Chapter 3

Kōya's movements were always under Tō's observation.

When he saw Kōya close his eyes, no longer looking at him, and his eyelids twitch a few times, as if deliberately provoking him, Tō couldn't help but clench his fists.

"Damn... What's there to be so arrogant about..."

"A guy who's been left behind by his own younger brother..."

Tō gritted his teeth.

But Kakashi was also a cocky bastard. Although he graduated early after less than half a year, in any case, both brothers were more annoying than the other.

"I heard that Kakashi recently completed an A-rank mission with a jōnin."

"Although it's a bit hard to swallow, that guy is indeed talented. He advanced to chūnin last year, and it might not be long before he becomes a jōnin..."

Someone who heard Tō's words deliberately chimed in.

Kōya's performance in class was usually within the top ten, and occasionally he would even be first. It was hard to find a good reason to mock Kōya based on his grades and performance, but comparing him to Kakashi could effectively put him down.

After all, compared to Kakashi, who graduated at five and advanced to chūnin at six, Kōya's brilliance was immediately overshadowed, and it was almost impossible to compare him to Kakashi.

The people around immediately picked up on his intention, glanced at Kōya, and said casually, "Although I don't want to admit it, that guy is indeed a genius. Compared to him, some people seem to lack the qualifications to be an older brother."

This statement was almost a direct accusation.

Before Kōya could react, a girl named Yamanaka Ino, who sat in front of him, stood up, glaring angrily at Inuzuka Tsume, and said, "Hey! What are you saying?!"

Inuzuka Tsume, being glared at by the girl, naturally didn't back down, sticking out his neck and saying, "What's wrong? Is what I said incorrect?"

Yamanaka Ino was furious but couldn't find the words to refute him.

Kōya opened his eyes, looked at Yamanaka Ino, and said with a carefree smile, "Kakashi is indeed a genius; it's pretty hard for ordinary people to compare with him..."

Yamanaka Ino nodded and said, "Yeah, Kōya, don't mind him. A ninja like your brother is rare, and you don't need to compare yourself to Kakashi."

Kurenai also nodded in agreement.

As long as Kōya wasn't compared to a 'monster' like Kakashi, he was already an outstanding genius in the class, with no real flaws.

Kōya's words were cut off, and he shrugged innocently, not bothering to argue further, just smiling at Kurenai.

Inuzuka Tsume, seeing that Kōya didn't want to argue with him and that the girls had reached a consensus, grumbled a few times and turned away, though he was somewhat reluctant.

Kurenai looked at Kōya, her beautiful large eyes flickering slightly, and said softly, "Having a brother like Kakashi must be quite a lot of pressure, right?"

"No."

Kōya looked at Kurenai and smiled, "Why should there be pressure? Isn't it better for my brother to be strong? It's not like the Hyūga clan..."

Kurenai blinked and asked, "What about the Hyūga clan?"

"Oh, you don't know."

Kōya briefly explained the situation with the Hyūga clan's main and branch families, which left Kurenai quite surprised.

Kurenai glanced at a person in the corner of the classroom and thought to herself, "I didn't expect the prestigious Hyūga clan to be like this."

The person in the corner was Hyūga Kamen, the nephew of the clan leader Hyūga Hiashi and a member of the branch family.

As a member of the prestigious Hyūga clan, he had the pride of a noble and was quite disdainful of Kōya, who was often surrounded by girls. His grades were always first or second in the class, and the only person he considered a rival was Kakashi.

In fact, he could have graduated early, but the elders in his family advised him not to and to follow the normal training schedule, so he did as he was told.

"..."

Hyūga Kamen, who vaguely heard Kōya mention the Hyūga clan, turned his head to look at Kōya, frowning slightly, but couldn't hear clearly what Kōya was saying.

Although he couldn't hear clearly, he could guess that Kōya was talking about the Hyūga clan, and his eyes flickered.

"Somewhat too arrogant..."

While he didn't particularly care about Kōya being popular and surrounded by girls, mentioning the Hyūga clan was a different matter.

Should I 'warn' him after class?

Hyūga Kamen's eyes flickered.

After all, Kōya wasn't Kakashi, and in his view, among people of similar age, only Kakashi could surpass him.

Just as Hyūga Kamen was thinking, the last student completed the Bunshin no Jutsu test, and the chūnin teacher recorded the final scores. After glancing at the score sheet, he said,

"Today's test is over."

"Those who didn't pass are Uchiha Tō, Aburame Taro, and a few others. You need to practice more after class."

"Tomorrow there will be another simulation test. Prepare well. In four days, there will be the official promotion exam. Those who fail will stay for winter school until they pass the exam!"

As the chūnin teacher spoke, many students in the class let out a long sigh of relief.

The faces of those who didn't pass, like Uchiha Tō, turned dark. No one wanted to stay for winter school, not only because it meant no holiday, but also because it was embarrassing.

"That's all for today. You can go home early."

The chūnin teacher put the score sheet in a folder, tidied up, and addressed the students in the class.

Hearing the chūnin teacher's words, the students stood up, bowed to the teacher, and dispersed after the teacher nodded and left the classroom.

Using the excuse, "I have something to do, so I'll go home first," Kōya quickly returned home after getting rid of Kurenai and Yamanaka Ino.

Watching these precocious eight- and nine-year-old girls bickering was quite amusing, but Kōya had more important things to do, such as quickly adapting to the triple-speed state.

Triple speed was a further increase from double speed.

After a simple dinner, Kōya went to the backyard, entered the triple-speed state, and began punching the special wooden posts set up there to train.

To make his body grow faster, Kōya would activate the speed-up state during training and while sleeping. So, although he was eight years old, due to the nearly two years of accelerated growth in his dreams, his actual physical age was already nine.

If he kept the speed-up state active all the time, his body would grow even faster, but it was too boring to be in the speed-up state all the time. Listening to classes felt like they were being played at 0.5x speed, with every tone of the teacher's voice stretched out, which was quite annoying.

Moreover, to appear normal, he would have to slow down his speech and movements, which was very troublesome and could form bad habits, so Kōya usually used the normal state at school.