Chapter 8: Friends' reunion

Ryuuji rushed above the ceilings, the people on the street simply sighing at the sight of another hurried youngster that instead of making full use of their time, had to hush everything and made little use of the little time they had in this world.

Unaware of those simple thoughts, he closed the distance towards the training grounds of Konoha.

To learn Hachimon, a green wide area is the best place. The large space will give him the means to practice all sorts of exercises after all.

"Hehe! I can't wait to learn it!"

It didn't matter that he was a kid, what he would hate the most is losing the ability to fight against Itachi. Having been worried that he would lose every battle from the moment Itachi got his Sharingan, he truly believed that there would be nothing that could close the gap.

Sure, he didn't know what Sharingan did, but if it was as strong as he had been told, then, only a secret weapon could give him the means to fight.

Despite not being fully aware of the theory behind chakra, he knew as a matter of fact that chakra itself couldn't make someone stronger physically in an active manner, what chakra could do when 'stimulated' was increase the output of energy transferred from the collision of your body to an object, the most simple example was chakra coating...

Just like when he was training with Kushina, if done right, so long as you keep pouring chakra in your arms and your control of it is enough to keep it firm even after impact, depending on the amount of chakra, you can even destroy boulders with a punch!

Of course, it wasn't a very effective way of using it, the concentration needed for such a task is beyond normal, the chances of completely dispelling the chakra coating accidentally was high, and if you didn't have enough proficiency with such way of using chakra, the coating would be bypassed by the impact, and despite enhancing the output of energy, you would end up getting the full recoil of such an action.

Those were things he learned the hard way.

But Hachimon was different, it was a true direct boost to physical prowess by removing natural limiters in the body.

You may think destroying boulders with chakra is awesome, but doing so with bare hands is terrifyingly cool!

As Ryuuji daydreamed about his future prowess, he suddenly halted his movements, the hair on his body standing as a cold feeling ran down his spine, instinctively, he poured chakra into his right arm, his body twisted to the left, hand reaching out with a closed fist. The boulder, more or less 2 meters tall, 1 meter thick, stretching over 1 meter as well, rapidly approached, the air seemed to buzz as it got closer.

"Be careful!" It was Obito's voice, from the corner of his eyes, he could see him on the ground, fist deep into the ground that collapsed with the power of his punch, other boulders were also flying away. He understood in less than a hundred milliseconds the whole situation, of course, he didn't have time to process the information, but his body could react to it, it was this unbelievable reaction speed that prevented the extremely talented Itachi from going beyond 50% win rate.

Kakashi and Rin who noticed the situation were also rushing to act, Kakashi with lightning in his hands, Rin with the Tiger hand sign in hers, but they wouldn't be fast enough. Surprisingly, there was no need to!

Crack! Booom!

The wind spread like a tornado, the boulder cracked into thousands of pieces, the sound similar to thunder scaring away the nearby birds and startling the trio that was practicing here.

Before them, in slow motion, the boulder shattered, the fragments slowly spread away from the center of the impact, from the middle rock, its shape distorted, becoming thinner to the point of mimicking slightly the shape of a human, or so they thought, but the truth appeared soon after as the small red-haired boy burst right through it with a wild expression on his face, with focused eyes and an appearance that made him look like an enraged lion who had just fought for the control of his territory.

The savage aura around him got shape and color in the form of blue chakra aggressively coiling around him, making his hair flutter, tremble, quiver as if he had just gone through a tempest.

The three responsible for this couldn't help but open their eyes wide, to think that in just a year... not only Ryuuji improved himself, but he went even further than Kakashi when he had the same age.

Ryuuji himself wasn't as surprised as them, it sure was extremely hard for him to do something like this instinctively, but he and Itachi had enough power to go even further than that, anyone who decided to see them training would have been able to see so, still... Ryuuji was exhilarated by this outcome, as it meant he had managed to carve this way of using chakra in his bones! Thoughtful action is now a natural one... if there's the slightest possibility that Itachi has yet to do the same, then that means he will have the advantage in their next fight!

If Obito, Rin, and Kakashi who were more concerned about his safety heard his words, they would cough up blood and be wary of this battle maniac.

"Ryuuji! Are you alright!? Tell me I didn't accidentally injure you!" Obito approached with a teary face, his right eye was covered by a black eye patch, the right side of his face having a swirling pattern on it as if someone tried to twist it clockwise and failed at the end, his black waist-length hair making him look much cooler than usual, especially with his current clothes. After all, Obito looked much better wearing the Uchiha robes instead of that weird blue and orange jacket with the orange goggles.

Ryuuji flinched seeing his face. Having never really learned how to behave, Ryuuji was a kid that lacked common sense therefore his next words. "Ahh! Obito your face looks really ugly!"

Obito who was rushing to Ryuuji's side gasped hearing his words, distracted by Ryuuji he didn't pay attention and tripped over the fragments of the rock, rolling away on the ground, while Rin laughed and Kakashi simply halted his movements to sigh and shake his head.

"This kid..." Obito's eyebrow twitched as he forced a smile and stood up.

