Obito, Rin, and the Nohara couple sat together and ate a plain, ordinary home-cooked meal.
Mrs. Nohara clearly didn't treat Obito as an outsider; the dishes were prepared casually, cold dishes, hot dishes, leftovers mixed together, and they were served and they started eating.
Not at all the kind of formality you'd use when hosting a guest.
But that precisely showed that Mrs. Nohara had completely treated Obito as a member of the family.
Only among family, in private spaces, do you not need to constantly observe so many formalities and can just be casual with each other.
Obito enjoyed that feeling. Since his grandmother died, he hadn't really had a home.
And now, he had found a new home again.
At that moment he vaguely understood why many Konoha shinobi would risk everything to protect the village.
Because their families were still waiting for their return.
After finishing the meal, Obito put his bowl down and said to the Noharas, "Dad, Mom, I'm full."
Mrs. Nohara smiled and said, "Obito, from now on this is your home. Come back anytime; you can even sleep here some nights."
"At worst, we'll just set up a bed in Rin's room for you. Anyway, you wouldn't eat Rin out of house and home, would you?"
Obito scratched his head, "Of course not, Mom."
Rin sat to one side, watching the scene with a smile.
Only Nohara Haruki's expression remained very odd. Inexplicably, he suddenly had an outstanding eldest son. [T/N: Brooooo]
Still, being able to brag to neighbors and relatives that his great eldest son was Konoha's Black Fang gave him an indescribable pride.
He slapped the table and said, "Alright, I approve of their marriage!"
Mrs. Nohara shot Haruki a look, "What are you talking about? They're still young, who said they're getting married? I'm just treating Obito like my son, is that not allowed?"
Haruki smiled sheepishly, "Then… then I also approve of Obito as my son. After all, raising one is raising one, raising a pair is raising a pair, just one more pair of chopsticks."
Mrs. Nohara couldn't help but retort, "You make it sound like you're really raising him. Right now both Obito and Rin are jonin; who knows how much more they earn than you. Rin just gave me fifty million ryo not long ago. You don't need to pay."
Haruki's face instantly soured; he felt his status and dignity as household head slipping away.
Seeing this, Obito smiled, reached into the Kamui space, and took out two hundred million ryo, pushing them in front of Haruki and Mrs. Nohara respectively, "Dad, Mom, take it and spend it however. If it's not enough, ask me again."
The two were stunned into silence; Obito was even wealthier than they had imagined.
Mrs. Nohara hurriedly refused, "No, this is too much…"
But before she could finish, Rin interrupted, "Mom, take it. Don't scrimp on Obito."
Rin remembered the nine quadrillion ryo contained in Obito's Kamui space and suddenly felt that this amount really was nothing.
Mrs. Nohara's expression changed, "Rin, how did I tell you to behave these days? Don't be greedy."
Rin smiled, "Mom, it's not greed. It's just that for some reasons I can't say, Obito really has a lot of money now. More than a lifetime could spend."
Mrs. Nohara was stunned and looked at Obito, "Is that true?"
Obito nodded, "Mom, money for me no longer really has much meaning. In fact, too much money can be a kind of pain. You might as well help me bear some of it."
Seeing this, Mrs. Nohara had no choice but to accept the money, and she also took the portion meant for Haruki.
"I'll keep these two sums for now and won't spend them recklessly. We'll use them when there's a real emergency."
Haruki suddenly felt as if a dagger had been stuck into his chest. Although he would have done the same, having not a single ryo left to him reminded him of the unhappy memory of his private stash being taken away.
Obito and Rin exchanged a look and could only helplessly shake their heads.
If the parents are that conservative, let them be.
After the meal, Obito took Rin flying all across the shinobi world and looked at the scenery in many places, returning home very late.
That night, Obito slept in Rin's bedroom for the first time.
Of course, because they were still young, it was really just sleeping…
———
The next morning, Obito received a summons from the Third Hokage and quickly went to the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen looked at Obito and asked, "Was yesterday's matter your doing?"
Obito nodded, "Hokage-sama, yesterday I went to visit Yuki and ran into that situation. Yuki was right there, very angry; she planned to make a big fuss and demand justice…"
Hiruzen looked somewhat frightened, "It's a good thing you managed to cover it up, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"It seems you have already fully understood Root's true meaning. Sometimes we must use methods not particularly glorious to protect the village's peace and security."
Actually, the least glorious method would have been to kill Yuki and make it as if the matter never occurred.
But… Hiruzen certainly wouldn't say that aloud; after all, Yuki was now essentially Obito's charge.
Obito pretended to be earnest and nodded, "So, Hokage-sama, from today on, I officially take over Root?"
Hiruzen smiled and handed Obito a document, "This contains all the materials on Root and the formal appointment letter. When you have time, go receive the post. You can temporarily use Danzo's former subordinates; later you can slowly pick your own trusted men."
Obito looked at Hiruzen in some surprise.
He hadn't expected the Third Hokage to be so trusting. Completely delegating all authority and leaving the matter entirely alone?
Root was, in a sense, a small group operating independently of Konoha.
In memory, the Third wasn't usually like this; he always had some attachment to power.
'Could it also be because of Danzo?'
That made sense: Danzo was someone obsessive about power, and to outdo Danzo Hiruzen had to start from power as well.
But now Danzo was dead; they could no longer play the "you regret, I am the Hokage" game.
So the idea of "I am the Hokage" became less important; seeing that competent people grew up in the village, Hiruzen became more laid-back?
Obito felt he had imagined the truth.
He asked, "Then, Hokage-sama, I will go take over Root?"
However, Hiruzen stopped Obito, "Obito, there is a mission I need you to carry out."
"Our wars with the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth have ended, but friction with the Land of Lightning remains. The Killer B group has returned to the front lines and refuses to leave. Maybe they also want a ceasefire, but they need a way to save face…"
Obito immediately understood what Hiruzen meant.
In short, the ninjas of the Land of Lightning were proud and competitive; to win them over you have to show strength first, fight them a bit.
Obito said slowly, "No problem. I'll head to the Fire–Lightning battlefield right away and have a talk with Killer B. They'll understand."
Hiruzen showed a smile, "Obito, I'm entrusting this to you."
"My time in office is not long. I hope that before I step down, I can end all the wars, so it will be easier to hand Konoha over to Minato."
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