In just a few heartbeats, the footsteps drew steadily closer.
Before the two inside could react, the uninvited guest had already cut straight across the Hatake compound and was almost at the door.
So fast.
Kakashi's lazy eye sharpened in an instant. He set his chopsticks down and reached for a kunai at the small of his back.
"It is Guy," Konome Taketori said calmly, having already opened her Byakugan. She waved a hand lightly toward Kakashi.
Trusting her sensory ability, Kakashi's gaze returned to its usual languid half-lidded state. He stayed seated on the tatami and once again looked like he was about to keel over from boredom.
Clack.
The door slid open.
Might Guy stumbled in, panting heavily, with a long staff and bulging luggage slung over his shoulder.
"Konome, I heard you were hurt, badly hurt and I rushed back…"
His voice suddenly stopped.
Thick eyebrows lifted.
The scene before him was completely different from what he had imagined.
There was no Konome wrapped head to toe in bandages, lying half-dead on the bed.
Instead, Kakashi and Konome were in loose home clothes, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
The table between them was laden with food and drinks.
They clinked glasses and drank in complete comfort.
When he burst in, the two shinobi who could not scrape together a full pair of good eyes between them turned their heads toward him at the same time.
Their silver-grey hair, one long and one short, their bodies, one tall and one small, even the black cloth over their faces looked like two halves of one picture.
Guy lowered his head and glanced at his own dusty, travel-worn appearance, then at the two in front of him.
Even with part of their faces covered, their looks and presence could not be hidden.
He suddenly felt completely out of place.
"You two, what are you…"
Guy waved both hands in circles, already half tongue-tied.
He had been away for a month on a mission, yet his best friend and his daughter did not seem to have missed him at all.
They actually looked like they were living better without him.
Seeing him suddenly return, they were neither surprised nor excited, treating him like some random passerby who had wandered into their house.
And with the two of them sharing only one working eye, all Guy could see in their gaze was the flat calm of dead fish eyes, perfectly matching the atmosphere in the room.
Blub blub blub.
Little emotion bubbles drifted in the air.
Konome suddenly found the orange juice in her mouth turning sour.
"Welcome home, Guy."
The witch who saw through hearts tilted her head toward him.
Her lips curved into a soft smile and she opened her arms a little.
Looking at his adorable daughter greeting him like that, the emotion bubbles above Guy's head visibly shifted, returning to a cheerful orange.
The sadness in his thick eyebrows smoothed away.
"Hehe. Konome, when I heard you were attacked by shinobi from another village and gravely injured, I rushed back right away…"
"I am fine now," Konome replied.
"Th that is good."
Guy's huge white teeth flashed and his usual vitality returned all at once.
Kakashi watched Guy being coaxed back to normal in a single sentence and shook his head, draining the rest of his juice.
This girl really did have some strange talent.
Most of the time she seemed cold and hard to approach, yet your mood would always lift around her.
Every word and every small gesture landed exactly where your heart itched.
If you were in a bad mood, she would instantly sense it and never step on your sore spots.
If you were in a great mood, she could slip in a little jab and you would not feel offended in the slightest, even letting her push you around.
Kakashi had never thought of himself as easy to get along with.
Yet after barely half a month together, with hardly any real conversations between them, his impression of Konome had risen steadily.
It was not love, nor any other messy emotion, just a simple, easy comfort.
Being around her felt relaxed and pleasant.
You did not feel attacked, and nothing negative stuck.
Even Guy had never tasted his cooking, yet these past days he had almost fed Konome to the point of boredom.
If not for his Sharingan, Kakashi might have suspected he was under some unknown genjutsu.
"Dun dun dun. Look what I brought you as a gift."
In just a few words, Guy had not only blown away all his negative emotions, he had already pulled the gifts for Kakashi and Konome out of his luggage.
A huge roll of black cloth.
"What is this?"
Konome's fingertips brushed the fabric.
It felt silky and delicate to the touch; the surface was a pure, deep black without a speck of variation.
"This is Black Aobu," Kakashi said.
The well informed jonin stared at the cloth in disbelief, surprise clear on his face.
"What does it do?" Konome asked.
She did not remember the original story ever mentioning something like this.
"It is said to be cut resistant and fire resistant. The price is higher than gold of the same weight. A piece this large would go for at least tens of millions of ryo," Kakashi replied, still a little stunned.
"That is not bad," Konome said mildly.
Guy scratched his head and did not dare say anything.
"The main issue is how rare it is. The stories say only the distant Land of Black Aobu produces it. Ordinary people do not even have the channels to buy any. Where did you get such a huge piece?"
Kakashi lifted the cloth and turned, looking curiously at Guy.
Guy had been waiting for that question.
He had already rehearsed this in his head.
So as soon as Kakashi asked, he grinned and launched into an animated retelling of his strange escort mission, telling every thrilling moment to Konome and Kakashi, then looked at the two of them expectantly.
