Helping Obito Regain His Confidence

Uchiha Makoto crouched at the edge of the training ground, watching the ants on the ground move their colony.

He sighed, stood up, and brushed the dust off his backside.

"Late again."

He glanced at the sun. Almost half an hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Obito.

Was it unexpected? Not really.

In the original story, Obito had been the king of tardiness, the kind of guy who could even be late for his graduation exam.

According to his character profile, he was always helping old ladies cross the street, helping lost children find their mothers, or rescuing a cat stuck in a tree somewhere.

"Obito 'Good Samaritan' Uchiha," Uchiha Makoto muttered.

He had no intention of going to drag Obito back.

For one thing, he couldn't be bothered to run around. For another, he could use this time to figure out how to get the theory behind "Moonwalk" into Obito's head.

"I need to come up with a convincing story!" Uchiha Makoto rubbed his chin.

After another ten minutes, a familiar figure finally appeared at the entrance to the training ground.

"Makoto! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Obito ran over, panting. The goggles on his forehead were crooked, his face was dusty, and his clothes were rumpled. He looked as though he had just been through an adventure.

"Was it a cat or an old lady this time?" Uchiha Makoto asked.

"Huh?" Obito froze, then scratched his head sheepishly. "Neither... A little girl's kite flew away, so I went to find it for her."

Uchiha Makoto sighed. "All right, let's start training. Any later and the sun will be down."

"Yes!"

Obito straightened up, his expression serious.

He began holding his breath, trying to harden his right hand with Flowing Iron Block.

He held it.

And held it.

His face turned red from the strain.

The muscles in his right arm did tense up, and a faint metallic sheen appeared on his skin.

The problem was that his entire left arm, along with half his body, stiffened too.

"Relax!" Uchiha Makoto shouted. "Only harden your right hand! Leave the rest alone!"

"I-I'm trying!" Obito forced the words through clenched teeth.

Five seconds later, he let out a sputtering breath and collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air.

"I can't... Makoto, I really can't do it." Obito stared at his right hand, looking dejected. "You've already mastered it, but I've been practicing all this time and still can't even harden one hand properly."

Uchiha Makoto crouched down and looked at him.

"Obito, everyone has different talents. You're already doing really well."

"Other people might not learn this Taijutsu as fast as you."

Obito blinked. "Then how did you master it, Makoto?"

"I'm an exception." Uchiha Makoto pointed at his head. "Maybe all my talent points went into 'developing Ninjutsu.' Just like some people are born fast and others are born strong, I was probably born with... a more active imagination."

Obito only half understood.

"So don't compare your progress to mine," Uchiha Makoto continued. "Comparing yourself to other people's strengths is just making life hard for yourself. The person you should compare yourself to is who you were yesterday."

"Who I was yesterday..." Obito thought for a moment. "I think I was just as bad yesterday."

Uchiha Makoto was speechless.

The kid was pretty self-aware.

"Then look at it another way." Uchiha Makoto changed tack. "What does it mean if you can't do it yet? It means you still have plenty of room to improve! Look at me. I've mastered it, so I have no room left to improve. How tragic is that?"

Obito's eyes slowly lit up. "I guess... that makes sense?"

"Of course." Uchiha Makoto patted his shoulder. "Going from zero to sixty is much easier than going from ninety to a hundred. Right now, you're at the 'starting from zero' stage. Every step you take is progress."

Obito sat up and nodded firmly. "You're right, Makoto. I still have plenty of room to improve!"

"That's the spirit." Uchiha Makoto stood up. "Come on, keep going."

Obito took the rest of the training much more seriously.

He still couldn't perform Flowing Iron Block properly.

Either his whole body went rigid, or only his fingertips hardened for a tenth of a second. But he no longer complained or grew discouraged. After each failure, he took a deep breath and tried again.

Watching from the side, Uchiha Makoto was actually a little surprised.

Beneath that "king of tardiness" and "hot-blooded idiot" exterior, Obito was surprisingly tenacious when it came to training.

And a closer look revealed that he wasn't stupid.

He was simply wiser than he looked.

Take Flowing Iron Block, for example. Its principle was "localized hardening."

Obito couldn't do it, not because he failed to understand it, but because his control over his body wasn't precise enough.

But he had plenty of chakra and strong explosive power. Uchiha Makoto could sense that from the brief surge of chakra after each failed hardening attempt.

This guy... Should I put together a training plan tailored to him? Uchiha Makoto wondered.

Where did Obito's talents lie?

Scenes from the original story flashed through Uchiha Makoto's mind.

Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Kamui was one of the most overpowered cheats in the entire Naruto world.

The fact that Obito could use it so skillfully meant he had an innate feel for space. It was an elusive sort of talent, like being born with a good ear for music or a strong sense of direction.

But Uchiha Makoto didn't dare touch that.

What if he really trained Obito into a master of Space-Time Ninjutsu, only for him to turn evil later?

An Obito Uchiha who could use Kamui was already hard enough to deal with. If he started finding all sorts of creative ways to use it, things would get really interesting.

I'd better steer him in a safer direction, Uchiha Makoto thought.

What other talents did Obito have?

Fire Release.

In the original story, Obito was pretty good with the Great Fireball Technique.

Within the Uchiha Clan, anyone who mastered the Great Fireball Technique while still at the Ninja Academy was considered outstanding.

Maybe he could develop in that direction... Uchiha Makoto thought.

Just then, Obito failed another attempt and sat on the ground, catching his breath.

"Makoto," Obito suddenly said, "am I... just not suited to Taijutsu?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I'm learning so slowly." Obito lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Uchiha Makoto sat down beside him. "Different paths suit different people. Some people feel more comfortable with a sword, while others prefer a kunai. If you force them to switch weapons, they won't be able to make the most of their abilities."

Obito looked up at him.

"Obito, do you know where your strengths lie?" Uchiha Makoto asked.

"Where?"

"You have plenty of chakra," Uchiha Makoto said. "And strong explosive power. With a constitution like yours, you're actually well suited to... Ninjutsu that require releasing large amounts of chakra in an instant."

Fire Release, for example.

But Uchiha Makoto didn't say that aloud. Some things people needed to "figure out" for themselves.

"Really?" Obito's eyes lit up again.

"Really." Uchiha Makoto nodded. "So don't lose heart. Finding the right path is more important than charging ahead blindly."

After a short rest, Uchiha Makoto stood up.

"Let's spar," he said. "I'll use ordinary Iron Body, and you use Flowing Iron Block. Just use it as well as you can."