The training ground was quiet.
Karma stood in front of Hashirama, waiting.
Hashirama smiled. "Before I start teaching you anything complicated, I want to see what you can already do."
Karma nodded. "Sure."
"Tree walking."
Karma looked at the tree.
"That's it?"
Hashirama chuckled. "You say that now."
Karma walked toward the tree, gathered chakra into his feet and stepped onto the trunk.
One step.
Two.
Three.
He continued walking upward without hesitation.
Hashirama's smile slowly disappeared.
Karma reached the top, jumped onto a branch and looked down.
"Like that?"
Hashirama stared at him for a moment.
"…Yes."
Karma jumped back down.
"What's next?"
Hashirama laughed.
"You're really not going to make this easy for me, are you?"
Karma shrugged.
"You asked me to show you."
Hashirama rubbed his chin.
'His chakra control is already this precise?'
He had expected Karma to be talented.
He hadn't expected this.
Hashirama began testing him.
Shurikenjutsu.
Karma watched Hashirama demonstrate a basic throwing pattern once.
He copied it.
Hashirama changed the angle.
Karma adjusted.
He demonstrated another variation.
Karma copied that too.
Then Hashirama deliberately introduced a mistake into his movement.
Karma noticed immediately.
"You're opening your shoulder too much."
Hashirama blinked.
"You're right."
Karma smiled.
"Are you testing me?"
"Maybe."
"You should try harder."
Hashirama laughed.
The same thing happened with taijutsu.
Karma wasn't physically strong enough to match an adult.
That much was obvious.
His arms were small.
His legs were short.
His body lacked the strength and reach of a grown shinobi.
But his understanding of movement was ridiculous.
He recognized weight shifts.
He noticed openings.
He understood distance.
When Hashirama corrected his stance once, Karma didn't need to be corrected again.
When Hashirama demonstrated a movement, Karma could reproduce the mechanics almost immediately.
The problem wasn't understanding.
It was having a four-year-old body.
Karma knew exactly how he wanted to move.
His body simply couldn't always execute the movement with the speed or force he imagined.
And that was something Hashirama couldn't teach away.
"Your body will catch up eventually," Hashirama said.
Karma looked at him.
"I know."
"Until then, don't force it."
Karma nodded.
That was one of the first lessons that actually interested him.
Not because it was difficult.
Because it mattered.
Hashirama wasn't trying to make him stronger than his body allowed.
He was teaching him how to get the most out of the body he had.
Their training continued for several hours.
By the time they finished, Hashirama had a much better understanding of Karma.
The boy wasn't simply talented.
He absorbed information at an absurd rate.
Give him something to study and he understood it.
Show him something once and he could often reproduce the principle behind it.
Give him a problem and he immediately started looking for the most efficient solution.
And perhaps the strangest part was that Karma didn't seem particularly impressed with himself.
To him, this was simply normal.
The next day, Hashirama was called away for a meeting.
Karma arrived at the training ground expecting to wait.
Instead, Tobirama was standing there.
Karma stared at him.
"Tobirama-sama?"
"Your teacher has business to attend to."
Karma sighed.
"Let me guess. I'm your problem now."
Tobirama's eyebrow twitched.
"Try to survive one afternoon without insulting me."
"No promises."
Tobirama ignored him.
"Come."
Tobirama's training style was completely different from Hashirama's.
There was less talking.
More observation.
He examined Karma's chakra control, movement, reaction speed and ability to understand technique structure.
Eventually, Tobirama demonstrated a more advanced chakra exercise.
Karma watched carefully.
"Again," Tobirama said.
Karma performed it.
Tobirama's eyes narrowed.
"Again."
Karma repeated it.
"Why did you change the chakra flow?"
"Because your method was wasting a little."
Tobirama looked at him.
"How much?"
Karma thought for a second.
"About seven percent."
Silence.
Tobirama looked at the technique.
Then at Karma.
Then back at the technique.
"Do it again."
Karma did.
Tobirama watched carefully.
The result was cleaner.
He didn't say anything for several seconds.
Karma smiled.
"That was praise, wasn't it?"
"No."
"It definitely was."
"It wasn't."
Karma laughed.
Later that week, Madara appeared at the training ground.
Karma immediately noticed him.
"You're here."
Madara crossed his arms.
"I heard Tobirama has been training you."
"And?"
"I wanted to see what you've learned."
Karma picked up a wooden sword.
Madara smiled.
"Good."
Their spar began.
Madara immediately noticed the difference.
Karma wasn't powerful.
Not yet.
But he was difficult to read.
He watched everything.
Feet.
Shoulders.
Hands.
Eyes.
The direction of the hips.
The slightest change in balance.
Madara attacked.
Karma avoided the strike.
Another.
He moved again.
Madara increased the pace.
Karma adapted.
The boy was learning during the fight.
Madara's eyes sharpened.
'He's analyzing me.'
Karma suddenly changed his rhythm.
Madara blocked the strike.
Karma grinned.
"Got you."
Madara smiled.
"Not quite."
He swept Karma's legs.
Karma hit the ground.
"Ow."
Madara laughed.
"You're still four."
Karma sat up.
"I noticed."
Madara offered him a hand.
Karma accepted it.
"Again?"
Madara's smile widened.
