Chapter 222: Everyone's Changes

"I'm home."

Might Guy shouted energetically as he reached the front door.

"Welcome home, did you spend today youthfully?" Might Duy asked, greeting Might Guy upon hearing his voice.

"Of course." Might Guy flashed a bright smile and gave himself a thumbs-up, "I completed all the recovery training perfectly today too."

"Hahaha, that's my son!" Might Duy said with a proud laugh.

"Come eat. To help you recover quickly, I prepared a feast for you today."

Might Guy curiously walked to the table and took a look. The table was filled with various meats and a medicinal soup brewed from rare herbs.

"This must have cost a lot," Might Guy couldn't help saying.

He felt that the expense of this meal might equal a whole month's spending from before.

"Nothing is more important than a healthy and strong body. Now that I'm a Chūnin, I can earn more money. Kai, just eat as much as you like," Might Duy said boldly.

His situation was different now. Before, he was not only a Genin but also had a bad reputation, which led to few missions.

Because he had demonstrated his strength and been promoted to Chūnin, Hiruzen Sarutobi specially allowed him to undertake B-rank and below missions alone.

A B-rank mission's minimum commission was eighty thousand ryō before tax, and the highest could be two hundred thousand ryō.

"I won't let you down, Father!" Might Guy put on a serious expression facing the full table of food and then began eating at top speed.

Although Might Duy's cooking wasn't as good as Muyue's—which could cause hallucinations—it was still food that Might Guy never grew tired of.

Toward the end, Might Guy stopped eating rice and just alternated between medicinal soup and meat. Finally, with two burps, all the dishes on the table were cleared.

"Oh, right, today the mission commission came in. I don't have anywhere to spend it, so I'll give it to you, Dad, to use." Might Guy took out 110,000 ryō and handed it to Might Duy.

"Kai, you're so considerate. I've really put you through hardships before," Might Duy couldn't help sighing.

He had always felt somewhat indebted to Kai. Unlike other children with ninja parents, what he could provide Might Guy was very limited. The only thing he knew—the Eight Gates—was an extremely dangerous forbidden technique.

"I don't think it was that hard, and things are slowly getting better, aren't they?" Might Guy said with a smile.

"Yeah, youth is about looking forward!" Might Duy didn't dwell on it and agreed with a laugh.

"This mission was thanks to the Eight Gates you and Master Muyue taught me, which gave me the power to protect my comrades," Might Guy recounted his experience on the last mission.

"It was just an ordinary C-rank mission at first, but we encountered a group of strong Kumogakure ninja on the way. I opened the Second Gate of the Eight Gates and, together with my comrades, defeated the Jōnin enemy."

"You actually defeated a Jōnin enemy? That's quite impressive, even if it was a joint effort," Might Duy said in surprise after listening to Might Guy's description.

Jōnin are the elites of each village, promoted only after meeting requirements in strength, achievements, and various aspects.

"I'm proud of you!" The emotional Might Duy hugged Might Guy and cried tears of joy.

He had full confidence in Might Guy, but he never expected him to embark on the path of becoming an excellent ninja so quickly. He himself didn't even have a record of defeating a Jōnin yet.

"It's all thanks to you and Master Muyue. Without you, I wouldn't have this power," Might Guy said seriously.

"No, most of it is thanks to your own hard work and Master Muyue's excellent teaching. I only contributed a little," Might Duy corrected.

He knew well that the main reasons for Might Guy's current strength were Muyue's teaching and his own effort—he himself had little to do with it.

"Kai, when you get the chance, you must repay Master Muyue's kindness. Youth requires gratitude and loyalty," Might Duy said solemnly.

"Of course! I'll never forget Master Muyue's kindness to me!" Might Guy said emotionally, tears of gratitude streaming down his face.

He hadn't forgotten that he was still the class dead last in his third year. Without Muyue's help, he couldn't have reached this point so soon.

…

After dinner, Obito went to Rin Nohara's house to invite her to go out and play.

"Hello, Uncle and Auntie," Obito greeted with a smile as he entered.

"Oh, it's little Obito. Come to play with little Rin? I'll call her down," said Rin Nohara's family member, who recognized the boy who often played with Rin.

"Rin, little Obito is here to play with you! Come down!"

Hearing the voice, Rin quickly came downstairs.

"I heard there's some event going on lately. Do you want to come along, Rin?" Obito grinned and invited her.

"Okay, you've been so tired from this mission, you really deserve a good rest." Rin Nohara agreed with a smile.

"Let's go find Kakashi and Guy—they might want to go out and have fun too." Rin added.

