An Excellent Victory

The bell-snatching match ended with Minato Namikaze admitting defeat.

"Such tender, juicy meat. And the texture when you bite into it—mm, no wonder. This bento was made by Minato-sensei's wife, after all." Yang Xing held a bento box and picked up a piece of meat, his expression exaggerated.

Obito: "..."

Kakashi: "..."

"Ahem!" Minato shot Yang Xing a look, then turned to the dejected Obito and Kakashi, his expression serious. "Kakashi, Obito, you both failed this match. Understand?"

Obito was the most miserable of all. He'd run around for half the day, only for the match to end before he even saw the Fourth Hokage.

He was extremely frustrated, and his face showed exactly what he was thinking.

Even Kakashi was full of questions. Why had Yang Xing, the worst of them, been the one to win? It made no sense.

What trick had the kid used to get the bell? Kakashi couldn't accept it.

So Yang Xing had two people glaring at him while he ate. It didn't bother him in the slightest, but Rin Nohara, sitting nearby, was still a little uncomfortable. It was obvious she hadn't touched her own bento at all.

"Um, Lord Fourth Hokage, actually, we were just... we were just..." Rin looked at Kakashi and Obito, her words trailing off. She couldn't help feeling dejected, too.

"No. This time, Kakashi and Obito really did make the wrong calls." Minato's tone was firm. He glanced at the two, his brows furrowing. "First, Kakashi was reckless and completely ignored his teammates. And Obito, you let Kakashi set the pace and followed behind him, without paying any attention to your own abilities or the situation. Compared to the two of you, Yang Xing did pretty well. So I consider him the winner."

"I don't accept that." Obito was clearly unhappy. Even though it was the Fourth Hokage saying it, he still felt resentful. Pointing at Yang Xing, who was eating his bento, he said, "He only won by playing a few tricks. He's not the winner."

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Minato's voice turned grave. "Obito Uchiha! This isn't a time for children anymore. The Shinobi World War isn't child's play. If someone pulls a trick on the battlefield and it gets you killed, are you going to ask them to explain themselves afterward?"

"Well..." Rebuked, Obito could only sulk.

"Lord Fourth Hokage."

"Don't call me the Fourth Hokage. Starting today, I'm your teacher, and it's my responsibility to teach you how to fight." Minato's expression darkened. His voice grew stern as he continued, "Besides, things from now on won't be as easy as they were back at school."

Faced with Minato's reprimand, Obito and Kakashi could only lower their heads.

"Well, you'll understand some things in time." Seeing the two look so remorseful, Minato didn't continue scolding them. He placed a hand on each of their shoulders and spoke gently. "Kakashi, Obito, remember this: you're a team. Yang Xing and Rin Nohara are indispensable parts of it. The four of you make up this team, and together, you're invincible."

"Yes!" Whatever they felt inside, they still answered him.

"Good. That's more like it. Remember, you're the pride of Konoha." Minato nodded, a smile appearing on his face. As he turned to leave, he didn't forget to tell Yang Xing, who was busy eating, "Actually, I still have something to take care of. And Yang Xing, I'll leave the bento to you. It's fine if you eat it all."

He blinked, and in less than a few seconds, Minato had vanished from the plain.

Yang Xing: "..."

At their current pace, it would take half an hour to get back to Konoha. And since they were already exhausted, the trip would only take longer.

That meant those two would be hungry for at least an hour. Minato knew that perfectly well.

The Fourth Hokage really was a total jerk!

Grrr!

As Yang Xing pondered, a strange sound came from the stomachs of the two boys.

"Um, I'm actually not that hungry..." Kindhearted as ever, Rin offered them the unopened bento box.

Kakashi didn't take it. He glanced at it, shook his head, then looked at Yang Xing. "No need. We lost this time. Yang Xing, I don't agree with what you did, but you did get the bell. The Fourth Hokage was right—you won."

Obito followed along, looking rather sullen. "Well, even if I don't want to admit it, I'll count this one as your win."

Seeing that the two weren't joking, Yang Xing paused with his chopsticks midair.

"Fine. I guess there's still a tiny bit of compassion left in me. I'm just too softhearted." He muttered under his breath, picked up another lunchbox beside him, and tossed it over. "Here. There are two pairs of chopsticks. Minato-sensei prepared everything in advance."

"What do you mean by that? I'm telling you..." Obito caught the lunchbox, unhappy at being given charity.

Yang Xing didn't even look at him. "If you don't want to starve out here, eat up. You've been running around all day. If we head back like this, a wild animal might gobble you up on the way. I doubt either of you has enough energy left to use a ninjutsu."

Obito and Kakashi: "..."

They looked at each other, then finally opened the lunchbox. Maybe Yang Xing was right. Maybe they really were starving. Either way, they wolfed down the food, eating no less than Yang Xing had.

Who knew Kakashi could eat so ungracefully when he was hungry? It must have been hard work for him to keep up that cool act.

The two polished off the bento in no time, without leaving a single grain of rice.

After eating, Obito wiped his mouth with his hand and put on a smug expression. "Yang Xing, I'll reluctantly admit you won this time. But this doesn't count as the outcome of our bet, okay? I'm telling you, about that wager... hic!"

"Hahaha!"

"Don't laugh! Kakashi, you laughed just now too, didn't you, you jerk? Don't tell me you didn't. You were clearly laughing out loud!" Obito's face turned red, especially when Rin smiled at him. His cheeks grew as red as a monkey's backside.

Inside Yang Xing's little room, all by himself.

"My reward! My lovely reward!" Yang Xing plopped down on the bed and eagerly pulled out his phone.

A button to claim his reward had appeared on the screen. Beside it was a display reading: "Sudden S-Rank Mission, 5-Star Perfect Evaluation."

Yang Xing couldn't help getting excited.

In the Land of Fire—no, in this world—one's strength determined one's fate.

Clever tricks were still just clever tricks. He only had to look at the way Rin gazed at Kakashi to understand: in the world of shinobi, where strength came first, cleverness alone couldn't get you everything.

A girl's affection, a teammate's admiration, and his dream of building a huge harem—all of them had to be built on a foundation of strength.

Maybe he'd managed to attract Rin's attention today with a clever trick or two, but he knew very well that he still had a long way to go before he could measure up to Kakashi.

There was only one way to close that gap.