An Unexpected Encounter

I am Uchiha Kaede, the second fastest man in the shinobi world. No one can outrun me except that man who uses Flying Thunder God.

That's how confident I am.

Under [Lightning Release: Lightning Garment], Kaede's speed was indeed fast, but it only brought him to jonin-level velocity. Reaching the speed of a space-time ninjutsu like Flying Thunder God was impossible.

As a half-finished technique, [Lightning Release: Lightning Garment] had not yet reached its maximum speed and still had plenty of room for improvement.

For instance, if he could fully transform into lightning while moving, his speed would surely skyrocket. Kaede had thought of it, but couldn't pull it off. He controlled lightning, not became it.

"Don't get too cocky, kid."

"I knew it was you!"

The Anbu removed the fox mask from his face, revealing Mingye's features.

Looking at his son's crimson tomoe and the technique that seemed to bathe him in thunder, He knew—his son was extraordinary in talent. From the moment Kaede first refined Chakra, he had believed this.

"Like a child of lightning, wielding the power of thunder. Kaede, I'm proud of you."

Mingye stroked Kaede's thick hair, pulled out a ninjutsu scroll from his person, and handed it to Kaede.

"I originally just wanted to test your strength and give you another ninjutsu, but I didn't expect to force out your hidden power.

Haha, quite the surprise!"

Kaede curled his lip, directly piercing the father before him with lightning, too lazy to listen to his nonsense.

He formed hand seals at his chest: "Release"

Instantly disrupting the Chakra flow within his body.

"Oh~ Not bad, you've improved. You can actually see through my genjutsu."

Mingye stood with his arms crossed at the edge of the eaves, slowly retracting his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, clapping as he praised Kaede.

"Truly an astonishing technique, Kaede!"

The highest praise he could think of was unparalleled talent!

Kaede had his Sharingan active, his body clad in [Lightning Garment], standing at the spot where he had first leaped onto the roof.

He had already fallen into Mingye's genjutsu back then, trapped in an illusory world. Controlled by Mingye's dominant illusion, if this had been an enemy, Kaede would already be a corpse.

No matter how great the talent, lacking the accumulation of time, even a genius would become just a few carvings on the Memorial Stone.

"Today's training seems a bit different, Father. Are you going on a mission?"

Tonight's training, Mingye had used his true strength, letting Kaede feel the terror of an Uchiha jonin—the instant genjutsu control of the Sharingan, without warning, hard to defend.

If he hadn't activated his Sharingan, he wouldn't have discovered his father Mingye's genjutsu trap at all.

This should be a stage-by-stage summary and test.

"Yeah! A mission came down. I'll be gone for a few months. Take care of yourself while I'm away, look after your mother. If something really comes up, you can go see Tangdong—he'll give you some advice."

With Kaede having this level of strength, Mingye felt the tension he had always carried could finally ease a little.

"Then, Father, be careful! If you die, I won't cry for you."

Mingye's face stiffened.

In an instant, he appeared at Kaede's side and punched down.

"Boom—"

A large hole broke through the roof. Kaede was hammered to the ground by Mingye, a big red lump rapidly swelling on his head.

"Ow... ow..."

This one hit taught him—his father's strength was definitely above jonin, reaching elite jonin level.

He hadn't even seen his father Mingye's movement just now.

With a father this strong going out on a mission, as long as he didn't get too reckless, he should be fine. Kaede could focus on developing his ninjutsu again.

The small farewell farce ended.

Ninja Academy

"Hey~ Mingye uncle is going on a mission. Are you worried?"

Curiously looking at Uchiha Hitomi, Kaede felt that Hitomi looked especially pleasing today. He even had the interest to strike up a conversation with her.

"What's there to worry about? I believe Father will return safely."

As long as it wasn't going to the battlefield, just going on a mission wasn't too dangerous—unless it was some suicide mission like spying on a hidden village.

"But... when Father goes on missions, I always worry a lot!"

Head lowered, Hitomi's mood was low, like a weak, helpless little wildcat, lacking care, very vulnerable. Kaede couldn't help but be a little moved. People had a uniform reaction to the look in the eyes of such cute, helpless creatures.

Gently stroking Hitomi's hair, he was about to offer a word of comfort.

"You in the back... yes, you, Uchiha Kaede, you bastard. What are you doing? Not paying attention in class, bullying a female classmate?"

Kimura Oishi's furious roar came from the podium, accompanied by a chalkboard eraser whistling through the air. Kaede moved like lightning, swiftly catching the eraser just before it could make contact with his handsome face.

The powerful impact shook the chalk dust clinging to the eraser in his hand, scattering it across his face.

White dust painted half his face completely white. Kaede blinked his dark, bright eyes as he stared at the angry teacher.

And at a certain girl who was squinting with a delighted smile, like a cat that had stolen the cream.

His miserable state drew laughter from everyone in the class. Even the teacher, Kimura Oishi, had his mouth twitching, but he forced it down to maintain his authority as an instructor.

"You. Look at this problem. How do you solve it?"

Kimura Oishi tapped the blackboard, directing Kaede's gaze to it.

Question:

Ninja A is hiding in a lush tree, preparing to ambush Ninja B. The tree is known to be three meters tall. Ninja A stands at two-thirds of the tree's height. Ninja B is ten meters away from the tree. Ninja A throws a kunai at Ninja B with an initial velocity of three meters per second.

Ignoring the effects of wind speed.

As Ninja B, how should you dodge the thrown kunai?

"??????"

Kaede stared at the somewhat metaphysical problem, blinking as he looked at Kimura Oishi.

"Get out. Stand at the door and face the wall in reflection. This was a problem I just explained."

Kaede, his face still covered in chalk dust, was kicked out of the classroom. He stood at the entrance of Class B, his thoughts drifting further and further away.

Until—

"Bam"

The door to Class C across the hall was violently shoved open. A boy with a forehead protector over his sunglasses, wearing a blue tracksuit, with a ninja tool pouch strapped to his leg, and another boy with a bowl cut and an oddly dressed outfit—both were thrown out.

The sound of Class C's teacher cursing could still be heard.

The teachers at the Ninja Academy nowadays weren't like Iruka and the others from Naruto's time. These teachers were all retired ninjas from the battlefield.

Their tempers were incredibly short-tempered. For them, gentle words were nowhere near as effective as brute force.

Three pairs of eyes met.

Kaede guessed who the two across from him were.

"A passionate youth doesn't give up just because you're kicked out of class! Let's cheer for our dreams together!"

A thumbs-up, flashing pearly white teeth.

Kaede had just been thinking of going over to greet them and get acquainted—that thought was instantly thrown away.

"MMP"

He felt goosebumps all over his body. Gai like this was really too much to handle.

"My eyes have been insulted. What do I do?"

No, I can't take it. I need to wash my eyes.

Seeing that Kimura Oishi wasn't paying attention to him, Kaede nimbly slipped away into the washroom, not even bothering with the white dust on his face. First, he had to wash his eyes.