Investigating the Akatsuki

Clap, clap, clap...

"Congratulations, Obito!"

Rin said happily.

Classmates also cast congratulatory gazes at Obito.

Only Kakashi remained expressionless.

Obito Uchiha looked at Kakashi with a smile on his face. "Why aren't you congratulating me?"

Kakashi's deadpan eyes darkened as he said in a low voice, "Congratulations."

Obito Uchiha smiled, though he did not continue to mock Kakashi.

Then, amidst the envious gazes of the crowd, he left the classroom.

Having already become a Genin, Obito naturally no longer needed to stay at the Ninja Academy to study.

According to the system, he should be forming a small squad with two others and a supervising Jonin.

Obito stood quietly on the Hidden Leaf Bridge, wearing a red and black form-fitting top.

Though he did not know who his classmates and supervising teacher were, the information given to him stated he should wait here.

Whoosh!

A figure appeared on the bridge!

Qingshui! Reporting for duty!

"Good afternoon! My name is Minato Namikaze, your supervising teacher."

"You're called Obito Uchiha, right?"

Minato Namikaze's gentle voice came from behind Obito.

He saw Minato Namikaze appear wearing his Jonin uniform.

Obito Uchiha felt a slight pang of surprise inside. Although he had long anticipated that it might be Minato, he had not expected the Hokage to actually arrange Minato for him.

Looking at Minato's smile, Obito nodded gently.

At this time, Minato was probably in his early teens and looked extremely young.

"Teacher Minato, hello."

After listening to Obito's greeting, Minato Namikaze smiled slightly. He didn't put on any airs and took the initiative to introduce himself. "Let's start by introducing ourselves!"

"My name is Minato Namikaze. My dream is to become Hokage. The book I like to read is Tales of a Gutsy Ninja written by Teacher Jiraiya. My least favorite food... I don't really have any least favorite food."

Minato Namikaze introduced himself with a smile on his face.

Radiant, confident, and like a little sun.

"My name is Obito Uchiha. My dream is to protect the people of the village, and I like eating old Hidden Leaf chicken rolls..."

Obito spoke simply for a few lines.

Hearing this, Minato Namikaze smiled brightly and patted Obito on the head. "Good! Lord Hokage thinks very highly of you, so he asked me to be your supervising teacher."

Obito Uchiha nodded and then looked around with some confusion.

"Then, Teacher Minato, where are our teammates?"

Obito Uchiha asked with wide eyes.

He remembered there was supposed to be a bell-stealing test arranged, right?

Hearing this, Minato Namikaze shook his head.

"Sorry, Obito, we don't have any teammates. Because you graduated too early, we couldn't scrape together a full squad for you, so I'm giving you one-on-one guidance!"

"Rest assured, although I am a newly promoted Jonin, with me around, I can definitely guarantee your safety during missions!"

Minato Namikaze said apologetically.

As soon as Obito heard this, he understood immediately. That made sense; he had graduated at age five, while in the original work Kakashi had graduated at age six.

"Well! I trust Teacher Minato very much!"

Obito Uchiha said with a smile.

This was even better, as it avoided delaying his cultivation due to interpersonal relationship issues with teammates or dragging along dead weight.

Besides, Minato could focus on him even more specifically.

One-on-one guidance—how was this any different from taking him on as a direct apprentice?

"Then Teacher, what is our first mission?"

Obito Uchiha asked eagerly.

His estimate for the first mission was probably some task like catching stray cats and dogs or searching for lost property.

"Well!"

An enigmatic smile appeared on Minato Namikaze's face.

"Logically speaking, for a Genin like you, first missions are always D-rank tasks. But this time Lord Hokage made an exception; because your performance last time approached Chunin level, he arranged a B-rank task for you!"

Minato Namikaze smiled and handed a scroll to Obito.

Obito felt a slight surge of surprise in his heart. According to Naruto, anything below C-rank would not involve ninja combat.

A B-rank task definitely would!

Obito gently stroked his own eyes.

From his past life to the present, he had never killed anyone. Perhaps he could awaken the Sharingan by seeing blood!

Obito felt a slight stirring of excitement within, and impatiently opened the mission scroll.

When he saw the contents of the mission clearly, Obito Uchiha's expression froze.

Investigating the Akatsuki

(PS: In this book's setting, Jiraiya does not know at this time that the three of them founded the Akatsuki.)

"Ah?"

The moment Obito saw it, he was somewhat stunned!

No way!

You're having me go investigate this second-strongest villain organization in the shinobi world?!

He was only a Genin; how on earth was this a B-rank task?

Seeing Obito's startled and puzzled expression, Minato began to explain slowly.

"This Akatsuki is a newly formed small organization in the Land of Rain. Because their motives are unclear and they are newly established, the Hokage has dispatched Hidden Leaf ninjas to investigate for border security!"

Hearing Minato's explanation, Obito quickly sorted through his thoughts.

The current Akatsuki should only consist of Nagato, Yahiko, Konan, and a few minor extras.

It was not yet the evil organization composed of super S-rank rogue ninjas from later generations.

"Alright!"

Obito Uchiha nodded.

Minato looked at Obito and inwardly evaluated him.

Not bad, a good kid. Unlike the rest of the Uchiha Clan, he had a bit more human warmth to him.

"Then, let's gather at the Hidden Leaf gates tomorrow morning. Remember to eat properly; since the first mission is an overseas mission, it will be very tough."

Minato Namikaze reminded Obito gently.

Obito nodded vigorously.

Minato smiled gently and then vanished.

Obito Uchiha looked quietly at the water's surface. Looking at the eyes reflected in the water, Obito Uchiha felt a trace of nervousness in his heart.

To be honest, he was not sure whether his first time killing someone would allow him to awaken the Sharingan.

Having experienced his past life, he had been through heavy storms and high winds, so his emotional agitation threshold was very high.

Early the next morning

Obito Uchiha came to the Hidden Leaf gates to wait, and Minato arrived quite quickly as well.

"Good morning, you look full of drive today!"

Minato Namikaze said with a smile.

Obito gave an awkward laugh and nodded.

He still felt this way of speaking was a bit embarrassing.

"Well! Let's get going then."

Minato smiled gently.

Obito nodded, then closely followed behind Minato.

Minato did not use the Flying Thunder God or Body Flicker technique, but simply ran using standard ninja movement.

Obito followed closely behind.

Midway, Minato suddenly increased his speed, catching Obito somewhat off guard.

Yet Obito quickly adapted to Minato's speed and kept right up.

Minato glanced back over his shoulder at Obito.

Well, his speed is fine. He probably hasn't practiced water-surface walking or tree-climbing training yet.

"Why not take this opportunity to teach him together."

Minato stopped abruptly in front of a forest.

Obito stopped right after him.

"What's wrong? Teacher Minato?"

Obito Uchiha asked.

"Obito, while ninja running suits us well, what should we do if we aren't on plains, but in mountainous terrain or densely wooded areas instead?"

Minato Namikaze pointed to the dense forest ahead and turned his head to ask.

Obito Uchiha seemed to know what Minato intended to teach him, and spoke up directly.

"Ninjas utilize chakra, attaching chakra to the soles of their feet to perform tree-climbing."

With that, Minato slowly walked step by step right up to the treetop.