Kakashi Hatake

The battle lasted for more than three full minutes.

Hiashi Hyuga effortlessly fended off Yuzuru Hyuga's "all-out" attacks, occasionally offering a few words of praise for his Gentle Fist.

"Just as expected of Hizashi's son. When I was five, I might not have had even half your chakra."

"An excellent Sixty-Four Palms! Even Shinyin, who has already become a Jonin, isn't as skilled as you with the Sixty-Four Palms!"

"Rotation. Your timing was very good!"

"Oh? This is the Kunai Throwing Technique? Not bad! Even members of the Uchiha Clan might not possess such proficient throwing skills!"

"Strength, speed, endurance. You already fully possess the abilities of an outstanding Chunin! If not for your chakra and age limiting you, your techniques alone would be enough to make you a competent Jonin!"

As Hiashi Hyuga gracefully dealt with Yuzuru Hyuga's attacks, he praised him with his words while marveling at Yuzuru Hyuga's frightening rate of improvement.

In only a year, Yuzuru Hyuga had already attained such strength. If this were wartime, he would have been promoted exceptionally to Jonin regardless of his age!

Was this what they called a genius?

Once he reached around twelve years old, perhaps even Hiashi's own strength would only be on par with his?

Yuzuru Hyuga panted heavily, standing weakly in place as his trembling fingers pushed up his glasses. "As expected of Lord Hiashi. Even Father cannot compare to this kind of strength."

"No, Hizashi may simply be afraid of hurting you." Hiashi Hyuga gave Hizashi Hyuga some face. Smiling in good spirits, he turned to look at the Hyuga elder.

The Hyuga elder nodded, clearly very satisfied with Yuzuru Hyuga's performance. With his hands behind his back, he said, "He has already mastered his current abilities proficiently enough. Over the next year, I will teach him properly."

"Then I'll leave him to Elder Hui."

Hiashi Hyuga remained quite respectful.

When Hiashi Hyuga was young, his teacher had also been Hyuga Hui, the man standing behind him. In terms of clan status alone, he deserved the clan head's respect.

Hyuga Hui merely stroked his white beard lightly, his smile full of sentiment. "I never thought I would have another opportunity to teach the younger generation in my lifetime. Don't worry, Hiashi. I will do everything I can to make him an outstanding Hyuga ninja."

Hiashi Hyuga nodded with a satisfied smile. "I have never doubted that."

For a moment, the three of them appeared remarkably harmonious. Even an outsider unaware of the truth might believe they were a family of three.

Before long, Hiashi Hyuga excused himself by saying he had work to do, leaving only Hyuga Hui to teach Yuzuru Hyuga.

Hyuga Hui had limited energy. Although he said he would teach Yuzuru Hyuga, he only had him train for two hours a day, leaving the rest of the time for Yuzuru Hyuga to practice freely.

Practice freely?

Continue improving his Gentle Fist, Rotation, and Sixty-Four Palms? Or listen to Hyuga Hui talk about those so-called "little tricks for ninja combat"?

He had promised to spare no effort in cultivating him, yet he had not even taught him the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Did he really think Yuzuru Hyuga was an idiot?

Too small.

Far too petty.

But Yuzuru Hyuga did not care.

To him, this amount of training was no different from taking a vacation. Today was a day off, and he did not even need to attend the Ninja Academy. This rare break led Yuzuru Hyuga, who had worked desperately for an entire year, to make a decision.

Today! He would rest!

Yet after returning to his room, Yuzuru Hyuga suddenly found himself at a loss.

He had been constantly on the move like a tightly wound spring. Now that he was suddenly free, he did not know what he should do.

Itachi had abruptly declined his morning training invitations half a month ago. He had heard that Fugaku Uchiha planned to train him seriously and had forbidden him from going out casually.

As for Izumi, although the little girl trained seriously and diligently when they "played games," playing ninja games with her could hardly count as rest for Yuzuru Hyuga.

Shisui was naturally a very busy person. How could he have time to meet whenever Yuzuru wanted?

