Morning.
Eaves of ash-gray tile cut the first pale light. A bamboo-slat curtain with five petals clicked softly against the doorframe as the dawn breeze passed. The Hatake compound sat in a veil of mist, like a blade sheathed.
"I'm heading out, Huili."
"Travel safe. Come back early."
"Heh, got it."
Dressed in his emerald jumpsuit, Might Guy flashed a grin bright enough to sting the eyes, hoisted his pack, and waved at Konome Taketori.
Yesterday, at the Hokage Building, he had accepted an A-rank escort mission guarding a merchant caravan to the Land of Fire's capital. The reward was generous enough to feel almost absurd.
"The capital's the most prosperous city in the world. You can buy anything there. Tell me what you want. I'll bring it back when I return," Guy said, brows dancing, hardly bothering to hide his excitement at leaving the village.
Konome's face stayed flat. Gifts did not sway her. Plenty of things could thrill her in this world: the Five Great Villages' sealing scrolls, the Rinnegan, Hashirama's cells, Mangekyō Sharingan, tailed beasts, Sage Arts. None could be bought with coin.
"Bring the money back instead. Try not to spend it."
"…"
Guy's mouth drooped. Konome was perfect in so many ways. Beautiful, prodigiously gifted, with a horizon-sized ambition. Too many strengths to count.
But she was painfully rational. Her expression rarely shifted.
In his fantasy, a daughter should cling to him with cute little pleas, a sweet mochi of a child. Konome was a lump of iron wrapped in human skin.
He could still remember the time his kick struck her forearm and half his body went numb.
If only she would call me Dad once.
His brain slipping a gear, Guy blurted out his heart's little wish. "Little Huili, could you call me 'Dad'?"
"Get lost."
"Right away."
He saw her raise a tiny fist, warped air hissing at the knuckles, chakra twisting like a living thing. Shoulders hunched around his pack, Guy bolted without looking back. If he wasn't mistaken, that was wind natured chakra at her fist.
Getting grazed by that would not be fun.
Wait. When did she learn Wind Release?
Running down the street, Guy couldn't help thinking. Konome's growth was too fast to measure by common sense. Would she graduate by the time he came back?
Watching him flee, Konome slowly drew the chakra from her fist.
Hiss.
Air curled at her knuckles, making that odd sound like breath scraping through teeth.
She opened her hand. Wind chakra slid off the fist and gathered at her fingertip. She raised her index finger and traced the doorframe's grain. The chakra at her finger keened.
Tzz. Tzz.
Where she passed, the carved pattern split at once. To the eye it looked like a knife's cut, yet the sound was closer to a buzzing saw.
Seeing the grooves deepen, she withdrew her hand. This wasn't her house. No need to leave scars just to test a point.
The shearing edge riding the wind chakra pleased her deeply. Half a month of hospital visits had not been wasted. Wind felt good.
Her offense had climbed again.
To independently train nature transformation and develop original ninjutsu was the realm of a ninjutsu-type jōnin.
By rights she could graduate from the Academy now, sit the Chūnin Exams, and start preparing for promotion to jōnin.
But she would not.
With Guy taking work outside the village, money was not pressing. She would not trade away her growth window for mission pay.
It was a little over five years until the story she knew began.
Long if wasted. Short if used well.
She had to exploit this entire period, laying a perfect foundation to step straight to the Sage of Six Paths tier.
Never forget. Her greatest cheat was not the bloodlines in her body but the endgame knowledge pointing straight at the finale.
Most people fail not when they meet their limits, but when the path forks and they cannot see which road leads to the end.
She was different.
With Ōtsutsuki Kaguya as her north star, she knew she walked the most correct line. No need to hesitate. No fear of wrong turns. Just keep moving.
What could be simpler?
That said, Guy's timing for leaving the village was not ideal.
The Uchiha clan was edging toward its night of extinction.
The air in the village had started to ripple under the surface. From far away, Konome had once dared to watch with the Byakugan. Dense points of chakra, like a field of stars, ringed the Uchiha district with the Uchiha compound as perfect center.
Judging by the masks, they were ANBU and Root.
Guards every three steps. Posts every five.
The surveillance was so tight she would not risk approaching. At this point, an ANBU might shadow even a mosquito that flew over the Uchiha and check its sex.
She abandoned any thought of drifting over to skim some benefits. Stirring trouble was only worthwhile if it bought a quiet place to grow, not if it invited disaster.
Just as in Kirigakure then. Even if she crossed paths with the famous incidents of each village, she had no place in them yet. The breeze from those storms alone could knock a small piece like her off the board.
Starting today, her main body would spend all day in the Forest of Death, focused solely on Gentle Fist and Wind Release. Until the Uchiha fell, she would not take one step into the southwest quadrant of Konoha where their district lay.
Best to avoid the Memorial Stone as well, in case she ran into Obito Uchiha paying respects to Rin Nohara.
Her wind transformation had only just begun. The advanced drills needed no more guidance from Kazama Etsu. The original already told her what to do.
Cut a waterfall. More precisely, tear it.
Keep feeding wind chakra until the pressure could slice a cataract. That would mark true entry into wind nature mastery.
As for a training ground, her Byakugan had already found one. North of the Forest of Death, near Konoha's border, a cliff gave way to a waterfall. Forty meters high or so, and a staggering seventy wide. A big one.
If she could cut a fall that size in a single breath, her ranged offense would climb another tier. Then she could start crafting Wind Release techniques that were hers alone.
The Water Release clone had already tested avian forms for shape change. The flight she had longed for would soon be real.
When battle came, she could take the sky on the wind. Let the Byakugan lock targets below while Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets or water techniques rained down.
Then, when the enemy clawed their way up and finally closed to melee, her three taijutsu schools at mastery and the indomitable Eight Gates would teach them what despair truly meant.
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