Author's Note: 8 chapters in! What a milestone. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews!
Chapter 8: Midara's Story: Daylight, Part 7
Orochimaru leaned back in his chair with crossed arms. His eyes looked past the two visitors in his lab as he tried to reconcile the information.
"Please tell me you were listening. I don't want to have to repeat that entire story again." Jiraiya bemoaned.
"I was listening." the sannin replied. "But I can't be of much help in unlocking the mystery of Midara's past life. I've never been inside Ryûchi Cave."
"Then how did you sign a contract with the Colossal Serpents?" Jiraiya asked.
"I got close to it." Orochimaru admitted. "That's where I battled and defeated Manda. In exchange for staying out of their territory, Manda agreed to be my personal summon. I didn't want to forego such a valuable contract, so I agreed. I haven't been back since."
"Who is Manda?" Midara asked.
"Manda is the largest of all Colossal Serpents. Older than even the tailed beasts."
"That old?" Jiraiya whispered in awe.
"Or so he claims." Orochimaru shrugged. "Who knows."
"Maybe we can ask him." Midara suggested. "Maybe he'll know how to help us."
"That's not a good idea." Jiraiya shook his head.
"For once, I agree with Jiraiya." Orochimaru affirmed. "Manda is difficult to control, even for me. He's unpredictable and violent, with a penchant for devouring humans that so much as annoy him."
"But there are other Colossal Serpents that are easier to control, right?" Midara pushed. "I read that Colossal Serpents can store memories in their eyes and share them with their kin. Maybe if we explain to one of the other serpents, he can take the message to Manda, and then, Manda can decide whether or not he wants to help us." Orochimaru considered her proposal for a bit.
"We can try, but don't get your hopes up." he finally agreed.
Midara ran to the training field and immediately fell into a bow in front of the awaiting team.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" she exclaimed over Kakashi's 'you're late.' The silver-haired boy scoffed.
"It's alright, we haven't been waiting that long." Rin assured her. "Besides, Obito just got here a few minutes ago."
"I'm just glad I wasn't the last one." Obito said with a laugh.
"Let's just get this training exercise over with."
"Hey Rin, want to be on my team?" Obito asked.
"No." Kakashi answered for her. "It'll be you and Midara against me and Rin. We'll have an hour to prepare and then we engage."
"Two Uchiha versus you guys? Doesn't that seem a little unfair?" Obito pushed out his bottom lip in a pout.
"It'll basically just be Midara against the two of us. At least she can use you as a shield." Kakashi shot back. The two boys began yelling at each other, and the girls eventually managed to drag them away to their respective ends of the field.
"Ooo! That Kakashi makes me so mad!" Obito punched the air. "I'm going to knock him down a peg!"
"You know you're playing right into his hand, right?" Midara asked. "He wants you to go on the offensive."
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it, Obito: ninja only have so much energy. It takes more energy to launch an attack than to dodge one. If you stay on the offensive, you'll tire yourself out, and the opponent, whose been evading and defending the entire time, will still have plenty of energy to knock you down on the counterattack." she explained.
"That's so smart!" Obito exclaimed. "They should really teach stuff like this at the academy."
"U-uh…they do." Midara said with a nervous chuckle. "You already have such large chakra reserves thanks to your Uchiha blood. If you spend a little bit of that evading in the beginning, you'll let Kakashi tire himself out and then—bam! You hit him with a counterattack the first chance you get!"
"Man, this would be a lot easier if I had Sharingan!" The Uchiha boy scratched his head in frustration. "How am I supposed to evade his attacks? He's so fast!"
"Try reading his chakra using regular sensory techniques. That's basically how the Sharingan works." Midara suggested. "Suppress all your chakra and just focus on his. Even taijutsu uses a little bit of chakra. It won't be perfect, but you should be able to read the path enough to figure out what he's about to do. Then, when you do activate your Sharingan, you'll be able to read chakra perfectly. Every move. Down to the twitch of a single muscle. You'll be unstoppable! No one will be able to lay a finger on you!"
"Yea, yea! Maybe they'll even give me a cool nickname like the Yellow Flash!"
"Like Obito the Phantom! Because attacks just pass you by!"
