The next morning the yellow flash sat patiently on the small bridge between the main road and the market place. It was a sunny morning, early yet, but he could tell it would be a nice warm day. Perfect weather for training. It wasn't too hot, and yet it wasn't cold either. Swinging his legs slighly while sitting on the railing, he watched a young girl approach. It was Rin, daughter of the medical nin. She was early, even though it looked as though she had to drag herself out of bed.
"Ohayo" He lifted his hand in greeting, watching the young girl sleeply stand in front of him.
"Good morning Sensei..." Rin yawned, blinked a couple of times before looking around. He wasn't here yet, that was odd, she pictured kakashi the type to be early. "ano... Has he arrived yet?"
"Mm..." Yondaime raised his brows for moment, then pressed his lips together, glancing upwards at the sky.He knew that she wasnt talking about the Uchiha, It was obvious by the way she looked at him in the classroom yesterday that she was asking about Kakashi. For a moment he was silent watching the sun. "No. But, you are early after all."
Rin looked off to the side, shrugging her shoulders timidly. "It just seemed like he would be the type to be early..."
Yondaime smirked watching a flash of black move over the rooftops. Kakashi wasn't the type to be late, and yet, he wasn't the type to be early either, he arrived precicely on time. He should have expected this from the boy.
"Oh!" Rin placed her hands together, eyes looking up in the same direction as her sensei.
Kakashi leapt down from the closest roof top, one hand pressed down against the wooden bridge to steady himself as he slowly stood, brushing dust from his shoulder. This greatly impressed Rin, whose smile surpassed even her Sensei's largest grin. That was a pretty big smile.
"Kakashi-kun! I almost thought you were going to be late..." She closed her eyes happily, teasing the chuunin in a friendly manner.
"I'm never late..."The grey haired shinobi said flatly, looking from Rin to yondaime. "...are we ready to go?"
"there is still one more member of this team..." The yellow flash glanced upwards at the sky, if the stories of Uchiha Obito were true, they were in for a wait. Luckily he called the group earlier than her normally would to give the boy some time. Yondaime wasn't as strict as some of the other jounin teachers.
"He's obviously late..." Kakashi crossed his arms leaning against the railking opposite of his sensei.
"Obito is always late..." Rin took a step forward, blushed then spun around to face the other way. She didn't have the courage just yet to stand close to Kakashi-kun. If only he would give her a sign, like a smile maybe, then she would know if it was okay to approach him. Afterall, she didn't want to annoy him, or get in his space.
"Does this happen often?" Yondaime hopped down from the bridge railing, placing his hands on his hips while looking about the area.
"Almost everyday..." Rin brought a finger to her lips, there wasn't a day that she could remember him ever being early. Of course, there was that one day where he arrived on time, but he had the flu and had to be sent home anyway. It was as if he was too sick he forgot to be late.
"How long is he...usually..." The blonde Jounin sighed, leaning back against the railing, staring back at Kakashi who simply looked right back at him.
"Hmm, depends..." Rin tilted her head to the side watching the two upper shinobi stare at each other. "I would hope he will not be too much longer, he was excited about getting out of the classroom and into feild training." She had to sit next to the kid all year, he didn't really talk much to her, but he did talk a lot to himself. He also liked to boast to the other students in the classroom, and everyday he would come in complaining how the academy wasn't the same as a real battle situation. She never really thought about why he didnt talk to her, they did sit next to each other afterall. Perhaps he was shy...?
"Sorry sorry!" A voice came from down the street. Kakashi, Rin and Yondaime all looked up at the same time catching Obito waving his hands while running down the road. They all watched until he arrived on the bridge, thats when Kakashi looked away, he didn't care what the boy's excuse was this time.
"There was this cat, stuck in a tree!" Obito exclaimed opening his arms, gesturing wildly. "and this old lady was at the bottom, and she was all like, 'oooh save my poor kitty' and of course, as a Konoha shinobi I had to help her out!"
"mmmhmm.." Rin rolled her eyes. "You told that one two weeks ago, remember? and the Sensei scolded you because you used that one the previous month."
"No, but this time it was true!" The boy looked totally serious, but then he looked serious every single time. Almost as if he told him self over and over that this was the truth and belived himself. It was good that he could keep a serious face, perhaps he could be useful afterall, especially in missions where he may have to lie.
Obito cracked half a grin, then shook his head, continuing on about how he saved the kitty cat. Rin sighed, or maybe not.
