"Gintoki-san, the little trick you taught us for hiding ourselves works so well—even Kakashi didn't notice us!"
Looking at this gentle, kind, and cheerful girl, Gintoki couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Why had fate been so cruel to her in the original story?
"Yeah! Exactly! I feel like I'm already stronger than Kakashi now!" Obito declared proudly between mouthfuls of rice.
Hearing this, Kakashi—who was preparing Rin's dinner in the kitchen—turned around and pointed at his Leaf Village forehead protector with the same dead-fish eyes as Gintoki's (save for the different eye color).
His meaning was clear: Don't talk big when you haven't even graduated yet, you brat. Focus on passing first.
"This time, I'll definitely graduate in one go! Don't underestimate me, Kakashi! And I'll become an amazing ninja just like Gintoki-nii!"
'Don't jinx yourself like that, kid!' Gintoki mentally facepalmed.
"I believe in you, Obito!"
Rin smiled warmly at Obito, her eyes crinkling.
The lovestruck Obito blushed at his crush's trust and shyly averted his gaze.
Though Gintoki wrinkled his nose at the stench of young love, one question still nagged at him: Who does Rin actually like—Kakashi or Obito?
"What's wrong, Gintoki-san?"
Seeing Gintoki staring at her as if deep in thought, Rin tilted her head in confusion.
"It's nothing. I just think triangular relationships are the most stable."
"Huh?" Both Rin and Obito tilted their heads simultaneously, but immediately after, Obito choked on his fish from eating too fast.
Watching Obito, who was pounding his chest with a face turning blue from a fish bone stuck in his throat, Rin instantly panicked.
It was Kakashi, who had circled behind Obito, that delivered a swift chop to his back, forcing him to spit out the half-swallowed fish and saving him from the fate of choking to death during a meal.
"What the hell are you doing?! I could've swallowed it if I just tried a little harder!"
"You should've spit it out instead of forcing it down!"
As Kakashi and Obito bickered while Rin tried to mediate, Gintoki rolled his lifeless eyes and made up his mind.
.....
April—a season of both graduation and new beginnings.
Having passed the graduation exams of the ninja academy, Obito and Rin became genin under the command of Konoha's household name, the Yellow Flash.
Meanwhile, Kakashi, who had been shuffled between teams and never managed to get along with his peers, also became a member of Team Minato.
This was something that should have been impossible.
After all, the combination of the Yellow Flash and the eldest son of the Hatake clan was Konoha's most iconic and renowned two-man squad.
...
Freshly assigned to Team Minato, Kakashi couldn't make sense of this arrangement.
Especially when he learned that his older brother was leaving the village alone for a long-term classified mission, he keenly sensed that something was off.
There was no farewell ceremony.
With undercurrents stirring among the great nations of the Shinobi World, even a minute's delay could mean missing crucial intelligence and falling into a disadvantage.
So, on the very night he received the mission, Gintoki set off.
Kakashi escorted him to the village gates.
After hesitating for a long while, he finally turned his face away and muttered softly,
"Stay safe…"
"Mm…"
With a faint acknowledgment, Gintoki glanced briefly at Kakashi before vanishing in a shunshin.
...
Gintoki's mission was to head to the border of the Land of Wind, closely monitor the movements of Sunagakure—who seemed to be plotting something recently—and relay the intel back to Konoha.
This highly dangerous mission originally belonged to someone else, but Gintoki had volunteered for it.
Minato had objected, but after discussions among the higher-ups, the task was ultimately assigned to Gintoki.
As a result, the two-man squad was disbanded, leaving the radiant but now solitary Minato Namikaze to become a jonin instructor under the Sandaime arrangement.
This was also a way to bolster Minato's credentials.
Without experience as a team leader, it would be difficult for him to become Hokage based on reputation alone.
The dead-last brat from the Uchiha clan and Konoha's problematic genius naturally became Minato's subordinates—all part of paving the way for his future.
Not long after leaving the village, Gintoki suddenly stopped on his way to the destination.
"Gintoki, stay safe."
"Yeah…"
Recognizing the figure waiting to see him off, Gintoki responded in his usual lifeless, canned-fish tone before swiftly moving past them and continuing on his way.
"Take care of Kakashi for me."
Hearing his teammate of three years make his first-ever request, Minato nodded firmly.
"Of course. I'll look after Kakashi."
Watching Gintoki's figure disappear after a few flashes, Minato finally understood why he had volunteered for such a mission.
It was all for his little brother, Kakashi.
...
A year later, when Gintoki's turned eleven, the Third Great Shinobi War—a conflict that would leave a mark on the history of the Shinobi World—officially erupted.
The first to strike were not the Cloud ninja but the Rock and Sand villages.
With the disappearance of the Third Kazekage and her beloved grandson Sasori, Chiyo, who had seized control of the Sand, immediately retaliated against the Rock ninja invading their lands.
Simultaneously, she divided her forces, directing the other spearhead toward Konoha, a village entangled with her in both personal and national grudges.
After all, a woman's logic was simple: if her own home couldn't thrive, neither would anyone else's!
Thanks to Gintoki's timely investigative report at the border, Konoha wasn't caught off guard.
Under the Third Hokage and the elders' command, they mobilized their forces in an orderly fashion.
Though "orderly" deserved quotation marks, since Tsunade, one of the legendary Sannin, was currently absent from the village.
Chiyo was a master of poison, and the only one capable of countering her was Konoha's Tsunade.
Thus, the Third Hokage swallowed his pride, sending countless letters pleading for Tsunade's return.
Even if she couldn't fight, only she could handle the task of detoxification.
But instead of Tsunade's reply, what arrived was a joint assault from the Cloud and Rock ninja against Konoha.
Who had initiated it no longer mattered—Konoha now faced its most critical moment.
At the same time, the Mist ninja began closely monitoring the war, dispatching their own forces—primarily targeting Konoha.
Fighting against four villages at once, the slightest misstep could mean annihilation.
This time, every clan in Konoha set aside their grievances, marching to the frontlines under the elders' command.
…
Orochimaru had initially been quite curious about the eldest son of the Hatake clan, Gintoki.
But the moment he heard the boy shout "Daddy!" on the battlefield, all of his interest evaporated.
The battlefield was divided.
Leading the charge against the Sand's main forces were two of the Sannin—Orochimaru and Jiraiya—alongside Konoha's shinobi.
To many's surprise, Gintoki became one of the key commanders in Konoha's fight against the Sand, ranking just below Orochimaru and Jiraiya.