"Oh."
Kakashi's dead fish eye stared back at him, his expression as mild as ever.
Guy's tale had just stirred up memories of that snow-covered land in Kakashi's mind.
After all these years, he wondered if the Snow Princess was still alive.
"I see," Konome said, nodding with a calm face.
In the story she remembered, Naruto had gone on missions and saved who knew how many small countries, and even helped seal bizarre great evils once or twice.
No matter how outrageous a mission appeared in Konoha, she would never be surprised.
"You are not surprised?"
Guy looked between the two of them, feeling like his boiling blood had been dumped onto a glacier.
From head to toe, he went stiff with cold.
"We are very surprised," they said together.
"You are lying."
Guy clutched his gleaming bowl cut and jumped in frustration.
Konome glanced at the negative emotion bubbling over his head, saw that he was not truly angry and simply ignored his clowning.
She turned her attention instead to the long staff wrapped in Black Aobu.
Black Aobu could resist fire and blades, but not sight.
The pale veins at the corners of her eyes swelled as she focused her Byakugan.
Greyish pupil power flowed out and easily pierced through the heavy black cloth.
Inside was a blackened firewood stick.
Huh?
Konome froze.
She had expected some kind of treasure.
She leaned in with her vision and studied it more carefully.
If a staff was wrapped in something as precious as Black Aobu, it had to be worth a fortune.
A plain, unimpressive appearance was actually a good sign.
It often meant high practical value.
Chakra surged, bulging the veins at the sides of her eyes.
Under her gaze the dull grey outer shell flaked away, revealing a yellow brown crystal beneath.
The crystal was cloudy, threaded with cotton like impurities.
It was neither clear nor pretty and even had a faintly grimy feel.
Magnified by the Byakugan, its interior was a tangle of fine fibres weaving together into a strange hexagonal lattice.
Solid, dense.
That was Konome's direct impression.
Beyond that, she sensed no other unusual qualities.
There was no chakra ripple at all.
At that moment Kakashi also noticed the odd staff.
"What is that?" he asked.
"That is a Weightstone Crystal, my spoils of war," Guy declared, his expression growing more serious.
He picked up the staff and stripped off the Black Aobu, revealing the firewood like crystal rod beneath.
Kakashi was not a shallow man.
The way Guy handled the staff told him at once that it was no common object.
He flipped his forehead protector up.
The three tomoe of the Sharingan in his scarred left eye spun into motion.
But what first filled his vision was not the so called Weightstone Crystal.
It was the violet glow seated right across from him.
A small figure sat on the tatami, the chakra core at her heart like a mountain sunset, misty and coiling, wrapped in a translucent veil of purple light.
Was her chakra not supposed to be a deep ocean blue?
Kakashi's gaze flickered.
He had never heard of anyone whose chakra changed color.
Then again, he had also never heard of a six year old elite jonin.
Perhaps this was just another quirk of genius.
He quietly filed it away in his mind and shifted his Sharingan back to the staff Guy had called the Weightstone Crystal.
"Do not bother. There is no chakra reaction and it is not a chakra conductive metal either," Guy said.
Being stared at so intently by two "blind people" actually made him feel like he finally existed again.
He casually spun the staff in his hand a few times, then gathered chakra into his palm and pushed it quickly into the rod.
Almost instantly, both Konome and Kakashi saw the staff that had been completely inert a moment ago suddenly glow with a brown light.
Guy's arm dipped sharply.
His forearm muscles bulged tight, stretching his green jumpsuit out of shape.
"It got heavier?" Kakashi muttered.
The tomoe in his Sharingan nearly spun into a full ring.
Where Kakashi only saw external changes, Konome's Byakugan saw deeper and broader.
The moment Guy's blue chakra flowed into the crystal she clearly saw the muted brown power within the stone stir, undergo some unknown transformation and mix into a muddy brown slurry.
After that came the heavy sinking effect Kakashi had noticed.
"This is the Weightstone Crystal. You saw what it does. As long as you pour chakra into it, its weight increases."
Guy demonstrated again, channeling chakra into the staff.
The yellow brown glow flared brighter and he hefted it back onto his shoulder.
"The more chakra you feed it, the heavier it gets and the longer it stays that way. That rebel leader used this to defeat the kingdom's royal guard captain.
With this, I will never need to buy training equipment again," Guy said excitedly.
"How heavy can it get?" Konome asked.
"Right now it is around four or five hundred jin, and I think the upper limit is several tons," Guy answered, swinging the staff happily.
The air whistled around the heavy rod.
Konome and Kakashi both lost interest at the same time.
Heavier weapons did hit harder, but anything too heavy would drag your center of gravity all over the place.
Anyone using such weapons would have to spin their entire body with every swing.
Kakashi specialized in short blades and close quarters combat, focused on speed and agility.
For him, the staff was far too heavy to be of any use.
Konome specialized in unarmed combat and walked the all rounder path of offense, speed and defense.
