When the three arrived at the Southern Border Forest, they saw Yamato who was cultivating.
"Kakashi-senpai, you guys are done with the competition."
Yamato greeted his long-unseen seniors with a happy face.
"Yamato, how did you know I got second place in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament and became the highest-ranked Konoha Ninja?"
Obito said in one breath, speaking at lightning speed, then showed a satisfied smile.
Yamato: ...
Did he just ask about the ranking?
"Also, wasn't the first place supposed to be among the seniors?" Yamato was somewhat surprised.
He thought the first place would be Might Guy or Kakashi, but it turned out neither of them was even second.
"That's really impressive, achieving such good results." Yamato honestly congratulated.
Although he didn't know how Obito did it, getting second place in such a situation was indeed impressive.
"Not bad at all. Yamato, if you work hard for a few more years, you'll surely get a good ranking if there's another competition like this." Obito chuckled, patting Yamato on the shoulder encouragingly.
He quite enjoyed this feeling of showing the way as a senior.
"I will strive to not bring shame to the seniors and Teacher Mokgetsu." Yamato shouted full of fighting spirit.
"Kakashi-senpai, Shisui-senpai, how did you guys do?" Yamato curiously looked at Kakashi and Shisui.
Initially, he wasn't planning to ask about their results, but Obito's unexpected achievement piqued his curiosity.
"Quarter-finals." Kakashi replied.
"Semi-finals." Shisui answered.
As the two announced their results, Obito stood even taller, being the highest-ranking Konoha entrant.
Greatness needs no words.
"Are there so many geniuses in this competition that even Kakashi-senpai only reached the quarter-finals?" Yamato asked with a look of astonishment.
At this moment, in Yamato's mind, the level of the Youth Martial Arts Tournament was elevated significantly.
"There are indeed quite a few geniuses, and my opponent in the quarter-finals was Guy." Kakashi explained.
Excluding the factor of Summoning Beasts evolving, Nagato, Might Guy, and Sasori were the three strongest contenders in the tournament.
These three were the ones that anyone could easily get eliminated by; if not encountered, the path to advancement would be relatively smooth.
Yamato instantly understood. Due to the different match sequences, the final rankings had a bit of a luck factor, and Kakashi's luck was clearly average.
"Which Ninja Village's ninja is in the first place?"
Yamato wanted to know who the first was, managing to defeat his seniors all the way to the top.
"He's called Nagato, not from any of the Ninja Villages, but a ninja from the host organization, the Ninja Sect." Kakashi gave another response that surprised Yamato.
"Not a ninja from the Five Great Ninja Villages." Yamato was quite surprised.
In his knowledge, only the other four Great Ninja Villages could compete with Konoha ninjas.
"Don't underestimate other ninja organizations. Although the average ninja quality of the Five Great Ninja Villages far exceeds other ninja organizations sometimes there's an exceptional genius." Kakashi shook his head and reminded.
The once Hanzo, and now Sosuke and Nagato, in Kakashi's eyes, belonged to this type.
They might not be able to change the overall trend, but underestimating them would easily lead to a downfall.
After starting the cultivation, Obito hesitated for a moment and decided to use the Summoning Technique to summon the Charizard from home.
Bang!
A cloud of white smoke passed, and a robust Charizard appeared next to Obito.
Noticing the Charizard, Yamato's eyes widened; his impression of Charizard still remained at the Charmeleon stage.
The change was so significant that Yamato thought Obito had contracted a new Summoning Beast.
'Flamethrower!'
After coming out, Charizard quickly surveyed the surroundings, and upon seeing no enemies, decisively gathered Chakra and gave Obito a taste of Konoha's first flame.
And Obito, being very familiar with Charizard, had anticipated this outcome when he decided to summon it.
So Obito had already activated his Sharingan in advance and sidestepped to dodge the coming pillar of fire.
"No mistake, it's indeed Obito-senpai's Summoning Beast. It must have evolved again, hence the change in appearance." Yamato nodded.
This kind of pattern he had only seen in Obito and Charmeleon.
"Charizard, I think we should learn from others, training doesn't always have to be about fighting." Obito suggested with a serious face.
Charizard crossed its claws across its chest, releasing two streams of hot air from its nostrils, looking at Obito with disdain.
Back when it was insufficiently powerful, he bullied it every day. Now that its power has grown, he wants to change? Not a chance!
In a way, it was also for Obito's good. Obito isn't as strong as Might Guy and can't fly like it, so wouldn't battle easily become a flaw?
"Awooo!"
"Battle training allows us to get training and develop coordination together, that's what it says." Zorua, who had jumped onto Shisui's shoulder, translated.
Obito: ...
Developing coordination by attacking each other, huh.
However, since Charizard had found such a reason, Obito couldn't really argue.
"Summoning Technique!"
Kakashi shook his head and summoned a Lycanroc to train together.
"Kakashi-senpai, is this a Lycanroc?"
Looking at the dashing Dusk Form Lycanroc, Yamato recalled the image of a Rockruff and struggled to find some common features between the two.
"Yeah, it evolved." Kakashi replied, patting the head of the Lycanroc, which leaned in close.
Although it grew in size significantly after evolving, some of the habits of Lycanroc hadn't changed, very much enjoying being petted by Kakashi.