Chapter 640

The first reaction of Minato Namikaze upon receiving the gift was that it was too precious; he couldn't accept it.

But when the words came to his lips, Minato Namikaze couldn't say them.

Strictly speaking, this wasn't a gift for him—it was for Kushina, and Kushina, who hadn't yet fully mastered the power of the Nine-Tails, truly needed such a gift.

"Thank you."

In the end, Minato Namikaze accepted the gift and solemnly thanked Mu Yue.

"Don't worry about it. It's no big deal. For me, the sealing techniques Kushina taught me are far more valuable." Mu Yue said with a smile.

Without Kushina as a channel, even with Mu Yue's amazing talent in sealing techniques, it would have been difficult for him to reach a high level in such a short time.

What Kushina gave Mu Yue wasn't just a few sealing techniques; it was a complete system.

After that, Minato Namikaze didn't say much and seriously processed the ingredients.

Between good friends, there was no need for many words. When Mu Yue needed help, he would also do his best to assist Mu Yue.

"What should I do? Go train?" Obito sat on the grass, looked up at the sky, and wore a thoughtful expression.

The war had finally ended, and Mu Yue had even given them a month-long break. Obito planned to relax properly.

It wasn't that he was completely giving up training, but rather adjusting the proportion of time spent on training. Normally, Obito would train almost the entire day.

To relax, he would definitely reduce training time. Obito thought that training four hours a day during the vacation would be about right.

But being alone wasn't much fun, so Obito wanted to find some friends to play with.

The first person he looked for was Rin Nohara, but Rin had been requisitioned to the Konoha Hospital to treat battlefield casualties due to her outstanding medical ninjutsu, so she wouldn't be free for a while.

Next, Obito went to find Kakashi, and on the way, he ran into Might Guy, who was training.

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

Something Obito hadn't expected happened: when he arrived at Kakashi's house, Kakashi was also training.

Might Guy had always been a training maniac, and Obito could understand that, but he couldn't figure out why Kakashi was working so hard. Weren't they supposed to relax?

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

With the mindset of dragging someone down with him, Obito urged Kakashi to go out and play together.

"Lately, I've had an inspiration to improve the Thoughtless Slash." Kakashi gave a reason that made it hard for Obito to keep insisting.

Obito understood very well how important the Thoughtless Slash was to Kakashi.

If it were him, even if he had an inspiration to improve the Blue Flame—let alone learn it—Obito would crank up his training intensity to the max.

He hadn't even fully learned the Blue Flame yet.

"I've brought the camera out, so I might as well take a look around."

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

He wasn't opposed to training, but since he was already out...

With that thought, Obito started wandering around Konoha, taking pictures of all the scenes he found interesting.

"Obito, long time no see."

Asuma spotted Obito, who was taking pictures of the Hokage Rock, and greeted him.

"Oh, it's you, Asuma. Yeah, I haven't seen you in a while. What have you been up to?" Obito put down his camera and looked at Asuma.

"I went on a mission to the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water. Just got back recently. And you?"

"I was on a war mission in the Land of Grass. Also just returned to Konoha."

After chatting for a while, Obito felt it wasn't great to talk while standing on the street, so he suggested,

"Want to go eat some dumplings? We can talk while we eat."

Asuma waved his hand, "No, I have things to do. I'll treat you another day."

"What things?" Obito asked casually.

"The ninja academy organized an event and asked me, as an outstanding graduate, to give a speech." Asuma explained.

"Huh?" Obito was a bit surprised.

They invited Asuma as the outstanding graduate? Shouldn't it be someone like him and Kakashi?

No disrespect to Asuma, but there was indeed a considerable gap between them — that was just a fact.

"Right? I was pretty surprised too. If we're talking outstanding, the one who fits best should be Shisui. He became a jonin at eight, the youngest jonin in all of Konoha's history." Asuma said with a smile.

Obito nodded in agreement. Shisui's track record was indeed remarkable.

"Maybe it's because Shisui, you, and Kakashi were all too outstanding. The ninja academy teachers were worried the students would aim too high, so they picked me — the guy who only became a jonin at thirteen."

