Chapter 52: Obito

At this moment, several green-vested ninjas remaining at the scene pulled out a large wooden box. Inside the box were neatly arranged ninja headbands.

"So cool, are those our headbands?"

"I can't wait to wear mine!"

Konohagakure's promotional work was indeed quite impressive. As soon as the young ninjas saw the headbands inside the box, their eyes lit up with excitement. Some even expressed their desire to take the headbands home to show their parents.

Watching their excited expressions, Tōshirō couldn't fully empathize. When he was the first to go up and receive his headband, he took it with a smile from his teacher but did not put it on immediately.

Because he realized an awkward problem: out of a whim and dream of youthful adventures, he had grown a single ponytail. Now, if he were to wear the headband, he would either have to lift his ponytail high like Anko Mitarashi or tie a low ponytail like Kakashi's father, the White Fang of Konoha.

After some consideration, he decided to tie the headband to his arm. Yes! He could afford to lose fights, but his hairstyle had to stay perfect!

"Congratulations to everyone for receiving your headbands. One more announcement: tomorrow at 9 AM, gather in XX classroom where the school will arrange division into teams!"

Looking at the excited, chattering young ninjas below, the teacher responsible for distributing the headbands kindly reminded them with a smile.

Team division, huh? Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with me!

In the crowd, Tōshirō felt a slight pity. He still wanted to experience the normal life of a ninja team. After all, love triangles were the most interesting.

Walking out of the classroom with the crowd, Tōshirō went to bid farewell to everyone in his second-year (1) class.

Only about a month before the new year. After the new year, it will have been four whole years since I came to this world.

Unknowingly, it's been so long already, and memories are starting to blur!

Finally, becoming an official ninja, now to train even more diligently!

Recognizing his own shortcomings, Tōshirō slowly pondered as he walked home.

"Isn't that Obito? What are you doing here alone?"

Walking along, he unconsciously ran into a wild Obito.

"Brother Tōshirō, why are you here? Congratulations on graduating and becoming a ninja!"

"Thanks! But why aren't you in ninja school at this time? What are you doing out here?"

How to deal with this absolute troublemaker, Uchiha Tōshirō was quite conflicted. Considering all the things the other party did in the end and the lurking Madara, these all made him hesitate.

The current Obito was truly a bright and good-hearted boy. Possibly because he was a war orphan brought up by his widowed grandmother, he had almost no resistance to any elderly person in the village of Konoha. Whenever he saw someone in a bit of trouble, he would drop everything to help, even his ninja school teachers had stopped scolding him for his tardiness, knowing this.

While classmates often mocked his lack of strength, they did not reject such a 'funny' Uchiha and were willing to befriend him. Even within the clan, there was no bullying, and he was still better than those who hadn't refined their chakra yet, making him proud of being an Uchiha.

This kid was just too reckless, frequently teary-eyed, his mental resilience was also abysmally poor, and he didn't seem too clever. Although possessing the Sharingan bloodline limit would make it easier for him to awaken it, his own intelligence was questionable, and no wonder Madara chose him to execute the Moon Eye Plan in the end.

"No! No! Brother Tōshirō, listen!"

Caught in the act of skipping class, although it was not a teacher but an elder from his clan, Obito blushed with excitement and hastily got up to explain.

"Alright! No need to explain. Seeing your expression, I know you're disheartened by Kakashi's early graduation!"

"Mm."

Having his concern revealed, Obito's mood dropped again. Sitting back down, he lowered his head and silently sulked, clearly dejected.

This guy's mood is really like a child's face, changing as unpredictably as June's weather!

"Brother Tōshirō, do you think I can catch up to a genius like Kakashi?"

After a moment of silence, Obito suddenly looked up and asked his clan elder beside him.

I'm not Rin Nohara, why are you asking me these questions?

Tōshirō silently retorted in his mind but did not avoid the problem. Instead, he sat down beside Obito, glanced at him, and lightly said, "You're not very sharp, so I'll give you a simple example!"

"Take you, for instance. If you do nothing every day and just play around, your daily strength growth is 1. If you do a certain amount of training every day, your growth is 1.1. If you train diligently every day, your daily strength growth is 1.2. Do you know what the difference will be after a year? After 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, what would the difference be?"

Understanding dawned slowly for Uchiha Obito, who was somewhat simple-minded. At his age and knowledge level, he couldn't fully grasp the meaning behind Tōshirō's words. But vaguely, it seemed he understood it was encouragement to train hard.

"These questions are for you to ponder. I'll leave you now; someone's coming for you!"

"Obito~"

From a distance, a sweet child's voice called out Obito's name. Tōshirō didn't bother giving more motivational speeches and took his leave.

It's better to leave his mood to be comforted by Rin Nohara!

He had thought a long time ago. Obito could be approached but not befriended deeply. Not to mention the man lurking behind him, Uchiha Madara, just thinking about the deeds he himself committed after turning dark was daunting.

Should I take care of him while he's still young… (⊙o⊙)

(End of Chapter)