Hearing his teacher ask him to pay, Kakashi reached into his wallet without hesitation, but after rummaging through it, he only found a few coupons.
He reached into his pockets again, then reluctantly pulled out a few coins.
"..."
This wasn't even enough for half a breakfast for one person.
After emptying his pockets, Kakashi started pretending to search through his ninja tool pouch. His eyes looked confused, as if he had just lost a huge sum of ryo.
Hayashi rolled his eyes.
"Alright, stop looking. Even if you stripped everything off, I'd still lose if you could somehow find a hundred ryo."
"Hehe."
Kakashi placed the few coins on the table and pushed them forward.
Hayashi didn't take them. Instead, he asked with a hint of suspicion.
"That doesn't add up. You just finished two D-rank missions yesterday. How is your money gone today?"
Kakashi answered casually.
"I saw a rare Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, hologram card and traded for it with Obito yesterday."
So that was it.
A pay to win addict.
Hayashi's gaze toward Kakashi softened slightly. The boy looked miserable when he couldn't even afford breakfast, but somehow still carried the confidence of someone making questionable financial decisions.
Still, Obito was ruthless for that trade. Selling a Tsuchikage card for that much was borderline robbery.
Then again, the Five Kage cards from Ichiraku Ramen were extremely rare.
It made sense Kakashi would go after a Tsuchikage card.
But then Hayashi noticed something.
Kakashi was nervous.
This kid had never spent money recklessly before. He was usually completely free to play. Spending all his money at once looked less like a genuine purchase and more like an excuse.
In other words, he was saying he had no money so someone else should cover it.
Hayashi remained calm and said lightly.
"I didn't bring money either. How about this, you stay and wash dishes for half a day. We'll count it as a D-rank mission."
"That way, you pay off the meal and get some training."
"..."
Kakashi's eye twitched slightly.
Doing chores again.
He was already tired of it.
He had once thought graduating early from the Ninja Academy would be the start of something great. Instead, after becoming a Genin, he was constantly stuck doing D-rank missions.
Cleaning Tsunade sensei's house was one thing. Today he was asked to collect bird nests for some kid. Tomorrow it would be cleaning up after a cat again.
Worst of all, Obito, Might Guy, and Asuma even used their pocket money to post a D-rank mission just to make him do their homework. That was not something a normal person should experience.
Was a ninja's life always this dull?
Kakashi sighed.
Most teams had three members. But Hayashi's team, including Kushina sensei, only had three people total, which made it severely understaffed.
Hayashi would never do menial tasks. Kushina sensei had already spent a long time doing D-rank missions and had finally moved up. She wouldn't go back either.
So every D-rank mission ended up being Kakashi's responsibility alone.
But one person handling a workload designed for three made no sense.
At this point, Kakashi strangely found himself missing his classmates from the Ninja Academy.
If he had known this would happen, he never would have graduated early.
Rubbing his slightly red eyes, Kakashi looked genuinely pitiful.
"Alright, stop acting."
Hayashi placed a few bills on the table.
"Let's go. We've done enough missions lately. It's time for special training to review what you've learned."
"Yes."
Kakashi immediately perked up.
The so called special training was usually just Hayashi using shadow clones to beat him up repeatedly.
But Kakashi never got tired of it.
It was effective. Like a sponge, he absorbed combat experience at a rapid pace.
Kakashi was still young, and his body had not fully developed. Hayashi avoided teaching him overly advanced ninjutsu for now.
Instead, chakra control was the priority.
Because everything started from there.
Once chakra control reached a high level, physical strength would naturally follow.
In the future, Kakashi would not rely on charging in with Raikiri at every opportunity. His style might evolve into something more refined, similar to Sakura's strength-based combat approach.
Although the image felt a bit strange, it saved a large amount of chakra.
Without the burden of the Sharingan, Kakashi's chakra reserves would be much better than in the original timeline.
By his twenties, his chakra capacity would be comparable to Hiruzen Sarutobi in old age.
If the Third Hokage could combine multiple ninjutsu effectively, Kakashi could do the same.
However, Chidori was not suitable for him right now.
Chidori relies on high speed thrusting. Without the Sharingan or strong predictive vision, it becomes extremely dangerous to use.
The problem is simple. If the attack line is too straightforward and the user cannot read the opponent's movement, it becomes predictable and easy to counter.
In that sense, Raikiri is similar to a high speed ultimate strike. Power is concentrated into a single point.
If one had a system that could predict enemy movement a few seconds ahead, landing it would be guaranteed. The Sharingan functioned exactly like that advantage.
Naruto's Rasengan had a similar issue in its early stages. Without sufficient speed or setup, it was difficult to land cleanly, so he relied on shadow clones to create openings.
Unlike Naruto, Kakashi did not have enormous chakra reserves, so relying on clones for constant feints was not realistic.
This is why the Sharingan originally defined Chidori's usability.
With it, Kakashi could track movement precisely and adjust his thrust instantly.
Without it, he needed a different approach.
Hayashi was already helping him develop Purple Lightning.
It sacrificed raw piercing power compared to Chidori but allowed better control and directional adjustment, making it more suitable for Kakashi.
After resting briefly, Kakashi picked up his sword again and began practicing Hatake clan sword techniques.
Sakumo Hatake had not taught him complex moves. Instead, he focused on fundamentals.
Straight thrusts, diagonal slashes, vertical cuts, and back swings.
Each movement repeated thousands of times.
Kakashi never felt bored.
Whenever there were no missions, he would arrive at the training ground at dawn and leave only at dusk.
His consistency and discipline were not far behind Might Guy's intense physical training.
It was clear he wanted to live up to the name of the White Fang.
In another timeline, Sakumo Hatake's death had deeply affected him. It shaped much of who he became.