Obito sighed. "Did you approve Kakashi's graduation certificate?"
"Yes." Yanbai nodded.
"Why didn't you hold him back?" Obito asked, torn.
"He met the graduation requirements. Why would I hold him back? What would I gain by refusing to let him graduate?" Yanbai didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"He's still little," Obito said glumly.
Yanbai kept smiling. "Obito, you're so cute when you refuse to admit what you really mean."
Obito: "..."
Obito fell silent. After finishing the lunch Yanbai had made, he suddenly said quietly, "I want to graduate early too."
Yanbai stared at Obito in bewilderment for a good while before suddenly asking in a low voice, "Obito, could Kakashi be the one you have a crush on?"
Obito rolled his eyes and snapped, "How could that be? He's a boy! It's Rin! Rin!"
"Then has Rin Nohara graduated early too?" Yanbai asked.
"No," Obito said sadly. "But Rin's heart flew away with Kakashi..."
The conflicted look on Obito's little face amused Yanbai.
Only a child like Obito, whose grandmother had deliberately encouraged him to be "precocious," would think about such nonsense.
Yanbai thought Rin Nohara and Kakashi Hatake probably hadn't given it much thought at all.
At this age, Rin's feelings for Kakashi were probably more like admiration for someone strong and academically gifted, weren't they?
They hadn't reached the point of romantic love yet.
"Obito, that's not the right way to look at it." Yanbai chuckled. "Kakashi graduated. In your words, he flew away, far from all of you, and became an outstanding student beyond your reach. But he also disappeared from Rin's sight. Why would you want to graduate early like him and disappear from her sight too?"
Obito's eyes widened as he looked at Yanbai. After a long moment, he finally smiled. "Thank