Chapter 123: Disagreement on the Mission

After practicing for two and a half days, Obito finally mastered the Shadow Clone Technique on the afternoon of the third day.

"Shadow Clone Technique!" Obito formed hand seals and gathered chakra.

Bang!

A puff of white smoke flashed, and an Obito identical to him—neither fat nor thin nor short—appeared beside Obito.

"Finally succeeded!" Obito cheered with a joyful look.

He could already imagine how sweet his future days would be: going to school with a shadow clone, doing homework with a shadow clone, working with a shadow clone, playing with Rin with a shadow clone... no, that one should be done by the original.

"How nice." Might Guy silently dispelled his own shadow clone, which had skin the color of rock.

He also wished he could send a shadow clone to school.

"From now on, you'll go to school, and I'll leave the homework to you too," Obito said blissfully to the shadow clone.

However, the shadow clone gave Obito an unexpected answer.

"Why should I go to school?" the shadow clone asked.

This question stumped Obito. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Because you're my shadow clone."

"You're Uchiha Obito, and I'm Uchiha Obito too. Why can't you go to school and do the homework?" the shadow clone reasoned convincingly.

"Because... because..." Obito scratched his head, momentarily feeling that what the shadow clone said made some sense.

"How about I eat Teacher Muyue's meals from now on? That way you'll get the delicious memory without worrying about getting fat," the shadow clone suggested.

"I can also play with Little Rin for you, so you'll have more time to train."

"No, no, absolutely not!" Obito waved his hands and shook his head frantically.

"Why are you, a shadow clone, only thinking about eating, drinking, and having fun?" Obito suddenly noticed a problem.

"Aren't you also thinking about dumping all the annoying stuff on me and then eating, drinking, and having fun yourself?" the shadow clone replied unceremoniously.

Obito had nothing to say and directly dispelled the Shadow Clone Technique.

"Teacher Muyue, haven't I mastered the Shadow Clone Technique yet?" Obito asked in confusion. He felt something was off with his shadow clone.

Muyue used an appraisal glance at Obito—the shadow clone had already reached the beginner level.

"You've already learned it. You don't need to study this jutsu anymore," Muyue replied.

"But I feel like I haven't learned it yet. This shadow clone isn't right," Obito felt he still needed to practice.

"A shadow clone's thoughts are the same as the original's," Muyue said tactfully.

The ninja world is vast, and there are many talents. Obito arguing with his shadow clone is nothing; later on, there will even be a ninja who fights with his shadow clone.

"Hehe, then I'll start training in the breathing method," Obito showed an embarrassed smile. He understood what Muyue meant.

If the original wants to slack off, then the clone also wants to slack off.

Obito's opinion of the Second Hokage dropped a bit. This jutsu, though good, still had many aspects that weren't well thought out.

A fulfilling life always passes quickly. Soon, it was the last day before school started.

"Everyone, rest tomorrow. Those who want to play can play; those who don't can lie in the yard and ponder life. After today, there won't be much free time.

Of course, if you really want to train, you can come here. I'll be training here," Muyue said.

"Little Rin, let's go play together tomorrow!" Obito chose to rest, since Muyue strongly recommended it.

"Mm." Rin Nohara nodded and agreed.

After all, she had already refused once before, and on the last day before school, it was indeed good to relax a bit.

"Then tomorrow morning, let's go find Kakashi together and bring him along," Rin Nohara said after thinking.

Obito's joy diminished slightly. He had actually wanted it to be just the two of them, but since Rin Nohara wanted to call Kakashi, Obito asked Might Guy:

"Guy, do you want to come play too?"

"No, tomorrow I'm going to train in Rock Breathing," Might Guy refused.

From his shadow clone's learning, it wasn't hard to see that Might Guy currently only had Rock Breathing on his mind.

"What about you, Shisui?" Obito looked at Shisui.

"As long as you have fun. I'm still behind on my Flame Breathing progress, so I plan to train all day tomorrow." Shisui replied.

Previously, Shisui had been ahead in all kinds of training, but currently his progress in Breathing techniques was the worst. Although it wasn't that much behind, compared to before, there was a gap. He wanted to train more to catch up to Obito's progress.

Obito's joy diminished a bit more.

This feeling was like when there are four people in a dorm, and someone suggests going out on the weekend, but in the end only two go, and the other two say they want to study in the dorm. How could you have a good time playing then?

"It's just one day. Training one more day won't amount to much." Obito comforted himself inwardly.

The next day, morning.

Rin and Obito met at the designated spot, then the two went to Kakashi's house together.

