Uchiha Obito's questioning had not even finished before Kakashi cut him off. He retaliated, biting down especially hard on the final word, "elite." Obito was somewhat angered. Kakashi's words had indeed hurt him, but they were also true. That Iwagakure ninja from before had clearly been very powerful, creating twenty clones by himself. Having let down his guard, Obito had been ambushed. After all, he had never experienced the cruelty of war. When the enemy suddenly appeared before him, he had panicked for a moment. But faced with Kakashi's relentless aggression, Obito refused to hold back with his words either.
"I... I just got sand in my eyes!"
Kakashi sat cross-legged on the ground, slightly raising his head as he looked at Uchiha Obito with contempt and coldly retorted, "Do you remember Article Twenty-Five of the Shinobi Code? No matter what, a ninja must never shed tears!"
Nohara Rin, who was helping Kakashi treat his injuries, grew worried to see her two teammates arguing like this and tried to persuade them. "Enough! Enough! You two, stop arguing!"
"Stop arguing, both of you!"
Watching the three children behave this way only strengthened Minato Namikaze's resolve. The original plan had not involved splitting into two groups. After all, whether it was himself, Kakashi, or Uchiha Obito, the two children had already grown strong enough that they would not be at a disadvantage even against jonin. Yet he had underestimated the difficulty of judging people's hearts in war. Children were still children. Obito's performance had indeed been disappointing. Ambushing the enemy was one thing, but when ambushed himself, he had immediately lost his composure. This worried Minato Namikaze, but Kakashi worried him even more, because there was a demon in that child's heart.
"Kakashi, rules are certainly important, but rules cannot encompass everything.