Lord Kakashi and King Kai (Seeking Collection and Recommendations)

He slept all the way until noon.

Qifeng's life had become very comfortable again, with no one bored enough to come bother him in the morgue.

Even Asuma was teaching at this hour.

For some reason, Qifeng hadn't felt like seeing him these past few days. Not out of guilt—purely to give him and Yūhi Kurenai more time to patch things up, that father-in-law and son-in-law.

He remembered that in the original story, Asuma and Kurenai Yuhi never got married. She got pregnant, and then Asuma died.

Tsk, tsk.

A textbook Ge You Lie, sprawled across the rocking chair. With the warm afternoon breeze, he lit a cigarette. This was living.

The salted-fish life was too comfortable.

Before long.

Asuma didn't come to bother him, but someone else showed up—unexpected yet not entirely surprising.

Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi, his arm wrapped in thick bandages, wore his usual dead-fish-eyed expression. He walked up to Qifeng without a word, silently pulled over a chair, and sat down beside him.

They sunbathed together.

Qifeng glanced at him, a little surprised.

Did the sun rise from the west today?

The mission maniac Kakashi, skipping training and missions to come sunbathe with him?

Still, if Kakashi wasn't talking, Qifeng wasn't about to start.

Talking was too tiring, especially with a kid whose mental development was already a bit off.

But Qifeng could hold out. Kakashi couldn't.

After all, who could stand having a giant chimney puffing smoke right next to them?

"Don't you know smoking is extremely unfriendly to the injured?" Kakashi raised his bandaged arm and waved it in front of him.

After that mission, Kakashi's prejudice against him had lessened quite a bit.

Especially after returning to Konoha and hearing how Qifeng had shielded the unconscious Imai Kuriyama, vowing to protect her, standing firm against a Mist Jonin's attack, and getting badly hurt himself.

For some reason, hearing that Qifeng had protected his comrade like that stirred something in Kakashi's heart.

"Is that so? I think I'm doing pretty well right now. Thanks for your concern." Qifeng ignored Kakashi's displayed injury, took a leisurely drag, and blew the smoke ring right into Kakashi's face.

"..."

Kakashi felt that having any goodwill toward Qifeng earlier must have been a bout of insanity.

"Want one?" Qifeng opened the cigarette pack, pulled one out, and held it in front of Kakashi.

Kakashi's eyes widened, and he turned his head away.

What kind of person was this?

He wasn't even an adult yet!

Qifeng didn't think much of it. Could you measure people in the Ninja World by age?

Kids started dating before ten, had blood on their hands before ten—was that normal for children?

At Kakashi's lack of interest, Qifeng curled his lip.

Asuma was way more fun.

Even after all that, Kakashi didn't leave. He just moved a little farther away.

Something was up. Definitely something up!

Qifeng's instincts told him Kakashi was off today.

But before he could dwell on it, a man with agile movements, wearing a ridiculous green tight suit, came sprinting over, kicking up dust as he rushed to a stop in front of them.

This time, Qifeng and Kakashi's expressions were eerily similar.

Their eyes twitched.

The newcomer was none other than the future "Azure Beast" of Konoha, the man who almost kicked his way to the finale—Might Guy!

He skidded to a halt in front of them, gave a thumbs-up, flashed his gleaming white teeth, and paired it with his thick, dark eyebrows.

"Yo! Kakashi, so this is where you were! Come have a youthful duel with me!"

So Kakashi had been hiding here to avoid this guy.

Probably the only person in all of Konoha who could put Kakashi in his place, Qifeng mused silently.

Kakashi shot Qifeng a pleading look.

Qifeng just silently turned his back to him.

"..."

With no help in sight, Kakashi looked at Might Guy with a dead expression and raised his arm. "Next time, Gai. I'm injured."

At that moment, the slow-witted Guy finally noticed the bandage on his hand. "Huh? Kakashi, how did you get hurt?"

