Qiyun's plan had no flaws in it; unfortunately, the one standing there was Konoha's Yellow Flash.
Before Kakashi could pull him underground, Minato tossed out two kunai, and in the next instant, Qingfeng caught sight of a chilling glint right before him, followed by a pair of glowing blue eyes mere inches away.
In the heat of the fast-paced combat, Minato's pupils contracted with excitement. A second later, he vanished from before the boy once more, reappearing right above the boy's head.
One hand gripped the kunai he had just thrown, while the palm of his other hand cradled a swirling sphere of blue chakra.
This was a completely instinctive reaction for Minato. The suffocating killing intent Qingfeng exuded at such close range had also stimulated him, and by the time he realized he had actually unleashed the jutsu he was still in the middle of researching, it was already too late.
"Watch out!"
"Qingfeng!" Obito watched the scene unfold with horror, the tomoe in his eyes spinning wildly and uncontrollably as a second tomoe manifested.
Naturally, Qingfeng sensed the immense threat emanating from the small sphere of chakra. His eyes widened as he violently twisted his waist, bringing up the short blade in his hand. Pouring his chakra into it, the blade instantly condensed a razor-sharp layer of wind-attribute chakra, which he slashed straight toward the oncoming Rasengan.
The next moment, a powerful and violent burst of chakra erupted.
When the smoke cleared, Minato had one hand pressed firmly against Qingfeng's shoulder, while his other hand held his kunai high to block the green-tinted blade Qingfeng had thrust forward. Even so, the razor-sharp wind-attribute chakra still managed to carve a bloody line across Minato's cheek.
The battle was decided.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" Qingfeng howled in pain with plenty of breath to spare, demanding incredulously, "Teacher Minato, what was that move just now?! Were you trying to kill me?"
"Ah... I'm sorry..." Minato hurriedly released his grip on Qingfeng, saying sheepishly, "I lost control of the Rasengan's power a bit..."
Before he could finish speaking, he was knocked aside by two little cannonballs that came barreling over.
"Aniki!"
"Qingfeng!"
The two of them flanked Qingfeng, pressing close to him on either side. Kakashi's eyes were full of worry, while Obito looked as though he was on the verge of tears.
"Qingfeng, are you alright?" Obito asked with red-rimmed eyes. "Does it hurt a lot? Do we need to go to the hospital?"
"Uh..." Faced with Obito's genuine concern, Qingfeng found it hard to keep making a big deal out of it. "Actually, I'm fine," he said. "It's not as serious as you think."
The power of the Rasengan was indeed immense, but thankfully Qingfeng's reactions had been fast enough. Utilizing Qingfeng's property of conducting chakra, he had condensed a chakra blade and forcefully sliced the Rasengan right in half.
Realizing that Qingfeng was unharmed, Kakashi let out an imperceptible sigh of relief before accusingly chiming in, "Honestly, don't joke around with things like this. You're a real pain."
"What are you talking about? I *am* hurt," Qingfeng said, pulling back his clothes to reveal purplish-red bruises on his fair skin, already fading into a bruised blue-black. Against his skin, which was paler than most people's, it looked especially terrifying.
"Ah, it... it looks so bad! We definitely need to go get it checked out at the hospital!" Obito worried frantically.
"It's just flesh wounds. Help me up first," Qingfeng said, shaking his head and holding out a hand.
"I've got you..." A guilty Minato reached out to help Qingfeng up, only to be beaten to the punch by Obito.
Minato: "..."
Although he had heard rumors, this really was a most unusual Uchiha.
Right at that moment, he noticed the two tomoe spinning rapidly in Obito's eyes.
"Obito, you've awakened your Sharingan?!"
"Huh?" Obito gripped Qingfeng's hand tightly while staring back at Minato in utter bewilderment, looking as though he had no idea what Minato was talking about.
Hearing this, Qingfeng tilted his head and caught sight of Obito's eyes. The two scarlet tomoe stood out with striking clarity; it had only been a few days, and yet Obito's eyes had evolved once more.
The tips of his white hair brushed gently against his cheek, snapping Obito back to his senses.
"It's just the Sharingan. I awakened it ages ago, what's there to make such a big fuss about?"
After what had just happened, Obito's attitude toward Minato instantly chilled.
From Obito's perspective, the move Minato used just now was not something that should ever be pulled out during a spar. If Qingfeng hadn't been strong enough, would he have already—
When he finally snapped out of it, Obito realized his body was trembling slightly. His Sharingan had faithfully recorded every single frame of what had just happened, missing not a single detail.
