Saturday evening.
Kakashi pushed open the door and returned home.
The Hatake ancestral residence occupied a vast area, yet it felt unusually empty.
Only four or five people lived there, leaving the estate almost devoid of life.
During the Warring States Period, there had been a saying:
“The Hatake clan numbers fewer than a hundred.
Once their numbers exceed a hundred, they become invincible.”
Naturally, the saying contained some exaggeration.
Nevertheless, it reflected two undeniable facts: the Hatake clan members possessed exceptional talent, and their numbers had continued to dwindle over the years.
Kakashi recalled the scene of Yakumo finally mastering the basics of Hatake swordsmanship.
He planned to report the progress of his assignment to his father later that evening.
At the entrance, Sakumo Hatake stood dressed in black, carrying the chakra short blade known as the White Fang over his shoulder.
“I’m heading out on a mission.”
“Please be careful, Father.”
All the happiness Kakashi had intended to share with his father condensed into those eight simple words.
They were his most sincere wishes for his father’s safety.
“Oh, right…
Has Yakumo mastered the basics yet?”
Sakumo suddenly asked, as though something had just occurred to him.
“He mastered them today.”
“Very good.”
It was unclear whether he was praising Yakumo or Kakashi.
After leaving those words behind, Sakumo leaped into the air.
Like a great bird gliding over the earth, he disappeared into the darkness of the night.
Kakashi could tell that his father cared about Yakumo.
However, since his father hadn’t explained why, Kakashi wouldn’t ask.
Could it be that one day Father will bring him home and say…
“Kakashi, this is your long-lost older brother.”
“Father, I made a small mistake back then…”
Kakashi hurriedly shook his head, banishing the ridiculous thought.
After all, Yakumo’s talent was so poor that he hardly seemed like a member of the Hatake clan.
…
In the desert, there was a plant known as sandthorn grass.
In its fifth year of growth, it would bloom with extraordinarily beautiful purple flowers.
Unfortunately, sandthorn grass became increasingly fragile as it aged and could no longer easily withstand the harsh desert environment.
Only plants carefully nurtured by human hands had a chance of surviving long enough to bloom in their fifth year.
Their beautiful flowers were known as Eternal Guardianship.
Years ago, Sakumo Hatake had discovered a three-year-old sandthorn grass.
Remembering his wife, who loved flowers, he had decided to care for the plant himself until it produced an Eternal Guardianship flower.
However, he knew nothing about gardening, and the plant gradually withered under his care.
Just when things seemed hopeless, he met a chūnin who was exceptionally knowledgeable about flowers: Iori Mitsuyoshi.
Sakumo Hatake had finally seen an Eternal Guardianship flower…
But his beloved wife, who had loved flowers so dearly, had died in childbirth.
And the old friend who had understood flowers so well had perished on the battlefield.
…
Yakumo calmly entered his house and gently closed the wooden door behind him.
At last, he could no longer suppress his excitement.
He covered his mouth and began laughing in a slightly manic manner.
“Hahahahahahaha…
Hic!”
After completing his final three-thousand-word book review, Yakumo submitted two of his missions.
A familiar wave of warmth flowed through his muscles and brain.
It felt as though thousands of hands were massaging him simultaneously, sending an indescribable pleasure straight to the depths of his soul.
His muscles slowly grew larger, while new insights into swordsmanship and the Water Bullet technique emerged in his mind.
[Personal Status]
Name: Iori YakumoAge: 7Constitution: 4.8 (Endurance, resistance, recovery)Strength: 4.0 (Carrying capacity, attack power, etc.)Agility: 4.0 (Nerve response, running speed, etc.)Intelligence: 4.8 (Learning ability, mental resistance)Chakra: 6.9 (10 points required for promotion to genin)
[Personal Skills]
Passive: Chakra Extraction Technique — AccelerationActive: Water Bullet — Beginner, 50/100 — AccelerationBasic Swordsmanship: Proficient, 20/200 — AccelerationHatake Secret Art: Beginner, 1/400 — Acceleration
Gold Coins: 500
Looking at the status panel, Yakumo reflected on the swordsmanship Kakashi had taught him.
It was genuinely a secret art of the Hatake clan.
The favor he owed Kakashi was enormous.
