Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, held the position longer than any other Hokage.
As Hokage, he was deeply loved by the villagers—after all, Danzō Shimura took the blame for everything unpleasant.
In Danzō’s own words, Hiruzen Sarutobi had spent his entire life basking in the sunlight.
Yet this very Hokage had gone against Hashirama Senju’s original purpose in founding the hidden village, allowing children to enter the battlefield and serve as cannon fodder.
During Hiruzen Sarutobi’s tenure, whenever war approached, the Ninja Academy would dispense with its usual graduation examination.
Once students reached nine years old, they would be forced to graduate.
Kazan looked around at the other children in the classroom.
Among them were the current generation’s Ino–Shika–Chō, Kurenai Yūhi, Asuma Sarutobi, and many other second-generation shinobi heirs.
They had clans supporting them and belonged to the Hokage’s faction, so their chances of survival were at least somewhat guaranteed.
Civilian shinobi like Kazan received no such treatment.
The more capable team leaders were assigned to the descendants of the shinobi clans.
Everyone else was left with instructors of comparatively average ability.
“Better to rely on yourself than beg others for help. What’s the point of worrying so much?”
Kazan turned his head and looked out the window.
With the Garp Template and Garp’s training memories, his future achievements certainly wouldn’t be low.
As long as he survived the Third Shinobi World War, things would become much safer afterward.
Even so, despite having trained since the age of four, Kazan had yet to make any truly substantial progress.
His body wasn’t strong enough to train in the Six Powers, and he hadn’t awakened any of the three types of Haki either.
The various Fist Bone techniques were little more than empty forms without Haki to reinforce them.
He was still a very long way from being able to blast apart Hachinosu with a single punch!
“Still, compared to Guy, my physical attributes really are much better.”
The power ceiling in the One Piece world might not stack absurd layers of abilities the way Six Paths-level fighters in the Naruto world did, but people in One Piece were practically walking health bars.
Aokiji and Akainu had fought for ten days and ten nights before finally determining a victor.
Because of that, even Might Guy, who specialized entirely in taijutsu, couldn’t compare to Kazan in terms of raw physical condition.
….
Noon.
During lunch, the excited students gathered together, and inevitably, the conversation turned to their classmate Kakashi Hatake.
“I heard from my dad that Kakashi just completed an A-rank mission with his team leader.”
“Seriously?”
“It’s true. I hate to admit it, but Kakashi really is incredible.”
The group of second-generation shinobi heirs couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.
As the genius who had shattered the Ninja Academy’s records by graduating early at the age of five, Kakashi was already quite famous throughout Konoha.
If news came out one day that Kakashi had become a jōnin, they probably wouldn’t even be particularly surprised.
“Kazan, try this.”
Kazan got along well enough with everyone.
Although he didn’t have much in common with a bunch of little kids, he wasn’t like Uchiha Jō, who would disappear into some unknown corner of the school at lunchtime to eat alone.
There was one simple reason.
Someone was willing to feed him.
Having inherited Garp’s Template, Kazan had also inherited Garp’s monstrous appetite.
Everyone else brought a small lunchbox and was full after a few bites.
That wasn’t enough for Kazan.
He needed dozens of rice balls just to barely fill his stomach.
“Ahh—”
Kazan looked at the piece of meat Kurenai Yūhi held out with her chopsticks, opened his mouth, and swallowed it in one bite.
“Thanks, Kurenai.”
“You’re welcome. I can’t finish all of this by myself anyway.”
Kurenai looked at the chopsticks Kazan had just bitten, blushed slightly, then lightly licked the tips with her tongue.
Not far away, Asuma Sarutobi practically exploded on the spot.
“Hey, Kazan! Stop sitting with girls every single time we eat! Come eat with us once in a while. People who don’t know you might start thinking you’re a girl.”
The other kids immediately burst into laughter.
“No, it has nothing to do with Kazan… I’m the one who came to find him…”
Before Kazan could even speak, Kurenai had already jumped in to defend him.
Kazan wasn’t as delicately handsome as the Uchiha boys or Kakashi, but he had a sturdy, energetic appearance.
Coupled with a maturity that didn’t match his physical age…
In any case, Kurenai felt that Kazan was very different from the other boys.
Kazan gave Asuma a look and left him to interpret it for himself.
Then his left hand and right hand moved in practiced rhythm, switching back and forth as he demolished dozens of rice balls in no time at all.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
Kazan took the water Kurenai handed him and gulped it down before standing and walking out of the classroom.
“Going to train again?”
“Yeah. My fists still aren’t hard enough, and they’re not fast enough either.”
He really works hard.
Kurenai watched Kazan leave before turning her attention back to her own lunch.
She had already fed most of it to Kazan, but she had a small appetite, so what remained was still enough to fill her up.
“Tch. That guy does nothing but punch things every day. If all he knows is punching, can he really become a good shinobi?”
Asuma complained to his companions.
Shinobi combat revolved primarily around ninjutsu.
How far could someone possibly get relying on taijutsu alone?
Just look at Might Guy.
There had even been a time when he couldn’t get accepted into the Ninja Academy.
“I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.”
A boy from the Hyūga Clan, Hyūga Asuka, stood up.
The Hyūga Clan’s secret art was the Gentle Fist, used in conjunction with their kekkei genkai, the Byakugan.
Together, they had made the Hyūga one of the most renowned shinobi clans in the world.
And the Gentle Fist was, in a sense, another form of taijutsu.
“Let’s duel, son of the Hokage!”
Hyūga Asuka was remarkably forceful.
So what if you’re the Third Hokage’s son?
The Byakugan Clan isn’t afraid of you.
That was simply how the Uchiha and Hyūga were.
They looked at everyone else and thought them inferior.
“Fine! Let’s fight! Training field!”
Asuma was already irritated, and now that someone had stepped forward to challenge him, he immediately accepted.
These damn Uchiha and Hyūga.
If nobody beat them up once in a while, they’d start thinking Konoha belonged to them.
Kazan knew nothing about any of this.
He had already arrived at an empty training area and begun his daily routine.
His daily training regimen followed the standards of the Marines’ elite training camp.
Two thousand push-ups.
One hundred round trips climbing ropes.
Two hundred laps of long-distance running.
And combat training, among other exercises.
He felt his body could handle even more.
After all, he possessed Garp’s Template.
Every day, once he completed his assigned regimen, he would push himself further and try to challenge his own limits.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
His fists repeatedly slammed into a wooden post.
Every single punch was thrown with everything he had.
No matter how tough the post was, under Kazan’s relentless pounding, it gradually deformed before beginning to splinter apart.
After an unknown number of punches—
Boom!
The entire wooden post exploded beneath his fist.
Kazan drew a breath, carried over another post he had prepared beforehand, and resumed punching.
Compared to Garp using mountains as punching bags, Kazan’s wooden posts were practically child’s play.
Only when the bell signaling the start of class rang did Kazan finally stop.
He quickly washed himself off, changed into clean clothes, and returned to class.
“I wonder when my body will finally meet the requirements for training the Six Powers.”
“And I need to find some way to get my hands on the Shadow Clone Technique too.”
The Naruto world possessed one enormous training exploit:
The Shadow Clone Technique and the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.
They were techniques created by the Second Hokage in imitation of the First Hokage’s Wood Clone Technique.
They could create physical clones capable of fighting.
But the greatest benefit of the technique was that when a clone was dispelled or destroyed, its memories would return to the original body—including the pain and fatigue it had experienced.
As long as Kazan’s mental fortitude and willpower were strong enough, he could even use multiple clones to train in the Six Powers simultaneously!