"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that, Rin Nohara?"
Keiji countered calmly, packing his things into a cloth pouch and slinging it over his shoulder as he walked toward the door.
Outside, he caught a glimpse of Kakashi already disappearing into the distance.
Obito stood not far from the school gates, seemingly waiting for someone.
"Didn't we agree to help teach Keiji some ninjutsu?" Rin asked.
"I see."
Keiji gave a small nod, his expression unreadable.
Whether Rin had stayed behind out of a promise, or if Kakashi had left early due to other matters, he didn't seem to care.
The complicated triangle between Rin, Obito, and Kakashi—it was, frankly, a tangled mess.
The fact that Rin had made Kakashi a custom medical pouch, even sewing a protective charm into it by hand, made her feelings obvious. She clearly liked Kakashi.
Meanwhile, Obito had feelings for Rin—and Kakashi and Obito were best friends.
"Let's go," Keiji said.
"Mm," Rin nodded, following him outside.
Kakashi was already long gone, swallowed by the bustling crowd.
"Rin… are you seriously going to teach that guy ninjutsu?" Obito asked, his voice laced with frustration.
He didn't like the idea of Rin and Keiji spending time alone. An opportunity like this should have been his.
"Keiji came to Konoha on his own—we should help each other," Rin replied gently.
"…Fine."
Seeing her insist, Obito didn't push further.
Thick-skinned as ever, he trailed behind them, and the three eventually arrived at a training ground.
Konoha had over fifty such training fields—facilities built for shinobi to hone their skills and gain experience. Each field differed in size and layout.
Sometimes, these were even used as exam venues—for example, during the Chunin Exams, suitable sites would be selected from these training grounds.
Though they weren't full-fledged shinobi yet, as academy students, they were permitted to use these facilities. From the moment one's name was registered in the Ninja Academy, they were considered a "preparatory shinobi."
Even with the possibility of failing and repeating a grade, mastering just the basic Three Techniques was enough to eventually pass and become a genin.
They arrived at Training Ground Three.
"No one's here—perfect," Rin observed after looking around.
She cleared her throat softly and said, "Obito, you should pay attention too. At this rate, you won't pass the graduation exam."
"Hehe, I get it, Rin."
Obito scratched his head and laughed sheepishly.
When it came to the Three Techniques, his skills were… let's say, lacking.
That's how he got the reputation of being at the bottom of the class.
"But I'm definitely better than that guy," Obito said smugly, pointing at Keiji.
He was full of confidence. Even if he was a straggler, he'd at least received a formal education.
Keiji, on the other hand, was a stray—roughly self-taught in chakra refinement, practically a half-illiterate in ninja arts. There's no way he could match Obito!
Besides, Obito was from the Uchiha Clan. He'd heard plenty from his grandmother about Uchiha Keiji.
Right now, the whole clan had their eyes on Keiji.
The Land of Lightning didn't have a great reputation in Konoha.
The Second Hokage had been killed by Cloud shinobi. The war with the Land of Lightning had only ended a few years ago—far from enough time for those wounds to heal. Obito's own parents had died on the battlefield.
He wasn't the only one. Many of his clanmates had lost family to that war.
Ninjas were never noble heroes—they were mercenaries dancing on a knife's edge. No one could say for sure whether they'd live to see tomorrow.
"Obito." Rin's brows furrowed slightly. "That's no way to speak to a fellow classmate."
"It's fine. Please go ahead with your lesson, Rin-san," Keiji said calmly, ignoring Obito altogether.
Whether or not Obito had already come under the watchful eye of Madara Uchiha remained a mystery.
Keiji had no interest in finding out. All he wanted was to keep his distance and use this time to get stronger.
As long as you bore the Uchiha name in Konoha, you carried a heavy burden.
From the night of the massacre committed by Itachi, to Danzo's obsession with the Sharingan—Keiji would eventually have to confront these challenges.
Time was running short.
The Third Great Ninja War would break out not long after they graduated from the academy—a war so brutal that even children barely old enough to hold a kunai were dragged into battle.
"Alright," Rin began. "To learn ninjutsu, the first step is… tree climbing."
She started to explain the technique in detail.
In the original manga, Kakashi had once taught this method to Team 7 during the Land of Waves arc—but Rin's explanation was far more thorough.
Keiji listened closely, occasionally asking questions when he didn't understand something.
"Gather an appropriate amount of extracted chakra to the soles of your feet. That way, you'll produce a kind of adhesion," Rin said.
To demonstrate, she took off her shoes, revealing her pale feet—her toes neatly aligned like crescent moons, her soles flushed slightly pink from exertion.
She explained exactly where to concentrate chakra for maximum efficiency using minimal output.
Then she put her shoes back on, formed the Ram seal—left thumb over right—and stepped onto the trunk of a large tree.
It was as if she were walking on flat ground.
Keiji looked up as Rin made her way toward the upper branches. Near the canopy, she turned and waved at them to try it themselves.
"This is easy!" Obito grinned.
He mimicked Rin's hand seal. After all, he'd learned this back in class.
After refining some chakra, he directed it toward his feet and cautiously took a step onto the tree trunk.
When he didn't immediately fall, he gained confidence, planting his other foot and beginning to climb.
"Good thing I practiced this before," he muttered.
He turned, ready to gloat at Keiji's inevitable failure—to see him embarrass himself in front of Rin.
But the very next second, Obito slipped and fell hard.
"Don't lose focus while controlling your chakra," Rin said, shaking her head.
Obito groaned, rubbing his back as he got up.
"Your turn, Keiji," he said grudgingly.
"Alright," Keiji nodded, stepping up for his first try.
Just like Obito, he slipped off after about a meter—far from the canopy.
Then Keiji immediately began his second attempt.
Seeing this, Obito quickly started practicing again too.
Now he realized the regret of not paying attention to chakra control techniques in class. If only he'd listened more...
Time passed quickly.
Two hours later, the forest was bathed in the soft golden hues of dusk. Sunlight filtered through the leaves in scattered beams of light.
Rin's expression gradually shifted to one of surprise.
Keiji was learning fast—shockingly fast.
If he were alone, it might have been harder to notice. But with Obito as a comparison, the gap between them was stark.
At first, Obito could climb about two meters. Now, even after constant practice, he'd barely improved to three and a half.
But Keiji?
He'd already reached the five-meter mark—just a few paces from the canopy.
Keiji listened in silence as the panel in his mind confirmed a new acquisition:
[You have comprehended the Trait: Muscle Memory (White)].