The group chatted and laughed as they made their way to the top of Kage Rock.
Only then did Uchiha Obito belatedly realize where they had brought him.
Obito stopped in his tracks, his feelings suddenly complicated. Looking at the others, who were still chatting and laughing, he found himself at a loss for words.
Seeming to notice that he had fallen behind, Sarutobi Asuma turned around and looked at him in confusion. "Obito, why did you stop?"
At that, Kakashi Hatake turned to look at him too, his dead-fish eyes calm and unreadable.
Obito glanced at Yuki Yuichi, then hesitantly asked, "I... Where are we going?"
Asuma laughed and walked over, giving him a hearty slap on the shoulder. "Hahaha! We're going to train!"
"I forgot to tell you. There's a hidden training ground up here on Kage Rock."
"That's where we're headed."
As he spoke, Asuma slung an arm around Obito's shoulders again, still smiling. "You're skipping class to train too, right?"
"Clever!"
"You just skipped class outright. That way, you don't have to figure out how to sneak out of school."
"Heh... hehe..." Obito's mouth twitched. Feeling a little guilty, he forced out a smile.
He hadn't skipped class. He was just late!
But Asuma was praising him, calling him clever. He couldn't let himself lose face, so he forced himself to play along. "That's right!"
"School's too boring. I was just about to find some secluded place to train."
Obito said this with a mournful expression.
Kakashi, up ahead, gave him a suspicious look. Then he remembered that Obito had been late to class yesterday.
His eyebrows jumped, and a strange look appeared in his eyes.
Yuichi patted his shoulder and smiled.
Seeing him, Kakashi glanced at Obito again. "You knew all along, didn't you?"
"Of course," Yuichi replied without a hint of shame.
Asuma was still chatting away with Obito, completely unaware. Yuichi continued, "Obito was probably late, then happened to run into us."
"He thought we were late too."
"You... You really are a malicious little prankster," Kakashi said, holding back a complaint.
"Obito's unlucky to have met you."
"Relax," Yuichi said, unbothered. "Training together is a good thing."
Yuichi looked at Kakashi, then at Asuma, who was happily chatting with Obito, and thought to himself:
Even if the future didn't change and Obito still became that criminal, the bonds you formed as a boy were still something precious.
This was his own precaution. He didn't think Obito would become that criminal with him around, but it couldn't hurt to have a backup plan.
Even a clever rabbit had three burrows.
Just then, Asuma and Obito seemed to have finished talking, and the two of them came over.
Looking at Yuichi and Kakashi, Obito put on an aggrieved expression. "You knew about this place and didn't tell us?"
"That's so unfair!"
Asuma chimed in.
"Yeah, yeah! If I hadn't asked you two today whether you were skipping class, you would've kept this place all to yourselves!"
"That's so unfair!"
As he spoke, Asuma pretended to be angry.
He didn't mind spending time with Yuichi, Kakashi, and the others.
In fact, he really liked being around them.
Neither Yuichi nor Kakashi, nor Obito or Yuhi Kurenai, treated him any differently because his father was the Hokage.
Everyone else knew his father was the Hokage, then tried to suck up to him.
That really bothered him. He'd even sworn to escape his father's shadow and live life on his own terms!
At their complaints, Yuichi shrugged. "Kakashi found this place. I only learned about it yesterday."
"So you two should take it up with him." Yuichi pointed at Kakashi, directing the pair to give him a hard time instead.
"Damn you, Kakashi!" Obito turned to him and declared, "When we get there, I'm challenging you!"
"I'll show you what an Uchiha prodigy can do!"
"Yeah, yeah! I'm challenging you too!" Asuma added with a nod.
Kurenai stood beside Yuichi, watching them with a bright smile.
Still, she was a little worried. "Yuichi, is our teacher really going to be okay?"
Yuichi turned to her, then mussed her hair with his hand. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."
Kurenai pulled his hand away, a little put out. "Don't mess up my hair!"
"If you do that again, I'll..."
She faltered, then, under Yuichi's gaze, blushed and said, "I... I won't talk to you for half a day!"
At Kurenai's words, Yuichi laughed and lightly tapped her forehead with his index finger.
"Kurenai, you're so cute~"
Noticing the looks from beside him, Yuichi turned and saw Obito, Asuma, and Kakashi staring at him resentfully.
Kurenai noticed their looks too, and her face turned bright red in an instant.
She was easily embarrassed, but Yuichi wasn't. Without so much as a blush, he looked at the three of them and asked, "What are you looking at? Don't you have Childhood Sweethearts?"
When the three of them said nothing, Yuichi added, "No way, no way. Surely there's no one here who really doesn't have one?"
"Damn, I really want to punch him." Asuma looked at Yuichi's infuriating expression, then glanced at the adorable Kurenai, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.
The first time he'd seen Kurenai, he'd felt his heart skip a beat. But she'd been holding hands with Yuichi at the time.
So he'd given up on the idea.
But now the two of them were standing here, rubbing their relationship in everyone's faces.
Enough was enough!
Obito thought of Nohara Rin. Watching the two of them show off their affection, he could hardly stand it either.
Asuma exchanged a glance with him, and the two of them charged forward.
Seeing them coming, Yuichi grabbed Kurenai's hand and ran toward the training ground, shouting, "You'd need another twenty thousand years before you could beat me!"
"You jerk!"
"Get him!"
Asuma shouted as he and Obito chased after them. The four of them soon disappeared into the forest.
Watching their backs, Kakashi's mouth curled up beneath his mask.
He followed them into the woods, silently thinking to himself:
This feeling... wasn't so bad after all.
Before you continue