Whose Youth Is Free of Doubt?

Hatake Sakumo's gentle voice wiped most of the certainty from Kakashi's face. For a moment, he stood stunned.

Ever since he had first learned to mold chakra, Kakashi had never lost to anyone his age in any discipline. He had swept past them all, and his talent had left him looking down on everyone.

Kakashi stared at the cherry blossoms in the courtyard. After a long silence, he spoke softly, his earlier smugness gone. "I... really did overlook all that."

He had spotted a weakness in the Shadowkhan and hastily built his tactics around it. But how could someone capable of developing an entirely new secret technique have only that much up his sleeve?

Seeing that his son had begun to understand, Sakumo stopped what he was doing and slid the freshly wiped White Fang back into its sheath.

"Kakashi, I've never doubted your talent. But talent has never decided victory or defeat in the ninja world. For a ninja, underestimating an opponent is the greatest weakness of all."

Sakumo spoke slowly, teaching his son from experience.

"Never underestimate the wisdom of the Nara clan. If you can spot the Shadowkhan technique's weakness, how could that boy, the one using it, not know? Either the technique isn't his real trump card, or he's deliberately using an obvious weakness to mislead everyone."

Kakashi shuddered. He lowered his head and clenched his fists. He had thought he had seen through his opponent, but perhaps his opponent had seen his arrogance all along.

"I was too arrogant, Father." Kakashi's voice was low. The pride and smugness were gone, replaced by a measure of composure.

Seeing Kakashi finally take the lesson to heart, Sakumo's expression softened. He gently patted his son's shoulder.

"For the next two weeks, put your arrogance aside. Study him as though he's the strongest opponent you could face. If you give it everything you have and still lose, there's no shame in that. It'll help you grow. But if you lose because you underestimated him, that weakness will follow you for the rest of your life."

A breeze swept through the courtyard, carrying away the restlessness in the boy's heart. Remembering Nara Tsukimi's ever-present smile, Kakashi stood and bowed slightly to his father, his gaze steady.

"I understand, Father. For the next two weeks, I'll set my arrogance aside, give it my all, and prepare seriously."

Just you wait, Nara Tsukimi!

Sakumo watched his son finally settle down and smiled with satisfaction.

Two weeks passed in a flash. Before they knew it, the practical sparring matches were only a day away.

In the Nara clan grounds, the sounds of fists and feet colliding rang out as two figures darted past each other.

Every one of Nara Tsukimi's attacks was clean and powerful, with no hesitation as he shifted between moves. Facing him, Might Guy wore an equally grave expression. Every muscle in his body was taut as he fought back with all his strength.

After the last practical test, Tsukimi had invited Guy to practice taijutsu with him, partly so he could adapt more quickly to the boost granted by the Shadowkhan.

When they first began sparring, Guy had been able to suppress Tsukimi with his solid taijutsu fundamentals. In just two weeks, that had completely reversed.

Tsukimi's progress in taijutsu had far exceeded Guy's expectations.

Only Tsukimi knew it wasn't because he had some extraordinary gift for taijutsu. He was steadily adapting to the physical boost from the Troll Tribe. During classes each day, he worked on controlling the chakra provided by the Ninja Tribe. After Guy went home each night, he practiced the Samurai Tribe's swordsmanship.

"Hah!"

Guy let out a low shout and swept in with a powerful Leaf Whirlwind. Tsukimi calmly raised an arm to block, catching Guy's full-strength kick. Tsukimi did not budge, while the impact left Guy's right leg numb and sent him stumbling back several steps.

Guy straightened, breathing a little hard. Tsukimi's breathing was still steady, and the sight left Guy looking lost and dejected. Defeat weighed heavily in his voice.

"Tsukimi... you've improved at taijutsu so fast. I train every day, but you surpassed me in just two weeks. Does hard work really mean nothing against talent?"

Unable to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, he had poured everything into taijutsu. He got up before dawn every day to train, running with weights and doing push-ups until he reached his limit. He had never slacked off.

Yet Nara Tsukimi had needed only half a month to suppress him with taijutsu alone.

Before overwhelming talent, hard work seemed worthless. If effort could never measure up to talent, what was the point of the youth he and his father had dedicated themselves to?

Who made it through youth without doubts? Just ask Guy!

The Guy before him was only six years old. After seeing what Tsukimi could do, it was only natural for him to doubt himself.

"No, you've got it wrong! You've seen how quickly I've improved these past two weeks, but you haven't seen the foundation I built by training in taijutsu since I was four."

Tsukimi still wore a gentle smile as he patted Guy's shoulder.

He wasn't making that up. He had trained in taijutsu without stopping since he was four. Back then, he had been small and weak and hadn't achieved much, but he had built a solid foundation.

Now, with the boost from the Shadowkhan, his taijutsu had improved rapidly. Of course, the clan's secret medicines had helped strengthen his body too. The Nara clan was in the medicinal herb business, after all.

But there was no need to mention any of that while comforting someone.

Was I supposed to go around telling everyone I was cheating?

Nope. Not a chance!

Tsukimi looked earnestly at the passionate boy before him. "For now, I might be ahead of you thanks to the work I put in before. But none of your efforts will go to waste. Who's stronger right now doesn't mean much. Never giving up and giving it your all—that's what youth is really about, Guy!"

That was right. What did one win or loss matter?

Youth had never been about talent that brought instant success. It was about the determination to never give up!

Guy snapped his head up. The dejection vanished from his eyes, and the flames of youth blazed in them once more.

"Thank you, Tsukimi! I won't give up. At tomorrow's ranking matches, I'll give it everything I've got and challenge you and Kakashi again!"

Watching Might Guy recover his fighting spirit, Tsukimi knew he was still young. A temporary setback could leave him lost, and in the original story, he would even feel ashamed that his father had remained a Genin his whole life.

But one day, he would emerge from his cocoon like a butterfly. Just as he had promised, he would become a man stronger than anyone else!

Guy still wasn't a match for Kakashi, even after sparring with Tsukimi. But if that little white-haired brat looked down on the bowl cut, he was in for a nasty surprise!

Heh heh. That's another surprise for you, foolish Kakashi!