Kakashi smiled faintly and nodded.
"Not bad. At least you have a clear sense of self-awareness."
As he spoke, Kakashi's expression grew serious.
"I was once your teacher's comrade, you know that, right?"
Yoruha didn't answer, though he had already guessed as much.
Kakashi didn't press the question. Instead, he directly told Yoruha about the decision he and Kimoto Tōichi had made together.
"So, what do you think about it?"
Although Kakashi could have simply made the decision himself, he still wanted to hear Yoruha's opinion.
Yoruha thought for a moment.
"I suppose I don't really have the option to refuse, do I?"
"No," Kakashi replied. "I want to hear your thoughts. Your opinion matters."
"I don't have any strong opinions," Yoruha said calmly. "Having another teacher isn't a bad thing."
Kakashi looked slightly puzzled.
"Don't you feel happy about it? Considering what your teacher's been through, you should know how rare it is to have an ANBU jōnin as your instructor."
"I know," Yoruha said. "It's just that having one more teacher doesn't really make me feel particularly happy."
Kakashi was confused.
He'd assumed Yoruha didn't like him.
"I believe my strength allows me to teach you many things," Kakashi said.
Yoruha nodded.
"I'm sure of that. After all, you're Kakashi-sensei. From what I've heard, your abilities are extraordinary."
And that statement wasn't based on any memories from his previous life.
Kakashi was truly famous throughout Konoha. Except for someone as oblivious as Naruto, every normal shinobi had heard of his name.
Kakashi was even more confused now. If Yoruha knew how powerful he was, why was he so indifferent?
"Kakashi-sensei," Yoruha said evenly, "to me, just being able to live peacefully as a shinobi is what matters most. I don't have any particular ambition to become a great powerhouse."
That was both the truth and a lie.
It was true that Yoruha had no particular desire to be the strongest. He simply wanted to live safely in this world.
The lie was that—because he had a system—he knew he could become powerful on his own even without a teacher. It would just take more time and effort.
Kakashi was speechless. That mindset was a bit too unambitious.
But when he thought about himself, he realized he didn't have much right to criticize.
"Don't you have any dreams?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask.
Yoruha smiled lightly.
"My dream is to live through my life as a shinobi in peace. You should know, sensei, how short a shinobi's lifespan usually is."
That response left Kakashi at a loss for words.
What Yoruha said was true—but still, something about him was different.
To Kakashi, he wasn't ordinary. He was a prodigy—someone meant to become one of Konoha's greatest protectors.
How could someone like that be so lacking in drive?
"Don't you have anything you want to protect?" Kakashi pressed on, unwilling to give up. He wanted Yoruha to at least have some sort of goal to strive for.
A shinobi without a dream or conviction would never amount to much.
At least, that was what Kakashi's own experience had taught him.
Yoruha thought for a moment before answering.
"Of course I do. If I had enough strength, I'd naturally want to protect the things precious to me."
Kakashi finally smiled.
"Then why did you sound so disheartened earlier?"
Yoruha shook his head.
"Kakashi-sensei, I don't think what I said was disheartened. I said I wanted to live a peaceful shinobi life—but I never said I wouldn't work hard."
"To live peacefully, one needs strength. But as long as I can protect what's most precious to me, that's enough. There's no need to endlessly pursue more power."
"As for whether I'll succeed or not—I don't really care. As long as I try, that's enough."
---
Kakashi smiled helplessly.
"You're far too young to be saying such old-man things."
"Well, fine. I won't bother introducing myself—you probably already know a bit about me."
"After all, you're not like Naruto and the others."
Naruto and Sasuke, in truth, didn't know much about Kakashi.
Naruto was one thing, but Sasuke—despite Kakashi having once worked with Itachi in the ANBU—still seemed unfamiliar with him.
Kakashi could only feel helpless about that.
Sometimes he even wondered whether Itachi had ever told Sasuke anything about him.
And indeed, Kakashi was right—Itachi had never mentioned him.
After all, Itachi rarely spoke to Sasuke about the ANBU, and he certainly wouldn't have revealed anything about Kakashi.
Under the moonlight, Kakashi stepped closer to Yoruha. At one meter eighty, he was only about a head taller.
Despite being just twelve years old, Yoruha already stood around one meter seventy—taller than most kids his age, who barely reached one and a half meters.
Unlike his usual cold demeanor in front of others, Kakashi didn't act aloof around Yoruha.
He patted Yoruha's shoulder and said seriously,
"From today onward, I'll also be your teacher. And I expect you to reach jōnin-level strength within a year—half a year, if possible."
"Once you reach that level, there are certain missions I'll personally take you on."
The usually expressionless Yoruha froze.
"You'll take me on missions?"
"Reach jōnin-level strength within half a year!?"
The corner of Yoruha's mouth twitched.
"Sensei, you're overestimating me. Who could possibly reach jōnin level in half a year?"
"Besides, you know the kind of missions you take on. They're not the sort of things ordinary shinobi can even approach."
Even though Yoruha knew his system allowed him to grow much faster, he wasn't delusional enough to think he could reach jōnin level in six months.
After all, even though the ranks between chūnin and jōnin were adjacent, the difference in power was like heaven and earth.
Especially when it came to special jōnin—in Yoruha's eyes, they weren't even on the same tier as true jōnin.
Ordinarily, a single jōnin could easily crush a group of chūnin.
Unless you were cheating, a chūnin facing a jōnin was nothing more than prey waiting to be slaughtered.
And having the ninjutsu strength of a jōnin didn't automatically make you a real one.
You also needed experience—battlefield experience.
That was what Yoruha valued most. Ninjutsu could be practiced, but combat instincts had to be earned through real fights.
He knew perfectly well how Kaguya Ōtsutsuki had ultimately been sealed by Naruto and Sasuke.
In essence, she lost because she lacked combat experience.
She was far stronger than Naruto and Sasuke in raw power, but after being sealed for a thousand years, her battle instincts had dulled. Getting sealed again in the end was humiliating for a supposed final boss.
The entire Ōtsutsuki clan shared that same flaw— they relied purely on overwhelming power.
It worked fine against opponents several levels below them—they could just crush them head-on.
But when facing someone of near or equal strength with rich battle experience, they almost always lost.
Yoruha understood well that, for now, his practical combat experience was still zero.
It would take a long time before he could truly reach jōnin-level strength.
Though, in truth, he was underestimating himself.
When he had faced Kakashi's earlier attacks, he'd already demonstrated strength far beyond that of an ordinary chūnin.
The reason he felt such a huge gap between himself and Kakashi wasn't due to lack of battle experience—it was due to the massive difference in raw power.
He had simply mistaken that power gap for a difference in experience.
After acquiring his "Exceptional Talent for Learning Ninjutsu," Yoruha's practical ability had already surpassed that of most people.
Otherwise, he couldn't have reached above-average chūnin level using only a few basic ninjutsu techniques.
---
Currently at chapter 255 for advance chapters
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