"Ninja, shouldn't the mission be the priority? Isn't the mission the most important thing?" Walking out of the Hokage Building, Kakashi recalled Nagatomo Toda's expression in the office, feeling somewhat puzzled.
He mentioned that Nagatomo Toda completed the mission and was a qualified ninja, but Nagatomo Toda wasn't pleased; there was a trace of anger in his eyes.
If it weren't in the Hokage Office, Kakashi felt Nagatomo Toda might have said something.
But Kakashi didn't understand why Nagatomo Toda was angry with him; it wasn't him who killed their teammate, it was the enemy. He was merely expressing his opinion.
"Could it be that the life and death of a student are more important than completing the mission?" Kakashi thought to himself.
If Nagatomo Toda truly thought this way, then Kakashi felt it was perfectly fine for Nagatomo Toda not to be a mentor. Having such thoughts, Nagatomo Toda couldn't be considered a qualified ninja at all.
"A qualified ninja should complete the mission at all costs, even if it leads to the death of teammates..." At night, Kakashi, back home, murmured as he stared at the pitch-black house.
Once, Kakashi had a father whom he felt proud of.
His father was named Hatake Sakumo, a very strong ninja, who had made illustrious contributions during the Second Ninja World War, killing many ninjas from rival villages, and was revered as the White Fang of Konoha.
Kakashi admired his powerful and reliable father, always striving to follow in his father's footsteps. He graduated from the Ninja Academy at five, promoted to Chunin at six, all in pursuit of his father's path.
But an incident at the age of seven changed Hatake Sakumo's image in Kakashi's mind.
During an important mission, Hatake Sakumo, in order to save a teammate, led to the mission's failure, causing significant loss to Konoha. The village was full of criticism, even the teammate who was saved stood out and accused Hatake Sakumo of being wrong.
Soon, one day after Kakashi finished his training and came home, he found a corpse lying in a pool of blood; the White Fang Short Blade, which killed countless ninjas, finally ended its master's life.
From then on, Hatake Sakumo was no longer the strongest and most qualified ninja in Kakashi's heart.
As a ninja, Hatake Sakumo was unqualified; his emotional attachment to teammates caused massive loss to Konoha. As a father, leaving a seven-year-old child was equally unqualified.
He was no longer proud of his father; he didn't take pride in anyone anymore.
Kakashi opened the door, first cleaned the whole house, which had accumulated a lot of dust after being away for more than a month.
With the convenience of the Shadow Clone technique, even alone, he could quickly clean the entire house. Kakashi soon finished the cleaning, restoring the home to its usual neatness.
"Should I train next?" thought Kakashi, who was idle after finishing the cleaning. Dinner had already been taken care of on the way home, no need to cook.
Ultimately, Kakashi did nothing, lying in the yard and watching the moon.
"Kakashi, are you home?"
At this moment, a familiar female voice could be heard from outside.
"Maybe he went on a mission after returning. Rin, let's go play on our own," came an enthusiastic male voice from beside.
Kakashi slowly walked out, with a calm face, and asked, "Is there anything you need?"
"Damn, no mission, huh," Obito mumbled, feeling quite disappointed.
"If nothing unexpected happens, I won't have to do any missions for a long while," Kakashi said.
He also guessed that perhaps there were no teams left where he could fit in, so he'd have to wait for the next batch of graduates.
"Since this mission took so long, taking some time to rest isn't a bad thing," Nohara Rin said with a gentle smile.
She didn't know that the 'long time' Kakashi mentioned could last four to five months.
"That's not the reason," Kakashi shook his head and said.
"Then what's the reason? Kakashi, you can't be slacking off," Obito hoped Kakashi would do more missions.
"I temporarily don't have a squad; my teammates died, and the captain isn't planning to continue as a mentor for now," Kakashi said plainly, without hiding anything.
"Your teammates died, huh..." Obito was deeply shocked, hearing Kakashi speak those words so lightly.
Obito had seen Kakashi's teammates a month ago and hadn't forgotten their looks. But now, they, who were once lively people, were just gone. It struck Obito with the harsh reality of a ninja's life.
"I'm sorry," Obito apologized to Kakashi, thinking Kakashi must be feeling terrible.
Hearing Kakashi's words, Nohara Rin was also taken aback, but quickly spoke up to comfort him.
"Have you misunderstood something? I'm not that sad. Although my teammates have passed, their sacrifice wasn't in vain; the mission wasn't a failure," Kakashi said.
"Kakashi, what do you mean? Are you saying that sacrificing comrades for the mission is justified?" Obito couldn't help but ask.
He wasn't familiar with Kakashi's teammates, but Obito knew they weren't bad people.
On that day, Kakashi's teammates could have simply notified him and left, but they didn't; they especially reminded Kakashi that the mission was tough and he needed to be well-prepared.
