"Hmph, does Kakashi really think he can beat me in completing the mission? I'll make sure he comes and goes with nothing." Obito was in a great mood as he walked on the path to find a cat.
He felt like victory was his, since among the five missions Mokgetsu took, there was one to find a cat and another to find a lost item. He was sure he could complete these first and then casually finish the last one to secure the win.
Fighting against him, with the power of the old granny and grandpa, Kakashi had no chance of winning.
With the help of many enthusiastic elders, Obito gradually learned the whereabouts of the lost pet cat.
But something unexpected happened. When he rushed to the location, he actually saw Kakashi, who had already caught the pet cat.
"Kakashi, what are you doing here?" Obito asked in confusion.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to complete the assigned mission." Kakashi replied calmly.
Obito scratched his head, he knew Kakashi was here to do the mission. He was puzzled as to why Kakashi arrived before him.
"Consider yourself lucky this time, next time I'll show you the power of Konoha's mission king." Obito decided not to waste time with Kakashi and quickly rushed to complete the next mission.
"We'll see about that." Kakashi said calmly, certain that Obito would surely lose this time.
Now that Kakashi was already one mission ahead, Obito picked up the pace. He didn't want to lose after speaking so big.
With the advantage of connections, Obito chose the task of finding a lost item to complete.
"Thank you, grandpa, for your information."
"No need for cookies, just thanks for your help, grandma."
Obito continued thanking people all the way to the lost item's location.
But something unexpected happened again. Kakashi once again arrived a step ahead and found the lost item first.
"Kakashi, it's you again." Obito started feeling uneasy.
Kakashi had completed two missions already, while he hadn't finished a single one.
"Why can't it be me? Does this mission have to be completed by you first?" Kakashi retorted.
Obito had nothing to say, and directly rushed to the next mission location.
When he arrived at the garbage cleanup location, he found that Kakashi's shadow clone had already cleared the trash.
"Damn, this mission is already completed too!" Obito felt incredibly uneasy; he had fallen completely behind in the first round, as Kakashi had finished three missions.
"Guy is doing the moving task and will be finished soon. There's only the trap area cleanup left. If you hurry, you might finish before Guy." Mokgetsu appeared just in time to remind him.
"Teacher Mokgetsu, thank goodness for you." Obito thanked Mokgetsu, then rushed to the trap area.
If he didn't complete a single task in the first round, the pressure in the second round would be huge. Completing more than four tasks was hard enough as it was, and both Kakashi and Guy weren't short-handed.
The reward for clearing the trash from the trap area was higher than regular D-Class missions, because the difficulty was slightly higher. If he wasn't careful about triggering traps, it would be troublesome.
When everyone returned after completing their missions, Mokgetsu announced the mission completion status of his disciples.
"Kakashi is temporarily in the lead, with three missions completed. Guy and Obito are tied, with one mission each."
"Looks like I'll be the winner this time." Kakashi said, seemingly having done something insignificant.
"Kakashi, don't be so arrogant. We still have more missions to accept, and it's not certain who'll win or lose." Obito hadn't given up.
"Yeah, there's hope for victory until the last moment!" Might Guy gave a thumbs up and laughed.
Seeing his disciples so full of fighting spirit, Mokgetsu smiled and nodded. Their chakra growth speed was much faster than during a lesson.
Over five missions, they gained more than two hundred chakra, even though an entire day of high-level classes could only earn eighty chakra.
Having accepted five more missions, Obito wasn't humming a tune and walking leisurely this time. As soon as he got the missions, he checked if there were any he excelled at.
This time, though, the five missions had only one involving searching, and the others were various chores.
But Obito had no choice; one was better than none. After reading the mission descriptions, he dashed off to search.
When Obito finally reached the final location after much hard work, he saw the person he least wanted to see.
"Is it you again! Kakashi!" Obito couldn't hold it together. Kakashi had once again conveniently completed the task a step before him.
"Mission completed." Kakashi's answer was the same as before.
"This isn't right, this is twelve kinds of wrong." Obito sensed something unusual.
Kakashi being conveniently ahead once could be luck, but three times in a row was too much of a coincidence, especially since Kakashi had lost to him three times before.
"Finally noticed?" Kakashi was a bit surprised. Considering Obito's intelligence, he thought Obito would take longer to realize the truth.
"Kakashi, you must have bought insider information with money to get ahead of me, right?" Obito said with a look like he had seen through everything.
