AN: I'm back for the next chapter.
I'll be leaving these Author's Notes at the beginning of every chapter to sometimes address anything from the chapter before. On that note: Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and/or reviewed.
Your support for this means a lot.
Obito
Chapter 2 - Practice Makes Perfect
It was decided that I would be allowed to start training Naruto two days after that dinner I had with him and Rin.
He, of course, wanted to start immediately. Hell, he wanted to go out right that same night. Naturally Rin was going to have none of it and commanded he rest for the next couple days to properly recover his stamina. Apparently he had been in the Forest of Death for five nights straight, on top of having to fight a rather intense preliminary match right after. Not to mention, if he was on Sasuke's team he had also likely been involved in the conflict against Orochimaru himself. Frankly speaking, it was amazing he had been as energetic as he was when we met.
There was no winning against Rin, however. Especially not when it came to matters of health and well-being. It's not like she would ever physically lash out at you or anything violent like that, although she wasn't above tightening your bandages a little too much if you ticked her off. It was just more of a pressure and that terrifying sense of disappointment she would exude that made you not want to end up on her bad side. Naruto apparently wasn't immune to these things either and in the end he relented to her will, not much unlike how I used to do. Although he certainly put up more of a fight than I ever had.
Regardless, it worked out well for me as I had a lot of things to figure out before I could just jump right into teaching him. I had never had an apprentice or any kind of students before so I wasn't exactly sure where to start. At first, I tried reaching out to Master Jiraiya to get some kind of insight on what he thought would be best, but no response ever came to any of my messages. So that was a dead end.
Instead I tried thinking about the way he had been training me, as well as what methods Minato-sensei would utilize to best help me learn. Like it or not, but even I couldn't deny the incredible similarity between my past self and the current Naruto. It was damn uncanny, but it also meant I had a kind of basis to go about in how to properly instruct him. The same things that worked for me should theoretically work for him, after all. So it wasn't like I was completely out of ideas in what way to best start.
The next thing to do was find a place to train him. It had to be both somewhere private enough that people wouldn't just stumble upon us, and it had to serve as a place I could protect him in case someone seeking him harm came after us. When I ended up phrasing it like that, only one place immediately came to mind. Too bad it happened to be a place in which I had a rather complicated past with. It also wasn't somewhere I could just use without permission.
So before that, I first had to speak with Itachi about it. I suppose some part of me had been hoping he would reject my request, giving me an excuse to have to look for another place. Instead, he readily gave me the permission I needed, going so far as to say he thought it was a good idea that I use that place to train Naruto, an outsider no less.
With that excuse gone to me now too, there was really nothing left in the way of training Naruto. So begin our training was about to.
"The heck is this place, Obito-senpai?" Naruto asked, eyeing the rundown gates in front of us almost wearily. He had actually been pretty excited up until about now. The thrill of finally getting to start his training was so great I thought he might just start attacking me on the spot when I went to pick up from Rin's place this morning. As expected, even that excitement couldn't win out against the heavy atmosphere surrounding the old Uchiha district.
"It's where I grew up." I answered, walking up the broken wooden gate and placing a hand against the splintered wood. "Sasuke would have lived here too, up until… well," I paused, not seeing the need to say anything further than that. Glancing over I saw the realization slowly begin to dawn on Naruto's face. Even he wasn't ignorant of the Uchiha Incident, despite being rather young when it would have happened.
"Why would we come to a place like this!?" He shouted, face suddenly going pale and biting at his nails. "Isn't it like, totally haunted!? I don't wanna meet any ghosts, y'know!" For a moment I thought about telling him to grow up and not be such a superstitious child, but looking at him just happened to remind me of the moment I thought I actually met the Grim Reaper. I hadn't been much older than him at the time. So really I couldn't bad-mouth him despite wanting to.
"Come on, Naruto." Instead I just pressed further inwards. "You never know, fighting a ghost might turn out to be good training." Okay, so maybe I couldn't resist poking fun a little. Still, if there was ever a place for a haunting this was most certainly it. Even I couldn't shake off the slight chill that went down my spine as we moved deeper and deeper into the compound. Naruto's chattering teeth behind me did nothing to lessen the effect.
The entire multi-block district had turned into a warzone that night. Members of Root and the Uchiha clan killing one another in droves. Even the civilian members of the clan weren't spared. Murdered just because they had a drop of the same blood coursing through their veins. Old folks, women, children alike. It was indiscriminate and to most appeared as an unprovoked massacre.
Even most of the trained Shinobi from within the clan hadn't stood a chance. The Root had struck them first and without warning, catching many of them off-guard. By the time any kind of counter-attack could be mounted, too many had been killed and left them outnumbered. It was only afterwards that I arrived, and together with Izumi, Shisui, and Itachi wiped out the remaining Root intruders.
Walking through the streets now and I could picture the bodies exactly where they had been. The scars from the battle were still everywhere. Many of the homes were damaged, some burned down, weeds overgrowing them all. If you looked inside the still standing structures, you could see discarded weapons leftover from the conflict and pitch black stains that had once been spilt blood of the innocent. Even after all this time it was still there. The district had been closed down after the attack and no one ever came here anymore, leaving it in the exact same state it had been, only the elements themselves altering things ever so slightly over time.
For the most part I just tried to keep my eyes forward, not looking at any of the things around me. As I had been afraid of, the complicated memories here were still too fresh. This had been the final nail in the coffin for me and my dream of one day becoming Hokage. Not long after was when I went on my trip with Master Jiraiya.
My pace hastened, just trying to get us out from the living quarters for the time being. An act Naruto seemed to appreciate as he kept just behind me, one hand having gripped the hem of my jacket.
Finally we reached my intended destination. The Uchiha district had been split into what you would call two halves. Separating them was a river, only a single bridge connecting the opposite halves to one another. It was at this bridge in which I intended to conduct our training. The river itself was wide and deep, the surface about ten meters below ground level. Tall brick walls on either side determined the flow. The bridge was a wooden ramp-like structure, traditional Uchiha railing on either side giving it an ancient, but grand feeling.
