"So, you two aren't coming to school anymore, and that blonde guy is your new teacher?"
Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Obito still inevitably fell into a gloomy mood.
"He looks only a little older than us. Is he really that amazing?" he grumbled unhappily.
"We'll find out if he's strong or not tomorrow," Qiyun said nonchalantly as he turned the grilled meat.
"Teacher Minato is a Special Jonin," Kakashi said.
Obito gave an awkward, disgruntled hum, immediately picked up a piece of freshly grilled meat, shoved it straight into his mouth, and then burned his tongue so badly that he spat it right out.
"Ow ow ow... hot hot hot!"
"Drink some water." Qiyun passed his own cup to Obito.
Obito immediately took it and chugged several large gulps before he finally recovered. Opening his misty eyes, he grievance-lacedly said, "I almost burned to death."
He opened his mouth slightly, revealing a small, red tip of his tongue.
"Serves you right," Kakashi said speechlessly. Every time Obito did something stupid, it lowered the bar even further.
"Wh—what do you mean? I just got burned! And you're actually mocking me, Kakashi!" Obito spat out his tongue while indignantly accusing Kakashi.
"I didn't say anything wrong," Kakashi rolled his eyes. "A shinobi actually getting burned while eating—are you an idiot?"
"Even shinobi have moments of carelessness, you know." Qiyun spoke up just in time. Dealing with Obito and Kakashi required cutting off their bickering like this, or he would be driven crazy.
Qiyun's eyes curved into crescents. "Besides, Obito hasn't graduated yet; he can't be called a shinobi yet."
Obito, who had just been happy that Qiyun was speaking up for him, instantly stopped smiling.
"I'm going to be the Hokage! Just a mere Genin, I can do that in no time!"
Kakashi: "Hmph."
Ever since he met Obito, this kid had the ambition of becoming Hokage constantly on his lips, and Qiyun was already used to it. What he was more curious about was why Obito was so obsessed with the Hokage.
"Speaking of which, Obito, why do you want to become the Hokage?" Qiyun asked.
To be honest, if you went around the classroom asking your classmates about their dreams, most people would say the Hokage. But that was as unrealistic as elementary school students in his past life bragging about wanting to become scientists and astronauts. Many people simply realized from adults and their surrounding environment that it was a cool profession, and very few actually worked toward it.
But Obito... when he said he wanted to be Hokage, his tone was quite firm. This wasn't just idle talk for fun; Qiyun believed he wasn't misreading that.
Hearing Qiyun ask this, Obito's expression also turned serious. He fell silent for a moment before saying, "I... heard that because my parents died on the battlefield, I'm an orphan. I've always wondered why there has to be war, and why we have to go to the battlefield in the first place. The adults in the clan say that when the Hokage gives an order, we have to obey, so..."
Obito looked absent-minded. Although he had nothing to begin with and had never seen his parents, this didn't stop him from empathizing with those who fell from heaven into hell. He felt they must be in much more pain than he was.
"So, you want to become the Hokage to stop the war?" Qiyun looked at Obito, who rare for him wore a gloomy expression, and saw him nod, confirming Qiyun's statement.
Kakashi was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected Obito's reason for wanting to become the Hokage to be so serious—it must be because Obito acted foolishly so often on ordinary days!
Except...
Before Qiyun could even speak, Kakashi said bluntly, "Too naive. Even the Hokage can't do that."
"Why?" Obito asked anxiously. "Everyone says the Hokage can do anything..." If that was the case, why couldn't he stop the war?
"I keep telling you to listen carefully in class." Kakashi couldn't help but palm his forehead. "Out of the two Shinobi World Wars, which one was started by Konoha? To put it bluntly, the other shinobi villages come to attack us, so we have no choice but to fight back. Even the Hokage can't control other villages."
Listening to Kakashi's words, Obito opened his mouth, wanting to refute something, only to find he was completely speechless.
The little black-haired boy instantly plunged into a depressed mood, and even his unruly, spiked hair seemed to wilt. The fists resting on the table tightened involuntarily.
"How could this be... In that case, can wars never be stopped... Will we still have to watch everyone die because of war..." Obito muttered. As he spoke, his eyes reddened again, and his words took on a crying tone. "I can't accept a world like this!"
Kakashi's words just now shattered the illusion in Obito's heart that the Hokage was omnipotent, and the goal he had been striving for fractured along with it.
Obito's parents had died on the battlefield, and the people he helped on ordinary days also had family members who died in war. When discussing lost family, Obito always felt a deep sense of empathy when looking at the tears and dimness in their eyes, feeling that pain firsthand.
War was wrong, and wrong things should be eliminated. All the village's decisions were determined by the Hokage, so if he became the Hokage, wouldn't he be able to put an end to war?
