Kikyo held her admission notice, her wide eyes fixed unblinkingly on Anyo as she asked, "Does this mean I have to go to the Ninja Academy? But I'm already so old."
"Your strength certainly doesn't require schooling, but you need to study the basics of being a ninja systematically at school to better understand what the Shinobi World is like." Anyo patted her shoulder. "It's a process every ninja has to go through. Don't worry. Once you feel you've learned enough, you can apply to graduate early."
"All right." Kikyo accepted it, then asked curiously, "How did you convince her?"
"Brains and wisdom," Anyo replied without a trace of modesty.
Kikyo obligingly gave him a thumbs-up and said excitedly, "Then I'm off to enroll."
Just after Kikyo left, Kakashi appeared. Watching the girl's retreating figure, he said in disbelief, "To think your daughter is already this grown up."
"Actually, I didn't expect it either," Anyo replied with a smile.
Kakashi took the White Light Chakra Sabre, which had long remained sheathed, from inside his clothes. "I've more or less recovered now. When do you plan to start?"
Anyo raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "How about right now?"
Their auras clashed, both poised to strike, and the air around them began to churn. Just as they were about to act, Anyo frowned slightly and shook his head at Kakashi.
Though puzzled, Kakashi stopped what he was doing.
A short while later, Naruto ran over anxiously and called out to Kakashi, "Kakashi-sensei, something's wrong! I heard that after you got hurt, Sasuke ran out of Konoha to look for someone, and Sakura secretly followed him. Neither of them has come back yet. We have to find them right away!"
"This is bad." Kakashi immediately realized what had happened. "He must have gone looking