Kajirama nodded at his greeting and smiled. "I saw you practicing your ninjutsu just now, if I'm not mistaken, was that your clan's infamous fire style technique? I read about it a little in a book from our clan's library."
Obito Uchiha suddenly lifted his head smugly whilst rubbing his nose. "Ahh! You saw that eh? You're right, it is the fire style our clan has invented, it is one of our clan's signature techniques."
"But Obito-san, your execution of the technique was quite... Excessively subspar." Kajirama candidly spoke his opinion.
That got the Uchiha kid visibly annoyed, as a tick mark could be seen on his face. "Oy teme! I'm already doing my best at training that ninjutsu. Additionally, it is our clan's technique that represented our coming of age rite with members not being fully considered true adults until they learned to perform it to perfection. I'm still five-years old, I have so much time ahead for me to train in it, enough so I could perfectly use it! Besides, I doubt other kids my age would be able to perform a jutsu with the same rank as this."
"Oh? Are you sure about that Obito-san?" Although he was a little surprised at the uchiha's outburst, he wanted to tease him when he heard of his words. "I'm still four-years old myself, about to turn five tomorrow. However, I already know a C-rank jutsu, like your clan's Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu[Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu]-"
"Lies!" Obito cut Kajirama off as he sneered at him at the corner of his eyes. "How the hell do you expect me to believe that Kajirama-san?"
That surprised Kajirama, there was one thing that would make him really irritated, and that was being called a liar. 'He didn't even let me finish and he already got to that conclusion? How narrow-minded.' Kajirama fumed internally.
"Then do you wanna bet Obito-san?" Kajirama growled in spite.
"Heh! Yeah, let's bet!" Obito seemed to be proactive enough to do it. "What are we gonna bet on?"
That got Kajirama into thinking, since he was confident that he could do the ninjutsu his grandmother had taught him earlier proficiently enough, then he might as well get something useful out of this bet. With that thought, Kajirama smiled slyly. If Jiraiya was here, he would be proud.
"We're gonna bet on our two ninjutsu, if you lose the bet, you have to teach me the Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu[Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu]." Kajirama caught Obito's face hesitating, not waiting for him to respond with a comment, he continued. "However, If you win, I'm going to teach the ninjutsu my Obā-chan had just taught me to you, don't worry as like I mentioned beforehand, it is a C-rank ninjutsu, not to mention that it's also a fire release technique."
Kajirama had thought of this because he was genuinely interested in one of the Uchiha's signature jutsu, if it was such a technique that a clan so noble and prideful held it in such high importance, then it must be outstanding. He might have learned the fire style technique his grandmother had taught him earlier with ease, according to the old woman's praises. But, he wasn't so talented that he didn't need guidance on how the technique works and its functionality, not to mention that his chakra control wasn't really that fantastic, when it's compared to kids his age then yes, but when compared to a skilled shinobi in general? It wasn't even fun to compare the two.
"You're on!" Instantaneously, that made Obito's innocent eyes shine with pure desire, all hesitation thrown out of his head. Since in his mind, there's no way Kajirama would win this one.
"Alright! Let's shake our hands to seal the deal then!" Grasping Obito's unwavering will, Kajirama smiled playfully. Which got Obito some bad premonition, but he shook that off, there's no way Kajirama could do it, he's just bluffing his way with this and he's doing a good job, but Obito won't be easily fooled...
'No way, right?'
...
They got to a small clearing where there wasn't much greenery around, which got the two children standing in front of a sizable protruding rock that Kajirama found to be perfect as a target.
"Are you ready Obito-san?"
Obito frowned a little, his bad premonition was getting on his nerves, nevertheless, he still responded. "Get at it, you don't have to ask me."
"Alright, here I go~" Kajirama informed in a singsong voice. Kajirama walked up to the protruding rock closely, while he distanced himself from Obito so he wouldn't be hurt from his technique. He took a deep breath before he got started.
Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger.
"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu![Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu]
Two volleys of small fireballs, which are sent flying in an unpredictable manner assaulted the protruding stone. One of the fireballs hit while the other one missed as it hit the ground near where the rock was.
"Damn it!" If Biwako was here, she would have bonked Kajirama's head hard if she ever heard him curse such words. Kajirama was annoyed that he still couldn't get a hang of his control over the projectiles, however, he soon calmed himself as he turned towards Obito whose eyes were wide as saucers and hit mouth was hanging that it reached the floor, visibly shaken up.
"H-h-h-h-ho-how did y-you..." He struggled to utter the words he was about to speak, not that he had believed Kajirama was able to do it in the first place.
"How did I do it?" Obito nodded dumbly.
"Well, I just did it." Kajirama simply spoke with a sage-like stance.
"THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING AT ALL, TEME! TELL ME, YOU MIGHT HAVE CHEATED." Obito uproariously demanded.
"Cheat? Trying to find excuses now are we? Is that how an Uchiha usually acts?" Kajirama mockingly spoke as he shook his head and brought his hands above the air as if he was helpless. "And here I thought you would keep your end of the bargain."
Although he didn't quite understand Kajirama's odd phrases, Obito was able to tell he was mocking him. He scowled. "I wasn't finding excuses, baka! I-I'll teach you alright? Geez..."
That surprised Kajirama as he raised his brows, he initially thought that Obito would never come around. 'Although he's brash, he is conscious enough to keep his word.' He thought, which made him feel bad for some reason. With a bit of embarrassment, he rubbed the back of his head out of habit while looking away.
"You don't have to teach me if you don't want to, I was just playing with you anyway."
Obito blinked. He was happy at first, but eventually felt like he should still teach him. "Tch, it's alright, I'll teach you."
They made a deal after all and not following through it till the end didn't sit well with the uchiha. 'But what would the rest of the clansmen think of me teaching this technique to an outsider? Plus, Obā-chan might scold me if she found out about this.'