"Well, you are here now...thats all that matters right?" Yondaime smirked, but it faded as he caught Kakashi;s cold glare. This kid, he could tell already, was going to be a joy to train. yessah, feel the sarcasm. He brought a hand up to his chin. "Well...may as well get to know you all, tell me your name, and, something interesting about yourself, dreams, likes, dislikes...Rin?"
"ano..." The girl flushed looking down at her feet for a moment, gathering her thoughts. Something interesting? "My name is Rin. My family are all medical ninja, and I plan to take up the practice. I guess that is my dream...I like flowers, especially wild dasies, my favorite herb is Lavender, it calms the senses. I dislike chocolate and winter."
"You dont like chocolate!" Obito all but freaked out.
"How about you go next Obito" Yondaime chuckled.
"Well, first of all, I love chocolate! " He smirked, tilting his head upwards.
Perhaps that's why he is always so hyper, Rin thought to herself. She glanced at Kakashi for a moment to see if he was paying any attention. It appeared as if he were thinking of other things, but he was actually listening to every word that was being said. Frowning, Rin looked back to Obito. For some odd reason she was actually interested in what the boy had to say.
"My name is Obito. I am from the Uchiha clan, but thats not too interesting..." He chewed on his bottom lip. Most of the uchiha hated him anyway. He was proud of be Uchiha, but they weren't proud of him. For a moment he was silent, thinking about what to say, and what not to say. It wasn't like him to think things though like this, but there were also certain things he wanted eveyone to know, and other things he wanted to keep to himself. Like the fact that he has not yet learned to use sharingan. "ano...My dream is to become a great Shinobi...I like...I like this toothpick!"
He held out a small toothpick, smiled proudly and stuck it back in his mouth. He had seen Shiranui Genma, the fifteen year old chuunin, chewing on a really long toothpick one day and thought it was cool. Though, Obito didn;t have one in his mouth nearly as much as the other did. "I also like to read...uh"
Kakashi smirked under his mask, he didnt picture Obito as a type to curl up with a good book. Feh. What good were books for anyway? "...books are no good. Its just fantasy.."
"Of course it is!" Obito shouted to the masked Chuunin. "Very good fantasy if you ask me..." The boy blushed and shook his head, he told them that he read books, he wasn;t going to tell them just what kind of books.
"Hmph..." Kakashi crossed his arms.
"I disklike arrogant people who think they are superior than everyone else..." Obito glared at Kakashi. At least the shinobi did not wear his chuunin vest today, that would have just pissed Obito off even more.
"Okay, thats enough Obito...Kakashi, what about you?" Yondaime sighed. Along with traing he wanted to teach his team about friendship and teamwork. He wanted them to be kids while they still had the chance, he did plan some fun missions along with the serious ones. However, by the looks of it, it was going to be more difficult than expected.
"I am Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes or dislikes. As for my dream...I have a few hobbies..." The boy trailed off.
"well, we already know your name..." Obito huffed.
As much as she found herself interested in what Obito had to say about himself, Rin had been waiting for this moment for what seemed like forever. She couldn;t help but feel disapointed in Kakashi's answer. He was just a mysterious person, all she wanted to do was get to know him better.
"ano..Kakashi-kun..." She raised her hand timidly to ask him what his dream was, as it seemed like he was going to say something, and just forgot...perhaps? But the boy was already walking away, crossing the bridge and heading out. Did Sensei dismiss the group? Immediately she looked up to Yondaime.
"Well...everyone follow Kakashi..." the blonde jounin sighed. He was pretty easy going, if Kakashi wanted to lead the way to the training ground, then he could lead the way. Yondaime was going to take the group there anyway. "Today is your first day of training..."
"Training?" Obito took up the rear, following behind Yondaime, while Rin ran after Kakashi.
"Hai."
"Arent we supposed to be starting missions? I mean, training is good and all, but I want to get out there as soon as possible. I'm going to prove to Kakashi, and all the Uchiha that I'm not really a loser. This is my chance! I wasn't so good in the academy, but this is diffrent!" Obito moved to walk next to his sensei. Sensei seemed like a nice enough guy, although Obito wasnt sure if he was going to let Kakashi get away with everything. I mean, just walking off like that, without any word! how arrogant!
"Mmhmm..well, this is just one more test you need to go though. My Sensei, Jiraiya-sama used this technique on my gennin team, and he learned this from his sensei, Hokage-sama"
"Well, whatever it is I'm going to show you that I'm not a drop out!" Obito grinned before waving to his sensei, running off to catch up with Rin and Kakashi at the training grounds.