"Okay, Naruto." I spoke, shaking him from his nervous stupor. "You and I are going to spar for a little right here." I made my way to the middle of the bridge, leaving him at the dirt path still leading up to it.
"Spar?" He asked, raising his voice to be heard.
I nodded. "Kakashi asked me to reinforce your basics, but that in and of itself is rather broad. To better understand exactly what it is you're lagging behind in, I need to assess you for myself. Rather than asking you, it will just be faster to go against one another in combat. I should be able to learn all I need to know that way." Once I was standing in the middle of the bridge I unzipped my blue jacket halfway down, exposing the chain-mail fishnet of my under armour.
"The heck you doing!?" Naruto yelled, clearly distressed that I now appeared to be stripping. He went silent though after I slipped the right side of my jacket down, pulling my arm out from the sleeve. I was a fairly pale guy, had been all my life. The natural color of my skin though could never possibly be compared to the pure snow white of the artificial flesh composing my entire right torso and arm.
"I'm just preparing my Jutsu is all, no need to worry." I flashed through three quick seals, holding my hands in the snake seal position as I unleashed the Jutsu. "Moku Bunshin no Jutsu!" From the white flesh of my arm, wood suddenly sprouted and grew off of me. In a matter of seconds it took the shape of me, forming a perfect clone that even took my color before detaching completely. It stood by my side, placing a hand on his hip and smirking at me.
"Whoa! That's awesome, a wood clone!?" Naruto started jumping around, eyes practically sparkling. "Teach it to me, teach it to me! I so wanna be able to make wood clones too!"
My clone and I each shook our heads simultaneously. "Unfortunately for you, I'm the only Shinobi in the village able to use the Wood Style after the First Hokage himself." I said, rolling the shoulder from which the wood had just come from for emphasis. "You could think of it as a consolation for being cursed with this flesh." Maybe it was a little bit of an exaggeration to refer to the hunk of cells keeping me alive as 'cursed' but when I thought about where it came from, it was hard not to speak about it as such.
"No kidding?" Naruto tried to look like it didn't bother him too much, putting his hands behind his head and kicking at the dirt on the road. "Whatever, I didn't really want to learn it anyways. Anyone can make a clone or two, doesn't really have to be wood." While he continued to pout, the real me walked over to the side of the bridge and began to lean on the railing.
"Whenever you're ready, Naruto, you can attack my clone at any time." I instructed, my Sharingan activating and my clone doing the same. The intimidating red iris seemed to get Naruto's attention more than my words did. If I thought he was nervous about having to go up against me, it only seemed to last for a moment, before he pointed an accusatory finger at the real me.
"You looking down on me!?" He shouted, stomping his foot on the ground like a kid throwing a tantrum. "I can take a stupid clone no problem y'know." His words caused me and my clone to sigh at the same time. I nodded at him to take over, not feeling like being the one to explain it myself.
"Wood clones are more sturdy than your standard elemental or shadow clones, Naruto. It's why I go through the effort of using the extra chakra required to create one." My clone said. "Also, this way allows me to watch you fight both as an observer and a combatant. When I dispel, the real me will have my experience along with his own observations to put together a more complete picture. This is for your benefit."
After the explanation, Naruto at least had the decency to look sheepish. "Ah, that so? My bad, my bad. Sorry about that. I guess I'm just so used to people looking down on me all the time, y'know."
It was unfortunately something I knew all too well. People always looked down on the loud-mouthed, goofier kids in the class. They never really stopped to think why that kid might be acting out or that when he messed up, it might be better to help him, not just laugh at their mistakes. I could only imagine how much worse this had all been for Naruto, who was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki on top of this.
"It's fine." I said. There was nothing I could do to fix his past now. For the time being, I was just responsible for training him over this next month. "Come at my clone with everything you have. Once I have a good idea of your abilities we can talk about what to work on."
"You got it, Obito-senpai!" Naruto threw his hands together, forming a cross seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" In a single instant, he created several dozen shadow clones. As in, beings with real mass and all the chakra it required to create them. Despite this, he didn't even look like he broke a sweat.
"I know I said not to hold back, but I didn't expect this…" My clone deadpanned, but I was also curious about something else. "Where did you even learn such a Jutsu?" I called out before he could attack.
"Huh?" Naruto looked surprised by the sudden question, having been on the verge of charging just before it. "Oh, Nee-chan taught it to me." He then said as if it was obvious.
"Rin did!?" My clone and I exclaimed together. I didn't even know she had the chakra reserves to perform such a technique, but now that I think about it, if she utilized the Three-Tail's chakra it probably wouldn't be too difficult a feat for her to accomplish either.
"That all you wanted?" Naruto asked impatiently. "Can we begin now?" In response to his question I looked at my clone who smirked back at me.
"Mokuton: Cutting Sprig Jutsu!" My clone flew through the seals, before then producing a spear of wood from his Zetsu cells. He held that spear up like one might a kunai.
"Jump him!" Naruto's clones took that as the single to begin. A dozen of them broke away from the pack, leaving the rest to stay back and observe. They all drew kunai, the couple in the front also lobbing a handful of shuriken.
My clone could use the power of my Mangekyo Sharingan to easily dodge the shuriken, but relying on such a power would defeat the purpose of this training. I needed to test out Naruto's abilities, which meant some degree of offense was going to be required. And showing that ability too early might change the way Naruto tried to handle the fight, which was no good either. For now it was important to gauge how he fought a standard foe.
Several metallic clangs rang out, my clone deflecting the shuriken by slapping at them with the wood spear. The Shuriken hung suspended in the air for several seconds, before quickly being snatched up and put in his jacket pockets.
The dozen or so Naruto clones were on my own clone in the next instant. Most of them fanned out to the sides, moving to encircle him. The Naruto most in front ducked down, allowing the two behind him to jump off his back and also gain aerial advantage. They were looking to overrun me by attacking simultaneously from all sides. It was a good strategy normally. It wasn't going to work against my Sharingan, however.
