"Uchiha Kai, I'll kill you!!"
In the end, accompanied by a shrill, grief-stricken howl, Sasuke's very first day at the Ninja Academy came to a close.
Before entering the school, he had been brimming with confidence—arrogant, unruly, full of swagger.
Even dogs passing by would've earned two slaps from him.
After entering the school, however, he was completely drained—body and soul exhausted.
All he wanted now was to escape this place.
If escaping didn't work—then maybe destroying the school would.
So the moment the teacher announced dismissal, Sasuke could no longer suppress the murderous intent boiling in his chest. He bolted straight toward the Uchiha compound.
Revenge.
That bastard had to pay in blood.
In just a single day, Sasuke felt like a zoo animal—
watched by countless girls with gazes full of concern, pity, sympathy, and curiosity.
And from their chatter, he finally realized one horrifying truth—
His reputation had been completely ruined.
All kinds of outrageous, absurd stories had piled up on his head.
There was enough material there to write a two-million-word novel.
And as for who was responsible?
The answer was obvious.
That lunatic.
He was furious.
Rage burned hot.
Fueled by anger, Sasuke charged home like a red-eyed bull charging a matador.
And Kai—
Kai was that red cloth.
"Uchiha Kai! Get out here!"
"Get your ass out here!"
"You bastard! How dare you ruin my reputation!"
"What the hell are you trying to do?!"
...
Listening to the shouting outside, Mikoto leaned against the doorway, worry written across her face.
"What happened to Sasuke? What set him off like this?"
Fugaku didn't say a word, but the twitching at the corner of his eye refused to calm down.
After hesitating for a moment, he glanced at his still-graceful wife and lowered his voice.
"Maybe… we should reroll another character."
"What reroll? Kai's the one always spouting nonsense—Fugaku, how could you—"
Mikoto's face flushed red as she poked him in the waist.
"Ow—ow—okay, okay, that hurts!"
"Ah—I just remembered there's a clan meeting… I'll be off then…"
...
Elsewhere.
Kai left the academy with a deeply satisfied smile on his face.
"As expected of a class packed with geniuses—everyone's got at least some kind of trait."
His throat was dry, his mouth parched from talking all day.
But the results were incredible.
[Chatted for ten minutes. Congratulations, host obtained Elite Trait: Simple-Minded (green).]
[Chatted for ten minutes. Congratulations, host obtained Common Trait: Strong Constitution (white).]
[Chakra Refinement (green), Kunai Proficiency (white)…]
Today's copy success rate was absurdly high.
Nearly fifty traits in total.
That was almost three months' worth of gains under normal circumstances.
"System, fuse all the white traits into Flying Thunder God."
[Fusion successful. Flying Thunder God Technique has improved. Teleportation distance +1.]
[Fusion successful. Flying Thunder God Technique has improved…]
As one white and green trait after another vanished, the teleportation range kept increasing.
Then, when the final white trait disappeared, the system prompt changed.
[Fusion successful. Flying Thunder God Technique (gold) lv6 → lv7.]
[Maximum teleportation distance increased to 1000 meters. Chakra cost reduced to 80–1000.]
"Huh… it finally leveled up again?"
Kai was a little surprised.
"One kilometer… that opens up a lot of possibilities."
Konoha was big.
Much bigger than it looked in the original story.
From years of casual chatting, Kai had learned that it was less a "village" and more a full-fledged city—
with not just ninja, but vast numbers of civilians as well.
Before this, using Flying Thunder God meant repeated activations, hopping again and again—
like spamming Flash with no cooldown but limited range.
Now?
This was an evolved version.
One kilometer meant instant arrival—no wind-up, no cooldown, true teleportation.
After glancing around, Kai's thoughts stirred. He walked behind a tree—
And in the next instant, vanished with a whoosh.
Not long after he disappeared, movement rustled in the branches above.
Kakashi rubbed his head and poked his face out, confusion evident.
"Gone?"
"Was that a Transformation Jutsu?"
Ever since their last encounter, Kakashi had grown increasingly curious about that Uchiha kid.
So he'd started checking in from time to time.
But this time—
That boy had vanished right under his nose.
Breathing in the faint residue of chakra left in the air, Kakashi frowned.
"This isn't Transformation… and not a Shadow Clone either…"
"Strange. This chakra signature… why does it feel familiar?"
He hesitated, then pulled down his mask and snapped his right eye open.
In an instant, crimson light flared.
The spinning Sharingan carefully traced the lingering traces of chakra.
He even clapped his hands and summoned Pakkun to help sniff it out.
Soon enough, under Pakkun's lead, the man and dog began moving toward the outskirts of the village.
Once their figures disappeared—
Kai quietly emerged from behind another tree, a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
"Not bad, dog nose. You actually caught on."
"Too bad I've got business tonight, so I can't stay and chat with you, Fifty-Fifty."
With that, he turned and headed off in another direction.
When he'd just passed through the village gates earlier, he'd already noticed Kakashi.
Unfortunately, Kakashi was still in a dialogue cooldown.
And more importantly—what Kai was about to do tonight wasn't something he wanted anyone else knowing about.
So, sticking to the principle of minimizing trouble, he'd used Shadow Clones, Transformation Jutsu, and—
Flying Thunder God.
All to draw Kakashi away.
Rustle.
Not long after Kai left, movement stirred again in the trees.
Kakashi parted the leaves and looked toward the direction Kai had vanished, one eyebrow lifting slightly.
"Young. Mysterious, sure—but still just a kid. Too inexperienced…"
"But still… sneaking around like this. Something's off about him tonight."
For some reason, curiosity bloomed in Kakashi's chest.
With a flicker of motion, he followed.
He wanted to see exactly what Kai was up to.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
As he moved, residential buildings gradually thinned out.
Trees and exposed rock became more common.
Human presence faded.
By the time night fully fell, a massive graveyard slowly came into view.
"A cemetery?"
"What's he doing here?"
Then Kakashi's eyes narrowed sharply.
"That's—
Sensei's grave?"
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