"Don't ask me, I really don't know." Obito, who had been tortured madly in his dream, said instinctively, and then he woke up.
To avoid being late, he had learned his lesson and specifically did exercises during the day and practiced at night. However, he didn't expect those problems to linger in his mind, causing him to endure relentless torture in his dreams over and over again.
"Is it going to be another case of sleeping until ten?" Obito's expression grew serious; being late by that much would be too much.
When Obito saw the clock's hour hand, he breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. It was only 8:10, far from ten o'clock.
"Wait, the assembly time isn't ten o'clock; it's 8:30!" Obito suddenly realized that although he hadn't missed it yet, he was close to being late.
He quickly changed clothes and finished his grooming, grabbing a piece of bread and saying to his grandmother, "Goodbye, Grandma, I'm going out to train."
"Be sure to rest," his grandmother reminded him with a kind smile.
As Obito ran, he chewed the bread. The training ground was far from his home, but if he ran at full speed, he should arrive around 8:30.
But as Obito was wondering who the last teammate would be, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of an elderly person sitting on a bench, looking uncomfortable.
Even though he knew he was almost late, Obito instinctively ran up to the elderly person and asked with concern, "Grandma, do you have any discomfort? Should I take you to the hospital?"
"I just strained my back; I should be fine after resting here for a bit," the elderly person said, forcing a smile upon seeing the concerned child.
"That's not good; you need to take care of your health. How about I take you home to rest? Even though I'm young, I'm quite strong, and carrying you around the city won't take much time," Obito said after thinking for a moment. Even if they didn't go to the hospital, having someone take care of her at home would be safer.
After speaking, Obito flexed his arm, wanting the elderly person to see his strength.
"By the way, I'm a Ninja," Obito said, looking at his arm and feeling it might not be very convincing, so he pointed to the headband on his forehead.
Obito boasted for a while and demonstrated a one-handed handstand, eventually moving the elderly person enough to accept his help.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Obito formed the hand seals to create a Shadow Clone. This was the solution he had thought of that would help people without making him late: the main body would continue to the destination, while the Clone would assist those in need.
Obito looked nervously at the Shadow Clone. Although his idea was good, it would be useless if the Clone didn't cooperate.
"Grandma, let me take you home," said the Shadow Clone, picking up the elderly person and heading to the address she had given.
"Today, I won't criticize Senju Tobirama. This Shadow Clone technique does have its merits," Obito said with a grin. With this, he wouldn't be late in the future.
Next, Obito raced toward the training ground. As he approached, he saw three figures standing in the distance due to the flat terrain: one tall and two short, though he couldn't make out their exact appearances from so far away.
As he got closer, Obito gradually saw the colors of their hair: brown, blonde, and white. Seeing the blonde hair, Obito instinctively felt a surge of joy, but the sight of the white hair gave him an inexplicable bad feeling. However, as he was sprinting, he had no time to think more and dashed straight to the three.
"Pant pant, I hope I'm not late," Obito said, catching his breath.
Kakashi was stunned when he saw Obito. He didn't have a list of team members; he had only been informed by Sarutobi Hiruzen that there was a new team and the name of the new team's sensei.
So, when Kakashi saw Rin, he was surprised that they had run into each other among so many teams.
"Why are you here? Is your sensei also Minato-san?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask.
Given Obito's unreliability, he thought there was a chance he might have ended up in the wrong place.
"Rin-chan, could that unexpected teammate be Kakashi?" Obito, stunned upon seeing Kakashi, asked Rin.
If it were true, he had to admit that it was quite unexpected in every sense.
At that moment, Obito hoped that Rin would shake her head, but unfortunately, reality couldn't be changed. Rin nodded with a smile and said, "Yes, it's quite surprising."
Obito was dismayed. He felt like someone was sabotaging him. Kakashi was in the practice team, and now he was in the graduated team as well. Could it be that spending too much time with Kakashi had brought bad luck upon him?
