"Grandmother, Obito, I'm home!"
"B-Big brother!!!!"
Obito, who had already come home from school, jumped straight out of the second-floor window!
"Oh?"
Ruohuo suddenly remembered an old news story he'd seen in his previous life. A man had come home from a business trip, and his dog had jumped right off the balcony, leaving the man with four broken ribs. He'd spent three weeks in the hospital before he could barely get out of bed...
But that clearly wasn't going to happen to the two of them.
Obito twisted in midair to absorb much of the impact, then landed and immediately threw himself at Ruohuo. "You're finally back, big brother!"
"All right, all right, get down!"
"I brought you a present!"
At the mention of a present, Obito perked right up. "A present!?"
"Yep." Ruohuo patted his ninja tool pouch, which clinked noisily. "Your big brother collected lots of good stuff on this trip."
"Ruohuo-kun," Orochimaru called from behind them, politely reminding him, "aren't you going to introduce me to your family?"
Yes, Orochimaru was still there.
Just as Fugaku had used a look to order someone to guard the Five-Tails when he dismissed the clan members, Orochimaru had also received an order from the Third: keep an eye on Ruohuo.
Orochimaru understood that this was probably preparation for the upcoming "Five-Tails negotiations."
On the way back to Konoha, Orochimaru had seen many Konoha Ninja heading for the front lines. They were traveling at full speed, traveling light.
Orochimaru had deduced that Konoha's defenses were probably quite thin at the moment.
So the negotiations ahead were bound to be extremely sensitive and crucial...
"Oh, this is my younger brother, Obito Uchiha."
"Obito, hurry up and greet your teacher." Ruohuo patted the back of Obito's head.
Obito immediately bowed at a