Kyōichi, Konoha’s Life Mentor

"Sensei, sensei! I heard you went for the promotion exam today, how did it go?" 

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Is there any need to ask? With sensei's abilities, he definitely passed."

"..."

Kyōichi returned home to find several children waiting at his door.

Obito was at the front.

This kid was straightforward, always rushing ahead, and often took the blame, but this definitely wasn't his idea.

Kyōichi's eyes swept across the group, finally settling on the girl standing at the back.

Yuhi Kurenai!

Her father was the proctor for the first and second rounds.

"Kurenai, you told them, didn't you?"

"Sensei, I just... accidentally let it slip."

Kurenai fidgeted with her sleeve.

Accidentally?

Yeah right.

But they were all kids with good intentions.

Kyōichi smiled and didn't mind, he opened the door and said, "Come in."

Quite a few children had come.

Obito, Shisui, Asuma, Kurenai, and even Guy who had already graduated was hanging out with them, likely having met by chance.

However.

There was one person whose presence might not have been coincidental.

Kyōichi glanced at a certain position above and behind him, and, said, "Won't our friend on the roof come down to join us?"

"Who is it?"

Obito looked up curiously.

Then.

He saw a boy with silver hair wearing a mask.

Huh?

"Kakashi! Hmph, sneaking around, you must be upset that sensei got promoted to jōnin!"

Obito mocked.

Kakashi had no response.

Upset?

What need was there to be upset.

He wasn't that petty.

It was normal for someone as strong as Kanda Kyōichi to be promoted to jōnin. If he had failed the promotion, that would have been strange.

He was just curious.

Besides that, he was pondering the words Kyōichi had said before.

"Congratulations."

Kakashi muttered.

Then, he left.

"Tch, what's with him!"

Obito twisted his mouth in disgust.

He knew Kakashi, and they really didn't get along. They couldn't help but argue whenever they met.

"Alright, Kakashi became a chūnin at six, and you all just graduated this year. Focus on working hard to get promoted yourselves."

Kyōichi waved his hand, stopping the pointless war of words.

After all, Kakashi had already left, and there was no point in Obito complaining behind his back - the other wouldn't care anyway.

Everyone nodded after hearing this.

Indeed.

Kakashi graduated at five and then went on to become a chunin at six, shocking the entire village. They couldn't compare.

It was better to focus on themselve.

But then.

They turned to look at Uchiha Shisui in shock.

"Shisui, you're graduating too? Could it be..."

Asuma was very surprised.

Shisui was a genius of the Uchiha clan, always well-known, and when they had mixed classes, Shisui was better at many subjects than even the senior students.

Everyone knew this.

But he was only five years old.

Graduating this year would mean he'd match Kakashi's record.

Could it be.

That the Uchiha clan forced him to graduate for prestige?

Asuma, being thoughtful, quickly considered this possibility.

"Mm."

Shisui nodded slightly.

The atmosphere became silent for a moment. After thinking for a while, Yūhi Kurenai asked, "So will you join the Police Force, or team up with us?"

Generally, graduating students would be formed into teams for missions.

But major clans were different.

Like the Hyūga clan, their children didn't even attend the academy - only those who were abandoned by the clan would come to study.

The Uchiha were similar yet different.

They attended the academy, but after graduation, most joined their own Police Force, rarely teaming up with others for missions.

Kyōichi also looked at him.

He knew Shisui's thoughts, but he wasn't sure if Uchiha Fugaku would agree.

"I hope to become sensei's student, though I'm not sure if the village will agree to it."

Shisui said, scratching his head.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, then remembered that Kyōichi had become a jōnin.

The village might actually agree.

"You applied to the clan head before sensei even took the exam?"

Ah!

Obito finally understood how Shisui had done it.

He applied in advance.

Now, the letter regarding Shisui's intention was probably already on the Third Hokage's desk.

Amazing!

Damn it.

Why hadn't he thought of that?

The others had the same thought.

"Sensei, I also want to..."

"All jōnin are excellent, you can learn a lot from any of them, don't worry too much."

