Hope Flies on Wind-bent Wings

tempest in the form of a man

After Obito went back home, he planned on getting ready for the team meeting early. He lay down to rest a little while before it was time to go—or so he thought.

He accidentally fell back asleep. By the time he woke up, he was already running late.

Obito rolled over and cursed aloud when he saw the time. He quickly scrambled up to change from casual wear into his gear and hitai-ate.

Being promoted hadn't changed much about his working outfit, except now he usually left his goggles behind. Fugaku had called them 'a ridiculous accessory for a Sharingan user' and banned the use of them during training sessions. Now they hung from the edge of his bookshelf, gradually forgotten over the span of months.

Obito realized he hadn't actually eaten breakfast at Minato and Kushina's house, so he spared a moment to shovel down some dried meat and fruits from his travel pack.

He had just crumpled up the empty cellophane bag when he heard a knock on his door.

"Obito-chan?"

"Oh, come in, Hina-baa," Obito called. He threw the package in the trash and wiped off his hands.

Uchiha Hinako, the landlady and proprietress of the shop below, opened the front door. She had a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"I see you're running late again. Rin-chan came all this way to fetch you. Should I send her up?"

"Sorry, I lost track of time." Obito cursed mentally. He rushed into the living room to grab his bag.

"You can come up if you want, dear," he heard Hinako call down the stairs. "How have you been? I heard you applied to join the Medical Corps?"

"Yes." Rin appeared in the doorway beside Hinako. She gave a sheepish shrug. "I don't know if I'm qualified yet, but if we're going to have separate assignments for the upcoming battle, then that's where I want to be."

"But surely you don't need to apply if it's for a temporary assignment? Wouldn't the Sandaime place you there in that case?"

Rin nodded. "More than that, I want to help them rebuild after the war. Our team is already mostly jounin, so we'll each have our own specialties to build on. I want to go for medical tokubetsu jounin once the fighting is over. That way, I can teach new recruits and strengthen our resources."

"That's wonderful," Hinako said warmly. "With that sort of ambition, I'm certain you can achieve anything you want. Last I checked, Bitty-chan still doesn't have a formal job yet."

"Not for much longer," Obito said, thinking of Minato's plan to create a new squad.

Hinako's wrinkled brow rose. "Oh, really? Please do tell."

Obito grinned. "It's a secret. If I tell you, everyone in the village will know."

"No matter. Finding it out will be a fun exercise for me. Give me something to do."

"I haven't heard about it, either." Rin tilted her head to one side. "Did Fugaku-sama recruit you, after all?"

Obito scoffed. "No way. I spend most of my life with the Uchiha. I don't want to work with them, too. But I'll tell you guys about it as soon as I can. Everything's kind of on hold right now because of the war."

"Oh, right! We should get going." Rin bowed her head at Hinako. "Sorry to leave so suddenly, but our team is waiting."

"Not at all, dear. I'm sure Bitty-chan will take the blame."

"Yeah, whether I want to or not," Obito muttered. "See you later, Hina-baa."

Hinako's brows somehow rose even higher. She seemed intrigued, but let them go without any further comment.