Chapter 24

When they had received their mission slips and left the office, Minato turned to his three students with a strained smile. "I'm afraid I have to leave now, you guys know what to do, right?"

Kakashi rolled his eyes as Rin pouted. "Of course we do," the silver-haired boy drawled. "We're Chūnin, Minato-sensei, not Genin."

The blonde only responded with a mirthful chuckle as he ruffled Kakashi's hair, to the boy's frustration. "Of course, how could I forget. Even though you three are as cute as Genin, you are also just as capable as Chūnin."

Obito would've questioned exactly why their sensei wasn't going to be with them, but he decided against it.

The man was already stressed, and if he didn't wish to say(or dwell on whatever was bothering him), then Obito didn't plan on prying. If it proved important enough, Minato would tell them, Obito was certain of this.

Besides, it was possible that whatever he was dealing with were residual issues resulting from Obito's little stunt when he came back to the past, and he knew that it was a sore subject with the entirety of his team.

So, when Minato disappeared in a familiar flash of gold and blue, the Chūnin of Team Seven trudged off, mentally(and emotionally) preparing themselves for the monster of all D-Ranks.

"Man, we look like shit."

Obito's little comment earned him two heated glares from his teammates, but he couldn't help it. All three of them really, truly did.

Kakashi's clothes were caked in dried mud and covered in various tears.

His mask was torn about six times, but somehow, each time it seemed like the dark material was about to give, the silver-haired Chūnin managed to replace it with a fresh, tear-free mask, and Obito could honestly say that there was something seriously wrong with his friend.

Obito himself was glad that he had bought multiple spares of his clothes, because he was certain that even one of Kushina's patch jobs wouldn't be good enough to make his now-ruined clothes wearable.

And Rin... The poor girl lost their game of rock, paper, scissors, and ended up being the one to carry the cat.

Her hair was as messy and frazzled as she likely felt, her clothes disheveled and torn in odd places thanks to Tora's dangerously sharp claws.

The small group was walking back to the Hokage tower, hell-cat in hand, and it had only taken them three hours to find and subdue the damn thing.

Yeah, only. Considering the fact that Obito recalled a time where the mission took them fourteen hours(they practically chased the little shit to the four corners of Hi no Kuni), three hours was nothing. Nothing.

A thought occurred to Obito, and he cringed. 'Wasn't… Tora still alive around the time that Naruto was a Genin…?' The Uchiha was also pretty certain that when Minato had spoken about his own Genin-and-D-Rank-days, Tora was included in those stories.

Obito severely hoped that it was just his imagination or maybe some sick tradition of naming the most cantankerous gits of the Fire Daimyō's cats 'Tora' and not the idea of the freak being immortal.

Obito was fairly certain that Tora was the only living being that would lose out to Madara in regards to who Obito would prefer to ensure that immortality was never reached, and he was fairly certain that any self-respecting shinobi of Konoha would agree.

When they entered the tower, they were immediately lead to the Hokage's office.

They gave their formal bows of respect in the presence of the elderly Hokage as Kakashi stated, "Team Seven under Jounin Namikaze Minato, reporting in for the successful retrieval and delivery of the cat Tora."

"OH, MY BABY!" The three Chūnin jumped back as Madame Shijimi snatched Tora from Rin's arms and promptly began to strangle—wait, no—hug the cat.

To death. Obito could tell from the slightly horrified and surprised look his rival wore that he had not detected the woman's presence before she had all but announced it to the world, and was most likely wondering how she managed that.

Obito didn't want to know. Whether it was the truth behind Tora's apparent immortality or Madame Shijimi's latent stealth abilities, he really didn't want to know.

A cough brought the team's attention back to the Hokage, who was pointedly ignoring the shrieks of the mangled cat and the praises of love(was Obito hallucinating or were those physical, bulbous hearts being emitted by the rotund woman?) from the Daimyō's wife.

"Congratulations on another mission completed, Team Seven." He slid three small envelopes across his desk towards them. "Here is your payment."

