Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any intellectual property.

Chapter 3: Tempochromism

Namikaze Minato was good man. Obito has since learned that good men can be so predictable at times.

To be fair to his sensei, he is not currently seeing his student in any adversarial light. But Obito knows how dangerous that can be. A ninja should never be too comfortable, after all.

Even though he had just gotten done basically asking his sensei to be tougher on his team, Obito will regrettably have to take advantage of his naivete. A good way to avoid a question is to address a different but also important question that is relevant. But the only choice is the Sharingan, which is a topic he also wants to avoid.

Minato lead them down further in the woods from the training ground. Wasn't far, really, but ninja are quite capable of traveling a good distance even when not in a rush. This location still had signs of ninja training: broken trees, explosion markings, and shuriken left behind. Despite that, without closer inspection the site was a pristine image of nature's beauty.

Obito knew, or rather, expected Minato to ask again about the fireball. A question he really wants to avoid, partly because he doesn't even have a good answer and being honest would make him look insane. It's difficult to craft a lie when he does not even have the truth.

It seemed Minato agreed this place seemed a good fit. The pair perched against a red maple. A simple tree with beautiful leaves, thinner than the First Hokage's type, with a random chance of changing colors to yellow and red much sooner than its neighbors.

It was possible to come out of this unscathed, revealing nothing at all.

The first step was to take the initiative, since sensei is a bit of a pushover when it comes to a few particular people. Take charge of the conversation and then determine its direction.

"So, sensei," Obito starts, grabbing his attention. "Is this about the Sharingan?"

"Well that too, bu-"

"You're gonna have to tell the Hokage right? And then he'll tell the clan."

Minato could see Obito turn away in frustration with a childish pout on his face.

"Yes, that is a duty ask of any sensei with an Uchiha in his team. Not sure why, the Hokage gets told and some others will probably be told too but I've never heard anyone broadcast it."

"Think of it as a goodwill gesture between the Uchiha and the Hokage"

A formality, Minato though, one made for political reasons, to encourage interactions between the two parties to maintain a cordial and cooperative relationship. Such formalities can be annoying to everyone, but they have their uses. Other clans have similar things, the Hyuga probably have a plethora of them.

Obito continued, "Getting a Sharingan is a big deal to the clan since, unlike the Hyuga, not every Uchiha is born with one. It's like you're not a real Uchiha until you get it. Especially recently or in times of peace."

The boy seemed downcast as he explained it. Minato could imagine this is the reason to treat some like Obito poorly: he's not a "real" Uchiha. Or at least he wasn't.

"It's not that surprising," Obito explained lamely. "After all, what is a Hyuga without their Byakugan? A Nara without their shadows, an Aburame without their bugs?"

"Well I guess this would make you a real Uchiha now right?"

"I guess so..."

"You don't seem to be too happy about that." It was strange for Obito to dislike attention, all things considered.

Obito crossed his arms with a thoughtful look on his face. "Being accepted into the clan proper seems more like a lot of trouble than I thought. They'll probably try force me to act more like 'an Uchiha' and make me attend boring meetings and stuff." Obito looked very annoyed as a leaf fell on his head.

"Regardless, I'll still have to tell them."

"Yeah, I know."

Seeing how it bothered his student, Minato really didn't want to. But it's too much for an ordinary jonin sensei to get in the way of delicate village politics.

Obito shook his head. "I should go now, sensei." Minato could see the boy start to scurry off somewhat stiffly. "Probably need to buy formal wear or something, never really had one of those." the boy muttered to himself.

He watched him as he disappeared into the thick forest and then looked upward. Minato felt like he forgot to ask him something.

With the orange sun peering the big heads, Minato made his way to Hokage tower. After reporting on the day, he was now waiting for an audience with the Hokage. The receptionist accepted his request on his vague explanation of "private clan business". While it seems suspicious of a request, Minato is already a ninja of repute, and as such, those who work at the tower are familiar with him and his team. With only one member being of any real clan of note, with more than member, some might add, there's probably only one thing to assume about this request. And it would be an accurate assumption.

Prior to this, had to report the day's training to the record scribes. He would tell them about the course of the battle and the discussion on new skills. The chunin scribes expressed their amazement with Obito, who had given the Hatake prodigy trouble for the first time. They did not press further as Minato had neglected to mention any strangeness of the occurrence, and the boy's eyes.

It was very important for teams to give accurate reports to the relevant authorities. Rather, it is civic duty. While no clan is very happy to have each of their members' abilities technically, readily available, the Leaf Village has deemed this necessary for the safety, integrity, and cohesion of the village at large. Hiding information from others in the village is likely to stoke fear, division, and belligerent competition when loyalty to each other and the village must be prioritized.

This transparency especially burdens, more powerful clans in the game of politics, as they will not be able to act as if they are more powerful than they really are. And any rising stars from lower clans raise the status of their clan quite obviously in this manner as well.