"You've been a Ninja for a few years now, you must have saved up a lot of money. I didn't expect you to go this far."
Kakashi: ...
He really couldn't understand Obito's line of thinking. Shouldn't the guess be about being tracked? What's this about buying insider information with money?
"Why would you think that?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask.
"Isn't that how it is in novels? The villain uses money to surpass the hardworking protagonist," Obito said matter-of-factly.
Kakashi was speechless. So, in Obito's eyes, he was the villain, and Obito himself was the protagonist.
Because Obito's answer was too outrageous, Kakashi directly said:
"There's no such thing as insider information in D-Class missions, and no one would spend money to complete a D-Class mission. The reason I was one step ahead of you is because I tracked you, then found the mission target faster than you."
What to do without information? Just eavesdrop on others' information. Kakashi simply used Obito's resources, then let the Shadow Clone handle the chores, and that's why he was so far ahead.
"Tracking? So sneaky!" Obito was shocked, not expecting Kakashi to be one step ahead of him for this reason. This was practically stealing his hard work.
"There's nothing sneaky about it. You can track me too, if you have the ability," Kakashi taunted.
"Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance are basic Ninja skills. If you discovered me in time, this wouldn't have happened."
"Damn, if I had the Sharingan, I'd definitely have caught you!" Obito was extremely unwilling to accept the situation. He recalled looking for things, and didn't realize at all that he was being tracked.
"Let's talk about that once you have the Sharingan. The world of Ninja is a cruel one. If the one tracking you was an enemy, do you guess what your fate would be?" Kakashi said as he turned to leave and continue the mission.
Thanks to Obito, they still had four tasks to complete.
Kakashi's words made Obito's blood pressure rise completely, wanting to immediately challenge Kakashi to a real duel, having his victory fruits stolen and mocked. If his Breathing Technique had reached the Constant State, could he endure this?
Obito turned his anger into motivation and started swiftly completing tasks. He didn't want to lose too badly.
In the second round, Kakashi completed two tasks alone, Might Guy and Obito each completed one alone, then they completed one together.
"Kakashi completed five tasks alone and took first place, Obito and Might Guy tied for second." Mokgetsu announced the final result.
"Ha ha, as expected of my rival, improving so fast, completing half the tasks alone!" Might Guy laughed heartily.
Might Guy originally intended to use his Taijutsu specialty, so he chose all hard labor tasks. But those tasks turned out to be more troublesome than expected, resulting in Might Guy completing only two and a half.
"It's fine, just surpassed someone who's all talk," Kakashi said calmly.
He didn't mention a name, but basically came close to calling out Obito's student ID number.
"I completed three more than you yesterday, so with those three, I have five and a half, more than you!" Obito decided to dredge up the past.
"If we count previous missions, my C-Class missions alone outnumber your D-Class missions," Kakashi said lightly.
"Everyone worked hard today. After we hand in the tasks, I'll take you to my place for dinner," Mokgetsu ended the argument with a warm smile.
"Jonin Mokgetsu, you won't be getting any tasks for a while. You've almost finished all the chores, completing ten tasks in one afternoon. Your efficiency is too high," the registration Ninja reminded during the task handover.
"What! No more tasks?" Obito couldn't help but ask.
He was thinking of being cautious tomorrow and defeating Kakashi again. Without tasks, how could he redeem himself?
"You're too fast, completing twenty tasks in two days. Some classes can't even complete that many in a month," the registration Ninja said helplessly.
"No D-Class tasks, then there must be other tasks, right?" Obito was unwilling to let today go.
"Forget it, you interns can only accept D-Class tasks for now," the registration Ninja replied.
"Don't underestimate me, even though I'm still in school, I'm top of my class at the Ninja Academy and have defeated an Official Ninja," Obito still refused to give up.
"No means no." The registration Ninja's attitude was very clear.
Regardless of whether Obito's words were true or false, he didn't want to break the rules. There's no benefit, and if something went wrong, he'd be the one in trouble first.
"What happened?" Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was just getting off work, saw Mokgetsu and Kakashi, and walked forward to ask.
"Third Hokage, sir," the registration Ninja respectfully greeted.
"It's like this, their class..." the registration Ninja quickly reported the cause and process to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Twenty tasks in two days," Hiruzen Sarutobi was also a bit surprised.
"In that case..."