"See you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei."
After a quick farewell to Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Sasuke left the Academy.
As an Uchiha, he was proud, but he also knew to respect strength. Kakashi had shown overwhelming power and earned his recognition.
"Hatake Kakashi… the name sounds familiar, and that look is distinctive. My brother might know him," Sasuke thought as he walked back to the Uchiha compound.
He slid the door open and couldn't help smiling. "Niisan!"
Sasuke kicked off his shoes and sprinted over.
"How did winter training go today? What did Kitazawa-sensei teach you?" Itachi Uchiha reached out to ruffle his hair, smiling.
"It wasn't Kitazawa-sensei. We had a new instructor today—Hatake Kakashi." Sasuke asked, "Do you know him, brother? He wears a mask and only one eye shows."
"Kakashi-senpai?" Itachi blinked in surprise.
"Your senpai?" Sasuke's face lit with realization. "No wonder he's so strong."
"Did Kakashi-senpai really become an Academy teacher?" Itachi suddenly recalled what Kitazawa had mentioned.
"Mm." Sasuke nodded. "That's what Kitazawa-sensei said."
"I don't know what Kakashi-senpai is thinking, but if he's willing to teach you, that's your good luck," Itachi advised. "Follow his lead and listen well. He's strict."
"I know." Sasuke had already gotten a taste of Kakashi's strictness today.
"What did Kakashi-senpai teach you—genjutsu or Fire Style?" Itachi asked, curious.
"He knows genjutsu and Fire Style too?" Sasuke stared. "Add Lightning and Earth… doesn't that make four natures?"
"More than four—he can use seven," Itachi said with a smile. "He's Konoha's famed prodigy—he made jōnin at twelve."
"Twelve? That's right when you graduate the Academy!" Sasuke's eyes went wide.
"That's why he's a super genius," Itachi said, tapping Sasuke lightly on the forehead. "In short, he's more than qualified to be your teacher."
There was one thing Itachi didn't say: Kakashi was the only non-Uchiha who possessed a Sharingan. But that involved Uchiha Obito and the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato—too early for Sasuke to hear—and best told by Kakashi himself.
"Got it!" Sasuke perked up, excited. With instruction from a genius like Kakashi, his strength would skyrocket. By next term, maybe he could beat Uzumaki Naruto and Kurama Yakumo.
"You still haven't told me what Kakashi-senpai taught you," Itachi reminded him.
"Lightning Release," Sasuke grinned. "I found out today I have both Lightning and Fire natures."
"Lightning?" Itachi was surprised again. To be honest, he wasn't sure about this. Sasuke was still young; genjutsu plus Fire Release was already plenty. Adding Lightning on top—did he have the bandwidth?
After a moment's thought, Itachi decided to trust it. Neither Kitazawa nor Kakashi would do Sasuke harm.
"I'm back," came Uchiha Fugaku's steady voice.
"Dad!" Sasuke hurried to greet him.
"What were you two talking about?" Fugaku glanced at Itachi.
"I got a new teacher today!" Sasuke beamed. "You'll never guess who."
"Who?" Fugaku asked casually. In his mind, aside from Kitazawa, Academy instructors were all chūnin and not worth much attention.
"Hatake Kakashi!" Sasuke said, excited.
"Who did you say?" Fugaku stopped short, blurting without thinking.
"Hatake Kakashi," Sasuke repeated. "Niisan says he's a super genius!"
"You've become his student?" Fugaku's eyes sharpened.
"Yeah." Noticing Fugaku's expression, Sasuke asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
"Kakashi-senpai resigned from the Anbu today and became an Academy teacher," Itachi realized Fugaku had misunderstood and explained at once.
"I see." Fugaku privately sighed—what a pity. Kakashi was Namikaze Minato's student. If Sasuke truly became his student, that would place him in the Hokage's line. Those in the Hokage's line were often considered candidates for the next Hokage—age permitting, of course.
Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu also counted as part of the Hokage's line, but they were too old now to be considered candidates.
The current candidates were Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi. Kakashi's odds were the lowest, but he was still qualified to contend.
"Kakashi is strong. Build a good relationship with him," Fugaku instructed. Undeniably, this was a good thing. Sasuke now had another excellent teacher to choose from. Whether Kitazawa or Kakashi—so long as it led to success.
Of course, Fugaku favored Kitazawa more. Kitazawa's teacher was Tsunade, and her becoming the Fifth Hokage was basically a foregone conclusion. Kakashi's teacher was Minato, a deceased Hokage—less influential.
