"Boom!"
Yoncher was checking his mission log when someone fell from a tree, crashing onto the ground right in front of him—it was Obito Uchiha.
Clearly, this guy had fallen because while training by running up trees, his chakra distribution had been uneven, causing his foot to lose grip on the trunk.
"This idiot," Yoncher muttered, glancing at Obito before returning his attention to the newly appeared side quest window.
"Hey! You're back! What was that look just now? Are you looking down on me?"
Obito, wearing his goggles, grumbled as he picked himself up, shooting an annoyed glare toward Yoncher.
"Just checking a side quest."
Yoncher calmly examined the side mission details.
Main quests had to be accepted and couldn't be declined. Failing them came with penalties.
Side quests, however, offered two choices, carried no failure penalties—and more importantly—
There was a side quest box next to it, containing only three slots. According to the prompt, within a certain period, he could accept at most three side quests.
If none of those three were completed before their deadlines, they'd block any new ones from appearing.
Only after completing one and freeing a slot could he take on another new side quest.
After skimming through the options, Yoncher selected the first side quest.
"Huh?"
Only after accepting it did he turn his attention back to Obito Uchiha. "Did you say something to me earlier?"
"Pfft!" Obito's face immediately darkened.
Both Yoncher and Obito were members of the Uchiha clan.
Yet Obito found himself completely incompatible with this Yoncher guy.
What's more, Rin seemed to have a soft spot for him, which made Obito increasingly wary.
[Emotional Value +6, triggered by Obito Uchiha's frustration]
Yoncher: "..."
The Uchiha clan... seriously all mentally unstable.
Yesterday when he returned to the village, he ran into Uchiha Hattai and his group—they'd been exactly the same way.
These kinds of people could fly into intense emotional rages over just a word, a glance, or even a tone of voice.
They called it "loving deeply."
In reality, they were just extreme lunatics.
Obito Uchiha stood out even among them.
Don't let his appearance fool you—this kid helps old ladies cross streets every day, fetches water and sweeps for elderly neighbors, always smiling, positive, and cheerful—
Then descends into darkness, kills his teacher and mentor, slaughters the entire Uchiha clan, and tries to destroy the whole ninja world.
Look at someone like Son Goku—he was sealed away for five hundred years but came out still being a bright, cheerful young man. Despite getting constantly disrespected during his journey to fetch the sutras, at worst he'd mutter, "Man, this is such a pain!"
Compared to him, the Uchiha clan were practically freaks.
Oh, right—forgot I'm part of the Uchiha too.
Never mind then.
Yoncher blinked at Obito. "What did you want to say earlier?"
"Nothing!" Obito jumped twice and quickly rushed up the tree.
He didn't want to exchange another word with this psycho.
But barely reaching over two meters high, Obito tumbled down again, crying out in pain.
At that moment, Rin Nohara, Asuma, and the other classmates spotted Yoncher and quickly gathered around him.
"Yoncher"
Rin Nohara blushed faintly and said, "You've finally come back!"
"Ikkaku Umino-sensei said you went on a mission. We were all worried about you!"
Other classmates began chattering with questions too.
Yoncher's gaze swept through the crowd and landed on Momiji Uchiha standing at the back.
Momiji Uchiha gave him a cold glance and walked past deliberately, acting as if she didn't know Yoncher at all.
"He went on a mission? What mission!"
Obito jumped up and said, "This dead last hasn't even graduated from the ninja academy yet! How could he possibly go on a mission?"
"Obviously, he's too scared to face the graduation exam, so he's been hiding out instead of showing his face."
Everyone was speechless.
He actually thought up an excuse like that?
Rin gave a faint, bitter smile, then looked at Yoncher and said, "Let's go to class together, Yoncher."
[Envy from Uchiha Obito, Emotional Value 7]
*What the hell is wrong with this guy?*
Rin just spoke a single sentence to me, and I haven't even replied yet, and his jealousy already maxed out?
Out of everyone feeling jealous, I, Uchiha Yoncher, hereby bestow upon you the title of the most envious one yet!
Smiling, Yoncher said, "I'm sorry for making everyone worry. I really did go on a mission, and it's already completed now."
With that, he walked toward the classroom with Rin and the others.
"This mission from Kakashi is a bit problematic,"
As he reflected on that side quest, Yoncher couldn't help but frown slightly.
This mission was indeed somewhat strange.
According to the original storyline, even if he did nothing, after the Kannabi Bridge incident when Obito 'died,' Kakashi would change his mindset on his own.
But now, looking at the mission requirements, they wanted Yoncher to interfere.
Last year (Konoha 44), Kakashi's father, Sakumo—the White Fang—chose to abandon an important mission in order to save his comrades.
As a result, countless villagers began blaming him.
Even the comrade he saved believed that continuing the mission instead of saving him had been the best choice at the time.
Unable to bear the blame from everyone, the Legend of the White Fang ultimately committed suicide.
His death had a profound impact on Kakashi.
From then on, Kakashi closed off his heart, becoming cold and emotionless, stubbornly placing missions and rules above everything else, viewing comrades as obstacles to completing missions, and treating their deaths as inevitable consequences of mission execution.
In the original plot, during the Kannabi Bridge incident, Rin was captured by enemies.
Kakashi and Obito had a serious disagreement over whether to rescue Rin or continue the mission.
Kakashi insisted they should abandon rescuing their comrade and continue the mission.
Obito, on the other hand, insisted they must save their comrade first.
At that time, Obito said something to Kakashi:
"They say rule-breakers are trash—but those who don't value their comrades are worse than trash!"
"The Legend of the White Fang was a true hero."
After Obito 'died,' Kakashi's mindset began to change.
That statement later became Kakashi's guiding principle.
So the current question is:
Should he leave this side quest hanging until after the Third Great Ninja World War next year, letting it complete automatically?
Should he intervene early and try to change Kakashi's mind?
In this ninja world, it's easy to kill someone if you're strong enough, but convincing someone is harder than reaching the heavens.
After all, Yoncher didn't possess Naruto's gift of persuasion. Even with Naruto's legendary ability, it took years to win Sasuke over—and in the end, they still ended up in a brutal fight that left both of them missing an arm.
Kakashi himself was somewhat stubborn, only truly understanding his father's actions years later. How difficult would it be to change his mind?
Most importantly, Yoncher wanted to collect all nine fragments of Hashirama's cells as soon as possible in order to obtain the Wood Release.
So Yoncher naturally wanted to get his hands on this fragment from the mission reward as quickly as possible.
"I've gotta think of a way to push Kakashi's buttons a little," Yoncher muttered to himself, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
Suddenly,
A classmate gasped loudly: "Look! It's Tsunade-sama!"
Yoncher lifted his head and sure enough saw Tsunade approaching from a distance, Shizune at her side.
"One step forward, three wobbles back—now *that's* a sight to behold," Yoncher chuckled dryly, narrowing his eyes.
[Main Quest: Become Tsunade's disciple within one month!]
[Conditions: Convince Tsunade to accept you as her apprentice within one month. Failure results in a deduction of 3000 Emotional Value (if insufficient, deduct 3 Chakra or 3 Ocular Power instead).]
[Reward: One Fragment of Hashirama Senju's Cells; Ninjutsu: Water Gun Technique – Barrage]
What's going on?
A main quest—to become Tsunade's disciple?
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Thank you for reading, Your support will keep me updating!
~ **4 bonus chapters** this weekend if I get kind comments.