"Kakashi!"
Might Guy looked at Hatake Kakashi grilling meat and suddenly got excited. "Let's have a barbecue showdown!"
"I refuse," Kakashi said without hesitation.
"Then let's switch it up!" Guy wasn't discouraged in the least. Grinning, he said, "In the name of youth, let's see who can eat more!"
"…"
Kakashi shut his mouth and ignored him.
"Guy," Kitazawa coughed lightly. "Do you know about the Student Council selection match?"
"Student Council? What's that?" Guy's attention flipped instantly. He leaned in, curious.
"Here's the deal." Kitazawa gave him a quick explanation of what the Student Council was.
"What a shame we didn't have one when I was in school. I would've founded a Youth Club for sure!" Guy said with heartfelt regret.
"Thank goodness you didn't," Kakashi said out of nowhere.
"I may not get the chance, but Naruto and Lee do!" Guy brightened. "And I'm joining in too!"
"…" Kakashi was speechless. Rock Lee was one thing, but Uzumaki Naruto was the son of his own teacher, Namikaze Minato. And per Sarutobi Hiruzen's plan, Kakashi would be Naruto's team leader. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
"The selection match is set for the 15th," Kitazawa said. "If you're free, come watch at the academy."
"No problem!" Guy agreed on the spot. With both Naruto and Rock Lee being his students, of course he wanted to see them perform.
Kakashi frowned slightly, hesitating. He wanted to show up too—check in on Naruto, his teacher's son and likely his future student. But as an Anbu operative, his schedule wasn't exactly flexible.
"If Anbu's quiet, I'll come," Kakashi said after a moment.
"Relax—Anbu will be quiet, because the Hokage is coming," Kitazawa said with a smile. "You can come along with Hokage-sama."
Kakashi blinked at that.
"Haha! Kakashi, just wait till you see my students—they won't let you down!" Guy beamed.
"Barring surprises, Naruto will be my student," Kakashi said evenly.
"Huh?" Guy's eyes widened. "You're taking a squad too?"
"Can't I?" Kakashi shot back.
"Of course you can!" Guy grinned. "Becoming a team leader is great!"
In his view, Anbu had its merits, but it was a special unit—nothing but missions, all the time—not exactly helpful for Kakashi to step out of his shadow. If Kakashi was considering leading a team, that meant his heart was loosening up. Maybe he could shake off that withdrawn state.
"I thought you'd be reluctant to let Naruto be my student," Kakashi said, a bit surprised.
"You're my eternal rival—if I can't trust you, who can I trust?" Guy flashed sparkling teeth. "I'll let you fully experience Naruto's Way of Youth!"
He knew the village rules: after graduation, the Hokage assigns team leaders. Since Kakashi said so, it clearly meant Hiruzen's intention. It was a pity, but Guy felt Naruto being on Kakashi's team was perfectly fine. Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't still coach Naruto on the side.
"…" For some reason, Kakashi suddenly felt less eager to become Naruto's team leader.
"Kakashi, when are you leaving Anbu to take a squad?" Kitazawa asked, curious.
In the original timeline, it only said Kakashi had already led a few squads before Team 7, without a precise number. Kitazawa figured at least two or three years—meaning Kakashi would likely quit Anbu within the next couple of years.
"No idea. The Hokage hasn't said," Kakashi answered after a pause. "My guess is March next year."
Academy Graduation season was in March. Next March, the sixth-years will graduate.
Kitazawa mentally reviewed the current sixth-years. How to put it… best not to. The two grades above weren't much better either. No wonder in the original story Kakashi waited until Naruto's cohort before he officially took on a permanent team—his bar was just too high.
He also remembered Hiruzen's earlier suggestion: if Kitazawa didn't lead Kabuto's squad, Kakashi would take over. Honestly, a solid decision.
"Kakashi," Kitazawa said with a friendly smile as a thought struck him, "if you don't find a team you like, why not come teach our class?"
He was swamped—learning Water Release and taijutsu himself, teaching Kurenai sealing arts, coaching Hinata and Sasuke, plus regular classes, weekend mission runs… Even with Iruka's help, Iruka was only chūnin. If Kakashi took over Year 1 Class A, a lot could roll off Kitazawa's plate.
