The next day, Team Kakashi began as usual with intensive training in Chidori, Rasengan, and fine chakra control.
Sasuke showed some improvement. Naruto, on the other hand, still couldn't grasp the essentials, even after splitting into more than a dozen shadow clones to practice alongside himself.
Minato Namikaze gave Naruto guidance, but he hoped—and trusted—that Naruto would uncover the true essence of the technique on his own. So Naruto kept gripping a water balloon, desperately forcing chakra into it, trying to make it burst through sheer output.
At his feet was a large bag of water balloons his dad had prepared for him.
Naruto muttered under his breath, complaining that the first water balloons he ever got from a festival were being used for training. Minato rubbed his head and promised to take everyone to the summer festival near Tanzaku Quarters later.
By noon, after countless repetitions of hand seals and chakra activation, Sasuke Uchiha finally had crackling arcs of electricity jumping across his left hand.
Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki was still under the tree, struggling with his water balloons.
During the break, Sasuke, showing a rare bit of childishness, ran over to provoke him.
"How's the water balloon coming along, dead last?"
"Just you wait! Damn it!" Naruto snapped back. Fired up by provocation, his stubborn refusal to lose flared as he poured chakra into the water vapor with everything he had.
"Bastard Sasuke! Haaah!!"
With his shout, the water balloon in his hand thrashed as if something alive were trapped inside it, the once-round shape warping violently from internal pressure.
Finally, unable to take it anymore, the water balloon exploded with a loud pop...
Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki were drenched from head to toe.
"..."
Because Naruto had been reaching forward, Sasuke Uchiha ended up far wetter than him.
His carefully styled hair hung limp over his face, his clothes completely soaked. It was about as bad as it could get.
"Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki!!"
"Hahahaha! Idiot Sasuke! Moron!"
Scenes like this had practically become routine during their training, pure daily chaos.
Young Obito and Young Kakashi grew more and more awkward watching. When they'd trained under Minato-sensei, things had looked exactly like this. Back then, it felt normal. Seeing it now from the outside was… strange.
Thankfully, it was summer. After taking off their soaked clothes and hanging them up for a bit, they dried quickly.
Rin treated the small cuts on their arms caused by electrical discharge and friction. Sasuke and Naruto stood bare-chested. Even though they were the same age, she instinctively treated herself like the older one, praising how much more solid Naruto had become recently.
Naruto thought about it for a moment.
It really had been a long time since he'd eaten cup noodles.
And he hadn't had a stomachache either. That was weird. Why was that?
What he didn't know was that the moment he'd returned to Konoha, Minato had quietly gone to his place. With helplessness and concern, he'd thrown out all the expired food and replaced it with fresh ingredients.
After moving here, Naruto hadn't had the slightest chance to touch expired food or junk like instant noodles.
Sasuke had noticed this too. The only one completely unaware was Naruto himself, that unbelievably dense idiot.
Sakura shook her tired hands, and the lifeless fish in her grasp regained its vitality, just like it had when it was first pulled from the river.
Minato Namikaze clapped his hands.
"Alright. Let's take a short break. Then we'll go find Tsunade-sama together."
"Is that sister who can summon giant slugs still in Konoha?" Naruto asked.
Minato's expression froze for a brief moment.
Young Kakashi complained, "Try using your brain. Tsunade-sama, Jiraiya-sama, and Orochimaru-sama are known as the Sannin, all disciples of the Third Hokage. Do you seriously think calling her 'sister' makes sense?"
"I've wanted to complain about how you and Sasuke address people for a long time," he continued. This time, even Obito didn't defend Naruto and dragged Sasuke into it as well.
"Sasuke never shows me any respect, fine. But couldn't he at least call Kakashi 'Kakashi-sensei'?"
Hearing even Young Obito speaking up for him, Adult Kakashi spread his hands and sighed, almost shedding a crocodile tear.
"You hear that, Sasuke? From now on, you should call me Kakashi-sensei like Sakura and Naruto do, right?" Adult Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
Sasuke answered with a cold snort.
