"Don't ask me anymore, I really don't know." Obito said instinctively, being tortured in his dream, then woke up.
To avoid being late, he learned his lesson, intentionally doing assignments during the day and cultivation at night. But unexpectedly, those questions lingered in his mind, subjecting him to relentless torture in his dreams over and over again.
"Could it be another day sleeping until ten o'clock?" Obito's expression turned serious; that would be way too late.
When Obito saw the clock hands pointing at numbers, he instantly breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and realized it was only ten past eight, far from ten.
"Wait, the meeting time isn't ten o'clock, it's eight thirty!" Obito suddenly realized that even though he wasn't late, he was almost late.
He quickly got dressed, finished washing up, grabbed a piece of bread, and said goodbye to his grandmother: "Goodbye, Grandma, I'm going out to train."
"Remember to take breaks." Grandma smiled kindly, reminding him.
Obito ran while stuffing the bread into his mouth, chewing. The training ground was far from his home, but if he ran at full speed, he should make it just in time for eight thirty.
But just as Obito was wondering who his last teammate would be, he suddenly noticed an elderly man sitting on a bench looking uncomfortable.
Despite knowing he was nearly late, Obito instinctively ran up to the old man and asked with concern, "Grandma, are you uncomfortable anywhere? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"
"I just twisted my back. Sitting here to rest for a while should be fine." Seeing a child eagerly offering help, the old man forced a smile and said.
"That's not good, you need to take care of your health. How about I take you home to rest? Don't think I'm small, I'm quite strong; carrying you around town wouldn't take much time." Obito thought about it and continued, figuring that if not the hospital, at least someone at home could look after him safely.
After speaking, Obito flexed his arm, attempting to show the old man his strength.
"Oh right, I'm a ninja." Obito looked at his arm, feeling it lacked persuasive power, so he pointed at the forehead protector on his head.
Obito boasted a bit more, then performed a single-handed handstand demonstration, finally convincing the old man to accept his help.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Obito formed hand seals and created a shadow clone, his previously thought solution to help others without being late, as the main body continued towards the destination while the clone assisted those in need.
Obito nervously glanced at the shadow clone, although his plan was good, if the clone didn't cooperate it would be in vain.
"Grandma, let me take you home." Without waiting for Obito to speak, the shadow clone obediently carried the old man, heading to the address she mentioned.
"No complaints about Senju Tobirama today; this Shadow Clone technique is indeed useful." Obito grinned, thinking he would never be late again.
Next, Obito sped towards the training ground, and as he neared it, due to the flat terrain, he could see three people standing in the distance: one tall and two short. However, they were too far away for Obito to make out specific features.
As the distance closed, Obito gradually saw their hair colors: brown, blonde, white.
Seeing the blonde hair, Obito's heart instinctively lifted, but upon seeing the white hair, he felt an inexplicable unease. Nonetheless, running at full speed left him no time to ponder, and he dashed towards the three people.
"Huff, huff, I shouldn't be late, right?" Obito took two deep breaths and said.
Kakashi froze upon seeing Obito; there was no member list for him, only that Sarutobi Hiruzen mentioned there was a new team formed and the name of the new team's instructor.
That's why Kakashi was surprised when he saw Nohara Rin there, not expecting them to meet among so many teams.
"Why are you here? Is your instructor also Minato-sensei?" Kakashi couldn't help asking.
Considering Obito's unreliability, he thought there was a possibility of him coming to the wrong place.
"Rin, isn't the unexpected teammate Kakashi?" Obito looked up and was dumbfounded when he saw Kakashi, asking Nohara Rin.
If true, he'd have to admit it was indeed a surprise in many senses.
At that moment, Obito hoped Nohara Rin would shake her head, but unfortunately, the fact couldn't be changed. Rin nodded and smiled, "Yes, quite surprising, isn't it?"
Obito was struck, feeling someone had meddled. The internship team had Kakashi, and the graduating team still had Kakashi. Could it be that the bad luck rubbed off on him from being around Kakashi for too long?
"Damn, there must be shady dealings in team assignments!" Obito cursed internally at the staff responsible for team distribution.
"You are late." Hearing their conversation, Kakashi understood that he and Obito were assigned together again, so he spoke.
"It's not eight thirty now."
"I was late because I was persuading Grandma to accept help." To prevent Nohara Rin from misunderstanding, Obito explained.
Clap!
Minato clapped once to attract the trio's attention, then with a gentle smile said, "Alright, since it was to help someone and you weren't too late, let's put this behind us."
"Although we've all met a few times, let's do some introductions to get to know each other better, starting with me."
"My name is Namikaze Minato. I enjoy many things: researching ninjutsu, reading, sampling friends' unique dishes are my hobbies, and my dream is to become Hokage and protect the village." Minato briefly introduced himself.