Kakashi's Indifference

In a small grove outside Konoha's Forest of Death, a medium-sized bear ambled along, looking left and right as if searching for prey.

But after wandering around for quite some time, it found the woods unusually quiet.

With a sharp whoosh, as it walked beneath a tree, several inconspicuous ropes scattered across the ground suddenly tightened and wrapped around it.

"Roar, roar..." Sensing danger, the bear began struggling desperately, trying to tear through the ropes as quickly as possible.

Just then, several gleaming Senbon flew in from nearby and pierced the area around its neck.

"Roar!" As if it sensed the danger it was in, it struggled briefly before numbness spread throughout its body.

Seeing that the bear could no longer move, Shuichi jumped down from the tree. He gathered up the surrounding ropes, then dragged the bear toward the edge of the woods.

At the entrance to the Forest of Death, a clerk dressed as a ninja stood quietly there. He wore square-framed glasses and held a notebook in his hand, recording something.

When he saw Shuichi dragging the bear out, he made a mark in his notebook and said, "You're pretty efficient. The other two still need to complete two more quotas."

"The tools you prepared are quite useful. As long as we find their locations, catching them is much easier." Shuichi had become fairly familiar with the person in charge of the Forest of Death over the past few days, so he spoke politely.

"How about this? I'm fairly familiar with Senior Niino as well. You've finished early every day these past few days, so if you have something else to do, you can leave first. You don't need to wait for the other two."

Seeing how efficient Shuichi was and how easygoing he was to deal with, the ninja offered to register the mission as completed for him.

"Then thank you, Senior Tanaka. I happen to have something to do today. If there are any more capture missions next time, leave them to me."

Shuichi smiled as he bid farewell to Tanaka, the clerical ninja, then headed alone toward the Ninja Academy.

By mid-September, after doing D-rank missions for nearly a month, Shuichi had come to understand the importance of Konoha's mission system.

It could be said that the vast majority of a ninja's income came from missions.

Among them, S-rank missions and A-rank missions could only be accepted by Jonin. They mostly involved combat against other ninja, intelligence gathering in enemy countries, and similar work.

B-rank and C-rank missions were rather similar to escorting shipments, guarding clients, and suppressing bandits in Shuichi's previous life. Some took a long time and covered great distances, while others were shorter.

D-rank missions were the most common. Most involved Konoha's everyday work, including cleaning, searching for pets, repairing training grounds, helping with construction, farming, and so on.

Because ninja were far more efficient than ordinary people, these D-rank missions did a good job of keeping Konoha running day to day.

The kind of high-quality D-rank mission from the original story where they helped the Daimyo's Wife find her cat was something one could only hope to encounter. It took little time and paid extremely well, earning over ten thousand ryo in a single day.

On average, it took Shuichi and the others several days to complete one D-rank mission. For example, recovering animals from the Forest of Death only counted as one mission after they had found more than a dozen or twenty animals in total, and the reward was around 2,000 to 3,000 ryo per person per week.

Fortunately, it did not delay Shuichi's training. Though he was only a little over seven years old, he still had a considerable amount of Chakra and could now train for nearly two hours each day.

Over several lessons, Orochimaru had taught him quite a few ninjutsu in bits and pieces. Most were Wind and Earth Release techniques, along with some sensory and support-type ninjutsu.

This was also Orochimaru's teaching style. He would never teach someone hand in hand. Shuichi had already prepared himself mentally; when master and disciple went on missions, Orochimaru would probably use him like three people.

The reason Shuichi had left early today was that Kakashi had nearly completely lost contact with everyone over the past two months. Shuichi felt that no matter what, he had to try to salvage the situation.

The Ninja Academy was nearly out for the day. In late autumn, the sunset came a little earlier.

Shuichi walked into the Ninja Academy. In just two short months, he felt as if he had experienced many things. He sat on a swing at the academy and quietly watched the lively students inside.

Before long, voices rose from all throughout the school building. Just like the middle school in Shuichi's previous life, one could tell at once that the teachers had announced the end of the day.

The Elite Class was closest to the field, so Shuichi immediately saw Ishikawa Tatsuki, Yūhi Kurenai, and the others coming out.

"Shuichi, why are you at the Ninja Academy?" Ishikawa Tatsuki and the others spotted Shuichi beneath the tree as soon as they came out.

"Mm, I came specifically to see you. Let's find somewhere to talk. Rin, Might Guy, and Obito, you should come too," Shuichi said to Nohara Rin and the others.

Shuichi led the group of seven or eight people to the nearest training ground. Then he turned and revealed why he had gathered them.

"Here's the thing. Tatsuki and I haven't seen Kakashi in a long time. Rin, have you seen him?"

"I did go see him several times, but every time I did, he said there was something going on at home. He also looked very distant. We've been worried about him too." Hearing that this was about Kakashi, Nohara Rin took the initiative to share what she knew about his recent situation.

"How about this? Give me his home address. I have a way to get him to come out. And tomorrow is his birthday, so why don't we celebrate it together?" Shuichi had already guessed that things might be like this.

"Really? If you can get him to come out, then everyone can have a proper talk." Rin and the others were pleasantly surprised. Kakashi seemed to be shutting himself off, and they had not known what to do.

"Mm, then it's settled. We'll meet tomorrow after school. Let's choose a place to eat, and you go there first. I'll definitely bring him over." Shuichi assured them that he would handle it.

Shuichi had already asked around in advance over the past few days. The Third Hokage had told him that Kakashi had not had any missions recently. That meant that aside from training, Kakashi should return home in the evenings.

After dinner that night, Shuichi followed the directions Rin had given him and arrived outside Kakashi's front gate. Kakashi was still living in the Hatake clan's main residence, not in that single-ninja apartment.

Shuichi knocked on the door first, but no one answered for a long time. Does Kakashi train this late every day? Unable to do anything else, he could only wait at the entrance.

More than an hour slowly passed. It was after nine when Shuichi finally heard footsteps coming from the street.

Under the moonlight, a small figure slowly emerged from the shadows. It was Kakashi. When he saw Shuichi standing outside his home, his steps paused, but his expression remained blank.

"Hey, Kakashi. I haven't seen you in a long time. The classmates are planning to have a meal together tomorrow. What do you think? Want to come?" Shuichi had waited for over an hour, yet he did not mention it at all and simply asked Kakashi with a smile.

"I still have some training to do. I probably won't be going." There was a hint of coldness in Kakashi's tone. It was clear that the matter of the White Fang had affected him deeply.