Uchiha Obito and Lin

Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, several days had passed. After a brief rest, Leaf Village, like a clock wound tight, began running smoothly once more.

Hyuga Iwa also threw himself into intense, exhausting study and training.

Walking through Leaf Village's streets, Hyuga Iwa clearly noticed that there were more passing merchants and travelers, and accordingly, many more patrol guards as well.

The Ninja Academy reopened after being suspended for a time. This time, it even expanded by two classes at once, enrolling a large number of civilian children.

Among them, Hyuga Iwa spotted several familiar names: Gekko Hayate, Mitaraishi Anko, Kotetsu Hagane, and so on.

So they were all more or less in the same class as him. Hyuga Iwa could not help marveling at the wonders of fate.

Today was a rest day. Hyuga Iwa and Might Guy had come to find Kakashi Hatake. The few of them had already agreed to train together, especially through practical sparring.

After all, the ultimate purpose of their training was to become stronger, and real combat was an excellent way to train.

Perhaps because of their previous fight, Kakashi Hatake held Might Guy in even higher regard, while seeing Hyuga Iwa in an entirely new light.

From his usual interactions with Might Guy, Kakashi Hatake

could easily tell that Hyuga Iwa was the one who had helped Might Guy devise his training plan.

Though he did not know what kind of plan it was, Kakashi Hatake often saw the two of them training at school. Some of it looked rather childish, but there had to be some logic behind it, or it could not explain why Might Guy had improved so much lately!

The two arrived at the small grove where Kakashi Hatake usually trained. Before they even reached it, they heard someone shouting.

"Hey, Kakashi Hatake, that one didn't count! Let's do it again."

"Damn it, how could you do that?"

"Leaf Taijutsu Secret Ultimate Technique—Thousand Years of Death!"

"Ooooooh~"

"..."

Hyuga Iwa and Might Guy exchanged a glance. Unlike the clueless Might Guy, Hyuga Iwa knew what Thousand Years of Death meant. His buttocks clenched suddenly, and his whole body shuddered!

Hyuga Iwa thought to himself, I never expected Kakashi Hatake to have mastered this taijutsu's "ultimate technique" at such a young age. I'd better stay farther away from him in the future.

"I can't believe Kakashi Hatake knows the ultimate Leaf Taijutsu technique. That's amazing. I really want to see it."

"..."

A drop of cold sweat slowly ran down Hyuga Iwa's face. No, he absolutely could not let Might Guy learn such an evil technique. What if he got hit by it someday?!

And it seemed he would have to keep a closer eye on Kakashi Hatake from now on. He absolutely could not fall for his tricks!

Hyuga Iwa said earnestly, "Guy, that's an evil taijutsu. You must never learn it from Kakashi Hatake."

"Iwa, so you know that taijutsu ultimate technique too? You're being so unfair. You never taught me."

Huh? Wasn't Might Guy focusing on the wrong thing?!

"No, no, that's not it. I only happened to hear someone mention that taijutsu ultimate technique before. They said it's an extremely evil taijutsu, and everyone who uses it is a vicious criminal," Hyuga Iwa explained hurriedly, racking his brains.

"Ah? But Kakashi Hatake doesn't look like a vicious criminal at all. Damn it, Kakashi Hatake has hidden himself so well! Iwa, let's find a way to get Kakashi Hatake back on the right path!"

"O-okay." Hyuga Iwa wiped at the nonexistent sweat on his forehead and breathed a small sigh of relief.

Hyuga Iwa silently prayed, Kakashi Hatake, better you than me. My condolences. I'll burn incense and pray for you.

To save the "wayward" Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy charged out without hesitation, shouting as he ran, "Kakashi Hatake, Iwa told me all about it! Thousand Years of Death is an evil move. You must never use it again, or I, Might Guy, will stop you!"

Hyuga Iwa stared blankly at Might Guy as he rushed out, then covered his flushed face with one hand.

Kakashi Hatake looked at the shouting Might Guy with a face full of question marks. He glanced at Hyuga Iwa behind him, utterly speechless.

Hyuga Iwa also walked out of the woods and into the clearing. There, he saw someone dressed in Uchiha Clan attire lying painfully on the ground, both hands tightly clutching his backside. His legs were stiff, twitching now and then.

Hyuga Iwa looked at the fallen Uchiha Clan boy. His face twitched unconsciously, his body shivered, and he awkwardly greeted them. "Hi, Kakashi Hatake, Obito, and Lin. Hello."

With his sense of justice overflowing, Might Guy kept chattering at Kakashi Hatake. Every so often, he grabbed Kakashi Hatake by the shoulders and shook him.

Kakashi Hatake stared blankly at Might Guy, completely baffled. Lin, however, politely returned the greeting when she saw Hyuga Iwa and Might Guy. "Hello, Guy and Iwa. I didn't expect to run into you here."

Hyuga Iwa chuckled. "Shouldn't we be the ones saying that? Did you come here to play with Kakashi Hatake?"

