In an instant.
The sound of footsteps grew closer from afar.
Before the two could react, the uninvited guest had already crossed the Hatake clan grounds, nearing the door.
Such incredible speed!
Kakashi's lazy gaze sharpened instantly. He set down his chopsticks and drew a kunai from his lower back.
"It's Gai coming back," Hikari said calmly, waving a hand at Kakashi, her Byakugan already activated.
Knowing Hikari's sensory abilities, Kakashi's eyes returned to their usual relaxed state. He sat back on the tatami, resuming his half-dead demeanor.
Whoosh! The door slid open.
Carrying a staff and luggage, Might Gai burst in, panting heavily.
"Hikari, I heard you were inju—injured—"
Gai's voice cut off abruptly.
His thick eyebrows twitched.
The scene before him was nothing like what he'd imagined—no Hikari wrapped in bandages, lying on the verge of death.
Instead, Kakashi and Hikari, dressed in loose casual clothes, sat cross-legged on the floor. A spread of food and drinks lay before them, and they clinked cups in a carefree toast.
Seeing Gai barge in, the two shinobi—who together barely had a pair of functioning eyes—turned their heads in sync. One with long silver-gray hair, the other short; one tall and broad, the other small and slight. Even the black masks on their faces seemed to match perfectly.
Gai glanced down at his travel-worn self, then back at the two effortlessly charming figures before him. He suddenly felt like he didn't belong.
"You guys… what's all this?" Gai's hands flailed in circles, his words stumbling.
After being away for over a month, his best friend and daughter not only didn't seem to miss him but were living even more comfortably than when he was home.
Seeing him return so suddenly, they showed neither surprise nor joy, as if he were just a random stranger who'd wandered in.
With only one visible eye between them, Gai saw nothing in their gazes but a dead-fish calm, mirroring the awkward atmosphere.
Pop, pop, pop…
Emotional bubbles seemed to ripple through the air. The orange juice in Hikari's mouth suddenly tasted sour.
"Welcome home, Gai," Hikari said, tilting her head with a warm smile, arms spread wide in greeting.
The sight of his adorable daughter welcoming him melted Gai's heart. The emotional bubbles above his head shifted back to a joyful orange, and his drooping, sorrowful brows perked up again.
"Heh heh! Hikari, I heard you were attacked by foreign shinobi and badly injured, so I rushed back—" Gai began.
"I'm fine now, don't worry," Hikari reassured.
"That's… that's great!" Gai's signature gleaming grin returned, his energy fully restored.
Kakashi watched Gai, who'd been cheered up in seconds, and shook his head with a sigh, downing his orange juice in one gulp.
This girl had some kind of magic touch.
She seemed cold and unapproachable at first, but somehow, she always lifted your mood. Every word, every gesture hit just the right spot.
When you were down, she'd sense it instantly and avoid pushing your buttons. When you were in high spirits, she'd tease just enough to keep things fun without crossing the line, leaving you happily at her mercy.
Kakashi didn't consider himself particularly easy to get along with. Yet, after just half a month of living together—barely exchanging a few words—his fondness for Hikari kept growing.
It wasn't love or anything like that, just a quiet sense of comfort. Being around her felt relaxing, pleasant, free of offense or negativity.
Even Gai hadn't tasted the meals Kakashi cooked, but these past few days, Hikari had nearly grown tired of them. If it weren't for his Sharingan, Kakashi might've suspected he was under some unknown genjutsu.
"Dang dang dang! Look what I brought you!" Gai exclaimed.
In a few words, Gai's negativity vanished completely. He eagerly pulled out gifts for Kakashi and Hikari from his luggage.
A bundle of black cloth.
"What's this?" Hikari asked, gently touching the fabric. It felt smooth and delicate, its surface a pure, unblemished black.
"Is this… Black Orb cloth?" Kakashi asked, eyeing the material with disbelief, his surprise evident.
"What's it do?" Hikari asked, puzzled. She didn't recall anything about this in the original story.
"Legend says it's stab-proof and fire-resistant, worth more than gold. A piece this big is probably worth tens of millions," Kakashi said, marveling.
"Not bad, then!" Hikari said lightly.
Gai gave an awkward chuckle, staying quiet.