"Do I... have too few friends?"

Yuzuru Hyuga fell into thought. Other than matching wits and courage with Hizashi, he seemed to have no form of entertainment or leisure at all.

"Big Brother!!"

"Yuzuru! Big Brother!"

A childish call suddenly rang out from outside the window.

Yuzuru Hyuga took a few quick steps out of his room and saw an adorable little boy, as delicately carved as jade, wobbling down the corridor. He swayed his head as he ran, and the moment he saw Yuzuru, he grinned, revealing a mouthful of incomplete baby teeth.

"Slow down, Neji! Don't fall!" their mother hurried after him.

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled and crouched down. The little fellow ran laboriously over, nearly falling face-first to the ground, but Yuzuru's quick hands caught him and pulled Neji into his arms.

"Let me have a good look at our Hyuga family's little genius." He stood up with Neji in his arms and carefully examined his small face. Neji only stretched out his hands and babbled, "Big Brother, Big Brother."

Big Brother was simply Neji's way of calling his older brother.

Busy with training, Yuzuru Hyuga usually only held the little fellow and played with him briefly at mealtimes. In the blink of an eye, he had no idea when Neji had learned to run or how many words he could say. Now, he was already calling out, "Big Brother, Big Brother."

"Mm, as expected of my little brother. You look just as cute as I did when I was little."

He lifted Neji high into the air, and Neji happily reached for his face, touching it all over.

Their mother smiled softly, watching her two children with happiness.

"Mom, I want to go out for a walk." Yuzuru Hyuga walked over and handed Neji to her.

There was probably only a month or two left until the Nine-Tails Incident.

Konoha would face reconstruction after its destruction. Perhaps many familiar shops, streets, and even people would disappear forever.

He had never properly explored the current Konoha.

"You're not going to train?" His mother was a little surprised, but then she smiled. "It's good to rest for a day."

His mother crouched down and adjusted Neji's clothes, then gently straightened Yuzuru Hyuga's as well.

Yuzuru Hyuga said casually, "Mm, I'll rest for a day. It's been a long time since I went out for a relaxing walk."

His mother gently took Neji from him, stroking Yuzuru Hyuga's cheek with her other hand. "Mom won't go with you. I've been feeling unwell again lately."

Yuzuru Hyuga fell silent for a moment before asking, "Is it really okay?"

"Mm." His mother lightly kissed his forehead, then stood up. Seeing how unaccustomed he was to it, she covered her mouth and chuckled. "Come back early. Will you eat lunch at home?"

"No, I'll just grab something outside."

Yuzuru Hyuga gently pinched Neji's cheek before turning and leaving.

His mother watched him disappear into the distance, then took Neji, who was still calling, "Big Brother, Big Brother," back into the room.

After leaving the Hyuga household, Yuzuru Hyuga wandered the streets without any particular destination.

In the end, his footsteps suddenly stopped in front of a shop. Looking at the Ichiraku Ramen sign above, Yuzuru Hyuga realized that in the five years he had been here, he had never once tried the famous Ichiraku Ramen.

He only needed to lower his head to slip beneath the half-drawn curtain at the entrance, but Yuzuru Hyuga abruptly stopped.

His gaze landed on a silver-haired teenage ninja. At that moment, the boy sat expressionlessly at the bar-like counter. His mask concealed his expression, while the one dead-fish eye left exposed was also studying Yuzuru Hyuga.

It was Kakashi Hatake, who had relied on being born earlier to snatch away Yuzuru Hyuga's achievement of becoming the youngest student enrolled in the academy.

Now fourteen years old, Kakashi was already an ANBU Jonin. His twisted and complicated life experiences had forced him to mature early, so naturally, he did not care much about the curious scrutiny of a five-year-old child.

But after carefully observing Yuzuru Hyuga's appearance, some of the intelligence stored in his mind gradually overlapped with the little boy before him.

Yuzuru Hyuga, the Hyuga family's super genius. At least, that was how the records described him.