"And you," Young Kakashi went on, continuing Obito's complaint toward Naruto, "You call the First Hokage 'uncle,' the Second Hokage 'big bro,' the Third Hokage 'grandpa,' and Minato-sensei 'dad'..."
Minato hadn't thought about that before. In the middle of drinking water, he nearly sprayed it out laughing.
Sakura stretched her aching muscles, suddenly recalling what that handsome guy named Kawaki had said earlier.
"Ah! Come to think of it, even though we don't know who the Fifth Hokage-sama will be, the Sixth seems to be Kakashi-sensei, and the Seventh is Naruto Uzumaki himself. Doesn't that mean they all line up?"
First Hokage: uncle.
Second Hokage: big brother.
Third Hokage: grandpa.
Fourth Hokage: dad.
Fifth Hokage: vacant for now.
Sixth Hokage: sensei.
Seventh Hokage: me.
Obito scratched his head.
"It really feels like you're trying to complete some kind of set. Like if you're not careful, you might summon some weird, creepy thing by accident."
"The reward for a C-rank mission seems to involve pulling something over from another world," Rin said thoughtfully, recalling Kawaki and the Fifth Kazekage. "Obito, you still haven't received a C-rank mission scroll, right?"
Obito shook his head. He hadn't gotten any C-rank missions yet, and he couldn't imagine who he would even summon.
Surely it wouldn't be his grandmother, who had already passed away in this world.
No way!!
If Grandma found out he'd become the future great villain of the ninja world, how heartbroken would she be?!
Rin smiled and gently steered the conversation away.
"Future Naruto is really incredible. Even the legendary Sage of Six Paths praised him, and he managed to become friends with all the tailed beasts."
Speaking of tailed beasts…
"Oh, right, Rin," Young Obito asked worriedly. "How's the Three-Tails? If he doesn't behave and bullies you, I can try controlling him with my Sharingan."
"No, no, no!" Rin hurriedly stepped back, waving her hands and shaking her head.
Seeing everyone's curious looks, she explained, "Isobu isn't actually that hard to get along with. He likes chatting with me, and the last time I ran out of chakra during training, he even voluntarily offered to lend me his."
Naruto's eyes filled with envy.
"Why is it like that?! They're all tailed beasts! The one inside me is super hard to deal with, I'm telling you, dattebayo! Even that old Sage of Six Paths said he should just behave and stay inside me as the Hokage headquarters manager, dattebayo!"
Rin smiled softly.
"They really like being called by their names. You remember what the Nine-Tails is called, right?"
"Kurama." Naruto answered, his voice tinged with resentment.
Rin paused briefly before continuing.
"Isobu said Kurama has always been like that. And tailed beasts have endured human rejection and malice for a very long time, so their tempers tend to be worse. He said you should try to be patient with him."
Inside Naruto, Kurama's tails slapped against the ground with loud smacks. He silently cursed the Three-Tails for talking too much.
What did he mean, be patient?!
Did he need humans to speak on his behalf or something?!
He mentally flipped him off.
Remembering the sealing mark on Rin's heart, Obito's expression turned anxious.
"Rin… does the Three-Tails know how to remove the seal on your heart?"
Rin shook her head.
"I don't know. I asked… Isobu said the only way to remove that cursed seal is to remove the entire heart."
That was why, in this world, Rin Nohara chose to crash into Chidori to avoid being controlled.
But whether she was forced into Kakashi's Chidori or chose to impale herself to escape control, the truth differed greatly from how Obito Uchiha, the 'Masked Man' of this world, understood what had happened.
Naruto burst out angrily.
"Isn't that pointless?! If the heart is removed, then the person dies too, doesn't she?!"
The mood during the break sank into a heavy silence.
Minato Namikaze spoke calmly, "The only good news is that the one who could control this scroll is already dead."
He then explained his reasoning.
