New Little Brother Recruited

Chapter 5: My New Underling

Madara, now outside, glanced at Shimiya Aoba, who was frantically mumbling "Don't see me, don't see me," but he didn't bother pursuing the matter of him eavesdropping from outside.

Rather, if Shimiya Aoba could evade his senses and hide outside to eavesdrop, that would be true skill!

He simply didn't care.

"Take care of the person inside. You don't need to stop him from doing whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't die."

"Yes, Lord Madara."

Only then did Shimiya Aoba stop pretending to be an ostrich. He responded convincingly, as if relieved.

Madara had been acting all along, and wasn't he putting on an act too!

Now he could finally openly interact with Obito, the future big BOSS, and the pitiful child he was now.

After Madara left, a glint flashed in Shimiya Aoba's eyes before he quickly concealed it completely. He turned and walked into Obito's room.

As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Obito struggling to crawl off the bed. With a thud... he knelt before him.

If this were an anime, a flock of crows would be flying across the screen right about now.

The two stared at each other, their eyes wide, for a long time. The air seemed to freeze.

"Uh, outside... has the New Year already passed? I don't have any lucky money prepared."

"Alright, get up quickly. You're quite sensible, kid, knowing to pay your respects. Fine, you can follow me from now on. I'll cover for you here. As long as you don't provoke that old man from earlier, if there's meat for me, there will definitely be bones for you to gnaw on!"

As he spoke, Shimiya Aoba, acting like an old man, stood on tiptoe and patted Obito's shoulder, who was completely bewildered.

Sigh, it couldn't be helped. His current body was only 4 years old, while Obito was probably 13. He could barely reach his shoulder, and that was only because Obito was cooperating. Well, it definitely wasn't because this guy was short!

"Ah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts...!"

Looking at his newly acquired underling, who was lying on the ground like a big, wriggling worm, sweating profusely from the pain, Aoba curiously looked at his own small hands...

Hmm, they were fair and clean. Although there wasn't much flesh, could they really pack such a punch?

Could it be that his golden finger had finally bypassed the activation mission and was protecting its master on its own?

He wondered if his fist, about the size of a Wangzai Xiaomantou, could take down that old geezer Madara.

After a bout of daydreaming, he saw Obito still persistently trying to crawl away, and a few dark lines appeared on his forehead.

"I say, don't drag me down with you if you want to die. Lord Madara said it's fine as long as you don't die. But if you keep thrashing around like this, the Hashirama artificial body that person sacrificed for you will fall apart. You'll be dead for sure then."

"I want to leave here. Kakashi... Rin... wait for me."

Slap!

Aoba smacked his forehead. He really hated stubborn people the most!

Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself, he squatted back down, preparing to reason with this guy properly.

Damn it, if your life or death wasn't tied to the completion of my mission, I wouldn't care about you!

"Listen to me, I'm going to tell you something. See if it makes sense. With your current physical condition, let alone whether you can get out, what will you do if you encounter an enemy?"

"It doesn't matter if you die, but what if you get captured? If that guy you mentioned, what's-his-name, and Rin hear about it, won't they come to rescue you? Then the enemy could set a trap, and everyone who comes to save you will die. They could also get information from your heads, and then all of you would be criminals of the village."

"And you would be the culprit who caused the deaths of your friends and brought immense losses to the village. Can you understand my analysis?"

Obito finally stopped 'wriggling' and fell silent. However, the cold sweat beading on his forehead indicated his turbulent emotions.

Seeing this, Aoba chuckled inwardly.

Dealing with this kind of stubborn, hot-blooded young man, talking about pros and cons is useless. They don't even care about their own lives, so what are they afraid of?

At this moment, Obito had two major weaknesses: Kakashi and Rin. And a half-weakness: the village.

That's right, the village's importance in Obito's heart was definitely less than the first two. Looking at what Obito did after his descent into darkness, he hated Kakashi but was unwilling to kill him several times, yet he was ruthless towards Konoha, releasing the Tailed Beasts and Pain, utterly merciless.

So, no other reason was as effective as threatening him with the lives of Kakashi and Rin.

Thus, Obito finally quieted down.

"You're right. In this state, even if I find Kakashi and Rin, I'll just be a burden. The war outside hasn't ended yet. I need to heal my injuries first, and then I'll go help them."

Congratulations, you've learned to answer preemptively!

Aoba gave him a thumbs-up and patted the ground, calling out, "Someone come help me take him back to bed."

As soon as he spoke, two White Zetsu clones emerged from the ground, startling Obito.

"Oh right, what's your name?" Obito suddenly asked, as he was being helped up by the White Zetsu clones.

"Shimiya Aoba, a war orphan saved by Lord Madara, currently a servant here," Aoba said with a sly smile, seemingly not ashamed to be a servant, but rather proud.

Upon hearing the words "war orphan," Obito clearly froze. The wariness on his face immediately lessened. "My name is Uchiha Obito. I'm going to be Hokage in the future. Don't worry, the war will end soon, and you won't have to hide here anymore."

Aoba nodded with a smile, appearing to agree with his statement.

But in reality...

Well, as expected of Uchiha Naruto. His experiences and personality before his descent into darkness were completely the protagonist's template. He just lacked the reincarnation of a 'gyro,' and ended up as a candidate for the villain BOSS. What a tragedy.

And this extremely naive side of him, it's almost unbearable to look at.

But whatever, it's none of his business!

Activating the golden finger sooner and getting out of here is the right way to go. It's best to escape this doomed ship as early as possible.

But perhaps he could take advantage of this time to max out the affection points, lest Obito goes berserk and becomes unrecognizable, killing him without hesitation. That would truly be a situation with nowhere to turn!

Shimiya Aoba, wise beyond his years, shook his head and sighed as he went to prepare dinner. Even though he was eating alone, making it a feast to celebrate wasn't out of the question.

What he didn't know was the kind of inspiration his words to Obito had given Lord Madara.

PS: New book uploaded, please vote with recommendation tickets and add to your collection.