"Again."
These sessions gradually became normal.
Hashirama trained him when his schedule allowed.
Tobirama stepped in when Hashirama was busy.
Madara occasionally joined them.
And Mito became increasingly involved as well.
She wasn't interested in turning Karma into a weapon.
She made sure he ate properly.
She taught him chakra precision and the basics of sealing.
She also made sure the other three didn't forget that their student was still a child.
"That's enough for today."
Karma looked at the training field.
"Already?"
Mito crossed her arms.
"Yes."
"I can continue."
"I know."
"Then why stop me?"
"Because you're four."
Karma sighed.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because you keep forgetting."
Hashirama laughed.
Madara shook his head.
Tobirama simply walked away.
Karma looked at Mito.
"Mito nee-san, they're bullying me."
Mito smiled.
"They're trying to keep you alive."
"Same thing."
Their relationship grew through moments like these.
Hashirama began treating Karma less like a talented student and more like another child in his family.
Tobirama, despite his stern personality, started looking after Karma in his own way.
Madara stopped seeing him as merely an amusing little brat and started genuinely enjoying their training sessions.
And Mito…
Mito simply became Mito nee-san.
One afternoon, Karma watched Hashirama and Madara arguing.
He looked at Mito.
Then at Tobirama.
Then back at the two men.
He sighed.
"Mito nee-san."
Mito looked at him.
"Yes?"
"I think we need to talk about your affair."
Hashirama froze.
Madara's expression darkened.
Tobirama immediately turned his head away.
Mito's smile disappeared.
"What affair?"
Karma pointed at Hashirama and Madara.
"Their affair with you."
"We don't have an affair!" Hashirama shouted.
Madara immediately added, "Obviously we don't."
Karma nodded seriously.
"That's exactly what people having an affair would say."
Tobirama's shoulders started shaking.
Mito slowly turned toward him.
"Tobirama."
He immediately straightened.
"I said nothing."
"You were laughing."
"I was not."
Karma pointed at him.
"He approves."
"I do not."
Mito crossed her arms.
"Hmph."
Hashirama looked desperate.
"Karma, please stop."
Karma looked between them.
"Fine."
He paused.
"But I still think you two should communicate better."
Madara closed his eyes.
"This child…"
Karma grinned.
"Tee-hee."
Mito turned away.
"Hmph."
For all the teasing, there was something important happening underneath it.
Karma was becoming part of their lives.
Not because he was the Hokage's student.
Not because he was a prodigy.
Because they had started caring about him.
And Karma cared about them too.
It became even more obvious when other Academy students began approaching him.
"Karma!"
He turned around.
A boy stood there holding three shuriken.
"Can you show me how you throw these?"
Karma nodded.
"Sure."
Another child approached.
"I can't control my chakra properly."
"Show me."
Another came the following day.
"Karma, can you help me with the Clone Technique?"
Karma sat down beside him.
"You're putting too much chakra into the clone. Try distributing it more evenly."
"Like this?"
"Closer."
The child tried again.
A shaky clone appeared beside him.
His eyes widened.
"I did it!"
Karma smiled.
"See?"
Soon, children started coming to him regularly.
Karma helped them with techniques, sparring, chakra control and training.
Sometimes he simply listened.
Sometimes he demonstrated something.
Sometimes he told them to ask their instructor.
He didn't mind.
In fact, he enjoyed it.
Every person he helped became another person who knew they could rely on him.
And Karma understood the value of that.
'Strength will make people acknowledge me.'
'But trust will make them follow me.'
He wanted to become Hokage.
Not simply the strongest shinobi alive.
The strongest would give him power.
But becoming Hokage required something more.
Prestige.
Respect.
Trust.
People who believed he was the right person to lead them.
So Karma would help them.
He would protect them.
He would become someone they could depend on.
And if, along the way, he became the strongest person in the world…
Well, that certainly wouldn't hurt.
One evening, Hashirama, Tobirama, Madara and Mito stood together at the edge of the training ground.
Karma was helping several Academy students practice.
He corrected one child's stance.
Showed another how to adjust their chakra.
Then he sparred with a boy and deliberately lowered his speed so the child could actually learn from the fight.
Hashirama smiled.
"He really does care about them."
Mito nodded.
"He does."
Tobirama watched silently.
His eyes followed Karma as the boy helped another student stand after they fell.
"His talent is extraordinary."
Madara snorted.
"That's an understatement."
Tobirama continued.
"But talent isn't the reason I'm certain."
Hashirama looked at him.
Tobirama glanced toward Karma.
"Look at what he does when nobody asks him to."
Madara became quiet.
Karma was laughing with the other children now.
No arrogance.
No superiority.
Just a group of children training together.
Madara finally smiled.
"He'll go far."
Hashirama nodded.
"Very far."
Tobirama's expression softened.
"The future of Konoha."
For once, Madara didn't disagree.
"Yeah."
Mito smiled.
The four of them continued watching.
None of them knew exactly what the future held.
But one thing had already become clear.
Karma Akabane was no longer simply the youngest shinobi in Konoha.
He was becoming one of their own.
And all four of them, in their own way, had begun to think of him as family.
The future of Konoha.
Their future.
And perhaps one day…
The man who would sit in the Hokage's seat.