Hearing Rin's words, Mikami Yuu froze, instinctively sensing something was off.
Ooki told Rin to wait here for him…
What did that mean?
Just then, the main doors of the hall slammed open with a bang. A figure wearing yellow goggles and a hedgehog spiky head appeared in the doorway—
Uchiha Obito, late by a full two and a half hours.
Obito braced himself on the doorframe, bent over, gulping air. "Haa… haa… Rin! You're still here! And Yuu… I'm not too late, am I?!"
"…"
After a short silence, Rin sighed—helpless, but amused. "Obito-kun, the graduation ceremony is already over. Everyone's been assigned and left… But there's still one forehead protector left here. Ooki-sensei told Yuu-kun and me to hand it to you."
"Whoa—so I can graduate too?!"
Obito lit up with joy, then a beat later realized something. "Wait, the squads are already assigned? Then what squad are you in, Rin? Are you in the same one as me?"
"…"
That was a good question.
Known fact: Konoha always assigns squads in groups of three—if there are bonds, they group by bonds; if not, they balance by overall scores.
Also known: Mikami Yuu and Rin were childhood friends. Obito was Rin's faithful simp. In theory, there were strong bonds between them. And their scores were: top of the year, upper-middle, and dead last among graduates…
Mikami Yuu's internal alarm started blaring. He immediately stood up, ready to go ask whether the squad assignments could be adjusted. But before he could even take a step, a hand landed quietly on his shoulder, followed by a warm, clear male voice:
"Looks like everyone is here."
"!!"
Mikami Yuu's eyelid twitched.
Rin and Obito both looked up at the same time and saw a tall blond man who had somehow appeared in the hall. The dark-green flak jacket on his body marked him as a Konoha jōnin. His blue eyes were calm and gentle, and he had a natural friendliness to him.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Namikaze Minato. Starting today, I'll be your jōnin instructor."
"…"
Damn.
The worst premonition was confirmed.
In that instant, Mikami Yuu's head buzzed like a carousel of flashing scenes from the original story. Th-this isn't right, is it? Did I become Kakashi? Then where did Kakashi go? Is it too late to drop out and go make ramen?
Beside him,
Obito looked at Minato with admiration. "Jōnin instructor? Then you must be really strong, right? Way stronger than that smug Kakashi!"
"Well… I guess I'm a little bit stronger than him."
Minato held up a "just a little bit" gesture with his free hand, then cleared his throat. "Alright—let's save the rest for later. Since this is our first meeting, we need a bit of ceremony. Come—stand closer. Hold hands."
"…?"
Mikami Yuu was still mentally watching his own life flash by.
Obito glanced at Rin, hesitating.
Rin, however, took the initiative. She reached out and held Mikami Yuu's hand, then used her other hand to grab Obito's wrist.
"Like this, Minato-sensei?"
"Yes."
Minato stepped closer and placed his hands on Mikami Yuu's and Obito's shoulders. "Hold tight."
Bzzz—
In that instant, all three of them felt their vision blur. A dizzy, world-spinning sensation swept through their bodies. When they came back to themselves, they were no longer in the hall—they were in a forest, surrounded by bright sunlight and dense trees.
[Ding! Detected over-spec potential romance target: "Flying Thunder God"!]
[Currently does not meet romance requirements. Cannot romance.]
Two lines of system notifications popped up.
From experience, high-level jutsu really did require conditions. For example, Eight Gates only triggered after Mikami Yuu's Constitution rose by more than ten points. Flying Thunder God was an S-rank technique, so it made sense it would be even stricter.
So Mikami Yuu wasn't especially disappointed. He simply took a deep breath and looked around.
Alright.
Even though he was a bit hung up on ending up in Minato's squad… objectively speaking, this was actually the best possible outcome under the circumstances.
At this point in time, among the Sannin, aside from Orochimaru, the other two weren't openly taking students anymore. Minato was the only Hokage-line successor still leading squads—and his own strength was top-tier, easily in the "top five aiming for top three." By Konoha convention, his students had a chance to enter the Hokage-candidate pipeline.
Hiruzen assigning Mikami Yuu under him showed real importance. If Mikami Yuu tried to change squads now, it would make everyone look bad.
So…
Since he was already here—
he might as well accept it.
According to the original story, Minato's squad didn't face an unavoidable life-and-death crisis until Kannabi Bridge. Worst case, over the next two-plus years Mikami Yuu could "milk" Minato for knowledge, expand his romance list, and then find a way to dodge that mission when the time came.
At that moment,
Rin and Obito also came to their senses.
"Wow… this is…"
"This is the training ground outside Konoha! Minato-sensei—can you… teleport instantly?"
Minato smiled at Obito's question. "More or less. This is a space-time ninjutsu called Flying Thunder God. As long as you set a marker in advance, you can jump to a designated location in an instant. It's very convenient for long-distance movement."
"Huh? Isn't that just like Yuu's Substitution?" Obito glanced at Mikami Yuu.
Minato laughed. "You could understand it that way—a strengthened version of 'Substitution'… Looks like Yuu adapts faster. You already recovered from the shock the moment we arrived."
"…"
Mikami Yuu thought: if I really adapted that fast, I'd probably be able to romance Flying Thunder God already. But compared to Obito and Rin—who were experiencing instant movement for the first time—he was indeed much calmer.
"Alright. Everyone sit. Introduce yourselves—talk about your dreams, that sort of thing."
Minato clapped lightly and sat down on the grass first.
Fine.
Self-introductions, dreams, bell test—these were the unavoidable "Konoha galgame" scenes. With a "when in Rome" mindset, Mikami Yuu played along.
But—
when they reached the final segment, Minato paused.
"By procedure, every newly formed squad does a teamwork drill. But before that, I need to explain something.
"My missions are usually very heavy. I may not be able to stay around you often. So I requested an assistant instructor from the Hokage—someone who will act as temporary captain when I'm away, guiding your daily training and basic missions. This teamwork drill will also be handled by him."
"Assistant instructor?"
Obito blinked. "Where is he?"