The two Naruto's in the air threw their kunai just as the one in front jabbed at him with his. My clone was able to read all the tension in every muscle of Naruto's body, knowing how he was going to move seconds before he did. Not just one clone, but all of them at once. He caught the forward most Naruto by the wrist, hoisting his body up and above his head all in one fluid motion. The kunai from above impaled the clone in the back, popping him out of existence.
My clone then jumped in the air, flipping upside down and kicking the kunai back to their owners. Two more pops signaled the end of their durability, dispersing into whiffs of remnant chakra. Six more Naruto's had closed in around him from all sides, my clone still upside down and apparently without means to counter-attack. At least that must be what Naruto thought. It wasn't much for my clone to spin while in mid-air, brandishing the wooden spear to slice at the throat of every Naruto in range. Six more pops of smoke and six more Naruto's were gone.
At the last possible second my clone flipped once again, landing in a crouch. Only three of the initial charging group were left now. They had stopped running the moment their brethren fell, keeping just out of range of my clone and his spear.
"What's the matter?" My clone asked, rising up to his full height. "Would it make you feel better if I don't use this?" He buried the tip of the wood spear into the bridge and took several threatening steps forward unarmed.
One of the Naruto's gave a feral growl. "Don't underestimate me!" They shouted in unison, leaping forward and stabbing at me. The next attack happened so fast, I wouldn't have even seen my clone's arm move if not for the Sharingan. He struck all three Naruto's in the chin with a swift but efficient uppercut, popping them before they even realized they had been hit. "You bastard!" The moment they were gone and the next group of clones charged him.
My clone ran through several seals as they charged, before then pulling out the stolen shuriken from earlier. "Katon: Fire Flower Jutsu!" He held the tiny blades to his mouth, inhaling and blowing the shuriken from his hand. A dozen blazing balls of molten steel spread out and barraged the clones, disintegrating all of the charging members.
"You gotta be freaking kidding me!" Several clones yelled. This time the final wave charged him.
"That's my line, dammit." My clone cursed. He grabbed the wooden spear still stuck in the bridge and started to sprint towards me. With a chakra enhanced leap he flew over my head and off the side of the bridge, tumbling down towards the river's surface below.
"He's getting away!" Half a dozen of the clones jumped after him… every single one of them plummeting into the water with loud splashes. When the water settled, all but one of them was gone. No doubt the original.
"..." My clone and I simply stared, even the remaining Naruto's too stunned to say anything. I had assumed when they jumped after him so confidently they would be capable of sticking their feet to the water's surface using chakra. Like in the same way my clone was doing now, standing atop it as if it was solid ground. To think he wasn't even capable of that yet. My clone hoisted the original Naruto out of the water before jumping back onto the bridge with him in tow. He dumped Naruto unceremoniously onto the bridge, the both of them silent the whole time. My clone didn't say another word, silently walking up to me before merging back into the Zetsu cells of my right side.
"So…" I couldn't take the awkward silence anymore. It was downright unnatural for Naruto to be sitting so still without making any sound. He refused to look at me, just silently dripping wet all over the bridge. "...What happened just now? If you don't know how to do the water-walk yet you didn't need to try and bluff your way through it. It's part of the basics so I can teach it to you."
"I can water-walk dammit!" The usual Naruto returned with gusto, flailing his arms and stamping his feet while maintaining the sitting position. "Kakashi-sensei taught me on my last mission to The Land of Waves!"
"Then what the heck was that?" I asked, pointing down to the river below. "Because you gotta know that after you do something like that, it looks to me like you very clearly can't water-walk at all."
"I don't know, alright!" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms and looking away from me again. "Lately it feels like my chakra is acting all funny. Every time I try to mold chakra it ends up going wrong. Either too much leaks out, or I can't form enough to even stand on water." That was odd. He created clones just fine. Then again... what if the number he had created hadn't matched the number he had intended? It would have been just like him to bluff his way through that. This meant...
"Naruto, show me the seal holding the Nine-Tailed Fox." I demanded, following my hunch. Naruto looked surprised for a moment and I thought he might question how I knew about the seal. Even he seemed to be able to put together that as a former subordinate of his father, I would know about it, and so he began to comply with my request.
In fact he seemed only too happy to unzip his sopping wet orange jacket, discarding the soaked material to the side. With his top completely removed and torso bare, he stood up and then formed the ram seal, molding chakra in order to get the seal to appear. In a matter of seconds a tattoo-like spiral pattern formed around his navel. The complexity of it was magnificent, even a seal novice like myself could only marvel at the skill that must have been necessary to create a complicated double-tetra-gram such as this. What's more, Minato-sensei had done it on the fly, having to seal the rampaging fox inside his just born son.
"Your father really was something else." I couldn't help but say out loud. Even now and it felt like I was leagues behind him in almost every way. And he'd been dead for over a decade.
"Right!?" Naruto giggled at my unintended praise, smirking from ear to ear. He really was proud of his father, a man he had never even met but only heard tales about growing up from Rin. His smile was infectious, as I felt myself beginning to grin alongside him.
Until a second seal appeared over the first, causing my freshly formed smile to slip into a concerned frown. "What's this?" I asked, although mostly rhetorically. I could tell what it was even without being told.
There was a second, five-pronged seal placed overtop the first. Minato-sensei had originally designed the seal to allow the fox's chakra to leak out naturally, merging with Naruto's chakra and making it into his own. That was the most brilliant part about it. But having placed this odd numbered seal overtop Minato-sensei's even-numbered seal was causing the chakra to mix unevenly. Again, I was just a beginner when it came to seals and even I knew this was a no go.
As it was, it was a miracle Naruto could perform any jutsu at all.
"Hmm?" Naruto craned his neck, attempting to get a better look at what it was I was suddenly so concerned about. "Ahh… that!?" He suddenly yelled, startling me. You mean to tell me he knew what this was? More importantly, where it came from and who put it there in the first place? "The other day I met this weird snake lady in the forest! Now that I think about it she did poke me with some kinda weird jutsu, but I hadn't realized-!" His words cut abruptly, likely not knowing the proper terminology to complete that thought.
