Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Four arrows thunked into a pine tree. It was still too slow, Kaen thought. It has been three years since the Kyubi attack. Kaen was nine years old, and many expected him to graduate from the academy this year. But Kaen was doubtful if he was ready, his primary weapon was a bow, and he didn't think his arrows would hit anyone else but just graduated genin.

"You know, the elders won't be happy with you having a bow as your primary weapon," Shisui said as he dodged another three arrows. "They think it is a cowardly weapon."

"I don't care," Kaen replied and readied to lose another volley of arrows.

"Whoa there, you almost got me there," Shisui laughed as he dodged the next three arrows.

"You not even using your flicker jutsu," Kaen grumbled. "Should I postpone graduating for one more year?"

"I don't think you can do so," Shisui said. "People are already suspicious that you did not graduate last year. You don't want the higher-ups to question your willingness to protect the village. Not when the Uchiha clan is already in a bad situation."

"The clan leader must worry about politics, not me."

"As a clan member, you can't abandon your responsibilities."

"Not everyone seems to like that I am a clan member."

"Well, if you stopped pranking elders, the situation would be different."

"But it was so fun. I still laugh every time I remember when one of the elders almost shit himself when I secretly put laxatives in his food," Kaen started to snicker. "And the best part is they have no proof it was me, hahaha."

"Everyone knows it was you. You are the only one brazen enough to laugh at the elder when he ran to find a toilet holding his stomach."

"His whole house smelled like shit, and all the clan members heard him getting yelled at by his wife, hahaha."

"And you still wonder why clan members don't like you very much," Shisui gave up on Kaen as he was sure Kaen couldn't hear him as he was on the ground laughing his ass off. "Anyway, I should go. I am leaving for a mission tomorrow."

Kaen didn't answer as he was too busy laughing. Only after taking a few deep breaths after Shisui left did Kaen calm down. He picked up his arrows and started to train once again. Kaen trained his sniping skill, trying to hit the target as far as possible, and sharpshooting, trying to hit the target as many times in a short amount of time.

It went pretty well. Now, he could quickly shoot four arrows without losing accuracy and hit a target from two hundred meters away. Kaen considered buying a new bow, as this one was getting worn out. Still, he was worried that standard bows would be unable to produce the power he wanted.

…

Today, Kaen would have to decide whether to graduate or stall for more time. In these times, most of the students would graduate at the age of ten. As Kaen was considered a prodigy, he was expected to have already graduated. It would be difficult, as Shisui said, to stall for more time at this point.

Kaen didn't want more eyes on him, so as the test papers were delivered to the students, Kaen decided to finish the academy and do it with the best grades possible. At this point, the test was a joke to Kaen. He had already memorized all books that the academy had provided.

The logical and mathematical questions were childish to Kaen. In his previous life, high schoolers might even have difficulty solving them, but it was an academy to train children to become the best shinobi they could be. So, to Kaen, these questions weren't anything to think too much about. He quickly finished the test.

After the theoretical test came the physical one, and after finishing the throwing test, it was time for sparing. Everyone had to fight three battles to test students they knew how to preserve their stamina and how they dealt with different types of opponents. To Kaen, he kicked everyone's asses and was done with it. Nobody was near his level among the students.

"All right, everyone, it is time for the last test. We will now test your ninjutsu. Everyone has to show the three E-rank jutsu. That is transformation jutsu, body replacement technique, and clone jutsu."

After sensei explained, he started to call out students one by one. Even though Konoha was in short demand for shinobi, they didn't just let anyone pass. Every student had to show that they had mastered these basic jutsu. Once again, Kaen had no problem and quickly passed the test.

"Congratulations to those who passed and became fully fleshed shinobi. Rest for today, and come back tomorrow when you will be distributed in teams of three."

After the ceremony was done, everyone left excited. Kaen, too, got up from his seat and left home quietly. Somehow his headband didn't feel comfortable. As he was walking home, he decided to make a detour. He went to the third training grounds where the Memorial Stone was situated. It would be his second time since his parents died there.

