What a Little Brat, Obito!

Obito endured the entire morning's lessons through sheer force of will.

That gave Kisuke at least a little comfort.

As class was about to end,

Kisuke Urahara clapped his hands to get the children's attention.

"Class, I have something important to announce."

"The annual exam is just over a month away, and I hope you'll—"

Before Kisuke could finish, the children began to wail.

"Aw, another exam?"

"Yeah! We only just had the last one. How is it time for another already?"

"I'm sorry I was born... no, wait. I'm sorry to have been born."

Obito snickered to himself.

His classmates were all characters. Even their complaints were entertaining.

Kisuke Urahara struggled to restore order.

"Quiet, everyone!"

Once the children settled down,

he continued.

"I hope you'll make good use of the time you have left, study hard, get good results, and do our class proud."

"If you do well, I'll pay out of my own pocket and treat everyone to a feast!"

The children exchanged glances.

Hey, that didn't sound so bad.

They couldn't escape the exam anyway. Maybe they should study?

Obito's mind was wandering when three choices suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Option One: Preserve your noble status as the Dead Last. Who else could claim last place? Completion reward: Dead Last's Anger.]

[Dead Last's Anger: When facing an opponent with better grades than yours, SAN -1.]

[Option Two: Look at her a hundred times, and she still won't be yours. Read a book a hundred times, and the knowledge will be yours. Study hard and rank in the top three of your class. Completion reward: Fire Release aptitude +1.]

[Option Three: Work yourself to the bone, but make your classmates work even harder. Rank in the top three while your class takes first place in average score. Completion reward: Fire Release aptitude +5.]

Obito sucked in a sharp breath, doing his bit for global warming.

What the hell was this Dead Last's Anger supposed to be?

No question about it. Pass.

As for options two and three...

Option two was obviously easier.

So I choose option three.

The moment he made up his mind,

a world-weary look appeared in Obito's eyes, one no child his age should have had.

Man.

I never thought I'd come to another world just to get dragged into an academic arms race.

Oh well.

Let me show you what a student from China can do.

Tremble before the power of relentless studying!

Study!

If it doesn't kill us, we'll study till it does!

Obito's hand shot up.

"Teacher, I have a question."

Kisuke Urahara's heart sank.

What was that little troublemaker Obito up to now?

He tipped his chin warily toward Obito, urging him to spit it out.

Obito stood.

Looking around at his classmates, he felt a twinge of regret.

We're still classmates now, but in a minute, we might be enemies.

While he hesitated,

the children around him began to whisper.

"What's Obito plotting this time?"

Top Student A pushed up his glasses, his lip curling in disdain.

"Isn't it obvious? He's going to make another excuse not to study. It wouldn't be the first time."

Top Student B sighed in complete agreement.

"How did we get so unlucky, ending up in the same class as that Dead Last?"

"Before I met him, I never knew one person could drag a class average down by ten points."

Top Student A nodded bitterly.

"Exactly. If our class didn't have two geniuses like us,"

"we'd probably drop from second-to-last to dead last!"

Hearing them talk,

Obito's guilt vanished at once.

He said with a grin,

"Mr. Kisuke, I think you assigned too little homework today."

"I mean, with the annual exam coming up, shouldn't you at least double it?"

The entire classroom fell silent for a moment.

Every child was stunned.

...Holy crap. What's wrong with Obito?

Kisuke's grin grew wider and wider.

He found himself liking the boy more by the minute.

"If even Obito says so, then I suppose I really didn't assign enough homework today."

"Everyone, open your textbooks. I'll give you a few more problems."

This is ridiculous!

The children reluctantly opened their textbooks, each of them glaring hard enough to kill Obito.

Fortunately, Kisuke Urahara marked only five or six problems, and they breathed a little easier.

"All right. Along with those problems, the rest is your homework for today," Kisuke said with a smile.

What?!

Obito, have you no shame?!

After the smiling teacher left the classroom,

Kakashi hesitated, then started to get up and speak to Obito.

But someone beat him to it.

Nagano Nami slammed his hands on his desk and sprang up.

He strode over to Obito and said fiercely,

"Obito, meet me in the woods tonight. We're settling everything, old scores and new!"

Obito curled his lip.

What scores do we even have to settle?

Yesterday was the peak of your life. Do you know that?

You mouthed off to the Sixth Hokage and challenged the Shinobi World's greatest monster.

Across the entire Shinobi World, only Zabuza could compare to you.

You should be celebrating.

As for what happened today...

What's wrong with making you learn a little more? It's for your own good.

That was what Obito thought, but aloud he said,

"Fine. I'll see you in the woods tonight."

"Don't run away at the last minute and make me lose respect for you."

Nagano Nami snorted.

"Hmph. Right back at you."

He puffed out his chest and walked away like a conquering hero.

Rin spoke quietly, her voice full of worry.

"Obito, are you really going to fight Nagano Nami?"

Obito grinned.

"Of course not. I'll be at home doing my homework tonight. I was just messing with him."

Rin finally relaxed and smiled.

"You're so bad, Obito."

Obito chuckled.

Girls like a boy with a bad streak, right?

As Obito chatted away with Rin,

he glanced to the side

and noticed Guy standing beside Kakashi with an eager look on his face.

Obito couldn't hear what Guy was saying, but Guy was so excited he waved his arms around.

Damn!

The boy-love was right beside me!

Obito looked around and suddenly realized

Kakashi and Guy weren't the only ones.

The boys in class all seemed to be playing in pairs.

He was the only one chatting with a girl.

"Hiss—"

Obito fell into thought.

In a world overflowing with bromance,

I'm the one who doesn't fit in.

And come to think of it, the people who fall in love in Naruto...

Not one of them seems to have a good ending.

Hayate, Asuma...

Obito's face filled with worry.

Should I... ask Rin to become my sworn sister first?

Who knows if the will of the universe would accept that, though. What a headache...