If Kakashi, Guy, Shisui, and even Itachi had changed—well, that was kind of expected. But among those who returned from the last mission, the most shocking and unbelievable one turned out to be none other than Obito—who couldn't last more than three moves against Saitama.
Realizing his own weakness and choosing to work hard to catch up was exactly what Obito had been doing lately. Thanks to the careful instruction of Minato Namikaze, his overall power and proficiency in ninjutsu were visibly improving, especially his once overly impulsive personality had started to mature into something more fitting for a ninja of his caliber.
While Kakashi and Guy trained far away, Obito was undergoing intense training at another location. Unlike Kakashi's open training ground, Obito's training ground was enclosed—typically reserved for ninja who didn't want their techniques spied on while practicing.
Obito chose this place with good reason—to keep his techniques hidden and later unleash an unexpected surprise on Kakashi and the others.
Facing dozens of training dummies ahead, Obito slowly reached both hands into his gear bag. Between his fingers, countless specially crafted kunai took position. He had practiced this motion endlessly, making him extremely skilled at it.
The next instant, three tomoe swirled into existence within his eyes, crimson filling his pupils as they rotated endlessly, sending a faint, eerie aura rippling through the air around him.
As he locked eyes with the targets ahead, Obito rapidly etched their positions into his mind, mapping out every detail like an invisible blueprint.
With both hands flung forward, he released all the kunai clutched between his fingers. The flying blades scattered like a storm of rain, each one landing precisely beside the training dummies before him. At first glance chaotic, there was in fact a subtle pattern—one only known to himself, set strictly according to his personal combat style.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Obito vanished from where he stood, as if he had melted into space itself without leaving a trace.
When he reappeared, only a pitch-black blur could be seen flickering endlessly near the training dummies, stepping exactly where each kunai had landed—a technique currently mastered by only two people in the entire shinobi world: the current Hokage, the Fourth, and Konoha's rogue ninja, Saitama Uchiha. [Flying Thunder God Technique]
Still gripping a kunai, Obito materialized behind one training dummy, frozen mid-strike—as if he'd just delivered the killing blow. As his form fully solidified, small wounds appeared simultaneously on critical points like the foreheads and throats of the humanoid targets, as though all injuries had been inflicted in the same instant, now revealing themselves together at once.
In a short period of time, Obito targeted and slashed through the vital points of many training dummies. His movements were nearly identical to Minato Namikaze's technique for annihilating dozens of Stone Shinobi in an instant. Of course, this exercise was nowhere near as difficult as Minato's original feat—it was only somewhat similar in form.
After completing this task, Obito looked somewhat exhausted and unaccustomed to the effort. This was the first time in many days he'd successfully performed such a maneuver. Although he had only faced stationary, unmoving targets, a sense of satisfaction still rose within him. A faint sense of accomplishment slowly formed deep inside. Not a moment of his training had gone to waste. If he truly mastered this ninjutsu, whether for attacking or retreating, it would become an absolutely perfect experience.
This made Obito feel like it had truly been worth learning the Flying Thunder God. With such speed, combined with the Rasengan—and especially when enhanced with nature transformation or morphological changes to the Rasengan itself—it was simply perfect! The next Minato Namikaze just might be none other than Obito Uchiha himself!
Clap! Clap! Clap! A crisp round of applause rang out, interrupting Obito's thoughts and bringing him back to reality, no longer daydreaming about the future.
Following the sound, Obito turned around and discovered that his teacher—who knows when—had already arrived at the training ground. In fact, Minato had clearly been there for some time, having witnessed his student's successful practice. Obito had just been too immersed in his training earlier to notice.
Minato Namikaze still had a lot on his plate as Hokage. While he usually came to guide Obito during evenings, today was still afternoon—an unusually early visit. Obito didn't even know why Minato had come here today.
"Teacher! You're here!"
Obito hooked the ring at the end of a kunai with his little finger, spun it once skillfully in his palm so the sharp tip pointed downward, then smoothly returned the weapon to his gear bag. Only after finishing this routine did he slowly walk toward Minato with a smile.
