Obito Uchiha

Uchiha Mai sat listlessly by the window in the back row, waiting for the village to assign the teams. The back row, by the window—the hometown of kings. For the sake of Style Points, Uchiha Mai had even thought that much through.

Little Kurenai was still doggedly pursuing her crush. She dragged over a chair and sat beside Uchiha Mai.

Asuma could only lick his wounds in a corner, consoling himself that Kurenai was still young and didn't know any better.

For the past month, Asuma had never once picked a fight with Uchiha Mai. If anything, Mai had cornered him a few times. They'd agreed during their spar that the loser would serve as the other's training partner for a month.

Be good and let me take a look!

Uchiha Mai had spent no small amount of time testing out his new moves on Asuma lately. The Ninja Academy's fearless top dog could only go home each day with a bruised and swollen face.

An unknown Chunin came and went from the classroom, calling names from a list. After finding their assigned students, they left one by one, and the classroom grew emptier by the minute.

Little Kurenai rested her chin in one hand and said listlessly, "Mai, when will it be our turn?"

"Soon." Uchiha Mai's reply was perfunctory.

"Mai, wouldn't it be wonderful if we ended up on the same team?"

"That's not something either of us can decide."

Neither the students nor the team leaders got to choose who was assigned to which team. The village had already made those arrangements.

After being brushed off twice in a row, Little Kurenai grew displeased. She pouted and complained, "Mai, can't you say a few more words to me~?

"By the way, what kind of person do you hope your future team leader will be?"

Uchiha Mai pretended to ponder the question for a long while before answering, "I don't really care who it is."

"Hmph!"

Seeing that Uchiha Mai was still brushing her off, Little Kurenai gave a huff and turned away. I'm not saying another word to you until you apologize to me.

Deal!

Heaven knew Uchiha Mai wasn't deliberately brushing her off. It was just that Yuhi Kurenai's questions really weren't very interesting.

The team assignments for Ninja Academy graduates didn't matter all that much.

Aside from elite teams like Ino-Shika-Cho and the Konoha 12, most squads didn't last very long. Depending on the battles and casualties, they could be disbanded and reformed at any time.

Usually, ordinary squads were led by a Chunin. Their main job was to teach the youngsters how to work together and adapt to this cruel world.

But if Konoha needed to form an elite unit, it might reassign a team leader to serve as a member of that unit, then promote someone from the Genin ranks to lead the squad.

Uchiha Mai figured that with his cheat at his disposal, he'd become a Chunin before long. So he didn't really care who his future team leader was.

Unless he was placed in an elite team from the start and groomed as an elite. That was possible, and quite likely, but so what?

At this point in time, Uchiha Mai didn't recognize many of Konoha's Jonin. He couldn't beat an ordinary Jonin, sure, but he wouldn't care much about one either. They weren't characters from the story, so they were unlikely to earn him many Style Points.

He could go out for a stroll near his house and run into a dozen Jonin. A mere Jonin? No big deal.

One by one, their classmates were picked up. Soon, only Uchiha Mai, Yuhi Kurenai, Asuma, Might Guy, Rin Nohara, and Obito remained.

There was an age gap between the six of them, so normally they wouldn't have graduated in the same year.

The Ninja Academy at the time wasn't very formal. It was a lot like schools in remote parts of China toward the end of the last century, where students from first to sixth grade all studied in the same classroom, and grade divisions were rather muddled.

Basically, as long as they were strong enough, students could graduate after spending around four to six years at the Ninja Academy.

That was why Kakashi, who was three years older than Gekko Hayate, counted as Hayate's classmate. Though Hayate had enrolled at age three, Kakashi had applied for early graduation just a few days later, so the two hadn't been classmates for long.

The six of them waited another half hour. Just as Uchiha Mai finally grew restless and thought about moving the desks aside to make some room for dance practice, the classroom door opened again.

A young man with golden hair walked into the classroom. He wore Konoha's standard green Jonin vest and was very handsome—just a little less than half as handsome as Uchiha Mai. He looked rather submissive, too.

Uchiha Mai's pupils narrowed. Wasn't that Naruto's dad, Namikaze Minato?

In the original story, Kakashi, Obito, and Rin Nohara really had been on the same team, with Minato as their leader.

But Obito was still a half-baked ninja at this point, and Rin wasn't anything special, while Kakashi was already a Chunin. So Uchiha Mai hadn't thought the three of them would be assigned to the same team from the start.

Could this be the will of the universe?

Namikaze Minato smiled shyly, radiating good vibes. He scratched his head and said, "Sorry to keep you all waiting.

"On the way here, I ran into an old woman who needed help crossing the road. After I helped her across, I met another old woman who was lost.

"After I walked her home, I came across a black cat stuck in a tree.

"Anyway, I didn't mean to be late. I'm really sorry."

Captain, I'm stuck in a tree.jpg

Uchiha Mai: "..."

Well, Minato had just used all of Kakashi's favorite excuses for being late in the original story.

Coming from Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Mai actually believed it.

Minato was a good-natured man, the Little Sun, an honest and reliable young fellow, a naturally airheaded chuunibyou, and one of Konoha's most outstanding young men. Who hadn't heard of him?

Compared to Kakashi, who could spout lies without blinking, Minato's reputation was on another level.

"Now, everyone whose name I call, come outside with me."

Namikaze Minato took a piece of paper from his vest pocket, unfolded it, and read aloud, "Uchiha Mai, Sarutobi Asuma, Rin Nohara, Yuhi Kurenai, Might Guy, Obito Uchiha.

"Are all six of you here? If anyone's missing, raise your hand."

Uchiha Mai: "..."

Little Kurenai tugged at Mai's sleeve and whispered, "That guy seems kind of airheaded~"

Uchiha Mai nodded in agreement. Namikaze Minato could be pretty airheaded sometimes.

Minato realized he'd phrased that badly. His face turned red, and he said, "Looks like everyone's here. Then please follow me to the training ground."

With that, Minato led the way out of the classroom, escaping the awkward silence.

Everyone followed the Little Sun out of the classroom.

Uchiha Mai kept wondering what was going on. A standard Konoha team usually had three members, or three members plus a leader, and focused on close-range teamwork.

So why had six names been called at once?

Once everyone had lined up, Namikaze Minato cleared his throat and glanced toward the office without drawing attention to himself, then nodded slightly.

He turned to them and said, "You're all very talented children, but I have to give you some bad news.

"My team already has one member, and only two of you can join it. The other four will be eliminated and won't become ninja."

I'm done for today. Only one update...