Obito and Kakashi both became jonin at ten. Many people hadn't even graduated as ninja at that age, let alone become jonin.

"Who asked you what age you became a jonin?" Obito teased in a joking tone.

"Haha." Asuma laughed and patted Obito on the shoulder.

After feeling it was about time, Asuma said goodbye to Obito and prepared to head to the ninja academy for the event.

"I've got nothing to do anyway, I'll tag along." Obito said as he followed Asuma.

Yamato was studying at the ninja academy, and Obito was curious about how he was doing as a student, what his grades were like.

Asuma nodded. Although Obito wasn't invited, he was still a famous prodigy in the village, and the ninja academy couldn't very well bar him from entering.

So the two of them went to the ninja academy together.

Since Asuma had been specially invited as an outstanding graduate, a dedicated teacher was assigned to receive and guide him.

The moment the reception teacher saw Obito beside Asuma, he thought, "Uh-oh."

If you really had to talk about being outstanding, Asuma couldn't compare to Obito and the others — just the age at which they became jonin showed it.

However, just as Asuma had analyzed, Obito and the others had become jonin at too young an age. After careful discussion among the ninja academy leadership, they'd ultimately chosen Asuma.

"Jonin Asuma, Jonin Obito." The reception teacher greeted them with reluctance.

Obito nodded and looked around the ninja academy curiously, but didn't chat much with the reception teacher.

Seeing that Obito didn't bring up the outstanding graduate issue, the reception teacher sighed in relief and discussed the event speech with Asuma.

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

Bored staying there, Obito wandered around the school by himself.

Probably because of the event, the entire school had no classes today.

"Let's go see Yamato's class. If I remember right, it should be Class 1-1." Relying on his memory of the teaching building layout, Obito quickly found Yamato's classroom.

Obito didn't go in directly. He first observed from outside and saw that the teacher for Class 1-1 seemed to be out for some reason, only then did he enter the classroom.

The wooden door of the classroom opened, and all the students instinctively looked toward the door, thinking the teacher was back.

But when they looked closely, it was a young-looking ninja, not very old.

"Hey there." Obito greeted the students with a grin.

"Hello, teacher."

Obito's familiar manner threw the students off. For a moment, they didn't know who he was, so they just called him "teacher."

After all, this was the ninja academy. If you saw a ninja you didn't recognize, calling them "teacher" wouldn't be wrong.

That address amused Obito. It was the first time anyone had called him "teacher," and it felt pretty good.

"Obito-senpai."

Yamato looked surprised as he watched Obito enter the classroom. He hadn't expected to see him here.

"Yamato, do you know him? Is he a new teacher at the school? He looks really young, like he just graduated." Hyūga Oriko asked curiously.

Yamato nodded, then shook his head.

"He's a very impressive senior I know, not a teacher." Yamato explained.

Obito scanned the classroom. Since there was no class, the students weren't sitting in their assigned seats like during a lesson; they were scattered wherever they liked.

And beside Yamato, a crowd gathered, as if he were the center of the class.

Seeing this, Obito knew he didn't have to worry about Yamato's school life; it looked much better than when he was in first grade.

Just as Obito was thinking about whether to retreat, Hinata Oriko heard Yamato praising Obito, her eyes lit up, and she walked toward Obito holding a small notebook.

Yamato thought to himself, "This is bad."

Hinata Oriko was a very studious good student, ranked first in theory in Class 1-1, and had even started learning advanced theoretical lessons from higher grades. Yamato was often asked by her about various ninja knowledge.

But Yamato could only answer questions about ninja knowledge; for things like math, language, history, chemistry, he still had to consult Hinata Oriko.

In Yamato's impression, Obito was bad at theory and often mocked by Kakashi in various ways. If he were stumped by a first-year student, how embarrassing would that be?

"Yamato said you are a very impressive senior. May I ask you some questions?" Hinata Oriko stepped forward quickly and asked.

"Haha, of course no problem."

