"Sorry, Asuma. I truly regret what happened to your brother… If you think all of this is the responsibility of us Uchiha, then come hit me. Maybe that'll make you feel a little better."
Obito bowed his head and apologized to Sarutobi Asuma.
Since explanations were useless,
Then the first thing to do was to let Sarutobi Asuma vent his anger.
This move caught everyone completely off guard.
No one had expected Obito to react like this.
Sarutobi Asuma froze.
Staring at Obito,
He suddenly didn't know what to do.
To be honest,
His own mind was a complete mess. Standing before the memorial tablets in the cemetery, he had sworn that he would avenge his big brother, but in reality he hadn't figured out what "avenging his brother" was even supposed to mean. After leaving the Konoha cemetery, he had wandered the streets like a walking corpse, drifting aimlessly.
And then, he had seen Uchiha Obito hurrying along.
The number of Uchiha he actually knew was very small. No matter how he counted, only Uchiha Obito, a classmate from the Ninja Academy, could barely be considered familiar. And Uchiha Obito had been famously the dead last of the class. After all, the Uchiha clan was generally synonymous with the word "elite."
So, an Uchiha who was a perennial bottom-feeder left a particularly deep impression.
However—
The gears of fate turned in the Land of Grass.
That dead-last Uchiha Obito transformed into a pitch-black dark horse, leaping past many of his former classmates in one fell swoop and becoming a jōnin ahead of most of them, second only to a handful like Kakashi.
Even Sarutobi Asuma had been a step slower than Uchiha Obito.
Thinking of all this, combined with the pent-up grief and resentment over his brother Sarutobi Takeo's death, Asuma had followed Uchiha Obito almost unconsciously, arriving at this training ground and witnessing Obito lose to a Kirigakure ninja… which made him blurt out those harsh words without thinking.
Step by step, things had escalated to the current situation.
He had already prepared himself to fight Uchiha Obito head-on, but Obito hadn't thrown a punch. Instead, he had lowered his head…
That left Asuma at a loss, not knowing what to do, and he could only stand there dumbly, staring at Obito.
As for everyone else—
"Obito!"
Hearing Obito's words,
Rin Nohara clenched her hands nervously.
Of course she didn't want to see Obito get hurt, but… her instincts told her that this was not a moment to interfere. All she could do was anxiously watch Obito's back and pray that Sarutobi Asuma wouldn't strike.
Uzumaki Kushina frowned deeply, feeling like her head was about to split open.
Wasn't this just a spar she had been refereeing?
How had things suddenly become this complicated?
Unlike Rin Nohara,
As Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchūriki and the wife of a man widely regarded as the next Hokage, Kushina knew very well that undercurrents were surging within the village, and that the Uchiha clan's situation was extremely delicate. If things were mishandled…
Something big could very well happen.
And the confrontation between Sarutobi Asuma and Uchiha Obito right now
Was practically a microcosm of the village's current situation.
Just then—
"I've gotta say, Obito, begging to be beaten like this is way too pathetic, isn't it?" Kyoichi's voice broke the stiff, frozen atmosphere of the training ground. "Looks like your Uchiha clan's position in Konoha is pretty terrible. Being treated like enemies by the Hokage's own son… At this rate, the Uchiha clan might even be wiped out."
These words made Uchiha Obito's eye twitch violently.
The current Obito was not that masked man who had gone mad after losing his beloved. The person he loved was still alive and well, standing not far behind him. And under her influence, that heart of his which was prone to extremes now held more than just Rin Nohara.
The Uchiha clan…
Also occupied at least some place in his heart.
Talk of the Uchiha's annihilation was enough to genuinely anger him.
But before he could explode,
Kyoichi continued, "Obito, if things get unlivable for you in Konoha, how about coming to Kirigakure? As the saying goes, a tree dies if it's transplanted, but people thrive when they move. Changing locations might make life a lot better. Our Koeda Clan is a textbook example. Iwagakure turned into Ōnoki that big-nosed bastard's one-man show, so we had no choice but to travel thousands of miles to Kirigakure."
"Honestly, when our clan was debating where to align ourselves, I thought Konoha would be the better choice. But the clan head and the others leaned toward Kirigakure. Now it looks like the old man really did have sharper eyes. Just look at the sorry state of your Uchiha clan… Good thing we didn't come to Konoha."
"By comparison, life in Kirigakure is much more comfortable. The Fourth Mizukage is still young, without the stale thinking of the elderly. And besides the Mizukage, there's also an 'ancient fossil' of the shinobi world like the Elder helping keep things steady. The village atmosphere is quite harmonious. Our Koeda Clan hasn't been excluded at all for being newcomers. To be precise, we've actually received a lot of preferential treatment. If your Uchiha clan were to go to Kirigakure, I'm sure you'd be treated even better…"
"Ahem!!"
Kushina coughed loudly.
Forcibly cutting off Kyoichi.
She put on a stern expression, swept her gaze across everyone, and said in an unquestionable tone, "Rin, Obito, I'm feeling a bit unwell. Please escort me home."
Then she turned her gaze to Kyoichi and said, "Koeda Kyoichi, for the sake of you showing mercy to Obito earlier… I won't pursue the nonsense you just spouted. But remember this: this is Konoha, not Kirigakure. You'd better think carefully about the consequences before speaking. Not everyone is as soft-hearted as I am."
After saying that, she didn't wait for Kyoichi's response, and with an extremely forceful attitude, led Rin Nohara and Uchiha Obito away.
As for Asuma, Kushina didn't spare him a glance.
She wasn't close to the Hokage's young son, while Obito was her husband's student. She had no intention of lecturing the Hokage's child. In any case, Sarutobi Asuma had plenty of ANBU following him, so she wasn't worried about his safety.
Just like that, In the blink of an eye, only Kyoichi and his two companions, along with Sarutobi Asuma, were left on the training ground.
"…What a pity!"
Kyoichi sighed with a smile. "If we could have drawn the Uchiha clan over… Kirigakure would really have taken off."
Then, without sparing Asuma another glance—he had no interest whatsoever in this future bearded chain-smoking man—
Kyoichi turned and left straightaway with Ringo Ameyuri and Momochi Zabuza.