"Dammit…" I mumbled under my breath, just quietly enough that Naruto couldn't hear. Turns out Itachi had been right to get me involved directly with Naruto. By "weird snake lady" Naruto could only be referring to one person. While it was true Orochimaru was traditionally a man, I don't think things such as gender norms could accurately be applied to him anymore. Now the question was, had he been targeting Naruto from the beginning or had he merely been a nuisance in the way of getting to Sasuke?
The simplicity of this five-pronged seal would imply the latter. If I had to guess, the only purpose of it would have been to stop Nine-Tail's chakra from leaking out and being used against him in combat. It made sense that even someone as powerful as Orochimaru would be weary of going against a Tailed Beast in head-to-head combat.
Now my other concern was, "Why didn't you tell Rin about this?" I asked, albeit with more heat in my voice then intended. It was just unimaginable to me that he would have gone this whole time without having told anyone that someone had tampered with his seal. Did he have any idea the gravity of the situation? What if this second seal had been something more dangerous? A way to foster the release of the Nine-Tails or worse, control him.
Naruto again averted his eyes. "Nee-chan worries too much…" He mumbled. "I just didn't want to freak her out more than she already was. She was already talking about pulling me out of the Exams after the Forest of Death, y'know. If I told her about this too..." He trailed off again and I could only sigh.
"Rin worries because she cares about you, idiot." I scolded, but the earlier heat in my voice just wasn't in it. Even though I wanted to be angry, I couldn't bring myself to be. He was so much like the old me that I couldn't. "Don't act tough and hide your wounds." I repeated those words she gave to me all those years ago. Words I still hadn't fully grasped the true meaning of, as I was unable to honor them to this day.
"...You're right. Sorry." They seem to have a profound effect on Naruto at least. He scratched at the whisker marks on his cheek, grinning up at me awkwardly. "I guess you're probably gonna go tell her now, huh?" He asked, already resigning himself to his fate.
In contrast, I gave a small smile and shook my head. "Fortunately for you, this seal happens to be fairly basic stuff. I think I should be able to dispel it myself. After that, we can keep it our secret." I probably shouldn't be saying irresponsible stuff like that as it was definitely setting a bad example for the kid. Yet somehow the relieved giggle he gave after I said it made me not care so much about stuff like that. It didn't hurt to spoil him from time to time, I owed him that much after all.
"Having said that, this is probably going to sting a little." I warned, crouching down in front of the seal and getting myself at eye-level with it. I held out my right hand, palm facing upwards and fingers slightly extended. Chakra gathered in the tips of my fingers until it became visible, appearing as little blue flames. He gulped, closing his eyes in preparation for what it was I was about to do. "Five Pronged Release!" I shouted, rearing my arm back and thrusting forward as if punching at an opponent. My glowing fingers overlapped with the five points composing the seal's base, striking into them and undoing the jutsu.
"Whoa!" Perhaps it had been with a little too much force. I forgot Naruto wasn't able to properly anchor himself with chakra at the moment, so with a loud yelp he went flying backwards. His back hit the railing of the bridge and he then went tumbling over the side.
"Oi, Naruto!" I shouted, moving too late to catch him. The only thing I could do was run to the railing he just flipped over, watching him splash ungracefully once more into the river. Only what I saw when I looked over the ledge wasn't that.
"I think it worked, Obito-senpai!" Naruto cheered, jumping around on top of the water as if dancing. It would appear the instant the seal had been dispelled, the state of his chakra returned to normal. He also hadn't been lying about being able to water-walk, which meant that Kakashi had actually gotten off his lazy ass to teach him something after all.
"Thank goodness," I breathed a sigh of relief I didn't know I had been holding, before then jumping down to join Naruto on the river's surface below. Although it took Naruto another couple minutes to finally calm down enough to turn his attention to me so we could continue. Couldn't say I blamed him, as he must have had that annoying seal on his stomach for a week now screwing up his chakra. So I could at least give him the chance to enjoy a kind of return to normalcy. It also gave me a chance to review the fight in my mind's eye and decide how we would continue his training from here on out.
"So, so?" Naruto asked, apparently ready to find out himself how we would be continuing. "How did I do? What are we going to work on?" He pumped a fist into his open palm, absolutely grinning at whatever challenge it was that awaited him. I could at least appreciate his enthusiasm.
"Hmm… good question." I nodded several times, still considering how to go about this. "For starters, I think your Taijutsu could use a little shaping up. There's not really much of a style you employ, although you do coordinate well with your clones. In fact, the sloppiness of your Taijutsu might even contribute to the unpredictability and unorthodox combinations you and your clones make use of." Naruto's grin slipped, and I could tell he was trying to determine if I was praising him, or making fun of him. I wasn't even really sure myself. "On the other hand, I think it might be better if we focus on the area you're truly lacking in: Ranged combat."
This time Naruto outright grimaced. "Seriously!? You're gonna make me practice throwing kunai and shuriken again?" He whined. Well, that kind of reaction was about what I expected. It was true that having him focus on something like that was what Kakashi had in mind when he asked me to reinforce his basics. I also already mentioned that I knew what was going to work with Naruto, because I knew what had worked for me.
Smirking, I held out an empty palm. "Pass me a couple shuriken. I'll give you an example of what I have in mind." I said. Naruto continued to grumble, but he at least did as I asked, dumping a handful of shuriken into my hand. "Now watch carefully, I'll show you how to perform the jutsu you saw earlier." Naruto's whining stopped abruptly the moment he heard me say something about a jutsu.
Tossing the shuriken in the air, I ran through the required hand signs just slowly enough that Naruto could discern them individually. He wouldn't have to remember them right now, but it was just to give him an idea of the kind of jutsu this was. At the same time, I swelled the chakra in my lungs, converting it into flames to be exhaled. My cheeks swelled, building up my breath just as the shuriken fell in front of me. I caught them with my right hand, holding them in front of my mouth by forming a ring with the hand now holding them. "Katon: Fire Flower Jutsu!" I unleashed the flames onto the shuriken, the projectiles splitting up and flying down the canal in a mesmerizing spiral pattern, being manipulated and guided by my chakra as they flew.
