No one took Kazama’s declaration seriously.
Even the jōnin instructor merely smiled.
Become famous throughout the shinobi world?
Reaching the level of the Legendary Sannin might already qualify as being famous throughout the entire shinobi world.
For most people, figures of that caliber were existences they could only look up to for their entire lives.
But making the entire shinobi world tremble?
Had anyone ever been that powerful?
Yes.
There had been two.
The First Hokage—Hashirama Senju.
And the Ghost of the Uchiha—Madara Uchiha.
Only those two men could truly be said to have made the entire shinobi world tremble before them.
After everyone finished introducing themselves, the jōnin instructor began the lesson.
The first topics were chakra, hand seals, and jutsu.
While explaining chakra, the instructor also taught several practical methods for refining it.
After all, not every student in the classroom had already begun refining chakra.
The Ninja Academy could be considered one of the foundations of an entire shinobi village, so its teachers were naturally competent and conscientious.
The instructor teaching them now was himself a jōnin who had participated in the Second Shinobi World War.
Whether it was theoretical knowledge or practical techniques for applying what he taught, he could explain everything clearly.
Kazama gained quite a lot from listening.
This era was far from truly peaceful.
Because of that, everything taught at the Academy emphasized practicality.
If an enemy could be killed with one strike, there was no reason to waste a second.
“Kurenai, can I call you Kurenai?” It was noon.
The instructor had spent the entire morning explaining chakra, jutsu, and other basic concepts.
With Kazama’s memory, he could completely remember everything after hearing it once.
So the moment the instructor left the classroom, Kazama headed straight toward Kurenai Yūhi.
He still had a task to complete.
Of course, he couldn’t rush things.
He needed to approach it gradually.
Otherwise, if the little girl ran home and complained to her father, Kazama might not even know how he ended up dead.
Kurenai’s father, Shinku Yūhi, was an expert in genjutsu.
In Kazama’s memory, he was an extremely formidable genjutsu specialist.
If Shinku discovered that Kazama had bullied his daughter and decided to cast a genjutsu on him…
Kazama might end up walking into a river on his own without even realizing what had happened.
“O-Of course.” Kurenai looked at Kazama as he approached.
She still wasn’t familiar with him and appeared slightly shy, but since they were classmates, she agreed.
It was lunchtime.
Kurenai had brought a homemade lunchbox, while Uncle Gen had delivered Kazama’s meal to the Academy.
As he ate, Kazama mentally reviewed the plan he had already devised that morning for getting closer to Kurenai.
As long as he carried it out step by step, completing the task shouldn’t be too difficult.
“Kurenai, are you good at genjutsu?” Kurenai kept her head lowered as she ate and barely looked up, so Kazama had no choice but to start the conversation himself.
“I’m…
okay.” She shook her head slightly.
“I’m not very good yet.” Kurenai was still young.
Although her father, Shinku Yūhi, had already begun teaching her how to refine chakra and explaining the fundamentals of genjutsu, she had only recently started learning it herself.
“You’re being too modest.” Kazama smiled.
“I know your father is extremely skilled in genjutsu.
You’re so smart, so you must have learned some already, right?” “I really like genjutsu.” “Could you teach me?” “I can teach you taijutsu in exchange.” Kazama began coaxing the little girl as gently as possible.
At that moment, he felt almost like some suspicious adult trying to lure a child with candy.
Of course, Kazama’s desire to learn genjutsu from Kurenai wasn’t something he had decided on a whim.
He had thought it through carefully.
His spiritual strength was already exceptionally powerful.
It might even exceed that of some jōnin.
On top of that, he possessed the Sharingan, which could greatly enhance the effectiveness of genjutsu.
Not learning genjutsu under such circumstances would be an enormous waste.
The problem was— Kazama didn’t actually possess any genjutsu techniques.
Compared with ninjutsu and taijutsu, genjutsu techniques were much rarer.
So naturally, Kazama thought of Kurenai.
By learning from her, he could both become closer to her and obtain access to genjutsu.
As for what taijutsu he would teach Kurenai in exchange…
Kazama had already decided.
Geppo.
Geppo allowed its user to move through the air.
For a child, being able to reach the sky was something irresistibly fascinating.
Although Geppo was one of Kazama’s more important techniques, showing it to Kurenai would undoubtedly be the easiest way to capture her interest.
“I…
I don’t know if I can teach you.” Hearing that Kazama actually wanted to learn genjutsu from her, Kurenai’s heartbeat sped up.
Children often imitated their parents.
Since she was constantly being taught by her father, she naturally imagined herself teaching others someday too.
But at the same time, she worried that she wasn’t capable enough.
“Don’t worry.
You definitely can.” Kazama smiled.
“And in exchange, I’ll teach you a taijutsu technique I created myself.” “Once you learn it, you’ll be able to go straight up into the sky.” Technically, there was a difference between actually flying and stepping through the air with Geppo.
But either way— she would still be going into the sky.
“There’s really a taijutsu technique like that?” Kurenai’s red eyes immediately widened.
She stared at Kazama with obvious disbelief.
“There are too many people here.” Kazama glanced around the classroom.
“After we finish eating, we’ll find somewhere quiet and I’ll show you.” Then he lowered his voice mysteriously.
“Once I teach you this technique, you absolutely can’t teach it to anyone else.” “Try not to let other people see it either.” “This is my secret.” “And once I tell you, it’ll become a secret that belongs only to the two of us.” “A secret means something we can’t let anyone else know.” “Okay!” Seeing Kazama act so secretive and cautious only made Kurenai believe him more.
She nodded vigorously.
After they finished eating, Kazama and Kurenai left the classroom.
Besides lunchtime, the Academy also gave students a period to rest and practice what they had learned, so the midday break was fairly long.
Guy had finished eating long ago and had already run off to train.
Kazama and Kurenai washed their lunchboxes and searched for quite a while before finally finding an isolated spot.
Kazama couldn’t help complaining internally.
With the Academy having just opened for the new term, finding somewhere completely deserted was surprisingly difficult.
“Watch carefully.” Kazama stopped about two meters away from Kurenai.
“I’m going to show you the taijutsu technique I created.” “I’ll teach it to you, but you have to teach me genjutsu in exchange.” “Mm-hm!” Kurenai stared at him intently and nodded repeatedly.
“I remember!” “And I can’t tell anyone else, right?” “Exactly.” Kazama nodded.
“This technique is called—” “Geppo.” “It allows you to step on the air itself and continuously rise higher.” Pa!
Pa!
Pa!
As he spoke, Kazama exerted precise control over his entire body while simultaneously manipulating chakra beneath his feet.
He stepped directly against the air— and rose upward.
After more than a year of practice, Kazama’s control over both his physical strength and chakra had become extremely refined.
When he used Geppo now, even the sounds produced by his steps against the air had become much quieter.