Chapter Text
Training ground 7 looked as if a hurricane had attacked it.
Multiple kunai scarred nearly every tree in sight.
Several practice posts leaned at concerning angles, One had been cleanly split in half and a smoking crater near the riverbank suggested Naruto had once again mistaken "Control your chakra" for "Use more chakra."
One of these days, he’s going to blow up the entire training ground, Obito thought with a weary sigh
Just the usual.
Naruto himself was sprawled in the grass, breathing so dramatically that anyone passing by would've assumed he was few moments away from death itself.
"I can't believe this," he groaned, staring up at the clouds. "One day I'm actually going to die during training."
Obito glanced over while brushing dirt from his jõnin jacket.
"Maa... if you do, I'll make sure your memorial stone says, 'He tried his best."
Naruto shot upright so fast he nearly fell over even before he got up.
"Tried?" he repeated indignantly. "Obito-sensel! That's so disrespectful!"
"You're right."
Obito held his chin as though he was giving the matter some serious thought.
Naruto eagerly waited for his reply.
"He complained his best.” “Sounds more accurate right?”
Sakura laughed before she could stop herself.
Naruto pointed at her in betrayal.
"Sakura-chan!"
"What?" she said, still smiling. "That was funny."
"It wasn't funny."
Sakura smiled at him with a not-so apologetic smile.
Even Sasuke's shoulders twitched ever so slightly as he slid his last kunai back into its pouch.
Naruto noticed immediately.
"..Teme." he said, growling.
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
"Hn."
Obito clapped his hands together once, saving Sasuke from having to explain himself any further.
"Alright, that's enough for today." He said smiling.
Three very different reactions followed.
Naruto collapsed back into the grass with an exaggerated sigh of relief.
Sakura stretched both arms over her head until her shoulders gave a satisfying pop.
Sasuke simply picked up his backpack.
Obito smiled to himself.
Same team. Same personalities.
Some things never changed.
"You all did well," he said. "Even you, Naruto."
Naruto looked suspicious.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you did well."
"You are just making fun of me aren't you sensei..”
“I’m not,” Obito said, wearing an expression of pure offense, as though he hadn’t been making fun of Naruto at all.
..He absolutely had.
“You’ve genuinely improved your chakra control compared to when you first became a genin.”
“Really?” Naruto’s eyes lit up.
Obito nodded thoughtfully.
“…If going from negative to zero counts as improvement.”
Naruto’s hopeful smile vanished.
“…You’re the worst.”
He folded his arms with a deep frown.
The four of them started down the worn path leading back toward the village
The evening sun hung low over Konoha, painting the rooftops gold. Merchants were calling out for customers, and somewhere in the distance someone was arguing loudly enough that it could be heard through the whole street.
Naruto stretched until his back cracked.
"Ramen?"
Obito adjusted the strap of his backpack.
"Not today."
Naruto blinked.
"...Eh?"
"I've got plans."
The answer was so casual that, for a second, nobody reacted
Then Sakura looked over,
"Plans?" she said with a slight curiosity to her words
"Hm."
"What kind of plans?"
Obito's smile became just a little too innocent.
"The secret kind."
Naruto stopped walking altogether.
"Since when do you have secret plans sensei?"
“I’ve always had secret plans.” Obito turned to Naruto, wearing the same picture of innocence.
“No, you haven’t.” Naruto looked genuinely offended.
“I have.”
“You tell us everything.”
Obito laughed.
“Naruto, I absolutely do not tell you everything.”
“You tell us where you’re going,” Naruto argued.
“Usually,” Obito admitted.
“You tell us what you’re eating.”
“That’s hardly everything,” Obito replied with a grin.
“You tell us whenever Kakashi-nii makes you mad.”
“I complain about him, yes.”
"And when Kaa-san makes too much food and you 'accidentally eat half of it."
Obito coughed into his fist.
"In my defense, Kushina-san cooks enough for an army."
"She cooks enough for us." Naruto frowned
"Exactly!"
Sakura smiled.
"I don't think that's helping your case, Sensei."
“It probably isn’t,” Obito admitted with a sheepish grin.
Naruto folded his arms, looking thoroughly unconvinced.
“Then why all the mystery today?”
“There isn’t any mystery.”
“You literally said they were secret plans.”
“I said they were secret because I’m not telling you.”
“That’s what a mystery is!” Naruto protested.
“Is it?” Obito asked, a sly smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Yes!” Naruto exclaimed, sounding dangerously close to the end of his patience.
Obito looked genuinely confused.
Naruto groaned so loudly that a pair of sparrows flew out of a nearby tree.
"But, seriously!" Naruto threw both hands into the air. "I've known you since I was little, and you've never acted like this."
That made Obito pause.
