"Damn it, doesn't that mean I only remembered the wrong answers," Obito thought, feeling bleak.
His once firm belief that he could pass began to waver.
Obito took a deep breath. He still had a last resort, something a bit shameless, but it would secure a passing grade, avoiding being slapped in the face by his own words earlier.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
A thin wall, with a dog's face on it, rose up between Kakashi and Obito, blocking Obito's view.
Obito: ...
There went his last resort.
He originally thought, if worse came to worst, he could sneakily activate his Sharingan to cheat a bit.
Obito grew a bit impatient, subconsciously scratching his head.
But when he saw Yamato beside him, already lost in existential questions, Obito couldn't help but laugh, his impatience easing a lot.
Looking at the current Yamato, Obito seemed to see his former self.
Obito then tried his best to work on the test, based on his previous experience. He avoided using his typical mindset to solve the problems, hoping for slightly fewer mistakes.
"I'm done," an hour later, Kakashi put down his pen and controlled the earth wall to return to the ground using Chakra.
There weren't many questions on this test, and they were all ones that had been covered, so Kakashi finished it rather quickly.
"Kakashi-senpai, please take away this paper written in some foreign language," said Yamato, who was trying to think about the test content and had become a bit delirious.
Obito looked at Yamato with pity. Being tormented by a test for the first time is just like that.
Bang.
Kakashi joined his index and middle fingers and flicked Yamato's forehead, "What nonsense are you talking about, this is clearly written in the Land of Fire's language."
"Obito, are you done?" Kakashi turned to look at Obito.
Seeing the completely filled test paper in Kakashi's hands, Obito immediately felt the pressure, quickly picking up his pen to think and continue solving the questions.
Just like that, Yamato and Kakashi watched Obito work on the questions for an hour.
Feeling the gazes from behind him and the occasional sound of a stomach growling, Obito dared not pause even for a moment, not even checking his work before claiming he was finished.
Grumble~
Yamato's stomach again made an inappropriate sound.
However, Obito and Kakashi didn't notice, as they were busy grading the test papers against the answers recorded by Kakashi.
"The competition among Teacher Mokgetsu's students is so fierce," Yamato thought to himself.
He recalled that even during the times he received secret training from Shimura Danzo in Konoha, he was never this hungry. The Root ninjas always delivered meals quite punctually.
"A hundred points," Obito reluctantly handed the test paper back to Kakashi, saying.
Although he really wanted to give Kakashi a low score, he had to admit that Kakashi was indeed something else, having memorized all the content Teacher Mokgetsu had taught, pretty much perfectly.
"I estimate just over fifty points. I shouldn't have been daydreaming. If I'd focused on the questions the entire time, I might have passed."
While grading Kakashi, Obito also assessed himself. After all, he had just finished the test and surely remembered what he wrote.
Obito was glad Nohara Rin was already gone. At worse, failing would just invite some mockery from Kakashi.
"Sixty, just passed," Kakashi announced Obito's score.
Obito couldn't believe it. Could he have remembered his content wrongly?
"Tsk, just a bit more and I could've rubbed your face in the dirt," Kakashi said in a low voice, looking a bit disappointed.
Although Kakashi spoke softly, being close, Obito still heard a bit.
"Hey, hey, you just said something absolutely unforgivable, didn't you?" Obito almost turned red with heat.
But since he passed using his own abilities today, Obito was in a good mood, not bickering with Kakashi.
"So, can I go home for dinner now?" Yamato weakly asked.
He was really hungry and just wanted to leave the Southern Border Forest quickly to get something to eat.
"What do you want to eat? My treat," Obito, in a good mood, was ready to play the generous host.
After all, they had shared the bond of being tormented by a test together; a meal was nothing.
"Grilled saury and yakitori," Kakashi replied first.
"No problem," Obito responded grandly, only to realize that the speaker was Kakashi.
"No way, no saury, no yakitori," Obito's face changed swiftly.
Yamato felt a bit numb, guessing it would be a while before he could eat.
From his recent experience, the two would initially oppose each other, usually deadlocking for around ten minutes.
Kakashi silently took out a photo, "Treat me to a meal, and this photo is yours."
Obito immediately lunged for the photo, only for Kakashi to nimbly dodge.
"I'll treat you, but you mustn't go back on your word," Obito patted the dust off himself, helplessly conceding.
Getting snapped by Kakashi during the battle, and having an embarrassing photo taken is a sore spot for Obito. He desperately wanted to burn the photo to ash, not even a speck left.
"Everyone knows, I, Kakashi, always keep my promises," Kakashi assured him.
In fact, Kakashi did plan to give the photo to Obito since he had a hundred identical ones at home. Even giving away ninety-nine was fine.
Thanks to Kakashi using a photo to end the contest, their fighting stopped much sooner than Yamato expected.
"Finally, I can eat," Yamato felt grateful to Kakashi.
After that, Obito and Kakashi took the ravenous Yamato to get something to eat.
Since it was already evening, various food vendors had started setting up shop. Obito didn't bother taking Yamato for a proper meal; instead, they wandered among the stalls.
Before the test began, Obito had sent a Shadow Clone home to inform his grandmother, so it was okay to go back a bit late.