Konoha, Training Ground 3.
"Obito, you're late again!" Rin Nohara sighed helplessly, looking at the boy sprinting frantically toward them. Even when she sighed, she looked incredibly cute.
Wearing his signature orange goggles—claiming they were to "protect his eyes" despite never having awakened his Sharingan—Obito Uchiha looked at Rin with a blissful, goofy smile. He scratched the back of his head and offered a sheepish apology. "Sorry, sorry! I was just... um..."
Before he could finish his excuse, a boy leaning against a wooden post, arms crossed and projecting an aura of effortless cool, cut him off. Kakashi Hatake fixed Obito with his signature "dead-fish" stare.
"You met an old lady crossing the street, so you had to help her, right? You use that excuse every single time. Could you at least try to invent a better lie next time?"
Having his lie exposed in front of his goddess by Kakashi's flat, unimpressed stare instantly ignited Obito's temper. "Shut up, Kakashi! It's the truth! Stop talking trash about things you don't understand!"
Obito jumped up and down in rage, while Kakashi merely continued to stare at him with bored apathy, which only made Obito angrier.
Watching the two of them bicker, Rin offered a gentle, warm smile.
Because of Saiki's presence during their academy days, Rin hadn't developed her massive crush on Kakashi. Without her acting as the romantic wedge between them, Obito and Kakashi's bickering lacked the underlying bitterness of the original timeline; their fiery "bromance" was actually much healthier.
After arguing for a few minutes and realizing Kakashi wasn't going to react, Obito finally gave up. He looked around and asked, "Hey, where's Sensei Minato? He isn't here yet either. Looks like I'm not the only one running late."
Seeing Obito looking smug, Kakashi shot him down instantly. "Sensei Minato obviously has important business. Do you think everyone is as undisciplined and lazy as you?"
"Damn you, Kakashi!" Obito was ready to explode again. He desperately wanted to argue that Sensei Minato is always late too, but the words died in his throat.
And honestly, it was the truth. Many of the tragedies in the Naruto universe occurred simply because Minato—the "Yellow Flash," the fastest man alive—always managed to arrive exactly one second too late to save the day. Though, to be fair, it wasn't entirely his fault.
Just as Obito was fuming, unable to find a comeback, a large, warm hand rested on his head. A gentle voice spoke from behind him.
"I apologize! I kept you all waiting. Something urgent came up, so I was delayed."
"N-no! It's fine! I just got here too," Obito—who was still fundamentally a good kid—stammered, waving his hands nervously at Minato's apology.
Kakashi just rolled his eyes at Obito again, while Rin asked with concern, "Sensei Minato, is everything alright?"
"Yes, there has been a change of plans. Our deployment to the Stone front has been postponed. Our new mission is to locate the Sannin, Lady Tsunade, before we head to the battlefield." Minato crossed his arms, resting a hand on his chin in a thoughtful pose.
Hey, do you think you're Detective Conan?
"Huh? Why?!" Obito was the first to protest.
Following Minato, Obito and Kakashi had been exposed to much higher-level missions than Saiki's squad, given that Minato was a Kage-level powerhouse. While Saiki had been slacking off in the village, Kakashi's team had been seeing real action. For Obito, who had been fighting on the front lines, suddenly being assigned a "search and retrieve" mission felt like a massive demotion.
While Obito complained, Kakashi and Rin understood the gravity of the situation. Kakashi knew exactly what Tsunade represented—a top-tier medical ninja was the most valuable asset in any war.
As a fellow aspiring medical ninja, Tsunade was Rin's absolute idol. Even though she had already met the Sannin (thanks to Saiki), the prospect of finding her still made her incredibly excited.
"You have a classmate named Saiki Shiroya, correct?" Minato asked, ignoring Obito's complaints.
"Yes!" Rin nodded happily at the mention of his name.
Kakashi, however, put on a look of "I barely know the guy," while Obito's face twisted into an expression of pure, unfiltered disgust at the mention of the "annoying bastard."
Obito remembered their academy days perfectly. The girls were constantly swarming Saiki, and Rin was often among them. He had thought he'd never have to hear the guy's name again after graduation, so this was a nasty surprise.
Their varied reactions struck Minato as slightly odd, but he didn't dwell on it. Saiki's battlefield exploits were going to be public knowledge soon anyway, so he didn't hide the truth. "Here is what happened..."
Minato gave them a brief rundown of Saiki's horrifyingly lethal performance on the battlefield, concluding with the news that the boy had gone missing after engaging the Eight-Tails, which necessitated finding Tsunade to help locate him.
Why was Minato, such a crucial asset, assigned this mission? It wasn't because Saiki was important. No matter how monstrous a prodigy's talent or kill count was, an un-matured genius was still just a genius.
To Hiruzen, the only person who mattered was Tsunade. This tragedy gave him the leverage he needed to bring her back under his control. Saiki—a genius who couldn't even bother to feign loyalty to the "Will of Fire"—was entirely expendable. Finding him was just a bonus objective to mask the true goal of reeling Tsunade back in.
Hearing the purpose of the mission and learning that Saiki was missing, Rin—who had initially been thrilled by the news of his battlefield dominance—went completely pale. Her legs nearly gave out. "How... how is that possible? Saiki is so strong! He can't be in danger!" she whispered, her voice trembling with disbelief.
Kakashi's expression turned grim. He was shocked by the sheer absurdity of Saiki's combat record, but also deeply troubled by his disappearance. The Kakashi of this era hadn't yet become the cold, emotionally dead "Friend-Killer Kakashi"; he still harbored a strong sense of camaraderie for his peers.
Obito, who still possessed a shred of human decency, also looked solemn.
Why say "a shred of human decency" instead of calling him purely good? Just look at his future track record: slaughtering his sensei, his sensei's wife, and countless innocent Konoha citizens without a second thought. He still had a conscience now, but "pure" was a stretch.
He genuinely felt pity for Saiki's fate. But if one looked closely, they would see Obito staring at Rin's devastated, heartbroken expression. A dark thought crept into his mind: "If I went missing... would Rin cry for me like that?"
If Saiki knew what Kakashi and Obito were thinking, he wouldn't care. He wasn't their father; it was normal for them not to weep over his presumed death.
However, regarding Obito's innocent, boyish crush on Rin... if Obito ever discovered that Rin had been "claimed" by the increasingly scumbag-like Saiki, his mental breakdown would be apocalyptic. He would undoubtedly declare, "This world is worthless! I will create a world where Rin is pure again!"