Konoha's yellow flash smirked to himself, producing two small bells from his pocket. He knew Obito had it in him to become a great Ninja, he also had faith that Kakashi would lighten up eventually and that Rin would become a wonderful medic Kunochi. However, this was a test passed down to him from some of the greasted Shinobi he had ever known, it would teach them to act like a team. Yondaime hoped it would bring kakashi and obito together, without teamwork then they would not be able to succeed.
In the open field the three students stood in a semi circle around their Sensei who held out two little bells. Obito looked on with confusion, his face showing every emotion that went though his mind when Yodaime revealed the bells. First it was confusion, then his fact kind of contorted into one of deep thought, before his brows furrowed in anger, because he could not figure out what was meant by this.
Kakashi's mask hid his expression, but he too was also confused.
Rin instead of showing her confusion, chewed on the inside of her mouth , trying to mask her emotions, trying to play as if she understood yondaime's meaning all along. It wasn't working.
"Understand?" The yellow flash tied the two bells to the front of his flak jacket.
"no..." Obito simply blinked, while Kakashi and Rin both hoped that their Sensei would explain this all again.
Yondaime smirked. "Its simple. You try and get the bells from me. Those who manage to get them will pass, the ones who do not will be sent back to the Academy. It may only be one of you, or two, or all three..."
Rin thought about this, and decided that it really did not make too much sense. Why would he only have two bells, the game wasn't very fair. Yondaime seemed like a fair man, was there something else he wanted them to learn?
"Don't worry, I'll get one of those bells..." Obito blurted out which got him a glare from Kakashi.
"Here is a little hint. Think underneath the underneath." Yondaime took a step backwards and crossed his arms. " well...?"
"well what?" Obito stood where he was, staring at the blonde man as if he had grown two heads. What was he trying to get us to do? I mean, did he want them to hide and attack him?Or just attack full out? underneath the underneath, what was that supposed to mean?
"well, try to get the bells.."
"ano, sensei, there are only two?" Rin spoke up for both the boys who were too stubborn to ask themselves.
"Yes..." Yondaime raised his brows at the girl. Hopefully she would understand soon, if not, he wasn't sure what to do with them. he expected Kakashi to be the first to understand, but obviously he was just as clueless as the Uchiha kid.
"Hmph..." The Uchiha wasnt pleased, no, he wasn't pleased at all.
Kakashi watched the other boy thoughtfully. What was he going to do then? Attack head on, or run off to plan an ambush? Gazing upwards the chuunin weighed his options. Attacking head on would be foolish, but Sensei would be expecting a surprise attack, so he would have all his defenses up. The best way to beat him would to perhaps have Rin and Obito on either side and attack him pincer style. But...there were only two bells...Did he expect them to work together when one of them was obviously going back to the academy?
The jounin teacher watched while Kakashi seemed to have lost himself in thought, his arms were crossed over his lower stomach casually. He could also sense a sneaky Uchiha creeping around to his backside, probably thought he didn't know he was there, simply because he wasn't looking.
"Obito..." The yellow flash said flatly, somewhat annoyed. It wasn't often that he became annoyed, but he had thought the kid had more sense than this.
"what...I was just going over here to think of a plan..." The boy protested, leaping suddenly into the bushes, shaking them around. Birds flew out from the trees, and Rin scrunched her nose watching the loud gennin. She had not made any moves as of yet, she was more concerned about what Kakashi was thinking. Or so thats what Yondaime figured. He saw her concerned glances to the chuunin, and hoped that she would think more for herself.
Back in the bushes, Obito chewed on his thumb nail. He wasnt a nail biter but this situation was a tough one. He knew he didnt have the smarts in him to plan an attack, he knew that he had a great chance of failing here, since he failed at everything else. But for once, he wanted to succeed, for once he didnt want to be the fool.
"psst!" He waved his hands to his two team mates. Rin simply blinked and looked to Kakashi. The chuunin lazily glanced towards the bushes that Obito sat within and sighed wondering what the other wanted. For a second he was just going to ignore the boy, but something told him to go over there and find out what the kid wanted. Rin followed of course.
This had to be the worst thing he could do in all his twelve years... but Obito knew he had to do it. It felt horrible, but it was the only way, he could think, of getting those bells from sensei's jacket. "ano, Kakashi, Rin...maybe we could...you know...work together?" He shuddered after saying those words...working together with Kakashi?...ugghhh
It had crossed Kakashi's mind earlier that they should all work together, but he wasn't about to ask the others for help. It would be like Obito to ask for help. But, even though Kakashi belived the boy should be able to do things on his own, he wasn't so sure they could all take on a jounin by themselves. He became quiet, thinking this all though, which was beginning to irritate Obito.
