Arrangements for the Transition

The voice had come from a girl dressed in black.

She had long black hair, ordinary features, and a shy expression.

A tiny pair of sunglasses sat on her youthful face.

Obito had to think for ages 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 grinned 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, but none of you paid any attention to me."

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 other girls.

Obito walked up to Kakashi and slung an arm around his shoulders with a grin.

"What?"

Kakashi frowned slightly and coldly pushed Obito's hand away.

He hated it when people got touchy 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 unreadable.

After a moment, he nodded.

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

Just then,

a green-clad Watermelon Head barged in.

"Kakashi, face me in a duel of Youth!"

"No."

"Come on!"

"No!"

Obito felt the tension between those two getting a little too intense.

He hurried off before it could rub off on him!

"Lin-chan, let's go. I'll walk you home."

"Okay!"

On the way home,

Obito held Rin's hand the whole time, his heart practically in his throat.

Only when they reached her doorstep

did Obito reluctantly let go.

"Bye, Lin-chan. I'll come see you whenever I have time."

Rin beamed and waved hard at Obito.

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

Obito walked home with his right hand held aloft, feeling oddly bereft.

He decided he wouldn't wash it today.

At noon the next day,

Obito brought Shadow Elegance to Kakashi's house.

He had two main reasons for coming to eat White Fang's cooking.

First,

as the strongest person around at this stage, White Fang ought to trigger a choice prompt.

Second,

Obito wanted to find some way to help White Fang so he wouldn't lose the will to live.

He didn't know whether he could manage that.

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

With that thought,

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

Knock, knock, knock.

Before long, the door opened.

Sakumo was the one who answered.

The gloom in his eyes had deepened until it seemed ready to spill over.

But when he saw Obito, he smiled from the heart.

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

Obito grinned.

"Your cooking was so good that I couldn't stop craving it. Sorry for the trouble."

Sakumo gently ruffled Obito's hair.

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

Sakumo really was an excellent cook.

Obito enjoyed every bite.

Best of all, Uncle Sakumo had money, so there was expensive meat to eat!

After they finished the meal,

Sakumo smiled and said,

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

Before Obito could answer, a choice prompt appeared before his eyes.

[Option One: Ask White Fang to teach you Iaijutsu. Completion reward: Double the progress of your current Iaijutsu task.]

[Option Two: Ask White Fang to teach you Basic Swordsmanship. Completion reward: Unlock the Basic Swordsmanship task.]

[Option Three: Uncle, this blade is for chopping vegetables. What I really want is to learn cooking from you. Ask White Fang to teach you cooking. Completion reward: Hatake Family Heirloom Cookbook.]

Obito scanned the options and immediately ruled out the third.

Then he made his decision.

He would keep learning Iaijutsu from White Fang!

Swordsmanship was useful as a stopgap early on.

Later, when everyone was fighting like gods with absurd powers and giant constructs, it honestly wouldn't help much.

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

And if he really wanted to learn more... he could always come freeload again!

"Uncle Sakumo, I really would like some more guidance 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 completely into training.

The afternoon passed in a flash.

So,

as a matter of course, he stayed for another meal that evening.

While they ate,

Obito deliberately worked on Sakumo with a steady stream of praise.

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

"No wonder he's so talented. It must be thanks to all your careful teaching."

"Keep putting your effort into Kakashi, and he might even become Naruto one day."

"..."

After that relentless barrage,

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

Honestly, that Obito!

How had I never noticed how... fair and pleasant his words were?

After dinner,

Obito grinned and said,

"I could never get tired of your cooking, Uncle. Can I come by for another meal sometime?"

Sakumo laughed, held down his somewhat unwilling son, and said,

"Of course. You're welcome anytime."

Obito stood up.

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

"Bye, Uncle Sakumo. Bye, Kakashi."

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

As Sakumo watched him leave, mixed feelings welled up inside him.

Obito is a good kid...

Obito went home in high spirits.

He had gained a great deal today.

His Iaijutsu progress had already been close to 4,000 repetitions.

Now that he had completed the choice, it had doubled to nearly 8,000.

At this rate, finishing the task wouldn't take much longer.

He lay down on his bed.

Exhausted, Obito soon fell asleep.

He had another plan for tomorrow.

Obito slept until noon and got up yawning.

"Mm. Feels like I always get half as much time in a 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 Naruto world.

Generally speaking,

the more Ninjutsu a ninja knew, and the higher its rank, the stronger that ninja was.

But Ninjutsu was monopolized by the major clans and Konoha's leadership.

At the Ninja Academy, commoners could learn only the most basic Three Body Technique:

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

Wanted to learn any other Ninjutsu?

Sorry. Dream on.

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

you had no chance of learning Ninjutsu with terrifying destructive power.

You might as well resign yourself to a lifetime of mediocrity.