Pop!
The bubble swelling from Kazan’s nose burst, and his eyes opened.
“That backlash is no joke. No wonder the Second Hokage created the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique so long ago, yet Naruto’s the only one crazy enough to use Shadow Clones for training.”
It made sense when he thought about it.
Naruto had never been the smartest person in Konoha.
If he could think of using Shadow Clones to accelerate his training, naturally others could too.
The problem was that the requirements were far too demanding.
Take a chakra-starved weakling like Kakashi.
He could only create a handful of Shadow Clones to begin with, and practicing ninjutsu would rapidly drain their chakra on top of that.
Though, to be fair, what did you expect from a guy who needed forty-four hand seals just to use a Water Style technique?
Kazan, on the other hand, was fine.
His willpower and body were both strong enough that the side effects of Shadow Clone training couldn’t do much to him.
A short nap was enough to restore his mental energy, while his powerful physique provided him with enormous chakra reserves.
He gave it a try.
Nope.
Still couldn’t do it.
He hadn’t mastered a single one of the Six Powers yet.
But he was close.
After all, this was Garp’s Template.
Everyone in Garp’s family was a genius.
Garp himself, his son, his grandson…
Every last one of them possessed top-tier talent even by the standards of the One Piece world.
“It’s already this late? Guess I’ll have to go pick a fight with Uchiha Jō tomorrow.”
Kazan glanced at the sky.
The sun was already close to setting.
His original plan had been to start today by punching the cataracts out of the Hyūga and kicking the red-eye disease out of the Uchiha, thereby establishing his invincible reputation throughout Konoha.
But for now, filling his stomach came first.
“Come on, Hakimi. Time to hunt. Today, we’re eating one of your relatives.”
“Awoo?!”
…….
And so, another day passed.
The next day.
Kazan dispelled his Multiple Shadow Clones ahead of time and made sure he was fully rested before waiting along the road Uchiha Jō always took home.
He didn’t have to wait long.
Before long, Jō appeared at the other end of the road.
The Nine-Tails’ rampage hadn’t happened yet, so the Uchiha Clan had not yet been relocated to the outskirts of the village.
Their compound was still situated in Konoha’s central district.
“You’re too slow!”
Kazan walked up to Uchiha Jō, swallowed the last rice ball in his hand, and fixed his gaze on him.
“Kazan? Why are you waiting for me here?”
“Obviously to fight you, you naturally evil Uchiha brat!”
“What did you say?!”
Uchiha Jō’s eyes immediately sharpened.
The proud Uchiha would never tolerate anyone insulting their clan name.
“I said the Uchiha are brainless, the Hyūga are idiots, and both the Uchiha and Hyūga are a bunch of morons!”
“You’re asking to die!”
Uchiha Jō threw down his schoolbag and charged.
There was no need for any other reason.
What Kazan had just said was more than enough to make him fight with everything he had.
Kazan smashed his fists together in front of his chest.
“Not bad. You’re way more straightforward than Kakashi!”
As Uchiha Jō rapidly closed in, Kazan clenched his fist and swung.
“Galaxy Impact!”
His fist blasted forward with unstoppable momentum, seemingly tearing through the very air.
Uchiha Jō’s expression changed instantly.
He didn’t need to experience that punch firsthand to know he absolutely could not take it head-on.
He hurriedly twisted aside.
Kazan’s fist missed, but the violent gust it generated sent Jō’s hair whipping wildly and stung his cheek.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Good thing he’d dodged quickly enough.
But before he could recover, Kazan’s leg was already sweeping toward him like a scythe cutting through an army.
BANG!
Uchiha Jō was sent flying backward at terrifying speed.
He flew more than ten meters before landing hard on his backside, rolling several times across the ground before finally stopping.
“What technique was that?”
“Just a simple punch.”
“Nonsense! A human fist can’t possibly be that powerful.”
Uchiha Jō didn’t believe him.
It looked remarkably similar to the super-strength techniques of the Senju Clan recorded in his family’s archives.
He suspected Kazan was using the Senju Clan’s monstrous strength.
However Kazan had obtained such a technique didn’t matter.
The important thing was that he absolutely could not let himself get hit.
“I haven’t awakened the Sharingan yet. I can’t fight him at close range!”