"Do you have to analize everything?" The uchiha snapped. "I could do this on my own if I wanted to, but I figured I would give you a chance to have me helping you out..."
"You're right Obito..." Rin mumbled.
"I am!" The boy's voice came out almost as a squeak, which caused him to cover his mouth with his hands. Damn puberty. Coughing, he calmed himself. "Of course I am..."
Sighing, Rin glanced over that the Jounin standing out in the open. "Working together. There is no way to get those bells if we dont help each other out."
"Hmph..." It was Kakashi. Which surprised Rin, she was sure it would have been Obito to protest. Then again, he was the one who asked for help in the first place.
"Lets give it a try Kakashi..." The girl pushed herself up from the ground and peeked over the bushes one more and gasped. Yondaime was gone. "He's gone..."
"What!" Obito stood up now as well, twigs and leaves stuck in his already messy short hair.
"You two..." Kakashi shouted leaping forward his arms outstretched pushing the two gennin down on the ground. As soon as they hit the dirt, three kunai's flew overhead, one of them grazing past Rin's hair. She watched, in slow motion as a lock of her hair flew away in the breeze, and then she felt the impact of her shoulder hitting the ground.
Obito scrambled to his feet, searching for the attacker. Yondaime wasn't supposed to attack them, was he? They needed time to think, how could he expect them to form a plan in that short time. "What the? Sensei! thats not fair!" He stomped his foot, growing more frustrated by the minute.
The yellow flash laughed from overhead. "Got bored...you guys, hurry up and steal these bells!" With that, Yondaime leapt down from the trees and resumed standing in the open feild, his students gawking at him in horror.
How did he move so fast? Obito blinked. One second he was lazily walking cricles in the field, the next he was up the the tree throwing kunai. Suppose there was a reason as to why he was called Konoha's yellow flash. "Hmph...lets just do this..."
"Fine. Rin, You sneak over to the other side" Kakashi pointed to a tree. "I will take up that side, Obito...you stay here, and...try to be quiet..."
"Huh! what! Why can't I move to the otherside, and you stay here?" The boy was furious. He wanted to go into stealth mode and trick their Sensei with his awesome abilities. Well, okay, they weren't awesome just yet, but he was just so sure that once he begun, then everything would fall in to place.
"Because...you will make too much noise.." The boy in the mask simply stated, smirking . It didnt matter if he held a straight face or not, Obito most likely belived that Kakashi kept a permanent smirk on all of the time anyway.
"What! what are you talking about! ..." Obito started but stoped upbrutly when RIn';s hand covered his mouth. For a moment he paused, wondering what was happening, then blushed when he realized that it was the girl who had placed her delicate hand on his mouth.
"Just shut up and listen to what Kakashi says..." Rin whispered, her voice forceful. She was sure kakashi's idea would work, and quickly forgot that the idea to work together had been originally Obito's.
Not wanting to argue with her, Obito nodded, The girl released her hand form his mouth, and left to take her place on the other side of their Sensei. Obito watched along side Kakashi as the girl expertly took her position. Yondaime didn't even turn to look, instead the blonde sensei gazed lazily up at the clouds rolling by.
"When you see me give the signal, we all attack at once, got it..." Kakashi lifted his hand and shook it with two fingers pressed together before taking off round the otherside of Yondaime.
Obito pouted slightly and crossed his arms, sitting back in the bushes to watch. Why did those two get to go out, and he had to stay here. Wouldn't it be best if he moved to another location himself, afterall Sensei saw them all gather up here. hmph. So what am I going to do when I attack? The boy pulled a kunai out from the pouch on his right leg, spinning it around on his finger. Use kunai? Or my fists? Hmm, no...He looked at his gloved covered hands,there was a piece of metal on his knuckles, it certainly wouldn't hurt to use his fists, but Obito wanted to use something much more cooler than that. He wanted to use his sharingan.
That was something he left out earlier today when speaking about himself to his new team. He had not yet figured out how to activate his clans most powerful weapon. He had it within him, he knew this, but as of yet the gennin could not figure out for the life of him how to get it to work. Other people, mostly those who were not Uchiha, told him that he was probably too young to use it anyway, that some Uchiha only learn when they are in their late teens. But, lately, the young of the Uchiha clan were activating it earlier and earlier. Obito's younger cousin could use sharingan at the age of 10, and then there was the boy who lived next door, a distant cousin, who was only 7. Father had learned how to use it at the age of 12...perhaps thats why he was so upset, figuring if Obito did not learn by this age, that he never would.