Kyōichi consoled them.

Except for Rin, they were all from clans, what were they worried about?

Especially Asuma.

As the Hokage's son, why was he worried about not finding a good jōnin?

However.

In the original story, there was no mention of Asuma's teacher, and Asuma's promotion to chūnin was relatively slow, so maybe the teacher he found after graduation wasn't that great.

Asuma's eyes flickered, and he bowed, "Sensei, I just remembered something urgent, I'll visit you next time."

"Go ahead."

Everyone could guess why Asuma was leaving.

It was for the position of student under sensei.

For the remaining few, it would be untrue to say they weren't tempted, but firstly, they had no connections, and secondly...

Kyōichi only had one position left.

Who would fight for it?

That would be ungrateful.

It was better to leave it to fate.

Thinking of this, everyone felt more relaxed.

With his promotion to jōnin, Kyōichi's temporary teaching position would also come to an end.

No village would leave a jōnin to waste away at the academy.

Moreover.

Now that the academy had reorganized the grades and teachers had returned, there was no need for a jōnin to fill in, so he basically had no more classes.

Of course.

Even if he did teach, there wasn't much benefit to gain.

The academy students had already learned what they needed to learn.

Those who hadn't learned wouldn't gain much from a few more classes, it was better to focus more effort on the Might father and son, Shisui, and Asuma.

These four had lots of potential benefits to reap.

Especially Asuma, who would become one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and an elite jōnin in the future. With some effort, there would definitely be plenty of rewards.

"Sensei, can we still come to you with questions in the future?"

Rin felt a bit sad.

It felt like they were still students, but in the blink of an eye, they would be facing separation into teams.

"Of course you can, you can come to me with any questions."

...

At the Hokage Tower.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi handed out the jōnin certificates to the four people, he returned to his office to continue working, but soon after, an ANBU ninja delivered a letter.

"What is this?"

"It's from the Uchiha clan."

Uchiha?

The Third's brows furrowed slightly as he took the letter from the ANBU ninja's hands and read it carefully.

Soon after.

His brows relaxed slightly as he put down the paper, lost in thought.

Shisui wanted to become Kanda Kyōichi's student...

It wasn't impossible.

After all, Kanda Kyōichi was a Senju descendant, and using Tsunade as a connection point, they could definitely bind that child to the Hokage's faction, so there was no need to worry too much.

If Shisui became Kyōichi's student, he might be pulled into his own faction later, breaking down the Uchiha from within.

In that case...

The Uchiha might have another possibility.

The village's attitude toward the Uchiha had been complicated since the Second Hokage's time.

However.

At least Senju Tobirama had a complete plan for division, but by the Third's time, though he wanted to do the same, he lacked the means and couldn't find a breakthrough point for division, so he could only continue suppressing them.

Shisui, Obito.

The opportunity had arrived!

Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated and directly signed his name, agreeing to Fugaku's request.

However.

The next moment, there was a knock on the door.

The Third sensed the identity of the person outside, and his recently relaxed brows furrowed again.

Asuma?

This kid had been rebellious since childhood, what was he up to now!

Thinking of Asuma gave him a headache.

But he couldn't refuse to see him.

"Come in."

"Father."

After entering, Asuma uncharacteristically used the parental title, looking somewhat awkward and hesitant. After a moment, he asked, "Father, can I join Kyōichi-sensei's team?"

"Hmm?"

The Third looked up at him.

Kanda Kyōichi again.

Shisui wanted to join his team, and now his own son was requesting to join as well. How long had this guy been teaching!

Less than a month.

How did he win people over so easily?

"Why do you want to join his team?"

"Because sensei is very kind, strong, and has a lot of wisdom. I think I can learn a lot from him."

Asuma spoke while bowing deeply.

From childhood until now, he had rarely asked the Third for anything.

Hiruzen witnessed this scene and remained silent for a long while, then nodded and said, "Kyōichi might be suitable for teaching Shisui, but not necessarily for you. However, if this is your choice, I'll respect your decision."

"Thank you, father."