Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The onsen was a gift from the gods. Kaen almost melted into the hot water. It was just that relaxing and pleasurable. It was the most optimal place to rest. He wouldn't have survived the past year without onsen since he decided to train while wearing the weights. Every day his muscles were strained to the point where he couldn't move.

Music would improve his experience, as he was tired of listening to Kakashi Hatake giggling like a schoolgirl. Kaen didn't understand what Kakashi liked about that Icha Icha book so much that he would bring it to onsen. Getting enormously annoyed, he splashed some water on Kakashi, making his book drenched.

"My apologies. My hand moved on its own. I hope I didn't distract you from your enjoyment, Kakashi-san," Even three years old could tell that Kaen was lying and his apologetic smile was fake.

"Hmm, who are you?" Kakashi asked.

"A nobody that you don't need to know about."

"There you are, Kakashi, fight me," The blue beast of Konoha arrived naked in front of Kaen.

"Don't want to," Kakashi replied.

"Excuse me, but it isn't a private bath, so could you please don't make a scene," Kaen said before Might Guy could go on his rambling.

"Oh, my apologies, but I can't control the power of youth."

Kaen wondered why he even tried. He would have left if he could move, but his muscles were strained too much. Once he got to the onsen, he could barely move. His legs felt like iron caskets. It was too much for Kaen to stand up and leave. All he wanted was to relax after a full day of training.

As Kaen grew accustomed to Kakashi's giggling and Might Guy's loud voice, he heard another giggle. This one was even more perverted and louder than Kakashi's. If Kaen didn't know better, he would have thought that Kakashi's father was the pervert peeping into the women's bath. They both have spiky grey hair, and both are perverts.

Letting a sigh, Kaen pushed himself out of the onsen, even if he felt he would drop dead at any moment, and went to change. There went his relaxing evening. Why were there so many crazy people in Konoha? Kaen could only wonder when it had all gone so wrong for Konoha to have these people as their elite.

"Oh, Mikoto Uchiha still looks so young. I should have asked her what she does to keep her skin so smooth," As Kaen drank milk in the lounge, he heard some woman speak.

"Wait a minute, Mikoto-sama is having a bath?"

As soon as Kaen realized it, the pain in his muscles disappeared, and he quickly went to dress in the uniform of a police officer. Getting the restraining seals, he went straight back to the onsen. Seeing the perverted old man still giggling as he was peeping into the women's bath, Kaen walked straight to him and, without question, put dozens of restraining seals on him.

"What," The pervert could only say a word before his mouth was sealed too.

"People like you make me sick," Kaen said as he grabbed the man by his hair. Kakashi, Guy, and everyone turned to Kaen. "You are under arrest. I will make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars. You won't see daylight ever again."

Everyone stared as Kaen walked on water and dragged half-submerged Jiraiya, one of the Sannin. Seeing the Uchiha symbol on the back of Kaen's jacket, nobody tried to stop him. The police force could not touch only the ANBU forces. No matter their rank, the rest of the shinobi fell into the jurisdiction of the police force.

It was good that it was late evening, as Kaen would have gathered much attention dragging a man who was only wearing a towel to cover his privates. It was already disgusting that the man was peeing on women, but when you put Mikoto-sama in the equation, there was no forgiveness from Kaen.

"Kaen, why are you dragging Jiraiya of the Sannin around," On the way to the police station, Kaen met with Itachi.

"It is a police matter," Kaen replied.

"Should I report this to Hokage-sama?" Itachi had all rights to do so, as he was an ANBU.

"He was peeping on women in osen," Kaen explained. "Your mother was having a bath at the time."

"So that's how it is. Should we kill him now?" Itachi's tone changed instantly. "We could chop him into pieces and hide his body parts, so nobody would know he even disappeared."

"Mmph," Jiraiya tried to protest, but Kaen put another dozen seals on him so that he couldn't move.

"We should, but we can't. Many saw me taking him, but I don't think Hokage-sama would be too mad if I gauge his eyes."

"I will make sure that Hokage-sama doesn't hear from him for some time," Itachi said, disappearing using flicker jutsu.

Kaen continued dragging the man by his hair to the police station, where the receptionist looked at Kaen and then at Jiraiya. He let out a sigh and turned away, ignoring them. It wasn't the first time Kaen arrested elite shinobi and put them behind bars. Kaen arrested more people than any other officer ever.

"The joke has gone too far," Jiraiya said once Kaen broke the seals and put him in the cell. "Now be kind and let me go before I break the little prison."

"I know you can break out anytime you want, but you won't do it," Kaen said.

"And why not, kid."

"Because then I would have to send a complaint to Hokage-sama and then explain to Fugaku-sama that you were arrested for peeping on his wife."