"...Awesome!" Naruto couldn't contain his excitement, leaping into the air and pumping his fists over his head. "You're seriously going to teach me a fire style technique? Really, really? No lie, Obito-senpai?"
I nodded to assure him it was indeed no lie. "Kakashi did tell me to teach you 'the basics' as he so put it. Well, the Fire Flower Jutsu is one of the most basic Katon Jutsu there is. If we use the shuriken as a catalyst to help, we won't have to really worry too much about teaching you complicated Elemental Manipulation to properly use the Jutsu either. Once you get it down, it will allow you to manipulate the shuriken with the fire chakra surrounding them, turning them into guided projectiles. Not to mention it will give you a more powerful ranged technique." In other words, it was the perfect Jutsu to teach him. Not only would it keep his attention, making it easier to teach him in the first place, but it would cover his primary weakness of being overly specialized in close range combat.
"I don't really get it, but I don't care either!" Naruto leapt at me, wrapping my waist in a tight hug. "I'm finally gonna learn a Katon Jutsu! I can't wait to rub it in Sasuke's stupid face." It hardly seemed like something Sasuke would care about, but who was I to tell him something like that. Not when I used to do the same type of things to Kakashi all the time, always getting excited at every little thing which I thought gave me an edge on him. Nevermind the fact that every step forward I had ever made and he had already taken two.
Naruto wasn't me, however, and Sasuke wasn't Kakashi either. What was important for Naruto was here on out. Would he continue down his path unwavering? Or would he eventually be crushed under reality in the same way I had been?
Only time would tell.
After that and there hadn't been much progress in our training. Well, I said not much but that was to be expected on the first day of attempting to teach a new Jutsu. Especially when you considered I was teaching an elemental Jutsu to someone who had yet to learn any. Things like this were gonna take time.
Try telling that to Naruto, though.
Certainly it had taken him a while to get the order of the hand seals down, but that wasn't exactly unusual either. Nevermind getting to the more complicated stuff such as Nature Manipulation or building chakra in your lungs.
It was just that if Naruto was depressed now, after only tripping up after the first step of the process, then we were in for a much rougher trip than I imagined this to be. Even now as we walked side-by-side down the bustling mid-evening streets of Konoha and he was letting out a large sigh. It was to the point that I couldn't possibly ignore him like this any further.
"I've told you already that it's fine." I said, glancing down at him out of the corner of my eye. "We still have most of the month to get the Jutsu down. Besides, this is also helping you get down proper hand seals. That's kind of like reinforcing the basics too, when you think about. Kakashi will be pleased to hear about how much progress you made with that alone." It wasn't like anything I said was a lie. The basics were technically what we were supposed to be working on anyways, so this was really as good a start as any.
"...I get it already, y'know." Naruto grumbled in such a way it wasn't convincing anybody.
Dammit, there was no way I could let Rin see him like this. She was going to wonder what the hell kinda lousy teacher I was at this rate. I needed something to cheer him up, but the I didn't know him well enough to know what he liked. All the same, if I was feeling down when I was a kid, I knew one thing Minato-sensei would always do that would brighten me right up.
"I'll tell you what." I said, refusing to look at him now and instead glancing at the crowds around us. Most people gave the two of us a wide berth, but I couldn't tell if it was because they recognized him as a Jinchuriki or because the sight of my face put them off. Either way, he and I made quite the pair. "To commemorate our first day of training together, how about I treat you to your favorite meal? Anything you want, it's on me."
"Really?" It was like a switch had been flipped. One second Naruto was lagging a couple steps behind me, eyes cast continuously downwards. The next and he was in front, dragging me along by the sleeve of my jacket. "Ichiraku Ramen, here I come!" He whooped. If I didn't know any better, I would say I had just been played. This little brat was only acting so down in order to ring a free meal outta me. Clever little bastard.
The small ramen stand Naruto dragged me to wasn't an unfamiliar one either. It had been an establishment for as long as I could remember, Minato-sensei bringing us here as a team from time to time. No doubt it was Rin who introduced Naruto to this place.
"Welcome!" The stall-owner called as Naruto and I entered, pushing past the flaps to get to the single interior counter of the stall. "Ah, why if it isn't Naruto?" Apparently my pupil was a regular here, the old man's smile a welcome change to the usual glares and odd looks sent in our general direction.
Naruto began ordering before we even took our seats, listing off a mountain-sized list of toppings all in one breath. I would have chided him for making an order that was almost definitely going to take time to prepare and thus cause problems for other customers, but there was only one other person sitting at the counter at this time. Naruto didn't even appear to notice him, beginning to take the seat to his left before I stopped him. Guiding Naruto by the shoulder, I moved him a single seat over, before then taking the seat Naruto had just been going to for myself. Naruto, for the most part, didn't even seem to notice, but at this point I wasn't paying much attention to him anymore either.
There was something about the man I now sat next to that was distracting me. I couldn't put a finger on what it was, but he was… potentially dangerous. There was no basis for this skepticism. It was just the moment I laid eyes on him, no, the moment before we even entered the shop and I felt this presence. Deep in my gut, something was telling me danger was nearby and that I should be on guard. For Shinobi, being able to accurately read this sense of danger was sometimes the line between life and death.
No matter how I looked at this man out of the corner of my eye, however, and I couldn't find anything particularly striking about him that would be causing such alarm bells to be going off inside my head. He had long red-hair, almost shoulder length, with bangs covering his eyes so I couldn't see them. Which was about the only distinct feature I could make out, as he was otherwise draped in a large purple rain-jacket, making his physical characteristics hard to determine.
"What about you, sir? What will you have?" The shop owner suddenly asked, snapping me from my observations. I blinked several times in rapid succession, trying to bring the rest of the world around me back into focus. I hadn't realized it, but I had been studying the man next to me now for several intense seconds and in that time Naruto had finished his order. Meanwhile, I hadn't even glanced at the menu yet.