"Compared to a failed mission, the sacrifice of teammates is somewhat easier to accept," Kakashi replied calmly.
"You, I really can't bring myself to like you at all!" When Obito heard Kakashi's reply, his blood pressure suddenly shot up, and he couldn't help but swing a punch at Kakashi.
"Because you're not a ninja yet, in the world of ninja, missions always come first." Kakashi caught Obito's fist and said.
"Ninjas who act on emotion are unqualified ninjas."
"Come fight, I'm going to punch some sense into you." Obito couldn't hold it in any longer.
Kakashi threw Obito aside, then stepped forward, "You're the one who's not thinking clearly, a student who hasn't even graduated yet trying to lecture me, a Chunin?"
An increasingly furious Obito directly activated his breathing technique, boosting his physical abilities, wanting to teach Kakashi a lesson.
But at this moment, Kakashi also had no intention of holding back. He went all out and suppressed Obito.
Various Earth Release and Lightning Release techniques, paired with unrestrained taijutsu, made it difficult for Obito, who was using Full Concentration Breathing, to cope.
"Damn it!" When Kakashi knocked him to the ground again, Obito couldn't help but let out an unwilling shout. He was unwilling to be inferior to someone like Kakashi.
"If you still hold onto those childish thoughts, then give up on becoming a ninja." Kakashi said mercilessly.
"Can you feel it, the gap between you and an official ninja?"
Although he kept belittling Obito with his words, Kakashi was a bit surprised in his heart because in just over a month's time, Obito had made significant progress. Whether in Fire Release or taijutsu, there were clear improvements, and he could hold on for so long against Kakashi's full attack.
"You're the last person I want to be defeated by." Obito clenched his fists tightly, his resentment reaching its peak, the flames of anger burning fiercely.
"What do you take your comrades for!" After a furious shout, Obito's breathing became more focused than ever before, and he felt an endless surge of power from within.
"Breath of Flame, Full Concentration Breathing!"
In an instant, Obito's body disappeared from where he stood and appeared next to Kakashi, launching a fierce punch at Kakashi's face.
Obito's sudden increase in speed caught Kakashi off guard, and Kakashi was knocked to the ground.
"Stronger, still?" Kakashi was somewhat confused. He had never encountered such a situation before, where in the middle of a fight, the opponent would shout something and suddenly become stronger.
Fortunately, Kakashi had rich combat experience. Let alone this sparring-type battle, he had been at a disadvantage in life-and-death struggles before. He quickly stabilized the situation, preventing himself from falling further behind.
By now, the fight had become very intense. On the open ground, sparks and electric lights flashed continuously, and the aftermath of their attacks created small pits around them.
"You two stop fighting already, if you get hurt, you won't be able to go play." Nohara Rin said, as the momentum between the two looked nothing like ordinary sparring, so she spoke up out of concern.
Nohara Rin's words slowly calmed Obito, who was angry. His strength still wasn't enough to defeat Kakashi.
After Obito stopped, Kakashi also stopped. He was never that eager to fight.
"Really, if you have different opinions, you can discuss them properly, why suddenly start a fight?" Nohara Rin sighed, patting the dust off their clothes and said helplessly.
"It's because he said something so infuriating." Obito was still holding a grudge over what Kakashi had said earlier.
"Getting mad only shows how immature you are right now." Kakashi said calmly.
"You bastard, do you want to continue?" Obito's blood pressure, which had just gone down, started rising again.
"If you want a lesson, I'm up for it." Kakashi expressed indifferently, he could win anyway.
"You guys, if you keep this up, I'm going to get angry." Nohara Rin said, hands on her hips.
Remembering the scene of Nohara Rin punching down a tree, Obito shut his mouth.
When Obito stopped talking, Kakashi had no intention of provoking matters further, and he quieted down as well. His mood wasn't exactly calm today.
However, with this skirmish as a prelude, Obito and Kakashi were destined not to get along peacefully today.
When Kakashi bought a grilled fish BBQ, Obito said the fish must have been dead for a while and was unhealthy.
When Obito bought tempura, Kakashi commented the oil had probably been used countless times and was very unhygienic.
In short, whatever the other did was wrong, even the way they breathed wasn't right, and their mere existence was a problem.
Nohara Rin could only keep smoothing things over between them without any other better solution.
"The term ends soon, another semester is about to be over, time flies by so fast." Nohara Rin tried hard to find a topic that wouldn't spark an argument.
"After one more semester, we'll be graduating. If some people keep harboring those childish thoughts, I'm really worried for the village's future." Kakashi launched the first verbal attack.
"Whoever becomes your next teammate is really going to have rotten luck." Obito retorted, not willing to be outdone.
Nohara Rin: ...