Chương 31: First Lesson.

With nothing left to do, Haruto quickly reached home, made some ramen for himself, a food that was quickly becoming his favourite since coming to this world, ate it, and then made his way towards training ground seven. Once there, Haruto was mildly surprised.

"Kakashi-san? What are we going to do here?" Haruto asked as he walked to the centre of the training ground after spotting Kakashi standing there reading Icha Icha Paradise. Kakashi looked at Haruto and gave him a polite smile.

"Didn't I give you my Fire release training journal yesterday? I thought I could train you in it so that there wouldn't be any unwanted accidents."

"Seriously!?" Haruto said with an obvious smile.

"Yes." Kakashi nodded, "You can read through the journal and practice here with me, and I'll guide you through it to the best of my ability."

"Waahhh!!! That's awesome Kakashi-san!!" Haruto immediately pulled out the journal and continued reading from where he'd left off yesterday. It was getting a little dark already, but the training ground had artificial lights installed so Haruto could still read clearly.

'I tried doing as the scrolls said, pushing chakra through the tenketsu in my solar plexus and converting the chakra into fire nature chakra and burning a leaf, but it barely did anything on the first try.'

'According to the scroll, re-kneading chakra using spiritual energy created after thinking deeply about fire helps turn the fire hotter, so I tried that. But the results were less than promising. It seems my comprehension of the element fire is still not at its peak.' Haruto stopped reading the journal at that point.

'Since I can already burn a leaf… it's clear I have better talent than Kakashi… and its obvious that they already noticed my talent yesterday, or they wouldn't have sent Kakashi to train me in fire release.'

'Now all that's left is to present myself in a way that can earn the most benefits… I just need to appear skilled enough that I can start learning various jutsus to get a strong enough background in them to start making my own.' Having decided his course of action, Haruto looked up at Kakashi with a smirk.

"Kakashi-san… want to make a bet?!"

"Oh? What bet do you want to make with me, Haruto-kun?"

"If I can burn the leaf on my first try today, you'll teach me a new fire release jutsu!" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Kakashi's brows raised. Obviously Kakashi knew of the fact that Haruto had burnt his leaf successfully yesterday, but he couldn't reveal the fact that Haruto was being monitored, after all he was here to oversee Haruto's training, and teaching him a jutsu only played that part.

Kakashi's eyes gleamed sharply as he noticed Haruto's plan but said nothing and played along.

"What do you think, Kakashi-san? Do you agree?" Kakashi smiled and nodded, "Alright, if you're able to burn this leaf in a single try today, I'll teach you the fire ball jutsu." Haruto smiled evilly nearly cackling before he controlled himself and looked up at Kakashi after producing a leaf in his palm.

"Watch carefully Kakashi-san." Kakashi smiled and continued looking at Haruto's palm, shaking his head slightly at his enthusiasm, but looking nonetheless. Haruto directed chakra through the tenketsu in his solar plexus before expelling the chakra through the tenketsu in his palm, he did so not explosively, but as a slow controlled stream, causing a flicker of fire to light up above his palm, burning both chakra and the fresh leaf in his palm.

Kakashi who had been observing the leaf burning had his eyes widen at the immense heat that was being emitted from the flame, nearly singeing his brows.

"Good job Haruto-kun… it looks like you are indeed special! It seems that you have a kekkei genkai!"

Hashirama frowned.

"Something's wrong about that boy… I can feel it…" Looking at Hashirama frustrated enough to rip his hair out, Mito stepped in and kindly explained, "That's someone using a transformation jutsu. And given their skill I bet it's someone strong."

"I bet it's Hiruzen. He's got the same mistakes he did when he was a kid." Tobirama interrupted.

"The third?!" Minato asked surprised, "What's he doing training a mere civilian?"

"He's likely trying to pull Haruto into his camp before he falls prey to people like Danzo in the village." Tobirama explained, seemingly catching on to the thoughts of his previous disciple.

"But why pretend like he's Kakashi and not appear as the Hokage himself? Wouldn't that be more efficient?" Kushina asked. But Tobirama shook his head, "That would be too attention grabbing and only put Haruto in more danger. If Madara learns that he's now the Third Hokage's student he'll only grow bolder in his assassination attempts."

"Lord Second's right. If it were me, I'd never show myself too. I would probably disguise myself as someone the boy knows so that he won't grow suspicious of being monitored and then train him slowly." Sakumo mumbled, explaining himself. Kushina nodded in understanding before whining a little, "I just want Haruto-kun to see Naruto already… it's been so long since I've seen what he looks like… Can I really not send a thought to Haruto-kun to look at Naruto, Lord Second?"

"No. If your son really is the jinchuriki then any contact or even asking any questions about him will put Haruto on the bad radar of several high level shinobis."

"Aww… alright…"

"Really!? Kakashi-san!? I have a kekkei genkai!?" Haruto asked overly excitedly. Since Haruto didn't know how to act yet, he was trying to lay his excitement thick to cover up any discrepancies regarding his knowledge that he didn't actually have a kekkei genkai. He was just pretending, but Hiruzen didn't spot him lying, after all anyone would be surprised and be overly excited if they suddenly learnt that they had a kekkei genkai. Hiruzen simply smiled while looking at Haruto.

'How silly… reminds me a little of Jiraya… that boy was super excited when he learnt of the Toads and reverse summoned himself into their holy lands too…'

'I had been meaning to teach him the fireball jutsu while planning to reward him for his quick progress but this works too.' In the end, he spoke quietly while maintaining Kakashi's deadpan delivery.

"The kekkai genkai you have looks to be Scorch Release Haruto-kun. A famous Kunoichi from Sunagakure called Pakura has it too. She has taken the lives of several shinobi from Konoha in the third great shinobi war. If you master your kekkei genkai you could repay the debt in the future." Haruto nodded excessively!

"Just watch Kakashi-san! I promise I will explode them to bits with my kekkei genkai!"

'Explode them… haha… the kid is so eager… reminds me of when I was first teaching Asuma some wind release jutsu and he shouted he would become the greatest wind release user in the Third Great Shinobi war.'

"Ambitions are good." Kakashi said, and then warned, "But always be careful of day dreaming."

"Un." Haruto nodded, his eyes finally losing the excited look he had been holding onto till now before gaining a serious gaze.

"Fine then, are you ready to learn that fire ball jutsu from me!?"

"Yes Kakashi-san!"

"Good, then let's begin!"