"How could this happen?" Obito rubbed his head. "Are we really going to compete with Kakashi's students for missions?!"
The Hokage would never assign two conflicting missions.
So, ninjas didn't need to worry about receiving a protection mission while another ninja in the same village gets a corresponding assassination mission.
Minato: "Clearly, whoever posted this mission scroll doesn't care about our safety the way the Hokage does."
"Could this be someone's prank?" Kakashi asked. "The only person who could access both Obito's and Naruto's ninja pouches…" The only suspect he could think of was the mission's client.
As an ordinary person with low visibility, they could have slipped the scroll into their pouches while the group was distracted meeting people from the future…
And weren't they the ones with a grudge against the masked man—the one who took Zabuza?
Minato shook his head. "They're ordinary people. They couldn't possibly possess Space-Time Ninjutsu or Fūinjutsu more refined than mine. Besides, bringing us to the future itself is an incredibly improbable feat."
Obito: "Could it be that the masked man we're supposed to kill isn't the same one Naruto and the others are trying to save? With so many masked men in this world, it's unlikely they're all the same, right?"
Kakashi: "But how many of them do you think could qualify for an SSS-rank mission?"
"..." Even one would be terrifying enough.
Minato gazed at the moonlit sky. "That's enough for today. I estimate Zabuza will need about another week to recover. We have plenty of time for intensive training."
"Intensive training?"
"Our village has been severely understaffed during this period, leaving little time to train you properly. Now that we have the chance, I've decided to intensify your combat simulation drills!"
"Sensei!!"
So that means...
Even though we shouldn't alter the future, he wants to use this special training to give us one more shot at survival?!!
"And Obito," Minato suddenly added, "I want to test what happens if we complete the mission in the scroll. Please cooperate with me to finish the A-rank mission you have."
"But I've never met the Fourth Mizukage, Minato-sensei."
"It's fine. I've met him before. I'll teach you to mimic his mannerisms and tone using the Transformation Technique. Then, you can use that technique to talk to Zabuza."
Kakashi muttered, "If this idiot can even pass Transformation class."
"Tch! What did you say?!"
Minato and Rin stepped in to separate them. "Alright, it's bedtime for good children now."
Rin suddenly remembered something. "Minato-sensei."
"Hmm?"
"About Naruto-chan… Could it be that…" Her sharp mind had already pieced together the clues hinting at the connection between Naruto and Minato-sensei.
Minato blinked and made a 'shhh' gesture toward Rin.
Rin's eyes suddenly lit up!
"Really?! Really?! Minato-sensei!"
"It's true. I confirmed it with Kakashi. But he doesn't know about it himself, so don't tell Naruto, okay?"
"Okay!"
The two of them were speaking in riddles, making Kakashi and Obito exchange a glance, both curious about what they were talking about.
But Rin refused to tell them, leaving Obito so anxious he couldn't even sleep.
The next day, Team Minato and Team Kakashi had breakfast at the Tazuna family's house in the Land of Waves before heading into the forest for special training.
Kakashi was planning to teach Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura how to climb trees and walk on water.
Meanwhile, Minato arranged combat drills for his students, focusing especially on enhancing Obito and Rin's survival skills, counterattack techniques, and evasion abilities.
Young Kakashi found all of this too simple. After his future self finished teaching his students, he approached him and asked, "Have you thought of a way to overcome the drawbacks of Raikiri?" Earlier, while practicing Raikiri, Minato-sensei had once again forbidden him from using this incomplete ninjutsu.
Kakashi looked at his younger self. "I have found a way, but it will make you regret it for the rest of your life."
"Tell me what it is first."
Kakashi glanced at the young Obito training relentlessly. "At the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, Obito sacrificed himself to save me during the Iwa ambush. Before dying, he gave me this Sharingan as a jōnin gift, enabling me to complete the S-rank Lightning Release technique, Raikiri."
"!!!" Young Kakashi was stunned. Although he already knew Obito died in this future, giving him his Sharingan?! This... how could it be?!
Kakashi: "In our world's history, Obito also awakened his Sharingan to save me."
"So Obito isn't the class dunce in this world?!" Young Kakashi looked completely bewildered. Surely he wasn't so useless that he needed to be saved by a class dunce?!
"Obito isn't the dunce. He's... my hero."
"Kakashi, come here for a moment," Minato called out.
Both Kakashis approached him.
Minato sweatdropped. "Er, I only meant to call the older Kakashi over. You two really are hard to tell apart."
Obito quipped, "How about we just call this little one 'Kakashi-chan' then?!" He patted the shoulder of the Kakashi who was a year or two younger than him.
"Let go! You're the one who should be called Obito-chan!"
The older Kakashi pulled them apart and asked Minato-sensei what he needed.
"You're the one here most familiar with the Sharingan, so I'd like you to help train Obito."
Obito had skipped the single tomoe stage and awakened two tomoe right after his first awakening. He clearly possessed talent, but it had been stifled by a lack of proper training methods.
Only finding the right training approach could help him improve.
Kakashi was naturally more than willing.
But someone was not...
"Huh?!! If Kakashi-sensei is training Obito, then who's going to train us, dattebayo?!"
Though Naruto's words sounded displeased, his little eyes hinted at something else entirely.
Minato and Kakashi exchanged glances, both spotting a hint of amusement in each other's eyes.
"Then I'll take over your training." Minato's tone remained as polite as ever.
This allowed Naruto's 'scheme' to succeed, while leaving Sakura and Sasuke utterly astonished.
"You're kidding?! The Fourth Hokage-sama himself is going to guide our training?!!"
...