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Young Kakashi wasn't the type to show his excitement easily. Even when he entered the Art Store beside his father on the morning Volume Thirteen was released, his steps remained calm and his hands stayed in his pockets, as though this visit were no different from any of the previous ones.
But Sakumo knew his son far too well to be fooled by that indifference.
Ever since they left home, Kakashi hadn't asked about Gaara, nor about the danger hinted at in the new volume's summary. The question occupying his mind was connected to someone he already knew was a member of Team Seven, the team his counterpart would oversee in the future.
"Do you think Sasuke will appear in this chapter?"
A small smile appeared on Sakumo's face when they entered the store and found that several readers had already beaten them to the new volume.
"Looks like we should hurry, then, before everyone else finds out what your counterpart taught one of his students."
Kakashi glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"I don't care who reads it first."
"Of course. I never said you did."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't respond.
It really wasn't about who read it first. He simply wanted to know what had happened during the month Sasuke had disappeared to train.
Team Seven was no longer unfamiliar to him. From the previous volumes, he already knew that his counterpart would become the jonin responsible for Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, and he had watched the three of them carry out missions under his leadership.
But this time, things were a little different.
Before the finals, Sasuke had separated from the rest of the team to train directly with his counterpart, and the summary on the back of Volume Thirteen promised to reveal the result of that training.
Sasuke's new-found strength.
'So I'll finally get to see what my counterpart taught Sasuke.'
Sakumo picked up a copy of the volume, and the two sat down in one corner of the store. Kakashi leaned a little closer when his father opened the book from where the previous scene had ended.
His eyes moved across the pages, and he began to read.
[— Manga Scene —]
In one of the corridors leading toward the exam arena, Kankuro and Temari were with Gaara as the time for the match drew closer and closer without Sasuke appearing.
Kankuro's concern was obvious.
"It's about to start… Is he really going to come?"
Gaara remained calm, his eyes fixed ahead before his voice came out with strange confidence.
"He'll come… I'm sure of it."
Inside the exam arena itself, Naruto was waiting as well. He looked around with obvious irritation, his patience clearly beginning to run thin.
"Hmm… What's that idiot doing? He's still not here!"
Suddenly, a leaf fell in front of him.
Naruto looked up, and in the next instant, the air surged violently.
Wind exploded through the center of the arena as dozens of leaves spun into a massive vortex. Naruto and the others stepped back before the gust, while leaves scattered in every direction and obscured their vision for a moment.
A foot appeared among the swirling leaves, followed by a calm voice from within the vortex.
"Ah, sorry we're late…"
The leaves began to scatter, finally revealing two figures standing in the middle of the arena.
Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke.
For a moment, everyone was stunned. The lower half of Kakashi's face remained covered by the dark cloth reaching up to his nose, while the faint suggestion of a smile showed in his eyes.
He turned toward the boy standing beside him and asked:
"Your name?"
The black-haired boy raised his head and answered firmly.
"Uchiha Sasuke."
Naruto's eyes immediately widened, his surprise turning into a huge grin.
"Sasuke!!"
In the stands, Sakura's entire face lit up the instant she saw him.
"Sasuke!!"
Ino and Choji recognized him immediately, while the spectators' attention began shifting toward the last Uchiha. Even Shikamaru couldn't stop himself from commenting on the way he had arrived.
"Acting all cool… even though he kept everyone waiting!"
Elsewhere, Rock Lee silently watched Sasuke.
He had finally arrived.
Naruto looked at him excitedly before addressing him with a challenging grin.
"Hey! You're really late! I was starting to wonder if you were scared to fight me!"
Sasuke looked at him calmly.
"Calm down… idiot."
Shikamaru wasn't particularly impressed by Naruto's words, remembering who had been the one insisting that Sasuke would eventually show up.
"And who was the one who kept insisting he'd come?"
On the other side, Gaara never took his eyes off Sasuke.
He remained silent for several seconds, staring at the opponent he had waited so long for, before finally speaking in a quiet voice.
"I see… He's come."
[— End Scene —]
Kakashi didn't turn the page immediately.
His eyes remained on the scene showing his counterpart beside Sasuke, but this wasn't the first time he had seen the two together, nor did he need to see them standing side by side to understand their relationship.
'My counterpart is already Team Seven's supervisor.'
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all his students. Kakashi had known that for a long time.
What interested him now wasn't why his counterpart was with Sasuke, but what had happened during the special training period before this match.
'He took one of his students and trained him alone throughout that entire period.'
Kakashi thought back to what had happened before the finals.
The members of Team Seven had taken different paths in their training, while Sasuke had spent the final stretch training directly with his counterpart.
And now the two had returned together.
Kakashi remembered the phrase written on the back of the volume.
Sasuke's new-found strength.
'Then this new strength must be the result of that training.'
He still didn't know what it was.
The scene hadn't shown any new technique, and the match hadn't even begun, but that only made Kakashi more curious.
He wanted to see the result.
"You're awfully quiet."
Sakumo's voice came from beside him, and Kakashi looked over.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Sakumo smiled.
"Nothing. But ever since Sasuke appeared, you've been looking at him, then at your counterpart."
Kakashi lowered his eyes to the manga again.
"I'm trying to figure out what changed."
"In Sasuke?"
Kakashi nodded.
"The summary says he gained new strength, and my counterpart was training him before the match. But his appearance doesn't tell me anything."
Sakumo looked at the page as well.
