In Sakura’s mind, Naruto was not exactly popular.
Dōichi Kimoto merely glanced at Kakashi and gave a slight nod in greeting before leading his team away.
Kakashi’s gaze remained on Kai, which left Dōichi somewhat speechless.
“Has Kakashi taken an interest in Kai?” he wondered inwardly.
He assumed Kakashi was watching Kai because of the hidden strength he had displayed.
If Dōichi knew Kakashi was actually jealous of him instead, he would probably become much more guarded.
After all, everyone wanted talented students.
After Kai’s group left, Sakura looked at Kakashi curiously.
“Kakashi-sensei, who was that person?” She had noticed Kakashi staring at Kai the entire time and assumed they knew each other well.
Kakashi turned back calmly.
“Someone rather interesting.” “Alright, let’s head inside.” He clearly had no intention of explaining further.
Meanwhile, Sasuke had felt a faint sense of pressure from Kai during their brief encounter.
It was a feeling he had never experienced before.
At the Ninja Academy, Sasuke had always ranked first among his peers and had never truly regarded anyone else as worthy competition.
The idea of another student pressuring him had never even crossed his mind.
Yet after only one meeting, he instinctively felt that Kai might someday become his rival.
Although Kakashi said nothing, Naruto cheerfully explained things to Sakura himself.
“That’s Team 11!
The guy who’s only a little less handsome than me is named Kai.
He’s my friend!” Even though they had only known each other briefly, Naruto had already decided Kai was his friend.
He did not seem to notice Kai’s subtle distance toward him at all.
Hearing Naruto’s words, Sakura immediately rolled her eyes.
“Idiot Naruto, your ego is unbelievable.” In Sakura’s eyes, Kai’s appearance was already on the same level as Sasuke’s.
In fact, if not for Sasuke’s special place in her heart, she might have even thought Kai looked better.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Kai’s group arrived at the mountains behind Konoha.
Looking at the massive waterfall ahead of them, both Yamada Itsuki and Motoyo Tano wore miserable expressions.
“Sensei… why did we get assigned a mission like this?” “And all the trash is beneath the waterfall!
How are we supposed to clean that up?” Their mission was to clean the garbage from the lake beneath Konoha’s back mountain waterfall.
Since they were rookies, there was naturally no chance they would receive combat-related missions.
But the lake’s upper stream fed directly into a waterfall nearly fifty meters tall.
The current was rapid, and the impact was enormous.
Just imagining trying to clean beneath it was enough to make anyone’s head ache.
Dōichi answered expressionlessly, “Today, I’ll teach you how to use chakra to stand on water without sinking.” The moment they heard that, Itsuki and Tano instantly regained their energy.
“Really, sensei?!” “You’re teaching us a ninjutsu?!” Kai looked toward Dōichi and noticed that Dōichi was watching him as well.
“Water walking practice…” “It’s basic, but incredibly practical.” Although it was a foundational skill, Kai genuinely did not know how to do it yet.
Because his previous talent had been considered average, he had never practiced it before.
Now, however, he was actually looking forward to it.
Seeing Kai’s interest, Dōichi smiled faintly.
“Come over to the lakeside.
I’ll demonstrate first.” The group moved to a calmer section of the lake farther from the waterfall.
The water there was peaceful.
A perfect place for training.
Dōichi slowly stepped onto the water’s surface.
“Watch carefully.” “The moment your foot touches the water, control your chakra and concentrate it beneath your feet.” “Pay close attention to the amount of chakra.” “It needs to be just enough to support your body.” “Too much or too little will fail.” “You’ll have to train and find the proper balance yourselves.” As he spoke, Dōichi stood steadily atop the water.
It was as if he were standing on solid ground.
He did not sink in the slightest.
Itsuki and Tano stared in complete amazement.
“Whoa!
Sensei, you’re actually standing on the water!” “That’s incredible!” Neither of them came from ninja clans, so they had never seen this kind of chakra control technique before.
Even Kai felt somewhat amazed.
Imagining it and seeing it in person were entirely different experiences.
Unable to hold himself back, Itsuki eagerly volunteered first.
Walking carefully to the edge of the lake, he cautiously gathered chakra beneath his feet.
Although Dōichi had already demonstrated the technique and explained the principles behind it, Itsuki still felt nervous attempting it himself.
Carefully, he stepped onto the water.
But the moment he tried to put weight on it, his foot slipped straight through.
Splash!
He fell into the lake instantly.
“This is way too hard!” “Sensei, how do you make it look so easy?!” Standing up from the water while wiping his soaked hair, Itsuki looked at Dōichi awkwardly.
Originally, Tano had wanted to try as well.
But after witnessing Itsuki’s failure, she suddenly became hesitant.
“Is it really that difficult?” “Sensei made it look simple, and the theory doesn’t sound complicated either…” She looked toward Itsuki uncertainly.
Itsuki climbed back onto shore and gave a bitter smile.
“It’s impossible!” “The explanation sounds simple, but controlling the exact amount of chakra is incredibly hard.” Dōichi nodded.
“Correct.” “Even though you failed, you already grasped the core of the technique.” “The key lies in precise chakra control.” “That’s something I can’t teach directly.” “You’ll need to train and experiment on your own.” Itsuki nodded helplessly.
“This is way too difficult…” “I’ll probably need a long time before I can master it.” To him, accomplishing this felt almost impossible.
“Just now, I didn’t even feel like I stood on the water for a split second.” “It felt exactly the same as not using chakra at all.” Then he looked curiously at Dōichi.
“Sensei, how long did it take you to master this technique back then?” After all, Dōichi was a jōnin.
And any shinobi capable of becoming a jōnin was considered a genius from childhood.
Jōnin were already among a village’s highest-level combat forces.
Even within the Five Great Shinobi Villages, that remained true.
The number of jōnin in each village was not large.
Every single one excelled in their respective fields.
Dōichi answered calmly, “Two days.” “Two days?!” Itsuki’s eyes widened.
“Even you needed two whole days, sensei?
Then people like us probably need more than ten days!” Although his talent was average, Itsuki had a decent understanding of ninja theory.
He knew perfectly well that his aptitude was nowhere near Dōichi’s level.
Tano, who had been preparing to attempt the technique herself, quietly pulled her foot back after hearing that.
Her talent was about the same as Itsuki’s.
“Sensei… then what about all the trash beneath the waterfall?” She pointed nervously toward the debris below the crashing water.
Looking at the terrifying force of the waterfall, fear rose in her heart.
A fifty-meter drop of rushing water could easily crush a person.
Dōichi shook his head.
“That’s for you to figure out.” “That’s the entire point of this mission.” “If you can’t even solve something this simple…” “Then when you face truly powerful enemies someday, you’ll end up dead.”
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