'Then they might really really get angry that I am doing this without telling them.' Obito was conflicted, he didn't know what to do, Kajirama saw this and was about to speak when he was beaten through it by Obito.
"Hey Kajirama-san" He called getting the boy to look at him. "I'll teach you, but do you think we could keep this between us for now? No one knows I am going to teach you the clan's ninjutsu, although it's a C-rank, our people are quite arrogant when it comes to our stuff. So could we maybe keep this between us for now?"
Kajirama raised an eyebrow at the honesty of his words and the question but shrugged and nodded indicating that it was not a problem. Obito thanked him with a vibrant expression and the two got to their training. Kajirama began listening over the workings behind one of the Uchiha's signature technique with a new burst of life and energy. After a while, he got the hand signs memorized and got himself training on the molding of chakra on the spot with what he learned, nonetheless, he didn't tried it out, they were in a forest after all, it wasn't an ideal place to practice fire releases techniques, or else, something bad might happen that would make them both in deep trouble.
Kajirama thought of something when he saw Obito sulking as he huffed and sat on the ground where he was. He hesitated for a moment, before he eventually decided with conviction.
"Hey, Obito-san." He called out.
"Hn?" Obito was still sulking, but he still responded. "What is it now Kajirama-san."
"Well..." Kajirama trailed off. "Since you taught me your clan's jutsu, I felt that it would be unfair if I wouldn't also teach you something. So how about I teach you the fire release technique? Y'know, the one I just executed a moment ago?"
Obito once again blinked, he spun in place and exclaimed happily. "Really!?"
Seeing this, Kajirama smiled. "Yeah. How about it?"
"Yoohoooooo!" Obito sprung on to his feet in elation. "Of course I'd want to learn it! It was such a cool jutsu!"
Although Obito wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed in their clan's compound. That didn't stop him from wanting the desires most kids their age were normally enjoying getting.
"Alright, so this is how it works..." Kajirama was then the one in turn teaching while Obito listened attentively, while occasionally nodding his head bubbly.
...
After a while, the two children were currently walking around the forest while they chatted. Although it took Kajirama a longer time than what he expected for Obito to understand the in and outs of the limited knowledge he learned so far, he sincerely enjoyed the time hanging out with the Uchiha.
Obito had his hands supporting his head as they walked and he asked.
"By the way Kajirama-san, how long were you training anyway? I am surprised that someone my age was able to perform a ninjutsu."
"My Obā-chan and Ojī-san started my Shinobi training over three weeks ago though a lot of it is self study and a lot of practicing from what I learned from books, to be honest my Obā-chan had just taught me this morning the technique I also just taught you."
'Woah, he has learnt that much already. So cool.' Obito thought but then again he had been taught by his own Obā-chan that the Sarutobi were not only one of the founding clans of Konoha but also one of the powerful ones with their clan's strength being comparable to the rest of the founding families. He clenched his fist, he was an Uchiha, which was also one of the founding clans, so technically, he should be as cool, right? With that though, he was once again feeling smug about it. Although, he had to admit, he should also start training hard to not be bested again by Kajirama.
"You are training to be a ninja too?" While Obito was busy mulling over trivial things, Kajirama asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice and watched as Obito rapidly nodded his head.
"Yeah! I have been training for two months but haven't made as much progress as you have though."
Kajirama nodded his head as he played with a kunai with his fingers then put it back into his small pouch, which like Obito, was on the side of his pants.
"What sort of stuff have you learnt so far?" Kajirama asked since he wanted to compare himself to someone else his age.
"I have studied and practised the Uchiha style of taijutsu, and fire jutsu, just a little bit though, as you can see with my fire style execution." Obito answered, telling Kajirama what he had learnt so far as well, he wasn't the least bit shy about his progress so far with his shinobi training.
"It just needed some practice, is'all." Kajirama comforted.
"Hn!" And it seemed to further brighten up Obito's mood as he grinned at the side.
"Ey Obito-san, how about we meet up here tomorrow morning, the same place?" Kajirama suggested after some thought, tomorrow was his birthday, and he wanted to invite Obito over.
"Why?" Obito asked in confusion.
"Tomorrow's my birthday and I wanted to invite you over, you're the first friend I made except for the other kids around our clan's compound. What do you say?" Kajirama said. He was a bit nervous, not gonna lie, still he gave it his best shot, it was unfamiliar for him having someone his age that wasn't Asuma and Kashin or others to talk to. It was pleasant and fun.
"Oh! Yeah, of course!" Obito readily agreed. But then, he suddenly thought of something. He sheepishly spoke out. "Oh... Sorry, Kajirama-san. But, I made a promise with someone that I'll be going with her to a competition tomorrow. So..."
"That's not a problem, Obito-san." Kajirama smiled, did not really bother him that much as his eyes lit up and put forward another proposal. "Then how about you bring her with us then? I'll go with you and tag along with your friend to that competition that you so wanted to go. After that, we'll eat at my house."
"Is that alright with you, though?" Obito was still unsure, after all, it was a birthday and he didn't want to spoil Kajirama's plans for the occasion.
But, Kajirama thought otherwise. "Yup! There won't be many around but you'll get a surprise." Kajirama had already found out that Obito was also a fan of the current Hokage and the former two. He left out to inform him that Hiruzen Sarutobi was his grandfather, so he'll be one hell of a surprise when he meets the old man. He can't stop himself from grinning like an idiot for tomorrow.
The two boys walked around for what felt like a couple of hours until the sun slowly began to come down and both knew they had better get home before their families got worried.
Saying goodbye and saying they would meet up again the next day, the two new friends made their way home.
At that time no one would realize that at that moment, two of Konoha's future greatest legends had just met for the first time.