Chapter 656: Changes

Minato Namikaze’s first reaction upon receiving the gift was that it was too precious; he couldn’t accept it.

But the words died on Minato Namikaze’s lips.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a gift for him, but for Kushina, and Kushina, who hadn’t fully mastered the Nine-Tailed’s power, truly needed such a gift.

“Thank you.”

In the end, Minato Namikaze accepted the gift, thanking Muzuki with a solemn expression.

“Don’t worry too much about it; it’s nothing major. For me, the Sealing Technique Kushina taught me is far more valuable,” Muzuki said with a smile.

Without Kushina as a channel, even if Muzuki had astonishing talent in Sealing Technique, it would have been difficult for him to reach a high level in a short time.

What Kushina gave Muzuki was not just a few Sealing Technique, but a complete system.

Minato Namikaze didn’t say much after that, focusing on preparing the ingredients.

Good friends don’t need many words. When Muzuki needed him, he would also do his best to help Muzuki… “What should I do? Go train?” Obito sat on the grass, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful expression.

The war had finally ended, and Muzuki had given them a month-long vacation. Obito was ready to relax properly.

It wasn’t about completely abandoning training, but adjusting the proportion of time spent on it. Normally, Obito would spend almost the entire day training.

To relax, he definitely needed to reduce his training time. Obito thought four hours of training a day during the vacation would be enough.

However, there wasn’t much fun to be had alone, so Obito wanted to find his friends to play with.

The first person he looked for was Rin Nohara, but because of her outstanding Medical Ninjutsu, Rin Nohara had been assigned to Konoha Hospital to treat battlefield casualties, so she wouldn’t be free to play for a while.

Then Obito went to look for Kakashi, and on the way, he ran into Might Guy, who was training.

Might Guy enthusiastically invited Obito to train with him, but Obito was out looking for someone to play with, so he politely declined Might Guy.

Something Obito didn’t expect happened: when he arrived at Kakashi’s house, Kakashi was also training.

Might Guy had always been a training fanatic, which Obito could understand, but Kakashi being so diligent puzzled him a bit. What about the relaxation they talked about?

“The war is over, and history has changed, Kakashi. You should take a break too.”

With the mentality of a ‘water ghost’ (someone who wants company in their misfortune), Obito tried to persuade Kakashi to go out and play with him.

“Recently, I’ve had some inspiration for improving No Thought Strike,” Kakashi said, giving Obito a reason he couldn’t argue with.

Obito was well aware of the importance of No Thought Strike to Kakashi.

If it were him, let alone having inspiration to improve Azure Flame, even just having inspiration to learn Azure Flame, Obito would push his training intensity to the max.

He hadn’t fully learned Azure Flame yet.

“I brought my camera out, so I might as well wander around.”

Obito looked at the camera hanging around his neck and made up his mind.

He wasn’t against training, but since he was already out.

Thinking this, Obito began to wander around Konoha, taking pictures of all the scenes he found interesting.

“Obito, long time no see.”

Asuma saw Obito taking photos of the Hokage Rock and greeted him.

“It’s you, Asuma. It has been a while. What have you been up to lately?” Obito put down his camera and looked at Asuma.

“I was on a mission in the Land of Hot Springs battlefield and just got back recently. How about you?”

“I was on a war mission in the Land of Grass and also just returned to Konoha recently.”

The two chatted for a while, and Obito felt that talking in the street was a bit awkward, so he suggested:

“Want to go eat some dango and chat while we eat?”

Asuma waved his hand, “No, I have something to do. I’ll treat you another day.”

“What is it?” Obito asked casually.

“The Ninja Academy is holding an event, and they’ve asked me to speak as an outstanding graduate,” Asuma explained.

“Hmm?” Obito was a little surprised.

They invited Asuma as an outstanding graduate? Shouldn’t it be him and Kakashi?

It wasn’t that he looked down on Asuma, but there was indeed a significant gap between them; that was a fact.

“Right? I was surprised too. If we’re talking about excellence, Shisui should be the most qualified. He became a Jonin at eight years old, making him the youngest Jonin in Konoha’s entire history,” Asuma said with a smile.

Obito nodded in agreement; Shisui’s resume was indeed exaggerated.

“Perhaps Shisui, and you and Kakashi, are all too excellent. The Ninja Academy teachers were worried that the students would aim too high, so they chose me, who only became a Jonin at thirteen.”