"That sounds awesome! And then Rin will have to acknowledge I'm better than Kakashi, and she'll love me instead! That sounds great! Teach me how to do that!"
"Okay, watch closely!"
"Are you sure advancing so early is a good idea, Kakashi?" Rin asked, following closely behind her teammate.
"Yea, they won't see it coming. I want to get this over with." Kakashi replied.
"Oi!" Obito called out. Kakashi and Rin stopped, safely hidden in the leaves of the trees.
"What is that idiot doing?" Rin whispered. "Why is he just standing out in a clearing yelling?"
"If you're done hiding, come out and face me like a man, Kakashi!" Obito chided.
"Tch." Kakashi stood.
"Wait, Kakashi!" Rin tried to grab his arm, but it was too late. His blood was already boiling.
"There you are." Obito smirked, taking a fighting stance. "Well? What's the matter? Too scared to make the first move?" Kakashi ran towards the Uchiha boy, throwing a series of punches and kicks. To his surprise, Obito dodged every one of them. He tried again, switching up his moves. But to no avail. What the hell? I can't touch him. Kakashi jumped back and began weaving seals. Obito jumped up into the tree branches. He knew I was going to use an earth style technique. But…. His eyes narrowed. No. He read my chakra. He knew I was accumulating enough for a large-scale attack. So, he just moved completely out of my range. When did he learn to do that? Kakashi saw Obito smirk. What is he—no! The silver-haired boy barely had enough time to move. He narrowly avoided Midara's fist. Was he distracting me so she could attack from behind? I couldn't even sense her until she was right on me! Her momentum carried her forward and when her punch landed against the ground, the earth trembled. Stone shot up from the dirt, knocking Kakashi into the air. And that's when he felt it: the full force of Obito's kick against his side. It knocked Kakashi into a tree, and Rin caught him before he could fall to the ground.
"We surrender!" Rin called out. "That was amazing, you two!"
"N-no!" Kakashi tried to stand, but the pain in his side wouldn't let him. Obito had never been able to land a hit before, so Kakashi had never appreciated his strength. With just one kick, he had broken Kakashi's ribs.
"Give it up, Kakashi." Obito said, lacing his fingers behind his head. "We beat you fair and square." Rin began healing his ribs and Midara joined in, helping with the treatment.
"You copied my earth style technique?" Kakashi asked.
"That wasn't ninjutsu." Midara said, keeping her eyes on his wounds. "Just chakra enhanced taijutsu. Obito lured you out into that opening because we knew there was stone underneath the dirt. We figured you would pick up on it too and try your earth style technique. Obito said that was the one he was most comfortable dodging."
"She didn't even need her Sharingan for this!"
"That's nothing for you to brag about, Obito!" Rin admonished. The Uchiha boy moped, heartbroken that his attempt to win Rin's approval hadn't landed. Kakashi thought back on his previous conversations with Minato. Midara had advanced so quickly in such a short period of time. A part of him even felt like she was holding back. But that wasn't even the most concerning part. Kakashi's eyes moved to Obito.
"When did you learn to read chakra like that?"
"Hm? You could tell, huh?" Obito chuckled. "We didn't do any field preparation with our allotted hour. Midara spent that time teaching me how to read chakra just enough to determine attack range." One hour. Kakashi would have called him a liar if he hadn't witnessed it himself. He always thought Obito was mediocre—proof that the Uchiha were like everyone else, not the elite clan they espoused to be. Yet Obito had learned a fairly advanced sensory technique in an impossibly short period of time.
"Everything okay, Kakashi?" Rin asked.
"Yea." Kakashi lied. He felt a jealousy overcome him. Obito would surpass him just like Midara had. It was only a matter of time.
"Hey!" Obito pointed to Midara's headband. "You chipped it."
"Huh?" Midara pulled the headband off her forehead and stared at the broken corner. "Aw man! Oro-sensei is going to kill me if I ask him for another replacement."
"Let me see." Rin said, holding her hand out. She examined the chip. "It's barely noticeable. I double anyone will see it if they're not looking for it."
"It was probably from all that stone shooting up from the ground. You're too careless." Kakashi scolded.