…

As he walked up to the Memorial Stone, he found a shinobi with spiky grey hair. It was the first time Kaen met Kakashi Hatake, but he had heard many things about him. At first glance, he didn't look anything special with his average build. But looks can be deceiving.

"If you don't mind, could you give me a couple more moments alone?" Kakashi of the Sharingan asked, not even turning around.

"Sure, I don't even know why I came here," Kaen replied. "All that is there are just the names of people I can't remember anymore."

"They are heroes who laid their lives for the village."

"It is quite ironic that shinobi should strive to be perfect tools, yet we call them heroes after their death. And then, in the end, the ones they died to protect would have wanted nothing but for these heroes to be at home and welcome them back," Kaen said. "Sorry, I am pretty talkative today for some reason. I will leave you alone."

Kakashi Hatake didn't reply as Kaen stepped backward and kept silent. After Kakashi was done, he left Kaen alone with the Memorial Stone. Kaen read out the names of his parents, that long since had died. Heroes they were, yet Itachi would have to kill the rest of the Uchiha clan for them to remain heroes of the village.

…

Kakashi wasn't surprised that everyone would be annoyed when he arrived late to the meeting. Only the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, knew why he was late. The rest just complained but let it go in the end.

"Now that everyone is gathered, we will start with the meeting," The Third Hokage said.

And so, the boring meeting went. Kakashi was not interested in the new graduates and their team formations. Even though he was a jonin, he still belonged to ANBU. So, the names came and left his ears.

"Now it comes to Kaen Uchiha. He is top of the graduates. He has a perfect score in theory, practical tests, taijutsu, and ninjutsu," one of the academy's teachers reported.

"Perfect scores, you say," The Third Hokage said quietly. "He improved much since his last time taking the test."

"Maybe he wasn't in the best condition back then."

"Probably, so does anyone want to take the young Uchiha under their wing?" The Third asked. "Kakashi?"

"Huh?" Kakashi was surprised when the Third addressed him.

"Pardon my disrespect, Hokage-sama, but Kaen Uchiha should be taught by one of his clan," A member of the Uchiha clan said before Kakashi could respond.

"Is that so? I don't remember Itachi gathering so much attention when he graduated two years ago."

"Itachi didn't need any more attention from the clan as he was capable of pursuing his own path. Kaen Uchiha is a different case. He is quite rebellious and might not even be suited for a team. The Uchiha clan wants to test him and not let anyone be blinded by his name and reputation as a genius."

"I don't think Kakashi would be blinded by anything. No one is more suitable to test the young Uchiha than him."

"Still," The member of the Uchiha clan didn't finish his words before the Hokage raised his hand and turned to Kakashi.

"I am not interested in teaching," Kakashi said.

"Very well, I will let the Uchiha choose whomever they want to teach him."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi wondered why the Uchiha clan wanted this so much. Was this Kaen Uchiha someone special? Well, it didn't matter to him in the end. It was just another genius of the Uchiha. Kakashi was sure that if he were someone special, he would hear of him later on.

…

Kaen breathed deeply, letting his exhausted and sweating body rest. Doing katas on the surface of a running river wasn't easy, but it was perfect practice to hone his taijutsu and chakra control simultaneously. He had only four years left until the Uchiha massacre, yet he was far from reaching the skill level he needed to survive.

Once he was done with his morning practice, he quickly dived into the river to clean up and left for the academy. Kaen wondered who his sensei would be and who would be on his team. When he arrived at the academy, he listened carefully to the sensei to avoid missing the mention of his team.

"Team 11, Kaen Uchiha, Harika Aburame and Yoji Sumishai. Your sensei is Yashiro Uchiha."

Kaen wasn't surprised that his sensei would be Uchiha. He only hoped he wasn't the arrogant type like most of the Uchiha were. Looking only once at his teammates, he determined that Harika Aburame was the top female in her class, and Yoji was probably the worst among the graduates.