While "public", technically, outside of relevant officials like team dispatchers, people must apply for deeper access to tiers of information due to the loud fears of espionage and such sentiments.

After a dozen or so minutes, the office door opened to show an important looking man walking out. Minato recognized him as Kagami Uchiha, the current head of the clan. He was a strong and stern man, as one could expect from a clan head. More easygoing than he would like to admit, though that is mostly due to having enough troubles from clan duties and politics. He simply did not agree with Uchiha elders making a big deal over every little thing.

Minato briefly wondered what the man could be here for but shook the thought as he bowed to the head of the Leaf Village.

"Hokage-sama."

"Minato-kun."

The Hokage was always happy to see the jonin. Minato was an exceptional ninja, but more importantly, a good man. While the young man was somewhat awkward at times, the Will of Fire burned with no such reservations in him. Sarutobi thought he could see a lot of himself in Minato.

"What's this about clan business? Could it be that young Obito has finally..."

"Yes, sir. It seems Obito unlocked his eyes at some point during his recent chunin examination," Minato said cooly.

As he expected, the Hokage nodded his head and remarked, "Strange that no one else had seen a Sharingan at the time."

"I agree, Hokage-sama, it is strange." Minato's easy tone made it clear he also found himself incredulous. Sarutobi understood that much and decided to move on.

"Well thank you for reporting. Obito will surely have big things coming to him in the future."

"'Annoying ceremonies', is what he told me." The Hokage chuckled and agreed. "What sort of ceremonies do they have, if you don't mind me asking."

The information about it isn't exactly hidden but the experience isn't public either. Though a bit hesitant, he decided it did not matter much to say."

"A Sharingan makes a true Uchiha, so it is a serious matter to them. When they unlock their eyes, the main tradition is the 'Fanning Flames Ceremony'. Traditionally, the Hokage is invited to attend the ceremony for the first born male of the clan head."

Probably another one of those good will gestures, Minato thought.

"After formalities conclude, the new Uchiha fights an experienced member of the clan to show off their skills and their Sharingan. The battle is also meant to be a gifting of knowledge, teaching them the next phase of the clan's style of taijutsu. Other jutsu are thrown out too as a bonus, and are expected to be copied by the new user."

Minato thought it was nice that there was at least a practical point to it.

"They could certainly do that without a beatdown too. It has a both a 'you're one of us now' tone as well as a 'but know-your-place feeling to it."

"I suppose this is how Uchiha show tough love."

With a shared chuckle, Minato was dismissed.

Minato made his way home. He entered to find Kushina wearing an apron and cooking ramen, as usual. The excitement of noodles transferred to her speech, "Hey Minato!"

He greeted her in kind and took a seat at his dinner table.

"How'd the talk with Obito go, what did you wanna talk about with him anyway?"

Kushina might seem like a blabbermouth but she could keep a secret, after all.

"Obito has his Sharingan now."

"No way! I'm so proud of him." Kushina's face lit up and she passed him a bowl. "Maybe we should celebrate or something", she thought aloud with a slurp.

Minato chuckled. "I think he'll have enough celebrations to deal with of his own. Apparently he's in for some boring ceremonies with the Uchiha clan proper. He said even mentioned something about buying formal wear."

"Oh, he would so hate that."

"Yeah. He didn't really say, but something about it does seem to bother him." Kushina gave a concerned look as Minato hadn't touched his ramen yet. "Being included by the clan and all, when he's been ignored for so long. Or something like that."

"Well if he didn't say, it might be right to bother him about it. He'll tell you when he's ready, I think."

"I think it's worth trying to ask a few more times: not everyone's as stubborn as you, you know."

"Hey!" Kushina objected to it but she enjoyed their mutual teasing with each other.

Kushina looked thoughtful and said "At the very least, we could try to cheer him somehow. You said he needs to get formal wear right?"

"Yes, and?"

Kushina's grin grew foxlike.

"I was thinking… do you think Rin might need a new kimono too?"

Minato was speechless, the gears already turning in his head.

"You can't be suggesting-"

"Guys need help with these kinds of things anyway! Bet he'd pick something ugly like an orange yukata of all things, gross!" Her disgusted expression completely failed to hide her wide smile as her face grew red.

Minato could only shake his head, in denial of his own grin, as he began to chow down. "What a meddlesome woman."

"Kyah! It's gonna be perfect!"

A/N:

I had to rewrite some of this a few times so it might be confusing at some parts.

This chapter served mostly for adding more context to the ninja world that I felt was sometimes very lacking in the original. Seemed a bit boring if you're not as interested in that but I hope I made it more fun at the end.

I spent a bit of effort on each character's "voice", crafted for the particular scenario and relationship involved. Tell me if you think it suits them or not.

As usual, please tell me what like. I'm probably a slower-paced writer when it comes to events and plot progression but I could write this to be more faster-paced if people wanted that.