The more time Obito spent with Minato, the more he felt his teacher's charm and power. His inner admiration and respect for Minato grew ever deeper.
Although unsure why Minato had come so early today, Obito still greeted him enthusiastically, showing his full respect without hesitation.
"Hmm, I finished work early today, so I thought I'd drop by," Minato said with a warm smile, his light blue eyes filled with approachability. He couldn't hide how thrilled he was that his student had picked up such a complex space-time jutsu so quickly. "I never imagined you'd reach this level so soon—it's really amazing! After all, it took me quite a while just to get the basics of Flying Thunder God down. Back then, both Master Jiraiya and the late Third Hokage said I was born for this kind of thing. And now look at you—your talent is just as impressive, Obito!"
"I'm not entirely sure why I picked it up so fast either," Obito replied, slightly embarrassed from his teacher's praise. "It just feels particularly suited to me somehow. Using it feels incredibly natural, and as I kept practicing, everything just clicked. So things developed like this."
He used to be called "dead last" while studying to become a ninja because he learned techniques at an unbearably slow pace. Even some of his own clanmates felt he brought shame upon the Uchiha Clan. His contemporaries mockingly called him "Uchiha Shame."
After all, the Uchiha Clan was synonymous with genius. Everyone in the clan surpassed average ninja in talent. Whether it was elemental jutsu or throwing techniques, they usually had their own specialties. Although not everyone reached the pinnacle, they could still outclass average ninja by a wide margin. But Obito Uchiha was different—he wasn't good at anything, except for having a decent command of [Fire Release].
Later on, during a battlefield mission, he awakened his Sharingan. This elevated his abilities to the expected level of an Uchiha ninja, and gradually he mastered many other jutsu, regaining some confidence and respect. Still, compared to prodigies like Itachi Uchiha and Kakashi, he remained far behind. Never did he expect that now, while learning [Flying Thunder God Technique]—one of the most difficult techniques in the village to master—it would feel surprisingly effortless, as if he had been born with an innate affinity for it. It felt like this technique was carved into his very soul—like it was his destiny to master. Learning it came naturally—even faster than mastering [Fire Nature Transformation] had been.
"It seems you truly have a natural talent for learning [Flying Thunder God Technique], Obito! However, don't grow arrogant or let your guard down. Every technique requires countless hours of practice to become part of you—more than just a simple skill. Especially a jutsu like Flying Thunder God, which particularly tests reflexes and adaptability."
Minato gazed at his disciple with satisfaction. This technique, created by The Second's Space-Time Ninjutsu, currently within Konoha, could only be fully controlled and used independently by himself. Others, like Genma Shiranui and the two accompanying guards, could only use it as a team of three. In reality, such teamwork had practically no combat value.
But today, it seemed this technique would gain another master—Obito Uchiha, under Minato's careful tutelage!
Once Obito mastered this technique, his strength would once again rise slightly. Anyone who mastered [Flying Thunder God Technique] was almost unbeatable by nature—"born undefeated"—unless they sought death themselves. Originally a Jonin-level ninja, Obito had now reached near Kage-level strength after merely grasping the technique. In short, Konoha had gained yet another quasi-Kage level ninja. As time passed and Obito continued improving his mastery of the technique, Konoha would soon possess another powerful pillar.
"I originally planned to give you this scroll at this time, but now, it seems unnecessary since you've already basically mastered [Flying Thunder God Technique]. So from now on, you simply need to familiarize yourself further with it until it becomes a natural reflex during battle—something instinctive rather than requiring slow calculation before activation."
Minato took a scroll from his pocket, let it spin once in his palm, then finally placed it within Obito's line of sight.
This was a collection of notes he'd written while practicing the Flying Thunder God technique earlier. He'd completely forgotten about it until today, when he suddenly remembered and decided to give it to Obito for study — helping him learn it faster.
"Oh really? Thank you so much, Sensei!"
Obito's eyes lit up. Although he had just successfully performed the Flying Thunder God — even pulling off the relatively difficult maneuver of attacking mid-teleport — he knew he still struggled to use the jutsu smoothly. There were still some confusing aspects of the technique he didn't fully understand. Previously, he had simply ignored them based on instinct and forced the technique through.
