Chapter 446 Pain makes people grow

Worried about being late, Obito set off early and arrived under the cherry tree in the park.

Holding the snacks he had carefully chosen for Rin Nohara, Obito looked around with some anticipation.

Unlike him, who was often late, Rin Nohara was a very punctual person, usually arriving at the agreed time without making anyone wait long.

But today seemed a bit different; Obito felt that it was almost the agreed time, yet he still hadn’t seen Rin Nohara, though he vaguely saw a few familiar figures.

“Could it be that this park is very famous recently? Why are Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi here too?” As the distance shortened, Obito confirmed that what he saw were indeed his friends.

“Might Guy is here too? Is he just jogging past?” At this moment, Obito spotted another green figure.

Obito was a bit surprised; in his impression, Might Guy shouldn’t have the leisure to stroll through this kind of park.

What puzzled Obito even more was that Might Guy and the others were all walking towards the cherry tree.

“What a coincidence, you Guys are also here to visit the park.” Obito waved his hand and greeted them with a smile.

Since he hadn’t seen Kakashi, Obito’s mood was still relatively stable, and he remained optimistic about the upcoming events.

“Visit the park? No, Rin told me to come over because she had something important.” Kurenai Yuhi shook her head and said.

Obito’s expression instantly stiffened, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared; it wasn’t the two-person date he had imagined.

“Me too.” Might Guy nodded, indicating that he was also one of the people invited by Rin Nohara.

“Then it seems everyone was invited by Rin. It’s rare for her to call all of us over. Is there something very important?” Asuma rubbed his chin and speculated.

Asuma turned and scanned the group, realizing they were all friends who knew each other; there were no strangers.

“Ahaha, probably.” Obito scratched his head with his left hand, an awkward smile on his face, subtly moving the snacks he was holding in his right hand behind him.

“Maybe she’s run into some difficulties.”

Although Obito felt so embarrassed at this moment that he wanted to burrow underground, he didn’t blame Rin Nohara in his heart; instead, he started worrying about her.

After all, Rin Nohara had never said that calling him over was for a date; Obito had just assumed Rin Nohara wanted to go on a date with him.

“Besides, Kakashi wasn’t called, which means Rin trusts me more.” Obito comforted himself internally.

Kakashi not being there was a blessing in disguise for Obito.

If Kakashi were present, it was highly likely he would figure out Obito’s inner thoughts and then mock him.

“Sorry everyone, I’m late.”

Just then, Rin Nohara’s voice suddenly came, and Obito looked towards the sound, seeing Rin Nohara running towards them, out of breath, holding a stack of papers in her arms.

“It’s only been a few minutes, so it’s not really late, Rin, you don’t need to rush.” Obito quickly said, seeing Rin Nohara looking a bit out of breath.

Upon hearing Obito’s words, Rin Nohara slowed her pace and jogged to their side.

“Making these took more time than I expected, so I was a little late.” Rin Nohara sighed in relief and explained, holding up the papers in her hand.

One must know that Rin Nohara had also practiced Breathing Technique for quite some time; being so out of breath clearly meant she had been running at maximum speed the whole way.

“So that’s it. I was wondering why Rin, who is always punctual, was late this time.” Obito chuckled and looked at the culprit in Rin Nohara’s hand that caused her to be late.

“Kakashi Hatake’s Jonin Promotion Celebration Gift Planning (Confidential Mission)…” Obito mentally read out the large characters on the poster-like paper, word by word.

Looking at the carefully drawn Q-version Kakashi portrait on the poster, Obito fell silent. For some reason, the snacks he was holding in his right hand suddenly felt incredibly heavy, so heavy that even Obito, a Ninja who could break a tree with one punch, couldn’t hold them.

With a thud, the snacks Obito was holding fell to the ground.

Obito didn’t bother with the fallen snacks; at this moment, his face felt a burning, stinging pain as if it had been scorched by flames, and his inner embarrassment reached its peak.

What he thought was a two-person date was actually Rin Nohara trying to figure out how to celebrate Kakashi’s promotion to Jonin.

He thought Kakashi wasn’t invited because he was more trustworthy; in reality, it was because Rin Nohara wanted to give Kakashi a surprise.

To make a good impression on Rin Nohara, he arrived early and even specially selected snacks that girls liked, while Rin Nohara was late because she was helping Kakashi draw a poster.

