"It's been a while since I've seen Obito. I wonder how he's doing," Rin, who had just finished training, showed a worried expression on her way home.
The Academy had never hidden the cruelty of the ninja world, and the dangers of missions and even battles were openly discussed in school.
But hearing about sacrifices and deaths in battle from the sensei was one thing, and knowing someone close had died in a mission is different, since learning about Kakashi's teammate's sacrifice during a mission, Rin fully understood the cruelty of being a ninja.
And Obito had a tendency to be easily carried away, Rin was really worried that Obito would get injured during a mission because of this trait.
"Obito, Kakashi, Guy, what are you doing together?" Rin suddenly saw several familiar figures.
"Wuwuwu." Hearing Rin's voice, Obito looked up in surprise, but thinking about their bet, he could only gesture while making sounds that normal people couldn't understand.
Even Rin, who knew Obito extremely well, was puzzled by Obito's behavior as if he had been possessed by something, and for a moment, she didn't know what was happening.
"Kakashi, what's wrong with Obito?" Rin had to turn to the reliable Kakashi for answers.
But Kakashi didn't respond to Rin, only exchanged glances with her.
Seeing Kakashi silent, Rin felt even more puzzled. Could Obito's unreliability be contagious?
Guy's next words explained Rin's confusion.
"Haha, because they both lost to me in a running race, they can't speak today." Guy chuckled, giving himself a thumbs-up.
Running one hundred laps requires high endurance, especially since they were returning from a journey, already tired. Thus, Guy, with superior endurance and determination, finished first.
Rin didn't know what to say. Wasn't punishing them by not allowing them to speak for a day something kids who hadn't gone to school would do, playing such punishment games?
"You're interns now, aren't you supposed to go on missions? Why are you racing with Kakashi?" Rin's big eyes were filled with confusion.
"Yeah, we just finished a mission and came back," Guy nodded in response.
"Mmm..." Obito was eager to share with Rin his and Yumi-sensei's heroic performance in battle and Kakashi's embarrassing moments.
'That sneaky Kakashi, targeting me like this!' Obito inwardly roared with anger.
Guy challenged Kakashi, and Kakashi outright refused. He just casually mentioned it, and Kakashi agreed immediately, blatantly targeting him.
'Could it be that he anticipated this situation, afraid that I would tell Rin-chan about his poor performance?' Obito's mind spun as he suddenly realized.
'You despicable Kakashi, watch me expose you tomorrow!' Obito planned to thoroughly discredit Kakashi tomorrow.
"I see, so your relationship with Kakashi is really good, you come back and immediately challenge him to a race." Rin smiled with sudden understanding.
'It's not like that, because this guy is our teammate,' Obito looked at Rin's smile and felt uneasy, really wanting to explain.
Obito could only hope that Guy would explain, but Guy's next words nearly caused him to stumble and fall.
"Of course, youth and friendship are the perfect match!" Guy replied with a brilliant smile.
"The bond between boys is really nice," Rin sighed.
At this moment, Obito hated himself for not knowing sign language. Otherwise, he would have surely used hand signs to convey everything to Rin with a speed surpassing even hand seals.
"Oh, by the way, no one got hurt during your mission, right?" Rin asked with concern.
"That's right, although the enemy was strong, Yumi-sensei protected the three of us very well," Guy honestly replied.
"The three of us?" Rin suddenly noticed a problem.
She asked somewhat uncertainly, "Besides Guy, you and Obito, who else is in your team?"
Obito breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Rin was quick-witted; otherwise, there might have been a misunderstanding.
"Kakashi," Guy scratched his head and replied.
"Isn't Kakashi already a Chunin? Why would he be in the intern Ninja class?" Now that it was confirmed, Rin was even more puzzled.
Kakashi: ...
The currently silent Kakashi couldn't answer Rin's question. Even if he could speak, Kakashi wouldn't know how to respond. After learning that this was an intern class, he himself was quite puzzled.
"This is the bond between me and my dear friend!" Guy said with enthusiasm.
"I don't quite understand, but it's really nice that everyone is together," Rin said with a gentle smile.
Although the process was unexpected for her, the result was good. Even though she wasn't there, Kakashi was still with Obito, and she believed Kakashi would take good care of Obito.
'Not good at all,' Obito inwardly criticized Kakashi furiously, even attributing Rin's inability to intern to Kakashi. Without Kakashi, it might have been him, Guy, and Rin together.
"Goodbye, I'm going home now. You all seem quite tired, so go home and rest early," Rin waved her hand and smiled as she bid farewell.
Obito raised his hand but ultimately let it drop. He had to accept defeat; today, he would keep silent.
...
The next day, Mutsuki gathered his disciples at Training Ground 26.
The assembly time Mutsuki set was 8 a.m. Kakashi and Guy arrived around 7:50 a.m., while Obito arrived at 8:10 a.m.
"Late again," Kakashi said coldly.
"That's because..." Obito, feeling aggrieved, wanted to explain but was interrupted by Mutsuki.
"Before we begin training, let's have a briefing to summarize the last mission's combat," Mutsuki said, opening the meeting.
"Kakashi was too reckless, which led to him being controlled for over ten minutes!" Obito quickly summarized for Kakashi.
"You don't understand combat at all, Obito. If it weren't for my reminder, you would have walked straight into the enemy's trap," Kakashi quickly countered.
Smack! Smack!
Two crisp knocks echoed, and Obito and Kakashi each held their heads.
"I asked you to summarize your own actions, not to summarize for others," Mutsuki said with a smile as he put down his hand.
'Such a fast smack, couldn't even dodge it' Kakashi, who was being smacked for the first time, couldn't help but think.
With Mutsuki's dominant presence, Obito and Kakashi stopped blaming each other and instead carefully reflected on their own shortcomings.
"My strength and explosive power are still insufficient; I need more training to master the Eight Inner Gates as soon as possible," Guy was the first to speak.
Guy's training focus wasn't as diverse as Kakashi and Obito's; he solely focused on Taijutsu, with the core being the Breathing Technique and the Eight Inner Gates.
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