Chapter 125: Reunion
For Obito, the world had always been simple.
He was a loser, an Uchiha nobody expected much from, but he had two good friends.
Rin Nohara, who promised to watch him march toward the Hokage seat. And Kakashi Hatake, who was arrogant on the outside but, deep down, genuinely kind. Obito trusted them. Always had.
Three years ago, Aizen and Kakashi left the village for reasons no one ever explained to him. Obito never believed the whispers about betrayal. Honestly, nobody really accused Aizen of defecting either. Even now, whether Aizen Sousuke counted as a rogue ninja was still something people argued about in the Chakra Network, then forgot, then argued about again.
Within the Uchiha clan, there were not many harsh words aimed at Aizen. So to Obito, their so called defection felt less like treachery and more like… they just got tired of home and wanted to live somewhere else. He understood that better than anyone. Obito hated staying in the clan compound too. If he could spend every day with Rin and Kakashi instead, that was all that mattered.
So no matter what people said, Obito still called Kakashi his friend. And he had always hoped he could drag that stubborn genius back to Konoha one day.
As for why he could not go with Kakashi, that was simple too.
Rin was still in Konoha.
Rin often sighed that she had been too young back then to go with Aizen, and she still had not received any invitation from Las Noches. So in every way that mattered, it felt better for Kakashi to come back.
Now, staring at Kakashi in his proctor badge, Obito's regret practically spilled out of his ears.
If I had not talked so much trash, I would not be dying like this right now.
Having a proctor nearby was already pressure. Having a familiar proctor nearby was worse. Having Kakashi Hatake silently watching you with that dead calm eye was a whole different kind of terror.
Obito's heart bled in silence. He clenched his teeth, lowered his head, and forced himself to focus on the paper.
Thankfully, because this was the first Chunin Exam jointly held by all villages, Konoha did not pull any weird stunts like team spirit tests, group eliminations, or psychological traps on day one. It was just a basic placement written exam. Nothing more.
No cheating games. No fancy collusion rules. No nightmare questions disguised as puzzles. The paper was straightforward, almost gentle. That alone eased him a little.
Even with Rin living rent free in his skull, Obito still tried to answer properly.
Once the test began, Kakashi did not deliberately rattle desks or stare him down with intimidation. He simply stood there, quiet and still, watching Obito bite the end of his pen like it was his last lifeline.
There was no chaos like Obito had imagined. No grandstanding. No humiliation. No students trying to sabotage each other for pride.
This was a world where acting reckless could get you killed, and not in a dramatic heroic way either. More like dying in some ditch nobody remembered.
Between that pressure and the rise of the Chakra Network, the kids had gotten weirdly sensible. Everyone knew what it felt like to be destroyed by some anonymous powerhouse online. Nobody wanted to gamble their real future on hotheaded pride.
So with the classroom calm and the proctors strict, the written test ended quietly. No major surprises at all.
Strictly speaking, the only real commotion was still Obito's earlier meltdown in the corridor when Rin got assigned to a different room. Compared to the grand scale of this joint exam, that was barely a footnote.
When Kakashi collected the papers and handed them to a semi mechanical proctor from Sunagakure, Obito almost wondered if this was all a dream.
That was it?
The Chunin Exams that everyone had hyped up like a horror story were… this normal?
As the genin started filing out in small groups, Obito sat there blankly. His single tomoe Sharingan spun slowly, and it felt like some dramatic illusion in his head had just shattered.
"Hey, Obito. If you are done, leave," Kakashi said from the doorway. "You are blocking people."
"Huh? Ah, right."
Obito stood, but then something clicked inside him.
He walked straight over to Kakashi, planted both hands on his shoulders, and stared into his eye with the kind of seriousness only clueless children could pull off.
Kakashi lifted an eyebrow, unbothered.
"What now?"
"It's been three years. Three years. Do you know how much Rin has missed you?"
"We have the Chakra Network," Kakashi said dryly. "You can talk there. You do not need to obsess over meeting in real life."
"How can the network compare to reality?" Obito snapped, like that was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. "Come on. Let's go find Rin. She should be done soon."
"Eh…"
"What are you hesitating for? That's Rin. We need to check if she is okay."
Before Kakashi could dodge, Obito hooked an arm around him and dragged him forward.
Just like three years ago in the Academy.
Obito was always the one coming up with ridiculous ideas, then physically hauling Kakashi along whether he liked it or not. Back then Kakashi would try to resist, remember his father's advice, fail anyway, and somehow end up with Rin and the rest of them.
There used to be another loud kid too, a young beast named Might Guy who called Kakashi his rival at least twice per breathing cycle.
But Guy had volunteered to become the second ninja in Konoha to impress everyone after Aizen's departure, or at least that was what Obito had heard. Obito wondered what happened to that weird, passionate guy who never shut up about youth. Even though he was not old, it felt like he was walking straight through memory.
They staggered together to the front of the exam building. Obito even spent a few coins on two tiny bags of shaved ice and shoved one into Kakashi's hands.
Then they waited in the shade for Rin to come out.
Obito munched on his ice, then glanced sideways at Kakashi, who still looked distant and worn out. He watched the steady stream of genin leaving the halls, and suddenly spoke like he was talking about the weather.
"Hey, Kakashi. Are you even listening to me?"
"Hm?"
"Let's go back to Konoha."
Kakashi did not reply right away.
Obito leaned against the tree, goggles crooked, voice softer now.
"I don't understand adult politics. I don't know theories. I'm just an idiot. So I'll do what an idiot should do."
He stared forward, not really looking at anything.
"I don't have many friends. The only people who have been truly good to me, the only ones who never lied to me, are you and Rin. I'm close to just you two. Everyone looks down on me, thinks I don't deserve Rin, but I know she's lonely after you left. I don't want her to be lonely."
His fingers tightened around the melting bag.
"And I'm lonely too. My best friend left without me even knowing why. When I finally found you through the Chakra Network, I was so happy. I kept talking to you, but you barely replied. I know you're amazing and I'm not. But I don't want us to stay separated."
Obito rambled like he always did, piling up small truths he usually kept buried.
He was not smart. He was not famous. He was not talented in any special way, even for an Uchiha.
But he remembered things.
He remembered Kakashi using Earth Release to disappear during hide and seek so he could win without effort. He remembered the tiny habits, the small moments, the way their childhood had felt before everything got complicated.
Kakashi listened in silence, eating his shaved ice like nothing in the world could touch him. Then he exhaled.
"It's different. I've betrayed the village."
Obito blinked at him.
"What did you do to betray the village?"
Kakashi paused.
"Did you do something bad to Konoha?"
"Ah?"
Obito squinted, baffled.
"So if you didn't, why can't you come back?"
He tilted his head, looking at Kakashi like the answer should be obvious.
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