Obito's argument was the fact that his grand father, his fathers father, only learned how to use his sharingan at the age of 17. Grand father turned out to be one of the most powerful elders of the clan. He attended secret clan meetings even! He was well known, and understood the most what Obito was going though. it was grand father who taught Obito how to use fire jutsu's after all...and supported him no matter what.
"It's not good enough..." Obito fell backwards onto the wooden plat forms of the dock. Beside him stood his grand father, who watched quietly with his chin in his hand.
"You just need some more practice..." The older man nodded to himself, grunting softly,
"But that was pathetic! It didnt even reach across the water..." The boy had expected too much on his first try.
"You haven't enough chakara in you to complete the jutsu, but you are on your way. I didn't even learn this jutsu until I was 13..." He placed his hand on Obito's shoulder looking out at the water front. "I suppose...you're generation is learning younger and younger...no time for a childhood. I understand the need for new shinobi, but..."
"Don't worry grand pa! I may be young, but I will become a great Ninja! maybe even surpass you!"
There was the signal, Obito flew into action gripping the kunai he had been playing with earlier aiming it towards his Sensei. Opening his mouth, he cried out, a battle yell of sorts and leapt towards Yondaime. He didn't hear anything but his own heart thumping in his ears, didn't see anyone except for his target who moved in a slow motion kind of way. The yellow flash twisted around, extending his arms, his hands making contact with Obito's stomach. The next thing the Uchiha knew, he was laying on his back, hearing, not seeing, Kakashi and Rin collapsing next to him in the grass.
Not one to be beaten by a simple shove, Obito jumped back to this feet and stood for a long moment eyeing his sensei. Yondaime didn't know what was coming. Smirking, the boy placed his hands together beginning a seal that he knew well. It was a long shot, but he had to try.
Yondaime watched the seal, unsure of what it was at first until he saw the seal of the tiger, he knew right off it was a fire seal. Uchiha or not, the kid should not have had enough chakara to pull it off, especially if it was true that he could barely make a clone of himself (note - Obito's clones were much better looking than Naruto's however, lol)
Well, they didn't call him the yellow flash for nothing.
Obito was sure that he had him, even though his chakara was everywhere, the fire that appeared to of been blowing from his mouth hit the spot where yondaime was standing. This earned him a gasp from Rin, and a grunt from Kakashi. Obito wasn't doing this to show off, but he did appreciate the reactions from his comrades. Defiant smirk, he lowered his hands to his sides, waiting for the smoke to clear. He didn't intend to kill his Sensei, infact, he was sure that the jounin had his own tricks up his sleeve, but he did hope to give yondaime a run for his money.
"Boo!" It was their Sensei's voice from behind the three of them.
Obito tipped over onto his side, twitching slightly. Kakashi sighed and lay back in the grass. Rin blushed and brought a hand up to her mouth, she was sure the plan would work. Now they were all going to be sent back to the academy. But it wasn't anyone's fault really. Surprisingly she wasn't angry with Obito. Infact, compared to Kakashi, he was more impressive one. Maybe she expected too much from the masked boy because he was chuunin.
"This is stupid. Do you think gennin could fight against a jounin and pass!" Obito was sitting up now, obviously tired out by the small jutsu. His chakra already low.
"I'm a chuunin..." Kakashi muttered, but Obito ignored the other boy.
"hm...you all pass..." Yondaime smirked. He was sure this would throw them off. Also, he made a mental note to help Obito with his chakara molding skills.
"Pa..." Rin began.
Obito finished. "..ss..?"
"Yup" The grinning jounin removed the bells from his flak jacket and held them. "You may not have succeded in getting these bells, but you've certainly shown me that you can put things aside and work as a team. That is what this test was all about."
"Awesome!" Obio jumped to his feet, his energy returning to him in one large burst. This was wonderful news!
Standing now, Kakashi held his hand out to Rin and helped her up, while Obito leapt around the feild. Yondaime watched the Uchiha boy leap and jump around, thinking to himself that he certainly was a black sheep afterall. It wasn't often you saw such an enthusiastic Uchiha.
"Well. I would give you tomorrow off, but missions are coming in like never before. We will be taking a C rank mission so I expect you to meet here at about eleven in the morning" The yellow flash informed his team.
"C ranked. Already?" It was Rin who had spoken, but regretted it immediatly. Both Obito and Kakashi gave her these looks, as if to say 'what are you talking about,already?'. Loweing her eyes, she sighed. Well, to her if felt a little early, and then at the same time she was pleased that her teacher thought their group good enough to take a C rank as their first mission.
"Tomorrow we'll meet on the bridge..." Yondaime waved his hand and wandered off. "Ja mata ne!"