Naruto: Experience Pain, Start by Copying the Entire Shinobi World

The journey home is longer than the journey there.

With the urgency of war gone and the imminent crisis over, all that remained was the cool morning breeze and the silent footsteps of the two.

Lin followed half a step behind Qian Xuan with her head down, her shoulders still trembling, clearly still immersed in immense grief. Her eyes, which always held a gentle smile, were now red and swollen, like overripe peaches.

Qianxuan walked ahead, his hands behind his head, a blade of grass he had picked from who-knows-where dangling from his mouth, looking as leisurely as if he were on a picnic.

After walking for about an hour, he suddenly stopped.

"Hey, Lin."

"Um?"

Lin raised her tear-filled eyes, her voice heavy with nasal congestion.

Qianxuan turned around, his expression more serious than ever before. He walked up to Lin, squatted down, and made himself able to look her in the eye.

"I've been thinking about a question."

Lin stared at him blankly, wondering what kind of problem he could have at a time like this.

"you say,"

Qianxuan's tone suggested he was discussing some top-secret S-rank information from the ninja world.

"That Obito kid, does he... actually like Kakashi?"

The air froze.

The wind seemed to have stopped.

Lin blinked blankly into her still-wet eyes, tears still clinging to her long eyelashes.

She wondered if she was hallucinating because she was too sad.

"Senior Qianxuan... what... are you saying?"

"I'm analyzing this very seriously."

Qianxuan counted on his fingers and began his argument in a serious manner.

"First, think carefully, who is the person Obito talked about the most from childhood to adulthood?"

Lin answered subconsciously:

"It's...Kakashi?"

"That's right!"

Qian Xuan slapped his thigh.

"Kakashi, you bastard!" "I'll surpass you, Kakashi!" "Just you wait, Kakashi!" He shouts "Kakashi" more times a day than "Hokage." Is that normal? No, it's not!

Lin's mind was a little foggy.

"second,"

Qianxuan raised his second finger.

"Look at him every time he argues with Kakashi, doesn't he act like a cat with its fur standing on end? He yells fiercely, but his eyes are shining like he's found money. Typical hypocrite, tsundere, you know?"

"Arrogant...and spoiled?"

Lin was somewhat confused when she first heard the word.

"It's about using a fierce appearance to cover up one's true feelings."

Qianxuan explained,

"He doesn't really hate Kakashi; he cares about Kakashi too much, to the point that he wants all of Kakashi's attention to be on him. That's why he keeps provoking and picking fights with him. It's a very childish way of trying to get the attention of someone he likes."

Lin's mouth opened slightly.

It seems... to make some sense?

"Third, and most crucial, evidence!"

Qianxuan's expression grew increasingly solemn.

Why did he open his eyes this time? Who was he trying to save?

"To...save Kakashi..."

"Look!"

Qianxuan's voice carried a certain "I knew it" certainty.

"His best friend was in danger, and overwhelmed with grief and anger, his Sharingan instantly leveled up. Tell me, what else could this be but true love? For a man, even his eyeballs mutated from staring—what profound emotion that is!"

Lin's mind went blank with a buzz.

She began to recall things uncontrollably.

It seems that's indeed the case.

Every time Obito was late for training and was looked down upon by Kakashi, he would get so angry that he would jump up and down and then go to do extra training by himself.

Whenever Obito was injured on a mission, Kakashi was always the first to rush over and check on his injuries.

Every time Obito received even the smallest praise, he would immediately run to Kakashi to show off, only to be met with another "idiot" in return.

The two of them were always bickering, yet they were always together.

It seems that most of the time, I'm just standing on the sidelines, watching them...

An absurd yet logically sound idea took root and sprouted in Lin's mind.

Is it...

So,

Qian Xuan stood up, brushed the dirt off his pants, and spoke earnestly in a tone befitting someone with experience.

"You don't need to worry at all. That kid Obito is probably bragging to the people who captured him right now, bragging about how much guts he went to save his sweetheart."

"His arrest might be a good thing for you."

"Good news?"

Lin was even more confused.

"Think about it,"

Qianxuan patiently guided him.

"What would you have done if they had gotten together? You'd have been caught in the middle, how awkward would that have been. Now it's all good, one of them was arrested, and the other stayed in the village, out of sight, out of mind. In three to five years, you'll be able to find a good family to marry into."

Lin stood there blankly, feeling as if her worldview was being shattered by a giant hammer called "Qianxuan's twisted logic".

An image uncontrollably surfaced in her mind.

On the training field under the setting sun, Obito and Kakashi sat back to back.

Obito:

"Kakashi, you bastard, you stole my thunder again today!"

Kakashi:

"You're too weak, you're a loser."

Obito:

"You're the one at the bottom! One day, I'll make you look at me in a new light!"

Kakashi:

"..."

Then, the two looked at each other and smiled, creating a scene that was unbelievably beautiful.

And I stood under a tree not far away, like a passerby, holding the lunchboxes I had prepared for them.

huh?

Lin's pupils slowly dilated.

So... I was the one who was superfluous?

Am I just part of their game?

Are they just tools they use to enhance their relationship?

So, every time Obito blushed while talking to me, it was actually because Kakashi was standing next to him?

So Kakashi is always so cold to me because he's jealous?

boom--!

Lin felt as if something in her head had completely collapsed.

The heart-wrenching grief of losing a companion was instantly washed away by an even greater, more absurd, and more indescribable emotion.

She looked at Qianxuan, at his face that seemed to say, "I saw through everything long ago," and her lips moved for a long time, but she couldn't utter a single word.

"See? You've figured it out, haven't you?"

Qianxuan looked at her blank expression with satisfaction, feeling that he was a seemingly ordinary but actually quite talented person at psychological counseling.

He gently patted Lin's head, as if comforting a frightened kitten.

"Alright, stop thinking about it. Relationships are complicated."

"Let's keep going and try to find a place to have a good meal before dark."

After saying that, he turned around, still chewing on the grass root, with his hands behind his head, and walked forward with an air of indifference.

Lin stood there for a very long time.

Then, she silently followed.

However, the look in her eyes as she gazed at the tall figure ahead became somewhat complicated.

What kind of person is Senior Qianxuan?

He's so strong, yet so irreverent.

Even though what he says is so outrageous, it always seems like... he always hits the nail on the head.

Lin looked down at her hands, then looked up at the distance.

Obito...

Kakashi...

I wish you... happiness.