With Shikotsumyaku her body was already the strongest weapon she could ask for.
She did not need it either.
"The principle is interesting, but using it is pretty awkward," a dry, weathered voice commented from outside the door.
All three of them froze and looked up in unison.
Guy had never closed the door when he came in.
Now, through the open entry, a thin old man in ceremonial robes and a wide straw hat stepped slowly inside.
"Lord Third."
Kakashi and Guy shot to their feet at once, standing at attention.
Konome also put down her chopsticks and rose, showing proper respect.
After all, this was her future "cheap" teacher.
If nothing else, she was very serious about respecting her masters.
"Sit, sit. No need to be so stiff," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a smile, patting Guy and Kakashi on the shoulder.
His gaze moved to the Weightstone Crystal on Guy's shoulder.
"Come, let this old man see what rare trinket you have brought back."
Guy shifted his grip and carefully placed the staff into Hiruzen's hands.
"Please be careful," he said.
"Heh."
Hiruzen caught the staff with one hand.
The age spotted, dried palm closed around the four or five hundred jin rod.
His shoulders did not tremble in the slightest.
Boom.
Chakra exploded from his palm and surged into the crystal.
Buzz.
The torrent of chakra was so great that the crystal seemed to "groan," letting out a strange humming sound.
The brown yellow glow swelled, but soon it could not keep up with the flow of chakra Hiruzen was pouring into it.
No matter how much he continued to feed, the light refused to intensify any further.
It had reached its limit.
Seeing that it would not get any heavier, Hiruzen's expression hardened.
The muscles in his arms bulged unnaturally.
Both hands clamped around the rod like iron tongs and then chopped down.
A sharp whistle tore through the room.
The heavy staff roared toward the floor.
Konome's eyelids twitched.
A Weightstone Crystal at maximum density, wielded by a Kage level like Hiruzen and smashed down with full force would definitely destroy the house.
All three younger shinobi took an involuntary step back.
Thunk.
The devastating blow they had imagined never landed.
At the instant before the rod struck the floor, the biceps on Hiruzen's arms ballooned like two basketballs.
Then all the force that could have destroyed the building simply vanished inside his swelling arms.
Donk.
The tip of the staff tapped the floor with nothing more than the sound of a chair leg bumping wood.
Effortless in the midst of great weight.
Kakashi and Guy felt their eyelids twitch.
Even without taking the blow head on, they could feel that oppressive force.
As expected of the Third.
Compared to them, Konome, with her Byakugan, was truly stunned.
On the outside Hiruzen looked like a frail old monkey holding a pole.
Inside, his chakra was overbearing and fierce, and the brute strength he used to toy with the massive staff was absolutely real.
Chakra filled every muscle fibre.
In his hands the crystal rod might as well have been a toothpick.
Konome knew that if she activated every muscle to the limit she could also swing around several tons, but there was no way she could control it so precisely.
That was not all.
When he poured chakra into the staff, there was also chakra leaking from his feet, spreading thinly over the floor to disperse the weight of several tons.
Power rose from the ground.
Even after unleashing such force, Hiruzen still had enough control to shield the floor beneath them.
Who knew how terrifying his true peak strength was.
No wonder this was the man who could smack the Nine Tails out of Konoha with a single staff strike.
His taijutsu was monstrous.
Konome could not help but sigh inwardly.
This was six years before the Chunin Exams, and Hiruzen was not yet as old and diminished as in the original timeline.
Setting aside the obvious "cheat characters," right now he was absolutely at the ceiling of the shinobi world.
Even if his body had begun to decline, he was far beyond someone like Yagura's assassin, Yotsuki no Isamu.
Konome was certain of it.
The man who had driven her into such a desperate corner, if he could not flee with Lightning Release: Body Flicker and was forced to stand and fight, would not last three moves against this Hiruzen.
He would be hammered into paste.
And if she were the one standing there instead, the outcome would be the same.
The gap between elite jonin and Kage was probably even harder to cross than she had imagined.
"Too light to be light, too heavy to be heavy. A toy," Hiruzen concluded, disappointed.
He handed the crystal staff back to the flustered Guy, then let his gaze pass over Kakashi and Guy to settle on Konome.
"Let us talk business. I have finished looking into your situation. When are you planning to formally become my student?" Hiruzen asked, tone calm even as he casually dropped a bomb in the room.
Silence fell.
Konome had not spoken yet.
Two huge question marks popped up above Kakashi and Guy's heads.
Then a rainbow storm of emotions crashed over her like a wave.
Konome quickly muted their emotional colors and said helplessly, "I thought you said you would keep it a secret."
"They are fine," Hiruzen replied.
"If that is the case, better today than tomorrow. Let us do it now. Do I need to prepare a formal ceremony or anything?" Konome asked.
"Do as you like," Hiruzen said.
Ignoring the two stunned men, the old master and the young girl simply continued their conversation.
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