He then glanced at Naruto with a softer expression
before his usual grin returned.
Sasuke spoke without looking away from the road.
"You used to come to the Police Headquarters."
Obito looked over.
“Your father always had paperwork… I thought he’d finally stop once I became Special Jōnin, but somehow he still has even more of it now,” Obito sighed, sounding like he regretted being born an Uchiha every time the clan’s paperwork came up.
"My condolences."
Sasuke almost smiled.
"Mother used to say you'd somehow make him laugh anyway."
Obito scratched the back of his neck.
"Your mother always exaggerated."
"No," Sasuke replied after a moment's thought.
"...Not really."
For the first time all day,, Obito looked almost embarrassed.
"Aahhh well..."
Naruto stared between them.
"See?" he declared triumphantly. "We've all known you forever"
"Forever is a long time."
"You know what I mean." Naruto said annoyed
"I do."
"Which means.."
Naruto pointed dramatically, nearly poking Obito in the chest.
"you're hiding something."
Obito looked down at the finger.
Then back at Naruto.
"What if I am?"
Naruto blinked.
"…..Eh?"
"What if I am?" He repeated.
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
Sasuke finally looked back.
"Sensel, you're not helping yourself." said Sakura finally becoming interested.
"I'm not trying to." He grinned.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"You've got that smile again."
"What smile?"
Naruto waved both hands around, struggling to explain.
"It's the one where..." He frowned, searching desperately for the words. "Where you're enjoying something before anyone else knows what it is."
Obito couldn't help it.
He laughed.
A real laugh this time.
"That's oddly specific."
"Because I'm right!" frowned Naruto.
"Maa..."
Obito resumed walking
"Maybe."
Naruto stood rooted to the spot.
He watched Obito disappear into the crowd ahead, still wearing that impossibly smug smile.
Then he looked at Sakura.
"..Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
“He said Maybe..”
Sakura shrugged.
"He says 'maybe' all the time."
Naruto became quiet..
For once, genuinely quiet.
Then his eyes widened.
"Oh."
Sakura immediately recognized that look.
"..Naruto."
"I know what it is."
"You absolutely don't."
"I do."
"No, you-"
He spun around with all the confidence of a detective who'd just solved the greatest mystery in shinobi history.
"Obito-sensei has a girlfriend."
Sakura stared at him.
Sasuke stared at him.
A long silence settled over the path.
Finally, Sasuke broke it.
"..How did you get there?"
Naruto grinned.
"I don't know
He pointed toward the village.
"But I'm going to prove it."
Naruto declared himself the leader of the investigation before they'd even reached the shopping street.
He also declared Sakura his assistant, Sasuke "the grumpy one," and the mission officially underway.
Neither of his teammates acknowledged the promotion.
"I'm serious," Naruto insisted, lowering his voice for absolutely no reason. "From this point on, nobody says Obito-sensei's name."
Sakura looked around.
"..Why?"
"In case he hears us."
"We're half a street away."
“He could still hear,” Naruto said with the utmost seriousness. “He has jōnin hearing.”
Sasuke didn’t even bother looking up.
“That’s not a thing, usuratonkachi.”
Naruto ignored him completely.
“From now on…” He looked around dramatically before lowering his voice to a whisper. “…we call him the Suspect.”
Sakura blinked.
“…The Suspect.”
“Exactly.”
“Suspected of what?”
Naruto opened his mouth.
Paused.
“…Being suspicious.”
Another silence followed.
Needless to say, no one actually called Obito “the Suspect.” After that
Sasuke let out a quiet sigh.
“This investigation isn’t going to last an hour.”
Naruto jabbed a finger at him.
“Just you watch, Sasuke! Solving this mystery is going to be the first stepping stone on my path to becoming Hokage!”
He was met with complete, deafening silence.
The market district buzzed with its usual evening crowd.
Fresh vegetables filled wooden crates outside the vendor stalls.. The smell of grilled squid drifted lazily through the street, mixing with sweet bean paste from the dango stand across the road.
Naruto wasn't paying attention to any of it.
Which, Sakura noted with some concern, was deeply unnatural.
His head kept turning left and right, scanning rooftops, alleys and stores with exaggerated seriousness.
Then he froze.
"There."
Obito was only twenty metres ahead, walking at an easy pace through the crowd with one hand tucked into his pocket.
He waved to a passing chunin. Stopped to return a little girl's dropped hair ribbon.
Accepted a rice cracker from an elderly vendor after unsuccessfully insisting on paying for it.
"He really knows everyone," Sakura murmured.
"He grew up here," Sasuke replied.
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"..Or he's gathering information."
Sakura looked at him.
"..On rice crackers?"
"You never know."
They followed.
Or, more accurately, Sakura and Sasuke followed.
Naruto repeatedly forgot they were supposed to be hiding.