Itachi could guess what Fugaku was thinking. Still, this would help ease tensions between the Uchiha and Konoha. Right now, with Danzō subdued after Root's heavy losses, and with Fugaku's warnings plus Tsunade's hardline actions against him, the clan had quieted down. It was a better situation than Itachi had ever seen.
"Itachi, come to my room. I have questions," Fugaku said, patting Sasuke's head before heading in.
"I'll be right back," Itachi told Sasuke with a smile and followed Fugaku.
"I just got word from Anbu: there'll be a jōnin meeting Sunday morning," Fugaku said bluntly. "It's been almost a year since the last one. Do you know what it's about?"
He'd placed Itachi in the Anbu to gather intel on the village's leadership. A jōnin meeting meant something big.
"I don't know the specifics," Itachi said after a pause. "Maybe it's related to Kitazawa—he's been in and out of the Hokage's office more than anyone these past few days."
"Announcing that Kitazawa has become Tsunade's student?" Fugaku mused.
"Possible," Itachi nodded.
Sunday arrived—the end of the first week of winter break.
At the Academy training ground, Naruto and the others usually came at eight, but today they arrived half an hour early. Even those not in special training—like Kabuto Yakushi and Shikamaru Nara—had shown up.
"Message from Kitazawa-sensei," Karin spoke first. "He'll be at the Jōnin meeting this morning. We're to train on our own."
"So when we treat Kitazawa-sensei to a meal, should it be lunch or dinner?" Naruto scratched his head.
"Lunch is better," Kabuto said, pushing up his glasses. "At night he'll definitely eat with Tsunade-sama and the others."
"Mm." Karin nodded. "My mom wants me home for dinner, too."
"But we don't know how long the jōnin meeting will run," Yamanaka Ino frowned. "What if we miss lunchtime?"
"I looked into it—the average jōnin meeting runs about three hours," Kabuto said with an easy smile. "Nothing major's happened in Konoha lately, so I doubt it'll take that long."
"You even investigated that?" Shikamaru stared.
"I had nothing else to do yesterday," Kabuto said lightly.
"Then make it lunch!" Naruto clenched his fists like he was heading to battle. "We'll go to the yakinuku place early and get things set!"
"Hinata, did you reserve a private room?" Shikamaru asked.
"I booked the whole barbecue restaurant we went to with Kitazawa-sensei last time. No one will bother us today," Hyuga Hinata said softly, nodding.
"Huh?" Shikamaru and the others blurted in surprise.
"W-what is it?" Hinata blinked, confused.
"You're loaded!" Haruno Sakura said, full of envy.
"How'd you convince your dad to give you that much money?" Ino asked.
"He offered it himself," Hinata tilted her head. "I didn't ask."
With Tsunade shining brighter than ever and one step from becoming the Fifth Hokage—and Kitazawa close to her—Hiashi was generous in "investing."
"…" Ino was speechless. Same village, different dads… different budgets. Her father gave her money too, just not that much.
"Who's going to fetch Kitazawa-sensei?" Shino reminded them. "Toughest task of all—we can't let him suspect anything."
"I'll go," Kabuto volunteered.
"If Kabuto-senpai's on it, it's in the bag!" Naruto agreed immediately. He still remembered how Kabuto used the Uchiha name to put that gift shop owner in his place.
"Not bad," Shikamaru chimed in. Sasuke, Neji, and the others all nodded their approval.
"Alright then." Kabuto clapped his hands. "Everyone, keep training."
Eight o'clock. Though it was Sunday, the Hokage Tower bustled—the jōnin meeting was on.
"Is Tsunade not coming?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked after Anbu operative Haru finished reporting. "Forget it—no matter."
Just then, another Anbu stepped in. "Hokage-sama. Danzō-sama will arrive shortly."
"What a headache," Hiruzen muttered.
"Hiruzen!" The voice came before the man. "Why wasn't I informed about this jōnin meeting?"
"I didn't inform you because I wanted you to focus on reorganizing Root," Hiruzen said sternly. In truth, he didn't want another clash between Danzō and Tsunade, so he'd left Danzō off the list.
"Root's reorganization is complete," Danzō said, clearly displeased. "I'm the Hokage's advisor and head of Root. How could a jōnin meeting not include me?"
When he learned he hadn't been notified, his heart went cold—that smelled like loss of power.
