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Konoha Village.
Training Ground 9.
Minato Namikaze was flipping through the graduation results in his notebook, a slight furrow disturbing his usually sunny and cheerful face.
Name: Rin Nohara
[Physical Test: 57 points]
[Kunai Throwing: 58 points]
[Three Body Techniques: 61 points]
[Tactical Theory: 61 points]
[Overall Rating: Low]
Name: Obito Uchiha
[Physical Test: 63 points]
[Kunai Throwing: 55 points]
[Three Body Techniques: 60 points]
[Tactical Theory: 34 points]
[Overall Rating: Low]
If Minato wasn't satisfied with the scores of these two students, then the last one's results were giving him a genuine, throbbing headache.
Name: Akira Tsubaki
[Physical Test: 21 points]
[Kunai Throwing: 0 points]
[Three Body Techniques: 0 points]
[Tactical Theory: 9 points]
[Overall Rating: None]
Glancing at Akira Tsubaki's overall rating, Minato immediately understood the damning meaning of 'None'.
Clearly, the Ninja Academy teachers had run out of insulting words to describe this student.
The question then was:
How on earth did a student like this manage to graduate from the Ninja Academy? Shouldn't he have been expelled?
"It looks like with the war looming, they're letting just about anyone through the gates!"
Minato thought to himself, taking a deep breath and forcing a friendly, albeit strained, smile.
After all, these three were standing right in front of him, and he had the distinct honor of being their sensei.
No, there were four of them.
Besides this trio of underachievers, there was also the genius, Kakashi Hatake.
Clearing his throat, Minato began,
"Let me introduce myself first. My name is Minato Namikaze, a Jonin, and my dream is to become the Hokage! It's an honor to be your instructor!"
He then gestured for the four to introduce themselves.
Kakashi stood with his arms crossed, his black mask pulled high beneath his shock of silver hair, and spoke with a distinctly arrogant tone.
"Kakashi Hatake, a Chunin. Mission first. Don't hold me back."
As soon as he finished speaking, Obito pursed his lips and turned to look at Akira Tsubaki.
"Hey, Akira, he just said you're holding him back."
"Oh," Akira replied casually, keeping his hands stuffed deep into his pockets.
"He's mocking you! Aren't you going to say something back?" Obito complained, desperate to add fuel to the fire.
"It's your turn to introduce yourself," Akira reminded him.
"Uh."
"My name is Obito Uchiha, I'm a Genin, and my dream is to become Hokage! And I absolutely won't hold anyone back."
As he spoke, he glared at Kakashi, his eyes full of provocation.
Unfortunately, Kakashi didn't even spare him a glance, maintaining his arms-crossed, cool-guy posture.
Next up was Rin.
"My name is Rin Nohara, I'm a Genin, and my dream is to be with the person I like..."
As she said this, Rin secretly glanced in Kakashi's direction.
"Your girl's cheating on you."
Akira nudged Obito sharply.
"Huh?"
Obito was stunned, following Akira's gaze.
That's when he noticed Rin was definitely peeking at Kakashi.
And so, Obito exploded.
"Rin?! Kakashi risks his teammates' safety for the mission! Why are you looking at him?!"
"Obito, what are you saying?!" Rin's face turned scarlet, and she stomped her feet in frustration.
"Clown," Kakashi turned his head and said dismissively.
"Obito, he just called you a clown," Akira added, happily fanning the flames.
"Kakashi, I challenge you to a duel!" Obito was absolutely furious and rolled up his sleeves.
"Don't bother, you can't beat him anyway. When you're all bruised up, Kakashi can just use the opportunity to ask Rin out, right?" Akira muttered.
"...That actually makes sense! Fine, I'll let you off the hook today."
Obito dramatically unrolled his sleeves, issuing a harsh, but empty, threat.
As the observer and team leader, Minato Namikaze had witnessed the entire farce.
His gaze swept over Kakashi and the other two, finally landing on Akira Tsubaki.
"This guy."
Minato knew perfectly well that Obito's rage had been ignited by Akira's words, 'Your girlfriend cheated on you,' and it had only been extinguished because of Akira.
It had to be said:
Akira Tsubaki, the worst of the worst, actually had a bit of a brain.
He just didn't use it for anything good.
"Alright, we'll meet here again at 7 AM tomorrow. Remember, no lateness!"
With that, Minato Namikaze used his Body Flicker Technique (Shunshin) and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Squad 9's first assembly ended rather abruptly.
As Minato left, Kakashi turned and strode away, unwilling to stay a second longer with the riff-raff.
His departure left Rin in a dilemma.
"Um, we'll be teammates from now on. I think we should go with Kakashi," Rin suggested.
"Rin, do you know why Kakashi joined our team?" Obito reminded her.
"I know."
"I just can't believe it," Rin replied, watching Kakashi's receding figure with a heavy sigh.
Not just her, but almost the entire class knew the story.
Originally, Kakashi was a member of another squad, but to complete missions, he often completely disregarded the safety of his teammates, leading many to refuse to continue teaming with him.
Given this situation, the genius ninja was assigned to their bottom-ranked squad—the scraps.
Rin graduated third from the bottom of her class.
Obito, second from the bottom.
Akira, dead last.
Frankly, if it weren't for the impending war, none of the three would have graduated from the Ninja Academy at all.
Especially Akira Tsubaki.
He was considered by the school's teachers to be the worst, most irredeemable student in Konoha's history, bar none.
Leaving Training Ground 9, Akira Tsubaki still had his hands in his pockets, looking utterly nonchalant.
Compared to Rin's heavy heart and Obito's hesitant mumbling, Akira was much more carefree.
Since he didn't like Rin at all, he naturally didn't share Obito's worries.
The three walked together for a while, none of them speaking first.
When Rin eventually returned home, only Obito and Akira remained, and the atmosphere relaxed slightly.
"Akira, I feel like Rin's feelings have changed," Obito said, sounding completely serious.
"Oh? You're definitely overthinking it," Akira said, barely suppressing a laugh.
He really wanted to tell Obito that Rin had always liked the genius Kakashi, so how could she have possibly changed her mind?
"Our team used to be just the three of us, but now that Kakashi has joined, I feel like I'm going to lose Rin," Obito sighed, a hand running through his hair.
"Lose her? Did you ever have her?"
Akira retorted, then walked away with his hands tucked into his pockets, leaving Obito sputtering in the dust.