"Now, now, we don't need to do anything rashly."

"I agree. You spend your time in this cell until Hokage-sama starts missing you."

"Wait a moment, can't we make a deal?"

"Bribing an officer is a crime. Should I add this to your file too?"

"I had not said anything about a bribe. I just wanted to know what it would take for you to let me out earlier without anyone knowing about my little hiccup."

"Hypothetically, I could forget about this situation if I had some jutsu to learn. I would be too busy, especially if these jutsu were from one of the legendary Sannin."

"I have quite an arsenal of jutsu that might interest you. After all, it is my duty to nurture the next generation of shinobi."

"I want all C and B-rank sealing jutsu, you know," Kaen said.

"B-rank? That a bit too much, don't you think?"

"And I want a summoning jutsu without a contract made."

"Wait, that's too much."

"Oh, well, I will have to see what Fugaku-sama says about your crimes."

"Fine, fine, you win, you dammed kid. But I hope you keep it secret, or I will make you regret it."

"Good, there is a blank textbook and a pen. I will come back tomorrow morning to check on you."

"At least give me some clothes."

Kaen ignored Jiraiya and left home. He was too tired already. Kaen might sleep up late tomorrow of how tired he was feeling. The receptionist looked at Kaen as he left the police station and sighed. Kaen just nodded at the receptionist and went home. He still had a cat to feed.

…

In the small forest on the outskirts of the village, an arrow flew, piercing trees until it struck a big rock. Kaen walked up to the arrow and smiled in satisfaction. Finally, he can now coat his arrow in the wind nature chakra. Not only did the arrow fly faster, but it was silent as the wind too.

After learning how to coat arrows in his first nature, fire, Kaen decided to learn wind nature as his second. Both fire and wind complimented each other, and his seals had defensive capabilities, so there was no need to learn earth chakra nature, and water nature didn't suit him at all. So, as his third nature, Kaen would learn lighting. He could already imagine how mighty his arrows would be with lighting chakra coating them.

Now that he had mastered the coating technique, it was time for another step. That step is learning to create arrows from nothing but chakra. It shouldn't take much time, as his control over the chakra has increased significantly. In the past year, he learned some medical ninjutsu to heal his bruises and injuries sustained while training. But decided not to focus on it anymore, at least for now.

His training was progressing smoothly, but Kaen was still worried about how well he would implement his skills in battle. He had little to no experience in a real fight. He could only watch chunin exam one-on-one matches to learn from them and nothing more. If only he could go outside the village and at least fight some bandits, but he will have to be satisfied with only training.

After he was done with his training, the small forest's trees were riddled with holes. His fire chakra-coated arrows outright destroyed some other trees. It was time to move from trees to rocks. If he continued like this, there wouldn't be a forest left. As the sun was still in the sky, he decided to sit down and learn about the seals that Jiraiya had given him. At times like these, Kaen was happy that he agreed to go to the police force.

…

At times like these, Kaen regrated in joining the police force. He listened as a woman in the market complained of how she was swindled of her money by some shop. Ultimately, she only bought some rotten fruits and now wanted me to arrest the shopkeeper. It took hours to explain that these were discounted fruits, and the shop owner disclosed that the fruits weren't in the best shape.

After spending the whole morning being yelled at by a woman, Kaen felt drained. There were always such people reporting crimes to get back at the people for one or another strife. Every time he had to listen to them, Kaen had to go and visit some stray cats. Feeding and petting them put his mind at ease. These adorable animals could do nothing evil.

"Kaen-kun," A girl with purple hair greeted Kaen.

"Yugao-san, aren't you supposed to watch Naruto?"

"I am. He is close, and I have not lost sight of him," She told the truth. Kaen only needed to turn and could spot a bright yellow head running around with people backing away from him and whispering to themselves. "It has been some time since we met."

"It has. Do you still see the boy as a monster?" Kaen asked.

"In the past year, I saw many monsters, but I have not seen a monster in that boy."

"Then we will meet again soon," Kaen said and left.

He knew the girl was too kind to treat Naruto as a monster. After all, she liked cats, so she must be a good person. She only needed to be called out for her behavior, and she would fix it. Well, being ANBU wasn't easy. To Kaen, it was the most demanding position a shinobi could have besides being Hokage. Every time Kaen saw Itachi, he seemed to grow older. Itachi's eyes have become hollower and hollower.

As Kaen thought of Itachi, he couldn't stop thinking about the future. Only about two or three years were left, yet there were so many skills he had to learn. Many things to prepare. That is why he didn't like thinking about it. It only puts more pressure on him. But the day was getting closer and closer. Kaen knew he still wasn't prepared enough and he feared the worst.