Taking Sakumo as His Disciple

Coming back to himself, Kagami Uchiha looked at the boy before him and asked casually, "At your age, you haven't graduated from the Ninja Academy yet, have you?"

Sakumo looked up, a little reserved despite the clarity of his eyes, and nodded. "No, Lord Hokage. My family only has some ancestral swordsmanship. It's nothing like a ninja clan's secret techniques, so I come to the training grounds to practice on my own."

As he had said, the Hatake Clan descended from samurai. Its numbers had dwindled so far that it barely counted as a ninja clan in Konoha.

Sakumo was the Hatake Clan's last remaining child. He had no secret techniques or clansmen to support him, only a set of ancestral sword techniques. Everything he achieved had to be honed through his own hard work.

Appreciation grew in Kagami's eyes.

He paused, then spoke slowly.

"You have a strong foundation and a good temperament."

"But you may not get very far by figuring everything out alone."

Sakumo raised his head, a hint of puzzlement in his eyes.

"Would you like to become my disciple?"

The boy froze where he stood.

Everyone in Konoha knew what it meant to become the Hokage's disciple.

And now an ordinary boy with no powerful ninja clan behind him, who had trained with nothing but his family's samurai swordsmanship, had caught the Hokage's eye.

Sakumo's heart hammered. For a moment, he even forgot to answer. Several seconds passed before he dropped to one knee and bowed his head slightly, his voice trembling almost imperceptibly.

"I, Sakumo Hatake... would be honored to become your disciple, Lord Hokage! I'll study and train with all I have. I won't let you down, Master, or fail Konoha!"

Kagami looked at the boy kneeling before him and gave a slight nod.

From this moment on, he would hone Konoha's White Fang with his own hands.

In the original story, that sharp blade had lacked a hand to guide it. Too rigid, it had been all too easy to break.

But with Kagami, the Hokage, behind him, surely Sakumo would go much farther.

In Kagami's mind, Sakumo was better suited than the Sannin to guide the next generation.

Each of the Sannin had shortcomings: Tsunade was easily swept up in her emotions, Orochimaru was obsessed with forbidden research, and Jiraiya was freewheeling by nature.

Sakumo alone was decisive and ruthless toward enemies, yet warmhearted toward his comrades.

Why couldn't a man like that carry Konoha forward? Besides, he was now Kagami's own disciple.

Everyone knew that being a Hokage's disciple did not guarantee becoming Hokage.

But a ninja outside the Hokage's line of succession had almost no chance of taking that position.

From Konoha's founding to the start of the main story, only a little over sixty years had passed.

In those decades, there had been seven Hokage:

The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, needed no explanation;

The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was Hashirama's younger brother;

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was Tobirama's direct disciple;

The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had studied under Jiraiya of the Sannin, making him Hiruzen's grand-disciple;

The Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, was not only Hashirama's granddaughter but also the Third Hokage's direct disciple;

The Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake, was the Fourth Hokage's disciple;

And the Seventh Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki, master of the ultimate Talk no Jutsu—his father was Minato, his squad leader was Kakashi, and his master was Jiraiya...

The line of succession was perfectly clear.

Kagami gently helped Sakumo to his feet. "There's little left for the Ninja Academy to teach you, Sakumo. Find time to apply for early graduation."

"Yes, Master. I was thinking the same thing."

"Good. Once you graduate, I'll teach you myself."

Sakumo straightened at once, his eyes shining with excitement. "Yes, Master!"

Everyone knew how formidable the Hokage before him was. He had personally killed Ginkaku while still young, and Kinkaku's death was tied to him as well. To receive personal instruction from such a man was an opportunity Sakumo had never dared imagine.

"However..." Kagami's tone shifted. After a moment's thought, he said, "Before that, I have a task for you."

"What task? Please tell me, Master! I'll give it everything I have," Sakumo vowed.

"I want you to get to know a boy named Might Duy. He's about your age and still attends the Ninja Academy."

"Try to become his friend. Aside from you, he's one of the few I have high hopes for. His determination is far beyond most people's. He won't lead an ordinary life." Kagami spoke with conviction.

Might Duy. The father of youth.

Born a commoner, he had almost no talent for Ninjutsu or genjutsu. Yet through sheer passion and tenacity, he ignored everyone's mockery and believed that hard work could surpass talent.

His lifelong conviction had never been that he must defeat anyone. It was to give everything he had to protect the people he treasured.

During the Third Shinobi World War, the young Might Guy, Ebisu, and Genma Shiranui were surrounded by the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

Might Duy stayed behind alone. He opened the Gate of Death with the Eight Gates and killed four of them in a single battle, reducing the infamous Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to a miserable trio. Only Juzo Biwa, Suikazan Fuguki, and Raiga Kurosuki escaped.

It wasn't that Duy couldn't have killed the other three. They had simply run fast enough.

The assessment of him in the Book of Formation was apt: "Never wavering, he charged straight ahead! Indomitable, he was a great ninja."

Kagami wondered whether Might Duy had discovered the Eight Gates yet.

There had long been two theories about that forbidden technique.

The first held that Might Duy had spent twenty years developing it on his own, bit by bit. Across the entire Shinobi World, only Duy, Guy, and Rock Lee had inherited its power.

The second suggested that the Eight Gates had originated with Tobirama Senju, or that he had gathered and organized the technique.

The evidence was Madara Uchiha's familiarity with the Eight Gates during the Fourth Shinobi World War. He had even recognized the crimson steam that appeared after the Gate of Death opened at a glance.

Looking back over Madara's life, he had withdrawn from the world after his battle with Hashirama at the Valley of the End. That meant he had seen the Eight Gates long before then.

Kagami personally leaned toward the first theory.

Konoha had no shortage of talent. If Tobirama had created the Eight Gates or left it publicly available as a forbidden technique, it was impossible that only three people would have mastered it over several decades. The village had always had plenty of capable ninja willing to train themselves to the limit.

Rather than a set of instructions written on a scroll, this forbidden technique was a path carved out through sheer force of will.

No one could offer a shortcut. It demanded day after day of using flesh and blood to break through the body's own limits.

"Master, I know him. He's a very unusual person."

Sakumo thought back to the boy at school who was always being laughed at, yet never seemed to run out of energy.

"Just remember what I said. Since you became my disciple today, the least I can do is buy you a meal. Come on, let's get barbecue." Kagami waved and started walking.

Watching him go, Sakumo felt his eyes grow damp. It had been a long time since anyone had cared about him like this...

"Hey, Sakumo! What are you standing around for? Catch up!" Kagami called without looking back.

"Coming, Master! Wait for me!"

The boy hurriedly gathered himself and ran after him.

Beneath the setting sun, the two figures walked one behind the other, their shadows stretching long in the fading light. Time seemed to stand still.

And so, a new bond quietly began.