Kakashi was somewhat curious about this Konoha rising star whom the Hyuga Clan called comparable to Shisui Uchiha and on par with Kakashi Hatake, who had entered the fifth year of the Ninja Academy at four years old.

What surprised him even more was that this genius boy was not reserved in the slightest. Although there were plenty of empty seats around them, he casually moved over to sit beside Kakashi.

Only then did Teuchi, the shop owner, notice Yuzuru Hyuga's presence.

"Oh! A little customer I've never seen before. What would you like?"

Teuchi laughed heartily.

Yuzuru Hyuga looked up at the menu. "A large pork ramen."

"Our ramen portions are very big!"

Teuchi offered a well-meaning warning.

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled faintly. "I can eat a lot."

"Got it, please wait a moment!"

Teuchi returned to his work.

Only then did Yuzuru Hyuga turn to look at Kakashi Hatake, who wore a mask, radiated a cold aura, and looked as though strangers should keep their distance.

"Good afternoon, Senior Hatake."

"Oh, good afternoon." No matter how aloof Kakashi Hatake was, he would not pull a sour face at a child.

He returned the greeting somewhat awkwardly, unaccustomed to speaking with children.

Yuzuru Hyuga said warmly and familiarly, "I didn't expect that I'd run into you just by trying out this shop, Senior. Are you resting today?"

"Mm, I'm on leave." Kakashi Hatake awkwardly placed both hands on the counter, unsure what attitude he should take toward the boy before him.

Yuzuru Hyuga smiled. "I asked Senior Shisui before what kind of person Senior Hatake was. Now that I've met you, you're completely different from what Senior Shisui described."

Shisui Uchiha?

What had that guy said about him?

Kakashi Hatake was a little curious, only to find that Yuzuru Hyuga had no intention of explaining.

This little brat... Behind those innocent-looking clear eyes framed by black glasses, Kakashi Hatake saw a trace of amusement.

Were Konoha's children all this mature nowadays?

He shook his head and asked casually, "Really? What's different?"

"He said Senior Hatake is an outstanding ninja who is cold on the outside but warm on the inside. But from what I can see, Senior Hatake looks gentle even on the outside." Yuzuru Hyuga's praise made Kakashi Hatake rather uncomfortable.

No, I'm only showing one eye. How can you tell I look gentle?

But faced with a child's compliment, even Kakashi Hatake could not maintain an aloof expression. He awkwardly looked away. "Really? Thanks."

The ramen was placed on the counter. Kakashi Hatake removed his mask, revealing a handsome, resolute face that gave no indication whatsoever that he needed to wear a mask.

And Kakashi Hatake had no intention of hiding it from others—at least, not yet.

"Do you have anything to do this afternoon, Senior Hatake?" Yuzuru Hyuga seemed to ask casually.

Kakashi Hatake broke apart his chopsticks, turned his head, and asked in confusion, "I probably don't have anything planned. Why, is there something?"

"I want to go fishing, but going alone seems a little boring. So, do you want to come with me? I'm really good at grilling fish!"

Huh?

Kids, even genius kids, really were troublesome.

How could he refuse without making the boy too sad?

"Oh, right, Senior Hatake. I heard someone recently dropped a copy of Make-Out Paradise over there. It's one of Lord Jiraiya's forbidden books. If we can find it, we'll be lucky."

"Make-Out Paradise? Do you know what kind of book that is?"

"I don't, but since Lord Jiraiya wrote it, it must be very exciting."

Kakashi Hatake fell into thought.

A book like that was not suitable for children, was it?

No, more importantly, even he himself could not buy it because he was not old enough.

Do not ask how he knew. He had merely been curious because Jiraiya was the author, only to be told that he was too young to read or purchase it. He did not know what it was about, and he was not curious either!

So...

Sure enough, it was still too dangerous to let a child like this go fishing alone, wasn't it?

Sigh.

Kakashi Hatake really was a gentle person.

PS: I heard that people who bookmark and vote can find this book too!