As Long as You're Strong Enough, Nothing Is a Problem

"The technique you're talking about is in here."

They were at Kakashi's house.

The road still wasn't fixed, but Kazan had talked Kakashi into going home. Kakashi had been reluctant, but he'd brought Kazan back anyway.

He rummaged through his father's belongings and took out a Sealing Scroll.

It contained every technique Hatake Sakumo had studied, whether he'd mastered it or not.

The collection was comprehensive. It included all kinds of Five Nature Transformations, as well as the Shadow Clone Technique and the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Some of the techniques had been collected by Hatake Sakumo himself, some had come from the village, and others were his own creations.

Under the rules, Konoha would likely have reclaimed some of the more important techniques after Hatake Sakumo's death.

Especially a Forbidden Technique like the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

But perhaps out of guilt, Konoha hadn't searched Kakashi's home. It had left everything Hatake Sakumo owned to his son and descendants.

Kazan's eyes went straight to the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

For A-rank Ninjutsu, the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique was much simpler than most.

It required only one hand sign—so simple that even Naruto had learned it at a glance.

Kazan committed every detail to memory and mastered it in no time.

Poof!

Poof!

Poof!

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen Shadow Clones identical to Kazan appeared in the room.

Kazan might not have had much talent for Ninjutsu, but he had a vast amount of Chakra.

His body was nothing like the fragile powerhouses of the Naruto World. He was built on the model of Garp the Hero. The cells in his body were many times more active than those of this world's Ninjas.

"That many?" Even Kakashi was stunned.

The Multiple Shadow Clone Technique did have drawbacks.

For one, it divided the user's Chakra evenly among the clones. Using too much Chakra could kill the caster.

Even his father's limit had been seven Shadow Clones at once. Yet Kazan had produced more than ten with a wave of his hand, and he looked completely at ease.

"Not bad at all. Come on, Kakashi!"

Kazan turned and left with his Shadow Clones, like someone who'd gotten what he wanted and promptly walked out.

Kakashi still hadn't fully recovered from his shock. He followed in a daze, returning to the street to fix the road with Kazan.

Such a huge amount of Chakra, but none of the talent for Ninjutsu to match. What a cruel twist of fate.

Still, even without talent for Ninjutsu, Kazan's Taijutsu is astonishing.

Kakashi touched his neck. Just thinking about Kazan's Undersea Drop still made his body ache.

Yet a talent like Kazan still hadn't graduated from the Ninja Academy.

"Hey, Kazan, why are you still at the Ninja Academy?"

He finally asked the question that had been bothering him.

Kazan didn't answer right away. Instead, he asked, "Have you been happy since leaving the Ninja Academy, Kakashi?"

Happy?

Since his father's suicide, Kakashi had barely remembered what happiness felt like.

Even after graduating, he'd frequently clashed with the other members of his squad.

His coldness and insistence on putting missions and efficiency above everything else were more than anyone on the team could stand.

"Judging by your face, I'd say things haven't been going well." Kazan could tell what had happened just by looking at him.

In the original story, Kakashi hadn't begun to recover until Team 7 came along.

After his father's suicide, his friend's death, and killing a teammate with his own hands, Kakashi had even developed self-destructive tendencies.

"Did you become a Ninja just to have fun?"

"Why else?"

Kazan said it without hesitation, as if the answer were obvious.

"People only get a hundred years at best. Ninjas might get a few decades. Why spend every day making yourself miserable?"

Then he offered Kakashi some advice. After all, Kakashi had just handed him a windfall.

"What's your dream, Kakashi?"

A dream...

He hadn't thought about it. At first, he'd wanted to become an outstanding Ninja like his father.

Now, he didn't know.

So Kazan was right. He really was lost.

"Can't answer?"

"Then why not do what I'm doing? Get stronger first, and become the freest person in the entire Ninja world!"

"If you make it that far, nothing you don't want to happen will ever happen again!"

Nothing will ever happen again...

Kakashi froze once more.

Freedom is just an excuse. What you really want is to keep tragedy from happening to you again, isn't it?

Only then did Kakashi remember that Kazan, like him, was all alone. Worse, Kazan might only have learned what his parents looked like from their memorial portraits.

Kazan had it even worse than he did, yet he was far stronger.

Compared with that, losing their fight barely mattered. This was where Kakashi felt he'd been utterly defeated.

Of course, young Kakashi would never admit it aloud.

"You called me a big talker? You're worse. You can't even use Ninjutsu properly."

"Who says you need talent for Ninjutsu to become the strongest? No one in history has done it because no one's gone that way. That's why there's no path."

"Are you one of those people who think a path must be impossible just because no one's made one yet, Kakashi?"

Kakashi didn't answer.

Reason told him it was impossible, but Kazan's eyes were so bright.

Before his death, his father had told him that if he didn't work hard, Kazan would leave him behind.

Kakashi hadn't believed it. How could someone who only knew Taijutsu, someone who might never even become a Ninja, get ahead of him?

But after spending tonight with Kazan, he was starting to believe it.

He still didn't think Kazan would surpass him, even though Kazan had just beaten him. He'd lost because he'd underestimated Kazan and failed to keep his cool.

If they fought again, he might well win.

Still, with Kazan's reckless nature, he might really do something that shook the world.

"Quit talking big. You're not even a Genin. Hurry up and fix the road. I'm tired."

"Fair enough. But why did you only make one clone?"

Kakashi found that question a little hard to answer.

Am I supposed to tell him how little Chakra I have?

He'd graduated from the Ninja Academy at five, a genius who'd made Konoha history!

Admitting something like that would be humiliating...