They were lucky; Kakashi didn't have a mission today and was at home sitting blankly, pondering life.

"Kakashi, want to go out and play?" Rin asked with a smile.

"Obito and I have school starting tomorrow, so after that we might not have much time."

"Isn't going to the Ninja Academy pretty leisurely?" Kakashi asked doubtfully. He felt that when he was in school, he was way too free.

"That's because you're too amazing, Kakashi." Rin complimented.

"Then let's go." Kakashi agreed, since he didn't have anything to do today anyway.

Seeing Kakashi agree, Obito's mouth, which was about to curl up, drooped instead.

"Damn Kakashi, as a ninja, not doing missions and just resting all day!" Obito lowered his head and muttered.

"Obito, you should—"

Bang!

Before Rin could finish, Obito, not watching where he was going, walked into a telephone pole.

"Damn Kakashi, can't you put this telephone pole somewhere where people won't run into it?" This was Obito's second time hitting it; he thought the position of the pole was problematic.

Kakashi: "..."

"If such a place really existed, I'd first help you find your brain and eyes." Kakashi replied.

He felt that Obito just felt uncomfortable if he wasn't being hit. How could the position of the telephone pole be his decision?

"Alright, stop fighting. Rub it and it won't hurt." Rin said softly, then walked in front of Obito and gently massaged the spot he had just hit.

"How is it? Feeling better?" Rin asked as she continued rubbing gently.

"Hehe." Feeling Rin's warm, soft hands, Obito showed a satisfied smile. Although he didn't catch what Rin asked, he still nodded.

"Then let's keep going." Rin said with a smile.

"Kakashi, have you eaten breakfast?" Rin thought of something and asked.

Obito had come with her, so she knew he hadn't eaten, just like her.

"Not yet." Kakashi shook his head.

"That's good. I recently heard that a dango shop opened on the street with good flavors, and their three-colored dango is delicious." Rin explained.

With Rin leading the way, the three of them went to the newly opened dango shop on the street.

Each of them bought one serving, and each serving had three skewers.

"It looks really nice." Rin said, looking at the plump three-colored dango in the small plate.

"Not as good as Teacher Muyue's tempura." Obito commented after eating.

"Only you would compare two completely different foods." Kakashi said after eating a little dango.

"Hmm, the red one has red bean filling. It's quite good, but I think strawberry filling would be better." Rin, unaffected by Obito's comment, took a bite and said.

Although Muyue's cooking was delicious, desserts and main meals were two different categories.

"Kakashi, can you briefly describe what a full-fledged ninja's life is like? Obito and I only have two semesters left before we graduate." Rin asked curiously.

"Training, missions." Kakashi answered simply.

"That's way too simple. You might as well have said nothing," Obito couldn't help teasing.

"Is there anything we need to pay attention to?" Rin didn't mind and continued asking.

"For a ninja, the mission is above all else. Completing the mission comes first," Kakashi said after a moment of thought.

"Kakashi, you sound like a mature adult," Rin joked.

"Mission above all else? It should be your comrades! If a mission fails, there's a chance to make up for it. But if a comrade dies, there's no way to bring them back." Obito disagreed with Kakashi's philosophy.

"That's why you're still a student, while I've been a chunin for a while now," Kakashi said mercilessly.

"You're too naive. Some missions, if they fail, can cause major losses to the village. That can't be compared to the life or death of one person."

"I'll definitely become a better ninja than you one day and prove it to you!" Obito was very unconvinced but had no comeback.

He really didn't have the capital to argue with Kakashi now, because he wasn't even a ninja yet.

"Alright, alright. You're both going to be excellent ninja for sure. Let's go check out the commercial street," Rin suggested.

Then the three of them basically followed Rin around everywhere. At noon, they went for a picnic in the forest, and Obito suggested catching fish in the river and grilling them.

"Don't drown yourself. This river looks pretty deep," Kakashi warned.

"Don't underestimate me. I have chakra." Obito, holding a wooden stick with a kunai tied to it, stepped directly onto the water's surface.

"He can already walk on water." Kakashi was a little surprised inside.

Although it was still far from his own level, Obito was no longer the dead-last Obito he remembered from before.

He had mastered fire nature transformation, his ninjutsu looked decent, and now he could even walk on water.

Kakashi grilled the fish. Having lived alone for quite a while, he had mastered many survival skills.

Obito watched Rin praise Kakashi's grilled fish, and secretly swore to himself that when he had time, he would learn cooking from Muyue.

As for Kakashi, he didn't want to lose to him in any area.