Kakashi knew that what he was doing technically counted as secretly learning from someone else.
And somehow, that didn’t sit right with him.
He was Kakashi Hatake.
How could he stoop to secretly stealing someone else’s training methods?
If he wanted to learn something, he should learn it openly and properly!
Still…
Now wasn’t the right time.
He would have to think of a way to openly learn Geppo from Kazama later.
As for the chakra-control exercise Kazama had demonstrated…
Well, Kakashi could make do with practicing that for now.
Naturally, Kazama had already noticed Kakashi.
He simply chose not to expose him.
There would be plenty of time to settle accounts with Kakashi later.
For some reason, Kakashi suddenly felt a chill run down his back.
“Careful!” After Kazama explained the basics of tree climbing, Kurenai immediately began practicing.
She had barely taken a single step up the trunk when excitement got the better of her.
The moment her concentration slipped— she fell.
Kazama reacted instantly.
He rushed forward and caught the little girl before she could hit the ground, holding her in a princess carry.
One arm supported her back while the other held beneath her legs.
A faint fragrance drifted toward his nose.
For a moment— Kazama almost didn’t want to let go.
“P-Put me down!” Kurenai had thought she was about to crash into the ground.
She breathed a sigh of relief when Kazama caught her.
But being held in his arms like this immediately made her blush.
“Just focus on practicing.” Kazama lowered her carefully.
“I’ll catch you whenever you fall.
I won’t let you hit the ground.” With Kazama’s current physical strength, catching Kurenai was easy.
Besides, he had trained taijutsu under Might Duy for quite some time and had already learned techniques for dispersing impact.
When Kurenai fell, Kazama bent his knees slightly and guided the force through his body and into his legs.
By distributing the impact properly, he eliminated most of the force without difficulty.
“Mm!” Kurenai nodded and resumed practicing.
Every time she fell, Kazama caught her.
Before long, she had completely started treating him like a human safety cushion.
After falling several times, she gradually stopped feeling embarrassed about being caught.
“It’s getting late.
I should go home.” As evening approached, Kurenai’s chakra was almost exhausted.
She finally said goodbye to Kazama.
“All right.
See you tomorrow.” Kazama waved.
He watched Kurenai jog off toward home before slowly making his own way back to the Kazama residence.
As he walked, his hands continued practicing hand seals.
…
Days passed one after another.
The jōnin instructor gradually moved on to lessons that were genuinely useful in practical combat.
Judging by the pace of the curriculum, Kazama estimated that after another month or so, once the theoretical portion was finished, they would probably begin actual sparring classes.
Over the past few days, Kurenai had spent every afternoon after school training chakra control with Kazama.
In only a few days, she could already walk up a tree.
She could even hang upside down from the trunk.
And she was having the time of her life doing it.
However, because Kurenai was afraid of falling into the water and then having no way to explain herself to her father, she had not yet started practicing water walking.
“Your tree climbing is good enough now.” Kazama looked at her.
“We can start practicing water walking.” Perhaps because she had successfully mastered tree climbing, Kurenai had gained much more confidence in her chakra control.
So the two of them moved their training to a nearby river.
Kazama stepped directly onto the surface of the water and walked across it as though it were solid ground.
To Kurenai, it still looked incredibly magical.
At the same time, Kazama repeated the key principles he had explained before.
Kurenai listened carefully.
She even practiced controlling the chakra beneath her feet while standing on the shore.
Only after preparing herself did she cautiously stretch one foot out and place it on the water.
She pressed down lightly.
The surface felt almost like solid ground.
Only then did Kurenai carefully lift her other foot and place it on the water as well.
“Whew…” Once both feet were firmly planted on the river’s surface, Kurenai let out a long breath of relief.
Then she looked toward Kazama and smiled.
“Not bad.” Kazama smiled back.
“As expected, Kurenai’s a genius.” “Now try taking a few steps.” Kurenai carefully walked forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
It turned out to be easier than she had imagined.
After several steps without sinking, she finally relaxed.
“Ah—!” The moment she relaxed too much, however, the chakra beneath her feet destabilized.
Her body immediately began sinking into the river.
“Careful!” Kazama rushed forward and grabbed her before she could fall completely into the water.
He managed to prevent her from getting fully soaked.
But Kurenai’s pants and the clothes around her waist still ended up wet.
Her expression immediately turned troubled.
Her little mind started spinning rapidly.
How am I supposed to explain this to Dad when I get home?
After that, Kurenai continued practicing much more carefully.
She didn’t fall into the water again.
That only made her regret her earlier carelessness even more.
If she had just stayed focused, she wouldn’t have gotten wet in the first place.
“Kurenai?
What happened?” When Shinku Yūhi saw his precious daughter return home, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
Her clothes had already dried somewhat, and both her shirt and pants happened to be dark-colored, but the damp patches were still visible.
Shinku frowned.
“Why are your clothes wet?” For the past several days, Kurenai had been coming home later than usual.
Whenever he asked where she had been, she simply said she had gone to train.
Shinku had been pleased that his daughter was willing to train on her own, so he hadn’t interfered much.
But now…
Had today’s training somehow ended with her in the water?
“I accidentally fell into the water.” Kurenai noticed the concern on her father’s face.
She quickly smiled.
“It’s okay!
I’m fine.” Shinku nodded.
“As long as you’re not hurt.” “But be more careful when you train from now on.” “Mm!
Mm!” Kurenai nodded vigorously.
“All right, go change your clothes before you catch a cold.” “Okay.” Kurenai headed toward her room.
Shinku remained where he was, thoughtful.
Recently, his daughter had changed quite a bit.
In the past, she wouldn’t have listened to him this quietly.
And now she had even started reassuring him so he wouldn’t worry?
That was practically unprecedented.
The next day— Shinku happened to have no mission scheduled.
So he decided to stop by the Ninja Academy.
Naturally, it didn’t take long for him to notice his daughter spending quite a bit of time with a little boy.
The two seemed to be discussing something.
Shinku knew who Kazama was.
As one of Konoha’s veteran jōnin, he naturally knew of the Kazama family and its reputation for generosity.
And as he observed Kazama, Shinku quickly noticed that the boy was unusually diligent.
During class, Kazama listened with complete concentration.
It wasn’t an act.
Even while paying close attention to the instructor— his hands were still practicing hand seals.
Doing two things at once.
And judging by how natural it looked— he had clearly been training that way for a long time.
“Geppo!” Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
After spending some time practicing water walking, Kurenai finally began training Geppo again.
Chakra gathered beneath her feet.
She jumped lightly.
Under Kazama’s guidance, one foot struck against the air.
Her body rose.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps…
Kurenai climbed more than a meter into the air.
But by then, she had already used up most of her available chakra.
Compared with Kazama, her chakra reserves were simply far too small.
Her body immediately began falling.
Yet Kurenai didn’t panic.
The moment she dropped— Kazama caught her.
After all, she had already gotten used to that during her tree-climbing practice.
Hidden nearby, Shinku Yūhi watched the two children.
A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.