"Then you'll have to wait until he fights."
"I know."
Kakashi didn't like waiting, but neither was he willing to invent an answer without evidence.
His attention returned to the scene, this time settling on his counterpart.
He already knew he would become Team Seven's teacher.
He had seen that much.
But now he was beginning to think about it differently.
'How will I train them?'
Having three students on one team didn't mean all three needed the same thing.
Naruto was different from Sakura.
And Sakura was different from Sasuke.
Even young Kakashi could understand that easily.
'If Sasuke trained alone with me, then I must have seen something I could teach specifically to him.'
His eyes moved toward Sasuke.
An Uchiha.
Someone who possessed the Sharingan in that future.
Then his gaze returned to his counterpart, who also used the Sharingan.
Kakashi paused on that thought.
'Is that the reason?'
It was an obvious possibility, but he didn't have enough information to prove it.
He still didn't even know how his counterpart had obtained an Uchiha eye in the first place, so he wasn't about to build another conclusion on top of a mystery that remained unsolved.
'I'll know when the match begins.'
Sakumo noticed the change in his son's expression.
"What are you thinking about now?"
Kakashi answered without looking up.
"The training."
"Which part?"
Kakashi hesitated for a moment before answering.
"If I'm going to oversee an entire team, I can't train all of them the same way."
Sakumo raised an eyebrow slightly.
He apparently hadn't expected his son to reach that conclusion so quickly.
Kakashi continued while looking at the page.
"Sasuke is training alone with my counterpart here, but that doesn't mean he's more important than Naruto or Sakura. Maybe it only means what he needs is different."
Sakumo smiled.
"Good thinking."
Kakashi glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"It's obvious."
Sakumo chuckled softly.
"Of course it is."
Kakashi returned to the manga before his father could find another reason to tease him.
But something about that thought stayed with him.
'A teacher doesn't give everyone the same thing.'
Perhaps that was the simplest way to understand it.
The team was one unit, but its members were different.
And if his counterpart had truly become their teacher, then he was supposed to know how to deal with those differences.
It was a side of his counterpart that Kakashi hadn't cared much about at first.
When the older Kakashi first appeared, young Kakashi had focused on his strength.
The Sharingan.
His techniques.
And the position he had reached.
But now, he found himself interested in a different question.
'What kind of teacher will I become?'
He remained silent for a few moments.
Then his eyes shifted toward the way his counterpart and Sasuke had entered the arena.
A vortex of leaves.
An appearance at the very last moment.
Then a calm apology, as though dozens of people hadn't been waiting for them.
Kakashi narrowed his eyes.
'But why was he late in the first place?'
Sakumo immediately noticed his expression.
"What's that look for?"
"He was late."
"I noticed."
"Sasuke could've been disqualified because of that."
Sakumo smiled.
"But he wasn't."
Kakashi wasn't convinced.
"That doesn't make being late acceptable."
Sakumo laughed this time.
"You're awfully harsh on your counterpart."
"Because he's me."
Kakashi said it simply before adding as he looked back at the page:
"I should know better than that."
Sakumo looked at him for a moment, then a small smile appeared on his face without another comment.
Kakashi returned his attention to Sasuke.
The boy was remarkably calm despite all the attention surrounding him.
Naruto was shouting his name.
Sakura was happy to see him.
The other spectators were watching him.
And on the opposite side, Gaara couldn't take his eyes off him.
'Gaara was certain he would come.'
Kakashi remembered the first scene.
Gaara hadn't wondered whether Sasuke would arrive.
He had been confident.
Then Kakashi remembered the volume summary again.
'Gaara's bloodlust is growing, while Sasuke returns with new strength.'
Everything was pushing toward the same confrontation.
And yet, Kakashi couldn't stop thinking about what would happen once it began.
'What did you teach him?'
That was the question that mattered to him.
Not because Sasuke was a stranger.
Quite the opposite.
Sasuke was one of his counterpart's students.
And that meant everything Sasuke displayed in this match might reveal something about Kakashi's own teaching methods.
Had he taught him a new technique?
Had he focused on his speed?
Had he helped him develop the Sharingan?
Or was it something Kakashi hadn't considered at all?
There were too many possibilities, and Kakashi had no intention of choosing one before seeing the answer for himself.
In the final scene, Gaara continued staring at Sasuke.
"I see… He's come."
Kakashi looked into his eyes, then toward Sasuke standing opposite him.
'You waited a long time for him, Gaara.'
His fingers moved toward the edge of the page.
'And I've waited a month to see this too.'
Before turning it, his eyes moved one final time toward his counterpart.
He no longer saw him only as an older and stronger version of himself.
That man was Team Seven's leader.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's teacher.
And at this particular moment, he was the man who had personally overseen Sasuke's training before the confrontation everyone had been waiting for.
'Sasuke's teacher.'
This time, the phrase didn't feel as strange as it had before.
Kakashi turned the page himself without waiting for his father.
'Alright, Sasuke. Show me what my counterpart taught you.'
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 241: I Want to Fight You Too!
Chapter 242: Monster of the Sand
Chapter 243: Mother…
Chapter 244: The Reason We Were Late!
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Announcement:
After a hiatus of more than five months, I've decided to return to Creating Manga of One Piece with Book II, published as a new book! Thank you to everyone who's been waiting for this series to return. I'll share the link when the second book launches. It's time to set sail again! 🏴☠️
01/11/2026⏳