Chapter 265: Classic Reappearance

“Don’t ask me, I really don’t know.” Obito, who was being relentlessly interrogated in his dream, subconsciously blurted out before waking up.

To avoid being late again, he learned his lesson and specifically did his assignments during the day and cultivated at night. However, he didn’t expect those questions to linger in his mind, subjecting him to endless torment in his dreams.

“Don’t tell me I slept until ten again?” Obito’s expression turned serious. If so, he would be far too late.

When Obito saw the number the clock’s hour hand pointed to, he instantly relaxed, a smile appearing on his face. It was only 8:10 AM; ten o’clock was still a long way off.

“Wait, the meeting time isn’t ten o’clock, it’s 8:30 AM!” Obito suddenly realized that while he wasn’t late yet, he was cutting it close.

He quickly changed clothes, finished his ablutions, grabbed a piece of bread, and bid farewell to Grandma: “Goodbye, Grandma, I’m going out to cultivate.”

“Be sure to rest,” Grandma reminded him with a kind smile.

Obito ran, chewing on the bread he stuffed into his mouth. The Training Ground was far from his house, but if he ran at full speed, he should be able to arrive just around 8:30 AM.

But just as Obito was wondering who the last teammate would be, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of an old woman sitting on a bench, looking distressed.

Although he knew he was about to be late, Obito instinctively ran to the old woman and asked with concern, “Grandma, are you feeling unwell? Should I take you to the hospital?”

“I just strained my back. I should be fine after resting here for a while,” the old woman said, forcing a smile when she saw a child enthusiastically offering help.

“How can that be? You should take your health seriously! How about I take you home to rest? Don’t let my size fool you, I’m very strong. It wouldn’t take much time to carry you around the Village,” Obito thought for a moment and continued. Even if she didn’t go to the hospital, being cared for at home would be safer.

After speaking, Obito flexed his arm, wanting the old woman to see his strength.

“Oh, right, I’m a Ninja,” Obito said, looking at his arm, feeling it might not be very convincing. So he pointed to his forehead protector.

Obito praised himself, then performed displays like a one-handed handstand in place, and finally succeeded in convincing the old woman to accept his help.

“Shadow Clone Technique!”

Obito formed hand signs and created a Shadow Clone. This was the good idea he had come up with earlier to help people without being late: his main body would continue to the destination, while the clone would help those in need.

Obito looked at the Shadow Clone a little nervously. Although his idea was good, it would be useless if the Shadow Clone didn’t cooperate.

“Grandma, I’ll take you home,” before Obito could speak, the Shadow Clone conscientiously picked up the old woman and walked towards the address she had given.

“I won’t complain about Senju Tobirama today. This Shadow Clone still has its merits,” Obito grinned. With this, he would never be late again.

Next, Obito sped towards the Training Ground. As he neared, due to the relatively flat terrain, Obito could see three people standing in the distance—one tall, two short—but the distance was too great for Obito to make out their exact appearances.

As the distance closed, Obito gradually distinguished their hair colors: brown, gold, and white.

Seeing the golden hair, Obito instinctively felt a surge of joy, but upon seeing the white hair, a vague sense of unease inexplicably arose in his heart. However, he was running too fast to think much, and with a final sprint, he charged in front of the three.

“Huff, huff, I shouldn’t be late, right?” Obito panted, taking a couple of breaths.

Kakashi was stunned when he saw Obito. He didn’t have a member list; Hiruzen Sarutobi had only informed him that he had a new team and the name of the new team’s instructor.

So when Kakashi arrived and saw Rin Nohara, he was somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected them to be on the same team among so many.

“Why are you here? Is your instructor also Minato-sensei?” Kakashi couldn’t help but ask.

Given Obito’s unreliability, he thought it was possible he had gone to the wrong place.

“Rin, is the surprising teammate Kakashi?” Obito was bewildered when he looked up and saw Kakashi, asking Rin Nohara.

If it was true, he had to admit, it was indeed surprising in every sense of the word.

At this moment, Obito wished Rin Nohara would shake her head, but unfortunately, the facts couldn’t be changed. Rin Nohara nodded and smiled, “Yes, isn’t it surprising?”