"If this cursed seal was planted by Black Zetsu, then back when Obito was corroded by Hashirama's cells and his Wood Release power went out of control, the seal should have been secretly implanted at the same time White Zetsu added his components to stabilize his body."
Obito looked down at his strangely colored arm, wondering if he should get himself a pair of gloves.
Minato continued, "But the fact is, there was no sealing curse tag on Obito's heart."
Adult Kakashi immediately understood what he meant.
"But in this world, Obito does have a seal on his heart. That means the one who planted it was Madara Uchiha. It's just that, because Madara in your world was replaced by the consciousness of Obito from our world, he didn't know how to plant a seal on the heart. He also didn't know that Rin's heart was sealed as well, and that everything was part of Madara's scheme."
Minato Namikaze nodded in agreement.
"So I can basically conclude that the one capable of placing that kind of sealing curse and controlling people isn't Black Zetsu, but Madara Uchiha from this world. In other words, Rin and our world's Obito are at least safe for now."
"Provided he doesn't go and get himself killed," Sasuke Uchiha added. The "he" was obviously referring to this world's Obito.
Young Obito, who had just encountered the other version of himself the night before, was left speechless. He hesitated, unsure whether he should tell Minato-sensei about meeting him, and about how the first thing the man had asked was about the Fourth Shinobi World War.
"All right, you should be more or less rested by now, right?"
Before Young Obito could sort out his thoughts, Minato Namikaze spoke up.
"Next, we'll head to Tanzaku Quarters to find Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya-sensei."
"Tanzaku Quarters?"
The only time the three members of Team Kakashi had ever left the village was for their mission to the Land of Waves. They had no idea that the most prosperous area near Konoha was the commercial city around Tanzaku Quarters.
"Tanzaku Quarters and the surrounding areas are all commercial hubs," Minato explained. "Recent training has been tough, and it'll stay that way for a while. On the way to see Jiraiya-sensei and Tsunade-sama, we can relax a bit too."
The moment Naruto heard there would be time to have fun, he jumped up and announced to his dad that he was ready to leave at any time.
Sasuke and Sakura, whose chakra had barely recovered to twenty percent, rolled their eyes, openly jealous of Naruto's stamina and recovery speed.
Young Kakashi, who naturally had a smaller chakra pool, was even more envious.
"So that saying is true? Idiots really do have better stamina?"
Feeling indirectly attacked, Obito deliberately snorted at him.
Minato motioned for everyone to gather at his side.
The next instant, his expression sharpened. His pupils narrowed into slits, and orange markings appeared around his eyes—he had clearly entered Sage Mode.
In the blink of an eye, they realized they had all moved from the forest into a civilian house.
Minato reached beneath the floor and retrieved his Flying Thunder God Technique kunai. Still in Sage Mode, he said, "To save time, I asked Jiraiya-sensei to bring my kunai here in advance. He probably has something important to deal with now, so he left it here."
"What 'something important'? Dad, you're being way too polite," Naruto said, sticking out his tongue. "That Pervy Sage is definitely peeking at the women's bathhouse again and calling it 'research'."
"Haha," Minato laughed awkwardly. "You'll understand one day. Jiraiya-sensei is someone truly worthy of respect. Didn't you say the same after you came back from the Fourth Shinobi World War?"
Sasuke watched as Minato released Sage Mode.
"Did you need to use it because there were so many people?"
"Yes," Minato replied. "Sage Mode involves drawing in natural energy from the environment and converting it into chakra through one's own body. But absorbing natural energy carries some risk, so I created a shadow clone in advance to meditate somewhere else."
That shadow clone had been on a nearby tree, completely still, like part of nature itself. Birds and squirrels would even perch on him.
"When the shadow clone dispels, the converted chakra returns to my body along with it. That's how I can activate Sage Mode," Minato explained carefully.
Obito and Young Kakashi nodded in understanding.
Young Kakashi then asked, "Can Senjutsu also be trained at Ryūchi Cave?"
That was the same question Sasuke had been wanting to ask.