Kakashi's willingness to go along with it took Uzumaki Kuming by surprise. He had thought recruiting a little underling would take some effort, but Kakashi was clever from a young age and didn't make him work any harder. It wasn't as if Kuming had merely shown off his kingly aura and made Kakashi bow down on the spot, but the whole process had gone far too smoothly.
So smoothly that Kuming found it hard to believe.
"Kakashi Hatake, aren't you curious what I can teach you?"
"You accepted me as your teacher just like that?"
Uzumaki Kuming looked at Kakashi, who was barely over a meter tall, and asked curiously.
"Teacher Kuming, please don't mess with me."
"At first, I really wasn't happy about it, but I went home just now and learned a few things about you from my father."
"I'm glad I can become your student."
Kakashi's personality was fairly cheerful at this point. Although his exceptional talent and mature outlook meant he had almost no friends his own age, the other children saw him as something of a loner. But at the end of the day, he was still just a child, not some old ghost reborn. There were limits to how mature he could be.
"I see. So your father told you about me. By the way, what did Hatake Sakumo say about me?"
"I'm curious."
Kuming asked with a smile. As he spoke, he sat down cross-legged and looked at Kakashi with interest.
"My father said you were the most talented person he'd ever met. He told me I could feel at ease learning from you."
Kakashi's words pleased Kuming. He nodded with a smile.
"I'm quite pleased to hear that praise from Sakumo."
"Anything else?"
Kuming continued to ask with a grin.
"That's all."