/500) —> Intermidate (302/500)
Transformation Technique: Intermediate (2/100) —> Intermidate (298/500)
Ninja tools: Beginner (20/100) —> Intermediate (209/500)
Taijutsu: Beginner (16/100) —> Intermediate (167/500)
Hand seals: Beginner (30/100) —> Beginner (68/100)
...
All of his skills had made rapid progress during this time. Only two still remained at beginner level.
The rest had all been pushed to the intermediate tier, with the three basic body-type ninjutsu already nearly halfway through intermediate.
Although he himself didn't know what the next tier was, he hoped it wasn't the last one.
Unknowingly, he had somewhat started to like the little golden finger of his.
Seeing his progress displayed in clear numerical values filled him with a unique satisfaction.
Though it couldn't be said to be his only golden finger. He had come to realise that the Sharingan was no less than a cheat.
During this month, he had secretly activated it many times to observe and copy taijutsu movements and shuriken-throwing skills.
Thanks to that, his taijutsu and ninja tool skills had skyrocketed. He had gone from a complete beginner to one of the best in the class.
A pity he could only use the Sharingan in secret, and it would have to stay that way for a long time.
It was one of his safety measures against Madara.
No matter how talented Obito appeared, as long as Madara believed he hadn't awakened the Sharingan yet—or that he didn't have the emotional instabi—talent to trigger it—he wouldn't pay too much attention to him.
Obito snorted at the thought.
This was the pride of the Uchiha. To Madara, his pawn had to possess a Mangekyō. Anything less would be an insult to his legacy.
In fact, Obito himself had been quite shocked when he realised he awakened the Sharingan right after transmigrating.
He had always considered himself an emotionally stable person. In his previous life, he rarely lost control.
But in hindsight… getting ripped out of your world and dropped into another was one of those rare moments where losing control was understandable.
Putting aside the skills, the increase in his physique also gave Obito a big surprise. After all, it was unrealistic to hope for any substantial improvement in just a month.
He could only guess two reasons for this. Either his body had been too weak before and finally reached its natural state under training—or he was simply growing normally.
Regardless, he wasn't complaining. Thanks to it, his chakra reserves had grown yet again.
He took one last look at the view from the top of the tree. Then he started climbing back down, this time at a comfortable pace.
Tomorrow was the Academy's monthly assessment, so he didn't plan to train too late tonight and would go to bed early.
He wanted to be in his best form for the test.
After all, he had been diligently preparing for it and naturally wanted a good ranking.
First place would be too attention-grabbing. He might not even get it even if he tried his best.
Kakashi was still ahead of him in taijutsu. Obito hadn't managed to beat him even once in the last month.
The Sharingan wasn't to blame for that. Even though he had copied Kakashi's movements and even Gai's basic patterns, he couldn't perform them with the same sharpness without activating the Sharingan itself.
Still, entering the top five should be fine.
The theoretical test would be a piece of cake. He had already read through his textbooks several times until he understood everything clearly. And the practical exam wasn't a problem either.
If all went well, he might even be able to ask the clan for some good things as a reward.
"Now… what should I work on next?" Obito muttered to himself as he reached the bottom and stepped back onto the ground.
Most of the initial goals he had set for himself had already been fulfilled. Only medical theory and water walking remained.
He would start studying medical theory after the assessment. As for water walking… he would need to find a place to train.
The Uchiha clan did have a pond, but practicing there would attract too much attention. And the Uchiha didn't have the concept of laying low.
Once people noticed, word would spread fast.
If the village learned that a seven-year-old had already reached chūnin-level chakra control, they would make a huge deal out of it. Only Kakashi had something similar at his age.
This was different from doing well on a school test.
The Academy was just children competing. But matching Kakashi in something like chakra control meant being labeled as a genius too.
Normally that would be a good thing.
But he wasn't Kakashi.
He was an Uchiha.
The moment this news spread, a certain rat lurking in Konoha's gutter would probably have an orgasm from excitement.
A tree that grows too tall before its time attracts storms. Especially if that tree was an Uchiha.
He didn't even need to think far for examples. Shisui and Itachi had already proved this in the future.
The former had his eyes gouged out and then committed suicide. The latter was first alienated from his clan and then forced to massacre them all.
Even his mother and father, who birthed and raised him, weren't spared.
Obito vowed inwardly that he would never walk the same path as them.
He wasn't a naive child. He was already an adult inside. His values were fixed. He didn't have blind patriotism toward Konoha. He cared more about his family and friends.
Although he was bound to get exposed one day—probably after graduation when he performed missions with his genin teammates—by then it would be the time of the Third Great Ninja War.
The village top brass wouldn't have the time to deal with him by then.
As he walked back from the training ground, lights flickered from the windows of houses in the Uchiha compound.
Obito adjusted his small training pouch at his waist and then made his way to his house, wondering what delicious thing his grandma must have made for dinner today.