That heart-pounding feeling wasn't fear or lingering dread... it was excitement!
Uchiha were naturally drawn to strength, and Obito was no exception. On his retina, Qingfeng's dazzling smile during the fight seemed to linger—so powerful, so beautiful, and so... yearning.
"No... the point is that you're already at two tomoe," Minato said, feeling somewhat speechless. He remembered Fugaku complaining to him during a recent chat about how lacking his clansmen's strength was, and how the younger generation in the clan hadn't shown any exceptional talent.
Minato had agreed with him at the time; after all, ever since the Second Hokage's disciple Uchiha Kagami, no Uchiha had really entered the public eye. Of course, while Danzo's suppression was part of the reason, it was also true that this generation of Uchiha was simply mediocre—a clan whose members seemed to grow through baptism by blood had their sharp edges smoothed away by a life of comfort.
Yet today, Minato had laid eyes on a young two-tomoe user. Judging by Obito's age, he couldn't be more than six or seven years old, and he had already reached two tomoe. If this wasn't a genius, what was? Could it be...
"Obito, haven't you told the clan head about this?" Minato couldn't help asking.
"Huh?" Obito let out a blank noise, then asked back in confusion, "Do I need to tell the clan head about something like this?"
Minato: ?
Isn't that a given?! Even he, an outsider, knew about it!
"Why don't... you go tell him anyway?" Minato suggested tactfully.
He couldn't just let his poor friend remain oblivious to the fact that his clan had spawned a genius, worrying day in and day out about inheriting the family.
Obito scratched his head. Though he had no idea what was going on, he agreed anyway, "Alright."
Kakashi finally couldn't stand Obito's sheer stupidity any longer and blurted out, "Idiot! If you tell your clan head that you've awakened your eyes, you can get more support and resources from the clan! Can't you even figure out something that simple?!"
The Uchiha were an ancient clan with a thousand-year heritage. Even if they were suppressed in Konoha, they possessed endless wealth and resources. That was the foundation of the Uchiha, something ordinary commoners could never even imagine.
Though Obito, as an outcast of the clan, had a standard of living roughly equal to ordinary people in the village, he still retained the pride of an Uchiha.
"So you really didn't tell the clan, Obito?" Qingfeng was also left between laughter and tears. Having been a clan scion in his past life, he had naturally assumed Obito would use the advantage of his awakened eyes to fight for benefits.
"Oh... oh, I'll go tell the clan head as soon as I get back." Seeing that everyone looked so surprised, Obito finally caught up and realized he might have missed out on a lot, so he hurriedly added.
"That settles it then." Qingfeng paused, then couldn't help saying, "From now on, come talk to me or Kakashi if you run into any trouble."
The kid was a bit dim; he needed to be watched over more, otherwise he'd easily get taken advantage of.
Obito puffed out his cheeks, looked away, and muttered, "I'm not coming to Kakashi."
With sharp ears, Kakashi rolled his eyes and couldn't be bothered to argue with Obito.
Minato watched the trio's interaction with a smile. He thought to himself that he had found the ideal third member.
Upon returning to the clan, Obito went straight to Fugaku to report that he had awakened his two-tomoe Sharingan. Having unlocked two tomoe at such a young age, the impression of him being a dead-last was instantly wiped away, replaced by the title of an Uchiha genius.
"A genius? Seriously? You?" Hearing the news, Kakashi immediately expressed his doubt.
Obito, who had been strutting around triumphantly with his chin tilted up as he bragged, instantly drooped. "You're still looking down on me? Let me tell you, Kakashi, master Obito is not the same person I used to be!"
He flashed the Military Police Force armband on his arm. "I am now the youngest member of the Military Police Force!"
Lying facedown on his desk with zero energy, Qingfeng turned his head. "Oh? How's the work at the Military Police Force?"
"It's pretty good," Obito said with a radiant smile. "Everyone is very friendly and treats me well. I actually really like working there!"
After all, Obito was still young and cheerful; ordinary adults wouldn't give a hard time to such an enthusiastic kid.
"Oh right, Fugaku-nii even said he wants to take me in as his adopted younger brother. I live in the main clan estate now, too," Obito said, eyebrows raised.
What he desired most of all was a family, and now that wish had essentially been fulfilled.
Of course, Obito also understood that everything he possessed now stemmed from this pair of eyes—in other words, his strength. Aside from taking better care of his eyes, he also started learning ninjutsu from Fugaku.
