"Rin…"
Obito automatically ignored Kakashi and Minato in the photo—his eyes were glued to Nohara Rin.
"Still not used to this."
Just as he was about to sneak a kiss, he remembered getting caught by Kakashi last time. He glanced around, made sure no one was there, then took out some tape and a tissue.
He taped over Kakashi's face so he wouldn't feel like he was sneaking a kiss on Kakashi by mistake.
All set, he lifted the tissue, ready to steal a peck from Rin's picture.
Time to daydream!
"Rin…"
He got swept up in the moment and couldn't help whispering her name.
"Uh… Obito, I'm here."
To his shock, someone answered—and it was the very voice he thought about day and night.
He's doomed.
Obito's grip tightened on the tissue. His gaze crept upward.
Two silhouettes stood at the window.
Rin—and Kiyohara.
"Ahem. Rin, Kiyohara… it's you."
Obito smoothly pivoted, tissue dabbing his nose like nothing had happened.
"What were you just doing, Obito?" Kiyohara asked. Even without seeing the front of the frame, it wasn't hard to guess.
"Nothing, just reminiscing," Obito said, sneaking Kiyohara a look, begging him not to press with Rin right there.
"Take care of your body, and show some restraint, Obito," Kiyohara said with grave sincerity.
Sneaking kisses at a photo? Even hardcore 2D fans don't go that far.
"Restraint?" Rin blinked, missing the subtext.
Obito's eyes went wide. "How can you smear my good name like that out of nowhere?"
"Oh? Weren't you just secretly kissing a photo of Rin?" Kiyohara's smile was not quite a smile.
Honestly, Obito should study under Jiraiya—one peeps at bathhouses, the other does… things with photos.
Obito's face flushed crimson, veins popping as he protested, "There was dust on the picture. I leaned in to blow it off. How can maintaining comrades' bonds be called 'sneaking a kiss'?"
Then he started talking about the Will of Fire and bonds and whatnot.
The air filled with a suspiciously cheerful vibe.
Rin figured they were just joking and didn't think much of it.
"Obito, if we don't leave now we'll delay the mission. Kakashi and Minato-sensei are waiting," Rin said, lips parting slightly.
Seeing she wasn't angry, Obito finally relaxed. His wise and valiant image mustn't be tarnished in Rin's heart.
"Got it."
He slung on his rucksack and tool pouch and put on his yellow goggles. He'd been ready; he'd only lost track of time because Rin's beauty scrambled his brain.
"Let's go."
Rin took her place by the window to wait. Obito put the photo back and was about to grab one more kunai when she noticed Kakashi's face in the picture was covered with tape.
"Why'd you cover Kakashi's face?"
"So there's no dust," Obito blurted.
"I see…"
It was odd, but Rin still nodded.
"This is probably the last time Obito pulls this stunt with Rin's photo," Kiyohara thought.
Once he's crushed under that boulder and split down the middle, he'll definitely be short one family jewel. As for the… frank—whether it gets flattened or ends up cleanly halved depends on which side Obito usually favors. Odds are he won't be pulling anything after that—Zetsu grafts don't come with those attachments.
"Let's go."
After saying goodbye to his grandma, Obito came out. He noticed a faintly pitying look in Kiyohara's eyes and couldn't make sense of it.
…
At Konoha's gate.
"You're late again, Obito," Kakashi said as Obito jogged up.
"So I'm a few minutes late. Big deal," Obito muttered.
"A true shinobi follows the rules. Anyone who can't is trash," Kakashi shot back without mercy.
In his creed, the shinobi code came before all else. His father had broken it to save a comrade, the mission failed, and tragedy followed.
"Alright, Kakashi, don't say it like that," Minato stepped in to smooth things over.
Since the White Fang's death, Kakashi had been like this. Minato knew some of the inside story, but he wasn't in a position to say more. He was a shinobi—his duty was to obey orders.
"During a mission, everything else waits until it's over," Minato said. Team unity was crucial; he didn't want any more squabbling.
"And this mission is classified. I can only brief you once we're near the border…"
Kiyohara listened from the back. He never understood why every departure required a stop at the gate; he chalked it up to shinobi ritual.
"By the way, did the future me ever get a girlfriend?" Kiyohara asked Rogue Kiyohara in his head.
The urn rattled and Rogue Kiyohara's spirit drifted up in his mind.
"No. Surviving took everything I had," he said, shaking his head. He'd tried, but a rogue-nin's options were mostly other rogue-nin. Not everyone's like Sakura—knowing Sasuke is an S-class criminal and still head-over-heels. Honestly, you'd need Sasuke-level looks to pull that off. He wasn't bad-looking, but too weathered—too old.
"I see."
Kiyohara looked at that bleak future and quietly resolved he wouldn't end up like that.
Soon Minato finished and said, "Move out."
They set off together.
Days passed with the sun and moon. They ran through the woods by day and camped by night. Traveling light, they reached the border quickly.
"Almost there," Kurenai said, springing from branch to branch—standard ninja overland travel to make better time.
"Think we can pull it off?" she asked Kiyohara.
"We'll do our best," he said.
Fail the mission and you get punished; die, and you're just dead. He was on a genin stipend—the bottom rung. Three thousand a month—who's risking their life for that? On three thousand you want me to do thirty-thousand worth of work? He figured not slacking off was already decent. But a lot of shinobi had the so-called Will of Fire dangling over their heads and chose to suffer for their faith.
"We'll stop here," Minato said once the terrain looked right.
A wide meadow spread out before them. When the wind blew, every blade of grass bowed its head.