That evening, after the sparring session ended, Kiyohane returned home.
“I’m back.”
No one answered from the entryway.
Kiyohane changed out of his shoes and walked into the living room.
Sure enough, it was empty.
He guessed Tsunade had gone to a gambling hall again.
This legendary Sannin was good in every way—except when her hands started itching for a bet, no one could stop her.
Kiyohane did not mind.
He went to the backyard alone.
The yard was not large, but it was enough for basic training.
He took several shuriken from his ninja tool pouch, steadied himself, and threw them at the wooden target in the yard.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
Three shuriken flew out and buried themselves near the bullseye.
Kiyohane paused slightly.
That accuracy… was much better than before.
He thought back.
Aside from the Swordsmanship Foundation trait he had gained today, there was also the trait that had dropped from Kakashi earlier: Genius’s Solitude.
[E-rank Trait: Genius’s Solitude.]
[Effect: When training alone, all training efficiency increases by 40%.]
“Training alone…”
Kiyohane threw a few more shuriken, feeling how his body moved with far better coordination than before.
It really was faster.
Both the basic boost from Swordsmanship Foundation and the solo-training effect from Genius’s Solitude were working right now.
Techniques that would have previously required dozens of repetitions to grasp now took less than half as many attempts.
Kiyohane raised his head and looked at the sky, already dyed in the colors of dusk.
Today had certainly been rewarding.
More importantly, Kiyohane had seen new hope.
At first, he had only planned to keep his head down and survive passively.
Now, it seemed there might be a better way.
Collect as many traits as possible.
Kiyohane drew in a deep breath and continued training.
Shuriken throwing, basic taijutsu movements, chakra control…
He went through each one according to the most basic training process taught at the Ninja Academy.
The results were obvious.
Besides that, he also trained according to some of the fundamentals Tsunade had taught him.
Among ninja clans, almost every child trained in advance.
This was also what allowed clan-born shinobi to quickly pull ahead of civilian-born shinobi.
It was like when Sasuke was young.
Itachi Uchiha would take him hunting, and Fugaku Uchiha even demonstrated the C-rank Fire Release technique, Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique, to him when he was still little.
As expected of the power of traits.
Kiyohane thought to himself.
Although the traits he had collected so far were only E-rank, small gains would pile up over time.
And besides, the truly outstanding traits in the shinobi world were hidden among the strong.
Tsunade, Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and others.
Kiyohane was very curious.
If he met Naruto or Sasuke, what kind of traits would he be able to collect?
Would the chakra of a reincarnation count as a trait?
Kiyohane rubbed his chin.
“Unfortunately, Naruto and Sasuke are still far from being born.”
Then Kiyohane thought of Madara Uchiha.
Hashirama Senju had been dead for many years.
Only Madara Uchiha still lurked in the shadows of the shinobi world.
He was also the only reincarnation currently alive.
I wonder if running into Madara Uchiha would trigger any traits.
Kiyohane guessed it probably would drop something good.
After all, judging by his overall abilities, Madara had no obvious weaknesses in ninjutsu, taijutsu, or genjutsu.
He was a complete all-rounder.
…
At that moment, inside the Hokage’s office, Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly lowered his pipe.
He had observed Kakashi and Kiyohane’s spar today.
That child truly was unusual.
Judging by the awakening of his Sharingan, perhaps Kiyohane was the earliest one in the current Uchiha clan to awaken it?
But would this lead to a kekkei genkai illness?
Hiruzen fell into thought.
A kekkei genkai was a gift, but if handled improperly, it could become a curse.
Once someone could not bear the power of their kekkei genkai, they might instead fall ill because of it, becoming weak and sickly until they died young.
“I’ll observe him for a while longer.”
Hiruzen made his decision.
…
The next day.
Kiyohane went to class as usual.
The first lesson did not begin with what shinobi were or how to train.
Instead, it started with the so-called Will of Fire.
Naturally, Kiyohane listened carefully.
In Konoha, the Will of Fire was the absolute political correctness.
Anyone who refused to accept the Will of Fire was a spy for outside forces.
Generally speaking, those who turned away from the Will of Fire were unruly shinobi, and in the end, they all became rogue ninja.
Kiyohane had the mind of an adult, so of course he would never truly believe in the Will of Fire.
But supporting the Will of Fire and acting like a proper shinobi of the Will of Fire was very beneficial to him.
After all, he was a genuine Konoha native through and through, with pure red Will of Fire blood flowing in his veins!
The Senju and Uchiha were both founding clans of Konoha.
Kiyohane’s background was as legitimate as it could possibly be.
If something happened, the higher-ups of Konoha would naturally step in to protect him.
If he only had Senju blood, Kiyohane felt there would be no need to go this far.
The key was that he also had half Uchiha blood.
That made Kiyohane unsure what kind of attitude Danzo Shimura would have toward him.
Hostility?
Indifference?
Either way, the class quickly came to an end.
Fortunately, after the instructor finished talking about the Will of Fire, the following lessons were all about practical shinobi skills.
“Shuriken, huh…”
Kiyohane followed the chunin instructor to the training field.
For ordinary shinobi, mastering shurikenjutsu was one of the most important skills.
To put it simply, taking a Fire Release technique head-on might not kill someone.
It might only leave burns.
But if a shuriken hit a vital point, even a jonin could die.
That was exactly how Pakura, the hero of Sunagakure, had died.
Because not every shinobi knew medical ninjutsu, blood loss and infection were both problems they had to face.
“What’s the point of learning shuriken?”
Obito looked at the shuriken the teacher handed out and clearly had no interest.
He wanted to learn powerful, cool-looking ninjutsu.
That way, Rin would definitely look at him with admiration!
“Because not everyone has enough chakra,” Kiyohane said calmly after hearing Obito complain beside him.
Obito was already very fortunate.
The Uchiha naturally had more chakra than ordinary ninja clans, and in the future, Obito would even receive Hashirama’s cells.
It could be said that he had never truly worried about running out of chakra.
“That’s right.
When you don’t have chakra, shuriken are very useful,” Rin agreed after hearing Kiyohane’s words.
As a civilian-born student, Rin did in fact have concerns about insufficient chakra.
She just had not expected Kiyohane to understand that as well.
He was a complete contrast to Obito!
“Obito is just too much of an idiot,” Kakashi said, shaking his head.
Kakashi had more chakra than an average shinobi, but compared to clans with natural advantages like the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki, his reserves still seemed thin.
He casually flicked out a shuriken.
As for shurikenjutsu, Kakashi had long since built a solid foundation under his father’s guidance.
Thunk!
The shuriken struck the bullseye.
[Collectible trait detected: Hatake-style Shurikenjutsu.]
[E-rank Trait: Hatake-style Shurikenjutsu.]
[Effect: Your shuriken-throwing movements become more efficient.]
Kiyohane raised an eyebrow.
The more he looked at Kakashi, the more Kakashi seemed like an inexhaustible treasure trove.