Kakashi Hatake closed the Icha Icha Paradise in his hand and looked down at Shira with his dead-fish eye. His voice was as lazy as ever. "Oh? What do you want with that hot-blooded idiot, kid?"
He showed no surprise at the name "Might Guy" and went straight to calling him a "hot-blooded idiot"-which proved just how well he knew Might Guy.
Shira rejoiced inwardly, but put on an age-appropriate expression of defiance and longing. "I'm not a little kid! I want to get stronger! All I can do is Taijutsu, and everyone in the village says I'm useless. But I heard that Mr. Might Guy of Konoha is one of the strongest Taijutsu ninjas. I thought if I could get a little guidance from him..."
His voice grew quieter as he spoke. He sounded a little embarrassed, but stubborn all the same.
His story was half true and half false. It perfectly explained why he was looking for Might Guy and painted a vivid picture of a young Taijutsu practitioner who worked hard but kept meeting setbacks.
Kakashi stared at him for a few seconds, seeming to size him up quickly. The boy before him was sturdy and clearly showed signs of long-term training, and the determination in his eyes didn't look fake.
A child from Sunagakure seeking out a Konoha ninja to learn from sounded a little naive, but his intentions seemed innocent enough.
He scratched his messy hair, seemingly finding it a bit of a bother, but spoke up lazily all the same. "Might Guy? He's probably running laps around Konoha on his hands right now, or hugging a giant tree and doing squats somewhere in the forest. If you want to find him, try your luck at the training grounds near Konoha. But..."
Kakashi shifted the subject slightly. His one visible eye narrowed, and though his tone remained flat, it carried a hint of warning that was hard to detect.
"Kid, you're from Sunagakure, right? It's dangerous to come wandering around another country's ninja village asking about a Jonin's whereabouts. Be careful, or you might get arrested as a spy."
He seemed to be offering a friendly warning, but he was actually cautioning and probing him.
Shira immediately put on a look of realization and belated fear, then quickly lowered his head. "Ah, I'm sorry! I didn't think that far. Thank you for the warning!"
He acted just like an impulsive, reckless child who only realized he should be afraid after someone pointed it out.
One of a transmigrator's essential skills-acting like a drama queen! °⌑°
Seeing him like that, Kakashi seemed to let go of some of his doubts. He reopened the Icha Icha Paradise in his hand and waved him off as though shooing a fly. "All right, all right, hurry back. Finding someone strong isn't enough to make you stronger."
"Yes! Thank you!" Shira bowed respectfully, then turned and hurried out of the bookstore, his heart pounding wildly with excitement.
It worked!
Kakashi hadn't given him an exact location, but "the training grounds near Konoha," "running laps on his hands," and "hugging a giant tree and doing squats" narrowed the search considerably.
Might Guy's training methods were so distinctive and conspicuous that once Shira got there, he wouldn't be hard to find!
More importantly, he had confirmed that Might Guy was in Konoha right now!
After leaving the bookstore, Shira quickly calmed himself. He knew that a ninja of Kakashi's caliber would never fully believe his story and had most likely already taken notice of him.
But no matter what, he had obtained the information he needed most.
His next plan became crystal clear: find a way to persuade his parents to make one last shopping trip to a market closer to the Land of Fire's border before heading back, then find a chance to slip away from the group and follow Kakashi's clues to find that figure in green!
The light of hope was already close at hand. He could almost hear that blood-stirring shout:
"This is youth!!!"