Chapter 124: Please Continue, I'm Listening.
While some people could steal a quiet moment together, others were destined to be hurt elsewhere. That was simply how this world worked.
The ninja world today looked bright on the surface, polished and peaceful, but beneath that shine it was still a place where the strong ate first and the weak learned to swallow their pride. Boys and girls might walk close one day, then be torn apart the next, just like now.
Rin Nohara stood beside several tall, dark skinned Cloud ninjas. Her gentle, loving gaze had not changed at all. In fact, she leaned against them as if she had already made her choice, her eyes drifting toward Obito with a mix of reluctance, relief, melancholy, and a strange comfort at being noticed.
"…I'm sorry, Obito. I'm still going with them."
"Rin! Why is this happening? Let me go. Let me go. Let Rin go. Let her go!"
Pinned flat to the ground by a crowd, Obito roared like his lungs were being ripped apart. He watched that small, delicate figure walk away beside the towering Cloud ninja, and the world cracked open in his chest.
"Rin! Don't go! Come back! Didn't we promise we'd be together? Why are you walking with those Cloud ninjas? Don't you remember? You said you'd always watch over me, Rin!"
"I'm sorry, Obito kun. I remember," Rin said softly as she turned back.
Her voice was still gentle, but there was something sharper underneath it. She brushed her bangs aside, then licked her lips as if savoring the moment.
"But I never said I didn't want to."
Obito's breath hitched.
"We've grown up. It's time to face certain things. If you understood how I feel, you'd probably do the same. We're all bound by our nature, and there's nothing we can do about it…"
"What are you saying? What are you saying? Rin, come back here!"
"Shut it, brat!"
A Konoha chunin with a scar across his cheek pressed Obito down harder, glaring like he wanted to knock some sense into him.
"It's just an exam in a different room. Listen to yourself. You're acting like she's walking into a battlefield. Get up, go to your seat, and stop making me regret not knocking you out!"
"No! I don't want to! I want to be with Rin! No! Rin, don't leave me!"
The Cloud ninja leading the group looked uneasy. Even he could feel Obito's desperation clawing at the air.
"Miss Rin, are you sure your companion is alright?" he whispered, glancing back at Obito's flailing body. "He seems… really reluctant. If possible, wouldn't it be better to bring him along? It's a placement exam, sure, but in theory he could go too if there's no rule against it…"
"Eh? Are you suggesting Obito kun enter the exam hall as a summoning beast?" Rin tilted her head, smile sweet as syrup. "I would never do something like that."
"Ah… no, that's not what I meant…"
"Besides," Rin continued, still smiling, "Obito is a human being. A human being should be able to act independently, not follow behind girls everywhere and even knock on their door to ask if they're home while they're bathing, right?"
"…Y yeah. That's definitely right…"
The Cloud ninja went pale.
For a heartbeat, Rin's face looked terrifying, like a blade hidden behind velvet. The way she said it was so casual that the chill felt worse.
Then, as if that sharpness had never existed, Rin clasped her hands by her cheek and beamed.
"So I think Obito will be fine on his own. If there are problems, that's training. How can someone who wants to be Hokage fall here? Hardship makes people grow."
"I see…"
The Cloud ninjas exchanged glances. Obito was screaming like a doomed man, but the girl walking beside them felt more intimidating than any battlefield rumor. Awe crept into their hearts as Rin hummed lightly and strolled toward the examination hall with her hands behind her back.
As for Obito, the Uchiha clan had all heard of him. The moment news spread that an Uchiha boy was throwing a public tantrum because he couldn't sit with his girlfriend during the Chunin Exams, their heads nearly exploded.
Obito Uchiha, a disgrace to the clan.
A traitor might at least leave for ideals or gratitude to Aizen. But Obito's brand of madness was something else entirely.
Since Kakashi left, Obito had stuck to Rin like a shadow glued to sunlight. The audacity of it made even veteran surveillance shinobi feel ashamed of their own professionalism.
So the Uchiha dispatched a reconnaissance unit on the spot. Their plan was simple, expose the spectacle, drag him into the hall, and slap the embarrassment onto the answer sheet as a warning to future generations.
But the moment they arrived, they froze.
"Holy crap," one of them muttered. "You awakened your Sharingan?"
