A new day — Friday.
Over the artificial lake at the Ninja Academy, a tense atmosphere hung between Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura.
Kitazawa could practically see the sparks flying where their gazes clashed.
"Sakura!"
Ino stood with her hands on her hips, radiating confidence. "Tonight, your homework will be doubled!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Sakura clenched her fists proudly. "You've never beaten me once!"
"Today, I will!"
Ino stepped out onto the water, her foot pressing firmly on the surface. "Come on!"
Sakura immediately drew her wooden kunai, her small face tightening in concentration.
Ino, cautious and alert, began walking across the lake toward her.
Suddenly, the sound of air being sliced came from her left.
Without even looking, Ino bent down swiftly, dodging Sakura's wooden kunai.
She had been undergoing Kitazawa's "leaf training" for some time now and this was the moment it paid off.
"Just luck," Sakura muttered, face slightly tensed as she drew another kunai.
When Ino stood and took two steps, Sakura suddenly threw again, this time at a sharp, tricky angle, aimed straight for her back.
"What!?"
Sakura's eyes widened as Ino dodged again, unease creeping in.
In their past training, Ino would've focused so much on dodging that she'd forget to maintain chakra flow on her feet and fall straight into the water.
"I don't believe this!"
Frustrated, Sakura threw two kunai at once, both hands moving in sync.
Ino spun gracefully midair, dodging them with ease, and landed elegantly on the water's surface.
She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and flashed a dazzling, confident smile at Sakura.
"Ugh!"
Sakura felt the sting of that smile, a mix of beauty and mockery.
She gritted her teeth and kept throwing kunai, but today Ino was in perfect form, she didn't get hit even once.
"Yes!"
Reaching the far shore, Ino leaped onto land, raised both arms high, and cheered in triumph.
Thus, the great victory of Lady Ino.
"…"
Sakura froze in place, holding her kunai, feeling as if a heavy weight had just been dropped into her hands.
"Now it's your turn, Sakura."
Ino approached her, smiling playfully. "As long as I hit you once, your homework doubles!"
"Not that easy!" Sakura gritted out.
But the more she cared, the more mistakes she made.
By the end of the water-walking drill, Sakura had been hit three times.
"I win!"
Ino bounced in place, as if she had just won a great battle.
Sakura fell silent.
It felt as if someone had shoved a whole lemon into her mouth, bitter and sour all at once.
Kitazawa couldn't help but smile at the sight of Ino glowing like a blooming cosmos flower.
At that moment, text appeared before his eyes, representing Ino's completed mission.
Current mission: Help Yamanaka Ino defeat Haruno Sakura in the water-walking exercise.
Reward:Advanced-level Chakra Control.
*Mission complete. Reward granted.
As a flood of information filled his mind, Kitazawa felt slightly dazed.
Advanced chakra control, it was even stronger than he expected.
He almost felt like he could form a Rasengan right then and there.
But more importantly, Kitazawa realized this was the key to his next plan, to get close to Tsunade, show talent in medical ninjutsu, and eventually become her student.
He knew he was older than most, but since medical ninjutsu was a difficult field, it wasn't strange for talent to bloom late.
However, pretending to have a natural gift for it wouldn't be easy.
First, he needed Yang chakra nature.
Second, he needed to acquire multiple medical techniques from the system so he could "fake" being a natural genius.
Third, he needed advanced chakra control, which he now had.
Kitazawa's eyes turned toward Sakura.
His only medical jutsu so far, the Hemostasis Technique, came from her.
"Sakura," Ino said, extending her hand with a bright smile. "Do you admit defeat?"
"As if!"
Sakura grasped her hand tightly and shot back, "You only won once. Don't get cocky."
"I had Kitazawa-sensei's special training!" Ino said proudly.
"No wonder."
Sakura's eyes widened in realization before she shouted, "Kitazawa-sensei! I want special training too!"
New mission: Help your classmate Haruno Sakura complete her water-walking training.
Reward:Healing Technique (C-rank).
Accept mission?
Kitazawa blinked in surprise.
Well done, Ino, talk about perfect timing!
The Healing Technique was a C-rank jutsu that accelerated wound recovery, basically a weaker version of Tsunade's Mystical Palm Technique.
"No problem," Kitazawa said with a smile. "You'll train together with Ino."
Having one more or less didn't make much difference to him.
What mattered was that he now saw a path to learning more medical ninjutsu.
As long as Ino and Sakura continued their "friendly rivalry," everything would work perfectly.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!"
Sakura turned to Ino, huffing. "Our competition's just beginning! You'd better be ready!"
"Of course."
Ino agreed instantly, on purpose.
Winning once was enough. If she kept winning, it wouldn't be fair to Sakura.
They were best friends, after all, they had to share Kitazawa's special training equally.
"I'll leave a shadow clone to help you train," Kitazawa said.
He created a clone for them, then walked toward another training ground nearby.
There, sparks flew, Uchiha Sasuke was practicing Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
Judging by the intensity, he had nearly mastered it.
After all, both Phoenix Sage Fire and Fireball Jutsu were C-rank in difficulty.
Class ended quickly.
After school, Sasuke returned home and to his surprise, found his older brother Uchiha Itachi there.
"I took two days off," Itachi explained. "Since tomorrow's Saturday, I'll stay home and help you train your fire jutsu."
"Brother, look!"
Sasuke's eyes sparkled as he immediately demonstrated Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu.
"Impressive. You've already learned a second fire-style jutsu so quickly."
Itachi looked mildly surprised before asking, "Did Father teach you this?"
"It was Kitazawa-sensei!"
Sasuke grinned proudly.
"Kitazawa-sensei…?"
Itachi frowned slightly. "That's… somewhat inappropriate."
"Huh?"
Sasuke blinked in confusion.
"In principle, academy instructors only teach the Three Basic Techniques. Any other jutsu should come from your clan or your assigned team leader."
Itachi gently patted his brother's head. "So learning fire-style ninjutsu from Kitazawa-sensei technically breaks the rules."
"Then… what should I do?"
Sasuke asked nervously.