Obito smiled easily, giving a mental thumbs-up to Yamato, thinking it wasn't in vain that he had treated Yamato to a meal before, and he even knew to promote his deeds.

"Sorry, Obito-senpai, I'll treat you to a meal to apologize when I have time." Yamato silently apologized to Obito in his heart.

"Thank you very much. Then I'll start asking." Hinata Oriko showed a happy smile.

Then Hinata Oriko started asking from the history of the village's founding period, to geography and strategy questions, and finally to classic math problems like chickens and rabbits in the same cage.

What surprised Yamato was that Obito answered fluently without hesitation on any question, though he was a bit slower when answering math.

Was this still that Obito who was bad at theory? Yamato was very surprised.

"Have you seen a desk at midnight?" Feeling the surprised and admiring gazes of the surrounding students, Obito remained expressionless on the surface but was very proud inside.

He was no longer that Uchiha Obito who couldn't become a jonin due to poor theory scores. Now, besides training every day, he also read a lot.

At first, Obito found studying very difficult; he would get sleepy after reading for a short while.

But whenever Obito thought that because of his poor education he might not become Hokage and would be mocked by Kakashi, who would become Hokage, he forced himself to read.

After studying for a while, Obito gradually formed a habit; later, even boring math books wouldn't make him sleepy.

At that moment, the assembly bell rang, and the students in the classroom started moving.

Yamato walked over to Obito. "Obito-senpai, why did you come today? Are you here to participate in our school activity?"

"Yeah, I had nothing to do, so I came to look around." Obito nodded.

The two chatted while heading to the assembly point.

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

"Teacher Ikeya." Obito walked up warmly and greeted.

He still hadn't forgotten the kindness of Ikeya Isamu approving his leave back then.

"Just returned to Konoha recently, right? I've heard about your deeds; all are impressive. I heard that Gai even fought on par with that Kitsuchi from Iwagakure." Ikeya Isamu showed a surprised and delighted expression upon seeing Obito.

He probably would find it hard to forget Obito and Might Gai.

Because not only did they bring him extra bonuses during school, but even after graduation, they could still positively affect Ikeya Isamu's teaching career.

Sometimes Ikeya Isamu felt he was a bit unworthy, because at the beginning, he thought he was unlucky to take over this class with the school's two famous bottom students. In the first semester, he always troubled Muzuki to substitute because of blind dates.

"At that time, I should have listened to Ueda and focused all my mind on teaching." Ikeya Isamu sighed. In the end, he still failed to win the goddess.

"It's a good thing you didn't listen, Teacher Ikeya; otherwise, our Class 4-2 would have suffered a great loss." Obito said with a relieved expression.

If Muzuki hadn't come to substitute, where would he find such a good teacher?

"You kid are too direct." Ikeya Isamu wasn't angry and just scolded with a smile.

After all, Obito wasn't wrong; that substitute teacher was Muzuki, now the person with the highest voice to become Hokage in Konoha.

Thinking about it now, Ikeya Isamu really felt reality was too surreal; the future Hokage actually substituted for him, drank with him, and worked in the same office.

He had even borrowed money from the future Hokage.

"Hehe." Obito laughed and returned to Yamato's side.

After the assembly, there was a leader's speech, which Obito was least interested in. He listened for a few minutes, found it boring, and quietly slipped away. After all, he was neither a student nor a special guest.

After leaving, Obito didn't continue wandering around and went straight to train near the Uchiha clan compound.

Every time he thought about Kakashi studying a special technique, Obito just couldn't enjoy himself to the fullest.

Obito's departure did not affect the Ninja Academy's activities.

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

Unsurprisingly, the Chunin teacher of the Ninja Academy was easily defeated by Asuma, drawing cheers from the audience below.

Finally came the student guidance segment.

"You, come up." Asuma pointed at Yamato and said.

He had seen Obito and Yamato standing together talking. Since both were to receive guidance, Asuma was more willing to guide a friend's junior.

"Me?" Yamato asked uncertainly.

"Mm, it's you." Asuma replied calmly.