A Kage-level shinobi stood at the absolute summit of the ninja world, the kind of existence everyone else looked up at.
And what about him?
What good was being the top of his class? Titles like that meant nothing out in the real world. In truth, he was just a newly minted Genin, not even close to Chunin. Above Chunin were elite Chunin, Tokubetsu Jonin, Jonin, elite Jonin… and only then came Kage Level.
But right now, he had no options at all.
After the Uchiha Clan was wiped out, the house looked the same on the outside, but Root and Anbu had long since cleaned it out. Everything useful was gone.
All the clan's training resources were gone too.
The two or three Fire Release jutsu he could use were things his father had taught him when he was little. Their power wasn't impressive, and the rest were just the basic Three Body Techniques from the academy.
For an ordinary Genin, that kind of arsenal would be considered luxurious, even comparable to a decent Chunin.
But against a Kage-level opponent? That was a joke.
Whether you had a clan behind you made a world of difference.
Back when Uchiha Itachi was his age, he was already a squad captain in Anbu. His strength and status were completely beyond what Sasuke could even dream of right now.
Talent played a part, sure, but the lack of clan resources was the biggest reason Sasuke was struggling at this stage.
The only good news was that his current teacher, Hatake Kakashi, was actually willing to teach him some real combat skills.
That alone had surprised him. If you looked at Kakashi's usual behavior, the man seemed painfully lazy. They'd finish missions and he'd immediately dismiss them. But today, he'd actually kept them behind and taught them how to run up trees and walk on water.
Those were things he should've learned ages ago, but without a clan, he was like most civilian-born ninja. He didn't learn any of it until after graduation when his Jonin instructor taught him.
And it wasn't just tree climbing and water walking. Kakashi even gave them tips on chakra control. What surprised Sasuke even more was that Sakura was actually better at it than he was.
In his mind, Sakura barely registered. Naruto had more presence than she did. Sure, Sakura liked him and hovered around him all the time, but there were plenty of girls like that in school. Nothing special.
Naruto, at least, stood out as the class dead-last.
And then there was Kaede Kitahara's diary saying that Uzumaki Naruto would one day stand at the summit of the ninja world. That pushed Sasuke even harder. He could lose to anyone, but not Naruto.
If even that dead-last could rise to the top someday, then how could he allow himself to be weaker?
Suddenly, he felt the familiar tug of the diary updating. He rushed inside, pulled the copied diary from its hiding place, and flipped it open.
—
"Ha!"
In the Hatake Clan's training grounds, Hatake Kakashi moved like a phantom. A short blade flashed in his hand as he unleashed a series of sharp, flowing strikes, each one trailing a crescent of chakra that tore through everything in front of him.
Moments later, Kakashi finally stopped. Sweat poured down his forehead.
He stared at the short blade in his hand, breathing heavily. It had been years since he'd seriously used the Hatake family kenjutsu.
No wonder it felt rusty… almost foreign.
This blade style was the true foundation of the Hatake Clan. Their ancestors hadn't started as traditional ninja at all, but as samurai. Only later, when they saw the potential of the shinobi world, had they transitioned into ninja.
The Hatake blade style had evolved bit by bit from samurai swordsmanship, refined over generations until his father, Hatake Sakumo, perfected it. Sakumo was a once-in-a-lifetime genius who had relied on that very style to break into Kage Level—and even among Kage Level, he'd been one of the strongest.
Kakashi's ideal path should have been to follow in his father's footsteps, mastering and elevating the Hatake sword style. He had the talent for it, too.
But then that incident happened when he was young. To carry on his friend's final wish—to see the world through his friend's eye—Kakashi had taken a different path, one built around the Sharingan.
He'd even developed Chidori, a thrusting technique that paired perfectly with the Sharingan. Everything pushed him toward becoming a lightning-speed, single-target assassin.
That path earned him the title of the Copy Ninja… but it also closed the door to Kage Level.
He hadn't cared before. Even if he wasn't Kage Level, he was still among the strongest below it.
But now things were different.
The monsters that appeared later…
The diary alone showed multiple Kage-level figures walking around. Kakashi himself had been humiliated twice already. Even Sasuke eventually stepped into the Kage-level ranks. At this rate, in the future, if you weren't Kage Level, your opinion wouldn't matter.
And then there was the looming destruction of Konoha. That man— the leader of the Akatsuki— the one who destroyed the entire village in a single strike… Kakashi could still picture that scene clearly.
If he faced that man with his current strength, he wouldn't survive a single attack.
If he wanted any influence in Konoha's future…
If he wanted any chance of surviving what was coming…
He had to get stronger.
He had to reach Kage Level.
So, for the first time in years, he opened his father's notebooks. They detailed how to break into Kage Level, written hastily in his father's handwriting—left behind just before Sakumo took his own life.
Kakashi had never been able to bear reading them before. His father's death had left a wound that never healed.
Opening the notebook again now stirred a deep, complicated ache in his chest.
"'Momentum… only by grasping the momentum of the blade can one achieve a true transformation, elevating swordsmanship into blade momentum. To do that, you must cultivate an unshakeable belief in your own invincibility.'" Kakashi recited from memory. Sakumo had written everything with painstaking detail, terrified that the young Kakashi wouldn't understand otherwise.
Kakashi was a natural genius. He'd simply been derailed by Obito, Rin, and the deaths of his teacher and teacher's wife. Now that he'd picked up the Hatake blade style again, everything just clicked the moment he read it.
And he realized something.
The Hatake blade style was the path most suited to him.
Thanks to the Sharingan, his chakra reserves had been reduced to the level of an average elite Jonin. Managing his chakra was a constant pain.
But the Hatake style was a type of nintaijutsu with far lower chakra consumption than Raikiri. If he fought using the blade instead, his stamina would increase dramatically.
He tightened his grip on the short blade.
Kage Level wasn't just a goal anymore.
It was a necessity.