Chapter 643: Arrival

After learning the details of the exchange meeting from Xiang Muyue, Obito headed straight toward Rin's house.

"Did something good happen? You look really excited, Obito," Rin asked with a smile.

Sometimes it wasn't that she deliberately tried to guess Obito's thoughts; rather, Obito was just too easy to read—one look at his face and she could roughly tell what was going on.

"Because I heard about a chance to go on an all-expenses-paid trip," Obito chuckled in reply, and told Rin about the exchange meeting.

"Going to the Water Country for an exchange? That does sound nice," Rin said after thinking for a moment.

The Water Country was an island nation far from the mainland, and likely had many sights not found in the Fire Country. No wonder Obito was excited.

"Yeah, Rin, you should come too. Opportunities like this don't come often," Obito invited.

"Me...?" Rin looked thoughtful.

She usually wouldn't travel abroad just to see some scenery, but since Obito was inviting her, it might be nice to go anyway—she didn't have much to do recently anyway.

"We'll call Kakashi and Gai too, and give those Kirigakure ninja at the exchange a good beating so they'll never dare to declare war on Konoha again," Obito continued, seeing that Rin hadn't made up her mind.

Although Kirigakure and Konoha were now allies, Obito didn't really like Kirigakure; just a few months ago they had still been at war.

He wasn't just going to the exchange to see the sights—he also aimed to crush the confidence of the Kirigakure ninja.

"We're allies now, so you can't go too hard on them," Rin reminded him.

"Don't worry, I have the Sharingan. Everything will be under my control," Obito said with a confident smile.

With the powerful observation ability of the Sharingan, Obito could even make an enemy feel extreme pain without endangering their life.

Of course, Obito definitely wouldn't be that ruthless at the exchange.

Kirigakure had contributed quite a bit in the final battle, so they could be said to have redeemed themselves.

"Mhm, you're amazing, Obito. I'll cheer for you guys then," Rin said, clenching her fist in encouragement.

"Hehe."

Obito couldn't help scratching his head and smiling—it would have been even better if it was just 'you' (singular).

"Are you going to notify the others now? I'll go with you," Rin said.

Obito didn't refuse, and the two of them went to Kakashi's house, Might Guy's house, and Shisui's house.

"Go to Kirigakure for an exchange meeting? Sure," Kakashi agreed.

Kirigakure had many ninja skilled with swords; if he could have sword sparring with them, it might be useful for his training.

"Going for an exchange in another village? That's youth! I'm in!" Might Gai said, giving a thumbs up with a bright smile.

He had recently improved his taijutsu and was thinking of challenging someone to test his strength.

Since Shisui's house was in the Uchiha clan territory, close to Obito's house, Obito let Rin go home first, and he went alone to notify Shisui, then returned home.

"Sorry, I can't participate this time. I've recently had a change in duties, so I'm quite busy," Shisui declined.

He had been promoted from squad leader to platoon leader.

After Mugetsu became Hokage, the training team underwent quite a few changes: first, Mugetsu stepped down as captain, replaced by Orochimaru, then some new members were added, and some well-performing members were promoted.

"I see, that's too bad," Obito didn't press.

If he had important matters, he wouldn't go to the exchange either—after all, the Water Country was right there, and there would always be opportunities later.

"……"

Time quickly arrived at the day the exchange team was to depart.

"Check carefully if you've forgotten anything; we're leaving soon," reminded Shinku Yuuhi, the captain of the exchange team.

"The Water Country is far away; if you forget any ninja tools, it won't be easy to come back for them."

The ninja each began checking their own belongings.

"Good, I've brought all my shuriken and kunai," Izumo Kamizuki nodded after checking.

"Mm, I've brought my ninja sword too," Kotetsu Hagane said after checking.

"Mm, I've brought my dango too," Anko said.

"As expected of my subordinates, you really came prepared." Obito praised.

Compared to jonin, the exchange team would have more chunin slots. After consulting Anko and the others, Obito brought them along.

"In a way, you unexpectedly fit as their captain." Kakashi said with a subtle expression.

From the very beginning, he felt this team was a team of prodigies; the combined "Obito-ness" of the three could surpass an entire Obito, which would make things hard for the leading jonin.

Now the leading jonin was also Obito, so there was no need to think about who would suffer.

"Of course, right?" Obito said with a smug grin.

"Absolutely!" Kotetsu gave a thumbs up, imitating Might Guy.

As captain, Obito was quite responsible; even if he didn't know their nature attributes, he would find someone to help teach them.

"Captain Obito is the best captain other than Muyue-sensei."

Anko also expressed support, because Obito had once promised her the position of Dango Minister.

"Set out!" Yuhi Shinku's words interrupted the chatting group.

Seeing that they were about to start moving, they paused their conversation.

