Obito's Sarcastic Tone

The morning sun spilled across the meadow.

Condensed dew slowly evaporated under the sunlight, and as a gentle breeze blew, the scent of fresh cow dung lingered in the air.

"Damn it, why am I doing this kind of work!" Asuma Sarutobi threw down his cleaning tools, grumbling indignantly.

Nebula Kotetsu straightened his back and wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead.

"What else did you expect? Did you think they'd hand out high-level missions to newly graduated genin?"

Asuma Sarutobi said angrily, "I've had enough! It's either cleaning up cow dung or scrubbing sewers every single day. I didn't become a ninja for this!"

Kurenai Yuhi looked troubled, but she still tried to persuade him, "Asuma, stop complaining. If you used that time to work instead, we'd be finished much sooner."

"Besides, Nebula's progress is already faster than yours."

"Kurenai, whose side are you on?" Asuma Sarutobi gave her a resentful look.

"I'm not on anyone's side," Kurenai Yuhi said. "If we don't finish this morning, we won't have time to find the lost Akita dog from Uncle Ito's house this afternoon."

"Maybe that stupid dog will just go home on its own by this afternoon." Despite saying that, Asuma Sarutobi still reluctantly picked up his tools and continued the work of clearing the cow dung.

Kurenai Yuhi shook her head at his behavior and said nothing more.

After these few days of missions, her impression of Asuma had continued to decline.

Not only was he impatient when things went wrong, but his work attitude was also very passive.

In contrast, her impression of Nebula Kotetsu had improved once again.

During this time, whether they were just hanging out or working together on missions, he was not only gentle and easy to communicate with, but his ideas and suggestions were also very sound.

Even when Asuma took the initiative to provoke him, he only occasionally responded with a sharp tongue, remaining calm and composed during missions while taking on a large portion of the workload.

He seemed much more mature than Asuma.

Well... although she didn't place special importance on looks, his image was also much more pleasing to the eye than Asuma's.

Even when doing the same dirty and exhausting work, Asuma looked completely disheveled, and even she couldn't help but look a bit messy, but Nebula Kotetsu was different.

His rolled-up sleeves were neat and tidy, and his collar and face remained clean. If there was time at noon, he would specifically head back to wash up, lacking any of the typical boyish sweat odor.

It was no wonder so many girls in their class liked him.

After the morning passed, the task of clearing the cow dung from the pasture was finally completed, with Nebula Kotetsu having finished nearly half the workload by himself.

Kurenai Yuhi saw it all.

After a simple break at noon, the three of them began the dog-searching mission in the afternoon.

Konoha was neither too big nor too small, so searching aimlessly was definitely not reliable. Asuma Sarutobi suggested, "Konoha is so big, there's no way we can search it all in a short time. Why don't we split up?"

"Nebula, you search inside the village, and Kurenai and I will go outside the village. How about that?"

Facing Asuma Sarutobi's obvious ulterior motives, Nebula Kotetsu smiled faintly.

"I don't have any objections to splitting up. However, searching aimlessly like this is too inefficient."

"Uncle Ito's Akita dog was lost on the south side of the village. Given the habits of dogs, it won't have run too far."

"If we exclude the woods where large animals might appear, as well as areas where there is no food, we can focus our search on the snack street, trash bins, and areas where people gather."

His analysis was logical and well-organized, leaving Asuma Sarutobi with no reason to refuse, though he still let out a soft "tch."

On the south side of the village, one of the bustling areas of Konoha.

Nebula Kotetsu walked into the crowd.

It was as if a drop of hot oil had fallen into water.

Or like a magnet from a physics experiment being brought into a pile of scattered iron filings.

The crowd automatically parted.

The chattering young women and young wives stopped their noise, falling silent as they stared at Nebula Kotetsu with wide eyes.

Not one of them could look away.

The men nearby noticed the anomaly, and upon turning to see Nebula Kotetsu, they looked surprised before quickly leaving the area.

He was too handsome!

Standing next to someone like that made the local men feel very uncomfortable.

Nebula Kotetsu was already used to such scenes; he kept his expression unchanged while trying his best not to speak.

This could reduce the probability of women crowding around him.

Beside him, Kurenai Yuhi was also unfazed, though like everyone else, her gaze lingered on Nebula Kotetsu's face for a moment before she turned her head away.

Well, I'm not the type to care about looks.

Asuma Sarutobi had an expression on his face as if he had just eaten dung.

"Let's walk faster, we still haven't finished the mission."

Nebula Kotetsu said nothing.

No matter where they walked, the crowds would fall silent, their gazes fixed upon Nebula Kotetsu.

"Damn it!" Asuma Sarutobi cursed under his breath.

The group wandered for a while, yet they still could not find any trace of the Akita dog.

Instead, they ran straight into a few familiar faces.

"Obito, Rin," Kurenai Yuhi greeted them happily, then caught sight of the boy beside them with half his face covered by a mask and a cold, aloof aura, instantly becoming much more polite: "Senior Kakashi."

Kakashi Hatake was about the same age as them, but having graduated years earlier, Kurenai couldn't help but feel the reserve one has when facing a genius senior.

Asuma Sarutobi followed Kurenai's gaze to the group and gave a cool, detached nod.

Kurenai asked, "Are you all out on a mission here as well?"

Opposite them, Obito, who was walking in front with a cat tucked under his arm, was looking smug until he suddenly heard Kurenai's voice.

Following the sudden brightness in Rin Nohara's eyes, he turned his head and saw a figure he absolutely did not want to see.

Nebula Kotetsu!

He immediately went on high alert, speaking up before Rin Nohara could respond.

"Asuma, Kurenai, it's you guys." Deliberately omitting a certain someone, Obito Uchiha said, "We're on a mission. Mrs. Kawashima's cat went missing, so we're here to find it. See, this little guy." As he spoke, he held up the struggling tabby cat.

Kurenai asked, "Is that so? How long did it take you? We have a similar mission, but we haven't found ours yet."

Obito Uchiha tried hard to suppress the smugness at the corners of his mouth: "That? ...It was simple."

"It only took us an hour to find it."

Rin Nohara added from the side, "It was the grandmothers who helped us. Obito always helps them when he's not at school, and they helped us find the cat for today's mission too."

Obito Uchiha scratched his head and said, "It's nothing, I just did what I was supposed to do."

As he spoke, he ignored a certain person, puffed out his chest slightly, and said, "Compared to a useless appearance, I think that for a boy, compassion and kindness are much more important."

Nebula Kotetsu: "(￢_￢)"

It had only been a few days, but Obito Uchiha's talent for sarcasm had certainly grown.

Asuma Sarutobi also sensed the thorns in Obito's words. However, he didn't refute them; instead, he quickly closed ranks and chimed in.

"Obito, you make a lot of sense."

"Appearance doesn't mean much to a mature man."

"Strength and responsibility are what's truly precious."

"Rather than carefully maintaining a polished exterior, it's better to put your heart into your missions. Being able to complete a mission quickly is the true mark of a ninja's talent."

"Well done, Obito!"