Childhood Arc: Changes

The days that followed were mostly uneventful. Every morning, I got up early to train my physical fitness, followed by cultivating Battle Aura, Armament Haki, Observation Haki, and swordsmanship.

At five years old, I had already reached the intermediate level in all three schools of swordsmanship. Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits really were absurdly powerful. After greatly strengthening my body, they allowed me to train even more.

That was the main reason why I progressed so quickly despite having a child's body. Still, I had truly hit a bottleneck recently. As expected, my current physical strength was still insufficient.

"This year's term is about to end. This afternoon, we'll hold one final practical combat assessment."

Just as the teacher said, another year was about to pass, and I would soon turn six.

At the same time, Hatake Shamate should graduate early and become a Genin this year, just like in the original story.

Then, two years later, Hatake Sakumo would commit suicide, and Sasori of the Red Sands would murder the Third Kazekage, triggering the Third Shinobi World War.

If I developed steadily until I graduated alongside Obito and the others at nine, then built up experience through low-level missions beforehand, I would at least be able to protect myself once I reached the battlefield.

What I feared now was not being assigned to the same class as Rin. I was afraid that if something happened to them, I would not make it in time...

"Hey, Qingyue."

While I was lost in thought, Kakashi walked up to me with an unusually serious expression.

"What is it?"

"Fight me in this afternoon's assessment. Okay?"

For an entire year, I had never fought Kakashi. Ever since I had helped Rin with that first practice match, she and I had basically always been grouped together.

There were occasional changes, of course. When facing other people, I usually ended the fight in two or three moves, while Kakashi would be tied up fighting Obito the whole time.

I had wondered why Kakashi had not come looking for revenge. Now it seemed that he wanted to test himself against me, to see whether he truly had what it took to become a shinobi.

Who would have thought that cold, brooding, shamelessly handsome bastard had such a childish side to him?

[Teacher Hill, how do you think I should deal with Hatake Sakumo's situation?]

I had a direction in mind, but shamefully, I did not understand familial love that deeply. I really did not know how I would persuade Kakashi and Sakumo when the time came.

Besides, Sakumo, who came from a samurai background, was stubborn to the core. If I tried to persuade him, not a single word would get through.

At first, I had even suspected that the suicide might have only been a cover, with Danzo and the others secretly making their move. But after thinking it over, considering Hatake Sakumo's abilities, even if it had been an assassination, it would have only succeeded with his own willingness.

[It is suggested that Kakashi personally persuade him, making Sakumo realize that he still has a child to care for.]

Right, how had I not thought of that? Hill was right. The key was making Sakumo realize that.

In the original story, Kakashi became a Genin at five, then became a Chunin the very next year.

That made Sakumo believe Kakashi had already inherited his legacy and become a shinobi capable of standing on his own. That was why he committed suicide. He believed the village had abandoned him, his child had grown up, and there was no longer any reason for him to live.

Then this would be simple. In this afternoon's assessment, I would show off some of my skills and completely crush Kakashi's confidence. The war had not begun yet, so even if I displayed great strength now, I would not be forced to graduate early.

My peaceful life was a pity, but for Kakashi's sake, I could only reveal a little of my edge.

After lunch break ended, during the afternoon combat assessment, I raised my hand before Kakashi could.

"Alright, today's match will be Qingyue versus Kakashi Hatake. You are both outstanding students in this class, so everyone else, watch carefully! Both sides, form the Seal of Opposition!"

Standing across from Kakashi, I raised my right hand and held up two fingers. Battle Aura had already been fully activated throughout my body.

"Come on, protagonist of Icha Icha Paradise. Let this arrogant fool see how vast the world really is!"

"You're the most arrogant one here... Also, what kind of nickname is that?"

Huh? Was I? I thought I was pretty humble.

But those words were merely a smokescreen Kakashi had thrown out. The next moment, he vanished from where he stood and appeared behind me, throwing a punch.

How did I know it was a punch?

Observation Haki, of course. Unfortunately, perhaps because of my physical strength and willpower, I had yet to unlock Armament Haki. But I was already quite proficient with Observation Haki.

Keeping calm and sensing my surroundings was an easy task for me. It seemed I had considerable talent as well.

After catching Kakashi's movements, I would have simply dodged if it had been anyone else, but...

Without turning around, I stretched my left hand toward my rear right side and easily caught Kakashi's right wrist. I wrapped Battle Aura around the muscles I used to exert force, then flung him over and instantly concentrated all of it around my arm.

Bang—

Kakashi slammed into the ground with a tremendous crash, kicking up dust from the impact. His stomach acid was probably churning right about now.

The sight left many of the girls who admired Kakashi staring in amazement, but I did not receive any scolding from them.

The reason was simple. With Rudeus's face, I was no less popular than Kakashi. Thank you, reincarnation!

"Cough, cough... How could this..."

Kakashi lay on the ground in a miserable state, muttering those words over and over. Against someone else, he might have found an opening to evade with the Substitution Technique, but unfortunately for him, his opponent was me.

"This is the gap between us. At your level, stop thinking about standing out and applying for early graduation. Stay in school and build yourself up properly."

Sorry, Kakashi, but this was for your own good. You did not want to watch your father commit suicide either, right?

Seeing that something was wrong, the teacher immediately separated us and sent Kakashi to the infirmary.

