He Wasn't My Student / The Catfish Effect ...

Keiichi suddenly made his move.

Chapter 8: He Wasn't My Student

"Bastard, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?" Naruto hurriedly backed away, clutching the wound on the back of his hand as blood poured from it.

That sudden slash had struck the back of his hand again. The pain was absolutely unbearable!

"Naruto, he did nothing wrong. He was saving you." Kakashi hadn't stepped in to stop him, and even gave Keiichi a slightly surprised glance.

"Bullshit! He was obviously trying to kill me. How is that saving me?" Naruto glared at Keiichi, furious and unconvinced.

"Naruto, he really was saving you. If he hadn't acted first, I would've cut you too," Sakura chimed in.

She might not have been very good in actual combat, but when it came to a ninja's theoretical knowledge, she might even have had a firmer grasp of it than Sasuke.

"Why is everyone taking his side? This is so frustrating!" Naruto looked deeply wounded.

"He did the right thing. These Kirigakure Ninja love using poison. Their claws must be coated in it. If you don't open the wound and drain the blood quickly, you'll soon die from the poison," Kakashi explained.

At that, Naruto went pale with fright and couldn't speak for a moment.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun. Things were urgent, and I was afraid explaining would waste time we needed for treatment, so I just acted first." Keiichi still wore that harmless expression as he repeatedly apologized.

Once he'd heard the explanation, Naruto finally understood. He'd been about to thank Keiichi, but then Sasuke unleashed his sharp tongue.

"Naruto, you'd better thank him properly. I don't want another sickly teammate dragging us down."

After hearing that, Naruto just couldn't bring himself to say the word "thanks."

Everyone fell silent, as if waiting for Naruto to apologize. The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei. He didn't do anything just now either, so why are you only criticizing me?" Naruto pointed at Keiichi, looking indignant.

"Because he isn't my student."

Keiichi's mouth twitched, and the forced smile he'd been maintaining turned stiff.

Yes, he'd known from the very beginning that even if he joined the main character team, at most he'd be a teammate carrying out missions with them. Kakashi could never treat him the way he treated Naruto and the others.

His past life had given him a deep, unforgettable understanding of this world. The class divisions in Konoha, especially, had taught him not to entertain foolish hopes.

How could an elite Jonin like Kakashi ever look favorably on a Commoner Ninja?

His curiosity about Keiichi was mostly just the professional habit of an Anbu Ninja: to learn the details of everyone's background.

The young Naruto had no idea how much weight lay behind Kakashi's words. Sasuke's remark still echoed in his mind, and it seemed to have gotten under his skin. Gritting his teeth, he actually took out a Kunai and plunged it deep into the back of his hand, nearly to the bone.

"I swear on this pain that next time, I won't be a burden to anyone. I absolutely, absolutely won't let anyone save me!"

With that, Naruto turned and left, leaving behind a stubborn silhouette.

"That Naruto—he's so reckless." Kakashi irritably scratched his head. Looking after children really wasn't easy.

He'd seen Keiichi's slash clearly. The force had been just right: it had only injured the surface, while still draining out the poisoned blood. It would scab over in a few days.

But Naruto's own stab just now had been completely without restraint. It would probably take him at least half a month to recover.

Needlessly lowering their own fighting strength—was that really something a ninja should do? It was far too rash.

But that was Naruto, the ninja with the most unpredictable behavior.

The group set out again. Unlike before, Sasuke kept glancing at Keiichi, who trailed behind them. When Keiichi had attacked Naruto just now, Sasuke hadn't even reacted in time. He couldn't help wondering: if he'd been the one in Naruto's place, could he really have done any better?

Besides, Keiichi had been the first to notice the enemy. He'd seen through their ambush, so why hadn't Sasuke?

Just who was this guy?

Keiichi also seemed to have something on his mind. After pondering for a moment, he hurried a few steps forward and fell into step beside Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sama, there's something I'm not sure I should say."

"Oh? What is it?" Kakashi glanced at him.

"This escort mission is only C-Rank, but now that ninja-level enemies have appeared, that changes things. It should be a B-Rank Mission at the very least. According to Konoha's regulations, a mission of this level is already beyond what we can handle. Shouldn't we return to Konoha and have the mission reevaluated?" Keiichi spoke as if he were simply following procedure.

His reasoning was perfectly sound. If he could persuade Kakashi to turn back, they wouldn't have to clash with Zabuza, and the main story would change dramatically. He refused to believe he wouldn't earn any Magic Modification Points for that!

