A/N: This one's a bit more serious than the other two. I'm almost sorry for making Kakashi so much of a bastard, but I wouldn't love him as much if he had been any different as a kid. (This is a semi-apology to his fans.) If you want to keep reading about Obito's adventures with his team, I suggest you check out my other fic "Five times Obito made friends with Kakashi" if you haven't already. You can look at it as a sort of sequel to this. Enjoy! ^^
Summary: Kakashi (finally) meets Obito.

Shade

The art of concealment was one of the subjects trainees spent the most time studying in the Ninja Academy. Knowing how to use their surroundings to keep themselves out of sight, how to move silently and to creep up on an enemy to take him by surprise were among the most important skills for a young ninja to master. After all, choosing one's battles and avoiding the rest was the only way for them to survive the war long enough to grow into jounin.

Therefore, Kakashi's first opinion of Obito Uchiha even before he laid eyes on him was that he was going to get them all killed.

Obito was running through the forest where Minato, Kakashi and Rin had already started their exercises. It was their second day as a team, but they had yet to meet the Uchiha due to his bad habit of showing up late (unaware of this fact, their teacher had canceled training before he could arrive the previous day). Hiding high up in a tree overlooking the clearing at the center of the training grounds, Kakashi flinched as one branch after another snapped under the new arrival's feet. His breath was so loud, it was scaring the wildlife away and the kunai holster strapped to his leg was so loose, Kakashi could just count the number of weapons jingling inside it.

Obito Uchiha was an idiot, he decided. And he had yet to even see what he looked like.

When the genin finally left the cover of the trees, Kakashi was presented with the sight of a nine-year-old with black hair and orange goggles. That alone would have made the already chuunin groan - "what kind of idiot would willingly impair their eyesight?" - but the presence of the distasteful colour on the clothes as well almost had him wishing that he had a little less self-control so he could bash his head against the tree trunk.

They were so, so dead.

Standing all alone in the clearing, Obito looked confused for a moment before slumping down beside the training logs. "Aw, man, not again!"

Kakashi could hear his teacher speaking a little way into the woods - probably explaining something to Rin - so he figured that it was up to him to pass on the information about what they were doing to his new teammate. (Minato could deal with the welcomes.)

"Hey, idiot," he called out from his perch. Black eyes zeroed in on him and Kakashi was semi-pleased that at least his hearing seemed to work. "You're late."

"And who the hell are you, bastard?" Obito replied, not one to take insults lying down.

"Kakashi Hatake, your new teammate. Now get your ass over here."

Obito's eyes were narrowed. On the one hand, the kid wasn't scoring any points in his sympathy book, but on the other, he recognised the name he'd been given. Kakashi Hatake had been a legend in the Academy: he'd graduated at age five and gotten promoted to chuunin at six. Obito had always looked forward to meeting the genius and hoped to one day become as good as him.

"I'm Obito," he said, hoping to make peace for the name-calling. "I'm one of the..."

"... Biggest idiots I've ever seen," Kakashi finished for him. "I really don't care about what you have to say. You're late, you're loud and you're wearing orange. I also know you graduated with the lowest scores from the Academy this year and probably wouldn't even be here if it weren't for your last name."

Kakashi was indifferent as he delivered his little speech. He didn't add any provocative gestures and his eyes never went beyond their usual half-lidded stare, but somehow those only made the insults harder to bear. The red-faced Uchiha was so enraged he had not even thought to respond yet, but Kakashi was not done talking.

"You can fail as a ninja as much as you want, but try not to drag the rest of us down. Now get over here."

"Why you..." he tried to say, but got interrupted for the second time that day.

"Obito? Obito Uchiha?" A friendly-looking blond with a standard issue vest asked, as he made his way into the clearing. Rin followed and, at the sight of her warm smile, all of Obito's aggravation was drained away.

"I see you've met your teammates. I'm Minato Namikaze, your jounin instructor. Welcome to the team."

Obito instantly liked the man (he hadn't even asked about why he was late!) and could tell that despite all the horrible things the so-called genius had thrown in his face, his teacher didn't share those opinions. Being close to Rin was also a huge plus. He definitely would not let anything his third teammate (or his family) said keep him from doing his best and becoming a great ninja.

He'd deal with the still glaring white-haired bastard soon enough and show him just what he was made of.