Uchiha Jō rapidly analyzed the situation before immediately forming hand seals.
Kazan recognized them.
It was that humiliating Fireball Jutsu that, much like Amaterasu, somehow never seemed to burn anyone to death.
“Too slow!”
Shave!
In only two days, Kazan had already achieved an initial mastery of Shave, one of the Six Powers.
Even at this rudimentary level, his speed was already more than twice as fast as his previous maximum.
By repeatedly stomping against the ground and generating enough explosive counterforce within 0.36 seconds, the technique allowed him to move at extreme speed.
Before Uchiha Jō could even blink, Kazan had appeared right in front of him.
“So fast!”
Jō was stunned beyond words.
It was already too late to defend.
BANG!
Kazan’s iron fist smashed straight through Uchiha Jō’s body—
Only for him to burst into smoke and transform into a wooden log.
“Substitution Technique?”
“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”
Almost simultaneously, Kazan felt scorching heat behind him.
A massive fireball came hurtling toward him, rapidly closing the distance.
“Hmph!”
Kazan snorted.
He moved like a hunting leopard, darting sideways before stepping onto a utility pole beside the road.
Using it as leverage, he launched himself high into the air.
“Fist Bone!”
“Impact!”
Kazan soared above Uchiha Jō and brought his fist crashing downward like a meteor.
Jō was still in the middle of breathing fire.
There was nowhere for him to dodge.
All he could do was circulate his chakra and brace himself against the fist descending from above.
BOOOOM!
Uchiha Jō was struck as though an immense gravitational force had slammed down upon him.
His entire body smashed through a rooftop and plummeted into the building below.
After only a few exchanges, he followed in Kakashi’s footsteps.
His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed unconscious inside the crater Kazan had blasted into the structure.
“Good heavens! That little bastard Kazan is demolishing houses again!”
“What? What’s happening?”
“He’s fighting an Uchiha! Right in the street!”
“What?! That damn brat is fighting in the street again? Who’s he fighting this time?”
“An Uchiha!”
“What?! Hurry up and see if he won!”
The moment the villagers heard that Kazan was picking a fight with an Uchiha, their anger mysteriously disappeared.
Now they only cared whether he’d won.
A crowd came sprinting over like championship sprinters.
And then they saw it.
Kazan stood alone at the edge of the crater, staring down at the unconscious Uchiha lying in its center.
Obviously…
He had won!
“That little demon finally did something good!”
Hearing the commotion, Kazan turned toward the villagers.
“You all saw it, right? He attacked first!”
“We’ll testify for you!”
“Well done, Kazan! You’ve finally done something good for once!”
“Great job! Let’s see if the Uchiha still dare to look down on everyone after this…”
The villagers cheered loudly.
Their long-standing resentment toward the Uchiha was so intense that they had completely forgotten about all the property damage Kazan had just caused.
…….
News quickly reached the Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had been worrying over the increasingly tense situation at the borders, went completely numb when he heard that Kazan had behaved himself for exactly one day before running off to pick a fight with an Uchiha.
He covered his forehead with one hand, his head throbbing.
“Go bring him back immediately. Don’t let him fall into the Uchiha’s hands.”
Hiruzen truly couldn’t understand it.
Why did every genius in his village come bundled with so many problems?
Orochimaru refused to focus on proper work and had suddenly become obsessed with research.
Now he’d even gotten mixed up with Danzō.
Jiraiya was one of the Sannin, yet somehow he’d surpassed his teacher in all the wrong ways.
Instead of doing proper work, he spent his days sneaking around bathhouses to peep on women.
Tsunade was even more ridiculous.
She was the Princess of Konoha, yet her reputation as the “Legendary Sucker” was somehow even more famous than her title as one of the Sannin.
She lost practically every time she gambled.
If the Senju Clan hadn’t possessed such deep pockets, she would’ve lost every last ryō ages ago and probably gotten herself sold off to some sleazy establishment to pay her debts!
And now she’d even become Konoha’s runaway princess…
Then came this generation!
Kakashi was a problem child who had already been reported by four different jōnin team leaders.
Kazan wasn’t any better.
All he did was run around fighting people and causing trouble every day.
Couldn’t any of you grow up and learn something from Minato?
Nine out of ten geniuses in Konoha were absolute lunatics!