After Kitazawa wrapped up his chat with the Advanced Class, he walked over to Hatake Kakashi.
"Congratulations, Kitazawa," Kakashi said, his trademark dead-fish eyes unchanged.
"What's there to congratulate me for?" Kitazawa arched a brow.
"Your name's bigger than mine now," Kakashi replied evenly. "And you just earned major merit on the battlefield. That's worth a congrats."
"You're too modest. How could my reputation compare to yours?" Kitazawa shook his head.
"Am I continuing the lesson, or are you?" Kakashi dropped the fame talk—he never cared about that anyway.
"I'm free today, so I'll teach," Kitazawa said. "I'll trouble you with the next three days."
"Got it." Kakashi nodded. "I'll take my study groups."
After he led away the Lightning Release and Earth Release groups, only the Wind Release, Fire Release, and Special Groups remained.
"It's been two and a half months since my last class. I need to reassess your strength," Kitazawa said after a moment. "If I call your name, come with me. Everyone else keeps training until I call you."
He planned one-on-one sparring. After seeing their levels, he'd tailor new training.
[You've returned from the battlefield and decide to lay down the law—show your classmates how fast you've grown.]
[Current Mission: Defeat the Advanced Class students.]
[Reward: Leaf Dragon God.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa's expression flickered in surprise. He hadn't expected a new system quest the moment he got back—but the reward was excellent.
The "Leaf Dragon God," in the original story, was created by a Konoha taijutsu ninja named Master Chen. Before Might Duy and Might Guy rose to fame, Chen was called Konoha's strongest in taijutsu. Leaf Dragon God is his super-powerful taijutsu: the body spins at high speed to form a tornado, dragging targets into wind blades that slice them apart.
Because it looks like a coiling, rising azure dragon, it's called the Leaf Dragon God. In the original, Chen's Dragon God exceeded ten meters in diameter—a huge-area taijutsu.
Kitazawa accepted the quest and lifted his gaze to the students before him.
Naruto already had his hand up, waving eagerly. Kitazawa was about to pick him—then noticed Hyuga Hinata. She clutched her hem, Byakugan fixed on him, little face taut with nerves.
"Hinata," Kitazawa smiled.
Hinata blinked, then jogged over, happiness spreading across her face despite herself. Kitazawa ruffled her hair, and the two of them moved to an open patch nearby.
"The best way to gauge strength is a spar," Kitazawa said as they faced off. "Come at me with everything you've got."
Hinata nodded, inhaled, and set her arms—one forward, one back.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
She burst forward. Twin palms thrust out.
Kitazawa didn't counterattack—he simply raised his hands to guard.
Hinata struck out all thirty-two palms in one breath. Because Kitazawa never pressed her, she didn't stop at thirty-two; by the fortieth palm her movements began to get sloppy.
"Not bad," Kitazawa nodded. "You've made real progress lately."
Hinata's lips curled up at once.
"But don't get cocky." He tapped her forehead. "You've still got plenty of issues."
"Y-yes, Kitazawa-sensei." Hinata smiled sheepishly.
"I'll correct a few things, then teach you two more palms." He lifted her wrist about three centimeters. "Start over from the thirty-third palm."
He stepped back two paces. She clearly didn't need a whole new regimen—better to solidify Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms first.
"That's it for now," Kitazawa said half an hour later. "Fix these mistakes this week, then continue on the Sixty-Four Palms."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei." Hinata wiped the sweat from her brow.
"I also brought you a gift." Kitazawa took out a summoning storage scroll. "Nothing expensive—just a battlefield spoil."
Gratitude lit her face.
"No need for thanks—it really isn't pricey. It's a flower from the Land of Water," he said, handing her the scroll. "If I remember right, you like pressing flowers?"
"Kitazawa-sensei, how did you know?" Hinata was stunned—she'd never shown that hobby in front of him.
"Secret." He patted her head. "Go call Naruto over."
In truth, he remembered it from his past life's info on Hinata.
"Okay!" Hinata skipped away with the scroll—rare boldness for her, which meant she was in a very good mood.
"Kitazawa-sensei!" Naruto's voice drew near fast.
"We'll need a different spot," Kitazawa said, thinking of Naruto's Multi Shadow Clone Technique.
They headed to a nearby training field.
"Careful, Sensei! Multi Shadow Clone Technique!"
Naruto formed the seals, and in a blink the ground teemed with clones.
Kitazawa glanced over—exactly one hundred.
