Hearing Zabuza, Yuto waved it off casually. "No need. You can ignore Konoha for now."
"And Gato was a famous merchant. He's dead, but his money didn't vanish. You're in charge of sweeping up what's left of his operation."
With that, Yuto's eyes slid from Zabuza to Haku. He spoke softly. "As for Haku, assist Zabuza for the time being."
Haku blinked, then answered with delighted surprise, "Yes, Yuto-sama."
He didn't notice that even if Yuto hadn't said it, he would have stayed by Zabuza's side anyway.
Yuto stretched and chuckled to himself. "Things here are wrapped up. I wonder how Kinoshita Jiro is doing?"
—
Elsewhere, Kakashi's team had no idea Zabuza wouldn't be attacking again. Just like in the original tale, they were doing tree-walking practice.
For two straight days, Kinoshita Jiro made no moves at all. The only change was that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had completely dropped their guard around him.
During that time, Naruto asked Jiro several times if he knew more about the Uzumaki clan.
Jiro fobbed him off each time with some excuse.
So while Kakashi kept a sliver of caution, he wasn't as wary as before.
From Jiro's perspective, though, whether Kakashi trusted him didn't matter. All he needed was for those little brats to believe in him.
As a clan head, he might lack other talents, but there were two things he had to possess: acting, and a grip on people's hearts.
After two days, Jiro had fully mapped out Kakashi's and the kids' personalities.
"Mr. Jiro, Kakashi-san and the others will be back from training any minute. Could you help bring the dishes to the table?" Tazuna's daughter called from the kitchen.
"Sure." Jiro smiled gently and walked toward the kitchen.
But his eyes stayed cold. He'd wasted two days already. It was time to act.
At the table—
Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be in a contest, shoveling rice into their mouths.
Everyone else wore helpless expressions. Clearly, this wasn't the first time.
"If you can't finish, then stop eating," Sakura muttered, unable to hold back a jab.
"No! I'm eating!" Naruto and Sasuke said in unison, shot each other a look, and dove back into their race.
"Seeing how hard you're training, I feel kind of bad freeloading here," Jiro said with a sheepish chuckle. "If you've got questions about training, I can help. I'm a jōnin after all."
Naruto and Sasuke's eyes lit up.
"Really? Kakashi-sensei keeps teaching us chakra control. It doesn't help much in real fights," Naruto said, excited, muttering the end under his breath.
Sasuke stayed quiet, but his chopsticks slowed. Clearly he wasn't satisfied, either, with learning basics like tree-walking. Compared to that man, his growth felt far too slow. His fists clenched.
Sakura perked up too, clearly interested in Jiro's offer.
"Knock it off, Naruto," Kakashi said mildly, eyelids drooping. But his gaze kept sliding to Jiro across the table.
"It's fine. We wanderer shinobi don't have so many restrictions," Jiro laughed. "But let's skip ninjutsu. You won't turn that into combat strength quickly, and compared to Konoha's shinobi, I'll pass on making a fool of myself."
"Combat technique, though—I've got some insights. At least for staying alive, they'll help. If Kakashi-dono doesn't mind, he can join, too."
Hearing there'd be no ninjutsu, Naruto and Sakura both showed a flicker of disappointment.
Sasuke, though, looked unsurprised. Even a wanderer wouldn't casually teach ninjutsu. Besides, the Uchiha didn't lack jutsu. What he needed most right now was a jōnin's combat craft.
"In that case, if the three of them want to learn, I've got no objections," Kakashi said after glancing at their faces. Stopping them would be pointless.
And this Jiro only grew harder to read.
With someone like that, safer to keep him under watch than leave him in Tazuna's house. Besides, Kakashi wanted to see what Jiro was really after.
The next day—
In a forest clearing.
Kakashi leaned against a tree, a little book in hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Jiro teaching the three in the center.
"Naruto, too many wasted motions."
"Naruto, keep the movement tighter."
"Sakura, good work. Naruto, learn from Sakura."
"Mm. Sasuke, not bad. You already memorized everything I said."
The steady stream of instruction made Kakashi wonder who the real team leader was—him or Jiro.
Jiro watched the three train, a faint smile on his lips.
It hadn't taken long for him to see through the trio's talent.
Sasuke and Naruto had the highest ceilings. The weakest, on paper, was the girl named Sakura.
But under Jiro's careful guidance, the one who looked worst of the three was Naruto.
There's a saying: the more you do, the more you err.
If each correction took one pass with Sasuke and Sakura, then with Naruto it took two or even three.
On the surface, Jiro seemed diligent. But quietly, he planted a feeling in Naruto—an illusion that he wasn't as good as the others.
What Jiro wanted now was simple: keep chipping at Naruto's confidence until his mental defenses cracked.
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