Obito's Filial Devotion

Minato went over a few more key points of the Shadow Clone Technique with Obito.

"...And that's about it. Give it a try, Obito."

Obito nodded slightly.

He formed the Ram seal with both hands and slowly gathered the Chakra within him.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Poof!

A cloud of smoke appeared, then faded.

Another Obito stood beside him.

This Obito didn't look quite right, though.

Normal people weren't supposed to have heads bigger than their bodies.

"Uh, I guess that didn't work..."

Obito looked at the big-headed baby beside him and awkwardly released the Shadow Clone Technique.

Minato laughed.

"It's fine. A B-rank Ninjutsu isn't that easy to learn. Let's try again."

Obito nodded firmly.

"All right!"

The moon quietly climbed into the sky, and darkness slowly settled over the land.

Obito stopped trying, looking dejected.

In the end,

he still hadn't mastered the Shadow Clone Technique smoothly.

Seeing this, Minato patted his head.

"Don't lose heart, Obito. You'll master the Shadow Clone Technique within a week, tops."

Obito nodded firmly.

"Got it, Minato-sensei."

The four of them met up outside the woods.

That brought the day's training to an end.

"I'm heading out. See you, everyone."

Obito wasn't in high spirits. After saying goodbye to Kakashi and the others, he hurried away.

Rin looked puzzled.

"What's wrong with Obito-kun? Usually, he..."

Usually, he walks home with me, Rin thought.

Minato said softly,

"Training probably didn't go the way he wanted today... I don't know why, but Obito seems to expect a lot of himself."

Kakashi watched Obito leave.

He touched his Forehead Protector thoughtfully.

"If I'd made something of myself while I was young~ I could use Susanoo and double Kamui~"

Obito hummed glumly as he trudged home.

After greeting his grandmother, he threw himself onto his little bed.

Training hadn't gone well today, and he couldn't help feeling restless.

"Less than five years until the day I'm supposed to 'die,' and I..."

Obito let out a long sigh.

He had already pulled well ahead of many of his peers.

But Obito knew full well

that to the truly strong, he was still a nobody. He was nowhere near calling the shots.

"The Battle of Kannabi Bridge, Rin's death, the Nine-Tails Rebellion, the Tragedy of Uchiha..."

That string of tragedies loomed over him like a mountain,

weighing him down until he could barely breathe.

"Man..."

With the strength he had now,

trying to stop that tide of events would be like a mantis trying to halt a cart.

But... he couldn't just do nothing, could he?

"What can I do, though?"

Obito lay in bed, lost in thought.

What could he set up besides relying on the system?

His thoughts wandered.

Obito let his imagination run wild,

listing every outlandish idea that came to mind.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He sat bolt upright and exclaimed under his breath,

"I've got it!"

He had thought of a way to prevent the Nine-Tails Rebellion!

"I don't care who Madara Uchiha uses as a pawn. This'll work either way!" Obito muttered.

What had caused the Nine-Tails Rebellion?

The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—Kushina.

The seal within her weakened during childbirth, allowing him to...

No, no, no!

Allowing the mysterious Masked Man to take advantage of the opening.

"So while Konoha's still fairly strong, I can find a way to make little Naruto arrive early!"

"Or... I could just castrate Minato-sensei! That'd solve the problem at its root!"

The more Obito thought about it, the more workable the idea seemed.

"Minato-sensei's been so good to me. It's only right that I do this for him... Yeah!"

The moment Obito made up his mind,

the system presented him with a new set of choices.

[Option One: Scheme in secret to have Naruto born early. Reward: 1 Kak of Chakra.]

[Option Two: Scheme in secret to ensure Minato-sensei can never have children. Reward: Byakugan ×2.]

[Option Three: Scheme in secret to make Kushina infertile. Reward: Byakugan ×2.]

[Option Four: Scheme in sec—commit suicide immediately to prevent the Nine-Tails Rebellion. Reward: Nine Dragons Pulling Coffins service ×1.]

Obito didn't even look at the last three options.

The system was always offering ridiculous choices. He was used to it.

He could just pick option one.

One, one, one, one, one, one, one!

"The reward's actually one Kak of Chakra? That's amazing!" Obito marveled.

But then he reconsidered.

One Kak of Chakra was only 0.01 Naruto's worth of Chakra... Nothing special!

He could take or leave that reward... No, he couldn't leave it!

Obito flopped back onto the bed.

"Now I just need to figure out how to get Minato-sensei to hurry things along."

It didn't take long

for him to come up with a meticulous plan.

No exaggeration: when it came to scheming, Obito had never met his match.

The next day happened to be a day off.

After searching for a while, Obito walked into a pharmacy.

A beautiful woman with an elegant air sat behind the counter.

She propped her chin on one hand, her generous bosom resting on the tabletop.

Its sheer size left Obito staring.

When she noticed someone had entered,

the woman brushed a lock of hair away from her face and asked lazily,

"What kind of medicine do you need, little guy?"

That movement gave Obito a vivid demonstration of what it meant to make waves.

He swallowed and stammered,

"I—I need... some supplements."

"The kind that help a married couple have more fun talking at night. And talk louder."

The proprietress gave Obito a skeptical look.

She even glanced pointedly at a certain part of him.

"What do you need medicine like that for, little guy? You don't look like you'd have any use for it."

Damn!

She's looking down on me... in more ways than one!

"It's not for me. I'm buying it for my teacher and his wife."

At that, the proprietress gave Obito a thumbs-up.

Her long eyes curved into a smile.

"It's rare to see a youngster as devoted to his elders as you!"

Obito lifted his chin proudly.

Of course.

A kid as devoted as me?

You could search the entire Shinobi World with a lantern and never find another!

...Unless you insist on counting Black Zetsu and Itachi. Then I've got nothing.

The proprietress got up to prepare Obito's order.

So Obito naturally took the chance to admire the view from behind.

Coming here was worth it! Obito thought.

But his smile soon vanished.

The proprietress set a packet of medicine on the counter and named a price.

Obito felt sick.

"Why is it so expensive?!"

The proprietress shrugged, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"So do you want it or not, little guy?"

Obito gritted his teeth.

He pulled out every last bit of his savings and slapped it down on the counter.

"I'll take it!"