After returning home, Sakumo suddenly felt lost.
"Yuzuru, tell me, what else can we do if we aren't ninja?"
"As long as we don't starve, we're fine. Dad, you should start by properly managing some of the family's properties. Just eat well, sleep well, and settle down as an ordinary person."
Yuzuru spoke irritably.
For someone like Sakumo, who had spent most of his life as a ninja, suddenly abandoning that profession really was hard to get used to.
"What about me?"
Kakashi asked too.
"You? Keep getting stronger with me. Even if we aren't ninja anymore, there'll still be plenty of turmoil in the Shinobi World. We need to at least become as strong as Dad before we can protect ourselves in the Shinobi World and live better lives."
"Now that Dad's retired, we basically have a permanent, incredibly strong sparring partner. Count your blessings."
Hearing this, Hatake Sakumo couldn't help rubbing his head, smiling at the two little fellows before him.
He suddenly felt that this wasn't bad either. He had more time to spend with his sons. Hadn't he become stronger so he could protect his family and give them better lives?
Now, he had both strength and time. Perhaps this kind of life was what he had truly been pursuing.
At that thought, everything clicked for Sakumo. His presence suddenly grew restrained, and his mind became clearer than ever.
"Yuzuru is right. From now on, I'll have plenty of time to spend with you. You're both incredibly talented geniuses. With me teaching you, you'll grow faster. Even if you aren't ninja, you still need to make sure you're strong enough. After all, when turmoil breaks out in the Shinobi World, a lot of things are beyond your control. You can't get by without enough strength to protect yourselves."
"Yes, Dad!"
Kakashi's little face was taut.
"Starting tomorrow, come to my room. We'll learn Flying Thunder God together. Whatever else you might say about this Ninjutsu, it's definitely the best in the Shinobi World when it comes to escaping. And if you combine it with Rasengan, escaping won't be all you can do."
Yuzuru suddenly spoke up.
"I'm learning it too? Doesn't that technique depend heavily on talent? I remember Minato-sensei took almost a year to learn it."
Kakashi sounded surprised.
"Is your talent worse than his?"
Yuzuru looked at Kakashi and spoke irritably.
"You graduated at five, and you were planning to take the Chunin Ninja Exams this year. That would mean becoming a Chunin at six. With your talent, becoming a Jonin at twelve would be a breeze. Jonin Minato is certainly impressive too, but are you any less talented than him?"
"Uh..."
"If someone else can learn it, then you, Kakashi, can too. Stop looking down on yourself all the time. Your talent is unmatched in Konoha's decades of history."
Yuzuru held Kakashi's talent in very high regard. After all, in the original story, Minato had barely taught him anything. Kakashi had figured things out on his own and still become a Jonin at twelve. That was a truly outrageous record.
"What about you, then?"
Kakashi looked at Yuzuru.
"Me? Well, I'm pretty decent too, not much worse than you. I just have Ice Release on top of that, so overall, I'm just a tiny bit stronger than you."
Yuzuru held his thumb and index finger together to demonstrate.
"All right, then."
In the days that followed, Hatake Sakumo left his life as a ninja behind completely.
A year passed before they knew it. Apart from sparring with Kakashi and Yuzuru every day, Sakumo managed the family properties. His days were quite full, and he smiled more often. He seemed like a blade that had completely concealed its edge.
He was a little less sharp, but steadier and even more unfathomable.
With Sakumo's help, the Chidori Kakashi developed himself appeared earlier than in the original story. Its drawback remained the same, however: it was too fast for Kakashi's dynamic vision to keep up.
This was different from Flying Thunder God. Flying Thunder God required instantaneous reactions. After all, it was a Space-Time Ninjutsu that skipped the journey in between, taking the user directly from the starting point to the destination.
Chidori, however, required the user to travel that distance. An ordinary person's eyes couldn't constantly maintain such absurd dynamic vision. The slightest mistake could send them crashing straight into a tree or rock, injuring themselves first.
Therefore, although Chidori was powerful, Sakumo wasn't comfortable letting Kakashi use it. Because of this, Kakashi could only keep training himself while learning from Chidori to develop Ninjutsu better suited to him.
"Actually, there's a way to let Kakashi master Chidori."
Yuzuru suddenly said as he looked at Sakumo and Kakashi.
"Hmm? What way?"
Both of them looked over at once.
"Sage Mode!"
Yuzuru nodded as he spoke.
"That? I'm afraid that's even harder to learn. In all of Konoha, apart from Lord Hashirama back then, only Jiraiya has learned it now. And it can only be learned in the Three Great Sage Regions. The risks are extremely high."
Sakumo knew very well what a terrifying boost Sage Mode provided, but the difficulty of learning it was no joke.
"Then he'll just have to improve himself slowly."
Yuzuru spread his hands.
"Speaking of which, the Shinobi World really hasn't been very peaceful this past year."
Sakumo suddenly spoke.
"Quite a few ninja from the village have already gone to the front lines. The Third has approached me several times too."
"No matter how he approaches you, Dad, just turn him down. We're under no obligation to go. Besides, the young ninja have all gone to risk their lives on the front lines, while the three old friends around our Lord Hokage are still idling away in the village. If they're that relaxed, ordinary people like us have even less reason to worry."
Just as Yuzuru sat on the ground resting, Kurenai's voice rang out beyond the gate.
"Xiao Xian, open up! I'm here!"
Hearing her voice, Yuzuru smiled helplessly, got up, and went to open the gate.
Kurenai stood alone outside. As soon as she saw Yuzuru, she hopped inside.
"Why are you back so early today?"
Yuzuru asked with a smile.
"Hehe, well, here, look! I graduated today!"
Kurenai took out her ninja forehead protector and said with a smile.
"So early."
Yuzuru frowned.
"They said it was to let us get used to life as Genin early."
Hearing this, Yuzuru understood.
"Looks like the pressure on the front lines is mounting."
"That makes sense. After all, three great nations are attacking together, and Konoha only just finished the Second War. Its ninja numbers haven't recovered yet. It's only natural for the front lines to be under pressure."
"Even so, is it really right to make a bunch of children graduate early and send them onto the battlefield?"
Sakumo couldn't bear it.
"You'd have to ask our First Hokage about that. He brought this about with his own hands."
"Even during the Warring States Period, the countries only dared hire ninja clans to fight, and they still had to find a reason. Now, do the great nations need reasons to wage war? Even if they do, there's only one: an unequal distribution of interests. It was unequal from the start. And couldn't any of the grudges from the First and Second Wars serve as a reason?"
Looking at the innocent-faced Kurenai, Yuzuru took a special Flying Thunder God Kunai from his bag. A special Sealing Jutsu formula was engraved on it.
"Keep this safe. Keep it on you at all times."
Kurenai accepted the Kunai and nodded obediently.
"But, Xiao Xian, are you really not going to be a ninja anymore?"
"Yeah."
"All right."
Kurenai looked a little disappointed.
"All right, let me check whether you've been slacking off lately."
"Of course I haven't. I'm really strong now!"