Arrangements for the Transition

The person who had spoken was a girl dressed in black.

She had long black hair, an ordinary face, and a somewhat shy expression.

A tiny pair of sunglasses sat on her youthful face.

Obito thought for a long moment before he remembered who she was.

"Ayako?!"

Ayako Aburame was a classmate of Obito and the others.

This was ridiculous!

Obito grumbled to himself.

He and Ayako got along pretty well.

So why had his mind gone completely blank when he saw her?

Rin smiled and took Ayako's hand.

"Ayako, when did you get here? I didn't even notice."

Ayako sounded a little hurt.

"I've been standing beside you for ages, and none of you paid me any attention."

Wait, what?

Obito was stunned.

Was the Aburame Clan's lack of presence... hereditary?

After the four of them chatted for a while, Shikaba left first.

Rin took Ayako over to talk with the girls.

Obito walked up to Kakashi and grinned as he threw an arm around his shoulders.

"What do you want?"

Kakashi frowned slightly and pushed Obito's arm away.

He hated it when people got handsy with him.

Obito chuckled.

"I've been craving your dad's cooking. Think I could come over for another meal in a few days?"

Kakashi stared at Obito without expression, his thoughts impossible to read.

After a moment, he nodded.

"Fine. Tomorrow at noon. My father should be free."

Just then,

a green-clad boy with a bowl cut butted in.

"Kakashi, face me in a showdown of youth!"

"No."

"Come on!"

"No!"

Obito felt the bromance in the air was getting out of hand.

He hurried away before the two of them rubbed off on him!

"Rin, let's go. I'll walk you home."

"Okay."

On the way home,

Obito held Rin's hand the whole time, his heart nearly leaping into his throat.

Only after they reached her doorstep

did Obito reluctantly let go.

"Bye, Rin. I'll come see you whenever I can."

Rin beamed and waved vigorously at Obito.

"It's a promise, then. Bye, Obito."

Obito walked home with his right hand raised, feeling strangely bereft.

He decided he wouldn't wash that hand today.

At noon the next day,

Obito brought Shadow Elegance to Kakashi's house.

He had two main reasons for coming to eat with White Fang.

First,

as the strongest fighter around at this point, White Fang might trigger a choice prompt.

Second,

Obito wanted to find some way to help White Fang through his troubles, so he wouldn't think of taking his own life.

He didn't know whether he could manage it.

But for now, it was the only thing he could do for White Fang.

With that thought,

Obito sighed and knocked on the Hatake Clan's door.

Knock, knock, knock.

The door opened soon afterward.

Sakumo stood on the other side.

The sadness in his eyes had deepened until it was almost palpable.

But when he saw Obito, he smiled sincerely.

"Ah, you're here, little Obito."

Obito grinned.

"Your cooking was so good I started craving it again. Sorry for the trouble."

Sakumo gently ruffled Obito's hair.

"It's no trouble at all. Come in and sit down."

Sakumo's cooking was every bit as good as Obito remembered.

Obito enjoyed every bite.

And Uncle Sakumo had money, so there was even expensive meat!

After the meal,

Sakumo said with a smile,

"I see you brought Shadow Elegance. Did you want to ask me for pointers on swordsmanship?"

Before Obito could answer, a set of choices appeared before his eyes.

[Option 1: Ask White Fang for pointers on Iaijutsu. Reward: Double the progress of the current Iaijutsu task.]

[Option 2: Ask White Fang for pointers on Basic Swordsmanship. Reward: Unlock the Basic Swordsmanship task.]

[Option 3: Uncle, I brought this blade to chop vegetables. What I really want is to learn to cook from you. Ask White Fang for cooking lessons. Reward: Hatake Family Heirloom Cookbook.]

Obito scanned the choices and immediately ruled out option three.

Then he made his decision.

He would keep learning Iaijutsu from White Fang!

Swordsmanship was useful as a stopgap in the early days.

Later, when everyone fought like gods and summoned giant battle machines, it wouldn't help much.

Learning a few moves would be enough. There was no need to pour all his energy into it.

If he really wanted to learn more... he could always come back and mooch another lesson!

"Uncle Sakumo, I was hoping you could give me more pointers on the Iaijutsu you taught me last time," Obito said earnestly.

Sakumo nodded.

"Then come with me. Kakashi, you too."

Sakumo took the two boys

to the Training Ground and began coaching them in swordsmanship.

Obito threw himself into training.

The afternoon flew by.

So,

naturally, he stayed for dinner too.

Over the meal,

Obito deliberately worked on Sakumo with a stream of praise.

"Kakashi's so lucky to have such an amazing father."

"No wonder he's so talented. You must have taught him well."

"Keep putting that much effort into Kakashi, and he might become Hokage someday."

"..."

By the end of that relentless barrage,

Sakumo seemed fine, but Kakashi's face had gone red beneath his mask.

Honestly, Obito!

Why hadn't I noticed before how... fair and pleasant his words were?

After dinner,

Obito said with a grin,

"I could eat your cooking every day and never get tired of it. Could I come by for another meal sometime?"

Sakumo laughed heartily and held down his less-than-pleased son.

"Of course. You're welcome anytime."

Obito stood up.

"It's getting late, so I won't keep you any longer."

"Goodbye, Uncle Sakumo. Bye, Kakashi."

Sakumo wanted Kakashi to see Obito out, but Obito declined.

He watched Obito leave, his feelings tangled.

Obito's a good kid...

Obito returned home in high spirits.

He had gained a great deal today.

His Iaijutsu progress had already been close to four thousand repetitions.

Now that he had completed the task, it had doubled to nearly eight thousand.

That put the finish line within reach.

He lay down in bed.

Exhausted, Obito soon fell asleep.

He had a new plan for tomorrow.

Obito slept until noon and got up yawning.

"Ugh. It feels like I always have half as much time in the day as everyone else."

He muttered as he got dressed.

After grabbing a quick bite, he headed out.

Today, he was going to learn ninjutsu!

Ninjutsu was an inescapable part of the ninja world.

Generally speaking,

the more techniques a ninja knew, and the higher their ranks, the stronger that ninja was.

But the major clans and Konoha's leadership also kept a tight hold on ninjutsu.

At the Ninja Academy, civilians could learn only the most basic Three Body Technique.

That meant the Clone Technique, the Substitution Technique, and the Transformation Technique.

Want to learn any other ninjutsu?

Sorry. Keep dreaming.

Unless you joined one of Konoha's official organizations or attached yourself to a major clan,

you would never get your hands on ninjutsu with real destructive power.

You might as well settle in for a lifetime of doing nothing.