In Guy's mind, Kakashi was a one-of-a-kind genius, someone he would spend his whole life chasing. How could anyone manage to wound him?

Kakashi glanced at Qifeng, who was minding his own business with an air of detachment.

"Senior Qifeng!"

Successfully redirecting the target, Kakashi felt relieved.

"It really is you, Senior Qifeng—you're my idol!"

Idol?

Qifeng was a bit surprised.

Someone like him—barely scraping by graduation from the Ninja Academy, ending up in a backwater department like the morgue as a Corpse Collector, a nobody—could become the idol of the future legendary "King Kai"?

"Senior Qifeng, we're both the dead last in others' eyes, the failures who can't become ninjas. But you made it! You're a successful ninja now! I'll definitely follow in your footsteps and become a great ninja! Definitely!"

"..."

If it weren't for Might Guy's earnest expression, Qifeng would have wanted to punch him twice.

Saying flattering words, yet not bringing any joy at all.

Only you, King Kai.

"He took out two Kirigakure chunin on the last mission," Kakashi said leisurely from the side.

Hearing this, Guy's eyes burst with sharp light, complementing the gleam of his teeth—a hundred-watt bulb shining bright.

Overflowing admiration was written all over his face.

"Senior Qifeng, how did you do it?"

That was a well-executed diversion.

Qifeng waved his hand. "It's not that impressive. One went to eat barbecue, and the other turned into barbecue himself. Not as exaggerated as Kakashi says."

With that, he slowly sat up. "Guy, let me tell you the fastest trick to becoming a ninja."

"What?" Guy pricked up his ears, focusing intently.

"Challenge him—once a day, or even several times a day. Even if you fail, don't get discouraged. You're a hardworking genius who can beat a genius!" He pointed at the dumbfounded Kakashi.

Heh heh, trying to play that game with me, Kakashi—you're still green, Qifeng thought smugly.

"Hardworking genius..." Guy muttered the phrase under his breath.

He suddenly stood up. "Kakashi!!"

"..."

Kakashi's heart ached, and he had no one to tell.

His mind raced, and he suddenly asked, "Guy, don't you have class today?"

"Oh, this afternoon is outdoor class."

Usually, for outdoor class, he trained on his own—the school teachers tacitly allowed it, since with Guy's physique, the training volume of outdoor class was barely different from playing around.

But Kakashi had forcibly changed the subject, and Guy didn't press him further.

Kakashi breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Close call.

"Guy, training isn't something you accomplish overnight. Persistence is good, but you also need to balance work and rest, or your body won't hold up."

Having long settled into a lazy routine, Qifeng found Guy's relentless diligence a bit jarring.

With you working this hard, how are we slackers supposed to feel?

"Mm-hmm." Guy thought it made sense—his father Might Duy had told him the same thing. So every day, Guy made sure to get enough rest, and Duy prepared a series of medicines to help him recover.

Otherwise, with their training methods, no one could keep it up.

"Besides the usual large-scale training, you need to pay more attention to the small details. After all, details determine success or failure."

"Mm-hmm." Guy was like a humble student eager to learn.

"Cleaning is a good choice. It lets you notice every tiny corner, down to the dust—just like catching a fleeting weakness in your enemy."

"Mm-hmm."

"I can give you this chance to train yourself."

"Really?"

"Guy, have some confidence. Drop the 'really'—you absolutely deserve this treatment."

"Yes!"

"Help me clean the morgue. The place where bodies are kept is a temporary home for the departed. The dead deserve respect, and I hope you can respect them as I do."

"Respect the dead! Train myself!"

Watching Guy grab a broom and stride into the morgue with fervor, meticulously sweeping every corner...

"."

Kakashi didn't know how many times today he'd already widened his eyes in shock.

This was possible too?

Just, open with a mouth, and explain purely by making things up?

The key point was, someone actually believed it.

One dared to say it, the other dared to believe it—truly, you two were a match made in heaven.