The fact that the proficiency threshold for the next level was as high as 400 points was proof enough of how extraordinary this swordsmanship was.
His remaining gold coins seemed just enough to upgrade Water Bullet.
Although Mori Yasuko had jokingly called it a technique for watering flowers, Yakumo could still recognize its potential.
At the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about dying of thirst.
With a thought, he spent all five hundred gold coins.
The coins vanished like flowing water, while the number representing his Water Bullet proficiency rapidly increased.
Yakumo immersed himself in his newfound understanding of the technique.
Ding!
Gold coins successfully deducted.
Enjoy your game!
Yakumo opened his eyes.
His Water Bullet proficiency had successfully crossed into the next tier, and a small red notification dot had appeared beneath the skill.
Active Skill: Water Bullet — Proficient, 0/200
Proficiency Bonus: Water Bullet power increased by 30%.
Yakumo remembered that when his swordsmanship had reached the Proficient level, the reward had been attribute points.
For ninjutsu, however, reaching the same proficiency level granted a direct increase in power.
A few minutes later, after calming his excitement, Yakumo began practicing Hatake swordsmanship in the courtyard.
His movements were extremely slow.
Two hours later, his proficiency hadn’t increased at all.
“What kind of genius am I supposed to be…?”
Inside the bathroom, Yakumo formed the necessary hand seals.
In barely a second, he unleashed Water Bullet.
A pale-blue sphere of water slammed into the bathroom’s tiled wall with a sharp, jarring crash.
When the disturbance finally subsided, Yakumo stared silently at the tiles, which were now covered in a web of spiderweb-like cracks.
He smiled.
With this much power, a surprise attack could already injure someone before they had time to react.
Before long, the technique might even become capable of inflicting lethal damage in a conventional fight.
By conventional lethality, he meant being able to kill an ordinary genin with a single strike or render one incapable of continuing to fight.
That night, Yakumo enjoyed a rare, peaceful sleep.
The following morning, he got up early.
He washed up in the bathroom, fried an egg, and warmed some milk.
After finishing his nutritious breakfast, Yakumo opened the front door, breathed in the fresh air, and began his daily training.
Today’s missions were fairly ordinary.
The only exception was the appearance of his first combat mission.
[Unbeatable in Battle]
Objective: Defeat Komoto Kenta in the in-class test.
Rewards: 0.1 Constitution, 50 gold coins.
To complete the mission, Yakumo had to defeat Komoto Kenta.
As he ran his usual morning route, he began mentally rehearsing the afternoon’s battle.
This afternoon, I’m going to win.
Yakumo estimated that his attributes were probably around the middle of the class.
He couldn’t compete with the children of the major shinobi clans, but he should be able to defeat the few talented civilian students without much difficulty.
That afternoon, at the training ground outside the classroom, the in-class tests began.
The first match was once again between Kakashi and Asuma Sarutobi.
This time, the battle ended even more quickly, and Asuma’s performance was worse than it had been ten days earlier.
It almost seemed as though Asuma hadn’t improved at all.
In fact, he appeared to have regressed.
But everyone understood the real reason: Kakashi had become frighteningly powerful.
He accurately anticipated every one of Asuma’s reactions and acted before Asuma could carry them out.
It was like watching a mature adult guide a child through training.
From the very first move, Asuma was completely suppressed.
Kakashi alone determined when the fight would end.
Perhaps because he had finally recognized the enormous gap between them, Asuma could no longer maintain his composure.
When he looked at Kakashi, his expression was complicated, filled with envy, jealousy, and anger at the humiliation he had suffered.
“From now on, the in-class test pairing will be Uchiha Tsunagane against Kakashi Hatake.
Asuma Sarutobi’s future opponent will be Shinkawa Hyūga.”
Keisuke Shimizu happened to make the announcement at that moment.
His words were like a lit match thrown into a dry well filled with combustible gas.
An ocean of anger erupted instantly.
“Why?!” Asuma shot to his feet, his face flushed red.
Did this mean he was no longer worthy of being Kakashi Hatake’s opponent?
Shimizu offered no explanation.
Instead, he continued announcing the next pair of students scheduled for testing.
From Yakumo’s perspective, Shimizu was deliberately trying to drive a wedge between Kakashi and Asuma through his actions.
What exactly is he trying to accomplish?