Rotten wood cannot be carved
Koki asked, puzzled, "Kakashi, what's wrong?"
Before him, Kakashi sat quietly, as if time itself had frozen in his silence.
His head was slightly lowered, and his silvery-white hair obscured his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression.
Sunlight filtered through the treetops, casting dappled patterns on him, but it failed to dispel the silent atmosphere surrounding him.
"It's nothing." He kept his head down for a while, as if he were deep in thought, or perhaps trying to calm the turmoil in his heart.
As time passed, the blush on his face gradually faded, like the sunset slowly dissipating in the sky, eventually leaving only a faint afterglow.
His skin regained its former fair complexion, and only careful observation revealed a subtle blush, like a petal quietly blooming in spring, hidden and gentle.
When Kakashi slowly raised his head, his eyes had returned to calm, and the shyness he had shown earlier seemed to have been cleverly hidden in his heart.
At that moment, Kakashi once again transformed into that calm and composed ninja.
But those fleeting expressions of emotion, like ripples on a lake, may have disappeared, but they left deep marks beneath the water.
Kakashi's lips curled into a gentle smile. "Koki, what sustains us in this battle isn't some fancy stuff, but something truly fundamental."
His gaze was like a sharp arrow piercing through the dense shadows of the trees, pointing straight to the sky, while his heart was surging like a turbulent sea.
"Oh?" Upon hearing this, Koki recalled her battle with Kakashi, a profound lesson and a spiritual baptism.
Indeed, the pillars of Taijutsu combat are not dazzling techniques, but a perfect combination of strength, speed, endurance, and precision. These cornerstones are essential to building the magnificent hall of Taijutsu; none can be missing, otherwise it is a castle in the air, easily collapsing.
A sudden realization dawned on Koki, and a new understanding arose within him.
He began to understand why Might Duy always emphasized the importance of basic training and why he could unleash amazing power from the simplest Taijutsu movements.
That's because he knew that only by fully tapping into the body's potential could even the most basic Taijutsu unleash power beyond that of ordinary people.
At that moment, Koki made up her mind.
He decided to stop blindly pursuing those dazzling skills and instead return to the basics, focusing on improving his physical fitness.
He decided to increase the amount of basic training he did in the days to come, so that every muscle and tendon in his body would become stronger and more resilient.
But he also knew that training should be gradual and should not be like Might Guy's blind pursuit of the limits.
The image of herself doing a handstand on the street and running laps around Konoha flashed through her mind, Koki couldn't bear to look at herself, shaking her head vigorously.
"Alright." Kakashi stood up and walked back into the training ground. Golden light illuminated his figure, and his voice, as gentle as a spring breeze, softly awakened Koki's drifting thoughts, bringing him back to reality from his hazy dream.
He parted his thin lips slightly, and his words flowed like a gentle stream, clear and powerful. "Come with me, and I will guide you through the basics of the Three Basic Techniques. Once you are proficient in it, I will teach you how to precisely control Chakra."
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" Koki, like a lively little rabbit, hopped and skipped along with Kakashi into the training ground.
Koki's clear and loud "Kakashi-sensei" broke the silence of the training ground.
The word "teacher" was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, causing Kakashi-sensei to freeze for a moment, as if time itself had stood still.
A faint blush crept onto Kakashi's face, as if an innocent young man had suddenly shouldered a heavy responsibility.
A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, which he quickly lowered, trying to conceal the momentary loss of control.
Even he himself was surprised that such a simple address could stir up ripples in his heart, and that shy blush added a touch of beauty to his usually cold and stern face.
Teacher? Good heavens! Kakashi touched his face, a doting smile involuntarily appearing on his lips.
I love it Koki calls herself "teacher".
"Hmm, very good, Koki." Kakashi's voice regained its usual calmness, but the blush on his face had not completely faded.
"Remember, as a ninja, the most important thing is to constantly learn and improve." Kakashi stammered as he finished speaking.
"Okay." Koki looked at Kakashi strangely, as if he couldn't look Kakashi in the eye, and wondered what was going on.
"Alright, let's begin!" Kakashi straightened his expression, calmed himself down, coughed lightly, and confidently began to instruct.
The passage of two quarters of an hour was as silent and heavy as the grains of sand in an hourglass.
Kakashi's brows furrowed, and he lightly covered his face with his hand, his pained expression suggesting he was enduring endless torment.
"Truly, there's no hope of saving him!" His heart was filled with endless sighs.
He originally had very high expectations for Koki, thinking that these basic Ninjutsu were just trivial matters for Koki, so simple that they were almost not worth mentioning.
In his eyes, these skills were nothing but child's play, not even as exciting as throwing Shuriken.
However, the relentless passage of time shattered his illusions. In the process of mastering the Three Basic Techniques, Koki's performance fell far short of his expectations, as if Koki's talent on this path was as elusive as smoke and dust.
"Hehe." Koki himself felt a little embarrassed, not knowing why he was so bad at mastering these basic Ninjutsu.
On the contrary, he used the B-rank and C-rank Fire Release Ninjutsu belonging to the Uchiha Clan with effortless grace.
In this situation, other teachers (such as Uchiha Fugaku) might have already lost faith in Koki and regarded her as a hopeless "loser".
But Kakashi was different. He persevered in teaching Koki, giving her serious and meticulous guidance. Even when he was so angry that he almost covered his face, he never gave up.
Koki understood that regardless of his talent, the Three Basic Techniques, as the cornerstone of a ninja, was a skill he had to master.
If he cannot master it, even if he enters the Ninja Academy, he will find it difficult to graduate smoothly, let alone achieve anything in the long road ahead.
"Let's continue," Kakashi said to Koki after mentally preparing himself.
He secretly rejoiced that he hadn't had time to pass on the Lightning Blade technique to Koki, otherwise, he probably would have had a heart attack from anger.