"Ah? Oh! No, Obito kept insisting on coming to find Kakashi Hatake. I only came with him."

Lin's face immediately turned red, and she hurriedly explained.

"Oh! It's fine. Since you're here anyway, we can play together."

"Ah!"

Seeing Lin at a complete loss, Hyuga Iwa decided not to tease her further. He kicked Obito, who was still on the ground, and said with a smile, "Obito, aren't you getting up? Is the ground that comfortable?!"

Hearing an outsider's voice, Obito sprang up from the ground and glared "fiercely" at Hyuga Iwa. "Damn Hyuga Iwa, what do you know? I was just looking for something."

Hyuga Iwa did not expose his lie. Instead, he turned to look at Might Guy, who was still trying his best to save the wayward youth, and said irritably, "Guy, that's enough. I'm sure Kakashi Hatake has accepted your lesson, so let him go, all right, Kakashi Hatake?"

As he spoke, Hyuga Iwa blinked repeatedly at Kakashi Hatake. With his intelligence, Kakashi Hatake should understand, right?

Unfortunately, Hyuga Iwa had overestimated Kakashi Hatake's moral limits. Once Kakashi Hatake understood what Might Guy meant, he began spouting nonsense with a straight face. "Guy, don't listen to everything Hyuga Iwa says. Do you know who invented this ultimate Leaf Taijutsu technique?"

"Who?" Might Guy asked curiously.

The moment Hyuga Iwa heard Kakashi Hatake's words, he knew things were bad. He hurriedly winked at Obito, but the simple-minded Obito did not understand him at all. Instead, he asked impatiently, "What? Did something get in your eye? Why do you keep blinking?"

It felt as though thunder had exploded beside his ears. Hyuga Iwa quietly put some distance between himself and the others. Yes, he should maintain this safe distance whenever he was around them in the future.

Kakashi Hatake grinned, his neat white teeth gleaming. "Guy, this ultimate technique was invented by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju!"

Kakashi Hatake stared at Might Guy with bright eyes and continued tempting him. "So, do you want to learn it? I'll teach you! Look, there happen to be two sparring partners here. One for you and one for me—perfect!"

The innocent Might Guy's eyes widened, joy written all over his face. After all, the First Hokage was the idol of every Leaf Village ninja!

"Learn! I want to learn! I have to learn!"

"Mm."

For once, Kakashi Hatake's usually unchanging face revealed a "lecherous" smile. Then he said, "Haha, good. Don't worry, it's very simple. You'll definitely learn it right away."

As he spoke, he deliberately—or perhaps not so deliberately—glanced at Hyuga Iwa and Obito.

Hearing their conversation, Obito finally understood what they meant. He jumped up and hid beside Lin. "Lin, look at Kakashi Hatake! He only knows how to bully me. I'm telling you, he's awful. How could he ever treat you as well as I, Uchiha Obito, do!"

Hyuga Iwa nodded repeatedly. "Mm-hmm, Kakashi Hatake is awful. We really should stay away from him."

"Obito, Kakashi Hatake..." With everyone staring at her, Lin's body stiffened and her mind went blank. She fell completely into a state of self-imposed "fainting."

Looking at the unreliable group, Hyuga Iwa said crossly, "Now you know to be scared? Where were you before? And Guy, if you dare learn it, I swear I'll stop being friends with you!"

Hyuga Iwa shot Kakashi Hatake a fierce glare as he spoke.

"Ah?!" Might Guy immediately looked back and forth between the two, completely at a loss over what to do.

"Pfft~"

Seeing Might Guy's helpless expression, Kakashi Hatake laughed. Soon, Hyuga Iwa started laughing too.

Seeing the two of them, Might Guy realized that he had been fooled again. He innocently hid to one side and began drawing circles, muttering, "You only know how to bully honest people. Can we even play together anymore..."

"..."

"Caw, caw, caw..." A crow flew over everyone's heads...

Life could not remain unchanged, nor could it be lifeless and dull. There still needed to be plenty of amusing moments worth remembering.

Once the joke was over, the group chatted and laughed again, making the place lively.

With Uchiha Obito and Rin Nohara joining them, there were two more people for this practical session. However, considering Rin Nohara's weaker combat ability, they ultimately changed the three-person match into four people pairing off for one-on-one fights. Whoever lost the most would treat everyone to ramen.

Hyuga Iwa's suggestion received unanimous approval.

Soon, they drew lots to decide the order of their sparring matches, and the practical training officially began.

Perhaps because he wanted too badly to show off, or because it was his first time before outsiders, Uchiha Obito performed terribly. In practically no time at all, everyone took turns beating him up, making him howl in frustration.

But a loss was a loss. Sometimes, things were simply that cruel.

Still, Obito's actual strength was probably not as poor as he had shown. Perhaps he had just been too nervous.

After the sparring, Uchiha Obito painfully treated everyone to ramen. Amid his gritted teeth, they each went home.