Obito had undergone a major transformation thanks to Shindai's modifications.
Unfortunately, his way of speaking hadn't changed much yet.
Well, habits are hard to break overnight.
Shindai reminded him, "It doesn't matter normally, but when you see Rin, remember to speak briefly and stay cool! And keep your face expressionless, got it?"
Obito raised his right hand, extending his thumb and index finger to form a sharp V-shape under his chin. "Cool—Shindai, do I look cool now?"
Shindai couldn't help but arch his right eyebrow, "Not really cool. More… abstract, maybe? But fine, we'll work with it. It's not something you can perfect overnight. Go on now—and remember, this look's permanent from here on."
Obito pushed his sunglasses up firmly and gave a firm nod. "Understood!"
Obito left the tent.
Shindai exhaled in relief. "Finally some peace and quiet. I can finally read in peace."
He picked up an old scroll and resumed reading.
...
As he walked away from the tent, Obito kept recalling what Shindai had just told him.
"Short sentences. Be cool. No facial expressions…"
Lost in thought, Obito suddenly realized he had stopped right in front of Rin Nohara's tent.
He froze on the spot, then smoothed back his stylish hair. "This new look deserves a grand debut—and who better than Rin to see it first!"
"Rin! Are you there?"
The same Obito who never knocked before entering Shindai's tent was now politely calling out before approaching Rin's tent.
However, no response came from within.
"Rin just went to visit Kakashi's tent earlier, probably going to check on him."
A passing ninja who heard Obito calling for Rin kindly offered this information.
"Is that so? Thanks!"
After thanking the ninja, Obito decided to head toward Kakashi's tent.
The ninja looked at Obito curiously. "By the way… Who exactly are you? Don't think I've seen you around before."
Obito pointed his thumb at himself proudly. "Me? I'm Obito! Uchiha Obito!"
"Oh, you're Obito? What happened to your look? Almost didn't recognize you."
"That's because…"
Just as Obito was about to explain, Shindai's words echoed in his mind: 'Keep it short. Stay cool. No expressions.'
Obito cleared his throat and simply said, "Mood change."
With that, he immediately turned and walked away.
The passing ninja watched Obito leave, muttering confusedly, "Change of mood? Kinda weird…"
Obito arrived at Kakashi's tent.
The moment he stepped inside, Obito opened his mouth to speak—but froze mid-breath.
But Shindai's voice seemed to whisper right beside Obito: "Obito, if you shout out loud, you're an idiot—an absolute, total idiot! Rin will never like you!"
Obito gritted his teeth and held back. He walked toward Rin Nohara, who was checking on Kakashi, and coolly asked Kakashi while looking at him, "How is it?"
Both Kakashi and Rin Nohara looked at the completely changed Obito in surprise.
Rin Nohara curiously asked, "Obito, why are you dressed like that?"
Obito briefly replied, "Just changing my style."
Rin Nohara gave him a long, critical look before commenting, "Well... I have to admit, it looks pretty good."
"Average," Obito responded.
Unconsciously, the corners of his mouth began to lift, but he desperately tried to suppress the twitch.
I must stay cool. I can't smile! You don't dare!
Seeing Obito's lips twitching uncontrollably, Kakashi frowned slightly, asking, "What? Did your mouth get a spasm or something?"
Obito's nails instantly dug into his palm so hard he nearly cursed out loud.
With a blank expression, he asked, "And how about you?"
Looking at this unusual Obito, Kakashi felt puzzled, yet still answered, "After resting these few days, I'm pretty much recovered."
"That's good."
Kakashi questioned, "Why are you speaking so little today? Usually, you talk way more. According to your personality, when you entered the tent just now, you should've shouted our names loudly, saying you finally arrived."
Obito pushed up his sunglasses with his middle finger and replied, "That was the past. No need to do that anymore."
Kakashi's eye twitched slightly—Obito's definitely putting on an act!
Rin Nohara asked with concern, "Obito, did anything happen to you?"
Obito pouted. With how cool he looked now, shouldn't they be praising him instead of asking if something happened?
He continued maintaining his image: "Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine."
Under his mask, Kakashi sniffed slightly: "Though we're eating ramen today, Obito, you really smell like ramen—way too strong."
Rin Nohara also took a careful sniff: "Yeah… This scent… It seems to come from your head. Huh, Obito, why does your head look so greasy and shiny?"
Obito's face immediately darkened.
Of course there's a ramen smell, of course it's oily and shiny—it's all because of Shindai.
His large pompadour hairstyle had been created using two big globs of spit from Shindai.
Thinking back now made him feel uncomfortable—he really needed to go wash his hair.
"I'm leaving!"
Obito shoved both hands into his pockets and turned to walk away.
Rin Nohara frowned, confused: "What's going on with Obito?"
Kakashi shrugged: "Who knows? But Obito and Shindai are pretty tight. Maybe Shindai had something to do with Obito acting like this all of a sudden."
Rin Nohara thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement. "That's very possible."
Kakashi and Rin Nohara believed this because, compared to themselves, Shindai got along more easily with Obito and had more in common with him.
...
Shindai spent the entire day reading.
The next morning after waking up and washing his face, Shindai began sorting through the materials on the floor, starting work on creating a puppet for Jiraiya.
"First, the skeleton... Jiraiya must be incredibly strong, so it needs to be fairly durable. But not *too* durable—otherwise, when it breaks down later and he comes back for repairs, I'll get to charge him extra."
"Then the filling material—it should be soft and have elasticity close to human flesh... Hmm, this one should work."
"And then the skin... Perfecting the texture is my specialty. This one's sure to blow Jiraiya away."
While making the puppet, Shindai was fully immersed in his work.
During this time, Obito came once to bring Shindai his meal. Shindai simply told him to leave the food on the table.
Obito stayed for a while, watching curiously but unable to understand what Shindai was doing. Eventually, he found it boring and left.
He kept working late into the night.
Shindai finally finished the puppet. He grabbed a piece of cloth, sewed an outfit, and dressed the puppet in it.
Once the clothes were on, he stepped back a few paces to examine his fresh creation.
The puppet before him had a stunningly sexy figure, just like Tsunade's.
As for its face—well, it kind of looked like her in terms of facial features.
Yet at the same time, it didn't really look like her.
Tsunade had a mature, sophisticated charm, whereas this face blended maturity with youthful cuteness.
One could say Shindai had done everything he could to capture her essence.
Shindai nodded in satisfaction and said smugly, "Hmm~ not bad at all!"
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