You Can Start Running Now

Kagami Uchiha sat cross-legged, most of his attention focused on studying Tailed Beast Chakra.

Suddenly, something was tossed over from Jiraiya's direction.

He raised a hand and caught it. It was a scroll.

"What's this?"

Jiraiya did not turn around, his voice calm.

"You and Minato have always been researching how to add nature transformation to the Rasengan, right?"

"This is something the old man and I worked on together. We didn't succeed in testing it, but we did come up with a prototype."

"Minato signed a contract with Mount Myōboku. They only accept one summoner from each generation."

"I've taught you most of the ninjutsu I know. There really isn't much else I can offer you..."

Jiraiya turned around with a somewhat foolish-looking smile.

"Consider this my birthday present to you."

"Happy tenth birthday, Kagami!"

If... I weren't an Uchiha.

Perhaps I really would choose you all...

But unfortunately, we are destined to walk separate paths, Teacher Jiraiya.

Kagami Uchiha held the scroll, his expression neither joyful nor sorrowful.

Year 47 of Konoha.

The brutal fighting had already continued for more than a year.

War was like a vicious demon, baring its fangs and claws as it pounced upon the ninja world.

Wielding its scythe of death, it left rivers of blood wherever it passed.

The casualties caused by wars between ninja were no less severe than those caused by wars involving modern weapons.

The small nations located along the borders of great powers became grinding mills of flesh and blood.

In every great ninja war, the ones most severely wounded were not the major nations, but the small countries struggling to survive in the cracks between them.

Ninja did not ponder matters such as the nature of war. They merely fought to protect their homes.

The Will of Fire left behind by the First Hokage was rather vague, yet it had cultivated generation after generation of green leaves willing to burn themselves for Konoha.

The ninja world was abnormal, for both the strong and the weak alike.

To survive in a world like this, one could only adapt to its abnormalities.

Within the forest.

Uchiha Obito was excited the entire way.

"Kakashi! Will we get to see Kagami this time?"

"That bastard has really been making a huge name for himself on the battlefield! Hmph, once I awaken my Sharingan, even Kagami will bow before the great Obito!"

After doing low-level missions for so long, they were finally heading to the front lines.

Though it was only a mission to transport supplies.

Obito was already imagining himself slaughtering enemies left and right, making that bastard Kagami Uchiha see him in a new light!

Hehe... then Rin... hehe...

Kakashi held a book in one hand, its cover wrapped in black paper.

"Little Obito, you should call me Teacher Kakashi."

"I'm your team's jonin leader, you know~"

At eleven years old, Kakashi had become a jonin a year earlier than in the original timeline.

With the occasional beatings from Kagami Uchiha at the Ninja Academy, combined with Jiraiya's wholehearted instruction, Kakashi's talent had been fully brought out.

This often made Jiraiya sigh that he himself had been a dead last as a child, while each of his disciples was more monstrous than the last.

Compared to Kagami Uchiha, who had been promoted to jonin purely through battlefield achievements, Kakashi had only been two months slower.

Yet even for a genius like Kakashi, no one in Konoha would compare him to Kagami Uchiha.

The one whose name stood alongside Crimson Eyes was the Yellow Flash.

Together with Kushina, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, the three had already been regarded by the other ninja villages as the new generation of Three Legendary Sannin.

Compared to how the previous Three Legendary Sannin had earned their title, these three clearly carried far more weight.

Undefeated since making his name!

Among those victories, the most dazzling was Minato Namikaze's defeat of Kazekage Rōsa.

Never mind whether Rōsa was weak or not—he was still the Kage of a village!

"Damn it, Kakashi, don't think you're so great! Just wait until I awaken—"

"Talk after you do."

Kakashi closed his book and spoke flatly. "You've already become the disgrace of the Uchiha. As a ninja, you still haven't awakened the Sharingan. You probably never will in this lifetime."

"Just be a Genin in peace. Don't bother taking the Chunin Exams in a while, either."

"What did you say?!"

Obito was about to argue with Kakashi when Kakashi's expression abruptly changed, and he shoved Obito aside.

Whoosh!!

A kunai landed exactly where Obito had been standing.

An Exploding Tag was tied to its hilt.

"Scatter!"

Boom!!

After the smoke from the explosion cleared, five or six ninjas wearing Kumogakure bracers stood atop the trees.

"Silver-white hair, a short blade... Heh, I have information on you. The son of the Konoha White Fang, Jiraiya's disciple, the junior disciple of the Yellow Flash and Crimson Eyes."

Whoosh!

A flash of blade light vanished in an instant, swift as lightning!