"Damn it, there must be some shady dealings in the class assignment!" Obito fumed inwardly at the staff responsible for assigning teams.
"Well, you're late," Kakashi said, understanding that he and Obito had been grouped together again.
"It's not 8:30 anymore."
"I was late because I was persuading the old lady to accept help," Obito explained to prevent Rin from misunderstanding.
Clap!
Minato clapped his hands to attract the attention of the three and then, with a gentle smile, said, "Alright, since you were late due to helping someone and it wasn't by much, let's just let this matter go."
"Although we've met a few times, let's still do a self-introduction to deepen our understanding of each other. I'll go first."
"My name is Minato Namikaze. I have many interests, such as researching Ninjutsu, reading, and trying out new dishes from friends. My dream is to become Hokage and protect the village," Minato briefly introduced himself.
"That friend must be Yumi-sensei," Obito thought. He had been surprised by Kakashi earlier, but now he realized it was also quite strange that Minato had become his new sensei. After saying goodbye to Yumi-sensei, his new sensei turned out to be the very similar Minato Namikaze.
"My name is Nohara Rin. I enjoy gardening and painting, dislike war, and my dream is to save more people injured in war and make it disappear," Rin introduced herself.
"I'm Uchiha Obito. I like many kinds of food, especially those made by Yumi-sensei. I dislike doing problems and war. My dream is to become Hokage and end war," Obito followed up.
Hearing Obito's dream, Minato gave him a look of approval.
"I'm Hatake Kakashi. If I had to say what I like, I currently enjoy training. As for my dream, I'd rather not say," Kakashi said after some thought.
He actually wanted to say that his dream was to protect his comrades, but since Obito was here, it would be like saying he wanted to protect Obito directly, which Kakashi couldn't bring himself to do.
"That's almost the same as not saying anything," Obito said, speechless. The self-introduction was already brief, and Kakashi had to leave out a part.
Kakashi, with a nonchalant expression, directly ignored Obito's comment.
"Now that everyone is acquainted, let's start our first training session," Minato said with a smile as he took out two bells. "This training is mainly to develop your teamwork skills. Success will be determined by whether you can work together to snatch the bells from me."
This was a training secret Minato had learned from those veteran Jonin; everyone who had tried it said it was effective.
"So why are there two bells? Is it that if one bell is taken, the whole team succeeds, or does only the person who takes the bell count as successful?" Obito asked curiously.
At the beginning of the internship, Mutsuki also had them compete for bells, but Mutsuki had three bells.
Obito's question caught Minato off guard. He now felt a bit puzzled as well—why only two bells? It was impossible for one person to fail, as the training wasn't meant to be an elimination process.
"Because there are only two bells right now, but as long as any one of you grabs one, that's considered a success," Minato said after a moment of contemplation.
He remembered that an old Jonin had mentioned that the essence of this training was to be lenient. Once he noticed that the students were making a concerted effort to cooperate and attack, he could pretend to be careless and let them take the bells.
"If you can't complete it, this training will continue until you can. You can attack me at any time," Minato said, hanging the bells on his waist as a reminder.
He wasn't sure about Rin's specific abilities, but Obito and Kakashi had good Taijutsu skills. Minato had seen their training before and knew their moves were quick.
After explaining, Minato leaned against a tree and began reading a book, quietly waiting for Kakashi and the others to make their move.
"Should I comfort them if they fail, or be a bit more severe?" Minato, distracted while reading, wondered.
This was his first time teaching students, and they were all Mutsuki's disciples. If he didn't do a good job, how would he explain it to Mutsuki?
"Obito, Kakashi, have you done similar training before? You both don't seem surprised at all," Rin asked, calling Kakashi and Obito over with curiosity.
Kakashi found it hard to say. From what he knew of Obito, he would definitely ask all sorts of questions.
As Rin guessed, Obito nodded and answered, "Yes, during our internship, Yumi-sensei also had us compete for bells."