Obito had always, always believed this.
Yet the innocent dream of a youth was mercilessly shattered today. Perhaps he had realized it long ago, but simply refused to believe it.
The Uchiha were quite emotional people, and even someone who seemed as carefree as Obito was no exception. Unsurprisingly, he was emo. As everyone knew, you couldn't let an Uchiha think, or else they would arrive at a conclusion that would make the world suffer.
But who asked the person here to be Qiyun, who knew nothing of this? He propped his chin on his hand and looked at Obito across the table. In his perception, the cold, dark chakra around Obito's eyes was increasing; it seemed on the verge of breaking through a boundary in the next moment.
Could it be the Sharingan? he thought. Obito always claimed he would be strong once his eyes awakened, though he would mumble and fail to explain how to awaken them. But seeing this scene today, Qiyun suddenly understood the condition for unlocking the Sharingan.
Ultimate emotion, huh... The corners of his mouth curved up. Since that was the case, he would give Obito a little help.
"That's right, the essence of humanity is greed, and so-called war is merely a means to achieve resource plunder, not an end in itself. Precisely because Konoha's resources are richer than those of other shinobi villages, they have constantly waged war against Konoha. Therefore, for Konoha, war is unavoidable," Qiyun said coldly. "Dad, the intelligence from the White Fang says that in the border area with the Land of Lightning, the Cloud shinobi are starting to frequently explore Konoha's borders once again. Barring any accidents, this is the precursor to war."
Although it was just something Sakumo had mentioned casually, Qiyun didn't mind magnifying the issue and telling Obito.
Hearing this intelligence, Obito's breathing hitched. He didn't doubt Qiyun's words at all. If war really was coming, their generation would undoubtedly be the ones sent to the battlefield.
War meant death...
Obito raised his head to meet Qiyun's gaze. Through the wisps of hot steam, the silver-haired, blue-eyed boy's features were somewhat blurred, and it felt as though he saw blood staining them over.
The mere thought that Qiyun might die on the battlefield and they would never see each other again filled Obito with pain.
His eyes began to sting and grow hot, swelling as warm liquid fell from the corners of his eyes.
How humiliating. He was definitely crying again.
Obito sniffed and instinctively raised a hand to wipe the tears from his face.
"Obito!" Qiyun stood up and grabbed Obito's wrist.
Obito looked up at Qiyun with a face full of confusion, not understanding why he was grabbing him, while Kakashi beside them also wore a surprised expression.
"What's wrong?" He still hadn't figured out the situation.
"Idiot, your eyes have awakened," Kakashi said.
Obito: "Huh?"
Qiyun pulled out a tissue and wiped the bloody trails from Obito's face. Obito had successfully awakened his eyes, though Qiyun hadn't expected an Uchiha's eye awakening to involve bloody tears. Paired with those reddened eyes, it looked rather creepy.
Looking at the bloodstains on the tissue, Qiyun couldn't help frowning. Eye awakening actually caused bleeding—wouldn't this Sharingan have some kind of aftereffects?
"I... I awakened my eyes?" Obito repeated in a daze. Only now did he realize how clear the world was in his eyes; even the dancing dust motes in the light were clearly visible.
"Take a look." The omnipotent Kakashi pulled out a small mirror.
Seeing the single tomoe in his own eyes in the mirror, Obito finally confirmed the fact that he had awakened his eyes.
"I awakened my eyes!" Instantly tossing his depression behind him, Obito was wild with joy and couldn't help laughing out loud. "What did I say? This great guy is a genius!"
One had to know that an Uchiha possessed Chunin-level strength the moment their eyes awakened, and Obito was only six years old this year. An Uchiha who awakened their eyes at this age could naturally be called a genius. Obito, who had been at the bottom of the class at school, had the feeling of a flipped-over tenant peasant singing songs of triumph.
However, before Obito could even gloat for long, his single-tomoe Sharingan automatically deactivated due to insufficient chakra.
Qiyun asked about Obito's feelings after awakening his eyes, and said, "It's indeed a decent ability, but the Sharingan requires chakra to maintain. With your current chakra, you won't be able to keep it up for long."
Obito scratched his head, his previously inflated mood subsiding, and immediately thought of the vision he had before his eyes awakened.
"Is war coming again? Qiyun, you absolutely mustn't die..." Obito grabbed Qiyun's hand with tear-filled eyes, only finally remembering Kakashi off to the side. "Oh, and Kakashi."
"Being lumped in as an afterthought really hurts me," Kakashi gave a deadpan stare. "And why are you presuming that me and Onii-chan are going to die?"