Pain, it was too painful.

Standing clearly in the sunlight, Obito somehow felt a chilling, bone-deep pain.

The sight of the girl he liked working hard for another boy was truly heartbreaking. Obito almost didn’t dare to look at Rin Nohara. He looked up at the sky at a forty-five-degree angle, filled with an unspeakable sadness.

“Obito, you dropped your stuff.” Rin Nohara walked to Obito’s side, picked up the bag of snacks, and said.

She had heard the sound immediately, but she hadn’t expected Obito not to pick it up and instead just zone out for some reason.

“Oh, oh, thank you, Rin.” Obito thanked her subconsciously after snapping out of his daze.

“Seriously, you’re almost a Jonin; you can’t just suddenly zone out like that during a mission.” Rin Nohara said with a helpless expression.

“Mhm, mhm.” The smile on Obito’s face returned a bit.

Rin Nohara was worried about him, Rin Nohara had him in her heart!

“By the way, are these the snacks you specially bought to treat everyone, Obito?” Rin Nohara handed the snacks to Obito and casually asked.

Obito froze for a moment, then nodded, “Yes, Rin, you’re right.”

Although they were bought specifically for Rin Nohara, in this situation, he definitely couldn’t give them only to her. Either everyone ate them together, or no one did, otherwise it would be too strange.

“That’s a bit surprising, Obito, you can be so thoughtful.” Rin Nohara covered her mouth with her small hand, a little astonished; Obito having this kind of preparation was truly beyond her expectations.

Obito had always been very careless, but this time he not only wasn’t late but also prepared snacks.

“People always improve, you know.” Obito puffed out his chest; no matter what, being praised by Rin Nohara was still good.

With that, Obito distributed the snacks to everyone.

Watching everyone eat the snacks he had carefully prepared for Rin Nohara bite by bite, Obito felt a strange melancholy in his heart.

“They taste really good, Obito, you’re quite good at picking snacks.” Kurenai Yuhi gave a good review.

Obito felt as if his heart had been pierced by a sharp arrow. How could it not taste good? He had specially picked them for Rin Nohara.

“What kind of gift do you all think we should give Kakashi?” Rin Nohara brought up the main topic of their meeting.

“For Kakashi, I feel like we could give him something practical.” Kurenai Yuhi thought for a moment and expressed her idea.

Kurenai Yuhi felt that Kakashi was a very practical person; compared to some romantic gifts, Kakashi would prefer practical, usable gifts.

“That does seem to be the case. When it was my birthday, Kakashi gave me a training elixir.” Might Guy thought carefully and realized Kurenai Yuhi was right; Kakashi rarely did anything flashy.

“How about we all go find the best Tempura, and then give it to Kakashi together? Eating is practical enough, right? You’ll die if you don’t eat.” Obito said seriously, as if without any personal emotion, purely rational thought.

Rin Nohara looked at Obito helplessly.

“Obito, stop joking. Kakashi doesn’t even like Tempura.” Rin Nohara retorted.

Kakashi only ate Tempura made by Muzuki.

“I just wanted Kakashi to realize the deliciousness of Tempura, that’s why I said that. But never mind, Muzuki-sensei’s Tempura is already at its peak; there can’t be anything better.” Obito forced an explanation.

He had said it casually out of spite, not expecting it to be adopted.

However, if it really was agreed upon, Obito would still be very happy, because he felt that Kakashi’s expression at that time would definitely be the same as his just now.

After some discussion, Kurenai Yuhi’s idea was finally approved: give Kakashi a more practical gift.

After disbanding, Obito didn’t leave with Rin Nohara; instead, he followed Might Guy.

Even he couldn’t continue to cling to Rin Nohara after something like this happened.

“Guy, how’s your recovery recently?” Obito asked.

Might Guy smiled and then flexed the muscles on his arm, “Recovering steadily, just like the ever-upward spring of youth!”

“That’s a relief. Without you, Guy, Kakashi seems a bit lonely.” Obito said deliberately.

“This is the bond between me and my best friend!” Might Guy gave a thumbs-up and laughed loudly.

“I think I heard Kakashi say he really wanted to fight you when you activate Eight Gates and Rock Breathing Chakra Mode.” Obito continued, looking serious.

“After all, I am indeed very strong in that state, and my best friend also wants to challenge a stronger me.” Might Guy believed him immediately.

