“No, wait, uh…”
The moment he had picked up the kunai, he had indeed felt something was off, but with Rin waiting to see him show off, he hadn’t bothered to look closely.
Then it hit him—the teacher really *had* said something before the exam, and plenty of his classmates had gone up to test the weapons in their hands.
But as an Uchiha with his own pride, he hadn’t deigned to join the crowd.
“Aaargh, why didn’t I notice?!”
The next day, Teacher Araki posted the exam results beside the classroom door.
The rankings were determined by the combined scores of theory, ninjutsu (the Clone Technique), and taijutsu (ninja tool throwing).
Seeing that he was still ranked second, Aoba was speechless.
He had held back so much during the projectile throwing, yet he was still in second place.
Unsurprisingly, first place went to Kakashi once again.
It could only be said that true genius was well-rounded.
Aoba could manipulate his scores to land wherever he wanted only thanks to his auxiliary chip and adult mindset.
Kakashi, however, wasn’t relying on anything like that.
He did it all on his own, with zero shortcomings in theory, ninjutsu, or practical combat.
As for Kurenai Yuhi, without Aoba’s help cheating, her theory score took a nosedive.
Fortunately, Aoba had highlighted the key points for her before the exam, allowing her to scrape by with a passing grade.
The very last spot shockingly belonged to Obito Uchiha.
Aoba hadn’t paid attention at first, but the news was simply too explosive—this was likely the first time an Uchiha had placed dead last at the Academy since the founding of the Hidden Leaf.
Aoba clicked his tongue in wonder.
*Could this be where Obito’s “dead last” title comes from…?*
Many shinobi clans had their own internal training systems, cultivating their exceptional members privately.
For instance, the Hyuga clan would later send their less-favored eldest main branch daughter, Hinata Hyuga, to the Academy, while rigorously training the designated heir, Hanabi, within the clan.
Someone like Obito Uchiha, completely overlooked within the Uchiha clan, was naturally pawned off to the Academy.
However, at this point in time, the Uchiha clan had not yet lived through the Night of the Nine-Tails, nor were they facing full-scale suppression from the Leaf’s higher-ups.
Coupled with the Senju clan dissolving into the civilian populace, the Uchiha were undeniably the strongest clan in the village.
Now that the village’s strongest clan had produced a dead last, the humiliation was immense.
Aided by malicious instigators fanning the flames, the news spread across the entire Hidden Leaf the very day results were posted.
“So even a kekkei genkai clan has absolute dunces, huh?”
“I heard the top rankers are all from civilian backgrounds.”
“And here I thought shinobi clans were something special.
Turns out even the Uchiha aren’t all that.”
“…”
Gossip was second nature to people, especially when it involved noble clans.
Nobody cared whether Obito was at the bottom of an elite class; all they cared about was that the mighty Uchiha of the Leaf had produced an utter failure.
“Damn it!
What did you just say?!”
An Uchiha officer involuntarily activated his Sharingan, glaring furiously at the crowd.
“Yuma, don’t be rash!”
The Uchiha beside him hurriedly held his comrade back.
Faced with a furious officer of the Military Police Force, the ordinary villagers grew frightened and quickly dispersed.
“That idiot!
An absolute disgrace to the Uchiha!”
Losing his target, Yuma Uchiha redirected his rage onto Obito, his clenched fists cracking loudly.
Similar whispers cropped up throughout the Leaf, and people even began looking at the patrolling Military Police with less fear than before.
Some villagers even raised their voices deliberately, as if afraid the patrolmen wouldn’t hear them.
This led to several scuffles, which in turn resulted in a fresh stack of complaint letters against the Military Police landing on the Hokage’s desk.
After listening to the Anbu report, Hiruzen Sarutobi understood the situation completely.
Without a doubt, Danzo was pulling strings behind the scenes.
While slandering fellow villagers was hardly appropriate, the Uchiha clan had crossed the line by raising their hands against civilians over mere gossip.
“Owl, summon Clan Head Fugaku.”
“Yes, Lord Hokage!”
