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Inside the shop, Akio watched Obito's "hard work" with a helpless expression—there was already a thick layer of wood shavings piled up on the ground.

Rin Nohara's encouragement was practically a stimulant; Obito simply couldn't stop.

"Stop, stop, stop." Akio quickly interrupted. "I'm teaching you how to carve, not how to chop firewood."

Snap!

Just as Akio interrupted him, the piece of wood in Obito's hand split cleanly in two again.

Obito had clearly been lost in some strange fantasy. Akio sighed—kids at this age…

"Ah! Sorry, Master!"

Akio shook his head and took the carving knife back. "Well, you've gotten somewhat used to handling a carving knife over the past month. Let's officially begin carving…"

He cleaned up the broken scraps of wood and brought over a stone block.

"Don't waste my wood—use stone to practice instead," Akio chuckled. With a surge of chakra, he infused the carving knife and carefully etched the five characters for "Uchiha Obito."

"Now you try."

…

Meanwhile, the three kids who had left Akio's shop had split up and gone their separate ways.

Kakashi held the "Right-Humph" carving that Akio had given him, his brows furrowed.

Back in the shop, he'd been drawn in by Akio's words and hadn't noticed anything off. But now, walking away, he started to feel a bit suspicious.

"The famed woodcarving master of all Konoha is actually a reclusive ninja? Why has no one ever known he was a shinobi? Could he be from another village…?"

"Kakashi, you're back," Sakumo's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. Only then did he realize he'd arrived home.

"Father, you're home today?" Kakashi was surprised. As a member of the ANBU, Sakumo was usually very busy.

Sakumo nodded and noticed the carving in Kakashi's hands. "You went to that carving shop?"

Kakashi paused—he had forgotten his father also had one of those carvings.

"Father, did you know the shop owner is a reclusive veteran ninja?"

The corner of Sakumo's mouth twitched. He wasn't sure what kind of nonsense Akio was pulling this time.

After a brief silence, he nodded reluctantly. "I know. He's a very strong predecessor. Why did you go there?"

"He really is a shinobi?" Kakashi looked surprised. "That dead-last from our class is learning woodcarving from him."

"Uchiha Obito?" Sakumo recognized the name. "Learning carving, huh? I see…"

He didn't press further. Akio often did things he couldn't make sense of, but he couldn't bring himself to believe Akio was only teaching Obito how to carve.

But this time, Akio really was being wronged—he hadn't planned to take on another disciple. Obito just happened to "help" him out, so he went along with it and took him in as a junior apprentice to amuse himself.

And besides, little Obito was… kind of adorable. Clumsy, but adorably so.

Watching Obito struggle with the stone, Akio chuckled inwardly.

Obito's current strength was still far too lacking. He couldn't even properly perform the basic Clone Technique, let alone control a carving knife.

Akio's carving knife was forged with chakra-conductive metals. With Obito's modest chakra output, cutting into stone wasn't difficult—but controlling the depth and precision was another story entirely.

"Done!" Obito shouted, collapsing to the floor, drenched in sweat.

Akio glanced at the stone from different angles and smirked. "Well, at least you can kind of tell those are words."

He stashed the stone away—planning to bring it out in a few years to see if Obito could still recognize what he'd carved.

Then, much to Obito's despair, Akio produced two more stone blocks from who-knows-where.

"Keep going…"

Obito looked like he wanted to sink into the ground and never rise again.

Akio smiled. "That girl earlier told you to work hard, didn't she?"

Obito instantly perked up, back at full power, and resumed his struggle with renewed enthusiasm.

Half an hour later, Obito was sprawled on the ground, completely unwilling to move.

Akio glanced at the five stones now engraved with "Uchiha Obito," all thanks to the "Rin Encouragement Method." But it had lost its effectiveness.

A quick sensory check confirmed Obito had barely any chakra left. Akio nodded, satisfied.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Remember—your score this time was six stones. Every time you come back, you have to carve one more than before."

Akio hadn't taught Obito any chakra control techniques—he'd left him to figure it out for himself, a sort of free-range approach.

Upon hearing this "devastating" news, Obito didn't even try to get up. He just lay there, eyes vacant, probably regretting ever helping that old man cross the street.

After a long while, Obito finally regained some strength and asked, "So… are we done learning carving for today?"

Akio paused. "Why? You want to keep going?"

Obito quickly shook his head but hesitated. "Could you maybe… guide me in ninjutsu training too?"

Akio gave him a half-smile. It looked like ever since Obito found out he was a shinobi, he had this in mind.

"You want to beat Hatake Kakashi, don't you?"

Obito froze, then nodded eagerly.

"You think Kakashi got his current strength just through talent alone?"

Ever since reading the opening of one of Jiraiya's novels, Akio had been a bit brainwashed by motivational speeches.

"You passed out after carving one stone. If I hadn't mentioned that girl's encouragement, you never would've finished the other five."

"But if it were Kakashi, he would've kept carving until he reached his absolute limit. He wouldn't stop—he'd keep going until he had nothing left."

Akio was deliberately conflating carving with training—they were similar but obviously not the same. Not that Obito noticed.

He nodded passionately. "I get it now!"

Akio chuckled. Brainwash by motivational speech: complete.

In the original story, though Obito's strength in the later arcs mostly came from his Sharingan, his taijutsu and ninjutsu were never weak. Clearly, his talent wasn't below Kakashi's.

And yet now, even being nearly a year older, Obito was far behind. One reason was the lack of a ninja mentor like Sakumo. The other? A lack of effort.

Obito, newly energized, looked at Akio. "Master, I never asked your name… You must've been an incredible shinobi in the past, right?"

Akio smiled. "I go by Hagoromo. You've probably never heard of me."

Obito nodded. "I'll ask the elders in my clan. They'll definitely know!"

Akio's face twitched and he quickly stopped him.

"No need for that. Let the past stay in the past. The world is already turbulent enough. Even if I… ahem. In short, I'm enjoying my retirement in peace here. Don't go spreading the word."

If the Uchiha Clan found out that the Sage of Six Paths was secretly living in Konoha, the village would descend into chaos.

Obito nodded vaguely. "Okay, I understand."

Akio saw he still seemed inclined to ask around, so he quickly changed the topic.

"Looks like your stamina's recovered. Let's continue."

"I thought you said we were done for today?"

"I say train, so we train…"

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