Kakashi merely smiled and said easily, "I think this will be a good test for my students. If you're afraid of danger, you can return to Konoha. I'll explain things to Lord Hokage."

"I'm not afraid of danger. The key point is, if the mission fails, it'll damage Konoha's reputation."

At that, Kakashi's smile vanished. The pressure in his gaze made Keiichi swallow nervously.

He'd brought that up specifically to provoke Kakashi. His own father had been forced to take his life for the same reason.

What did a human life matter in those days? Giving up a mission to save your comrades and damaging Konoha's reputation—that was the real problem, wasn't it?

So Keiichi wanted to take a gamble and see whether his father's fate would make Kakashi change his mind.

He couldn't afford to worry about the consequences. To achieve his goal, he'd decided to take a dangerous chance.

"Keiichi-kun, are you saying that I, Kakashi, can't even complete a B-Rank Mission?"

"Uh..." Keiichi was at a loss for words.

As if you'd still be smiling if you knew Zabuza was waiting for you on the other side!

"Still, Keiichi-kun has a point. How about this: just protect my three students. You don't need to worry about anything else."

There was a knowing look in Kakashi's eyes. Keiichi immediately understood the unspoken meaning. It seemed Kakashi was clever too. Judging from Keiichi's earlier behavior, he'd already figured out that Hiruzen had placed him in the team as an "informant." He'd even guessed most of the mission's details.

Now that they'd laid their cards on the table, an unspoken understanding had naturally been reached. Keiichi couldn't bring himself to keep trying to dissuade him.

But now he had another headache: if they really ran into Zabuza and Haku, how exactly was he supposed to protect himself?

Protect Naruto and Sasuke? Give him a break. Did the Child of Prophecy really need him worrying about their safety?

Clearly, no one else realized how serious the situation was. Only he, the one who knew what was coming, was fretting over the future with intense anxiety.

Chapter 9: The Catfish Effect

Naruto was a child at heart. That morning, he'd acted as if the world had wronged him, but now he'd already forgotten all about it. He was loudly challenging Sasuke to a fishing contest to see who could catch more fish. The surprising part was that Sasuke had actually agreed. He looked so focused that he clearly didn't want to lose to Naruto.

Although Keiichi was the same age as them physically, mentally he was much older than even Kakashi. He had no interest in joining a children's game and was busy training on his own, unwilling to waste even a moment.

He might have the combat experience and instincts of his previous life, but his body hadn't been properly trained or developed. If he didn't hurry to improve himself, when would he ever return to his peak?

Since everyone had something of their own to do, they got along fairly well.

"Ha ha ha, I won! I caught one more fish than Sasuke!" Soaking wet, Naruto came striding over with a string of fish skewered on a branch, ready to show off to Sakura.

"Sasuke, don't be discouraged. Naruto must've cheated to win!" But Sakura ignored Naruto completely and hurried over to Sasuke.

Sasuke couldn't be bothered to entertain her. Naruto hadn't cheated, but his freakish stamina really was like cheating.

If he hadn't used up so much energy in the morning's fight, there was no way he would've lost to Naruto!

Ignoring Sakura's attempts to curry favor, Sasuke looked toward Keiichi, who was training by himself in the distance, and felt a little regretful.

He shouldn't have wasted time playing with Naruto. What had Keiichi been doing while he was fooling around?

Training hard!

If he wasn't careful, Keiichi really might catch up with him!

Spending so much time with Naruto had nearly turned him into an idiot!

Noticing Sasuke's gaze, Naruto felt a little jealous. Sasuke used to see him as his rival, but ever since Keiichi had shown up, Sasuke clearly paid more attention to him.

"Sakura, don't you think that Keiichi guy isn't nearly as strong as Kakashi-sensei said?" Naruto covered his mouth and whispered to her.

"Of course. If he's really so strong, why didn't he dare act when we ran into enemies this morning?" Sakura couldn't be bothered to whisper with him and casually agreed.

"Don't underestimate anyone. He might not be as simple as you think." Sasuke frowned, clearly disagreeing with Naruto.

"Sasuke's right. Anyway, he's definitely stronger than you, Naruto!" Sakura immediately changed her tune without the slightest hesitation.

"Sasuke, you were eavesdropping on our private conversation!" Naruto got angry at once.

"What private conversation?" Afraid Sasuke would misunderstand, Sakura hurried to distance herself from Naruto.

"Hey! Sakura, that's not what you just said!" Naruto nearly went crazy, glaring at Sasuke.

