At the Dango Shop, Obito and his friends discussed for a while but still didn't figure out a gift for the five of them to give together. They decided to ask other teachers at the school and Mokgetsu's friends before making a decision.
After the meetup, Obito went home for dinner first and then returned to the main street in the city after eating.
In fact, even before this gathering, Obito had been thinking of giving Mokgetsu something, so he already had an idea of what gift to personally give to Mokgetsu.
Although Obito didn't know much about calligraphy, he would ask. By asking the bookstore owner, he learned that the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone in calligraphy are all quite particular.
Originally, he wanted to make a brush himself to gift to Mokgetsu, similar to how he crafted ninja tools with Mokgetsu. Later, he realized making a brush was too difficult; he wasn't cut out for it, so he temporarily gave up on that idea.
He chose to make an inkstone, which was comparatively simpler.
To Obito, an ordinary inkstone was just a stone with a hole in it, and a bit more complicated one had some carvings on the stone, which he believed he could manage.
After consulting many elderly grandpas and grandmas, Obito eventually got three stones from a grandpa who liked calligraphy, which could be used to make inkstones.
Feeling overjoyed, Obito paid the old man, then went to the bookstore to buy an inkstone and began pondering how to make one at home.
Obito didn't start right away because he hadn't even figured out what shape he wanted for the inkstone yet.
He took out a piece of white paper and a pen, wanting to first draw the design he had in mind.
Twenty minutes passed, and Obito looked at a rectangle with an uneven circle inside it and a blob of black lines next to it, feeling somewhat troubled.
The idea was great, but he couldn't draw.
Obito thought the Dragon Pattern Kunai that Mokgetsu gave him was really cool, and he also wanted to feature a similar dragon on the inkstone. But when it came to carving one, Obito didn't even know what he was drawing on paper.
"Damn it, drawing is so hard; it feels even harder than ninjutsu." Obito sighed and lay down on the desk.
"Should I ask Rin or Kakashi for help?" Two figures inadvertently popped into Obito's mind.
Nohara Rin had given birthday gifts in the form of drawings twice, and he felt that Nohara Rin was quite good at drawing.
As for Kakashi, although he hadn't seen Kakashi draw before, Obito just had a mysterious confidence that Kakashi definitely could draw, and at quite a decent level at that.
"No, the gift I'm giving shouldn't be made with someone else's help." Obito shook his head, dismissing the idea.
For a personal gift to Mokgetsu, Obito still wanted to try his best to complete it by himself. If someone else drew the design, it wouldn't count as his gift alone.
At this point, Obito suddenly had an idea: use the Shadow Clone Jutsu to quickly gain drawing experience.
After a Shadow Clone disperses, its memories return. If he creates a few clones to practice with him, it might just work out in time.
"If I time the Shadow Clone usage well, it shouldn't be too exhausting." The more Obito thought about it, the more he felt this was a good idea.
He couldn't handle the exhaustion from cultivating with Shadow Clones, but drawing for a while should be manageable.
However, Obito knew there was a fatal problem with his idea. Shadow Clones might not do what he wanted. In battle, Shadow Clones could execute various tactics without needing instructions, but in everyday life, if he asked a Shadow Clone to do homework, the clone might start fighting him.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Obito formed seals and created two Shadow Clones.
Since there was a solution, he had to give it a try no matter what.
Just as Obito was about to persuade the Shadow Clones to practice drawing, something unexpected happened.
One of the Shadow Clones took the initiative to walk to the table, pick up a pen, and start drawing, while the other clone found paper and a pen on the floor and began drawing there.
"What are you still standing around for? Hurry up and practice!" The Shadow Clone on the floor looked at Obito's main body with dissatisfaction.
Obito was dumbfounded and couldn't help but ask, "Why aren't you two slacking off this time, and are so proactive?"
He had mentally prepared for the Shadow Clones to slack off while he worked alone, yet the two Shadow Clones were unprecedentedly diligent.
The Shadow Clone sitting on the chair glanced at Obito and said, "Teacher Mokgetsu is so nice, of course, we have to do our best to give him the best gift."
"Instead of asking about this, hurry up and get to work. There's only a week left until the graduation exam; there's not much time." The Shadow Clone sitting on the floor continued to urge.
It was the first time Obito was urged into action by his own Shadow Clones, and with this new feeling, Obito quickly grabbed paper and pen to start drawing too.
Obito had a vague guess about why the Shadow Clones were behaving differently; it might be due to his own inner thoughts.
In his heart, he adamantly resisted doing homework. If it wasn't assigned by Mokgetsu, he wouldn't want to finish it. But this drawing was different; this time it was for gifting Mokgetsu a better gift, so his heart bore no resistance towards drawing.