"Eh!? Wait, how come you are here!? I remember you died! Or was it a dream?" Ryuuji frowned and lifted his head to look at the sky as he tried to force his memory and make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Cough...!" Obito had a stiffened face, how could such a talented kid have such a short memory! C'mon, you don't even remember the death of your friend!?

"Pfft... relax Obito, he is only five years old this year, you can't blame such a cute little boy for forgetting some things, right? If anything, I assure you that he cried a lot back then." Rin patted his shoulder making Obito sigh, and sorrowfully smile as he looked at her.

Noticing his gaze, Rin blushed and looked away as she retrieved her hand.

While the weird atmosphere surrounded them, Kakashi approached Ryuuji and started to check him from top to bottom, to make sure Ryuuji was unharmed.

Ryuuji who was looking at Obito and Rin tilted his head to one side, curious, he turned to Kakashi and whispered. "Kakashi... what's going on with them?"

Hearing his words, Kakashi turned to look at the two, shaking his head, he said. "Obito confessed his feelings and was rejected, now they act weird because they are friends and whenever they get too close now they become like that because they remember the situation."

"Eh? What does confessing feelings mean? And why was he rejected?" Ryuuji asked with a curious glint in his eyes.

"Cough... you'll learn once you get older."

"But... Kakashi... I'm older now and I still don't understand!" Ryuuji crossed his arms with a cute frown on his face, his cheeks puffed up in a small pouting expression.

Kakashi's response to his answer made his mouth hang open for a moment. Unexpectedly, Kakashi's expression suddenly eased up, his eyebrows curved upwards as he closed his eyes and laughed slightly. "Pfft! Ryuuji, a few seconds older than before isn't enough, you'll have to wait a few years." Kakashi patted his head, making his hair all messed up as he walked towards Obito and Rin.

Ryuuji who had never seen Kakashi laughing and smiling before couldn't help but gulp and ask in his mind who was this guy and what did he do with the Kakashi he knew...

Shaking his head, Ryuuji looked up as Obito approached.

"Hey Ryuuji, since you have been training so much, do you want to learn a little bit about how ninja conduct their missions?"

Looking at Obito's weird pale right arm, Ryuuji blinked his eyes, and not really paying attention to his words because he was distracted he simply said. "Yes... it sure is weird..."

Because Ryuuji muttered the last few sentences, Obito smiled thinking that Ryuuji agreed and said. "Then let's go, I'll show you how a member of Konoha's Military Police Force and Ninja's work!"

"Eh!? What's Konoha Force Police Militiary?"

"Hahaha! Not like that Ryuuji." Rin crouched and hugged him, making him frown, but since he had already learned his lesson he didn't try to push her away and simply waited for her to finish with a small frowning face. "It's Konoha's Military Police Force, you need to think before speaking, otherwise you'll always make silly mistakes like those, hehe." Rin explained the name slowly for Ryuuji before standing up again.

Ryuuji nodded but he couldn't help himself, he always rushed to answer and made mistakes sometimes, but as he grew older and read more books, those mistakes were slowly disappearing, by the time he enrolled at the academy, he would probably have finally dealt with this small annoyance.

Seeing how Rin held his hand and lead him in the same direction Kakashi and Obito were going, he tilted his head again. "Uh? Where are we going, Rin?"

"We will help Obito in his first case for the Police, Lord Fugaku gave him a quest to find the culprit that has been stealing food in the east side of Konoha!" Rin replied cheerfully.

"What kind of food was stolen?" Ryuuji asked frowning, this time really angry.

As someone who loved food, he couldn't stand the idea of someone stealing it! What if he bought a cake and someone took it away!? That would be a thousand Ryo wasted! No, no! That wouldn't be acceptable!

"Agh! This thief! I swear I'll catch him!"

Seeing how animated Ryuuji was to catch the responsible, Rin laughed.

Obito who heard him couldn't help but give Ryuuji a complicated gaze. 'What the... dude? I'm the one who needs to impress lord Fugaku, why are you so excited?!'

"This foodie..." Kakashi sighed. "Well, I think we owe him this at least, this last year we have been really avoiding him because of our messed up feelings... Obito, we have to make sure Ryuuji has a lot of fun today."

Obito couldn't help but give Kakashi a weird gaze. "Heck, you really changed during the time I was away huh! Hahaha! Don't worry, I'm Obito after all, if there's any kid in this world that hates me, then, I'll change my surname to Hatake!"

Kakashi glared at him and with a grin he said. "Wishful thinking, you're a hundred years too early to qualify to become a Hatake, with your abilities I guess you barely pass as an Uchiha."

"Oi, if you keep hurting my feelings I'll have to ask my Sharingan back!" Obito gave him a teary look.

"No way, it was a gift! Who gives away important gifts they received from their best friends?" Kakashi's arm went around Obito's neck as he pulled him closer in a side hug.

Feeling Kakashi's hug, Obito smiled, that's right... Now they could be considered true friends... no, even better than that, they were practically brothers now.

Rin who was holding Ryuuji's hand had tears in her eyes as she watched the scene in front of her, this happy end was one that she had been yearning for years, and it now became reality.

"Uh? Rin, why are you crying? Are you hurt?" Ryuuji noticed her tears and asked worriedly.

"Nope! These Ryuuji, are the best kind of tears... tears of happiness."