"If you want to attend, then attend," Hiruzen waved it off. Tsunade had made it clear she wouldn't come; whether Danzō showed up or not wouldn't change much.
"I—" Danzō was taken aback. He'd expected a fierce back-and-forth; why was it this easy? Then why exclude him in the first place?
By 8:30, although the meeting was set for nine, many tokubetsu jōnin and jōnin had already arrived—including Kitazawa.
He'd planned to come later, but Kurenai had shooed him out of the house.
Entering the conference room, he scanned the familiar faces: Hyuga Hiashi, Nara Shikaku, Aburame Shibi, and more. His gaze finally settled on Kakashi and Might Guy.
Normally, Anbu special jōnin and jōnin didn't attend these meetings—their identities were confidential, and Anbu took orders directly from the Hokage.
Now that Kakashi had left Anbu, he was expected to attend. And unlike his "eternal genin" father, Might Duy, Guy had become a jōnin early—Kakashi at twelve, Guy at sixteen. That alone showed Guy's talent surpassed his father's by a wide margin.
Kitazawa started toward them when someone called out. He looked over to see Shikaku, with Chōza and Inoichi on either side.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Shikaku said with a smile. "If you don't have a seat, you can take this one."
"Thanks," Kitazawa said, and sat with them. The four chatted; Chōza even mentioned arranging special training for his son Chōji next term—Kitazawa readily agreed.
Nine o'clock. The doors opened and Sarutobi Hiruzen entered with Shimura Danzō. Conversation died at once.
Kitazawa instinctively glanced at Danzō—why wasn't Tsunade here? Then again, it said a lot about Tsunade's clout that she could skip a jōnin meeting.
An icy gaze swept across him—Danzō's. Kitazawa wasn't surprised. He was almost certainly on Danzō's little blacklist. Hard not to be when Tsunade dragged him along every time she made a scene. Still, Kitazawa now wore enough hats that Danzō wouldn't move to eliminate him unless absolutely necessary.
"We've convened this jōnin meeting to announce two matters," Hiruzen said as he sat.
Kitazawa arched a brow. Besides the Advance Class, what else?
"Since its founding, the Academy has produced many excellent shinobi," Hiruzen began. "But over the years, it has accumulated problems."
Everyone understood at once: reforming the Academy.
"Two main issues—one, instructor skill levels; two, the inability to properly support gifted students," Hiruzen said, waving a hand. "After discussing with Kitazawa, we've drafted a plan. Please take a look."
Anbu operative Haru stepped forward with a stack of documents and began distributing them.
"Kakashi, you actually became an Academy teacher?" Might Guy asked in astonishment after reading.
"Mm." Kakashi's reply was cool as ever.
"Shame my training isn't suited to most students, or I'd teach at the Academy too," Guy said, genuinely regretful. Another reason: if he taught at the Academy, he'd have less time to train. Being a team leader suited him best—three students, training together.
While Guy spoke simply, the likes of Fugaku and Shikaku were thinking further. If even elite jōnin like Kakashi and Maruboshi Kosuke were being assigned to teach, Hiruzen clearly valued this Advance Class.
Gather the most talented students and, naturally, it would produce the village's future pillars—classmates who would form a new bloc second only to the Hokage's own line.
Plenty of jōnin were already scheming to get their kids into the class. Some clan heads were thinking about placing their clan's jōnin on the teaching staff.
Quite possibly, a future Hokage would come from this very class. And if you became a future Hokage's teacher—the benefits would be substantial.
Danzō thought of many angles, then discarded them all. He knew Hiruzen would never let him meddle with the Advance Class. Any attempt would just devolve into another empty shouting match with no results.
"The second matter," Hiruzen said gravely. "Over the past year, Kitazawa has performed exceptionally well. As of today, he will serve as the Academy's Vice Principal."
"...?" Kitazawa was stunned. A sudden promotion was the last thing he expected. "Vice Principal" didn't sound flashy, but the authority was significant—on par, status-wise, with the Anbu Commander or the Konoha Police Chief.
In a sense, Kitazawa had entered the village leadership. And since the Hokage served as the Academy's Principal, becoming Vice Principal made him, without question, a Hokage confidant.
"Congratulations, Kitazawa-sensei!" Shikaku and the others nearby offered their congratulations.
"Thanks," Kitazawa replied one by one. Sudden as it was, the Vice Principal post came with many advantages—no reason to refuse.