Obito and Kakashi both became Jonin at ten years old. Many people at that age hadn’t even graduated and become Ninja, let alone been promoted to Jonin.

“Who asked you how old you were when you became a Jonin?” Obito teased with a joking tone.

“Haha,” Asuma laughed, patting Obito’s shoulder.

Feeling it was time, Asuma said goodbye to Obito and prepared to head to the Ninja Academy for the event.

“Since I have nothing to do, I’ll go join the fun too,” Obito said, following Asuma.

Yamato was attending the Ninja Academy, and he was curious about Yamato’s school life and academic performance.

Asuma nodded. Although Obito hadn’t received an invitation, he was still a renowned genius of the village, and the Ninja Academy wouldn’t stop him from entering.

So the two went to the Ninja Academy together.

Since Asuma was an outstanding graduate specifically invited by the Ninja Academy, there was a dedicated teacher responsible for receiving and guiding him.

The reception teacher secretly thought it was bad when he saw Obito next to Asuma.

If he had to talk about excellence, Asuma certainly couldn’t compare to Obito and the others; the time it took to become a Jonin alone showed the difference.

However, just as Asuma analyzed, the age at which Obito and the others became Jonin was too exaggerated. After careful discussion by the Ninja Academy’s leadership, they ultimately chose Asuma.

“Jonin Asuma, Jonin Obito,” the reception teacher greeted, biting the bullet.

Obito nodded, curiously looking around the Ninja Academy, and didn’t interact much with the reception teacher.

Seeing that Obito didn’t bring up the outstanding graduate matter, the reception teacher instantly breathed a sigh of relief and discussed the event speech with Asuma.

Then the reception teacher led them to the office and handed Asuma the prepared speech for reference.

Obito was bored, so he wandered around the school alone.

Probably because of the event, there were no classes throughout the school today.

“Let’s go see Yamato’s class. If I remember correctly, it should be Class 1, Grade 1.” Based on his memory of the teaching building’s layout, Obito quickly found Yamato’s class.

Obito didn’t go in directly. He first observed from outside, noticing that the Class 1, Grade 1 teacher was absent for some reason, and then he entered the classroom.

When the wooden classroom door opened, all the students instinctively looked at the doorway, thinking the teacher had returned.

But upon closer inspection, it was a young Ninja who didn’t look very old.

“Hello, everyone,” Obito greeted the students with a mischievous smile.

“Hello, Teacher.”

Obito’s familiar demeanor confused the students. For a moment, they didn’t know who Obito was, so they just called him ‘Teacher.’

After all, this was the Ninja Academy, and seeing an unfamiliar Ninja, calling them ‘Teacher’ wouldn’t be wrong.

Being called ‘Teacher’ amused Obito. It was his first time being called that, and it felt quite good.

“Senior Obito.”

Yamato looked at Obito, who had entered the classroom, with a surprised expression, not expecting to see him here.

“Yamato, do you know him? Is he a new teacher at the school? He looks so young, like he just graduated,” Hyuga Oriko asked curiously.

Yamato nodded and then shook his head.

“He’s a very powerful senior I know, not a teacher,” Yamato explained.

Obito scanned the classroom. Probably because there were no classes, the students weren’t sitting in their assigned seats as they would during class; they were sitting wherever they liked, based on personal preference.

And next to Yamato, a group of people had gathered, like a central point of the class.

Seeing this, Obito knew he didn’t have to worry about Yamato’s school life. This looked much more enjoyable than his first year.

Just as Obito was wondering whether he should retreat, Hyuga Oriko heard Yamato praising Obito, her eyes lit up, and she walked towards Obito with a small notebook.

Yamato secretly thought it was bad.

Hyuga Oriko was a very studious student, the top in theory in Class 1, Grade 1, and had even started pre-learning advanced theoretical classes. Yamato was often asked various Ninja knowledge questions by her.

But Yamato could only answer questions about Ninja knowledge. As for subjects like math, Chinese, history, and chemistry, he still had to consult Hyuga Oriko.

In Yamato’s impression, Obito was not good at theory and was often mocked by Kakashi. How embarrassing would it be if he was stumped by a first-grade student?

“Yamato said you’re a very powerful senior. Can I ask you some questions?” Hyuga Oriko asked quickly.

“Haha, of course, no problem.”

