"Good morning, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Yamanaka Ino greeted him cheerfully, smiling from ear to ear.
Beside her was Hyuga Hinata, though she was much quieter, hiding slightly behind Ino. Her voice was so soft Kitazawa almost didn't hear her.
"I made a bento."
Ino took out a lunch box and offered it to him. "Please try it, Kitazawa-sensei."
"Thank you," Kitazawa said, a little surprised. "Didn't expect someone your age to already know how to make lunch boxes."
"Of course!" Ino said proudly, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm really good at it, you know!"
Hinata looked at the bento box with a hint of envy. She'd spent most of her life training in Gentle Fist and never had the chance to learn how to cook.
"It tastes good," Kitazawa said after taking a bite of the rice ball.
A thought suddenly crossed his mind: Looks like I've been eating for free again.
He'd been eating meals brought by Hinata every day, all paid for with her allowance, not his.
And now, with Ino also bringing him breakfast, Kitazawa realized that, without even noticing, he had become… a kept man living off his students food.
"Kitazawa-sensei, do you think I can beat Sakura in the water-walking training tomorrow?" Ino asked, her face full of hopeful anticipation.
"You can," Kitazawa said after a short pause.
Haruno Sakura's chakra control was indeed slightly better than Ino's, but only slightly. They were both just first-year students, after all. In terms of raw ability, Ino actually had the upper hand. And with the extra training she'd been doing these days, she definitely had a chance to surpass Sakura.
"Really?! That's awesome!" Ino said excitedly, her confidence instantly boosted.
Kitazawa smiled and went back to eating. Soon, he and Ino were done, leaving only Hinata still eating slowly.
While waiting, Kitazawa opened his character panel.
[Name]: Kitazawa
[Age]: 6 years old
[Attributes]: Wind, Fire, Water
[Kekkei Genkai]: Byakugan
[Taijutsu]: Leaf Whirlwind, Leaf Great Whirlwind, Leaf Strong Whirlwind
[Genjutsu]: Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death
[Wind Release]: Wind Style: Gale Palm, Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere
[Fire Release]: Fire Style: Great Fireball, Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire, Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame
[Water Release]: Water Style: Wild Water Wave
[Ninjutsu]: Transformation Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, Shuriken Manipulation, Hemostasis Technique, Shadow Clone Technique, Sexy Jutsu
[Evaluation]: Possessing jonin-level strength at six years old, you are the next Sage of Six Paths. The ninja world will remember your name.
Compared to his previous stats, this was an astronomical leap.
The sheer number of jutsu he now commanded far exceeded that of most shinobi.
Only those born into powerful clans or rare prodigies like Namikaze Minato could master this many techniques.
And that didn't even include his chakra reserves, which the system didn't display.
Of course, the system still insisted on labeling him as "six years old"…
Kitazawa exhaled slowly. The system might be dumb, but it was undeniably powerful.
In less than two months, his strength had skyrocketed to the level of a jonin. If word of that got out, he'd probably be hailed as an even greater prodigy than Uchiha Itachi.
And given time, by the time Naruto and Sasuke graduated, he might actually become the next Sage of Six Paths.
"I'm done eating, Kitazawa-sensei," Hinata said softly, putting down her chopsticks.
"Alright," Kitazawa said, standing up. "Let's go train."
The three of them headed to the artificial lake, but someone unexpected was already there.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
Uchiha Sasuke walked up to him, his expression serious. "I want to learn more Fire Release techniques."
The class sparring match yesterday had stirred a sense of urgency in him, so he'd come early this morning to find Kitazawa.
He had considered asking Fugaku or Itachi, but both were too busy lately to train him.
Kitazawa, of course, didn't refuse. After all, he had just unlocked a quest involving Sasuke and that one-handed hand seal reward was something he really wanted.
"Hinata, Ino, wait for me for a bit," Kitazawa said before turning to Sasuke.
"I'll teach you Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu. It's a C-rank technique."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke said, a little surprised. He hadn't expected Kitazawa to teach him that jutsu, one belonging exclusively to the Uchiha clan.
"I'll demonstrate first."
Kitazawa formed the seals and exhaled, releasing a series of blazing fireballs in quick succession.
"My turn," Sasuke said, mimicking the hand signs.
A second later, a row of small fireballs shot out from his mouth.
He froze. Did I just… succeed on the first try?
Then it hit him — his chakra control and nature transformation had improved lately.
"Not bad," Kitazawa said with a nod. "But you're far from mastering it."
Sasuke had barely managed a rough version of the technique. The real challenge lay in controlling the trajectory and size of each fireball.
The true strength of Phoenix Sage Fire lay in precisely guided fireballs impossible to dodge when used properly.
And more importantly, Sasuke's quest hadn't been marked as complete yet.
"Do you understand the key points?" Kitazawa asked.
"I do. Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke said earnestly, bowing his head.
His earlier pride had completely vanished. He still had a long way to go before truly mastering it.
At the same time, he couldn't help but imagine if he perfected this jutsu, both his father and Itachi would definitely praise him.
"Keep practicing. If you have questions, come to me," Kitazawa said.
"Yes, sir."
Then Sasuke suddenly asked, "Kitazawa-sensei, for the upcoming friendly match with Class 2-A… will my opponent be Hyuga Neji?"
"That depends on your performance," Kitazawa replied vaguely.
In truth, he'd planned for Yakumo Kurama to face Neji. But if Sasuke could win, that'd be even better.
Still… that was a tall order, Neji had already awakened his Byakugan.
"Alright, you two, back to training," Kitazawa said, turning back to Hinata and Ino.
He began their special training session, which lasted until the afternoon.
Afterward, he left them to continue practicing and went to teach Class 1-A's combat lesson.
"Kitazawa-sensei!"
Naruto ran up to him eagerly. "Are we doing more physical training today? It's so boring! Can we do something new?"
"There is something new," Kitazawa said with a grin. "The five students selected yesterday will participate in live combat training."
"Combat training?" Naruto's eyes lit up. "A one-on-one battle again? Awesome!"
Since Hinata and Sasuke weren't around, Kitazawa had Naruto, Shino, and Choji participate instead.
The class wasn't even halfway through when Kitazawa suddenly felt a sharp, piercing gaze.
He looked up instinctively and saw Tsunade approaching from a distance.