Obito felt numb. He felt like someone was pulling strings. He had Kakashi in his internship team, and now he had Kakashi in his graduating team. Had the bad luck from being with Kakashi for so long transferred to him?

“Damn it, there must be foul play in the team assignments!” Obito cursed the team assignment staff in his heart.

“Then you’re late.” Hearing their conversation, Kakashi understood that he and Obito were assigned together again, so he spoke.

“It’s not 8:30 AM anymore.”

“I was late because I was convincing Grandma to accept help,” Obito explained to prevent Rin Nohara from misunderstanding.

Clap!

Minato clapped his hands to get their attention, then smiled gently and said, “Alright, since it was for helping someone and you weren’t late by much, let’s drop the matter.”

“Although everyone has met a few times, let’s still do a self-introduction to get to know each other better. I’ll start first.”

“My name is Minato Namikaze. I have many things I enjoy, such as researching Ninjutsu, reading, and trying new and unique dishes from friends. My dream is to become Hokage and protect the Village,” Minato briefly introduced himself.

“That friend must definitely be Muzuki-sensei,” Obito thought to himself. He had been so surprised by Kakashi just now, but now that he thought about it, Minato becoming his instructor was also quite strange.

He had bid farewell to Muzuki-sensei, and now his new instructor was Minato Namikaze, who was remarkably similar to Muzuki-sensei.

“My name is Rin Nohara. I enjoy gardening and drawing. I hate war, and my dream is to save more people injured in war and make war disappear,” Rin Nohara then introduced herself.

“My name is Obito Uchiha. I like many dishes, as long as Muzuki-sensei makes them. I hate doing assignments and war. My dream is to become Hokage and end the war,” Obito followed closely.

Hearing Obito’s dream, Minato gave him a look of approval.

“I am Kakashi Hatake. If I had to say what I like, right now I like cultivating. As for my dream, I don’t really want to say it,” Kakashi thought for a moment and said.

His dream was actually to protect his comrades, but with Obito there, it would be like telling Obito, “I want to protect you.” Kakashi couldn’t even imagine it.

“That’s pretty much like saying nothing at all,” Obito said, speechless. These brief self-introductions already had little content, and Kakashi still wanted to cut out this and not say that.

Kakashi remained indifferent, completely ignoring Obito’s words.

“Now that everyone has gotten to know each other, let’s begin our first training exercise,” Minato said, taking out two bells with a smile.

“This training is mainly to develop your teamwork. Successfully taking the bells from my hand together will count as a success.”

This was a training secret Minato had learned from those old Jonin instructors, who all said it worked wonders.

“So why are there two bells? Is it a success for the whole team if one bell is taken, or only for the person who takes a bell?” Obito asked curiously.

At the very beginning of their internship, Muzuki had also made them try to take bells, but Muzuki had three bells.

Obito stumped Minato. He also felt a bit strange now. Why were there only two bells? It was certainly impossible for one person to be disqualified; the training wasn’t about elimination.

“Because I only have two bells on me right now. However, as long as any one of you manages to take one, it will count as a pass,” Minato said after a moment of contemplation.

He remembered that the old Jonin yesterday said the essence of this training was to go easy. Once he sensed that the students were actively cooperating in their offense, 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 reminded them after hanging the bells on his waist.

He wasn’t sure of Rin Nohara’s exact strength, but Obito and Kakashi were both quite good at Taijutsu. Minato had seen them train once, and their movements were very fast.

After explaining, Minato sat leaning against a tree and began reading, quietly waiting for Kakashi and the others to initiate their attack.

“If they fail to take the bells, should I comfort them or be a bit stricter?” Minato, reading his book, thought distractedly.

This was his first time teaching students, and all of them were Muzuki’s disciples. If he didn’t teach them well, how would he explain it to Muzuki?

“Obito, Kakashi, have you two done similar training before? You don’t seem surprised at all,” Rin Nohara called Kakashi and Obito together and asked curiously.

Kakashi was hard to read, but from her understanding of Obito, he would definitely ask a lot of questions.

As Rin Nohara expected, Obito nodded and replied, “Yes, Muzuki-sensei also made us try to take bells during our internship.”

