A Bashful Obito

Seeing this, Koki smiled with satisfaction. He took Obito and Shisui by the hand and led them back into the cozy tricolor dango shop.

Obito had intended to decline, but he couldn't bear to give up the delicious tricolor dango in his mouth, so he let Koki pull him into the shop.

"Miss, could you make ten more skewers of dango for him?" Koki's sweet voice rang through the shop, making it hard not to feel delighted.

The shopkeeper, already over thirty, heard Koki call out and smiled until her eyes curved like crescent moons. She busily set about preparing the food.

The three of them obediently sat down in the shop.

Obito silently finished the dango Koki had stuffed into his mouth. Uneasy and unable to sit still, he said, "Thanks for the dango."

His parents had died heroically on the battlefield. Although the clan paid for his schooling and gave him a monthly allowance for his upkeep, the amount was limited, barely enough to cover his basic daily expenses.

There were no classes today, so Obito had paid a high price for a bouquet of roses, intending to confess to Rin. But then he discovered that Rin seemed to be on a date with Kakashi. He had been walking back in a daze when he passed the tricolor dango shop and saw two boys from his clan come out, eating dango as they walked.

The roses had already cost him a lot of money today. If he spent more on a snack like this, he would have next to nothing left for food that month. But he was so hungry he couldn't stand it, so he could only gaze longingly at the tricolor dango in their hands. Before he knew it, he had stopped in his tracks.

He had never expected the two of them to come over and speak to him, much less for Koki to pay for tricolor dango for him. It gave him a strange feeling.

Although he was usually eager to help others, the villagers, apart from his fellow Uchiha, didn't look at him very kindly. Some were even indifferent, and some children would go out of their way to avoid him when they saw the clan crest on his clothes. At school, he was the dead last, and not many people thought much of him. Most of them just laughed at him. Only Rin...

He actually recognized the two before him. One was the clan head's son, who, like him, loved helping the elderly. The other was a genius of the Uchiha Clan who had begun to show his talent and had already awakened his eyes. He excelled at the Ninja Academy, mastering everything from theoretical knowledge to Ninjutsu and Taijutsu.

By comparison, Obito himself was the dead last with poor grades, near the bottom in academic subjects. He still hadn't awakened his eyes, wasn't proficient in Ninjutsu, and got laughed at by that idiot Kakashi every day.

Now these two kids, so much younger than him, had seen him in such an awkward situation. It was so embarrassing.

At the thought, the boy's cheeks flushed. He lowered his head awkwardly and turned his face slightly, letting his spiky hair cover half of it, leaving only his faintly trembling lips visible.

He clasped his hands tightly together, as if searching for something to steady himself, yet he didn't dare move.

Koki's eyes widened at the sight. The big boss was actually getting bashful right in front of him. He'd lived long enough to see everything.

He couldn't resist leaning closer to look at Obito's lowered face, startling the boy into quickly closing his eyes beneath his orange goggles. He didn't dare open them.

The sight was rather funny. Obito looked as aggrieved as a little girl Koki had flirted with in the middle of the street.

Seeing this, Shisui hurriedly pulled Koki aside. "We don't mean any harm. You're wearing clothes with the clan crest, so you're a ninja from the clan too, right? I'm Shisui Uchiha, and I'm six. This is Uchiha Kōki, and he's four."

Though Koki agreed, he still looked distracted.

"I, I... I'm Obito Uchiha." Obito finally opened his eyes, though he was still stammering a little as he looked at the two of them in embarrassment.

He wasn't normally the reserved type, but for some reason, facing Koki's bright eyes made him a little bashful.

Just as none of the three knew what to say, the tricolor dango Koki had ordered was ready. The young shop assistant's voice broke the awkward silence.

"Please enjoy~"

"Thank you, miss."

"Huh? Aren't you two going to eat?" Obito looked at the soft, chewy dango in front of him. He felt hungry enough to eat a whole cow, but since the other two hadn't touched any, he was too embarrassed to eat by himself.

"Don't worry about us. We've already eaten, and I got some for my little brother too. Itachi loves this tricolor dango more than anything." Koki waved the bag in his hand. "As for the ones on the table, I ordered them especially for you, Obito-nii. Make sure you eat them all and don't waste any."

The moment Koki finished speaking, he saw, as if by magic, that the boy sitting across from him seemed flustered. His face suddenly turned red as if scorched by the sun, an indescribable red, vivid and dazzling, like a fruit about to ripen, plump and enticing.

Huh? Why is the big boss blushing again? Koki scratched his head and whispered to Shisui, "I didn't do anything, did I? Why is he blushing again?"

Shisui shook his head.

Obito's eyes darted about, never daring to meet Koki's. Every now and then, he would sneak a glance at him out of the corner of his eye, then quickly look away.

Ever since his grandmother died, Obito had never again felt the warmth of a home, nor had anyone treated him this well. His classmates kept their distance from him, even laughing at him for being the dead last and bullying him.

Only Rin wouldn't laugh at him, and she even encouraged him, but it seemed... she liked Kakashi a little more.

After school, he always went back alone to that empty house. No one talked to him, no one cared about his life, and the children in the clan wouldn't play with him either.

He often sat quietly by the window alone, staring blankly at the sky outside, his heart full of loneliness and isolation.

Shisui and Koki were the first to make Obito feel that there were still people who would treat him so well, especially Koki, who had even bought him tricolor dango and said... said he'd ordered it especially for him. Besides, he was so cute, and his smile was beautiful too.

As Obito thought about it, he began to blush again. The redness spread from his ears down to his neck, as if a blazing flame were burning there, raising his body temperature along with it.

"Obito-nii? Obito-nii!" Seeing Obito fall into a daze and start blushing again over who knew what, Koki hurriedly called out to him. When Obito looked at him as if waking from a dream, Koki said, "Weren't you hungry? Go on and eat."

Why was Obito Uchiha so absentminded as a kid?

"Thanks! I'll dig in, then." Koki had interrupted Obito's thoughts, bringing his attention back to the tricolor dango.

Obito was genuinely hungry. He immediately picked up a skewer of soft, chewy dango and, as if eating barbecue, stripped it clean in one smooth motion!

One skewer per mouthful, the aroma spreading as the dango entered his mouth. In the blink of an eye, all ten skewers had found their way into Obito's stomach.

Rubbing his half-full belly, Obito let out a satisfied sigh.

Shisui looked at Koki, the expression in his eyes clearly saying, You look exactly like him when you eat.

Koki pretended not to see Shisui's expression!