Obito said with a relaxed smile, giving Yamato a thumbs-up in his heart. It wasn’t in vain that he had treated Yamato to a meal before; Yamato still knew how to promote his deeds.

“Sorry, Senior Obito, I’ll treat you to a meal to apologize when I have time,” Yamato silently apologized to Obito in his heart.

“Thank you so much! Then I’ll start asking,” Hyuga Oriko showed a happy smile.

Immediately after, Hyuga Oriko started asking questions, from the history of the village’s early days, to geographical strategy questions, and finally to classic math problems like the chicken and rabbit in a cage problem.

To Yamato’s surprise, Obito answered fluently, without showing any hesitation on a single question, though he was a bit slower when answering math problems.

Was this still the Obito who struggled with theory? Yamato was very surprised.

“Have you ever seen a desk at midnight?” Feeling the surprised and admiring gazes of the surrounding students, Obito remained calm on the surface, but was very proud in his heart.

He was no longer the Uchiha Obito who couldn’t be promoted to Jonin because of poor theoretical grades. Now, besides daily training, he also read a lot.

At first, Obito found studying very difficult, getting sleepy after only a short while.

But Obito, thinking that he might be mocked by Kakashi, who became Hokage, because of his lack of cultural knowledge, gritted his teeth and read.

After studying for a period, Obito gradually formed a habit, and later, even with dry and boring math books, he no longer felt sleepy while reading.

Just then, the assembly bell rang, and the students in the classroom started to move.

Yamato walked up to Obito, “Senior Obito, why are you here today? Are you here for our school event?”

“Yes, I’m just here to wander around since I have nothing to do,” Obito nodded.

The two chatted as they walked to the assembly point.

On the way, Obito also saw his former homeroom teacher, Ikeya Yu.

“Teacher Ikeya,” Obito said enthusiastically, walking up to greet him.

He still hadn’t forgotten Ikeya Yu’s kindness in granting him leave back then.

“You just returned to Konoha, right? I’ve heard about you guys; you’re all very impressive! I heard Might Guy can even fight Kitsuchi from Iwagakure to a standstill,” Ikeya Yu said, showing a surprised expression when he saw Obito.

He probably found it hard to forget Obito and Might Guy.

Because they not only brought him extra bonuses while they were students but also continued to positively influence Ikeya Yu’s teaching career even after graduation.

Sometimes Ikeya Yu even felt a little unworthy, because at first, he felt unlucky to have taken over this class with the two most notorious dead last students in the entire school, and in the first semester, he often bothered Muzuki to substitute for him because of blind dates.

“I should have listened to Ueda back then and focused all my attention on teaching,” Ikeya Yu sighed, ultimately failing to win over his goddess.

“It’s a good thing you didn’t listen, Teacher Ikeya, otherwise Class 2, Grade 4 would have suffered a great loss,” Obito said with a relieved expression.

If Muzuki hadn’t substituted, where would he have found such a good teacher?

“You’re too direct, kid,” Ikeya Yu wasn’t angry, and jokingly scolded him.

After all, Obito wasn’t wrong. The substitute teacher was Muzuki, currently the most popular candidate for Hokage in Konoha.

Ikeya Yu now felt that reality was truly magical; the future Hokage had actually substituted for him, drank with him, and worked in the same office.

He had even borrowed money from the future Hokage.

“Hehe,” Obito chuckled and returned to Yamato’s side.

After the assembly, it was the leader’s speech, which Obito was least interested in. After listening for a few minutes and finding it boring, he quietly slipped away. After all, he was neither a student nor a special guest.

After leaving, Obito didn’t continue to wander aimlessly; he went directly to train near the Uchiha Clan Compound.

The thought of Kakashi researching a big move kept Obito from fully enjoying himself… Obito’s departure did not affect the Ninja Academy’s event.

To let everyone know about the excellence of a thirteen-year-old Jonin, the Ninja Academy had even prepared a special segment: Asuma would fight a Ninja Academy teacher, and then select Ninja Academy students for combat guidance.

Without a doubt, the Ninja Academy’s Chunin teacher was easily defeated by Asuma, earning a round of applause from the audience.

Finally, it was the student guidance segment.

“You, come up,” Asuma said, pointing at Yamato.

He had seen Obito and Yamato standing together talking. Since it was all about guidance, Asuma preferred to guide a friend’s junior.

“Me?” Yamato asked uncertainly.

“Yes, it’s you,” Asuma replied calmly.