"First place, Hagawa," Eiichiro announced, unable to hold back his praise. "Hagawa's progress since enrolling has been obvious to everyone. You should all learn from him."
Kakashi Hatake subconsciously clenched his fists. Although it was just an insignificant physical training session, he still felt a trace of unwillingness. After all, he had always been first in the class in every aspect.
"Argh!" Might Guy clutched his head. If not for the sudden onset of a serious illness right before the finish line, he might have won. But it wasn't a big deal. The physical training itself didn't matter; what excited him was discovering a new rival.
"Kakashi actually lost?" Obito Uchiha felt worse than if someone had killed him. "Damn it! Kakashi can only lose to me!"
Rin Nohara couldn't help but blink as she looked at the boy who was still handsome even when drenched in sweat. Curiosity sparked in her heart. He was a ninja from a civilian background, so why was he so strong? First, he defeated Asuma Sarutobi, and now he had outrun both Kakashi and Might Guy. Could it be that their class was about to produce a civilian genius? Rin thought of Minato Namikaze, who had been taken as a student by Jiraiya.
"It's just physical training," Asuma Sarutobi said through gritted teeth. The next second, the small figure he had been watching got up. He suddenly wanted to go home. His heart was tired.
"Hagawa, you're amazing!" Kurenai jogged over to Hagawa's side and sat down. She took a breath and tucked a sweat-soaked strand of hair behind her ear, revealing her fair forehead.
Hagawa, exhausted, could only nod weakly. He had unleashed a final burst of power to overtake Kakashi and Guy, and now he felt completely drained. But inside, he was thrilled. Two Traits, plus a month of hard work, had actually given him the qualifications to catch up to them. His system was seriously powerful. Of course, that was just in terms of running. He definitely couldn't beat them in a real fight right now.
The physical training session ended, and school was dismissed. Hagawa told Kurenai to go home while he headed north. He had been training at Training Ground 4 for a while now, so he had a good grasp of the surrounding area. Further north of Training Ground 4 was the infamous Forest of Death, a marvel created by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, using his Wood Release.
After walking for a while, Hagawa heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Kakashi Hatake.
"Going to train?" Hagawa asked.
Kakashi nodded slightly. Today, he was planning to put in some extra work because he had lost the physical training session.
"You're going to train too?" Kakashi asked in return.
"You could say that," Hagawa replied after a moment's thought. A normal ninja wouldn't bother training with exploding tags. If he said that's what he was doing, people would just think he was a rich idiot. But he had a panel and needed to fill a progress bar.
Upon reaching Training Ground 4, Hagawa continued walking. Kakashi watched him, a little curious, but didn't ask. He thought for a moment, then started running.
"Sorry, I had a mission today, so I'm a little late," Sakumo Hatake appeared half an hour later.
Kakashi shook his head, indicating it was fine.
"Why are you running today?" Sakumo asked, a little surprised.
"Warming up," Kakashi said calmly. For some reason, he didn't want to tell his father that he had lost the physical training session to Hagawa. But now he had to admit that his old man's judgment was exceptionally sharp. Hagawa's rate of progress was starting to put pressure on him. Of course, he still believed that he would be the one to win in the end.
In the Forest of Death, dense branches blotted out the sky, blocking most of the sunlight. Though it was daytime, it felt like night.
Hagawa's eyes suddenly lit up. He quickened his pace, and his view opened up. It was a wide riverbank. Seeing this, Hagawa took out an exploding tag and casually tossed it.
Boom!
A shallow crater was blasted into the ground, the soil scorched black. Cheap things really aren't good. The high price of good exploding tags wasn't their problem; it was his problem. Hagawa felt that the 300-ryō tag was even weaker than the most basic Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique.
With a thought, he opened his panel and checked the progress bar. It had increased by 1%. This confirmed that exploding tags did count as ninja tools and that his practice was effective.
Hagawa continued his training. He felt like a kid again, playing with firecrackers during the New Year. It was a shame that when he finally had money later in his past life, he no longer had the chance to play with them.
Before long, the ground was riddled with craters, and an invisible wave of heat rose from it.
"Which bastard did this?!" Just then, an angry roar came from the distance.
Hagawa followed the sound and saw a young woman with red hair.
"Did you do this?" the red-haired woman asked, her expression softening considerably when she saw him.
"I was practicing with exploding tags," Hagawa said with a blink.
"Exploding tags?" the woman pouted. "No wonder I haven't caught a single fish." Since he was just a child, she didn't lose her temper.
"Fish?" Hagawa understood. "Wait a second," he said. He walked a few steps to the riverbank. The nearby fish had all been scared away by his exploding tags. He felt a little embarrassed.
Hagawa walked upstream, quickly found a school of fish, and tossed an exploding tag into the water. With an explosion, many stunned fish floated to the surface.
"Quick, come over here!" Hagawa waved to her.
"Using exploding tags to fish, only you could think of that," the red-haired woman said with a laugh as she scanned the haul. All these fish together were probably worth less than a single exploding tag. With a wave of her hand, she formed a net out of chakra and pulled the fish ashore.
Hagawa's mouth twitched. What terrifying chakra control. He had a good idea of who she was; after all, red hair had a special significance in the ninja world.
"Little guy, what's your name?" the woman asked, tossing the fish into a bucket she was carrying.
"My name is Hagawa," he replied.
"Kushina Uzumaki." Kushina shook the bucket and extended an invitation. "This is too much fish for two people to eat. Want to join us?"
Two people? Minato Namikaze? As a fan of the original series, he naturally couldn't miss this. Hagawa nodded.
"Follow me." Kushina picked up the bucket and walked off.
A few minutes later, Hagawa saw a young man with blond hair, busy cooking.
"Minato! Look!" Kushina said with a huge smile. "I estimate this is at least three or four pounds!"
Who asked you! A phrase suddenly popped into Hagawa's mind. In his past life, one of his neighbors was an uncle who loved to fish. Every time Hagawa passed his house, the uncle would walk incredibly slowly, insisting on telling him how many pounds of fish he had caught. One time, he caught a seven or eight-pound fish and paraded it around the neighborhood three times.
"I smell exploding tags," Minato said, sniffing the air.
"An expert, I see," Kushina said with a laugh. "He's the one who used them to blast the fish."
Minato took the bucket, set it aside, and began to clean the fish. Kushina pulled Hagawa into a conversation. She talked nonstop, as if she hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, and was extremely sociable. Hagawa couldn't get a word in edgewise.
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