"I'm back."
Obito walked to the entryway, changing his shoes while happily telling his grandmother that he had returned.
"Huh, could granny be out for a walk?" Obito was a bit puzzled not getting a response.
Usually, whenever he called out that he was back, his grandmother would either come to the door to greet him or respond with her voice.
Obito walked inside and realized it wasn't that his grandmother wasn't home, but that a guest had come, and she was entertaining the guest, which is why she didn't respond immediately.
"Obito, welcome home," his grandmother said with a gentle smile.
Obito curiously glanced at the guest sitting in the living room, a brown-haired middle-aged man dressed in dark blue clothes.
Although he didn't know who it was, Obito was certain he was a ninja from the Uchiha Clan because the brown-haired man wore a ninja headband, and there was an Uchiha fan emblem on his back.
"Obito, you're just in time, say hello to Uncle Yashiro," his grandmother reminded him.
"Hello, Uncle Yashiro," Obito dutifully greeted the guest as instructed by his grandmother.
Uchiha Yashiro smiled, kindly praising, "Obito, is it? You're doing very well."
"Among the Uchihas your age, you're one of the most outstanding."
"Hehe, it's alright," Obito scratched his head and chuckled, not feeling too much about it in his heart.
After all, he didn't know this Uchiha Yashiro before him, so naturally, a stranger's praise wouldn't stir much emotion, unlike his grandmother or Nohara Rin or Mokgetsu.
"By the way, Grandma, I got first place for the whole grade in the practical exam!" Obito couldn't wait to share this good news.
"Yes, our Obito is truly impressive. After you graduate, I'm sure you'll become an excellent ninja," his grandmother praised, gently ruffling Obito's hair with a smile.
Uchiha Yashiro secretly nodded upon hearing Obito's words, believing Obito was indeed worth his visit.
While being first in the grade doesn't guarantee how strong he'll become in the future, it proves his current excellence.
He recalled an Uchiha named Tekka, the same age as Obito, whose strength was quite good for their age, but even Tekka hadn't achieved first in the whole grade.
"Keep up the good work and strive to become a ninja worthy of carrying the Uchiha legacy," Uchiha Yashiro said.
With that, Uchiha Yashiro placed some nutritional supplements he had brought on the table, along with fifty thousand ryo.
"The Uchiha do not begrudge rewarding outstanding clansmen. This is a reward for your achievements," Uchiha Yashiro said.
He certainly didn't come to just chat with Obito's grandmother; while there are some familial ties among the Uchiha, normally, no Uchiha would waste time chatting with elders unless they are direct relatives.
He came to Obito's home specifically to give him this reward.
This is a policy within the Uchiha clan: if any clansman far exceeds their peers in strength, they receive a reward.
Obito could have received this reward at the end of the term.
But the Uchiha leadership didn't assign someone to specifically keep an eye on Ninja School results, and Obito only had his grandmother and was only familiar with one other Uchiha, Shisui, so he had very little presence within the Uchiha.
It was only recently that the Uchiha noticed that this previously unnoticed Uchiha child, Obito, had turned into an Uchiha prodigy.
"Train well from now on. After you graduate, you can join the clan's police squad, and I'll personally guide you then," Uchiha Yashiro continued.
In big clans, ninjas always have certain privileges.
The Hyuga Clan's privilege is that members of the Main Family can skip Ninja Academy, receive education within the clan, become Genin, and then take the Chunin Examination.
The Uchiha Clan's privilege is control over the Konoha Police Department.
The Konoha Police Department is entirely run by the Uchiha, and everyone in the department is an Uchiha ninja. The Uchiha decide what positions their clansmen assume.
If Obito can maintain such excellent strength in the future, Uchiha Yashiro wouldn't mind being a mentor on Obito's ninja journey.
The premise is maintaining such excellence; otherwise, he'd only guide Obito initially in familiarizing him with the work.
The Uchiha Clan's ancestral motto has always been 'the strong reign supreme,' with no regard for the weak. If you have strength, you can have everything; without it, no matter how difficult things are, no one would care.
"Thank you so much, I'll train hard," Obito said gratefully, choosing to selectively ignore Uchiha Yashiro's mention of joining the police squad.
Seeing Obito's grateful expression, Uchiha Yashiro nodded to himself.
"Interact more with peers and seniors in the Uchiha Clan. Clan members are the most reliable strength."
"After you graduate as a Genin, you can apply to the clan to learn new Fire Release Ninjutsu." With that, Uchiha Yashiro left Obito's home.
"Our Obito is truly promising. Even your father never received a reward from the clan; you're already more outstanding than he was," his grandmother said with a cheerful laugh.
"Father..." Obito tried recalling in his mind but couldn't find any memories associated with the word father.
His parents died before he could remember.