Twice he started walking directly toward Obito before Sakura grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him back to their hiding spot.
Once he waved enthusiastically because Obito had looked in their general direction.
"You can't wave at the person you're spying on!"
"I panicked!" He argued
“I've never done this before”
"….Clearly." sighed Sakura.
Obito stopped outside a flower shop.
Naruto immediately threw himself behind a display of potted chrysanthemums in an another nearby flower shop.
The florist looked down with a smile
"..Can I help you?"
Naruto looked up innocently.
"..Do these come in orange?"
"They're chrysanthemums."
"...Is that a no?"
Sakura arrived a second later, bowing apologetically.
"I'm so sorry."
The florist smiled.
"It's alright."
Obito stepped inside the opposite shop.
The bell above the door chimed softly.
Naruto immediately ran towards and crouched beneath the shop window.
Sakura caught him by the collar before he could press his face against the glass.
"Can you at least pretend you've done surveillance before?"
"I have."
"When?'
"… don't ask me hard questions” said Naruto while continuing his very professional spying.
Inside, the florist greeted Obito with an easy smile.
“Good evening, Obito-san.”
“Good evening,” Obito replied with his trademark smile.
“I’ve just finished wrapping them.”
The florist disappeared into the back room and returned a moment later carrying a bouquet already wrapped in soft cream paper. She placed it carefully into Obito’s hands.
Obito accepted it, a faint blush creeping across his face as he admired the beauty of the flowers.
“Thank you.”
She adjusted a slightly crooked ribbon before stepping back to admire her work.
“I added a few sunflowers this time.”
“I noticed,” Obito said, unable to hide his smile.
“I thought they suited the season, I think they'll like them”
The blush on his cheeks deepened ever so slightly.
“I hope so.” He replied warmly.
Outside, Naruto had stopped blinking.
“…She already made them.”
Sakura slowly nodded.
“She knew he was coming.”
“He didn’t even tell her what he wanted,” Naruto said, looking though he’d just uncovered a top-secret military secret..
“He just…”
He gestured helplessly toward the shop.
“…Picked them up.”
The three of them watched as Obito thanked the florist one last time before continuing down the street, bouquet held carefully in his arm.
None of them moved.
Finally, Naruto broke the silence.
“…That’s not normal.”
Sakura tilted her head.
“I don’t know…”
“No, think about it.”
He turned to her with surprising seriousness.
“If you’re buying flowers just because…” He searched for an example. “…because you’re being nice…”
“Okay…”
“You’d pick them yourself after looking at everything in the shop.”
“I suppose.”
Sakura wasn't sure if Naruto was even capable of making a normal conclusion, so she didn't have much hopes as to what she was going to hear next.
“But he didn’t.” said Naruto, now firmly holding Sakura’s shoulders as if he's delivering groundbreaking news to her.
“They were already waiting.”
Naruto’s eyes narrowed.
“Like he’s done this a hundred times before.”
Sakura glanced back at the florist’s shop.
“…You’re right.”
Wow, so he can make sense if he really puts his mind into it.
Sasuke folded his arms.
“Or he placed an order.”
..or not
Naruto stared at him with twitching eyes.
“…Teme.”
“What?”
“Stop ruining the mystery.”
“I prefer reality,” Sasuke replied casually with a shrug.
Naruto ignored him, his gaze fixed on the direction Obito had disappeared.
Then, very slowly, a grin spread across his face.
“I knew it.”
Sakura didn’t answer immediately.
She still wasn’t convinced Naruto’s conclusion was right.
But for the first time since this ridiculous investigation had begun, she wasn’t entirely convinced it was wrong either.
Maybe Naruto’s impossible confidence was finally rubbing off on her.
Or maybe…
Just maybe…
There really was a chance their sensei had a girlfriend.
They didn't see where Obito went after that.
The evening crowd swallowed him long before Team 7 reached the end of the street.
Naruto stopped in the middle of the road, looking left, then right, as if Obito might suddenly reappear if he stared hard enough.
“We lost him."
"We were never particularly close to him," Sakura pointed out.
Sasuke had already started walking again.
"If you're done embarrassing yourselves, I'm leaving”
Naruto hurried after him.
"You're just saying that because you don't believe me."
"I don't."
"But vou saw the flowers." Said Naruto earnestly.
"I did."
"And you heard him say he had plans." He continued
"And the bouquet was already waiting for him."
Sasuke nodded once.
"Which means he ordered flowers."
Naruto groaned so dramatically that two pigeons fluttered off a nearby rooftop.
"You always do this."
"Do what?"
"You take something interesting”
Naruto waved his hands around helplessly.
"...and make it sound as if it's boring."
“I call it thinking,” Sasuke replied with the faintest hint of a smirk.