Obito wanted to say they wouldn't, but when the words came out, he said: "Sure, let's go ask them."

On Obito's suggestion, they first went to Might Guy's house.

"Play? You two have fun. I need to do my recovery training." Might Guy declined the invitation.

"Then I hope you recover soon, Guy." Rin said softly.

"Thanks for the support!" Might Guy gave Rin a thumbs up and went back to training.

"How about we just go play directly? I think Kakashi is probably training too." Obito seized the chance to speak.

"Obito, that's not nice. How do you know what he's thinking without even asking?" Rin gently shook her finger at Obito with a light laugh.

Obito looked closely and found Rin's eyes so deep and clear, making his heart race.

"Obito, what are you staring at?" Seeing Obito suddenly spacing out, Rin curiously leaned in to check.

Rin's face got closer, and Obito felt that crystalline clarity drawing him in more and more.

When he could clearly see his own reflection in Rin's eyes, Obito snapped back, quickly stepped back, and said with a slight blush: "Too close, Rin, why did you suddenly get so close?"

"It's because you were spacing out and not listening to me—you deserved to be startled." Rin put her hands on her hips, the corners of her mouth lifting in a small, triumphant smile.

In the end, the two of them went to Kakashi's house.

When they arrived, Kakashi was training his reaction speed in the yard.

"See, I told you Kakashi would be training. Let's go, Rin." Seeing Kakashi training, a glint flashed in Obito's eyes.

"Since we're already here, how can we leave without even asking?" Rin said helplessly, looking at Obito who couldn't wait to leave.

Kakashi noticed them and stopped, asking, "What's up? Something wrong?"

"You've just finished a really tiring mission, right? I thought we could all get together and play some games to relax." Rin explained with a smile.

Thinking about solving the problem with his Lightning Flash as soon as possible, Kakashi was about to refuse, but Obito spoke first.

"Kakashi, I know you—you're going to train, right? We won't bother you, we'll leave right away." Obito said with an "I get you" expression.

Kakashi changed his mind. Since Obito didn't want him to come, he would definitely go. So Kakashi said calmly, "Then let's all go play together."

"Did you hear that, Rin? Kakashi refused." Obito quickly said to Rin.

Rin imitated Muyue by bringing her index and middle fingers together and tapping Obito's forehead, then said:

"Obito, you need to listen carefully to what people say. How did Kakashi refuse? He accepted."

"Huh?" Obito was stunned. That wasn't like Kakashi's usual habit.

"Kakashi, are you sure you want to stop training and come play with us?" Obito couldn't help asking again.

"I'm sure. Didn't Teacher Muyue also say that training needs a balance of work and rest?" Kakashi answered affirmatively.

Seeing Obito's depressed expression, Kakashi felt a surge of joy—his mood from losing the fight earlier instantly improved.

"If you don't train properly, you deserve to lose to me." Walking on the road, Obito couldn't help muttering.

The rare chance to be alone with Rin had been ruined.

Then they went to the street where the festival was being held to have fun.

Because of his resentment, Obito's main goal in the following activities was: if I can't be happy, I won't let Kakashi have a good time either.

At a big goldfish-scooping booth, the three of them competed to see who could scoop the most goldfish.

At first they each scooped properly, but then Obito noticed that Rin often watched how Kakashi scooped, so his dissatisfaction erupted, and he started grabbing whichever fish Kakashi went for.

If it weren't for Muyue forbidding him from using the Sharingan outside, Obito would have been ready to activate the Sharingan to scoop goldfish.

With Obito blocking him, Kakashi, who had been leading, gradually fell behind, and in the end Rin won.

Next, the three went to a shuriken target-shooting booth where you could win prizes.

This time they all joined in again. Obito used Uchiha shuriken-throwing techniques to knock Kakashi's shuriken away while landing his own on the target.

Feeling Obito's malice, Kakashi did not hold back either; his shuriken throwing was not bad, and under the confrontation, both of their shurikens missed.

"You guys, why do you have to quarrel like this when playing games?" Rin Nohara showed a helpless smile.

"Teacher Muyue said that occasional competition is beneficial for improving strength," Obito brought out Teacher Muyue.

"That's true," Kakashi said lightly.

Next, Obito and Kakashi competed over everything, making Rin Nohara feel like she was redundant.

"It really is just as Teacher Muyue said, they are enjoying it." Rin Nohara watched the two constantly bickering and competing, yet they never showed annoyance, and couldn't help but smile.

3k, today 7k, continue working hard tomorrow.