"Idiot, think about whose hand you injured. If he'd really meant to kill you, would you have been able to react?" Sasuke scoffed.

"That was an accident. He... he clearly caught me by surprise! Don't stop me. I'm going to settle this with him right now!"

If Sakura hadn't grabbed him, Naruto, that single-minded fool, really would've rolled up his sleeves and started a fight.

"Stop fooling around, Naruto." Kakashi walked over, and a few words were all it took to make Naruto settle down. "Let me see your wound."

After examining it, Kakashi looked surprised. The wound had been so deep, yet it had healed almost completely in just half a day. He'd never seen anything like it.

In the end, he could only attribute the miraculous healing to the Nine-Tails Chakra inside Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei, is that Keiichi guy really strong?" After the examination, Naruto couldn't help asking in a low voice.

Kakashi smiled and glanced at Sasuke, seemingly without meaning to. "I'd say he's about ten times stronger than you, Naruto."

"What?! That's impossible!" Naruto looked utterly unconvinced.

"And about seven or eight times stronger than Sakura."

Sakura's expression stiffened, and she cursed Kakashi several times in her heart.

"He's probably two or three times stronger than Sasuke, too."

Sasuke's eyes immediately darkened, and an intense fighting spirit showed in his gaze.

Perfect. They took the bait! Looking at his three students, Kakashi was delighted.

They'd been slacking off lately, doing nothing but fooling around. Keiichi could be the catfish that stirred up the pond. Without a little outside pressure, they'd think they were already so impressive.

Sure enough, over the next few days, the three of them trained much harder than before. They no longer had any desire to play around and focused entirely on training whenever they weren't traveling.

It seemed everyone was trying to outdo the others, each determined to look more diligent than the rest. Keiichi, however, couldn't help noticing that the main character team was looking his way more and more often.

On the fifth day, the group reached a border port in the Land of Fire. They then crossed the calm sea on a raft, heading toward the Land of Waves.

They hadn't gone far when a thick fog rolled in. Fortunately, the bridge was nearly finished, and as long as they kept moving in its direction, they couldn't get lost.

But the pressure in Keiichi's chest kept mounting. If he remembered correctly, Zabuza had first appeared on a foggy day. He just couldn't quite remember the details of the battle.

They'd only just reached shore when they spotted an enemy. To everyone's astonishment, Naruto had been the first to notice him!

Seeing a rabbit in the bushes that had been so frightened it wet itself, Sakura was furious. She was just about to scold Naruto when a dark figure slammed into her the next instant.

Keiichi saved Sakura just in time. His expression grave, he stared at the shadowy figure in the thick fog, every hair on his body standing on end.

Momochi Zabuza really had come!

The shadow that had suddenly attacked them was none other than the legendary Kubikiribōchō!

If Keiichi hadn't saved her in time, Sakura would've been sliced in half!

He didn't know who had saved Sakura in the original story, but the scene just now had made him realize that perhaps everything had changed because he'd joined them. The main character team might really be in danger.

Forget the question of who would seal Kaguya Otsutsuki in the future if Naruto and Sasuke died. More importantly, he'd failed to live up to Hiruzen's trust, and the consequences might be more than he could bear!

This time, he had to get serious.

"Everyone else, fall back! He's not someone you can handle!" Kakashi seemed to recognize their attacker. His pupils widened in shock as he hurriedly shouted.

The four of them immediately gathered around Tazuna, each taking one side to guard against any possible attack.

"You're Momochi Zabuza, the one who defected from Kirigakure? Why would you accept a job from Gato?" Kakashi demanded. This was a situation he hadn't anticipated.

Elite ninja like Momochi Zabuza were usually important assets to their villages, and generally only carried out the most crucial missions.

But Zabuza had betrayed his village and become a missing-nin. It wasn't surprising that Gato's money had lured him into becoming one of his underlings.

He should've guessed this was possible the moment they first encountered the two Kirigakure Ninja, but he'd overlooked it. What a mistake!

Chapter 10: Momochi Zabuza

"Hatake Kakashi of the Leaf Village? I heard your name back when I was still in Kirigakure. Kakashi of the Sharingan. This should be interesting."

"Hmph. I heard you killed every student in your class during the graduation exam, earning the name 'Demon.' Your Silent Killing Technique is unmatched, and your weapon is the legendary Ninja Blade, Kubikiribōchō, right?" Kakashi replied calmly.

He was telling his students what kind of ruthless, terrifying opponent they were facing. They mustn't rush into battle.

Otherwise, he might not be able to save them from Zabuza in time.