The third week of October, Monday.
Because Tsunade forced her way into Root's base and made Shimura Danzo disband the members who'd been recruited in violation of the rules, Konoha was unusually lively—for those in the know, at least.
The major clans and the village leadership were aware; for ordinary villagers and shinobi, it was just another peaceful day.
Kitazawa got up early as usual. After washing up, he headed to the academy.
"Good morning, Kitazawa-sensei."
Hyuga Hinata was waiting primly at his office door to greet him.
"Morning." Kitazawa patted her head with a smile. He felt like Hinata had turned into a lucky cat—there every morning at his office door without fail.
"Come eat."
He glanced around. Today, aside from Hinata, Yamanaka Ino and the others hadn't shown up to freeload breakfast.
"Mm." Hinata nodded, secretly delighted, and quickened her steps. She sat on the couch by the tea table; because of her height, her two bare feet dangled and swung in the air.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Hinata suddenly remembered something. "Father said if you have time, you're welcome to come over for dinner."
Kitazawa paused mid–breakfast setup. An invitation out of nowhere? Yesterday?
He thought it over and more or less guessed why—probably connected to Tsunade storming Root. In the eyes of the major clans, he'd basically become Tsunade's trusted aide, and his status had shot up.
He couldn't help but sigh at how much clout Tsunade still carried in Konoha. He hadn't even officially become her student yet and he was already rubbing shoulders with the upper echelon.
Still, Tsunade was probably annoyed right now. Her personality made everything she did high-profile. For many people, breaking into Root sent a clear signal. Even if she didn't want to be Hokage, others would try to make her. Truly the embodiment of that old line: "You're all going to be the death of me."
Kitazawa thought it through. In fact, he'd gained even more than Tsunade from this raid. He'd gotten the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal lifted, and Tsunade had promised to teach him Monster Strength. Indirectly, his status had risen, the Aburame clan owed him thanks, and he'd earned overt and quiet goodwill from the other clans.
If even the Hyuga were making a point to be friendly, the rest surely would too.
"Okay," he agreed.
Hinata couldn't stop the smile tugging at her lips. Kitazawa rarely visited her home as a guest.
After breakfast, the two of them headed to the training field. As soon as Kitazawa arrived, a familiar scene greeted him: Yakushi Kabuto was telling a story, surrounded by Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, and Aburame Torune.
Only Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuga Neji weren't there—the former was at the artificial lake, the latter practicing Gentle Fist.
"—and then, in a flash, Kitazawa-sensei used a Wind Style to take down the Root ninja who ambushed him…" Kabuto was narrating animatedly. He only stopped when he noticed Kitazawa.
"And then?" Naruto, not having noticed Kitazawa, leaned forward impatiently when Kabuto trailed off.
"That's it for now. We'll continue next time." Kabuto coughed lightly and raised his voice. "Good morning, Kitazawa-sensei."
Only then did the others notice him.
"Go train," Kitazawa said after a beat. "All of you are joining the afternoon combat class."
He planned to start, as of today, his "take turns beating up Sasuke" program.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei." The group dispersed, leaving only Kabuto, Shino, and Torune.
"Torune, how come you're at school today?" Kitazawa asked, looking at Aburame Torune.
"Dad's busy. Torune isn't used to staying home alone, so I brought him with me," Shino explained quickly.
"Fair enough." Kitazawa didn't press. "Kabuto, have you two met?"
"We've already gotten to know each other a bit," Kabuto said with a mild smile. Born and raised in Root, he was an excellent spy and intel operative.
He'd left Root now, but habits were hard to shake. When he'd seen the unfamiliar Torune at the training field, his professional instincts kicked in and he'd gone over to talk.
"He'll be on your team for the Chunin Exams," Kitazawa said, nodding.
Kabuto blinked in surprise. Torune hadn't mentioned that. Hearing it now caught him off guard. In Kabuto's mind, Torune was awfully young. Was he really chunin caliber?
"He's like you—also a former member of Root," Kitazawa added.
"I see." Kabuto relaxed. If Danzo had singled him out for Root, there had to be something exceptional about him. No one knew Root better than a former Root operative: Root didn't take trash, only geniuses.
"You were in Root, too?" Torune looked at Kabuto reflexively, feeling a sudden kinship.
"Yeah," Kabuto said with feeling. "If it weren't for Tsunade-sama and Kitazawa-sensei, I'd never have gotten out."
"Huh? Me too," Torune said, a little stunned.