"Qingyue..." Rin looked at me with a face full of concern.

"It's fine. That silver-haired pretty boy has been getting a little too carried away lately. I was worried he'd become too arrogant and make poor judgments during future missions, so I hit him a little harder."

"I see. I thought you were in a bad mood today. As expected of Qingyue, you even considered so much for his sake." Rin had become increasingly skilled at praising me without thinking.

I was a little worried. It felt like one day, someone could trick her into going home with them just by giving her a piece of candy.

"Yeah. I'm a pretty great guy, after all."

From then on, the class's most heated debate—whether Kakashi or I was stronger—came to an end. The answer was obvious: I had won overwhelmingly.

After school, Rin and I carefully hooked our pinkies together and walked out through the school gates to find somewhere to sit for a while. Neither of our parents was home today, so we would have to sort out dinner ourselves.

At the same time, Kakashi and Obito followed behind us.

The two of them were unusually not bickering today, perhaps because Kakashi was feeling rather down.

"Qingyue, should we go comfort Kakashi?"

A genius would indeed feel terrible after suffering such a blow, but Kakashi would surely be able to pull himself together.

Still, if I was helping someone, I might as well see it through to the end.

Since I was going to save his father anyway, it would not hurt to improve his strength while I was at it.

If Rin ended up on the same team as him according to the original plot, him being stronger would also let him protect Rin better for me.

"Yeah, leave it to me."

After making my decision, I casually sent Obito away. Once that guy awakened his Mangekyo in the future, he would become a bugged existence. He did not need something as inconvenient as Battle Aura.

"Kakashi Lost, why are you hanging your head after losing just one match?"

He seemed to want to retort as usual, but Kakashi raised his head, opened his mouth, said nothing, and lowered it again.

"Do you know why you're weaker than me? Kakashi Didn't Win, it's because you've always lived in your comfort zone. There's no one around you who can match you, so it's difficult for you to keep growing. You've never even thought about stepping outside that comfort zone."

Just as Kakashi was about to speak, I cut him off first.

"I know you want to apply for graduation and take missions to improve yourself, but someone at your level? On the battlefield, I could kill a whole group of you. So, do you want to know why I'm so strong?"

At that, Kakashi finally looked up at me with anticipation in his eyes.

Good, he had taken the bait. This should work now. At the very least, he definitely would not graduate early anymore. That meant I was halfway there.

"Come train with me later. See how long you can endure. Then you'll understand why the gap between us is so big."

[So Lord Qingyue is willing to use even today, a rest day, for cultivation? How moving. Lord Qingyue has finally grown up and begun cultivating voluntarily!]

Huh? Damn it! I had forgotten! Today was a rare day off! I had wanted to spend a lovely evening with Rin!

Damn Kakashi Can't Win! I was definitely putting this on your tab!

Helplessly, I said a quick goodbye to Rin. She would bring us lunchboxes later, though.

As for Obito, he insisted on coming along, so I had no choice but to bring him too. As for Might Guy, he spent rest days like I did now. It had taken a lot of effort to convince him to rest properly before.

Otherwise, if he trained every day like that, he would definitely wear out his body too much.

After arriving at the training ground where I usually cultivated, I took out all the special wooden posts I had hidden away and lined them up one by one.

"This is..."

"My usual afternoon training. The first part is sensory training: I fight these wooden posts while blindfolded the entire time. I can only counterattack based on feeling, and it also trains my ability to withstand blows. Then comes chakra cultivation. Kakashi, curious why my strength is so great?"

Kakashi nodded at that.

"The technique I use is called Battle Aura. It's a way of using chakra. I would not tell ordinary people, but you two are exceptions."

Upon hearing that, Kakashi and Obito both revealed extremely shocked expressions.

After all, another way to use chakra was already a discovery astonishing enough in a world where only a small number of people researched such things, let alone among five-year-old children.

Hill had told me about this possibility, but there had been no precedent before, so theoretically, Hill and I had developed it together.

That was not really bragging. Yeah, I had just embellished it a tiny bit. No problem!

"Anyway, you two should try the wooden posts first. Oh, right. No matter how badly you get beaten, these posts won't stop. Unless you collapse completely. Good luck!"

After explaining that, I flashed away on my own. Since I was already here, I might as well do some training too.

Those wooden posts had originally been used to train my Observation Haki, but by now, they could no longer do anything for me.

So, I had installed several small mechanisms in the woods that automatically fired kunai. Once activated, those mechanisms would launch them over a set period of time.

After setting them up, I would put on a blindfold and spin around a few times to lose my sense of direction, then try to dodge the high-speed kunai flying at me.

It did not matter if I failed to dodge them. At most, they would leave shallow scratches on my body, which was wrapped in Battle Aura.

"Whew, whew, whew..."

[Congratulations, Lord Qingyue. This time, you dodged one more than last time.]

There were sixty kunai in total, and I had still been hit two or three times.

It was still not enough. I was still far from mastering true Observation Haki.

Before fighting Katakuri two years later, Luffy would be able to easily dodge the lasers fired by Pacifistas using Observation Haki. At the very least, Observation Haki had to reach that level before it could truly become a qualified weapon.

Over in the cluster of wooden posts, Kakashi and Obito lay there completely exhausted and covered in injuries.