Obito picked up his pay and eyed it curiously. Typically, missions, especially D-Ranks, were assigned and filtered through the mission's desk downstairs.

For whatever reason, the "Tora Mission" was always given by the Hokage, and was a cut above the normal D-Ranks in regards to payment.

'… Oh well,' Obito thought with a shrug. Most likely, it could be attributed to the fact that the woman was the Daimyō's wife and insanely rich.

The man-boy would never understand the minds of nobles, and he never planned on learning.

After the trio of Chūnin escaped the room, Obito decided that he wanted to spend some more time with his team.

"Ne, Kakashi, Rin," he began, gaining the attention of his two teammates. "Let's go out someplace as a team, y'know, bonding!"

Kakashi sighed. "I have training."

Rin looked down at her feet and kicked the dirt. "I, er… I'm trying to save money."

"You always train, Bakashi," Obito stared down the silver-haired boy who glared at the nickname, "and you don't have to worry about money, Rin. I'll treat both of you!" He paused. "… But only if we go to Ichiraku's."

The Hatake looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but started walking in the direction of the ramen house anyway. "Ichiraku's? Since when did you become a fan?"

A small chuckle from the medic of their team made them turn to her. "Kushina-san is rubbing off on you, isn't she, Obito?"

Obito only shrugged, lifting his arms up behind his head in a casual movement. "… Hmm, I guess you could say that."

The three walked in amiable silence the rest of the way there, and arrived to place their orders.

"One miso ramen, please!" Obito exclaimed happily.

His two teammates gave their orders at a lower volume, 'shoyu for me,' was Rin, and a muttered, 'shio,'was Kakashi in his usual monotony.

As Rin chatted with Kakashi—the latter only contributing to the conversation with quiet 'hn's and nods, with an occasional real word—Obito observed them fondly out of the corner of his eyes.

He had been worried about how the event at the hospital would affect them, but it seemed his worries were unfounded.

Not only did they seem to have bounced back to their normal selves, they both seemed somewhat… Stronger? Less vulnerable?

Obito wasn't certain, but the hesitance in Rin's steps and voice dwindled, and Kakashi seemed more ready to interact with his team.

The fact that he even bothered to attempt keeping up with Rin's conversation was enough to indicate as such; in the past, he wouldn't even be facing the girl and would turn on his "I'm a socially-retarded jackass" vibes in an effort to steer clear from anyone and everyone.

"One order off miso, shoyu, and shio each!" Teuchi slid the bowls in front of the three and Obito's eyes lit up at the familiar smell of the tantalizing broth.

The Chūnin of Team Seven split their chopsticks, and with the unanimous call of "itadakimasu," they dug into their freshly-made ramen treat. Well, two people dug into their ramen; Obito halted just before his utensil hit the noodles.

It was strange how easily Obito was able to meld right back into the team, how easy it was for him to be accepted once again.

He wasn't quite sure if it was mostly due to his almost instinctual habit of 'blending in' that was honed through years of Shinobi training and reconnaissance, or if it was because he was still 'Obito,' even though he wasn't exactly the same as he once was.

Whatever was the case, considering all of the griping and brooding he had done over the subject, it had been shockingly easy to become reacclimatized to his team, and they, him.

A hearty laugh escaped his lungs and he felt a faint moisture build up in the corner of his eyes. Crap, he was getting emotional again.

In the past week, he had experienced more mood-shifts than he had in the decade prior to coming to the past. It was almost unnerving, but in all honesty, he was too happy to really care.

"Obito…?" He abruptly stopped laughing and quickly wiped away his tears before turning to his teammates, where he was met with two looks with clearly written confusion.

He waved off his teammates gazes as he finally dove into his ramen, the steamy noodles reminding him of a certain blonde-haired Uzumaki that would become a dedicated patron to the ramen-house.

It was nice. Obito really was home, and it wasn't an illusion like he had once decided to settle for.

'Thank you, Naruto.'

****

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