"So Tsunade-sama stormed Root to rescue you?" Kabuto connected the dots, amused by the coincidence. Their fates were strikingly similar, and now they were going to be teammates—quite the twist of fate.
Wait. Something felt off. Could he have been the spark for all this? He'd told Kitazawa he needed two teammates for the Chunin Exams, then Kitazawa set his sights on Torune and teamed up with Tsunade to break into Root. If that were true, Kitazawa's pull was beyond what Kabuto had imagined.
"How do you know the details so well?" Kitazawa asked, curious.
"Yesterday at Konoha Hospital, I saw those injured Root operatives with the director, so I picked up a bit," Kabuto replied, snapping out of it.
"No wonder." Kitazawa had forgotten Kabuto volunteered at the hospital on weekends. He was studying Wind Style now, but medical ninjutsu was too useful to drop—and with his talent, he could do both.
Lately, Kitazawa himself had gone to the hospital less: one, because he'd learned most of what he needed in medical ninjutsu; two, because he was practicing Water Style; three, because high-difficulty surgeries were rare and came down to luck.
"Kabuto, go practice Wind Style," Kitazawa instructed.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei." Kabuto gave Torune a quick once-over, then went off a little ways to work on Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.
"Torune, what training did you do in Root?" Kitazawa asked after a moment's thought.
"A lot," Torune said, then recounted it.
When Kitazawa finished listening, he had only one feeling: brutal. Root's rule was basically "if it doesn't kill you, train harder; if it kills you, tough luck."
And it wasn't just routine drills—they had live-combat training, fight-to-the-death matches where only one walked away. Torune had survived partly thanks to luck, but mostly because his nano-scale venomous insects were broken-tier.
Their toxins were among the deadliest in the shinobi world; anyone who came into contact with them died on the spot. Because of that, Torune usually wore full protective gear to avoid harming teammates.
Kitazawa suddenly thought of Hanzo of the Salamander—similar deal: poison in the body.
"For your age, that load is already excessive," Kitazawa said after a bit of thought. "For now, just do tree-climbing and water-walking with Shino to improve chakra control."
Torune didn't really need special training from Kitazawa; Root's regimen was far harsher—and more effective. "Train or die" forced gifted kids to squeeze out their potential and power up fast. Kitazawa's plan was to have Torune do basic control work so his body could recover.
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei," Torune said without objection. He was used to following orders in Root and hadn't shaken the habit yet.
"Start tree-climbing." After ten minutes explaining the fundamentals, Kitazawa sent them off.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Shino turned back. "My father asked me to tell you—the Aburame have already sent people to find the Nokizaru Group's location."
"Got it," Kitazawa said with a nod. "Once you find it, just let me know."
The Aburame weren't a top-tier clan in Konoha, but compared to the Nokizaru Group, they were a major power. And the Nokizaru Group was easy enough to track—they were like Akatsuki in that they took mercenary jobs.
You could find them on the black market; what wasn't easy was locating their main base. If they were going to seize those Exploding Insects, they might as well pull them out by the roots and wipe them out in one go. Kitazawa had no moral qualms about that. At the end of the day, the Nokizaru Group was a band of assassins who did every evil under the sun.
Kitazawa formed seals and created a shadow clone. The clone would handle Sasuke's Leaf training and field questions from the others. The real him headed for the artificial lake.
Inuzuka Kiba was practicing the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Kitazawa watched for a while, then nodded. Kiba had the basics; a couple more days and he'd be battle-ready.
His chakra reserves were still small, though—he couldn't spam it. If Kitazawa weren't researching a new secret technique, he wouldn't have taught Kiba shadow clones at all—too easy to go wrong.
Kitazawa stepped to the water's edge. Time to work on his second Water Style. He had Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet pretty much down, and it had performed well in a live fight yesterday.
For his second, he chose Water Style: Water Formation Wall. Protecting Tsunade yesterday had exposed a problem: not having a defensive jutsu was a pain.
Time slipped by; afternoon rolled around. Kitazawa didn't rush to find Tsunade for monster strength training—during the day, Tsunade and Shizune would be at the casino. Interrupting her gambling would be… unwise.
The fourth period in the afternoon was the usual combat class. Because Kitazawa had already announced it that morning, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, and the rest all showed up.
"Before we begin, I've got an announcement," Kitazawa said, voice steady. "The Hokage asked me to pass on that last Friday's 'Will of Fire' Club event was a big success. He's very pleased."
The two classes erupted in cheers. Being praised by the Hokage was bragging rights—they could dine out on that.
"Also," Kitazawa continued, "I said our student council was on a trial basis. After this event, the Hokage has officially approved the council."
