"Lord Third, maybe I am alive now because Lord Fourth sacrificed his life to save our vilge. He is the hero, not just to me but to everyone in the vilge. If I get a ce to be like him, I don’t want anything else," Kaida said.

  Both Jiraiya and Hiruzen were deeply moved by this reply. These were the values a Konoha ninja should have.

  "Good, very good. Since you want it so much, I will arrahe necessary set to check your aptitude by tomorrow. After your training, e to my office by 5 PM," Hiruzen replied, satisfa apparent in his voice.

  "Okay, Lord Third," Kaida said.

  ---

  “Lord Third is going to teach you a jutsu? That is so unfair! I’ve pleted way harder missions many times, and I didn’t eveo learn an A-rank jutsu for free, and yetting an S-rank. This world is truly unfair,” Shisui said.

  “Kaida, you’re not doing this out of greed, right? Your life is much more important than any title or jutsu. Always remember that,” Hae said.

  "I know, Aunt, and my safety is almost guaranteed. Jiraiya-sama himself is going as our sensei and will be responsible for our prote. Uhey want to start a war right now, no major vilge will make a move," Kaida replied, pletely uanding why Hae was worried.

  “If you’re so sure that it’s all well, just be safe,” Hae said.

  “And make us proud,” Shisui added.

  “Yes, Aunt. Okay, brother.”

  “Also, for the whole month, Jiraiya-sama is going to teach me how to trol my strength better, so I’ll be very busy,” Kaida said.

  “Hey, you cheater! It’s enough to show off. Why are you getting all the best things for free?” Shisui said, like he had just realized how unfair the world truly is.

  “e on, brother. One of my teammates is going to be directly trained by Lord Third himself. pared to him, I’m not that lucky,” Kaida said.

  “Either you leave now, or I’m personally going to teach you some Taijutsu right now!” Shisui said, and Kaida could somehow see a red demon emerging behind Shisui. Not waiting to see if it was an illusion or reality, Kaida sprioward the gate.

  “Don’t wait for me for dinner; I might be a little te,” Kaida said.

  ---

  Kaida was standing at the top of Hokage Rock, looking at Konoha. The vilge was bustling early in the m. Merts were either opening their shops or had already opehem, fervently calling for ers. Children were pying, and many young teenagers were running toward the Ninja Academy, already te for css.

  “Peaceful, right?” came a voice from behind.

  “Yes,” Kaida replied without thinking. Theurned and tinued, “Good m, Sensei.”

  “Good m. So, are you ready to start your training?” Jiraiya asked, getting straight to the point.

  “Yes, Sensei,” Kaida said.

  “Okay, the’s go to the training area,” Jiraiya said, heading toward a retively pin area of the mountain. Kaida silently followed behind him.

  He thought the pin area was actually Training Area 2, but just as they reached the location, Jiraiya started making many hand signs—maybe even more than those required for the Water Dragon Jutsu (which requires the most number of hand signs). Then, he pressed his hand directly on the ground. Instantly, the simple field, which was pletely normal a couple of seds before, started buzzing. The area was covered with thousands of seals, and Kaida could see many cealment arrays too, so the actual number could be way higher than what he was seeing.

  After the seals were activated, they sed Jiraiya and then Kaida. After 30 seds, the ground in front of them started shaking a little, and then a gate formed, a simple square hole in the ground with stairs visible from where Kaida was standing.

  “This mountain has a full training ground i?” Kaida asked, pletely shocked. It had to be known that this was not the first time he had e to Hokage Rock. Even when he was training his Sharingan, he had been pletely clueless about this detail.

  “A training ground? This mountain has five, each reserved for the Hokage and those he grants permission to. In Training Area 1, Lord Third is teag Kabuto, so we’ll be using Training Area 2,” Jiraiya said.

  “So, only the two of us are going for the in exam? Doesn’t a team normally tain three people?” Kaida asked, feeling a little jealous. Acc to his knowledge, in the inal timeliachi was the one who did this task. Not only did he plete the exam, but he also set many records. pared to him, Kaida had to go in a pair.

  If this had happened before meeting Itachi, Kaida would have been happy. Being his fan, he was ecstatic to be pared to him, even if he was just half as powerful. But now that he had already sparred with him, he khe gap between them wasn’t that rge, and he could close it iure. That’s why he was unhappy that he would have to go as part of a team rather than alone like Itachi.

  “Who said only the two of yoing? Obviously, there will be a third member too. Wait, you don’t know who the third member is?” Jiraiya asked.

  “No, Sensei,” Kaida replied.

  “Then wait for a month. It’ll be a big surprise for you,” Jiraiya said.

  “Okay, Sensei,” Kaida replied. There was no reason for him to fret over this anyway. It wasn’t like anything would ge; he’d know the st member eventually, either today or in a month.

  “The’s go,” Jiraiya said.

  'I hate mature brats. There’s no fun in teasing them,' Jiraiya thought.

  As they started desding the stairs, the light gradually dimmed. At one point, it became hard for Kaida to see, so he simply activated his Sharingan, expeg something.

  As he had guessed, after 30 or so stairs, the size of the steps ged. If he hadn’t activated his Sharingan, he would have surely stumbled on them.

  “Good, your situational awareness is least I don’t have to work on that,” Jiraiya said, and with a tap on the wall, the lights mou the top of the building lit up.

  “Thank you, Sensei,” Kaida replied.

  After desding over 150 stairs, they reached a cave-like area where five doors were visible. However, for Kaida, there were 10.

  “This Sharingan of yours is ruining all the fun of expl this training area for the first time,” Jiraiya said, notig Kaida looking toward the hidden doors.

  “These doors in front of you are traps, and the real doors are hidden by an illusion array,” Jiraiya said, but with a 3-tomoe Sharingan, a simple illusion like this wasn’t much.

  “Okay, let’s go. This is the training area we’ll be using,” Jiraiya said, pointing toward a door with the number 2 written at the top.

  “This is going to be your home for the month,” Jiraiya said, standing in front of the training area.

  “What do you mean by ‘home,’ Sensei?” Kaida asked, a little fused.

  “Well, I thought it was clear. Since we only have one month, yoing to live here for the whole month. This room has enough food for a year and even a bed for you to sleep on when you get tired. There will be no closide, so you focus on training without thinking about time,” Jiraiya said as if it were on knowledge.

  “But I didn’t inform my family about this. They’ll get worried if I don’t return for a whole month,” Kaida said.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll send someoo inform them. Focus on your training from now on. There’s no need for you to think about anything else. Since yoing to take on this important responsibility, you have to put in the same amount of hard work,” Jiraiya said.

  “Yes, Sensei,” Kaida replied. He was only worried that his family would be ed about him. He had no aversion to training at all.

  “Okay the’s go inside.”