"Then we'll start by training in the most fundamental chakra control techniques: tree climbing and water walking ninjutsu."
Minato Namikaze addressed the three students of Kakashi's class:
"Zabuza should need about a week to recover. So, if you can master chakra-assisted tree climbing within four days, you'll have about two days left to learn water walking. Once you've mastered climbing trees with chakra, water walking will be much easier. So don't rush it—focus on perfecting your chakra control first."
"Mm-hmm." Naruto nodded vigorously.
"First, extract chakra from the forty trillion cells throughout your body. Use your physical and mental energy to maintain chakra balance, then focus your mind to gather the chakra at your feet..."
While Minato taught, not just Sasuke and Sakura, but even Naruto sat with unusual focus.
"That must be the sensei's natural charisma," Kakashi sighed. "The kids always cause trouble during my lessons."
Obito tilted his head at him. "Who would've thought your sharp tongue actually healed? I still can't picture you as that clumsy Kakashi I knew..."
Kakashi couldn't resist using his height advantage to ruffle Obito's hair. "Because I made so many mistakes and learned many painful lessons, I finally recognized my faults. Changing was only natural, right?"
"Hey! Don't touch my head, you jerk! Just thinking about you being that dumb Kakashi makes me cringe!"
"Hahaha, sorry, sorry."
Kakashi pulled back the forehead protector covering his left eye, revealing his three tomoe Sharingan.
Obito also concentrated, imagining the sensation of opening his eyes, and instantly revealed his own two-tomoe Sharingan.
"For some reason, I think you'd look pretty good with red Sharingan eyes too." Obito stared at Kakashi's eyes and blurted out without thinking.
A vague thought lingered in his mind, one he couldn't quite grasp. He had awakened a two-tomoe Sharingan. After his death, his eyes were placed in Kakashi. Could they still upgrade to three tomoe?
"By the way, Kakashi. Were your eyes already three tomoe when you got them?"
"They were two tomoe when I got them."
"Then tell me, under what circumstances did yours become three tomoe?"
"During... the most desperate moment."
"Despair?" Obito thought for a moment. It seemed he too had awakened his Sharingan out of despair after seeing a vision in his dream that plunged him into hellish despair.
"Could it be that the condition for awakening is imagining something utterly despairing?" Obito wondered if he should add a meditation session to his nightly routine.
Kakashi pulled out a scroll containing over a thousand shuriken.
Perhaps because Obito always had an unyielding spirit during his training with Kakashi, he focused with unprecedented intensity during the exercise of dodging shuriken attacks using his Sharingan!
The results, as Minato had predicted, showed remarkable progress.
Rin learned self-defense techniques from young Kakashi. Her results weren't outstanding, but she did make some progress.
During lunch break, Sakura saw Rin treating small cuts on Obito's body caused by shuriken. Noticing Sasuke also had minor scrapes, she shyly approached her and asked if she could teach her Medical Ninjutsu too.
Naruto chuckled upon hearing this and immediately joined in, hoping Sakura would learn to heal him too.
Ever since Rin learned Naruto was the son of Minato and Kushina, she regarded him as a little prince—someone who absolutely had to be spoiled! She readily agreed to teach Sakura Medical Ninjutsu.
Minato: "Sakura has the finest chakra control. She should be exceptionally suited for medical ninjutsu."
"Really?!!" Hearing praise from the legendary Fourth Hokage, Sakura could scarcely believe it.
Minato nodded with a smile. "You've completed your tree-climbing training. Now follow Rin to learn medical ninjutsu. During her sessions, you can practice independently with the missions she assigns."
In contrast, Naruto and Sasuke felt a bit down.
Sakura could climb a twenty-meter tree independently after just one demonstration from the Fourth Hokage, while they could barely make it seven or eight meters before having to jump down.
"Fourth Hokage~" Naruto started using his whining tactic, "Isn't there any way you could help Sasuke and me learn faster?"
Though he disdained Naruto acting like a child with the Fourth Hokage, Sasuke also quietly pricked up his ears to listen.
Minato: "There are no shortcuts in training. The reason you and Sasuke find it harder than Sakura is because the chakra within you is greater. That makes it naturally more difficult to break the balance."
Sasuke and Naruto froze.
...