"The thing is, it's incredibly rare. They say it's only produced in the distant Black Orb Kingdom, and even if you have the money, there's no way to buy it. How'd you get a piece this big?" Kakashi asked, picking up the Black Orb cloth and turning to Gai.
Gai, ready for the question, grinned and launched into a lively recount of his extraordinary escort mission, eagerly awaiting their reactions.
"Oh," Kakashi replied, his dead-fish eyes unchanged, his expression flat.
Gai's tale reminded Kakashi of a snowy land from long ago. He wondered if Yukie was still alive after all these years.
"I see," Hikari said, nodding calmly.
In the original story, Naruto's missions saved countless nations, even sealing away world-threatening demons a couple of times. No matter how absurd a mission was in Konoha, it didn't faze her.
"Aren't you guys shocked?" Gai asked, feeling like his passion had been poured onto a glacier, his whole body stiffening.
"Very shocking," they said in unison.
"Liars!!!" Gai clutched his watermelon-rind head, jumping in frustration.
Hikari glanced at the negative emotions swirling above Gai's head. Seeing he wasn't truly upset, she ignored his antics and turned her attention to the staff wrapped in Black Orb cloth.
Black Orb cloth might be fire- and stab-proof, but it wasn't Byakugan-proof.
With a slight focus of her Byakugan, gray chakra pulsed from her pupils, easily piercing the cloth.
It was… a black fire-poking stick?
Hikari froze, expecting some hidden treasure. She doubled down, observing more closely.
A stick wrapped in such precious cloth had to be valuable. Its plain appearance only made it more intriguing—it likely had significant practical use.
The veins around her eyes bulged as chakra surged.
The stick's ashy black exterior peeled away under her gaze, revealing a brownish-yellow crystal beneath. The crystal was cloudy, filled with fibrous impurities, neither translucent nor beautiful, with a slightly dirty texture.
Under her Byakugan's magnification, the crystal's internal fibers wove into a strange hexagonal lattice—solid and dense.
That was the impression the crystal gave her. Beyond that, she sensed no chakra fluctuations whatsoever.
Then, Kakashi noticed the staff's oddity. "What's that stick?"
"That's the Heavy Stone Crystal, my prize!" Gai said, his tone growing serious. He picked up the staff, unwrapping the Black Orb cloth to reveal the fire-poker-like crystal.
Kakashi, no stranger to rare items, saw Gai's attachment and knew it wasn't ordinary. He flipped up his Konoha headband, revealing the Sharingan in his scarred eye, its three tomoe spinning.
But the first thing he saw wasn't the "Heavy Stone" Gai mentioned—it was a purple glow across from him.
Hikari's small figure sat on the tatami, her heart's chakra core glowing like a misty sunset, shrouded in a faint purple haze.
Wasn't her chakra supposed to be a deep ocean blue?
Kakashi's eyes flickered. He'd never heard of someone's chakra color changing. Then again, he'd never heard of a six-year-old elite Jōnin either. Maybe this was just a genius thing?
Filing it away mentally, he turned his attention to the stick Gai called the "Heavy Stone Crystal."
"Don't bother. No chakra response, and it's not a chakra-conducting metal," Gai said, finally feeling some attention. He twirled the staff a few times, then gathered chakra in his palm and injected it into the crystal.
In an instant, both Hikari and Kakashi saw the previously inert stick glow with a brownish aura.
Gai's arm sank under the weight, his forearm muscles tensing, stretching his green spandex suit.
"It got heavier?" Kakashi asked, his Sharingan's tomoe nearly forming a ring.
While Kakashi focused on the surface, Hikari's Byakugan saw deeper. The moment Gai's blue chakra entered the crystal, she saw a brownish energy inside stir, blending into a muddy hue through some unknown process, resulting in the increased weight Kakashi observed.
"This is the Heavy Stone Crystal. As you saw, infusing chakra makes it heavier," Gai said, demonstrating by injecting more chakra. The brownish-yellow glow intensified, and he hoisted the staff onto his shoulder. "The more chakra you pour in, the heavier it gets, and the longer it stays heavy. The rebel leader used this to defeat the king's guard captain. With this, I'll never need gym equipment again!"
"What's the max weight?" Kakashi asked.
"Right now, about 400-500 pounds. The limit's probably a few tons!" Gai said, joyfully swinging the staff, the heavy crystal whistling through the air.