“I call it ruining my fun,” Naruto sighed.
They crossed the bridge leading away from the market in comfortable silence.
Well…
Comfortable for Sakura and Sasuke, at least.
Naruto, on the other hand, had reached that particularly dangerous stage where he was thinking.
Sakura recognized the signs immediately.
His brows were knitted together.
His lips moved ever so slightly.
Every few seconds, she caught him muttering words under his breath.
“…Flowers…”
“…Secret…”
“…Ramen…”
She exchanged a glance with Sasuke.
He’d noticed it too.
“He’s planning something.”
“Definitely,” Sasuke muttered, already bracing himself for whatever catastrophe Naruto’s brain was about to produce.
Without warning, Naruto came to such an abrupt stop that Sakura nearly walked straight into him.
Seriously? Not even a second after I thought that…
“I’ve got it.”
“Oh no,” Sakura said, genuine concern creeping onto her face.
Naruto ignored her entirely.
“This is bigger than us.”
Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
“…Bigger than us?”
Naruto nodded solemnly.
“If Obito-sensei really has a girlfriend—”
“If,” Sakura stressed.
“—then we need more people.”
Sakura stared at him.
“…For what?”
“The investigation.”
“There is no investigation.”
“There is now.”
Naruto pointed dramatically toward the Hokage Monument, wearing all the conviction of a commander unveiling a battle plan.
“This is officially a mission.”
“Assigned by who?” Sasuke asked dryly.
Naruto hesitated.
“…Me.”
“I don’t think that’s how missions work.”
“I’ll file the paperwork later.”
“You don’t know how.”
“I’ll ask Iruka-sensei.”
Sasuke studied him for a long three seconds.
“…You’re serious.”
“I’m completely serious.”
“…Why?”
Naruto looked at him as though the answer should have been painfully obvious.
“Because we’re dealing with an elite jōnin.”
“An elite jōnin whose greatest crime so far is buying flowers,”
Sakura sighed.
She really should’ve just gone home.
“A very elite jōnin,” Naruto corrected.
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose.
“He already spotted us once today.”
Naruto whipped around in disbelief.
“What?!”
“He probably spotted us five minutes after we started following him.”
Naruto blinked.
“…Eh?”
Sasuke almost looked sympathetic.
Almost.
“You aren’t subtle.”
“I was hiding.” said Naruto, unable to believe he could ever be caught.
“You waved at him.” Said sasuke dryly.
“…That was one time.”
“You nearly shouted ‘Obito-sensei!’ across the market.”
“…That was also one time.”
A long silence followed.
Why did I even agree to follow this guy?
The thought crossed both Sakura’s and Sasuke’s minds at exactly the same moment.
By the time they reached the Namikaze residence, the sun had begun to dip behind the rooftops.
Warm light spilled from the windows, carrying with it the unmistakable smell of dinner.
Naruto stopped at the gate instead of walking inside.
He was unusually quiet.
Sakura noticed immediately.
“You’re still thinking about it.”
Naruto nodded.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t?”
“If Obito-sensei’s really seeing someone…”
He scratched the back of his head.
“…How come nobody’s ever mentioned it?”
Sakura considered the question.
“…Maybe because it’s private?”
“I guess…”
He stared absentmindedly at the gravel beneath his sandals.
“But…”
His brow furrowed again.
“…I don’t know.”
He looked up toward the evening sky.
“It feels like we’d know.”
For the first time since the conversation had begun, Sasuke didn’t dismiss the idea outright.
He had known Obito his entire life.
To Sasuke, Obito had always been an elite jōnin, the kind of shinobi people spoke of with equal parts admiration and exasperation. Kind-hearted. Dependable. Ridiculously skilled when things turned serious.
Yet in all those years…
He had never once heard anyone mention a woman.
Obito had visited the Uchiha compound countless times. Shared meals with his family. Dropped by for clan gatherings. Spent hours talking with Itachi and his father.
Never once had he brought anyone with him.
Never once had he casually mentioned a girlfriend.
Maybe being an elite jōnin really doesn’t leave time for something like that…
The thought surfaced briefly before Sasuke dismissed it.
…Then again… the flowers…
He cut off the train of thought before it could go any further.
“…Maybe.”
Naruto immediately turned toward him.
“You think so too?”
Sasuke shrugged.
“He’s been around our families for years.”
He paused, choosing his words.
“If there really was someone important…”
Naruto’s face lit up.
“Exactly!”
Sakura sighed.
I can’t believe even Sasuke-kun has fallen victim to Naruto’s idiocy
“…That’s still not proof.”
Naruto pushed open the gate.
“No…”
A determined grin slowly spread across his face.
“But tomorrow…”
He glanced back at them over his shoulder.
“…We’re going to find the proof.”