"Check out my new Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Naruto and his clones leaned back; chakra roared into wind and blasted out in unison.
A gale howled. A storm sprang up over the field. A hundred Great Breakthroughs together—C-rank ninjutsu kicking up A-rank spectacle. But the wider the area, the weaker the punch.
Kitazawa clapped his hands—one earth wall rose and blocked the squall.
"Amazing!" Naruto breathed, then shouted, "Use kunai!"
His clones hurled a rainstorm of kunai, dense enough to hide the sky.
Kitazawa nodded—good adaptation and follow-through. Under the barrage, the earth wall was quickly riddled with holes.
"Uchiha-Style: Gale Sword!"
In a flicker Kitazawa appeared among the clones. One sweeping cut—fire-wreathed blade—four Narutos in a row split open.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!
As those clones puffed away in smoke, the rest rushed him with taijutsu. Kitazawa's answer was simple: Thunder and Thunder, both blades drawn.
"Rasengan!"
The real Naruto seized an opening and drove a Rasengan at Kitazawa's back.
"Supervibrato Lightning Release Swords!"
Kitazawa spun, channeled lightning into the Rasengan—his sword shuddered, lightning flared—and the sphere ruptured.
"What?!" It was the first time Naruto had seen a Rasengan broken like that; he froze.
"Your Great Breakthrough's decent, but your Wind-nature change still isn't deep enough," Kitazawa sheathed both blades. "I'll teach you a B-rank Wind jutsu next—to make up for your lack of killing power."
Great Breakthrough and Gale Palm are both area attacks. Even paired with clones, they're less lethal than well-used tools.
"Awesome!" Naruto's face lit up. "Which Wind jutsu?"
"Wind Release: Vacuum Shuriken."
Kitazawa infused a shuriken with wind chakra and flicked it.
Boom!
The boulder it hit shattered into chunks.
Naruto's eyes went wide. Stronger than Great Breakthrough and Gale Palm—though not as strong as Rasengan—but with one big advantage: you can throw it.
"But before Wind Release: Vacuum Shuriken, you still need time on wind nature transformation," Kitazawa smiled.
"No problem!" Naruto said, unusually earnest.
Kitazawa guessed he wouldn't pick it up too fast—maybe by the end of term. It was May now; term ended in July, then summer break.
"I picked up a blade in this war that suits you," Kitazawa said, producing a summoning scroll.
Samehada is alive—too conspicuous and inconvenient to carry, and it won't go in a storage scroll. Kitazawa realized he'd been thinking in a box: if it's alive, isn't it essentially a summoning beast? After some persuasion, Samehada agreed to a summoning contract.
"But I can't use swords," Naruto scratched his head. "Do I have to learn swordsmanship like Sasuke? I'm worried I won't get it."
He usually brimmed with confidence, but in front of Kitazawa he was self-aware.
"You don't need to learn," Kitazawa chuckled. "It's a sword, but you don't have to treat it like one."
"Huh?" Naruto was baffled. If not a sword—then what?
"You'll see."
Kitazawa performed the Summoning Technique.
In a puff of smoke, Samehada appeared.
"This is a sword?" Naruto eyed the barbed, big-mouthed "blade," doubtful.
"It's not a sword in the traditional sense. It's called Samehada—a living creature with a sword's hardness," Kitazawa said. "Feed it your chakra."
Naruto gripped the hilt; as his chakra flowed in, the listless Samehada perked up, curving its body and nuzzling Naruto like a pet.
"It can absorb my chakra?" Naruto gaped.
"Not just yours—your enemy's too. And if you ever run low, it can feed you chakra back," Kitazawa smiled. "Though you'll probably never run low."
"Sounds pretty useful! Kitazawa-sensei, you're really giving it to me?"
He didn't know its exact value, but even just that function sounded incredible.
"I said I'm giving it to you—I won't take it back," Kitazawa waved. "Spend some time bonding with it."
"Thank you, Sensei!" Naruto beamed.
"Go fetch Ino," Kitazawa said, glancing at Samehada. With the summoning contract, he wasn't worried about it bolting. It wouldn't anyway—it felt no loyalty to the Hidden Mist; Fuguki Suikazan and Kisame Hoshigaki were both dead.
The only lingering concern was the Mist's Ninja Blade summoning scrolls—but Kitazawa could add a clause about those in next month's negotiations, keeping the Mist from invoking them.
Naruto jogged back to the yard and, without a word, whipped out Samehada.
