Pov: Takumi Uchiha... the Elder.
My grandchild may have my name but he has none of my traits- If only my daughter was alive, she would be capable of raising the boy.
My wife would be the same- I was never the best at teaching young children, I am so glad that I had talents in Kenjutsu to compensate for that lack of skill.
"So- the child you can't motivate has already angered his teacher" The Hokage puffs on his pipe while chuckling.
Every parent who is a ninja can hear the academy teacher yelling from up here- he is in the classroom just below us after all.
"Takumi- for the last time! Get up and stay standing!" The teacher yells.
The young brat was dragged to the back of the classroom and promptly fell asleep... which is why we hear his sensei yell out every five minutes.
"Please ignore it Hokage-sama. The teacher will learn that he is a lost cause soon enough" I nod my head.
"Given up that fast? I'm sure the teacher will be able to find something to motivate him" Sakumo Hatake chuckles a bit trying to ease the tension in the air from all the yelling below.
"He won't. I've tried everything and nothing works" I state.
"Everything?" Hatake asks.
"I threatened him with a kunai once and he asked me to aim for his eyes so he didn't 'have to witness this pitiful attempt of trying to threaten me', I am certain I have tried it all" I sigh out.
"It got to... threating with kunai?" Another ninja in green asks.
"He told me that a branding iron would motivate him better, leave a mark and a message to not make the same mistake again- I don't understand where he gets these thoughts..." I pinch the bridge of my nose and scrunch my face.
"Alright- everyone up, we are going to be late at this rate, I apologize for my outbursts and wasting of time but I will catch you all up in your first class" The teacher below yells out, still angry but clearly over my grandson and his nonsense.
...
"Takumi. Takumi! Get up! No- don't make me drag you up there!" The teacher yells.
Rookie mistake, he now knows you are willing to drag him to his next destination.
A painful few minutes pass but eventually the roof fills with children and Takumi is dragged up and seated at the roof... every child sits cross legged as asked but Takumi lays right down and sleeps.
"It's fine- let him be, he will have a few years to learn better behaviour and right now I don't wish to ruin the orientation into the academy for the other children" The Hokage calms down his sensei and I nod in relief.
"Now... future ninja of Konoha- today marks the day that you start your journey into becoming great ninja and learn what it means to inherit the will of fire-" The Hokage starts his speech and I keep an eye on Takumi.
Pov: Takumi... the child.
*Yawn!* *Stretch!*
I groan as I wake up, too much energy... children usually have ways of removing this energy but I just sleep all the time.
"Hello- I am Obito!" A kid states as I open my eyes, he places his face right in front of mine.
"Greetings... I didn't see your face in the class before" I tilt my head and see we are sitting just outside the academy, alongside the girl named Rin.
"He was late" Rin lowers her head.
"Ah. I see" I nod my head and look at them both.
"Your grandfather said he had a meeting to go to- we volunteered to take you home..." Obito smiles.
"So you waited while I slept?" I ask.
"We tried carrying you but Obito didn't want to dirty your jacket" Rin says.
"That's... thank you for your consideration, but you are not obligated to help me in any way, just wake me and I can walk home on my own" I tell them as I get up.
"Its a cool jacket- I saw it in the market a few days ago and really wanted it!" Obito says eyed shining.
I look down at my clothes... shinobi standard pants, footwear, shirt... and a black and blue jacket that is on me.
It does look pricey and my caretaker did insist I wear it- perhaps this was a gift for starting the academy?
I nod my head at them and start walking down the street... but they follow me.
"Hey- what's your dream?" Obito asks me.
"My most recent one was of an old fool doing something stupid" I state and walk a little faster.
"No not a dream as in sleeping, a dream as in a goal!" They walk a little faster.
...?
"I don't have one" I stop the conversation in its tracks.
...
"Why do you follow me?" I ask them as they continue to move after me.
"Because Elder Takumi said to be your friend" Obito nods his head.
"Rude" I frown.
"How so? You don't want to be friends with us?" Rin asks.
"Yeah- your the rude one!" Obito points.
"Me? I suppose I have been pretty behind on my manners but I believe my caretaker has done something foolish... and quite rude to form relationships without informing the man involved" I take a breath and shake my head at the old fools actions.
"Well it's too late to back out now! We are going to be friends" Obito smacks my shoulder and I sigh.
"I could tell that I couldn't back out from your personality- and trying to break ties would be too much effort" I lower my gaze to the floor.
Do I regret such a thing? Not putting in the effort to relax? To just sit down and let the bad things happen? If so... why? I stopped the big bad demons and killed the great monsters... they would have destroyed everything- so why do I regret such things.
"Are... you just going to stop in the middle of the street?" Rin asks.
Is it possible that I wanted someone else to do those chores? How could they? It was impossible... why did no one else say 'watch me' and then do what I did, why did my friends not push themselves like I did?
"Hey- come on keep moving!" Obito pulls my arm.
When I felled the great rival to our empire and brought an age of peace for my nation why did I dive right into attacking the cult? Why did I not stop and let them continue even for one moment more?