"Do you want to take a look? If so, go ahead — but try not to lose it. After all, the Flying Thunder God is considered one of our village's most valuable techniques."
Smiling, Minato handed the scroll to Obito, eyes crinkling as he teased gently. The Obito from back then was always losing things — even though he'd improved a lot now, Minato still hadn't updated his expectations.
"Yes, thank you very much, Sensei! I'll keep working hard and won't disappoint you at all!"
Obito accepted the scroll with both hands, speaking in a somewhat solemn tone before carefully placing it into his pocket.
"Oh, right, there's also this. I hadn't planned to give it to you yet, but since you've already mastered the Flying Thunder God, you're qualified to learn these as well. So I'll give them to you now."
Minato suddenly remembered something else and pulled out another, much smaller scroll from a different pouch. It was only about the width of two thumbs. Though it didn't seem to contain much, the scroll itself was beautifully crafted, sealed with intricate talismans.
"What is this, Sensei?"
Without hesitation, Obito took it and looked down at the scroll in his hands, voicing his curiosity. This clearly wasn't an ordinary item.
"These are some advanced techniques of Ninjutsu derived from the Flying Thunder God. I originally thought it would be some time before you'd use them because they all require prior mastery of the Flying Thunder God. But now that you've fulfilled that requirement, you can slowly study them at your leisure."
Minato kept smiling while looking directly into Obito's eyes. Although these were secret techniques contained within the Scroll of Seals, nothing on that scroll remained hidden from him as Hokage. And naturally, allowing his own student to study these techniques was no big deal — even if that student belonged to the Uchiha Clan.
After all, he was a forward-thinking Hokage — one who believed true peace came from unity, not suspicion.
Faced with the increasingly tense situation lately, Minato had already sensed something unusual. The recent funeral of The Third made him fully aware of how powerful and arrogant their enemy truly was.
Even though many Anbu ninjas had been sent out to gather enemy intelligence, and several of Akatsuki Organization's outer bases within the Land of Fire had even been raided, very little valuable information about the organization's core members had been obtained. Even the location of the Akatsuki headquarters had not yet been located.
Although intel on some exposed Akatsuki members had been gathered, offering some useful insights, Minato knew it still wasn't enough. Simply knowing these individuals' origins and vague strength levels barely counted as real intelligence.
Judging from their actions, this was not a loose group but an extremely goal-driven and ambitious organization. Based on analysis by Konoha Village's Brain Trust, its leader was almost certainly not any of the known members who had appeared before—it was a ninja whose identity and background remained completely unknown. Someone capable of recruiting powerful nins like Saitama Uchiha, a Konoha Rogue Ninja, and Kakuzu, a Rogue Ninja from Takigakure—both definitely Kage-level ninjas—this mysterious Akatsuki leader was the one who troubled Minato the most!
Because of all this, Minato wouldn't mind making the village's ninja even stronger. Not to mention his own students—those who were already close to him.
What truly scares people is the unknown. But if you have absolute strength, the unknown is just that—no real threat. At most, it might provoke a slight reaction that isn't even close to surprise.
"Hey, I'll head off first. I need to go home for dinner—Kushina and Naruto are waiting for me. Obito, you should rest early tonight—I won't be coming again."
Minato watched as Obito blankly stared at the scroll in his hand, clearly deep in thought about Minato, so he scratched his head before tossing out another sentence, then directly activated a Ninjutsu and vanished right before Obito's eyes.
"Good work, Obito! Now your next mission is to head straight home and take a shower—you're having dinner with Rin tonight! That's your plan for tonight. Starting tomorrow, keep training hard every day!"
Obito carefully stored away the scroll given by his teacher, Minato. His eyes softened for a moment, lost in thought about someone. He seemed to say something to himself before striding determinedly toward the exit.
Although he had just successfully used the Flying Thunder God Technique, he couldn't wield this Ninjutsu as effortlessly and naturally as his teacher Minato could—as instinctively as breathing. Since his failure rate was still quite high, he decided to just walk back instead.
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