"Ah... sorry." Senju Chen reached out, seemingly wanting to help him up, his voice full of apology. "I... I didn't mean to. You used too much force..."
Those words, almost identical to what he had said at the school gates last time, now sounded different to everyone listening.
Uchiha Inabi lay sprawled on the ground. Hearing that familiar line, he felt the world spin and his vision darken. He wanted to argue, wanted to roar, but every joint in his body ached from that bizarre loss of balance. More importantly, he had no idea how he had fallen.
That feeling... it was like throwing a punch with all his strength into a wad of cotton. All his power had drained away in an instant, and then an invisible force had nudged him gently, turning the whole world upside down.
"Enough!"
The instructor finally recovered from his shock and rushed onto the field, covering the distance in a few quick strides. He first glanced at Inabi, who was on the ground and close to passing out, then turned an extremely complicated gaze on Senju Chen.
As a Jonin instructor, his perception far surpassed that of these students.
He had seen it clearly.
The instant Inabi's powerful axe kick descended, Senju Chen had neither blocked nor dodged. He had merely stepped forward, reached out, and given the ankle of Inabi's supporting leg a light push.
The timing, angle, and force... all had been exquisitely precise.
That was not a reaction a five-year-old child could have managed. It was not even a reaction a Genin could have managed! That instinctive sense for combat belonged only to Taijutsu experts who had fought through countless battles!
No... it went beyond instinct. It was more like... combat precognition.
"Senju Chen, well done." The teacher took a deep breath, suppressing his horror and forcing an approving expression onto his face. "Your timing was outstanding. That is the essence of Taijutsu."
Then he turned to the class, his voice suddenly stern. "Did you all see that clearly? This is Taijutsu! Taijutsu isn't about who has more strength or harder fists! It's about controlling your own power and judging the battle! Uchiha Inabi, you relied too heavily on brute force. Your movements were wide and sweeping, leaving openings everywhere! In this spar, Senju Chen taught every one of you a lesson! Get up and thank your classmate!"
Those words both supplied a reasonable explanation of "a genius's instincts" for Senju Chen's miraculous display and preserved his own authority as a teacher.
Inabi's companions helped him up. His face was deathly pale, his lips trembling. In the end, under the teacher's stern gaze, he lowered his head and squeezed a few words through his teeth. "...Thank you... for the lesson."
Senju Chen hurriedly waved his hands, his face showing just the right amount of alarm. "N-no... no need to thank me. I... I don't know what happened either..."
His manner only deepened the approval in the teacher's eyes.
What an unpolished gem!
In the corner, the hands Kakashi Hatake had tucked into his pockets had clenched into fists at some point.
His eye, exposed above his mask, stared unblinkingly at Senju Chen in the field, its gaze sharp as a blade.
It wasn't instinct, much less luck.
Kakashi saw more deeply into it than the teacher did.
That had not been exploiting an opening, but... creating one.
All of Senju Chen's earlier dodges had looked clumsy, but every step had subtly guided the rhythm of Inabi's attacks, worn away his patience, and forced him to launch that reckless assault full of openings.
The outcome had been written from the very beginning.
That fellow named Senju Chen was like a master puppeteer, and Uchiha Inabi was the ridiculous puppet in his hands.
He had not been fighting. He had been playing.
This guy... is a monster.
For the first time, a figure other than his father, Hatake Sakumo, emerged in Kakashi's mind. That control over the battle, that effortless manner, actually made him feel a trace of familiar... fear.
Taijutsu class ended, and the crowd dispersed.
After today, no one would dare look at Senju Chen as an ordinary child again. Even the girls who had chattered around him earlier now only watched from a distance, with a little more awe in their eyes.
Uchiha Inabi and his followers went out of their way to avoid him, as though avoiding the plague.
Senju Chen paid none of it any mind. He packed his things, swept his gaze over the crowd, then headed straight toward the white-haired figure preparing to leave alone.
From the start, his target had never been small fry like Uchiha Inabi.
"Um... Hatake."
Senju Chen's voice sounded behind him, soft with the particular tenderness of his age, yet it rooted Kakashi's advancing feet to the spot.
His back stiffened for an instant.
Kakashi slowly turned.
The black eye exposed above his mask was like a bottomless, dried-up well, swallowing all the light around it.
He simply watched Senju Chen in silence, aloof as a statue frozen in time.
The laughter of their classmates seemed shut out by an invisible wall. In that tiny space, only their silent confrontation remained.
Senju Chen paid no mind to that icy scrutiny.
He looked up, the carefully measured bewilderment and innocence on his face having quietly faded away at some point.
In their place was pure curiosity.
A gaze that examined prey, utterly at odds with his age of five.
He took half a step forward, leaned slightly toward him, and lowered his voice as if sharing an unspeakable secret.
"You saw all of it, didn't you?"
It was not a question.
It was a statement.
It was a declaration that tore through every disguise and went straight to the heart of the matter, precisely laying bare Kakashi's wariness.
Kakashi's gaze sharpened abruptly. That calm look instantly condensed into a tangible edge, locking onto Senju Chen.
He had guessed that the other boy was no ordinary person.
But he had not expected him to be so direct, so... brazen.
He remained silent, but his clenched fists inside his pockets pulled the fabric taut, outlining his knuckles clearly. The air around him had shifted from guarded to extremely dangerous.
"Don't be so tense."
Senju Chen smiled, a smile terrifyingly pure, like the first snowfall of early winter-clean, yet carrying an icy chill.
He scratched his head, turning back into that innocent, harmless child in the blink of an eye, as though the sharp-eyed fellow from a moment ago had only been Kakashi's imagination.
"My sister told me that a ninja needs companions on his path."
He continued on his own, speaking softly in the tone of someone telling a bedtime story:
"She said that no matter how strong someone is, his field of vision is only so wide. He can only ever see the path beneath his own feet."
"But with a companion, you can see another path."
"When those two paths run together, you can go farther than you could on your own."
He looked up, his bright black eyes clearly reflecting Kakashi's solitary, slightly startled figure. His voice was full of a child's undisguised longing.
"I... want to walk a really, really wide path."
Senju Chen took another step forward. This time, his voice carried sincerity and anticipation that left no room for refusal.
"Hatake, your Taijutsu gives me the feeling... that you could forge a completely new path."
"So... would you practice with me?"
He held out his hand, his small palm open before Kakashi, flawless anticipation on his face.
Take the bait, future Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake.
A genius's loneliness is the best bait in this world. No one can refuse the approach of another of their kind.
Senju Chen's heart was filled with anticipation.
A long time passed.
So long that even the air grew thick.
At last, Kakashi's lips moved beneath his mask.
"Your path is too wide. I'm not used to walking one like that."
His voice was cold and hard, like two stones grinding together.
"One person is enough for my path."