(If you don't like slice-of-life chapters, you can start from Chapter 12 without missing anything. Because I tried skipping unnecessary scenes for fast pace development, it might feel inconsistent.)
Two months later, on the same ninjutsu training grounds, two boys wielding blades clashed again and again across the open field.
Not far away, a cute short-haired girl crouched on a stone with her cheeks propped in both hands, watching the two figures move back and forth through the dust.
If one looked closely, they would notice that Nohara Rin's gaze had been fixed on the same person from beginning to end.
Blades flashed, sparks scattered, and after a fierce exchange, one of the boys finally collapsed weakly onto the ground.
"Zoro, are you some kind of monster? How is your stamina this ridiculous?"
Uchiha Obito lay flat on the ground, drenched in sweat. Beads rolled down his cheeks and dripped into the dirt as his fingers loosened around the blade in his hand, his face full of despair.
"Obito, here."
Nohara Rin walked over and crouched beside him. With a gentle smile, she handed him a clean white cotton towel.
"Thanks, Rin."
Obito immediately sat up, happily accepting the towel from her hand.
After wiping the sweat from his forehead, Obito cracked one eye open and glanced at Zoro, who stood nearby without so much as a single drop of sweat on him.
He muttered inwardly, He really is a monster.
"Obito, did you say something?"
Hearing the faint mutter, Rin asked softly.
"N-nothing."
Obito smiled quickly, then shot a provocative look at Zoro behind Rin, as if silently mocking him.
See that? Rin only prepared a towel for me.
Zoro took in Obito's childish display, and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
Something had happened last night.
It seemed that awakening the Mangekyō required a certain degree of emotional stimulation.
Zoro wanted to test whether he had developed any feelings toward Nohara Rin.
There was another reason as well. Recently, the Anbu watching him had become increasingly bold. Under their surveillance, Zoro had no choice but to keep disguising himself as a harmless child.
Of course, now that he was here, he naturally would not allow Rin to repeat her original fate.
As for whether Obito could awaken the Mangekyō, that would depend entirely on his own luck.
Zoro was not like Obito, that awkward, repressed brat who never confessed his feelings to Rin even by the time she died.
Nohara Rin seemed unwilling to speak with Zoro. Even now, she still had not turned around.
Of course, it was not because she was angry over what Zoro had done yesterday.
Rather, whenever she saw him now, she could not help feeling a little embarrassed.
"Yo, everyone. Looks like you've been getting along well lately."
A cheerful voice reached their ears. When they looked toward the sound, they saw the familiar young Minato approaching in his green shinobi uniform.
"Minato-sensei, our relationship has already become quite good."
Zoro looked up and answered Namikaze Minato calmly.
"What about you, Obito?"
Minato smiled as he looked at Obito, who was still sitting on the ground.
"It's… fine, I guess."
Obito scratched his head. Although he did not want to admit it, after spending two months together, he had realized that Zoro was indeed much easier to get along with than Hatake Kakashi.
"And Rin?"
"Eh? Me? I'm fine too."
Hearing Minato ask her directly, Rin thought back to her interactions with Zoro over the past two months, and a faint, unusual blush appeared on her face.
"In that case, are you all ready to take on the first cooperative mission assigned by Lord Hokage?"
Minato's words immediately drew Zoro's attention.
A mission assigned by that old man Sarutobi?
"Mm. Please explain the details, Minato-sensei."
"This mission is A-rank. I'll be going with you, so rest properly today. Gather at the village gate tomorrow morning. I'll explain the details then."
An A-rank mission was second only to an S-rank mission. Most missions of that level involved matters connected to nations or villages.
They could include participating in a war at another country's request, protecting important figures, or subjugating enemy shinobi forces. The reward usually ranged from 150,000 ryō to one million ryō.
"In that case, I'll head back and prepare first. See you tomorrow, Obito. Goodbye, Minato-sensei."
"See you tomorrow, Obito. See you tomorrow, Minato-sensei."
"See you tomorrow, Rin."
Obito still seemed a little reluctant to leave, but after seeing both Zoro and Rin depart, he could only head back toward his own home.
At the same time, the moment Obito left Zoro's field of vision, Zoro vanished from where he stood.
Moving through the trees like a phantom, Zoro soon spotted Nohara Rin below, walking along the road back home.
He took out several stones he had prepared in advance and flicked them downward in quick succession.
"Who's there?"
The sharp sound of stones cutting through the air immediately caught Rin's attention. She turned around at once, pulled a kunai from her pouch, lowered her stance, and entered a combat posture.
Before she could identify the attacker, her vision suddenly went dark, and a cool sensation covered her eyes.
"Guess who?"
That familiar voice made Rin sigh in relief.
"Zoro-kun, you're teasing me again!"
Her voice carried a hint of bashfulness. She pulled Zoro's hands away and turned around, puffing her cheeks in annoyance.
"I came to apologize. About yesterday. Sorry, I made you dislike me."
Zoro looked at Rin, who was slightly shorter than him, a faint trace of apology appearing on his face.
At the same time, his other hand quietly held a specially made grip strengthener and began squeezing it.
As always, Zoro's strength had not been built overnight.
He would not waste even the smallest fragment of time that could make him stronger.
"Yesterday?"
Rin paused slightly.
"I didn't exactly dislike it. I was just startled."
"You didn't dislike it? That's good. But why didn't you talk to me this morning? I thought you hated me."
Zoro asked despite already knowing the answer, his face full of innocent confusion.
"That… that's because… because I forgot. Right, I just forgot to greet you."
Rin forced herself to appear calm.
"Oh, so you forgot. Really? Then why are your ears so red?"
Zoro gradually leaned closer, looking at Rin with a teasing expression as her ears turned red despite her stubborn denial.
"Hmph. Your ears are the red ones."
Knowing Zoro was deliberately trying to embarrass her, Rin stepped on his foot, then fled in a flustered hurry.
Watching her run off, Zoro's gaze slowly became calm again.
He opened his palm.
Inside, the ruined grip strengthener was especially conspicuous.
That afternoon, outside Nohara Rin's house, Zoro had dressed himself neatly and pressed the doorbell.
"Oh? It's Zoro. Are you here to play with Rin again?"
The woman who opened the door bore a strong resemblance to Rin. She was practically an older, long-haired version of her daughter.
Unfortunately, Zoro had not inherited any "MILF's Hunter ambition," and he had little interest in anything like a mother-daughter pair.
Of course, it was also entirely possible that he was simply afraid of losing control of the situation.
"Rin, Zoro is here to see you again! Hurry down!"
Nohara Rin came from an ordinary shinobi family, so her parents had a very favorable impression of Zoro.
"Eh?"
Inside her room, Rin froze slightly. She had not expected Zoro to come looking for her again, especially when they had a mission tomorrow.
Over the past two months, Zoro had come to see her at almost the same time every day. Through that uninterrupted time together, their relationship had naturally grown much closer.
"Okay, Mom. Wait a moment."
Rin looked at the clothes spread across her bed. Though she answered quickly, her mind had already started turning over what she should wear.
"Come in, Zoro. Why don't you have some tea while you wait?"
Rin's mother warmly invited Zoro inside.
After learning that Zoro was powerful and also her daughter's teammate, she naturally hoped he would look after Rin more during missions.
"That's all right, Auntie. Rin should be out soon."
Zoro politely declined the invitation from this older version of Rin. Remembering how overly enthusiastic she had been before, he felt somewhat unable to handle it.
"All right then. Rin, hurry up! Zoro is getting anxious waiting for you."