Led by Yuhi Shinku, the exchange team quickly hurried to the eastern port of the Land of Fire.

They would take a boat there to the Land of Water.

Ninjas have the ability to walk on water, but to cross the sea on foot requires extremely strong chakra and stamina, which is not something ordinary ninjas can easily do.

So even for ninjas, crossing the sea requires a boat.

"Wow, I can't see the edge. As expected of the legendary sea." Anko sighed as she looked at the vast blue world from the deck.

It was her first time on a boat at sea.

"This is nothing. If we keep heading north, we'll even run into icebergs floating on the sea." Obito said with an air of wide experience.

"Icebergs? That would mean going to a very distant place. Captain Obito, did you go on some special mission?" Izumo asked curiously.

"It wasn't that special. Just a standard princess protection, then ordinarily encountered a coup, helped quell the rebellion, saved the country, and became the country's hero." Obito couldn't suppress the grin on his lips.

He was just waiting for someone to ask.

"That's not ordinary at all! It's almost as good as the plots in ninja stories." Kotetsu retorted.

"Was the princess cute?" Izumo's focus was slightly different from Kotetsu's.

"Yeah, princesses in stories are all famous beauties of the country." Kotetsu also got interested because of his friend.

"Well, that... ultimately, from my experience, princesses aren't necessarily beauties." Obito said with a regretful look.

That brat Yukie Fujikaze destroyed all his beautiful fantasies about princesses.

Looking at the two who still harbored beautiful fantasies about princesses, Obito felt deeply moved; maybe this was tradition.

"This kind of thing better not be passed down." Kakashi said.

Obito looked at Kakashi in shock; did he have mind-reading powers?

"Also, the title the Daimyo bestowed upon us was 'Ice Warriors,' right? Only Muyue-sensei got 'Ice Hero.'"

"The 'hero' I said is an adjective, not a specific title." Obito explained.

After all, he had contributed quite a bit; calling himself a hero wasn't too much.

After chatting for a while, Obito returned to his cabin on the ship.

They would be at sea for quite some time, plenty of time to chat.

However, Obito didn't go to his cabin to rest; he went to study the Flying Thunder God Technique.

After several pointers from Muyue, he felt he was just one step away from mastering the Flying Thunder God Technique.

It would be best if he could learn the Flying Thunder God Technique before the exchange event, so he could pull off some cool moves in battle.

Long sea voyages can only be described as boring.

Those who were excited to see the boundless sea at first started missing the forests of the Land of Fire after a few days of looking at the sea.

In the forest, there were also different sceneries, but looking at the sea from the boat, it felt the same all the time, as if they were always standing still.

"It's land!"

After countless boring days and nights, Gangzi Tie saw the faintly visible Water Country in the distance and showed an excited expression.

He regretted not bringing the ninja along; traveling by boat was really too boring, and even training wasn't as satisfying as on land.

"Everyone, pack up. We're almost at the Water Country." Yuhi Shinku said, scanning the many ninja.

"After we dock, there will be ninja from the Hidden Mist Village to receive us."

Upon hearing this, the Konoha ninja all tidied up their appearance; they couldn't let their allies underestimate them.

The Hidden Mist ninja had sent people to monitor the sea surface, and they discovered the arrival of the Konoha exchange team early. When the boat of the Konoha exchange team docked, the reception from the Hidden Mist Village was already standing below.

"Captain Shinku, welcome to the Water Country. I believe this exchange can promote friendship between our two villages and better achieve cooperation and mutual benefit."

A Hidden Mist jōnin beside Yagura Karatachi stepped forward and greeted with a smile.

"Mm, I hope this exchange will yield gains for both villages." Yuhi Shinku nodded.

Just as Yuhi Shinku was talking with the Hidden Mist ninja, the ninja of the Konoha exchange team curiously looked around.

"That green-haired guy looks tough. Is he the Hidden Mist ninja we'll be facing in this exchange?" Anko said curiously.

Obito followed Anko's gaze and saw Yagura Karatachi standing proudly.

Anko fighting Yagura Karatachi? Really?

Obito's mouth twitched. Was this how ignorant people looked in others' eyes? He felt as if he suddenly understood why Kakashi used to look at him like that.

"Normally, no." Obito replied.

Yagura Karatachi's status in the Hidden Mist might be even higher than the Sannin's in Konoha, because the Hidden Mist only has one Yagura Karatachi.

But if the Mangekyō Sharingan's ability had no side effects, Obito would be confident enough to go head-to-head with Yagura Karatachi.

Unrestricted Kamui could put him in an invincible position.

P. S.: This chapter counts as yesterday's.

Yesterday I couldn't hold on; after finishing a section, I lay down on the bed to rest, and when I opened my eyes, it was already dawn.

There will be two more updates today.