"Look!" he grinned. "Kitazawa-sensei gave me this sword!"
"How can a sword look that weird?" Kiba squinted.
"It looks alive," Ino observed.
"A summoning beast shaped like a sword?" Tenten mused. Her contracted a chameleon could transform into a castle—so a blade-shaped summon wasn't that crazy.
"Wait!" Shikamaru's face shifted. "This looks familiar. Naruto—what's it called?"
"Samehada," Naruto said.
"What?" Everyone stared in shock.
"What's the problem?" Naruto asked, baffled. "Is something wrong?"
"Wrong? It's huge!" Kiba groaned, equal parts envy and despair.
"Remember the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist we talked about?" Shikamaru asked the blissfully clueless Naruto.
Naruto nodded.
"This blade was Fuguki Suikazan's," Shikamaru clapped his shoulder. "It's famous across the ninja world."
"Uh…" Naruto held the hilt, unsure how to react.
"If Kitazawa-sensei gave it to you, he has his reasons," Neji said gravely.
"I'm doomed!" Kiba grabbed his head. "Now I'll never beat Naruto!"
"It's fine," his sister Hana said dryly. "It's not like you ever did."
"You're a real sister, all right," Kiba twitched.
Neji felt a headache brewing—Hana wasn't wrong. Samehada was bad news for taijutsu specialists like him.
"Heh." Naruto suddenly brightened. "With Samehada, I don't have to worry so much about Sasuke's swordsmanship!"
"Good thing Sasuke isn't here," Ino laughed. "If he heard, he wouldn't sleep tonight."
Sasuke was off learning Chidori from Kakashi and wasn't in their group anyway.
"Oh—right, Ino, Kitazawa-sensei wants you!" Naruto remembered at last.
"And you're telling me now?" Ino spun and sprinted off.
She soon reached Kitazawa, slightly breathless. "S-sorry I'm late, Sensei."
"You're fine," Kitazawa said. "Catch your breath for two minutes, then we'll spar."
"No need!" Ino straightened, confidence shining. "Sensei, I won't let you down!"
"All right." Kitazawa took his distance.
"Ninja Art: Moonlight Beauty!"
Ino flung a cloud of petals.
Kitazawa flashed forward, drew Kiba, and cut down at her.
Steel light filled her vision; Ino startled—her Moonlight Beauty had never failed like that. She dodged in a panic, leaping back into seals.
"Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!"
An invisible wave pulsed out.
"Not bad," Kitazawa said, dispelling it with a flick and sheathing his blade. "Today I'll teach you a new genjutsu—Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique."
"Okay." Ino patted her chest and smiled shakily. "For a second I thought you were really going to chop me."
"Don't talk nonsense," Kitazawa tapped her forehead. "I'd never actually strike a student."
"My bad, Sensei," she stuck out her tongue, playful.
"First, the key points of False Surroundings," Kitazawa said with a smile.
Half an hour later Ino left, and Inuzuka Kiba took her place. He'd barely gotten War Stomp(?) to beginner level. Kitazawa had nothing new for him yet—told him to wait two days.
Next was Inuzuka Hana—her Quadruple Fang Over Fang Passing Fang was solid; she could attempt the Human Beast Combination Transformation: Double-Headed Wolf.
Hyuga Neji was about the same as Hinata: at the fortieth strike of the Sixty-Four Palms—keep grinding.
Kurama Yakumo had entered Leaf-Style taijutsu; soon she could learn the Leaf Whirlwind series.
Akimichi Chōji had learned parts of the Expansion Jutsu and Human Bullet Tank; next up was further Expansion training.
For Tenten, Kitazawa taught the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique—hard enough that it would take her a while.
Shikamaru had been on Yin Release nature change for ages; Kitazawa sent him back to the Nara to learn the Shadow–Neck Binding Technique, the advanced form of the Shadow Imitation.
Karin got instruction on a Sealed Binding Formation.
With Rock Lee and Sakura, Kitazawa didn't teach new techniques, but sparred to gauge their status. Sakura was already working on Water Release: Heavenly Weeping.
To finish the quest, Kitazawa also "beat up" all the students under Maruboshi Kosuke and Kakashi—the same excuse: he needed to know the Advanced Class's current strength.
[Current Mission: Defeat the Advanced Class students.]
[Reward: Leaf Dragon God.]
[Mission Completed. Reward Granted.]
After grinding all afternoon, Kitazawa finally secured the Leaf Dragon God.