Chapter 39: Speed vs. Perception Showdown (Please Follow)

Obito was a bit annoyed.

If Kakashi didn't participate, winning first place would mean nothing to him.

What Obito wanted was to defeat Kakashi in front of Rin, redeem himself, and take first place. Without Kakashi, even winning first wouldn't make Obito very happy.

His obsession with winning the Young Ninja Technique Competition was entirely sparked by Kakashi.

Back then, in front of Rin, Kakashi crushed him with a landslide score to take first, making Obito's victory speech a lie.

Obito had always remembered that, but until now he never had the ability to win.

Now that he had the power to win everything, he found out his rival had already moved on — which really ticked him off.

"No way, I have to get Kakashi to join the competition!" The more Obito thought about it, the more he felt the contest was pointless without Kakashi.

"We can go find Kakashi after school and ask if he's interested in participating," Rin suggested.

"I'll go with you. It's been a while since we've seen Kakashi anyway."

Even though the three of them were close, after Kakashi graduated, they saw each other a lot less.

She and Obito had to attend school every day as students, while Kakashi, as a ninja, had to go on missions.

"Okay." Obito nodded, thinking Rin's idea was a good one.

Before school let out, Obito asked Muyue for a day off — he wouldn't go to Muyue's place today, and would take care of the Kakashi matter first.

After school, Rin and Obito went directly to Kakashi's house.

Kakashi's house wasn't in the main city area, but in the suburbs beside it. Though not as bustling, it wasn't as crowded as the city center.

Rin and Obito had been to Kakashi's house before; they'd even been invited in for a meal.

Seeing the flat-roofed two-story house come into view, they knew they had arrived.

They were lucky — today Kakashi had no missions. When they arrived, Kakashi was training in the yard.

Kakashi held a silver-white chakra short blade and in a few moves sliced off a scarecrow's head and limbs.

Seeing his friends, Kakashi let out a soft breath, sheathed the chakra short blade behind his back, and asked:

"What are you two doing here?"

"It's been a while since we hung out. We missed you, so we came to find you." Rin said with a smile.

Obito wasn't nearly as polite as Rin; he asked bluntly:

"Kakashi, the Young Ninja Technique Competition is about to start. Are you going to sign up?"

"Young Ninja Technique Competition?" Kakashi thought for a moment and remembered it was a civilian competition he'd entered back when he was still in school out of boredom.

"No. Not interested." Kakashi replied flatly.

In his view, that competition was just for kids; first prize was only a slightly nicer kunai.

He'd only joined back in the academy because he was bored, let alone now.

Obito's face fell. Kakashi had refused too decisively.

"Why not? You joined before, didn't you?" Obito asked stubbornly.

He really wanted Kakashi to compete.

"Back then I was still a student at the Ninja Academy. Now I'm already a chūnin." Kakashi pointed at the forehead protector on his head.

Obito felt Kakashi was hinting at something — he had been a student then, and he was still a student now...

"Chūnin, shmūnin, there's no age limit anyway." Obito pressed on.

"Do you need me to say it outright? I'm not interested in some kiddie pretend game." Seeing Obito wouldn't let go, Kakashi said mercilessly.

Obito's face reddened. "Pretend game"? It's the Young Ninja Technique Competition!

"I'm joining too. You're not scared of losing to me, are you, Kakashi?" Getting a little frantic, Obito started getting aggressive.

"Lose to you? Have you ever beaten me?" Kakashi said expressionlessly.

"I... I..." Obito frantically searched his memory, and was shocked to realize he really had never beaten Kakashi.

Obito's face flushed a little more at this frustrating realization.

"Don't get cocky, Kakashi. I'm different now than I was before." Obito put his hands on his hips, implying that he was no longer the same as he used to be.

Kakashi gave Obito a once-over—goggles, tracksuit, hands on hips, that goofy smile on his face. The sheer dorkiness was overwhelming.

Kakashi answered honestly, "I can't see it."

"Konoha's crude words!" Obito was starting to lose his composure.

"You two—you finally get to see each other, and you're still the same as always." Rin Nohara covered her mouth and chuckled softly as she watched.

This scene had already played out in front of Rin Nohara countless times.

Obito always liked to compete with Kakashi, but in the end, it was Obito who ended up losing out.

Obito took a deep breath to calm down for a moment, when he suddenly thought of his teacher, Muyue.

"If it were Teacher Muyue, what method would he use?" Obito fell into thought.

To make Obito train more seriously, Muyue had him do one extra problem every time he was hit. Though training was hard, doing problems was even harder, so Obito chose the lesser of two evils and trained more earnestly to reduce the number of hits.

"The lesser of two evils…" Obito had a sudden flash of inspiration and thought of a plan.

"Kakashi, you said I can't beat you, right? Then do you dare to make a bet with me?" Obito taunted with a smile.

Kakashi's expression still didn't change as he said flatly,

"Bet on who comes first in the competition? You think I'd fall for such a stupid provocation?"

Going to some meaningless competition was worse than reading more books.

"Of course not. You think you're so great, don't you? Want to test whether your eyesight is stronger or my hand speed is faster?" Obito said.

"If you win, I won't bring up the competition anymore, and I'll treat you to five bowls of ramen. If you lose, all you have to do is join the competition."

If Kakashi didn't agree, he would just keep pestering him to go to the Young Ninja Tournament, and then Kakashi would naturally accept this simpler, faster contest.

Kakashi didn't agree right away but asked, "What exactly is the contest?"

Obito picked a leaf from a tree next to Kakashi's house and placed it on his palm, then said,

"Simple. I'll quickly switch the leaf between my left and right hands, and at the end you guess which hand it's in. Simple, isn't it?"

Kakashi thought it over. He figured Obito's hand speed couldn't possibly be faster than his eyes, so he agreed directly.

He knew Obito's personality—he might keep badgering him until nightfall.

It was better to use this simple contest to show Obito the gap between them.

Obito pushed his hand speed to the limit, frantically shaking both hands back and forth, and only stopped after about five minutes.

"Right hand." Kakashi pointed directly at Obito's right hand, which held the leaf.

"I really don't know where you got the nerve to compete with me on this." Kakashi was a little disappointed.

He had thought Obito's hand speed might be fast, but it was just this—the leaf had never left his sight.

Hearing Kakashi's words, Obito laughed instead and asked,

"Kakashi, are you sure it's this hand? Once you're sure, you can't change it."

"Trying to bluff me? It's the right hand. Just open it." Kakashi didn't change his mind just because Obito was laughing; he only thought Obito was putting on a front.

"Then I'll open it." Obito slowly opened his right hand.

There's a funeral today, so I wrote in a bit of a hurry. If there are any issues, feel free to mention them. I'll fix them later when I see them.