"Right…" I cleared my throat, awkwardly glancing up at the menu and list of toppings. Deciding it was too much to take in all at once, I just said, "Give me the same as Naruto." It was probably safe to say that Naruto knew what was good here, so I should be able to trust in his order. Hopefully. The shop-owner then gave a shout of affirmation before setting out to make our food.
By the time this was done, the man next to me had pulled some money out from his pocket and was placing it on the counter top. "Thanks for the food," He said, voice deeper than I would have expected. It was only for an instant that his arm appeared outside of the rain-jacket, but it had been skinny to the point of being malnourished. Then as the man turned to leave, I could tell his eyes fell upon me. Despite not being able to see them, I could feel their powerful gaze behind his red bangs.
He knew. The fact that I was studying him hadn't escaped his notice, despite having become an expert at discreetly observing others under the tutelage of Master Jiraiya. He said nothing to me, however, and I was incapable of calling out to him to stop. As he turned to leave though, I managed to catch one other detail beneath his rain-jacket, a mark of the Hidden Rain Village wrapped around his neck. Which meant the rain-jacket that I originally thought of as a disguise might have actually just been standard attire for him.
That was as far as my observations were able to go, the man disappearing out and into the crowd a second later. My body turned in the stool as if having a mind of its own, making to follow him. Something inside of me was telling me not to let him go. If I didn't confront him now, it would be disastrous later.
"Say, say! Listen to this, Ayame-Nee-san!" Naruto's voice snapped me back to reality. I couldn't just go running after some possibly imaginary disaster. Not with Naruto right next to me, the one I was supposed to be watching over and protecting. Thankfully he was always such a loud-mouth, or I might have made a mistake just now. "Guess what Obito-senpai is teaching me! A Katon Jutsu, y'know!" He didn't even give them a chance to guess, too excited to spit it out and let the whole world know he was soon going to be breathing fireballs.
"That sounds kinda dangerous, doesn't it?" The stall owner's daughter asked, glancing over at me with concerned eyes. Although she wasn't able to maintain the gaze for long, flinching after getting a good look at my scars. Not that I could say I blamed her, for flinching or for her words. Probably anyone would agree that Naruto and fire didn't exactly mix well and was just a recipe for disaster waiting to happen. Even I couldn't guarantee this didn't backfire spectacularly.
"You worry too much!" Of course Naruto didn't see it that way, waving off any concerns they had. "Obito-senpai recognizes that I got the talent for it." He grinned at me, eyes shining in such a way that it made my stomach drop. Because I knew what he was going to say next. "Obito-senpai is like me, y'know! He's probably gonna become the Fifth Hokage. And when he does that makes me a student of the Hokage, so I think I can handle a Katon Jutsu or two, y'know!" I hated being right. Just why in the world would he say it like that? As if it wasn't bad enough that it wasn't true, but he had no idea the kind of position he was putting me in. Building me up to be this inspiration inside his mind, when all I was going to wind up doing was disappointing him.
"That is impressive!" The stall owner meanwhile let out a big belly laugh. "Two future Hokage sitting right in front of me." Now it even extended to this guy, dammit. "Alright, order up!"
Fortunately for me, no further conversation could be had as two ramen bowls with miniature mountains made of toppings were placed in front of us. In a way it was a blessing, the massive amount of food served to shut Naruto up for several minutes as he once again inhaled it like a vacuum cleaner. I would also admit it, but it was damn good. It wasn't Rin's homemade cooking, but it was probably the next closest thing in terms of deliciousness. Finishing our food, the two of us thankfully manage to leave without any more talk about the Hokage arising.
As we exited the stall, calling our thanks for the food, a familiar voice also called to us from the street. "Ah! Obito, Naruto, I knew I might find you two here!" Rin ran up to the two of us through the crowd, that same world-illuminating beautiful smile on her face as always.
"Nee-chan!" Naruto grinned back at her, holding out a peace sign as she approached. "I did so good today, Obito-senpai told me I could have anything I wanted to eat." He said. As I recalled, that was in no way how that conversation went. Rather, I remember him sulking up until I offered to buy him something in order to cheer him up. Of course, I wasn't about to call him out on his lie. It would just be too much of a headache.
"That so?" Rin asked, rubbing his head affectionately before turning her attention to me. "Sorry about your wallet, he didn't order too much did he? If you want, I'll pay you back for however much his portion was." It had been rather pricey, considering it was just ramen. Although I'm pretty sure he got every single topping they had and then doubled it. Which is unfortunately the same thing I ordered, not knowing what I was getting myself into.
"It's fine." I shook my head at her offer all the same. "You cooked for me last night. I can at least do this much to pay you back." Now that I thought about it, if he ate this much for just one meal I could only imagine what their monthly grocery budget must be to accommodate that bottomless pit he called a stomach.
"You don't need to be considerate about things like that." Rin said, completely missing the irony that she also just offered to pay me back. "I'll cook for you anytime, so don't hold back." She said, pressing her arms behind her back and leaning towards me. I ended up instinctively leaning back, turning my eye away and glancing up at the night sky to avoid her gaze.
"A-anyways, how was work? You must be tired." I attempted to change the topic, not sure I could handle the embarrassment if she kept saying things like that any longer. Rin had always been like that, since we were kids. Saying things like that while having no idea the kind of impression it gave me or what it did to my heart. It had been no wonder why I'd fallen for her as hard as I did, to the point it hit me even now as an adult.
Rin giggled, apparently enjoying my reaction. "How about I tell you on the way home?" She asked.
"Home?" I repeated, not sure what she meant. I was going to head back to the Uchiha Estate to turn in for the night. I had no intention of going to her place now that she had found us already. Certainly I would have escorted Naruto the whole way, but now that the two of them were together there was no need for that. They could take care of one another even without me there.
"Oh right," She said in that way that meant she only just remembered. Interlacing her fingers in front of herself, she slowly began to twirl her hips back and forth. "I was thinking. As long as you're training Naruto, why don't you come and stay with the two of us? It will be easier on you that way too, right?"