"Help me pull him- I think he lives this way!" Obito says and Rin pulls my other arm, I start walking without thought as they pull me.
Am I... upset that I saved my people?
Why would I be? That makes no sense... I was born the greatest hero my empire ever saw. It is impossible to feel that way.
"Why would he live here?" Rin asks as they temporarily stop pulling me.
"I don't live here, stop dragging me around and give me a moment" I pull my arms from them and keep moving.
They unfortunately follow me.
-The Next morning-
*Shake!* *Shake!*
"We are going to be late at this rate!" I wake up to see Obito shaking me.
"How did you get into my house?" I ask.
"Elder Takumi gave me the ok to break in and drag you to school!" Obito smiles.
"I am still pondering about regret and its many applications- please drag me to school at another date" I lay my head back down and close my eyes.
"Too late-" He pulls me out of the bed and slams my head against the floor.
Rude.
"Fine- fine, lets hurry up..." I sigh and get off the floor to collect my jacket.
As we begin walking to the door I place my jacket on and Obito looks at me.
"Is that all..? You need to get out of your pyjamas you know?" Obito tells me.
"It will do- they are much more comfortable to sleep in" I nod my head.
"...weirdo" Obito says and pushes me out the door.
*Click*
He locks it with a key and places that key under the welcome mat... so he didn't break in at all- the caretaker seems to have found someone capable of getting me out of the house...
Would following him every morning be better? I do not wish to drag down a child with such drive... but I also do not wish to be driven into a world of combat again.
... perhaps I should just flunk out of the Academy.
"Hey- let me help you-" Obito runs off and I see him helping an old man carry his groceries.
...
Maybe being late everyday would do it.
And after thirty minutes of Obito spontaneously helping others we finally make the five minute walk to the academy and arrive to the class.
"Its empty" Obito says.
"Tell me where you think everyone is" I ask as I eye the evidence.
"Lunch?" He guesses.
"Look at the room and the chalkboard- give me another answer" I ask him again.
...
"Oh- recess" He smiles.
"You didn't look- the chalk on the board over there has drawings of various fighting forms and basics, every desk has a unique weapon on them... they are most likely teaching close combat- or giving examples most likely as all these weapons have been handed around, I would bet on them being outside showing the children what good close combat looks like" I tell Obito who processes all that information.
"...I thought you didn't pay attention to much..?" He asks as we turn around and head outside.
"I don't. I am doing the bare minimum with my full effort and I noticed that- you just need to learn how to identify such things passively" I sigh as I talk.
This body has way too much energy to remove... I need to find a hobby or something, it was so easy sleeping before but now that I am growing rapidly...
"You two are late" Rin states as we walk up to the group of children outside... they watch two teachers combat each other.
I glance at their combat techniques...
"So how did you learn?" Obito whispers.
"Learn what?" Rin pokes Obito.
"How to..." He tries to find the words.
"Passive investigations, I also didn't- I have no such skill" I tell them.
"But you just did it back there?" He points.
I ignore him and study the techniques in front of me... nothing in their current technique seems to be pushing the children down a certain path- very open ended and allows for individual growth over amassing a quick army.
"I didn't" I state.
Solid footwork and excellent control over their defence... making a kunai as effective as possible when blocking something, they are going fast however so this may be influenced by this worlds chakra power.
"You did- you scanned the classroom and told me where everyone was" Obito insists.
"That... isn't that hard to do" Rin scratches her cheek.
"Exactly- learn from her, she knows" I slowly push Obito's face towards Rin and focus.
Offensive ability would be more mid ranged... a focus on breaking others defences and jumping back to throw kunai... though it would not be as effective for close range techniques unless they had some form of area of effect attack.
And so from that information I can gather that somehow they have hidden weapons on themselves or perhaps this chakra I have heard about can perform such technique's.
All in all this is a wonderous technique...
Its just...
When you have tasted Ambrosia even good food tastes bad.
Its terrible to know that I can improve upon the close combat so much and not do a damn thing about it... if I make any form of movement into being a ninja than my life of rest is over... I wont be able to stop that addiction.
... but I am still that same person who trained until his hands bled... who never let his aura weaken even by a small margin... who saw weakness and drove it out within moments of finding it.
I recall the time I had found out mid battle with one of the greatest swordsmen of the east that I had a flaw- I had relied too much on skill and not power... I never realised that I was holding myself back to prove my skills.
I snuffed out those thoughts before the fight was over and if that swordsman never gloated and told me about my flaw I never would have won. I never would have prevailed...
I spent quite some time after that fight dreading over my flaws and spending all my 'free' time training them away.
And that itch to correct things... it doesn't ever go away does it?
I am certain now, I need a hobby to throw away these pointless thoughts- keep them away from my head and focus on rest.
Maybe I should focus on this itch... yes- I will fix the close combat techniques that they are demonstrating, that should ease my mind.
"...pondering Regret?" Obito asks.
"No. Maybe- ask again later, focus on the demonstration" I tell him.
Thanks for reading! :)