That's probably why the Shadow Clones were so different now compared to when doing homework.
"Anyway, it's Senju Tobirama's fault for not considering this when developing the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Obito ultimately placed the blame on the developer of the ninjutsu.
After drawing for two and a half hours, Obito dispelled his Shadow Clone. The drawing experience of the Shadow Clone flowed into Obito's mind, causing him to show a hint of exhaustion.
Obito organized his memories and found that learning with the Shadow Clone Jutsu wasn't as efficient as he thought, because most of the practice experience was the same, and it didn't achieve the triple speed effect.
"It's better than doing it alone, and my strokes have become more practiced." Obito nodded in satisfaction after drawing another picture.
Although it was still far from the idea in his mind, it was better than the meaningless black scribbles at the beginning.
After practicing alone for another hour, Obito went to bed. Maybe it was because he was very tired, Obito felt a drowsiness as soon as he lay down and then fell asleep.
The next morning, Obito woke up at about the same time as usual due to his biological clock, and then washed up, had breakfast, and went to the Southern Border Forest for cultivation.
Maybe because he over-practiced before bed, Obito found himself constantly thinking about how everything he saw on the street would look on paper.
"Obito, good morning." Nohara Rin greeted Obito with a big smile.
Hearing Nohara Rin's voice, the drowsy Obito immediately woke up and smiled, greeting her, "Rin, good morning to you too."
"Obito, did you stay up late last night? You seemed a bit out of it just now." Nohara Rin asked with concern.
"Let me guess, were you busy preparing a gift for Teacher Mokgetsu?"
Given Nohara Rin's understanding of Obito, it was easy to guess since they were discussing gift-giving yesterday.
"Haha, Rin, you know me so well. But I didn't stay up late, I just used the Shadow Clone Jutsu to speed up my learning yesterday, so I was a bit tired, but it's nothing serious," Obito laughed and explained.
He did not stay up late because he heard that staying up late stunts growth, and he planned to become Hokage, so he couldn't afford to be short.
"Well, don't push yourself too hard. Regular training isn't easy either, and it's not good if you wear yourself out," Nohara Rin reminded him with a smile.
Obito patted his chest, chuckling, "I'm a man who's going to be Hokage; I know my limits. After all, if I have a problem, it's Konoha's loss."
Nohara Rin was amused by Obito's words and covered her mouth, laughing softly:
"Claiming it's Konoha's loss is a bit much. You're not Hokage yet, Obito."
"I think if you keep wasting Rin's time, then it'll cause Rin's loss," Kakashi commented in passing and walked towards the training ground without looking back.
"Damn Kakashi," Obito muttered, feeling a bit annoyed.
He was enjoying the smile on Nohara Rin's face when Kakashi suddenly showed up.
"We can't waste time, let's go train. We can chat during breaks," Nohara Rin smiled and headed to the training area.
Seeing this, Obito hurried to catch up with Nohara Rin, and they walked side by side.
By the time Obito and Rin arrived, Might Guy and Shisui were already training, and Kakashi had drawn out the White Fang Short Blade, ready to train as well.
Obito went over to Shisui and began his Armament Aura training.
Currently, the Constant State Breathing Technique was their main focus, but they never neglected their Armament Aura training. They practiced it two to three hours every day, with the rest of the time spent on the Constant State Breathing Technique.
Learning the Armament Aura can increase their cap, though it requires more Chakra. But Armament Aura is difficult; by the time they learn it, they'll have more Chakra than now.
After training, the five gathered again to discuss the matter of the gifts.
"Shisui, did your Shadow Clone find any useful information?" Obito asked.
Since Shisui's Shadow Clone still attended classes every day, he was tasked with asking the Ninja Academy teachers about it during class. The clone could ask while at school.
"No, those teachers don't understand Teacher Mokgetsu as well as we do," Shisui recalled the memories returned by the Shadow Clone and shook his head.
They knew that Mokgetsu liked egg dishes, while the Ninja Academy teachers only knew he enjoyed practicing calligraphy.
"What do we do then? The only person I remember as being kind of like friends with Teacher Mokgetsu is Minato-senpai, but he's on the battlefield," Obito thought for a moment and said.
"How about we make a tight suit for Teacher Mokgetsu together?" Might Guy suggested.
"I think that's not a good idea," Shisui refuted the suggestion.
"Guy, not everyone likes tight suits, especially green ones," Obito couldn't help but quip.
He couldn't imagine what Teacher Mokgetsu would look like in a green tight suit; it was too mismatched.
After a round of discussion, the five still couldn't make a decision, but they agreed they must finalize the gift by tomorrow, otherwise, there won't be enough time.