"Really!?" Naruto asked, already jumping in the air. "You're gonna come stay with us?" He was awfully damn excited for a kid who had forgotten about me up until a couple days ago.
"Hold on now." I tried to calm him and Rin both down, holding up my arms in front of myself as if warding off an attack. "I didn't agree to anything yet." The immediate disappointment on both their faces would have made you think I just kicked a cat. "I mean, it just doesn't seem practical, right? Your apartment is already so small. I would just be a burden if you had to accommodate me as well." Not to mention, I did not want to go back home and see the look on Izumi's face when I told her where I would be staying. She would tease me for it until the day I died.
"That's no problem at all!" Naruto and Rin responded together, in perfect sync with one another. I grimaced, suddenly starting to feel actual pressure to have to accept. I could kind of understand this kind of blatant selfishness from Naruto, but from Rin and it was downright uncharacteristic. Certainly she was pushy about a great many things, but it was always because she worried or was trying to cheer you up. For her to be pushy about something like this…
Just as I was feeling all my excuses run out, there was a sudden weight on my right shoulder. "Ribbit!" An orange toad the size of my head was sitting there, yellow eyes blinking dully. It glanced around here and there, seemingly without much consciousness aside from hunting for some flies to eat. I knew better than that, however.
"Whoa, it's huge!" Naruto had no idea what the toad was, simply enamored with the size of it. Any moment it looked like he might jump towards me in an attempt to snatch it. Rin seemed to realize the same thing, placing her hands on Naruto's shoulders.
"How about you consult with your clan first about coming to stay with us?" She said. For now, it would seem I was safe. Honestly, I don't even know why I was so desperate to avoid it in the first place. The younger me would have literally killed people for this chance. Yet here I was, trying my damndest to keep Rin at an arm's length, despite her best efforts to close that gap. Maybe it was because I knew? Rin didn't actually see me in the way I wanted her to. We were just childhood friends in her eyes, so it was natural. For me, however, her desire to be close just gave me hope for something that would never become reality; To have her return my feelings. I suppose that was why I was fighting this so hard.
"Aww, we're leaving?" Naruto asked, as Rin started to push him away. "Well, alright. See you tomorrow, Obito-senpai." His pout did kind of make me feel bad, but it was nothing compared to the look in Rin's eye. Despite the fact that she was smiling at me the same as always, something about it didn't reach all the way and I thought instead she might start crying at any moment.
"Hey, Rin…" I started to call out to her despite myself. However, the toad gave another ribbit and any words I might have wanted to say died on my tongue. "...See you later." I said. "You too, Naruto. Same place as today." They both nodded to me, bidding last farewells before disappearing into the heavy crowds.
"Ribbit!" The toad continued to croak and I glared at it out of the corner of my eye.
"Hurry up and lead the way to Master Jiraiya already, Gamakichi." I snapped at it, speaking to the toad as if it was a human-being and not just some animal.
"Watch the attitude there, buddy!" The toad responded, perfectly capable of speaking and sentient thought despite having not said a word until just now. "You looked like you wanted to run away from the conversation right up until I showed up. Not having second thoughts now, are ya?" I clicked my teeth, both hating how right he was and how paradoxical my feelings were.
"You're right, I'm sorry." I apologized. Not like I had much choice. If I ticked this guy off and he told his dad I was gonna have bigger problems to worry about. Namely a toad as big as a house trying to squish me beneath his fat webbed feet.
The little bastard laughed out loud, knowing full well why I was forced into backing down so quickly. "Alright buddy, that way!" He began to guide me, pointing his whole stubby arm in the opposite way Rin and Naruto had just gone. I started to walk, barely able to move through the growing crowds. It was getting to be about prime night-life time and with the influx of visitors for the Chunin Exams, business was certainly booming. Not much longer and the nightly festivals would begin too. That's when things were going to get really wild around this time of night.
"You're a pretty amusing guy." Gamakichi continued to gab at me as I navigated the crowds, occasionally pointing down a side street or indicating when I should turn. "Why is it you never signed the Toad Contract? I hear you've been hanging out with Jiraiya since before I was even a tadpole." He asked. Master Jiraiya was perhaps best known for his affiliation with Myobokuzan and the sentient sage toads that inhabited it. To the point it defined most of his fighting techniques and was an excellent source of resources and knowledge.
It was also why Minato-sensei, Jiraiya's pupil before me, had formed a contract with them. He had also been capable of summoning them to his aide whenever the task at hand required… a bigger solution. For example, Gamakichi's father, Gamabunta, had been there to assist in the fight against the Nine-Tails over a decade ago. So it seemed only natural that I would also enter into a contract with them, just like my Sensei and Master had done.
"I don't really understand the specifics myself," I answered as best I could. "But according to Fukasaku-sama, there is some bad blood between Myobokuzan and my clan. Something about a fight long ago between the sages of the past and Sharingan warriors looking to take their power." It was ancient history, so old there weren't even reliable records about it anymore. Some grudges transcended such things and despite having no problem with me personally, my family name was enough reason to deny contracting with.
My master had tried sticking up for me, but even he couldn't go against the word of his own master, the old toad sage, Fukasaku. Despite not having a contract with them, however, it was still impertinent that I have a kind of relationship with the toads as a pupil of Jiraiya's. So I had come to be on a friendly basis with a great number of them over the past few years.
"That so?" Gamakichi asked, apparently not too interested despite it having been his question. "Anyways, here we are." I stopped outside a corner bar, the entire place just a single counter you would stand in front of to order your drinks. Located among the patrons and predictably flirting quite loudly with the nearest woman available was my Master. "Tell Jiraiya I said bye!" Gamakichi then disappeared in a puff of smoke, not even waiting for my reply.
