That evening, after the Ninja Way Origins Research Society's activities ended, Obito Uchiha practically ran all the way home. At a street corner, he even helped an old woman across the road.
"I'd only just made it across!" the old woman shouted after him.
But the wind was too strong, and Obito didn't hear her clearly. Without looking back, he raised a hand and waved. "No need to thank me!" he called, grinning as he ran on toward home.
By the time he got home, his grandmother had dinner ready. From the moment he picked up his bowl, Obito barely stopped talking. He gestured wildly as he told her everything that had happened at the gathering. When he got carried away, his chopsticks nearly flew from his hand more than once. His grandmother didn't mind. She just listened patiently.
As he went on, Obito grew more and more excited. At last, he set down his bowl, puffed out his chest, and loudly told his grandmother that the society would change the world one day.
His grandmother listened quietly throughout, smiling and nodding now and then. Sometimes she said, "Keep it up, Obito," and sometimes she added another helping of food to his bowl.
Her grandson had always been like this: earnest, passionate, and kind, as though the whole world deserved his complete trust, devotion, and love.
In truth, she understood little of what Obito said about the society, the convention, or the many uses of Chakra. But she understood that the organization he had joined wanted people to live happier, more secure lives.
And she could see the light in her grandson's eyes as he spoke, brighter than she had ever seen it.
Obito had grown up. He and his friends had found something to believe in, a direction they