Hikari and Kakashi lost interest simultaneously.
Sure, heavier weapons meant more power, but overly heavy ones threw off balance, requiring the wielder's body to compensate.
Kakashi excelled in close-quarters combat with a short blade, favoring agility. The staff was too heavy for him.
Hikari, a hand-to-hand specialist with a balanced offense-defense-agility build, had her Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku as her ultimate weapon. She didn't need it either.
"Interesting concept, but pretty useless in practice," a raspy voice said from the doorway.
The three froze, turning toward the sound.
Gai hadn't closed the door. Outside, a thin elderly man in a Hokage robe and hat stepped inside.
"Third Hokage!" Kakashi and Gai shot to their feet, saluting. Hikari set down her chopsticks and stood, showing respect.
After all, this was her future teacher, and she valued propriety.
"Sit, sit, no need to be so formal," Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a chuckle, patting Kakashi and Gai's shoulders. His gaze settled on the Heavy Stone Crystal on Gai's shoulder. "Let me see what rare thing you brought back!"
Gai carefully handed the staff to Hiruzen. "Be careful, sir."
"Hmph!" Hiruzen's aged, spotted hand gripped the 400-500-pound staff without a tremble.
Boom! Chakra erupted from his palm, surging into the crystal.
Buzz! The staff hummed strangely, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of chakra. The brownish glow couldn't keep up, reaching its limit no matter how much more Hiruzen poured in.
Seeing the weight stop increasing, Hiruzen's expression darkened. His arm muscles bulged unnaturally, and with a fierce swing, he slammed the staff downward.
Whoosh! The air roared.
Hikari's eyes twitched. A maxed-out Heavy Stone Crystal swung by a Kage-level ninja like Hiruzen? Forget the rest—this house was done for.
The three instinctively stepped back.
Whoosh! The devastating strike they expected never came.
Just before the staff hit the floor, Hiruzen's biceps swelled like basketballs. The destructive force capable of leveling the house dissipated in his arms.
Thud! The staff's edge tapped the floor, sounding like a chair leg brushing the ground.
Lifting the heavy as if it were light!
Kakashi and Gai's eyes widened, feeling the overwhelming pressure even without facing it directly.
As expected of the Third Hokage.
Hikari, observing with her Byakugan, was deeply shaken. Hiruzen looked frail, like an old ape wielding a stick, but his domineering chakra and physical strength were undeniable.
His chakra infused his muscles, wielding the tons-heavy staff like a toothpick. Hikari could manage a few tons by pushing her muscles to the limit, but not with such effortless control.
Moreover, as he infused chakra into the staff, he simultaneously spread chakra across the floor, distributing the massive force to protect it. To exert such power while still safeguarding the surroundings—Hiruzen's true strength was terrifying.
No wonder he could knock the Nine-Tails out of Konoha with a single strike. His taijutsu prowess was monstrous.
Hikari shook her head in awe.
This was six years before the Chūnin Exams, and Hiruzen wasn't as aged as in the original story. Excluding the overpowered outliers, he was absolutely at the pinnacle of the ninja world. Even with his body starting to decline, he far surpassed the Yozuki Yū, whom Hikari had killed.
She was certain: Yozuki Yū, who'd once pushed her to the brink with his lightning speed, wouldn't last three moves against Hiruzen before being pummeled into paste.
And she'd fare no better.
The gap between an elite Jōnin and a Kage was even wider than she'd imagined.
"Light but not light enough, heavy but not heavy enough. A toy," Hiruzen said, shaking his head in disappointment. He handed the staff back to a flustered Gai, his gaze shifting past Kakashi and Gai to Hikari. "Now, to business. I've looked into your situation. When are you ready to take me as your master?"
The room fell silent.
"?" Two massive question marks popped up above Kakashi and Gai's heads, followed by a torrent of rainbow-like emotional sparks.
Blocking out the emotional flurry, Hikari said helplessly, "Didn't you say to keep it a secret?"
"They're fine," Hiruzen replied.
"In that case, no time like the present. Today works. Do I need to prepare a master-disciple ceremony or anything?" Hikari asked.
"Up to you," Hiruzen said.
Ignoring the stunned duo, the old man and young girl continued their conversation as if no one else was there.
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