After dismissing the jōnin team leader who had come to complain about Kakashi, Hiruzen Sarutobi took out the detailed records of the Ninja Academy students who were due to graduate this year.
The documents clearly recorded each student’s abilities and characteristics in meticulous detail.
Of course, there were exceptions.
Kazan, for example.
No one had expected that the dead last who had been mocked for years, who ignored ninjutsu in favor of taijutsu and only barely passed his classes, would turn out to be a genius as well.
Naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi wasn’t among those people.
He had known for quite some time that Kazan hunted in the Forest of Death.
“Should I put Kazan on the same team as Kakashi?”
Last night, Hiruzen had observed the two of them for quite a while through the Telescope Technique.
Unexpectedly, Kakashi seemed to get along rather well with Kazan.
He had even taught Kazan a forbidden technique.
Between the two young geniuses, a bond born from fighting each other seemed to be quietly taking root.
“Better to keep them separate. Minato isn’t particularly suited to teaching a shinobi who specializes in taijutsu.”
Assigning Kazan to Minato Namikaze wouldn’t necessarily be the best choice.
The team assignments of Ninja Academy graduates had always been carefully arranged by the Hokage.
Using his experience and judgment, Hiruzen would form teams with distinct strengths and characteristics.
Kakashi and Kazan were the two graduates from this year whom he was watching most closely.
Kakashi in particular.
Hiruzen had to find a way to forge a stronger bond between him and the village, rather than allowing him to become an emotionless machine that cared only about completing missions.
Soon afterward, Hiruzen’s thoughts returned to the growing unrest in the shinobi world.
Over the past year, friction between the major hidden villages had become increasingly frequent.
The Land of Fire and Konoha, located at the center of the continent and occupying its richest territory, had naturally become targets for everyone else.
If full-scale war broke out…
Could he, like his teacher before him, lead the village to victory?
The man once hailed as the God of Shinobi no longer possessed that same confidence.
….
Meanwhile.
At the Ninja Academy.
Once the lesson ended, Kazan returned to the classroom.
Everyone immediately surrounded him.
They still couldn’t believe that Kakashi had actually been knocked down by Kazan’s fists.
It was unbelievable.
Even more unbelievable than Uchiha Obito coming first in an exam.
“Kazan, are those rumors going around the village true? Did you really defeat Kakashi?”
Asuma looked particularly nervous.
If the rumors were true, the pressure on him had just become enormous.
Kazan looked at the group of children surrounding him, their faces filled with anxiety, expectation, nervousness, and every other emotion imaginable.
Then he nodded.
“It’s actually true?!”
The classroom instantly erupted.
Even so, they still found it difficult to believe.
Someone who relied solely on his fists had really defeated Kakashi?
It sounded almost too absurd to be real.
Only Might Guy had vaguely suspected that Kazan was extremely strong.
His father had always told him to treat Kazan as a goal to chase.
Because Guy trusted his father, he had worked incredibly hard.
Only Kurenai focused on something completely different from everyone else.
“Why were you late today?”
“Huh? Didn’t I already say? I overslept.”
“But you’ve never overslept once since you entered the Academy at five!”
Kurenai remembered clearly.
After all, she had always been watching him.
“Oh, that. The old man Third caught me last night and made me repair the street we damaged.”
“Together with Kakashi?”
This time, the question didn’t come from Kurenai.
It came from Nohara Rin.
“Yeah.”
“Then… how’s Kakashi doing? Have his missions been going smoothly?”
“Same as always. He’s doing fine.”
“I see…”
Rin relaxed.
She had been born in Konoha and had never once left the village.
Like everyone else, she longed to see the world outside Konoha, but unlike hot-blooded boys like Obito, she understood that the world beyond the village was dangerous.
Knowing that Kakashi was fine put her mind at ease.
As for those rumors claiming Kazan had beaten the shit out of Kakashi…
Rin didn’t believe them.
Her idol would never do something that embarrassing.
“Hey, Kazan! Fight me!”
Obito hadn’t heard what they were talking about.
All he saw was Rin happily chatting with Kazan.
Obito instinctively assumed it was because Kazan had defeated Kakashi.
In that case, all he had to do was defeat Kazan, right?
Kazan glanced at Obito.
It was impossible to reconcile the boy standing in front of him with the future boss he would eventually become.
“Next time.”
“No need to wait! Let’s do it now!”
As he spoke, Obito had already charged forward, determined to prove that his talent was inferior to no one’s.
BANG!
Kazan threw a right punch.
His fist landed squarely against Obito’s cheek.
In the next instant, everyone saw a dark blur streak across their vision.
Then Obito went flying straight out the window.
“Obito!”
Rin cried out in alarm and hurried out of the classroom to check on him.
“So what exactly does this girl feel about him?”
Kazan couldn’t help wondering.
From beginning to end, the person Rin truly liked had always been Kakashi.
Even at the moment of her death, the official record described it as:
“Nohara Rin died at the hands of the person she loved.”
And yet her concern for Obito clearly went beyond ordinary friendship.
“Whatever. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Kazan lowered his fist.
….
After eating lunch, Kazan went right back to punching his wooden posts.
Then—
BANG!
It didn’t take long before one of the posts exploded beneath his fist.
“Just a ten-percent increase and these wooden posts already can’t withstand my punches anymore.”
Kazan stared at his fist.
Garp’s method of training was crude and straightforward.
He simply kept throwing punches with all his strength.
He had started with wooden posts, then moved on to decommissioned warships, and eventually used mountains themselves as punching bags.
Through endless repetition, he had forged a pair of iron fists unmatched throughout the world.
Of course, that only worked because Garp himself was monstrously gifted.
How could an ordinary person possibly punch wooden posts until they reached the pinnacle of the world?
“The problem is, Konoha doesn’t exactly have warships lying around for me to punch.”
Kazan thought for a moment.
“Guess I’ll go to the Forest of Death.”
With that decided, Kazan created another Shadow Clone.
“You handle the afternoon classes.”
“Don’t dump such an annoying job on me.”
To a certain extent, a Shadow Clone was simply another version of himself.
Not only could it speak, it also possessed the same thoughts and personality.
“Using Shadow Clones for physical training doesn’t improve my body anyway. All it does is dump the fatigue back on me.”
“Quit complaining. I’m leaving!”
After giving the clone a few instructions, Kazan leaped away from the Ninja Academy, leaving his Shadow Clone behind to deal with the afternoon classes.
Not long afterward…
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The sound of Kazan’s punches began echoing through the Forest of Death.
One punch after another.
Every single one thrown at full strength.
Every single one smashing into the massive trees of the forest.
Hakimi picked up his master’s scent and came running over, only to find Kazan relentlessly punching a tree.
Although the tiger had no idea what Kazan was doing, he didn’t disturb him.
Instead, Hakimi took up position nearby and acted as his guard.
CRASH!
As another enormous tree toppled to the ground, the sweat-soaked Kazan finally stopped punching.
Then a wave of exhaustion suddenly crashed over him.
It wasn’t from his current training.
The Shadow Clones he had sent out that morning to practice the Six Powers had finally exhausted their chakra.
A massive flood of training memories poured into Kazan’s mind all at once.
The sheer mental fatigue overwhelmed him, and he collapsed onto the ground and fell asleep on the spot.
“Awoo?!”
Hakimi jumped in fright.
He hurried over and licked Kazan several times.
After realizing that his master had merely fallen asleep, the tiger returned to guard duty, vigilantly watching their surroundings.