However, precisely because he had no memory of them, Obito's childhood was quite happy, since he had his grandmother with him, he didn't lack the love of an elder.
"Grandma, please put the money away quickly, or the wind might blow it away." Obito organized the money on the table and handed it to his grandmother.
"Obito, you keep it to buy something to eat. This is what you earned yourself, grandma doesn't need it." His grandmother said with a kindly smile.
"Then I'll save the money with you, grandma, I'm afraid of losing it." Obito thought for a moment, took out a hundred ryo, and then handed the rest of the money to his grandmother.
In the end, his grandmother accepted the money from Obito with a relieved expression.
"Obito, you really have become sensible." His grandmother sighed, "I just wonder when I'll be able to hold my great-grandchild."
Hearing his grandmother mention having grandchildren, Obito's face quickly reddened, and he reminded:
"Grandma, I'm still in school!"
Obito's grandmother smiled and said: "You can start developing relationships even in school. Your father was your mother's classmate, you know."
"I think young Rin is a good girl, she seems very caring. How have you been getting along lately?"
"I have to go study now!" Obito said, running up the stairs with a flushed face.
...
"Round and round, looks like this is the place." Mokgetsu looked up at the shop's name before walking in.
He felt that the shop owner's naming sense was somewhat abstract. If it weren't for the words like 'ninja tools' written beside the shop's name, most people would probably have no clue what the shop was selling.
If it hadn't been for Minato's recommendation, Mokgetsu would probably have gone to a ninja tools shop with a more normal name.
As he walked inside, Mokgetsu glanced around; the walls behind the counters were filled with various ninja tools, including kunai and shuriken of all kinds.
Compared to its name, the interior layout was no different from any ordinary ninja tools shop.
"Customer, are you looking for some ninja tools?" A young man with a warm smile walked up and asked.
"Can I use your equipment to forge ninja tools myself? I might need some assistance during the process." Mokgetsu asked directly.
"Borrow equipment to forge your own?" The young man was a bit taken aback. He had been running the ninja tools shop for a few years and had never encountered such a request before.
"If you're looking to create specific ninja tools, our shop does offer customization services." The young owner thought for a moment and said.
Mokgetsu felt that the owner misunderstood his intention, so he explained:
"I'm planning to personally forge a ninja tool as a gift for someone. I'm more focused on the sentiment of making it by hand rather than its practicality."
"That's how it is, then. You really are putting your heart into it." The young owner showed a look of sudden understanding.
"Whether it's for using the equipment or needing assistance, I will compensate accordingly. If any accidents occur during the process, I'll take responsibility," Mokgetsu stated.
Mokgetsu hadn't spent his salary and bonus from the end of last term. Moreover, with the wages from the summer special training and this month's salary from the new term, he was confident about a budget within seven hundred thousand ryo.
Mokgetsu felt it shouldn't be that extravagant. After all, he wasn't asking for something made of pure Chakra metal or meteorite iron.
A normal quality kunai generally costs about two hundred ryo, even at a thousand times that, it would only be two hundred thousand ryo.
"It must be for someone important, right? Luckily you came to me. Nowadays, Konoha Ninja Tools Shop mainly gets their goods from other places and rarely has forging equipment for ninja tools anymore." The young owner thought for a moment and said.
Originally, he was thinking of refusing, but considering Mokgetsu's sincerity and his offer of compensation, he decided to agree.
"Come with me." The young owner called a young woman, seemingly around his age, to watch the store, and then led Mokgetsu out of the ninja tools shop.
Mokgetsu followed the young owner to their backyard warehouse.
"I occasionally forge some premium ninja tools myself to sell, but it's less frequent now as selling regular ninja tools is more profitable," the young owner pointed to the forging equipment inside the warehouse.
"Now everything is mass-produced in factories, the times have changed." The young owner lamented.
When he was a child, he often learned how to forge various ninja tools from his father. But over the last ten years, things changed, and pure hand-forged ninja tools became not only more labor-intensive but also less efficient.
Then the two discussed the price, with Mokgetsu needing to cover all material costs during the process, besides paying for the owner's guidance.
Mokgetsu planned to practice initially with regular materials and switch to higher-quality ones after getting the hang of it.
The birthdays of his three students were Shisui on October 19th, Might Guy on January 1st, and Obito on February 10th.
The closest one was Shisui's, just eight days away. Given the books he had read on the subject, Mokgetsu felt that using Shadow Clones to speed up the learning might just help him make it in time.
Training with Shadow Clones for Ninjutsu is Chakra-intensive, as each clone needs enough Chakra to use Ninjutsu. But for forging, it's different; the key is not to overdo it to avoid accumulating too much fatigue.
Moreover, for the final forging, he could have the owner's full assistance, compensating for many deficiencies.