Now with his team assembled, there was no time to waste. It's time to announce his candidacy for Student Council President.

"Ok Obito, the first thing you need for your campaign launch is a slogan," says Itachi. He sat in front of Obito, intensity emanating from his shorter figure. "Something catchy and memorable. And it has to be something that makes you stand-out against Kakashi and Gai."

Obito smiles to himself. Itachi may be younger and smaller than he, but he puts out a strong commanding aura that can scare even the most smug and proud senior. Itachi is already proving his worth on the team. Good thing Itachi approached him and not one of his competitors.

"Don't worry, Itachi. I already have a couple ideas for a slogan," says Obito.

Itachi looks at him, disbelief clear on his face. "Oh really? And what are they?"

Obito looks at his cousin, the corner of his lip tilts up and he says, "'See the future with me' or 'I shall enact change in this world. Come with me.'"

"Hmm... ," Itachi thinks about it. "Actually... those aren't too bad."

Obito cracks a grin. "Well I've had about 5 years to think of them."

Itachi looks at him, astonished. Wow 5 freakin years...

...

During the following week, Obito announces his candidacy for next year's Student Council President. With Itachi's help, he wrote a carefully prepared speech detailing his reasons for running and what he's planning on doing when he's elected.

Itachi also made a point to include the incident in the speech, letting students know that Obito was the one behind the thing and how successful it was.

Obito's candidacy was on the school announcements bulletin, the school website portal, his team made flyers, the whole shebang. The only thing Obito avoided was the school newspaper, since it was run by the journalism/news club; the club that Kakashi happens to be the president of.

He went on a freelance school news announcement youtube channel, ran by two freshman, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. And then he went on a startup podcast show for the school, hosted by another pair of freshman, Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka. They seemed a little too happy about it though.

The blond host jumps up and down excitedly. "Oi Obito, thanks for appearing on our show!" yells Naruto.

Obito cringes in on himself. Wow this kid is of loud. He straightens up and slaps a pleasant smile on his face. "Of course! Thank you for having me-- it was pretty fun."

"Hells yea!" says Kiba. The brunette punches his fist into the air. And then, his face full of excitement morphs into one of confusion. "Although can I be honest? It was a bit weird. Like, when Itachi came to us, asking to see if we can put you on our show, we were kind of surprised."

Obito raises an eyebrow. "Oh yea? Why's that?"

Naruto scratches his head and his face scrunches up, "Well you know... this podcast show isn't popular or anything. It's just something Kiba and I threw together to talk about stupid stuff. Like ramen, video games, food, ramen..."

Dang, this kid really likes ramen, Obito thinks to himself.

"Yea so, when Itachi came to us, it was pretty confusing. Haha," Kiba laughs a bit awkward. "I didn't think anyone other than the freshman knew about our podcast."

Obito thinks about this for a second. "Well you know, you guys are just starting out. But I can tell you guys have something special here."

They both look at him puzzled.

Obito gives them a genuine smile. "I had a great time on your podcast-- You have passion and a fun energy. And I can tell you guys have a lot of fun doing this. I'm sure more people will notice."

Both Naruto and Kiba look at each other, then look at him. They're both smiling widely now. "Wow really?"

Obito grins, "Of course! And besides, I can help you along with this. I can tell my battle with Kakashi will cause a lot of excitement in this school. Me appearing on your show will draw more attention and add legitimacy. We can help each other."

Naruto and Kiba are beaming now, truly inspired.

"That sounds awesome! Let's do it!" Naruto yells.

....

Every week a poll would show up on the school portal. Students have the opportunity to vote on a candidate they liked for that week. The poll turned into a good tool for the candidates to see how they were doing.

After the first week of campaigning:

47% Kakashi

29% Obito

17% Gai

5% Obito is the worst Uchiha

2% MISC

Obito stares at the polls. What the fuck? Who started this write-in entry?! Sudden realization hits him. Damn. It must've been that little shit...

And then a new Roots article appeared.

Mysteriously, Roots articles started intermittently appearing around the school for the past few years. No one knows who makes them, but they always provide detailed, unbiased information on the school's current events. Over time, students have come to rely on Roots articles as their true source of school news. Plus the mystery of who Roots is makes the articles more exciting to read.

Shambling into the library, Obito sees one hanging on the bulletin board. He eagerly grabs it and starts reading. Ok... typical Roots article. Giant bold letters and an eye baiting tagline. He opens up the article. On the very next page, it says who is officially running for Student Council President:

Kakashi Hatake. Well obviously.

Maito Guy. As suspected. No surprise there.

Obito Uchiha. Yup.

Then, the article goes on to list their past and current accomplishments.

What the actual fuck!?

Obito blinks his eyes together in rapid succession. He scans the page again, processing the words as if he was missing some circuits to his brain. Kakashi's list is way longer than his and Gai's. Ok sure, the information is accurate, but just seeing the lists right next to each other on the same page makes it seem like Kakashi is way better than the two of them.

Damn, that hurts. So far things are not starting off so good.

....

Back in History Club/ Team Obito meeting.

Obito stands at the front of the room. He runs his gloved hand through his long hair and takes a weary breath. "Alright guys. Things are starting off pretty rocky. I'm sure you've all seen the Roots articles and the polls?"

Yahiko laughs. "Yeah. What the hell is up with the polls? 'Obito is the worst Uchiha'? That's hilarious."

Obito stares at him deadpan. "That's not helping, Yahiko."

The door to their meeting room opens and Rin walks in a rush. "I'm sorry I'm late, guys. I was in a student council meeting."

Itachi follows in soon after. "Same."

"That's alright," says Obito. "Any updates on Kakashi?"

Rin catches her breath and plops down on one of the desks. "Alright. So Kakashi is still acting like the same cold and aloof guy that he is. If he's freaking out over the SCP race, he's not showing it. I've been excluded from his campaign meetings, but I know that Anko, Asuma, and Kurenai are on his team so far."

Obito gives her a nod. "Good, Rin. Keep me updated. Any news on Gai?"

"Gai is also planning stuff," says Rin, "but being a lot less hush hush about it. I'm not sure who is on his team, but I heard it was a Freshman."

At the back of the room, Nagato speaks up. "Some of his flyers are popping up. They are a lot less elegant than ours, but there is a whole lot of them."

"It might be a problem for us if he has more visibility," says Itachi.

Well that's not good, thought Obito. Should we start worrying about Gai?...

No-- Kakashi is the main threat here. In the meantime, we need to do some damage control to keep Gai and his team under lock.

"Hmm...that's true," says Obito. "We may need to create more flyers. But not too many, I don't want to overwhelm the students with flyers oversaturating the billboards. Anything seen from Kakashi's team?"

The team shake their heads. Nope.

"None seen by Kakashi yet," says Nagato. "Should we be worried?"

Obito frowns and mulls it over. "Not yet. We'll keep doing what we're doing, but expect the bomb to drop and be ready."

________

Yay Ch 4 and 5 are finally out. Seriously though, these are the two boring ones.

Also, I've decided to take more time writing these. I've been reading a lot more fanfics on AO3 and my god, they are amazing. I need to get better at writing, so I'll start working harder on these.

Ch 6 will still come out on Sunday...? It has Kakashi in it too :P