"Me?" Kakashi looked genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected Kitazawa to suggest that. There wasn't exactly a precedent for an Anbu retiring straight into an academy teaching gig.
"I think it's a great idea," Guy said, instantly fired up. "A chance to feel vibrant youth in all its glory!"
"We'll talk about it later," Kakashi said with a shake of his head.
"Let's eat," Kitazawa said, handing grilled beef to Guy. Kakashi and Kabuto handled their own grilling, but Kitazawa did his duty as captain and served the meat to Uchiha Izumi and Aburame Torune.
When the meal was over, they said their goodbyes and headed home.
Friday rolled around.
Kitazawa had another, ahem, late night. Ever since he and Kurenai had made things official, he basically stopped going back to his own place—every night was a marathon.
After breakfast, he arrived at the academy. It was the last day of the term. The written finals were scheduled for Sunday; the practicals—the Student Council selection match—would be Monday. Saturday was a day off for everyone to rest and recharge.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Yamanaka Ino skipped up to him, smiling like a flower in full bloom. "I've learned the Mind Clone Switch Technique!"
For someone her age to master two clan secret arts was almost unheard of in Yamanaka history.
"Congrats," Kitazawa said, ruffling her hair.
Compared to Sasuke and Naruto, Ino's progress looked slow—but that wasn't really her fault. Her talent was actually quite good; it's just that secret arts were hard, so taking longer made sense.
"Next, do what Shikamaru's doing—practice Yin Release nature transformation—and keep working on your secret arts," Kitazawa said after thinking it over. That was the best plan for Ino. She was destined to debut as part of a trio with Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Ino hesitated. "Can I learn some offensive jutsu?"
Both her secret arts were control types. Watching Hinata and Yakumo steamroll people had made her envious.
Kitazawa blinked and searched his memory for attack jutsu Ino had used in the original. There were a few—like using flowers as makeshift shuriken.
[As a genius, you don't just use jutsu—you create them.]
[Current Mission: Help Yamanaka Ino develop a C-rank offensive jutsu.]
[Mission Reward: Four-Corner Sealing Formation.]
[Accept?]
Four lines of text popped into Kitazawa's view and he paused. So Ino triggered a mission similar to the one Kiba did?
He accepted without overthinking it. He had proficient-level Yang Release nature transformation, and proficient-level Yin Release as well. Helping Ino create a C-rank technique wouldn't be hard. He could even crib ideas from some official game jutsu from his past life.
The reward was nice too. Barriers are, strictly speaking, a type of sealing technique—usually requiring multiple users. The Four-Corner Sealing Formation needs four people and binds and seals a target. In the original, Ino learned it from Shizune to deal with the reanimated Three-Tails. No wonder it was the reward.
"I'll teach you an offensive jutsu over winter break," Kitazawa said, coming back to himself.
"Awesome!" Ino lit up. "Next monthly exam, I'm totally stomping on Sakura!"
Kitazawa chuckled helplessly. So that was the goal?
Ever since Sakura started learning medical ninjutsu, her chakra control had climbed steadily—which helped her with Clone Techniques and Leaf-style taijutsu. Ino's secret arts were control-based and hard to land solo. Between them it was roughly 40–60, with Ino more likely to lose.
"Go train," Kitazawa said, flicking her forehead lightly. "Today you're working on Yin Release nature transformation."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei." Ino flashed him a smile and headed off.
"Karin." Kitazawa walked over to Karin and handed her a practice test. "Do this one today."
With the written finals on Sunday, the tests were already prepared. Of course, the one he gave Karin wasn't the real thing. That would be blatant cheating. He'd recreated a similar-format version based on the original. It was still cheating… just not total cheating.
"Okay, Kitazawa-sensei," Karin said, taking the paper.
"Tell me when you're done," he instructed, then moved on to Hinata.
Her Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms had reached a 14-hit string, edging toward the 16-strike target. Neji lagged by two strikes—not because he lacked Hinata's talent, but because he joined special training later.
Watching Hinata practice, Kitazawa fell into thought. It had been a while since she—or Neji—had triggered any new missions. He still wanted to raise his Byakugan purity; maybe hitting 100% would unlock the same Byakugan as Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
He thought for a while and came up empty. Hinata wanted so little. Neji, though—he had that genius pride. Maybe he could engineer something there.