When Yashiro Uchiha came, he didn't say much but to gather in the academy's backyard. Kaen already didn't like the vibes his new sensei was giving. But thinking that his sensei's appearance deceived him, he held back further judgment.

"Introduce yourself," Yashiro Uchiha ordered once they gathered.

"Harika Aburame, ten years old, specializing in tracking." The only girl on Kaen's team replied calmly.

"Yoji Sumishai, eleven years old. I am pretty good at taijutsu," The other guy on Kaen's team almost shouted his reply.

"Kaen Uchiha, nine years old, I can do stuff," Kaen saw his sensei eye twitch at his answer.

"Very well, but I am sorry to inform you that neither of you has made it to genin yet," Somehow, he didn't look sorry. "Before you are promoted to genin, you must pass my test."

"What kind of test?" Harika asked calmly, not disturbed a bit by what sensei said.

"It is a simple test, every one of you has to land a hit on me."

A simple test, my ass, Kaen thought. Yashiro Uchiha was a jonin, his reflexes were way too fast for any of them to comprehend, and his speed was way out of their league. Not speaking of how unfair the test was to Harika, who didn't specialize in taijutsu.

"What? It is impossible," Yoji summarized Kaen's thoughts.

"As a shinobi, you will be in situations where you will have to do impossible to survive," As Yashiro explained, Kaen moved.

To Kaen, the only way to land a hit on jonin was a surprise attack. It surprised Yashiro when he saw Kaen leap from his sitting position and barely manage to dodge his punch, but he couldn't avoid Kaen's spinning kick to his side.

"It seems that I passed," Kaen said.

"The test has not yet begun," Kaen could see that his sensei was flustered.

"As a shinobi, you can't expect others to wait till you are prepared," Kaen replied.

"As your sensei, my word is final, no matter your feelings."

Kaen narrowed his eyes at him. So, he wasn't going to let me pass from the beginning. Kaen grasped the intention of Yashiro Uchiha. It was probably the work of the elders. They didn't want Kaen to leave the village, to leave their grasp. They probably will try to force him to join the police force.

"When does the test begins?" Harika Aburame asked.

"Now," Yoshiro said and leaped back, looking at Kaen.

Kaen sat down on the ground. Why would he even try if, from the beginning, he would be forced to fail? Instead, Yoji went to try his luck, and Yashiro didn't have a problem easily avoiding him. Harika moved afterward and tried to use her bugs to blind Yoshiro.

Kaen felt terrible that his teammates might fail because of him, so while they distracted Yoshiro, Kaen went in a circle around Yoshiro and set up a binding seal on the ground. Nobody knew of his sealing jutsu, so he was sure it would surprise Yashiro.

Yoji received quite a beating when Kaen was done, and Harika couldn't get close to Yashiro. Seeing that Yoji was too tired, Kaen jumped into the battle. Immediately Yashiro concentrated on Kaen. As Kaen tried to land a hit, he felt that Yashiro didn't go easy on him. Apart from using his Sharingan, Yashiro used the strength and skill of a jonin.

Kaen only confirmed that Yashiro didn't have any intention of passing him. That didn't mean that Kaen would give up. Kaen used Yashiro's arrogance against himself by leading him to the seal he had set up earlier. When Yashiro stepped on the seal, he went stiff for a moment as a chakra rope wrapped around Yashiro.

"I passed again," Kaen said as he landed a hit on Yashiro's stomach.

"Sealing jutsu? How could an Uchiha use something like this?" Yashiro asked in surprise.

"Does it matter?" Kaen asked back.

"Since you landed a hit, you're out of the battle. Wait until the rest of the team does the same, and you can't help them now," Yashiro was visibly frustrated.

Not only did Kaen see through Yashiro's bullshit, but Harika, too, saw it. She knew that without Kaen's help, it would be an impossible task, so she gave up. Yoji tried a few more times but was beaten quickly. In the end, Yashiro gave a bullshit speech that they gave up too fast, which is why they failed. Only Yoji believed that nonsense.