Kakashi appeared behind the man who had spoken, the lightning extending from his Chakra short blade already piercing through the man's heart.

"Too many titles. Just call me Hatake Kakashi."

"Asaru!"

"You damned bastard!"

"You Konoha scum, you actually dared to kill Asaru!"

Kakashi twisted aside, forcing back the attacking ninjas, then retreated into his team.

His dead-fish eyes remained utterly calm.

"Every time, it's you Kumogakure people who attack first. Then when we kill you, you start screaming. Is that some kind of tradition of yours?"

"Bastard! How dare you insult Kumogakure ninja!"

"Damn it! We'll show you the power of our rage!"

Kakashi shook his head helplessly.

After spending so much time around Kagami Uchiha, he had become completely immune to this kind of low-level insult—and had learned a few things besides...

"Every other word out of your mouths is 'bastard' or 'damn it.' You Kumogakure people really have tiny brains. Did you learn nothing but plundering?"

"I suggest you start evolving again from apes. As you are now, you barely qualify as human."

Then Kakashi said in a low voice, "Obito, Rin, send the signal that we're under attack. Protect yourselves!"

"Understood!"

Before going to war, Obito and Rin had also gained experience from bandits, so they would not panic at the sight of a dead body.

Just as Kakashi raised his blade to claim another Kumogakure ninja's life, a shuriken landed beside him.

When did—

He sharply sensed danger, and lightning flashed beneath his feet.

Lightning Body Flicker Technique!

Whoosh—thud!

A massive shuriken appeared as if from thin air at the spot where he had just stood!

"To evade Magnet Release: Hornet Twin Blades... as expected of Crimson Eyes' disciple."

"Did lightning fry your brain? I'm his junior disciple." A bead of cold sweat formed on Kakashi's forehead as he watched the man emerge from behind a large tree.

Short purple hair, a yellow scarf, and that iconic massive diamond-shaped shuriken...

Just as Kumogakure knew Konoha's powerful figures like the backs of their hands, Konoha also had files on Kumogakure's strong.

A Kumogakure Jonin with the Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai... Toroi!

An elite jonin with a kekkei genkai—without a doubt, one of the best among jonin. Why was someone like that inside the Land of Fire?!

"I only meant to cut off Konoha's frontline supply routes. I didn't expect to catch such a big fish."

Toroi spoke indifferently. "Whether you're his junior or his disciple makes no difference. To Kagami Uchiha, you must be someone relatively important."

"You can try to run, but your two companions won't be able to."

Kakashi gripped his short blade tightly and sneered.

"The ones who abandon their companions and run are you Kumogakure shinobi!"

Whether it was Father or himself.

The Hatake family would never abandon their comrades!

"Is that so..."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a scroll clenched in his mouth, Toroi summoned three enormous square shuriken.

"You're vigilant, but those two brats have both come into contact with my shuriken. They can't evade my technique."

!!

Obito and Rin were horrified as they spotted the small shuriken at their feet.

"Then what will you choose..."

Whoosh!!

The giant shuriken tore through the air!

"Obito! Rin! Get close to me!"

Kakashi shouted as Lightning Release Chakra burst from his short blade!

Slash!!

The first shuriken was cut apart by the blade. Shattered fragments sprayed outward, slicing open Kakashi's arm.

This is bad!

There was no time to pause—the second one had arrived!

The short blade cut halfway into the shuriken, but the interference of Magnetic Release and the injury to his arm kept Kakashi from cutting through it.

Boom!!

The immense force sent Kakashi flying.

His eyes nearly split apart as he watched the third shuriken fly toward Obito and Rin.

Obito clutched a kunai. Though fear made his entire body tremble, he still stepped in front of Rin without hesitation.

Rin, I'll definitely protect you!!

Absolutely!!

An inexplicable Chakra began to surge toward his eyes, as though something was about to awaken...

Clang!!

At that moment, a light sound rang out. The shuriken before them was sliced into fragments by an invisible force!

Clatter...

The sound of the fragments hitting the ground made everyone freeze, and Obito's budding evolution came to an abrupt halt.

Footsteps echoed from the forest.

A tall, slender figure slowly approached. There was no shout, no terrifying aura.

Yet the instant they saw him, every Kumogakure shinobi felt as if they had encountered their natural predator.

Their first thought was not to flee, but to stop breathing as their bodies trembled.

Like rabbits beneath a lion's paw.

"Let me make this clear first: Kakashi is not someone important to me."

"Second..."

His indifferent gaze swept across them, an invisible pressure seeming to entomb them in amber.

"You may start running now."