"Awesome!" Naruto was the most excited of all. He'd felt everyone's recognition at Friday's event and didn't want the council to be disbanded. Now it was official—he could keep running events for five years, until graduation.
Everyone else was happy too. Events meant prizes and a day off. Compared to dry study, events were way more fun.
"Now that the council is official, we need to select its members," Kitazawa said, raising a hand to quiet them.
"How are we picking them?" Naruto blurted. "Combat?"
"Correct." Kitazawa nodded. "It'll be a school-wide selection spar."
"What?" Naruto's eyes went wide. "So the winner would be the number one in the whole school?"
Sasuke's heart jolted; he clenched his fists. His brother, Uchiha Itachi, had once been the top of the entire school, undefeated across all grades.
Now he had the chance to chase that. But… it'd be tough. He wasn't even top of his class yet—how was he supposed to take the whole school?
Still, there was hope: if he could awaken the two-tomoe Sharingan before the selection, he might manage it.
"You can think of it that way," Kitazawa said with a small smile.
"In the name of youth, I'm taking first place in the whole school!" Naruto whooped.
"You're strong, but fifth- and sixth-years will be in the mix," Kiba snorted, raining on his parade. "They've got four or five more years of training than you. Their strength is unfathomable."
"So what?" Naruto shrugged. "Whoever the opponent is, I'll just knock 'em down!"
"Hmph. Just wait—I'm not losing to you," Kiba shot back, thinking of the new secret technique Kitazawa had mentioned.
"I won't hold back!" Naruto grinned.
"When did Kiba get this confident?" Shikamaru muttered, baffled. How did a seventh-place Kiba have the nerve to trash-talk Naruto, the class's number one?
"Maybe it's Kitazawa-sensei's new special training," Ino mused. "Kiba's been doing solo work at the artificial lake."
"No matter how good Kitazawa-sensei is, he's not making Kiba beat Naruto… right?" Choji said uncertainly.
"Naruto's strong, but Kitazawa-sensei isn't exactly a slouch," Shino said, pushing up his glasses.
"Since when did you start believing in Kitazawa-sensei this much?" Haruno Sakura asked, puzzled.
"I've always believed in him," Shino said seriously.
Shikamaru glanced at him. He actually knew a bit of the story. Yesterday at home, he'd seen a Nara clan genin he hadn't seen in a long time—the guy had joined Root and then vanished, only to suddenly reappear.
Curious, Shikamaru had asked his dad, Nara Shikaku, and learned about Tsunade storming Root. Tsunade's immediate goal had been rescuing Torune, but standardizing Root's recruiting procedures benefited every clan.
From now on, Root wouldn't dare openly snatch their prodigies—at least not on the surface. And Kitazawa had been involved, as Kabuto's morning story had confirmed.
No wonder Shino's attitude had shifted. In fact, Shikaku had specifically told Shikamaru to listen to Kitazawa at school.
"Quiet," Kitazawa cut the chatter again. "The student council selection spar will replace this term's practical exam."
"What?" The two classes were surprised again, though less so this time. It was still combat, and time was tight; combining them made sense.
"To help you adapt early to the selection format—and to level up your strength and combat experience," Kitazawa said with a smile, "I'm planning to run three interclass spar tests a week between your two classes."
"I love it!" Naruto was instantly on board. Under Might Guy's influence, his brain was full of youth and brawling—spar tests were right up his alley.
"A drag, after all," Shikamaru sighed. He wanted to bail, but there was no escape.
"Shame," Kiba said with a regretful look. He hadn't fully mastered shadow clones yet, and there was no progress on the new secret technique.
He wouldn't be making a splash this week; against Sasuke and Naruto, he'd still just be standing at attention and getting pounded. But he had hope now. With hope and patience, his turn would come.
"Three spar tests a week, huh?" Sasuke's eyes lit. Without the two-tomoe Sharingan, he probably still couldn't beat Kurama Yakumo—but against Naruto, he could try genjutsu. He still didn't understand how Naruto had broken his illusion instantly last time.
Neji looked over at Sasuke. With interclass sparring, there was a real chance they'd face each other. He'd learned the first ten strikes of Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms; this would be a good time to test its power. As for Yakumo and Hinata, they were more laid-back and didn't react much.
"The spar tests will be Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays," Kitazawa announced. "We'll start the first one today, and we'll draw lots at random."
He pulled out a lottery box. The reason for doing it this way was simple: it made his behind-the-scenes rigging a lot easier.
~~~
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