"Because... because... in times like this, no one can say for sure..." Obito pouted. "So aren't I forced to think of the worst-case scenario?"
"Indeed, the battlefield changes in an instant, and it's hard to say what might happen," Qiyun said. Seeing Obito's crying-cat-head appearance, he couldn't help but smile, reaching out to ruffle that prickly hair. "However, I can promise you, I won't die. Neither will Kakashi, of course. As your older brother, I will protect you well."
Kakashi fell silent for a moment, then said, "I will protect you too, Onii-chan."
Even if his current level wasn't high enough, he would never hold his older brother back. He was determined to become Qiyun's solid backing.
"Ah, I believe you." Qiyun and Kakashi exchanged a mutual smile, everything understood without needing words.
"Hey, hey, don't ignore me," Obito tugged pitifully at the corner of Qiyun's clothes. "Since your class still has room for one more person, and I've awakened the Sharingan, can I... can I..."
Obito stammered, unable to bring himself to say he wanted to be in the same class. His Uchiha overthinking habit was acting up again; he wanted to rightfully be in the same class as Qiyun and Kakashi through proper means rather than pulling strings, but he also worried that by the time he became a Genin a year later, Qiyun and the others would already have teammates. He didn't dare gamble on that at all.
"You want to be our teammate?" Qiyun asked.
"Yeah, yeah!" Obito nodded repeatedly. "I... I won't hold you back either! The Sharingan is super useful!"
As if afraid Qiyun would refuse, Obito added, "I can use Genjutsu, and I can see the flow of chakra. It'll come in handy!"
"I know," Qiyun nodded, then his eyes rolled. "But according to the Uchiha's rules, awakening the eyes means joining the Military Police Force. Obito, are you sure you can be with us?"
Konoha's Military Police Force was the Uchiha's Military Police Force—this was the Second Hokage's sugar-coated cannonball. The Uchiha had swallowed the sugar, which also planted hidden dangers for their future.
Although they were the largest clan after the decline of the Senju clan, the Uchiha's manpower was still insufficient to manage Konoha's growing population. What's more, the police department managed everything; anyone who had worked within the system knew that the most troublesome and frequent matters were civil disputes, and the Uchiha loved to rigidly enforce the rules by the book. Sometimes, even the smallest issue would result in people being locked up for a few days. Over time, the reputation of the Military Police Force stank.
Yet the Uchiha felt wronged too. Ever since Uchiha Madara as a rogue ninja controlled the Nine-Tails to attack Konoha, they could sense the fear and exclusion from the villagers. But the shinobi era was already established, and the Uchiha had seen the fate of the Land of Whirlpools; without the Mangekyou Sharingan, they couldn't stand alone, so they had no choice but to muddle through.
Working overtime every day, enduring the cold glides of the villagers, and being excluded by other shinobi clans—it would be a miracle if the Uchiha didn't get depressed.
"Oh right, there's also the Military Police Force." Obito only then remembered the work of the Military Police Force. Although it wouldn't exploit a six-year-old brat like him just yet, the fact that they were short-handed was undeniable.
The iron rice bowl of the Military Police Force was indeed nice, but Obito wanted even more to be with his little buddies. As a result, that round face showed a deeply conflicted expression. "I... I can't decide, but I want to be teammates with Qiyun..."
Qiyun chuckled. "Forget it, who can predict the future?"
Sakumo was using his military exploits to trade for Qiyun and Kakashi to learn the Flying Thunder God technique with Minato, and he himself was preparing to retire, having already completed the deal with the Third Hokage. This was originally going quite smoothly, but the border harassment undoubtedly signaled that the Shinobi World was going to be unstable again. It hadn't even been a decade of peace!
"Qiyun, is there really no way to achieve peace?" Before the dinner ended, Obito couldn't help asking again.
He knew his brain was slow, and having lost his goal of becoming the Hokage, he completely lost sight of any direction forward. Thus, he couldn't help but rely on the smartest person he knew.
"Peace, huh..." Qiyun sighed.
Even in his past life, even while maintaining surface-level peace, regional conflicts were unavoidable until contradictions could no longer be diverted, and a war between major powers finally erupted. Fights among ordinary people were bloody, with casualties counted in the millions. It was precisely at that time that extraordinary individuals abruptly rose to prominence, but that also led to a series of subsequent tragedies.
Drawing his attention away from the memories of his past life, Qiyun came back to his senses and replied, "Yes, of course there is a way to achieve peace."
Facing Obito's suddenly brightening eyes, Qiyun smiled slightly.
"Then let the world have only one voice. If everyone belongs to the same country, naturally there won't be any war."
Unify the regime, allocate internal resources, and then burst forth out of this planet. The deep universe was filled everywhere with resources and opportunities.