Kaede’s movements had not escaped Obito’s watchful eyes.

  When Obito saw Kaede close his eyes and ignore him, his eyelids twitching slightly as if deliberately provoking him, he couldn’t help but clench his fists.

  “Damn it... what’s he so smug about…”

  “A guy who got left behind by his own little brother…”

  Obito gritted his teeth in frustration.

  Kakashi was a cocky bastard too. He’d only been in school for less than half a year before graduating early. Honestly, both brothers were insufferable in their own way.

  “I heard Kakashi recently completed an A-rank mission with a Jonin.”

  “Can’t lie, he’s pretty impressive. He became a Chunin st year. At this rate, he might become a Jonin soon...”

  Someone nearby, catching onto Obito’s grumbling, decided to add fuel to the fire.

  Kaede was usually ranked in the top ten in css, sometimes even taking first pce. So it wasn’t easy to criticize him based on performance or grades. But when compared to someone like Kakashi, it was much easier to belittle Kaede.

  After all, against Kakashi, who graduated at five and became a Chunin at six, Kaede’s shine dimmed considerably. He barely seemed worth comparing.

  Another cssmate quickly picked up the cue, gnced at Kaede, and said casually, “As much as I hate to admit it, Kakashi really is a genius. Compared to him, some people don’t seem qualified to be called ‘big brother.’”

  Smack!

  Before Kaede could respond, the girl sitting in front of him, Yamanaka Inoka, jumped up and gred angrily at the boy who’d just spoken: Inuzuka Fang.

  “Hey! What the hell did you just say?!”

  Fang wasn’t about to back down just because a girl was angry. He stiffened his neck and said, “What? Am I wrong?”

  Inoka fumed but couldn’t come up with a good comeback.

  Kaede opened his eyes and looked at her with a calm smile. “Kakashi really is a genius. Most people would have a hard time measuring up to him…”

  Inoka nodded earnestly. “Yeah, Kaede, don’t listen to him. A ninja like your brother only comes around once in a lifetime. You don’t have to compare yourself to Kakashi.”

  Yūhi Kurenai agreed with a nod.

  As long as you didn’t compare Kaede to a freak like Kakashi, he was already one of the most outstanding students in the css. There wasn’t really anything to criticize.

  Kaede shrugged innocently, cut off before he could finish speaking, and just smiled at Kurenai instead of continuing.

  Seeing that Kaede didn’t want to argue and the girls were clearly on his side, Inuzuka Fang could only grumble and look away, though he clearly wasn’t satisfied.

  Kurenai looked at Kaede, her rge, beautiful eyes flickering slightly. She spoke in a soft voice. “Having a brother like Kakashi... must be a lot of pressure, huh?”

  “Nope.”

  Kaede gnced at her and smiled. “Why would I feel pressure? The stronger my little brother is, the better, right? It’s not like we’re the Hyuga cn or something…”

  Kurenai blinked. “What about the Hyuga cn?”

  “Oh, you don’t know?”

  Kaede briefly expined the situation with the Hyuga cn’s main and branch families. Kurenai was surprised to hear it.

  She gnced over to a corner of the cssroom, where a quiet student sat, and thought to herself: So that’s what the noble Hyuga cn is like...

  That boy’s name was Hyuga Homon, nephew of the cn head Hyuga Hiashi, a member of the branch family.

  As a member of a prestigious cn, he held a certain pride. He had no fondness for Kaede, who was always surrounded by admiring girls. He was consistently ranked first or second in css, and the only one he saw as a rival was Kakashi.

  In truth, he could’ve graduated early too, but the elders of his cn had told him to follow the standard path. So he did as instructed.

  “…”

  Hearing someone mention the Hyuga cn, Homon turned to gnce at Kaede and frowned slightly, though he didn’t catch exactly what was said.

  Even without hearing clearly, he could guess Kaede had brought up something about the Hyuga cn, and a glint fshed in his eyes.

  “He’s getting a little too arrogant…”

  Things like being popur with girls didn’t bother him too much, but if someone started talking about the Hyuga cn, that was a different matter.

  Maybe I should give him a ‘warning’ after css?

  Homon’s gaze darkened.

  After all, Kaede wasn’t Kakashi. As far as Homon was concerned, the only one stronger than him in their age group was Kakashi.

  While he was still deep in thought, the final student completed their clone technique test. The Chunin instructor recorded the st score, gnced at the results sheet, and announced:

  “That’s it for today’s test.”

  “Those who didn’t pass, Uchiha Obito, Aburame Den, and... the rest of you, stay after css for extra practice.”

  “There’s a mock exam tomorrow, and the official advancement assessment is in four days. If you can’t pass that, you’ll be stuck here for remedial lessons over winter break!”

  The whole css let out a collective sigh of relief at the announcement.

  Obito and the others who didn’t pass looked miserable. No one wanted to waste their vacation on make-up csses. It wasn’t just boring, it was downright humiliating.

  “That’s it for today. You’re all dismissed.”

  The Chunin instructor put the results into a folder, organized his things, and addressed the css.

  Upon hearing the announcement, the students stood up together and bowed respectfully. After the instructor left the cssroom, they scattered like birds.

  Using the excuse “I’ve got something to do, see you ter,” Kaede quickly shook off Kurenai, Inoka, and the other girls and headed home.

  Watching these precocious eight and nine year old girls bicker over him was amusing, but he had more important things to do, namely, adapting to his triple-speed state.

  Compared to his double-speed, triple-speed gave him an even greater boost.

  After a quick dinner, Kaede headed to the backyard, activated his triple-speed state, and began striking a special wooden training post.

  To accelerate his physical development, Kaede not only trained in accelerated mode but also slept in it. His cellur regeneration and metabolism all increased, making one day for others equivalent to nearly two for him. Though chronologically eight years old, his body had developed to about nine due to months of accelerated sleep.

  If he stayed in that state all the time, his body would develop even faster, but it was way too boring. Listening to lectures at three times speed made it feel like the teacher was speaking in slow motion, stretching each sylble unbearably long.

  Plus, to appear normal while in that mode, he’d have to consciously slow down his speech and movements, which was incredibly annoying. So during school hours, Kaede stayed in normal mode.