"That's a bit of a pity. I wish I had been chosen back then," Rin felt some regret. She was the only one without experience and didn't want to be a weak link in the team.
"It's actually not a big deal. This training is all about teamwork; having experience or not doesn't make much of a difference," Obito said, smiling to reassure her.
After being taught by Mutsuki for so long, Obito had come to understand the importance of information. Although Mutsuki was very mysterious, they at least knew some of his abilities. Minato, however, was completely unfamiliar, so he felt that the experience of snatching bells from different people didn't really apply.
"The only information we have so far is that Minato, the Squad Captain, is very powerful and has mastered a Body Flicker Jutsu with extremely fast speed. We need to gather more intelligence," Kakashi said.
Kakashi learned from Mutsuki that Minato was very strong, and they had witnessed the Body Flicker Jutsu on the battlefield once, so fast that it was almost impossible to see.
"First, set up traps, then gather intelligence while luring him into the trap area," Kakashi began to formulate a strategy.
Against a powerful opponent like Minato, better traps could provide them with more opportunities.
"Rin-chan, come with me. I learned many traps from Yumi-sensei," Obito said, showing no resistance to Kakashi's plan and preparing to show his skills.
Although he had defeated Kakashi before, Obito knew he was weak in tactics and strategy, so he didn't argue with Kakashi.
"Here, here, and over there," Kakashi said, identifying good locations and began setting up traps with Obito and the others.
Having suffered from Mutsuki's traps before, Kakashi sent out Shadow Clones to keep a close watch on Minato, preventing him from using Shadow Clones to confuse them and seize the opportunity.
The traps were set, and from the Shadow Clone, Kakashi learned that Minato hadn't made any move. He proceeded with the next step.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Obito quickly formed the hand seals, gathering Chakra in his throat, and fired a three-meter-high fireball towards Minato's location.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!
Kakashi threw several Shuriken from the side, reducing Minato's evasion space.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
Minato didn't dodge. With a slight smile, he performed the hand seals and used Fire Release Ninjutsu.
In real combat, he rarely used the five basic Nature Transformation Ninjutsu, as the hand seals for these Jutsus did not complement his specialty, Flying Thunder God. But that didn't mean Minato didn't know the five basic Nature Transformation Ninjutsu. After all, he didn't master Flying Thunder God the moment he became a Ninja; he had practiced a lot of Wind Release and Fire Release in the past.
Minato released a massive fireball from his mouth, which not only neutralized Obito's Great Fireball but also continued to burn towards Obito and Kakashi.
"Fire Release…" Kakashi silently noted this Ninjutsu and then moved out of the way.
Kakashi gave Obito a glance, and Obito understood, nodding as they both headed towards the trap area.
As the students began their attack, Minato, as their sensei, assumed they were ready and immediately pursued them.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!
As soon as Minato entered the forest, Rin released the prepared traps, sending a barrage of Shuriken towards Minato.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."
Minato, who had been cautious of Rin's location, used Wind Release to blow away all the incoming shuriken.
"Also mastered Wind Release," Kakashi noted this new piece of information. Generally, Jonin possess two types of Nature Transformation.
"Konoha Great Whirlwind!"
At the moment the shuriken were launched, Obito rushed forward and delivered a Whirlwind Kick to Minato.
"Good coordination, but it would be even better with one more person joining the attack," Minato dodged the attack and took the opportunity to grab Obito's leg, lifting him up and smiling. He didn't understand why Kakashi hadn't joined the attack.
"Heh heh, Minato-san, you'd better be careful. We're not just limited to this," Obito, who was caught, said nonchalantly with a grin.
Minato hurled Obito towards a nearby tree.
Bang!
Obito transformed into smoke and disappeared—it was a Shadow Clone.
"A Shadow Clone can use such a high-level Fire Release. They seem to be more capable than I imagined," Minato thought, a bit surprised.
Minato didn't have time to think further, as Kakashi and the others' attacks were coming rapidly. Immediately, two large wooden pillars were smashing towards him.
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