Obito was thrashing on the ground, tears streaking his face, but his eyes were burning with a single tomoe.
Good grief.
You didn't change after Aizen left.
You didn't change after Kakashi left.
And now you awaken a tomoe because you're separated from Rin for an exam?
Is something actually wrong with you?
For a second, the Uchiha shinobi stood there speechless, staring at the writhing boy. Kids Obito's age weren't supposed to be weak. Some were already monsters like Kakashi had been. How could one child rise to worldwide fame while the other shook the earth by crying?
"Rin… my Rin…"
"Alright, stop howling." The Uchiha shinobi crouched down, voice flat. "I'm here to pass on a message from that girl."
Obito snapped upright like he'd been struck by lightning.
"What did Rin say?"
Kid, you've got a real problem.
The Uchiha shinobi pulled out a small tape recorder, pressed the button, and let Rin's voice spill into the crowded corridor.
The genin nearby leaned in, eyes wide.
"If you want to become Hokage," Rin said on the tape, warm and steady, "start by taking the exam alone, Obito. I'm watching you."
The recorder clicked off.
Obito stared at it like it was a holy relic. Then his face lit up as if the sun had slammed into his chest.
"Wooo! I'm fired up! I'm definitely going to pass the Chunin Exam and show Rin what I can do!"
"…Yeah, sure." The Uchiha shinobi watched him sprint toward the hall with clenched fists and a battle cry, then sighed.
This kid is hopeless.
He vanished into the crowd before the curious stares could finish roasting him alive.
Inside the examination hall, Obito found his seat in seconds. He bounced on his heels, eyes glittering with childish curiosity.
Even obsessed as he was with Rin, Obito was still a kid. He still wanted to see the world.
He had met countless people through the Chakra Network, but facing them in real life was different. Their presence hit harder, like standing under real thunder instead of listening to it through a wall.
Sand shinobi with palms patched in mechanized plating.
Stone shinobi carrying calibration instruments, faces blunt and honest.
Cloud shinobi crackling faintly with Lightning Release, radiating menace.
Mist shinobi whose outlines looked hazy, like they belonged to fog more than flesh.
Smaller villages brought even stranger styles. White coats stuffed with medicine tubes. Helmets bristling with scrolls. Black robed swordsmen. Even shinobi carrying firearms and ammunition.
Almost everyone wore their village and organization like a flag.
Obito couldn't stop staring. The single tomoe in his Sharingan spun slowly, drinking in the sight.
Then his gaze snagged on someone familiar.
Silver hair.
A high collared white jumpsuit.
A long sword resting calmly at his waist.
Kakashi Hatake stood alone by the corner wall, distant as a winter moon, quietly watching the genin file in.
Obito's brain clicked.
Ohh. So he's here because he got thrown out to work his grades. Genius boy finally hit his limit.
"Hmm. Isn't this Kakashi?" Obito swaggered over, head tilted, grin weirdly smug. "It's been two years."
Kakashi glanced at him sideways, half bored, half annoyed.
Obito leaned closer, lowering his voice like he was sharing a world class secret.
"I didn't expect Aizen's education to be this rough on you, Kakashi. But it's fine, we're best friends, right? If you don't understand anything later, ask me. I'll explain."
Kakashi blinked.
"We've met plenty of times on the Chakra Network," he said. "When did you ever test me?"
"Tsk tsk tsk. You don't get it, but I do." Obito planted a hand dramatically on his forehead. "Cheating is easy online. Your grades aren't as good as you think."
He pointed at Kakashi like a prosecutor delivering a verdict.
"Otherwise why would you take the Chunin Exams? If you were really that good, you'd be jonin already. You might've even copied from me. If you say thank you to Obito nii for saving you from becoming jonin, I might help you cheat a little too, you know?"
"Cheating?" Kakashi murmured, eyebrow lifting. "Oh. I forgot."
He flipped over the tag on his chest.
A proctor badge.
"I'm not here to take the exam," Kakashi said calmly. "I'm here to supervise it."
"…Huh?"
Kakashi's eye curved slightly, the closest thing to a smile he dared show in public.
"Could you explain your cheating strategy?" he asked. "I'm quite interested."
Obito froze like someone had slapped a seal directly onto his soul.
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