Tuesday morning.
Kitazawa walked through the village streets, thinking back on last night and shaking his head. He had thought Tsunade had finally forgiven Hiruzen—but clearly not. She got completely wasted at dinner again, and ended up being dragged home by Shizune and Kurenai.
Since it got too late, he didn't bring up learning the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique with Kurenai. And today's afternoon was booked—he was heading to the hospital to shadow Shizune during surgery and learn Chakra Scalpel techniques on the side.
With that in mind, he veered off toward Kurenai's house.
If he couldn't talk to her in the afternoon, he'd do it in the morning. Besides, the only thing he had lined up was coaching Naruto and Hinata.
He unlocked the door and stepped in. The living room was empty.
"Still in bed?" Kitazawa muttered, thinking, Must've drunk way too much last night.
Tsunade loved alcohol, and Kurenai wasn't far behind. They were by far the biggest drinkers last night.
"Anything good for hangovers?" He opened the fridge and spotted some milk. Perfect.
He grabbed it and headed to the kitchen to make sandwiches—simple, fast, and a good match with milk.
A few minutes later, he heard soft footsteps.
Turning toward the hallway, he saw Kurenai slowly wandering in, half-asleep and yawning.
Kitazawa blinked in surprise. She hadn't changed—still in a thin silk nightgown that clung to her body, showing off a bit too much with every step. Nothing underneath.
"Eh?"
Kurenai froze mid-step as soon as she saw him.
"Eh what?" Kitazawa replied casually, openly admiring her figure.
"Am I dreaming?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and walking over.
"You think this is a dream?" He reached out and playfully pinched her thigh.
The silk was so thin he could feel just how soft her skin was.
"When'd you get here?" she grumbled, now fully awake.
"Not long. Wash up, breakfast is almost ready."
"Mm." She walked off to the bathroom.
But the second she picked up her toothbrush and looked in the mirror, she froze.
Oh god, this nightgown is practically see-through.
Not helping matters: she was still wearing it from last night when she passed out drunk.
Her face lit up red. She finished washing up and practically sprinted past the kitchen, darting into her room to change. Only when she came back out did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Then she caught Kitazawa's smirking expression.
Her face turned red again.
"Come eat," Kitazawa said, waving her over. "What's with the blush?"
"None of your business!" she huffed, sitting across from him and kicking him lightly under the table.
"What was that for?" he asked, glancing at her bare foot.
"Because I felt like it. Problem?"
"Nope." He grinned and passed her a glass. "Milk. For the hangover."
She stared at it. He came over early just to cook and take care of me... ugh, I'm the worst.
She took a sip and looked at him. "Why are you staring?"
"Eat your food." He picked up his sandwich.
"Thanks," she said quietly.
"Bit early for that."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm gonna teach you a genjutsu today."
"…What?" she blinked, wondering if she heard wrong. "You're teaching me?"
"Yep." He raised an eyebrow. "So what should you call me now?"
"Are you serious?" she rolled her eyes. "You've only learned five genjutsu and you think you can be my teacher?"
"You know the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique?"
"Of course. That's a—wait." Her eyes widened. "You're saying you know it?!"
"Correct. No prize, though." He leaned over and pinched her cheek.
"No way! Where'd you learn that?!"
"Secret." He winked. "Wanna learn?"
"I…" she hesitated. Technically, learning that from Kitazawa was breaking protocol. But hey, she already did that once with Rasengan. "Alright. Teach me."
"Then how are you gonna thank me?"
She looked him in the eye. "What, you want me in a business suit today?"
"Can't." He suddenly looked very serious. "Today, I'm the teacher. You're the student."
"…Pervert."
"How's that perverted?" he replied, deadpan. "If I'm teaching you Bringer-of-Darkness, I'm your sensei."
Kurenai stared at him, then smirked. She stood, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Kitazawa-sensei, how should I thank you?"
She bit his ear gently and exhaled slowly.
He shivered.
Then she kissed the edge of his ear... then moved to his lips.
By the time they pulled apart, her face was flushed bright red. Bold as it was, it was definitely a first for her.
"You're not heading to your students this morning?" she asked, drinking more milk.
"You're coming with. You busy?"
"Nope. Tsunade and Shizune usually don't show up till evening."
"Yeah, Tsunade blew all her time again playing cards. She's on her own for the next jutsu."
Kitazawa chuckled. Not that they'd mind working together anyway.
"Is she always that bad at cards?"
"In a word? Always loses."
"…Wow. Impressive."
She paused, thinking back to last night. She thought she was lucky at cards—turns out Tsunade was just awful.
"Her reputation taking a hit yet?" Kitazawa teased.
"Not really," Kurenai said. "Her strength and title speak for themselves."
Drinks, gambles, and still a top-tier ninja, Kitazawa thought.
After breakfast, they headed to the academy.
When they arrived at the artificial lake, Kurenai froze. "That's… a lot of Narutos."
A whole swarm of Shadow Clones in green jumpsuits.
"No matter how you look at it, a six-year-old doing this is insane," she muttered. "Makes me feel like all my training was for nothing."
"Welcome to the shinobi world." Kitazawa formed a hand seal and created a Shadow Clone. "You go help those two."
The clone nodded and walked off toward Naruto and Hinata.
Kitazawa turned to her. "Alright. Time for Bringer-of-Darkness. Even the strongest ninja becomes useless if they can't see."
"Exactly," she smirked. "Once I master this, I'm putting all those prodigies in their place."
"Let's start the lesson." He took her by the hand and led her to a bench near the lake.