Compared to Obito's spirited clan life, Qingfeng felt like a wretched black slave doing heavy labor every day—unclogging toilets, weeding gardens, finding lost pets... In short, a mountain of miscellaneous chores that paid terribly and demanded too much.
"Genin work is so boring it's killing me," he couldn't help complaining.
He hadn't even served people like this in his past life, yet he had experienced the full spectrum right here.
Annoyed by these trivial chores, Qingfeng took the initiative to learn the Shadow Clone technique and dumped all the work onto his clones.
Shadow Clone: Do you have any manners?
"So, we're planning to take the Chunin Exams this year. Hopefully, we'll get assigned more meaningful missions," Kakashi said coolly.
Not just Qingfeng; Kakashi disliked these tedious tasks just as much.
"Ch-Chunin Exams?! But you guys only became Genin a year ago?!" Obito asked, dumbfounded.
"Hmph, if it weren't for needing a track record of achievements, I'd want to skip straight to Jonin," Qingfeng said, curling his lip. He looked at Obito. "What about you? Why aren't you planning to graduate yet?"
With two-tomoe eyes, Obito's combat power had multiplied several times over. Right now, he possessed the capabilities of an average Chunin, so graduating early would be a piece of cake for him.
Obito scratched his head. "If I do that, wouldn't Rin be the only one left at the academy?"
Rin, who had just returned carrying barbecue sauce, caught those words and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, well, Obito. I've been wondering why you wouldn't graduate early; turns out it was because of me."
The girl set the barbecue sauce down on the table and said earnestly, "I know Obito values me as a friend, but precisely because we're friends, I don't want Obito to hold back his own future for my sake. Besides..." Rin smiled. "My goal is to become a medical-nin, and there's still a lot I need to learn. Once I become a Genin, I'll have to dedicate a portion of my energy to completing missions, which naturally means I won't have as much time to study."
Rin's goals had always been crystal clear. She had seen firsthand how Qingfeng and Kakashi ran themselves ragged over a mountain of D-rank missions. Though she came from a commoner background, her family ran a shop, so Rin wasn't short on money. Rather than chasing the meager pay of D-rank missions, she'd rather read a few more medical textbooks.
"Is... is that so..." Obito's face flushed with embarrassment. He had meant well, only to find out the other person didn't need it at all.
"Fine then, since it's like this, I'll go apply for graduation too," Obito said, lifting his chin and glancing sideways at Qingfeng and Kakashi. "You guys have been waiting for me for a while anyway."
Minato held high hopes for Obito's potential and also liked his personality. After chatting with Fugaku for a bit, he had already earmarked him as the third member of Team 7.
"Who knows why Teacher Minato took a fancy to you..." Kakashi turned his head away. "Such a troublesome guy."
Compared to Obito, Kakashi would have preferred the third member to be a medical-nin, so that he and Qingfeng could fight without any worries in the back of their minds. With Obito, they'd have to rebuild their combat synergy from scratch, which was genuinely troublesome.
"Ha? That's obviously because master Obito is a genius!"
"Give me a break. Weren't you just the dead-last back at the academy?"
"The past is the past, now is now! Kakashi, I challenge you! I'm going to show you what a dead-last's comeback looks like!"
"Fine by me, I wouldn't have it any other way."
Watching the two of them bicker, Rin wore a helpless smile. "This really is... a familiar sight."
Qingfeng stood up expressionlessly, placed both hands on their shoulders, and whispered, "Looks like you two forgot what I said before?"
The corners of his mouth curled up. "How about you have a match with me first before you decide the winner?"
His presence was terrifyingly oppressive, like a legendary demon king, pressing down so hard that both Obito and Kakashi broke out in a cold sweat.
Over the past year, Qingfeng hadn't made many moves, but the two people closest to him knew very well that Qingfeng was growing stronger by the second.
And indeed he was. That battle with Minato had rocketed Qingfeng's awakening progress from 12% all the way up to 39%. On top of that, he had undertaken training in the Flying Thunder God technique; his familiarity with spatial abilities allowed him to master the ninjutsu at a mind-boggling speed, pushing his awakening progress right to 52%, just as he had imagined.
Only, studying the Flying Thunder God technique had actually yielded less awakening progress than battling Minato. Remembering that high-pressure fight, Qingfeng formed a new hypothesis regarding the awakening mechanism.
Could it be life-or-death trials through hardship? During a peaceful year in the village, his awakening progress hadn't budged at all.
Ah, that simply wouldn't do... Qingfeng easily suppressed Kakashi and Obito, his smile unchanged. It would be best to encounter more powerful opponents.