The Will of Fire

The Ninja Academy had two days off. Kamiya Keiyun did not go out, instead burying himself in training at home.

He organized the Basic Leg Techniques and developed a set of leg-training methods, which he named Basic Leg Techniques 1.0. He even incorporated horse stance into Basic Leg Techniques 1.0. After standing all day at school and training for another two hours after class, his legs practically no longer felt like his own.

But Kamiya Keiyun knew that was simply because his body had yet to adapt to the training. It was like someone who had not exercised for a long time: after a one-kilometer fitness test or a hike, their legs would naturally ache for two or three days afterward.

He just had to keep at it.

Sure enough, when school resumed on Monday, his legs had mostly adapted.

As for combat applications, he had no fighting experience, so he could not summarize anything yet.

He was not in a hurry, anyway. First-years did not have combat class.

"Huh, Kakashi, you came?" As soon as Kamiya Keiyun arrived, he saw Kakashi sitting upright in the classroom.

He no longer ran with Teacher Iruka in the mornings. After all, running was not as effective as Basic Leg Techniques 1.0 at training either the legs or endurance. He might as well train his legs at home, so he was no longer the earliest student in class.

But had Kakashi not already missed three days of school?

Kakashi turned his face away and ignored Kamiya Keiyun.

"Why are you ignoring people now?" Kamiya Keiyun froze for a moment, then remembered his earlier question. Could Hatake Sakumo and Hatake Kakashi really be related somehow?

Konoha was not large, and Hatake was not a particularly common surname. Maybe they really were family.

Then it was entirely possible that Hatake Sakumo's troubles had affected Hatake Kakashi.

But Hatake Sakumo was a Jonin. Kakashi actually had a Jonin in his family!

"Kakashi, are you okay?" A girl with rapeseed flowers painted on her face walked over and asked gently, "You haven't come to school lately..."

It was Uchiha Obito's childhood sweetheart, Nohara Rin.

Kamiya Keiyun immediately looked toward Uchiha Obito. Sure enough, Obito was glaring over here resentfully, mainly at Hatake Kakashi.

This girl is on another level. It only took three days for this Uchiha to fall for her? Watching the scene, Kamiya Keiyun was not saying that Nohara Rin was a scheming flirt.

Rather, Obito was being a little too full of himself. Rin was merely a bit kind to him, yet he mistakenly assumed she liked him.

Little did he know, she was simply gentle by nature and treated everyone the same way.

Sure enough, the greatest of the world's three great misconceptions truly lived up to its name. Even across worlds, it still worked.

"It's none of your business!" Kakashi was clearly in a bad mood and replied bluntly.

"Hey, Kakashi, Rin is worried about you. How can you talk to her like that?" Uchiha Obito slapped the desk and stood up. "Apologize to Rin!"

"Idiot!" Kakashi glared at Uchiha Obito and went back to reading his book.

Kamiya Keiyun glanced at it. Konoha and the Will of Fire? What was that?

"It's okay, Obito. Kakashi must have been troubled lately. We should not disturb him!" Nohara Rin was very understanding and did not get angry at Kakashi.

"Hmph, you got lucky!" Uchiha Obito turned his head away, only to hear Kakashi say again, "Idiot!"

"You bastard!" Uchiha Obito clenched his fists. "Are you looking for a beating? Come on, to the training field!"

"Whoa, they're actually about to fight?" Kamiya Keiyun paused, then looked around. No one was going to call a teacher; instead, everyone looked excited!

This school...

"Fine, let's go!" Kakashi had already been upset for days, and his hands had been itching for a fight. Now that someone had come looking for trouble, why not beat him up?

The two got up and headed out. Their classmates immediately poured out after them, and in less than half a minute, only two people remained in the classroom!

One was Kamiya Keiyun, and the other was Pineapple Head, who was asleep with his head on the desk.

How did he manage to sleep every day? Kamiya Keiyun was curious. After all, people only needed a certain amount of sleep each day. Once they got enough, they should not be able to keep sleeping.

How could he sleep every day? Did he stay up at night to train, just like Kamiya Keiyun did?

Kamiya Keiyun's gaze toward Pineapple Head instantly grew much more serious.

Indeed, Pineapple Head's hairstyle was quite distinctive too. He did not look like an ordinary background character. Maybe he was one of those people who pretended to be weak while hiding his strength!

Of course, how could an entire class be full of slackers? There had to be good students too.

As for why Kamiya Keiyun did not go out with them, although he really wanted to watch Kakashi fight, he was more curious about the book Kakashi had left on his desk.

There were not many chances to get books at the Ninja Academy. And this was something genius Kakashi was reading, so it had to be special.

He took the book and opened it.

On the first page, the preface consisted of two large lines: Wherever leaves dance, fire burns without end.

"What does that mean?" Kamiya Keiyun turned the sentence over in his mind twice. His first reaction was that setting a mountain ablaze would land someone behind bars.

Was it describing a forest fire?

He continued reading. Oh, so this was the founding spirit of Konoha.

Forty years ago, the First Hokage founded Konoha and first proposed the Will of Fire. Later ninja continuously supplemented and refined it, until it was carried forward under the Third Hokage and became the ideal totem in the hearts of all ninja.

Its full content was: Wherever leaves dance, fire burns without end. The firelight will continue to illuminate the village and cause new leaves to sprout.

The rest of the book was mostly stories, recounting examples of past ninja putting the Will of Fire into practice.

"How should I put this? It is a little like, 'Silkworms spin until death, candles weep until ash'?" Kamiya Keiyun flipped farther ahead, thinking there should be other content.

But the thin little book really contained nothing but the Will of Fire and stories.

"Could this be one piece of Konoha's collected ideology?" Kamiya Keiyun flipped back to the cover, but did not see anything like Part One or Volume One.

So this was all there was?

"Something feels off..." Kamiya Keiyun scratched his head and continued studying the Will of Fire.

Meanwhile, at the Hokage Building, the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was not idle either.

Before Kakashi and Uchiha Obito had even started fighting at the Ninja Academy, word had already reached him.

"Kakashi... don't blame me." Thinking of Hatake Sakumo, Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head. He had no choice. Hatake Sakumo's reputation was too great, and his achievements were too significant.

When a meritorious official could no longer be rewarded, there were not many options left.

Either he gave up his own position, or he got rid of that meritorious official.

He intended to suppress Hatake Sakumo, but he had never considered abandoning Kakashi. After all, Kakashi was Hatake Sakumo's son and had already displayed remarkable talent at such a young age. In the future, he might become another Konoha's White Fang.

But by then, the Three Legendary Sannin taking power would already be inevitable. Even if another Konoha's White Fang rose to prominence, it would be of no use.

He wanted to observe Kakashi's performance, and he also wanted to see how Uchiha Obito performed. After all, he was the student the Uchiha Clan had sent to the Ninja Academy this year.

He activated the crystal ball just as the match began. Yet in less than ten seconds, it was already over.

There was no need to mention Kakashi. His Taijutsu was already quite refined, and he had also begun learning swordsmanship. Based on the level he had displayed so far, he was no weaker than some civilian Genin.

As for Uchiha Obito, well.

All that could be said was that he had great potential.

Oh, right. Teacher Iruka had previously told me about a promising student named Kamiya Keiyun. Why did he not go watch?

The crystal ball swayed twice and moved into the classroom.

Then he saw Kamiya Keiyun holding Konoha and the Will of Fire and reading it with great interest.

I will work hard to reduce the training scenes.