It was an A-rank technique, and Kurenai didn't have cheats like he did—so it wasn't going to be easy. But they had time. No rush.
…
That evening, at Kurenai's place.
The Mirror Flower, Water Moon technique was complete. It was time to work on something new.
"Tsunade, any ideas?" Kurenai asked. "Another bloodline limit mimic?"
"Yakumo's Illusion Creation is a lot like Super Beast Imitation Drawing," Kitazawa chimed in. "One makes art come to life, the other draws creatures that materialize."
"But they're different," he continued. "Illusion Creation produces actual flesh and blood. Beast Scroll is just chakra and ink."
"We could base the next jutsu on Illusion Creation," Tsunade said after thinking, "but what I really want to explore is Emotion Substitution."
Kitazawa blinked. He remembered. They'd brainstormed two paths to treat trauma: memory sealing for a full cure, and emotion substitution for a temporary fix. The former had already been developed. The latter hadn't.
Wait… is Tsunade finally willing to treat her hemophobia?
Emotion Substitution might be exactly what she needed.
But Kitazawa didn't push. The system gave him the quest to help her, but he couldn't rush it. Risking his bond with her would be a massive loss.
…
August 28th. Three days until school starts.
"Man, summer went by fast," Kitazawa said, staring out the window.
"Which is harder, classes or training?" Kurenai asked, nibbling fried fish.
Ever since he started teaching her the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique two weeks ago, they'd been eating breakfast together every day before their private training at the lake.
"Feels the same," Kitazawa replied.
"I figured you'd say training."
"Nah, it's fine."
"Well, you're a natural. Of course you don't think it's hard."
Kurenai pouted again. She'd been at it for two weeks and still hadn't fully mastered the technique. Meanwhile, Kitazawa had picked up Nirvana Temple in one week flat.
The gap was obvious.
"Honestly, it's easier with you around."
She narrowed her eyes. "Flatterer."
"Want me to prove it?" He grinned.
"Eat your food!" she said, kicking him again.
"Ever hear the phrase 'feast for the eyes'?"
"Where do you come up with this crap?" she said, laughing despite herself.
"It's true, though."
"I'm not even answering that." She popped the last shrimp into her mouth. "…When's school starting again?"
"August 31st is registration. First class is September 1st."
"Guess I'll be training solo again once you're teaching full-time," she said, clearly reluctant.
It wouldn't be the same without him.
"You can still train at the school," he winked. "Plenty of students to keep you company."
"No way! I'm a chūnin, I'm not sparring with a bunch of genin!"
"You trained with Naruto and Hinata all summer."
"That was different!"
He laughed. "Now that there's a crowd, you're shy?"
"I just don't want rumors flying," she crossed her arms. "Anyway, I've almost got Bringer-of-Darkness down. It's just a matter of time."
"Alright. If you get stuck, come find me."
"Oh, I'll come find you," she said, grinning. "Get ready to be harassed."
They arrived at the school, and Naruto ran up with a bunch of clones.
"Kitazawa-sensei! I did it!"
"Wow," Kurenai blinked at the matching green jumpsuits. "That's… a lot."
"What did you do?" Kitazawa already had a good guess.
"Look!" Naruto held up a balloon that had popped.
"Congrats. Stage one of Rasengan complete."
Two weeks was decent for a six-year-old.
"Today we start stage two," Kitazawa smiled. "Same idea—only the balloon is now a ball that's a hundred times tougher."
"WHAT?! A hundred times?! That'll take me years!"
"Hey, don't sell yourself short!" one clone barked.
"Right!" another shouted. "So long as we burn with youth, anything's possible!"
"For the sake of youth!"
"If we can pop a balloon, we can pop a ball!"
"No challenge can withstand the flames of youth!"
With that, the Naruto army dove into training again.
…
Lunchtime. The four of them sat down to eat.
"Aunt Mikoto's bento is always amazing!" Naruto mumbled through a mouthful of chicken.
"She's surprisingly sweet," Kurenai said.
Sasuke never came to training, but still delivered lunch every morning.
Kitazawa noticed her misunderstanding but chose not to correct it.
After lunch, he headed to Konoha Hospital—specifically Yakushi Nono's office. Tsunade had one, but never used it.
"Shizune's not here yet," Nonō told him.
"That's fine," Kitazawa nodded. "I'll wait."
Whether Shizune showed up depended on Tsunade, not her.
While he waited, he pulled up his system panel.
[SYSTEM STATUS PANEL]
Name: Kitazawa
Age: 6
Nature Types: Wind, Fire, Water, Yin, Yang
Bloodline: Byakugan
Mastered: Chakra Control, Shape Transformation
Proficient: Yin/Yang Chakra Nature Transformation
Known Jutsu: Chakra Scalpel, Rasengan, Multi Shadow Clone, etc.
Evaluation: "An unmatched prodigy. Even Kaguya Ōtsutsuki will tremble when you grow up."
…
He looked over his progress.
Most of his skills were in medical ninjutsu, genjutsu, and Fire Release. As for A-rank jutsu, he only had a handful—Chakra Scalpel, Temple of Nirvana, and Bringer-of-Darkness. Wind Release was barely started. He had a solid base in taijutsu too, with techniques like Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams 64 Palms and the First Gate of the Eight Gates.
Beyond that, it was just Rasengan and Multi Shadow Clone.
He rubbed his chin. Aside from the system's over-the-top praise, his stats were already brushing up against the upper limit of a regular ninja.
From here, there were only two paths left to break through:
More chakra—or more bloodline evolution.
~~~
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