Obito's Cousin

"Something's not right. Even Minato-sensei wouldn't use a jutsu this powerful." The silver-haired Kakashi Hatake had also noticed that something was off. It looked as if they'd just witnessed a major battle.

"Hm? You're the Jonin from my clan?!" Obito was doubtful, too. He could hardly believe that the person his teacher, Minato, had been chasing was a child.

"Minato-sensei, what happened here? Is this really the person we were chasing?" Rin asked, just as astonished.

Minato looked a little grave, but before he could speak, Shiyu casually called out their names.

"Minato, are these the members of your team? Kakashi Hatake, Rin Nohara, and Obito Uchiha?"

The three ninjas were full of questions as they looked at the white-haired boy, who was even younger than they were.

"Hey, who are you?" Obito asked bluntly.

"He's wearing the Uchiha Clan crest," Kakashi said cautiously, having observed him closely.

"It does look real!" Obito said, still not daring to approach Shiyu to confirm whether he really belonged to the Uchiha Clan.

"Ah! Minato-sensei, don't tell me he's the one you were chasing!" Rin exclaimed.

"How is that possible? He's so young! How could he be as fast as Minato-sensei? Can someone like that really exist?" Kakashi couldn't bring himself to believe it.

Minato seemed just as shaken. He sighed. "Yes. I know it's hard to believe, but he's the one we were chasing. This Uchiha boy isn't a Jonin yet, though. Obito, Rin, he's only a Genin, just like you."

"A Genin?!"

"A Genin can make Minato-sensei unable to catch up?!"

"No way! How could that be?!"

"That can't be him, right? Sensei, you must be joking."

The three members of Minato Namikaze's Team looked utterly unconvinced. It wasn't that they doubted Shiyu was a Genin; they couldn't believe that a mere Genin could be so fast that even their teacher couldn't catch him.

"Why would I lie to you? And that's not all—the person standing before you is my junior grand-uncle!" Minato revealed another bombshell.

"Ah?!" Everyone was so surprised they didn't know what to say.

"Your teacher is Lord Jiraiya of the Sannin. Your grand-uncle? Could he be the new student Lord Third has taken on?"

Seeing that they'd had their fill of surprises, Shiyu finally explained, "I'm Minato's junior grand-uncle. So what do you call your teacher's junior grand-uncle?"

"Grand-uncle! The three of you may be a little older than me, but you're two generations below me!" Shiyu explained the relationship to Minato, and only then did everyone understand.

"Hey! Why don't we settle this with strength? Blood ties mean nothing." Kakashi seemed to dislike arguing over seniority. He was at the age when he was young and arrogant.

Obito and Rin were still Genin, while Kakashi had already become a Chunin! As the saying went, there was no smoke without fire: the famed prodigy Kakashi was extremely proud of himself, and liked to solve problems on his own.

He was nothing like the seemingly laid-back, actually brilliant man he would become in the future. He especially disliked having someone his own age outrank him.

"Oh? Settle it with strength? Are you sure? I'd be glad to fight all of you." Shiyu spoke with a smile, but swiftly grew serious, as if ready to fight at any moment.

Kakashi wasn't intimidated at all. Though his face was masked, he snorted and raised his hands, ready to form Hand Seals and start a fight.

"Ah?!" Minato was horrified. This isn't even a fair fight! How could I let them go at it?

He hurried to intervene. "Junior grand-uncle, come on, don't fight them. You shouldn't pick on children!" Minato tried to make peace, which suited his humble and courteous nature.

"I'm not just any kid," Kakashi insisted, seemingly eager to prove his strength.

"Kakashi..." Minato glanced at him, and Kakashi finally backed down.

Minato recognized the Yellow Springs Swamp on the ground at once as one of Jiraiya's powerful techniques.

Using such a devastating technique on his own student? Wouldn't that hurt like hell? He couldn't let his junior grand-uncle injure his students.

Seeing that Shiyu had grown serious, Minato felt helpless. Then, as if struck by an idea, he spoke up at once.

"Junior grand-uncle Shiyu, if you want to fight, that's fine—but could you wait until the Chunin Exams? There's no need to rush. I can have Kakashi take part in this year's Chunin Exams, too," Minato said.

"The Chunin Exams?" Shiyu hadn't received any word from Hizashi.

He followed up, "You said there's a Chunin exam? Soon?"

"Yes. Lord Third informed me about it. I was going to tell them today, but your Body Flicker Technique caught our attention, so we came over instead."

"Every Konoha Genin should have been informed by their Jonin leader. You've been told too, haven't you?" Minato asked.

Shiyu thought it over and understood.

Hizashi's team had just finished a mission and then sparred with Suzuki's team, so they hadn't had a moment to pass on the news.

"So the Chunin Exams are about to open for registration!" Shiyu was looking forward to fighting all kinds of different opponents in the tournament.

"Wait... You're Shiyu? You're Uchiha Shigure?!" Obito suddenly stepped forward and asked in surprise.

Seeing the future big shot come over to speak with him, Shiyu became interested.

"What is it, Obito Uchiha?" Shiyu asked curiously.

"Have you ever seen the Uchiha family tree?" Obito asked in return.

"The Uchiha family tree? I don't know anything about it. To be honest, I'm not that close to the Uchiha Clan. I don't even consider myself part of it." Shiyu meant every word.

Obito nodded. "Just as I thought."

Shiyu took two wary steps forward and raised a hand. "Just as you thought? Why do you say that? What do you mean?"

"Junior grand-uncle..." Minato called softly, and Shiyu realized that he'd been a little rude.

But Obito seemed to have expected that reaction. He then explained, "Shiyu, I think I understand how you feel. According to the Uchiha Clan family tree, you should be my cousin."

"What? Obito, you can't be serious!" Minato exclaimed, equally stunned.