Chapter 16: Upright Refusal, Practicing Sword Technique

Notes:

Kamui is a space time ninjutsu that can be used with the Mangekyo Sharingan.

The speech continued until evening. For the whole duration, Uchiha Tonan’s emotional control was satisfactory. He was fairly successful in setting up the desired public persona.

This was also because Tonan’s parents did not have any close friends. If they did, seeing his performance right now, they would have acknowledged him immediately.

Thinking about this, Tonan could only secretly disapprove of them. Poor strength and even worse relationships, they truly were failures in life.

The next day, Tonan dressed in a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses and came to Kakashi’s house early in the morning. Even from a distance, through the white pigeon ninja beast, he had seen Kakashi standing at the doorway, looking towards the intersection.

However, when he appeared, Kakashi pretended to be sleepy, glanced casually at him, and then stared at the rising sun.

As if the newly rising sun was the most beautiful thing, asking to be treated me his closest partner.

If the story’s trajectory didn’t change, Kakashi attained the Kamui Sharingan, and then died when Nagato, also known as Pain, launched a surprise attack on Konoha.

“Wouldn’t that give me…”

Kamui was a good technique. It could greatly improve Tonan’s life-saving ability. Looking at it this way, Tonan thought Kakashi was not so worthless after all.

He looked at Kakashi with a warm gaze, and a small smile appeared on his face. Kakashi saw Tonan looking at him ‘affectionately’ from the corner of his eye.

The corners of his mouth hidden behind the mask unconsciously rose as well, but his tone was indifferent as he said, “You came so early.”

Tonan retracted his smile. Under the sunlight, he looked very gentle as he said, “At my parents’ graves yesterday, I took an oath to work hard and become their pride. And father taught me that an upright person does what he says.”

Kakashi nodded and led Tonan to the courtyard.

Pointing at Tonan’s gold-rimmed glasses, like he was making idle conversation, he asked, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, is something wrong with your eyes? Why are you wearing glasses?”

Tonan pushed his glasses up with his two fingers and explained, “I’ve been reading and summarizing concepts and knowledge of the three Hokage-sama every night. And perhaps, the lighting in my home is too dim, my eyes have become a little short-sighted.”

Kakashi frowned a little hearing this and asked, “Does it affect you?” His words were full of undisguised concern.

Tonan smiled, and said, “In a battle, it doesn’t matter much. As soon as I activate the Sharingan, the short-sightedness disappears. Thank you for your concern, Kakashi.”

Kakashi’s eyebrows loosened. Realizing he broke his nonchalant character right now, he turned to the other side, and said, “I was not concerned about you.”

A light breeze accompanied a tintinnabulation coming from the wind chime under the eaves.

“Tonan-kun is here.”

Hatake Sakumo was wearing baggy casual clothes with a tanto hanging on his waist. He sat cross-legged in front of the door and greeted Tonan with a smile. Tonan quickly placed his hands on his knees, bowed deeply, and respectfully said, “White Fang-sama, I’m extremely sorry to disturb your rest so early in the morning.”

Sakumo put on no airs. He waved his hand and said, “I’m not disturbed at all, I’m very happy that you’ve become Kakashi’s partner. I also want to thank you for urging Kakashi to train when I wasn’t home.”

Sakumo noticed that Tonan was staring at his tanto.

“Tonan-kun, do you like sword techniques?”

“I understand them just a little,” Tonan said, adjusting his glasses.

Sakumo took off the short sword, stroked it, and said, “If you like, I can teach you the Hatake Style Sword Technique.”

Tonan shook his head and said solemnly, “No, one must not accept undeserved emolument. More importantly, from the name alone, this technique must have been handed down in your family. I don’t think it should be shared with an outsider like me.”

Hearing Tonan’s righteous answer, Sakumo appreciated the kid’s personality even more, and said, “You are very talented, and you have such a good relationship with Kakashi. I don’t mind passing this technique to you. After you learn this, combining it with your Sharingan’s dynamic vision, you will definitely become much stronger.”

Tonan, however, firmly shook his head again and refused, “I’m sincerely grateful for your kind thoughts but I still can’t accept it. As an Uchiha, I already possess the Sharingan. I should focus on developing dojutsu, which is the most suitable training path for me.”

He was not only able to resist the allure of the Hatake Style Sword Technique, but also discern a clear path for himself.

“What a good child! Kakashi is lucky to have such a partner.”

Sakumo liked Tonan more and more, and he compromised, “I won’t teach you the quintessence of the technique, but just some basic sword skills. Then you can practice better with Kakashi. This will help improve his sword techniques as well. What do you think?”

All this while, Kakashi was also looking at Tonan. This was was a person he acknowledged. Although this technique was precious, it obviously couldn’t compare to Tonan’s place in his heart. Kakashi didn’t mind Tonan learning his family’s trademark technique. He even wanted to do more to improve Tonan’s strength to some extent.

Looking at Sakumo’s kindness and Kakashi’s eager gaze, Tonan reluctantly agreed, “Fine, many thanks, White Fang-sama.”

Learning the Hatake Style Sword Technique now was also a good idea. After Sakumo’s death, he could freely use it without arousing anyone’s suspicion. Of course, by that time, he might be better at the technique than Sakumo himself.

“Both of you come with me.”

Now that Tonan was onboard, Sakumo led the two kids to the backyard to start teaching the sword techniques. This was a first for Kakashi as well.

Sakumo gave them both a short wooden sword and began to teach from the very beginning.

“The Hatake Style Sword Technique originated from the ancient samurai, and it’s divided into three steps. The first step is to learn the basics of slashing. This process requires intense training to turn the sword into an extension of your limbs.”

“The second step is to learn various confrontation skills, and use your sword to deal with different kinds of enemies. This requires actual combat training. The third step is the quintessence of this technique, using chakra to strengthen the sword…”

Sakumo was in the process of explaining when Tonan interrupted him and solemnly said, “White Fang-sama, you don’t need to tell me about the third step. Please teach it to Kakashi when you are alone.”

Sakumu paused, nodded, and said, “Alright.”

“What an upright young fellow.”

He showed a hint of admiration when looking at Tonan. “Let’s look at how to slash first. In the future, you two need to continuously repeat this action until it turns into instinct.”

Sakumo demonstrated slashing the wooden stake. Tonan had already activated the Sharingan and captured his movements. Sakumo caught a glimpse of the rapidly moving tomoe in Tonan’s eyes, and couldn’t help praising it in his heart.

Sharingan is truly a powerful dojutsu, at least, in terms of learning basic things, Tonan was far ahead of his peers.