“That’s a bit of a shame. I wish I had been chosen back then,” Rin Nohara felt a little regretful. She was the only one without experience, and she didn’t want to be a burden to the team.

“It’s actually nothing. This training is all about teamwork. Experience or no experience, it’s all the same,” Obito said with a smile, comforting her.

Having been taught by Muzuki for so long, Obito also recognized the importance of information. Although Muzuki was mysterious, they at least knew some of his abilities. Minato, however, was a complete stranger, so he felt that taking bells from different people had nothing to do with experience.

“The only information we currently have is that Captain Minato is very strong and has mastered an extremely fast Body Flicker Technique. We need to gather more information,” Kakashi said at this point.

Minato’s strength was something they learned from Muzuki, and they had personally witnessed his Body Flicker Technique once on the battlefield; it was so fast they couldn’t even see him clearly.

“First, set traps, then gather information while luring him into the trap area,” Kakashi began to strategize.

Against a powerful opponent like Minato, better traps would provide them with more opportunities.

“Rin, come with me. I learned tons of traps from Muzuki-sensei,” Obito didn’t contradict Kakashi but instead looked ready to show off his skills.

Although he had already defeated Kakashi, Obito knew he was terrible at tactics and strategy, so he didn’t argue with Kakashi.

“Here and here, and also there,” after observing the locations, Kakashi also began setting traps with Obito and Rin.

Having learned his lesson from Muzuki, Kakashi sent out a Shadow Clone to constantly watch Minato while setting traps, preventing Minato from using Shadow Clones to confuse their main bodies and strike when least expected.

The traps were set. From the Shadow Clone, they learned that Minato had remained still, so Kakashi initiated the next phase of their plan.

“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”

Obito quickly formed hand signs, gathering Chakra in his throat, and spewed a three-meter-high fireball towards Minato’s position.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Kakashi threw several Shuriken to the side, reducing Minato’s evasion space.

“Fire Release: Flame Bullet!”

Minato did not dodge. He smiled slightly, formed hand signs on the spot, and performed a Fire Release Ninjutsu.

In real combat, he rarely used the five basic Nature Transformation Ninjutsu because forming hand signs for Ninjutsu didn’t align with his most proficient Flying Thunder God. However, this didn’t mean Minato couldn’t use the five basic Nature Transformation Ninjutsu; after all, he didn’t know Flying Thunder God as soon as he became a Ninja, and he had practiced a lot of Wind Release and Fire Release before.

Minato exhaled a massive fireball of roaring flames from his mouth. After nullifying Obito’s Great Fireball Technique, it continued to blaze towards Obito and Kakashi.

“Fire Release…” Kakashi silently noted down this Ninjutsu, then dodged.

Kakashi gave Obito a look, and Obito understood, nodding as they both ran towards the trap zone.

The students began their attack, and Minato, as their teacher, assumed they were ready and immediately pursued them.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

As soon as Minato entered the forest, Rin Nohara immediately activated the traps she had set, and a large number of Shuriken flew towards Minato.

“Wind Release: Great Breakthrough.”

Minato, who hadn’t seen Rin Nohara, had been on guard. He immediately used Wind Release to exhale a powerful gust of wind, blowing away all the incoming projectiles.

“He also mastered Wind Release,” Kakashi again noted down the new information. Typically, Jonin had two Nature Transformations.

“Leaf Great Whirlwind!”

Just as the projectiles were launched, Obito charged forward and delivered a spinning kick to Minato.

“Your coordination is decent, but it would be even better if another person joined in,” Minato dodged the attack, seized the opportunity to grab Obito’s leg, lifted him up, and said with a smile. He didn’t understand why Kakashi hadn’t attacked with him.

“Hehe, Minato-sensei, you’d better be careful next. We’ve got more than just this,” Obito, still caught, chuckled unhurriedly.

Minato flung Obito towards a nearby large tree.

Bang!

Obito dissipated into smoke; it was a Shadow Clone.

“A Shadow Clone can even perform Fire Release of that level? It seems they are even more outstanding than I imagined,” Minato thought with some surprise.

Minato had no time to think further; Kakashi and the others’ attack rhythm was very tight, and immediately two thick wooden pillars came crashing towards him.