…
After school, Obito parted ways with Rin Nohara and headed back to the Uchiha clan compound.
Before he even stepped inside, he sensed that something was off in the air.
*Everyone’s looking at me weird today.
It feels kind of…*
*Whoosh!*
Before Obito could process it, a figure suddenly materialized before him, startling him into stumbling back two steps.
“C-Clan Head Fugaku.”
Once he recognized the man, Obito hastily bowed.
Fugaku was still quite young at this point, having only recently taken over as clan head.
“Obito, about this Academy exam—I hear your results were far from good.” Fugaku cut straight to the chase without mincing words.
“Uh…
Clan Head, I…
that was…”
Cold sweat instantly beaded on Obito’s forehead.
As he stammered out an excuse, Fugaku cut him off.
“Enough.
Enrolling you in the Academy was poor foresight on my part.
But since you are already an Academy student, you cannot bring dishonor to the Uchiha name.
From now on, you will participate in the clan’s training as well.”
Obito’s face lit up with joy, believing he had finally earned the clan’s recognition.
But then a figure flashed through his mind.
“Clan Head, what about the Academy…?”
“You will attend school as normal during the day.
In the afternoons after school and on your days off, you will receive instruction in Uchiha training.”
Hearing that he could still attend the Academy as usual, Obito breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Before he could dwell on it, Fugaku continued:
“Your training begins today.”
“Yes, Clan Head…
Huh?”
“Tekka!”
“Here!”
A figure appeared behind Fugaku.
Two crimson Sharingan peered past Fugaku’s shoulder, sending a chill straight down Obito’s spine.
“I leave Obito to you.”
“Understood, Clan Head.”
Fugaku cast one last glance at Obito before vanishing on the spot with a Body Flicker.
“Uh…
wait, what?!”
Only now did Obito realize something was terribly wrong.
Watching Tekka advance toward him with glowing red eyes, cold sweat poured down his neck like a waterfall.
*I’m gonna die!
I’m gonna die!*
“W-Wait a sec—”
“Aaaaaargh!”
…
Hidden Leaf, Ninja Academy.
“Here, Obito.”
“Rin, what’s this?”
“Wound ointment.
Actually, never mind, let me apply it for you.”
Rin Nohara opened the jar of ointment and dabbed it onto the swollen bruises on Obito’s face.
“Why have you been showing up covered in bruises every morning lately?”
“Hiss~ Ow…
Well, uh…
that’s because I’ve been waking up early for train—”
Obito flushed crimson, not daring to look Rin in the eye, stammering without knowing how to explain that he was getting the tar beaten out of him.
They called it “instructional training,” but in reality, clan members were taking turns beating him black and blue.
“Morning, Rin!
Well, well, if it isn’t our class’s dead last.
Beaten up again?”
“Good morning, Rin.
Good morning, Kenji.”
Kurenai Yuhi and Aoba walked into the classroom.
Seeing Rin applying medicine to a bruised and battered Obito, they found the scene hilarious.
“W-What do you mean beaten up?!
I’m undergoing secret training!
I’ll definitely beat you on the next exam!
And you, damn it, Aoba!
Stop giving people weird nicknames!
My name isn’t Kenji!
It’s Obito!
Obito Uchiha…
*Hiss!*”
Obito clutched his face, shouting indignantly.
“Sure thing, Kenji.”
“Whatever you say, Kenji Uchiha.”
Aoba dropped an inside joke that nobody else understood, yet Obito, as the butt of the joke, could still hear the sheer dismissiveness in his voice.
Infuriated, Obito hopped onto a desk, demanding a man-to-man duel with Aoba right then and there.
Aoba couldn’t care less.
Having teased Obito, he slumped down onto his desk.
Aside from whether Obito could even touch him in a fight, Rin standing right beside him had Obito completely wrapped around her finger.
“All right, sit down and stop fidgeting.
I’m not finished applying it yet.”
“Oh.
Okay.”
The second Rin spoke, the raging Obito instantly transformed into an obedient little boy, sitting primly in his seat.
*Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Completely whipped.*
…