"K… Kitazawa-sensei," Hinata asked nervously under his gaze. "D—did I do something wrong?"
"A couple of things," he said calmly, then pointed out two mistakes he'd just seen.
Hinata actually sighed in relief—she'd been afraid there was a leak in her plan to prepare Kitazawa's birthday present.
"Keep at it," he said, patting her head.
"Mm." Hinata launched back into the Sixty-Four Palms.
After observing a bit, Kitazawa left a Shadow Clone on the field and headed for the artificial lake.
Only Kiba and his clone were there, practicing the Hellhound. Shino had finished tree-walking and should have been moving on to water-walking, but he'd taken the last two days off to reacquaint himself with Exploding Insect and try to tame them.
If Shino could use them freely, his strength would spike—but they were too dangerous for academy use. Torune had wanted to try raising them too, but his body was too toxic; the insects couldn't survive in him.
"Kiba, since we've got time, let's run some live drills," Kitazawa called, waving him over.
Kiba and his clone charged in with the two-headed hound. Its fighting style was simple: it raised a foreleg and slapped down, the sheer size whipping up a gust.
Kitazawa clenched his fist and met the paw head-on. The power behind it made him arch a brow—that was no small strength for a kid their age. But the hound wasn't done; its claws clenched and raked for his fist. Kitazawa drew a kunai left-handed and yanked his right back.
Clang!
The kunai caught the claws.
"Hardness is decent too," Kitazawa nodded.
"Haha, Kitazawa-sensei—heads up!" Kiba crowed, then lunged to bite.
Kitazawa thought of a weapon from his past life—the flying guillotine. He didn't budge and just whipped a massive open-handed slap across.
Monster Strength!
Kiba felt like he'd been struck by lightning; his mind blanked, and the huge body sailed away. The two-headed hound crashed down in a storm of dust, shook itself, and got back up.
"Defense isn't bad," Kitazawa remarked. He'd pulled his punch, but it was still a lot of force. If it could tank that, it was built tough.
"Again!" Kiba charged.
Time slipped by, and dusk settled in. Kitazawa gathered everyone back at the training field—Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, and the rest.
"I won't say much—just prep hard for finals," Kitazawa said with a smile. "There'll be a big audience."
"Is the Hokage coming too?" Kiba raised his hand.
"Yes," Kitazawa said after a beat. "Not just the Hokage—clan heads from all over and several well-known jōnin will be there too."
A wave of excited gasps rippled through the two classes. For many, it was their first time facing that kind of crowd.
Sasuke blinked—he hadn't known Fugaku would be coming. A thrill shot through him. He'd shine at the selection match and make Fugaku praise him. The only pity was that his Sharingan still hadn't reached two tomoe. He was worried about losing to Yakumo.
"Alright, head home," Kitazawa said over the chatter, still smiling. "See you Saturday."
"Bye, Kitazawa-sensei!" Everyone left the academy buzzing—except Hinata, who was stopped by Tenten.
"Hinata, the sword you asked my dad to forge is finished. Wanna come see it?" Tenten asked.
Hinata's eyes brightened and she nodded. They soon arrived at Tenten's ninja tools shop.
"Dad, I'm back!" Tenten called as they walked in. "Hinata's here too!"
"Coming!" A moment later, a young man walked out carrying a ninjato.
"Thank you," Hinata said, taking it—and her hands dipped with the weight. Fortunately, as a kunoichi, she was far stronger than an ordinary girl.
"I added some chakra metal like you requested. It's perfect for Wind Release users," the young man said.
"How much?" Hinata asked, satisfied after looking it over.
"Ten million ryō," he said, holding up one finger. "That's already a discount for Tenten's sake."
He wasn't ripping her off. Any tool with chakra metal is sky-high. Ten million was a bargain.
"Thanks." Hinata handed the blade back. "I'll bring the money next week."
She didn't have much concept of money. Ten million was a lot, but she usually had a generous allowance. Still, she was short by a bit.
Back home, she went to see Hiashi.
"You want eight million ryō?" Hiashi asked, surprised.
"Mm." Hinata nodded. "To buy a birthday present for Kitazawa-sensei."
"???"
Hiashi's face filled with question marks. What kind of birthday present costs eight million ryō? And why give something that expensive to an outsider instead of…you know, him?
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!