"Oh, Obito! Over here!" Jiraiya took notice of me not even a second later, waving me towards him. "I saved you a spot!" He patted the counter to his right, a gap just small enough for a single person to squeeze in. Since there were no seats, it was just a free-for-all, people fitting in wherever they could. Having said that, Jiraiya was a fairly large and imposing figure, not to mention how loud he got once drunk. Which it certainly looked like he was on his way, cheeks already flushed and a lecherous grin taking up half his face. So people were giving him a bit of a berth, not much, but enough.
"I've been trying to contact you the past couple days." I complained. Although I don't know why I bothered. He was always like this, impossible to get a hold of when you wanted, but always calling upon you at his own convenience. I didn't bother telling him why I had been seeking him either, as it was both no longer relevant and he no doubt already knew.
To my chagrin he just laughed, deeply and from the belly. "My bad, my bad!" He said, not sorry at all. "Here, have some hot sake. It will lighten you up, maybe finally get rid of that constant glum look you always have." He didn't even wait for me to refuse, placing a small ceramic cup in front of me, the inside already full.
I thought about telling him to shove it, but honestly some alcohol sounded good right about now. So without another word I picked the cup up, capable of holding it between just two fingers, and downing the sake in a single swig. The warming sensation of the sake spread through me in an instant, sending a slight tingle all the way down to my toes. I slammed the small cup on the table and it was filled back up in an instant.
"Thatta boy!" Jiraiya thumped my back, clearly pleased with my display. It wasn't often that I felt the need to humor him when it came to his proclivities. That meant alcohol, women, and gambling. Having said that, I did see the appeal. Sometimes it was just easier to bury your troubles into those things, if it will help you forget even for just a moment why it was necessary in the first place. Being back in the village reminded me all too strongly of all those things I had been trying to forget. So I downed the next shot too, and then the one after that in fairly quick succession.
"That bad, huh?" Jiraiya asked, leaning his arms on the counter top. He hadn't quit smiling, but there was a tinge of pity in it now that hadn't been there before.
"Where do I even start?" I asked, legitimately not knowing what to bring up first. Maybe the sake was already taking effect, because the freshest memory was what ended up tumbling out of my mouth first. "Rin told me to come live with her." I said, almost as if I didn't believe it myself.
"Oh!" Jiraiya cheered for me, thumping my back hard enough to knock my chest into the side of the counter. "I knew you had it in you! Back for only a couple days and already getting cozy with the ladies. Just like how I taught you." He laughed out loud again, taking another shot of his own cup. The container he was pouring it from must have run out, because he called for another one right after.
I finished my next cup too, taking courage from the warm liquid inside. "I turned down her offer." I said. Without even turning to look, I could tell Jiraiya was waiting for me to tell him why. "I think… nah, I'm positive that I'm still in love with her. And when she asked me to come live with her and Naruto, I just… I don't know, I panicked." How long had it been since I verified my feelings out loud like this? Then again, I'm not sure I ever had.
"Idiot~!" Jiraiya chopped me on the head, but not with any kind of real force. He then poured another cup, one for me and one for himself. Placing the container down, he held his full cup up to me. I silently picked my own cup up, clinking it against his before we both downed them.
"Yeah, I really am an idiot, huh?" I asked. He snorted, which caused me to give a short chortle of my own. It built from there and in seconds we were both laughing so hard that the people around us tried to make even more space. No one wanted to be next to a couple raving lunatics it would seem.
"I've been waiting a long time for you to figure that one out." Jiraiya said, wiping away tears once we both calmed down a little. "Maybe coming back to the village was the right choice, after all." I didn't really get what he meant, as I had been assuming until now that we were here for Orochimaru. As if sensing that was what I was thinking, Jiraiya finally decided to take the conversation down a more serious road. "With everything you've seen and heard the past couple days, what do you think about what's going on? Are we in danger?"
"Good question…" I drawled, turning around to rest my elbows on the counter and look out at the crowds behind us. Tourists from no less than four foreign countries were here to watch Shinobi from their nation compete in the final matches. Not just tourists, but supposedly allied Ninja and who was to say what others, all intermingling in this festive atmosphere. "On the surface, everything seems to be fine. Certainly hectic, but not anything to worry about. Yet at the same time," I thought about all the things I had seen and heard since coming back.
"I can't help but get the same feeling I had before the Uchiha Incident." It was there, boiling beneath the surface. Something larger than Orochimaru. He was the one poking his head out and making a ruckus certainly, but it was more like he was just a sign of the beginning, a bad omen of more terrible things to come. That was how I felt.
"You should trust your gut and hold onto that feeling." Jiraiya advised. "It might just be the thing we need to weather whatever storm you think you see coming." Hearing him say that did remind me of one other thing.
"It's probably nothing, but just before this I met a man with red-hair at the ramen stall." I decided to relay the information to my Master just in case. It probably wasn't information he would be able to make use of, but it was better to say it than not and only regret it later by finding out it was important.
"Red hair?" To my surprise, he suddenly stood straight. It was like all the earlier intoxication was gone, my Master suddenly sober as he turned to regard me. "Tell me more." He demanded, far more interested in the topic than I expected. It would seem I had been right to trust my gut on this one.
"I wasn't able to get much." I shrugged, turning back around and leaning in to make our conversation more private. "He was from the Hidden Rain Village and well… he had this kind of foreboding presence. I can't describe it better than that. The only distinct thing about him was the color of his hair, so I don't know what it could have been."
"His eyes?" Jiraiya pressed, but to that I could only shake my head.
"Hidden behind his bangs." I answered. "Should I have pursued him after all?" It was starting to seem like I made an error in judgement, but Jiraiya quickly cleared my doubts.
"No, you did well." He said. "It's probably nothing anyways, but I will look into this case personally." With that, he poured another drink for each of us and steered the topic once more to lighter ground.
Again I didn't really get it, but if Jiraiya was the one to say it then I knew to drop it. If it was really important that I know about it, he would tell me when the time came. For now it would seem that there were too many uncertainties to confirm or deny anything, although Jiraiya appeared to have an idea for the possible identity of the man I had met. In the meantime, I would just leave that to him.
I had enough on my plate with Naruto as it was anyway.
