The Third Hokage shook his head. "They're not even in the same league."
"And I don't know whether he's good at ninjutsu, because he hasn't started formal ninjutsu training yet."
Kakashi froze. "Huh? You mean he hasn't started formal ninjutsu training? He's still a student?"
Even Kakashi thought his guess sounded ridiculous.
But the Third Hokage's next words sounded even more absurd.
The Third Hokage said, "Tomorrow is the day he officially becomes a ninja."
That single sentence nearly made Kakashi's brain shut down.
A student who'd just graduated from the Ninja Academy had caused that kind of destruction with one punch, and had turned down the Third Hokage's offer to train him?
Had he heard that right?
"Is that true?"
The Third Hokage nodded. "Would I make it up?"
"Kakashi, what do you think it would take to get him assigned to me for training?"
"I talked to him about it, but he refused. He just said he wasn't interested. Why would that be?"
Kakashi was silent for a moment, then said, "Could it be because he's young and thinks that training under you would restrict his freedom?"
The Third Hokage considered it. "That's possible. I'll have to explain things to him."
"He hid his abilities at the Ninja Academy because he didn't want people watching him, didn't he?"
"Maybe he's simply the sort of person who dislikes being constrained."
"You've given me something to think about."
Watching the Third Hokage talk to himself, Kakashi was speechless.
Had the Third Hokage gone off the deep end?
But when he thought about how a student of barely twelve could cause that kind of destruction, it made sense that the Third Hokage was so eager to train him.
It was frustrating enough that the Third Hokage had reached this age without finding a suitable successor.
Kakashi guessed he was getting anxious.
Kakashi knew the Third Hokage intended to train him to become the Fifth Hokage.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have made him captain of the Anbu.
The Anbu were the Hokage's personal force.
But Kakashi had been stuck at the Elite Jonin level for a long time.
He hadn't made a breakthrough, and even if the Third Hokage wanted to train him to become the Fifth Hokage, Kakashi wasn't strong enough.
As for the Third Hokage's son—
Asuma's ideals clashed with his father's, but that was a minor issue. The real problem was that Asuma wasn't even as strong as Kakashi.
He had no qualifications to become Hokage.
Jiraiya had become obsessed with searching for the Child of Prophecy and wandered all over the Ninja World.
Tsunade had developed a fear of blood. A medical ninja with hemophobia was practically useless.
Besides, the Third Hokage didn't actually think Jiraiya or Tsunade was suited to become Hokage.
They didn't want the job, and the Third Hokage had never considered appointing them.
As for Orochimaru, he was the student the Third Hokage liked best, but that was all.
He didn't think Orochimaru was suited to become Hokage.
He would rather train Kakashi than let any of the Sannin become Hokage.
Kakashi looked at the Third Hokage. "Will he be on tomorrow's list of graduates?"
The Third Hokage nodded. "Yes. He'll even be in the same class as Naruto and Sasuke."
Kakashi furrowed his brow, trying to recall who in Naruto and Sasuke's class might be that boy.
But no matter how long he thought, no one came to mind.
He paid attention to students from major clans and those with excellent grades.
Yeyu, an utterly average student, had never been on Kakashi's radar.
So he didn't think of Yeyu at all.
Seeing Kakashi lost in thought, the Third Hokage waved a hand. "All right, don't bother guessing. You'll probably find out who he is tomorrow."
"I'm still trying to figure out which instructor to assign him."
"All the suitable Jonin have already been assigned students, and he doesn't want to come train with me."
"Looks like I'll have to discuss it with him tomorrow."
Kakashi's mouth twitched. "You have to discuss who his instructor will be with him?"
The Third Hokage's indulgence was getting ridiculous.
The Third Hokage really did have that flaw: when he cared about someone, he had no limits.
When he cared about Orochimaru, he'd even tolerated his crimes. Although he'd had the chance to kill him, he couldn't bring himself to do it.
He'd promised Xidai he would look after Naruto, and then let Naruto run wild, pulling pranks all over the village.
The villagers had grown to resent him, but every time, the Third Hokage would let him off with a few mild words.
The Third Hokage's indulgence had certainly contributed to how much the villagers hated Naruto.
If Naruto had been stopped and punished right after his pranks, he wouldn't have kept doing them, and the villagers wouldn't have hated him so much.
Nobody liked someone who could act however he pleased without ever being punished.
Especially when his identity was already so sensitive.
Now the Third Hokage was treating Yeyu the same way.
He was even willing to consult Yeyu about assigning his instructor.
Even the Third Hokage's own son hadn't received that kind of treatment.
But the Third Hokage didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
After all, Yeyu's strength and potential were certainly worth indulging.
That night, Yeyu was the only one who slept soundly.
He'd been interrupted a few times, but with nothing weighing on his mind, he slept well.
The next day, he arrived at the Ninja Academy.
With his Forehead Protector tied around his arm and dressed in plain clothes, he entered the classroom.
When Yeyu walked in, no one paid him any attention.
He'd always been invisible in class.
He didn't even have a friend he could really talk to.
He was good-looking, but not so handsome that he could get by without ever trying, like Sasuke.
Naruto, who was bragging to Shikamaru and the others about how amazing it was that he'd learned the Shadow Clone Technique, saw Yeyu walk in and immediately grew nervous.
Seeing Naruto like that, Shikamaru and the others were puzzled. "Hey, Naruto, what's wrong?"
"Why'd you suddenly stop talking?"
Yeyu paid none of it any attention. He went to his seat, lay down on his desk, and went to sleep.
Naruto looked uneasy and stammered, "N-nothing."
Ever since he'd seen Yeyu beat Mizuki so badly the day before, he'd been afraid of him.
He was even relieved that he'd never played any pranks on Yeyu.
That was also because Yeyu had been an invisible, average student in class.
When Naruto wanted to pull a prank and get his classmates' attention, he would obviously pick students who were well-known.
For example, students from major clans, or Sasuke, the most popular boy in the entire grade.
Until the night before, Naruto hadn't given Yeyu a second thought.
Seeing that Yeyu wasn't paying attention to him, Naruto gradually relaxed.
When he'd gone home the previous evening, Iruka had told him not to talk to his classmates about Yeyu.
Iruka wasn't especially shrewd, but Yeyu's performance the day before clearly couldn't be allowed to become public knowledge.
At least he understood that much.
He'd told the Third Hokage because Naruto had seen it too, and because he wanted to help Yeyu get a better deal.
Based on Yeyu's performance at the Academy, he wouldn't have been assigned a good instructor at all.
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