“But I’ll have to disappoint my best friend. I can’t let him experience my peak combat power. Right now, I can only use the Fifth Gate and Rock Breathing Chakra Mode at most; I can’t open the Sixth Gate.” Might Guy sighed.

At that time, it was life-threatening, so Might Guy forcibly opened the Sixth Gate. For ordinary sparring, Might Guy would certainly not forcibly use a higher gate, otherwise, if he fought once and lay down for two months, how would he train?

“I believe Kakashi will understand you.” Obito couldn’t help but smile.

He had already envisioned Kakashi being thoroughly beaten by Might Guy. This was Eight Gates plus Rock Breathing Chakra Mode; even if only the Fifth Gate was opened, it was not something the current Kakashi could defeat.

“For my best friend’s expectations, I will train even harder from now on, striving to let him experience the power of the Sixth Gate and Rock Breathing Chakra Mode as soon as possible.” Might Guy clenched his fists, his eyes full of fighting spirit.

“Exactly, that’s the spirit.” Obito gave Might Guy a thumbs-up.

…

In Konoha, a faint sigh emanated from a secret underground laboratory.

“Failed again. Is this direction wrong?” Hiruko frowned, looking at the experimental data.

“A Ninja’s talent should be in their body, so why can’t I extract Ninja talent from the body?”

Due to his dissatisfaction with his own talent, Hiruko had been secretly doing business, developing Ninjutsu that could enhance Ninja talent.

Hiruko didn’t want to be mediocre; he also wanted to become a powerful figure like the Sannin, renowned throughout the Ninja World.

Even though they were students of the same period, Orochimaru and Jiraiya had already become the terrifying Sannin, while he was still an unknown Jonin in Konoha. Hiruko was truly unwilling.

“Damn it, how long will it take to succeed at this rate? Even a child like Kakashi Hatake is at the same rank as me!” Hiruko thought of Kakashi, who became a Jonin at ten, and his mindset collapsed.

Minato Namikaze and Hayate Mugetsu, as younger generations, gaining fame only made Hiruko a bit anxious, but Kakashi truly broke him.

A ten-year-old Jonin, breaking Konoha’s record for the earliest promotion to Jonin.

“I need to speed up. If I only complete the development after I start aging, it will be meaningless.” Hiruko decided not to prioritize stability anymore and to take more aggressive actions.

Even the most talented Ninja would weaken with age; he wanted to complete the development of his Ninjutsu while he was still young.

Thereafter, Hiruko accelerated his frequency of capturing people, conducting even more extensive human experiments to find errors.

As the experiments progressed, Hiruko had a new inspiration.

“Since plundering talent is so difficult, why not perform fusion to merge individuals?” Hiruko began experimenting with fusion as his goal.

As if this truly was the correct path, Hiruko made rapid progress in his fusion Ninjutsu experiments, quickly completing an experiment to fuse a human with a Nin-Beast, giving an ordinary person power exceeding that of a Chunin, although their body became somewhat monstrous.

“I succeeded! This is definitely an unprecedented great Ninjutsu!” Hiruko, who had made breakthrough progress in his experiment, was extremely excited.

He believed that the Chimera Technique he developed was definitely an S-rank Ninjutsu, even among the top tier of S-rank.

Then, Hiruko began to work on human-to-human fusion.

There was no way he would fuse himself with a Nin-Beast; Hiruko still wanted to be a human, after all.

Moreover, Hiruko believed that Nin-Beasts’ potential was not as high as humans’; he hadn’t heard of any top-tier powerhouses who relied solely on Nin-Beasts.

As the human-to-human fusion experiments progressed, Hiruko discovered a surprising thing: fusion could retain many characteristics of the fused individuals, including the fused individuals’ Bloodline Limit.

“This path is correct. If I master all Bloodline Limits, who can defeat me?” Hiruko had already seen the path to becoming the strongest.

Perhaps because of the strict security in Konoha during the war, or perhaps because Hiruko’s actions were too aggressive, his abnormality was noticed, and his human experiments were discovered by the Ninja who came to investigate.

But Hiruko was not a senseless person; he had already considered an escape plan when conducting human experiments.

Although he couldn’t compare to his Sannin friends, his strength was not something ordinary Ninja could stop. In the end, Hiruko escaped Konoha with his Chimera Technique, becoming a rogue Ninja wanted by Konoha.