Years passed after the Kyuubi incident. Kaen decided to lay low and truly integrate into the village.

Umino Iruka graduated from the Academy last year, Ebisu becomes a Chunin.

Kaen had a talk with the Hokage last year about the matter of Special Test, Unfortunately, the higher-ups were hell-bent on refusing, well mostly it was Danzo.

Kaen was royally pissed off, Danzo kept saying that he was an outsider and needed to be put under his surveillance and forcing him to join the roots.

Fortunately, Sarutobi refused, he didn't want to see the Root organization growing more powerful than it currently is, he knows Danzo's ambition after all.

Alas, Danzo was his old friend, and he was the one in charge of the dark matters stuff in Konoha.

Hence, his request has been approved but it was delayed one year as a final protest from Danzo.

Remembering Danzo's smirked, he can't help but vent and cursed all his past generation ancestors secretly. but he knows deep inside that Danzo was only provoking him and was merely waiting for him to make a single mistake, Danzo was also an old monster who managed to survive during the war after all.

"Scummy Danzo you are truly royally f*cked this time." Kaen cursed inwardly one last time.

During this year he trained madly for eight hours a day, he will only take a rest to eat and resume.

His day was completely filled with, spar with Might Guy, training Chunin Level Ninjutsu, Perfecting his charka control even further, and Discussing forbidden books with Kakashi, Rinse and Repeat.

That's right he managed to befriend Kakashi, their hobby coincidently matched, they are both good bookworms.

*Cough* *cough*

The result is, he improved leaps and bounds, even the Jonin that is assigned to fight him in the test couldn't help but protest, alas it just fell straight to deaf ears.

The special test now was merely for formality sakes, Sarutobi was satisfied with his talent and strength, and he usually recites his famous "Will of Fire bullshit" in his presence, as if he was a fool to believe it, but he was flexible after all, thus he used his godly acting skills to follow his script.

Sarutobi thought that he has successfully fooled him and managed to brainwash him when he was the one who was being fooled by him.

It was without benefits though, because the Konoha higher-ups now became less strict to him and truly considered him as a valuable asset.

As a temporary Chunin, he teamed up with others, he was known as the most promising star aside from Itachi in his generation, he managed to complete several C- Difficulty missions even B level once during the emergency.

Hence, for this reason, when he is outside, the civilians are looking at him with awe and respect, matching with his stunning appearance, it was not long before a fan club mostly containing girls emerged.

He was well-received in Konoha and they truly treated him as part of their village, not an outsider, he truly felt warm, because of that he managed to feel a completely unfamiliar feeling in his past life, that was the sense of belonging.

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So he decided that as long as it was within his powers, he will do his best to help the Village, but he was still not an idiot to sacrifice himself.

Utmost, he will save some few who he was familiar with if push comes to shove.

So just like that a year passed, his hard work was witnessed by all, he didn't let his talent cloud his judgment and laze around, because he knows that talent just gave him a better starter line compared to others, but he knows better than anyone that effort was still the determining factor of how far you will reach based on the cultivation novels he read countless of time in his past life.

So with his hard work combined with talent, his battle prowess quickly reached the middle of Jonin level.

His only remaining weakness now was his vulnerability to mental attacks.

For now, his focus was entirely on utilizing the wood element properly like Hashirama, the combination of water and earth element was what resulted in Mokuton.

It was a bit similar to Kekkai Genkai, so he didn't truly need Ninjutsu Scrolls for it, it came naturally to him, he just needed to brush up his proficiency by using it all the time.

So far, he managed to master creating wood and plants from the ground or his very being of various sizes and shapes that he manipulated to his purposes.

he could also completely change the landscape with his constructs. He also had more ingenious usages such as making wood clones that are nearly indistinguishable from himself. He could make flowering trees whose pollen rendered opponents unconscious, protective structures.

Now he was on the way to mastering the Wooden Clones and Giant Humanoid Creature that was only on par with Uchiha Madara's Susanoo.

When he successfully do it in the near future, no one was stopping him anymore, he plans to combine his wood release with seals further making it troublesome.

He imagined seeing his enemies' faces crying in despair on the battlefield.

With his current strength, his chances of acquiring Uchiha Bloodline have increased, he was truly satisfied, but it was not enough for him, opposite of it, he decided to double his effort so he can finally complete the old man's Hagomoro wish.

Well, that was for the future, for now, he has a lot of devious plans in his arsenal, he was merely waiting patiently for the right timing to actualized them.

He was now on the way to the forest to spar with Might Guy, they managed to hit it off with him during this time, they now considered each other as a close friend, if he requested him to pass his Eight Gate to him he was confident that he would agree.

Seeing a guy with a green hoodie with his usual "Nice Guy" pose, a Thumbs up, wink, and winning smile.

Kaen couldn't help but chuckle every time he sees it.

"Are you ready?" Kaen asked him with his usual easy-going smile.

"Let's start!" Guy smiled at him and sends him his usual thumbs up.

After that, his previous funny appearance disappeared replaced by his rare instance of seriousness when engaging in battle.

This was going for half a year now, Guy quickly activated his fifth gate, he plunges his feet on the ground to push his body where Kaen was located.

Kaen also activated his Byakugan as a response, Guys Taijutsu was truly honed to the limit. he can effectively adjust his attack patterns and battle tactics to best handle the situation with various unorthodox yet effective strikes.

Even with Byakugan activated, Kaen was having a hard time following his movements, He quickly punched him with half of his strength.

Unsurprisingly, Guy managed to block it effortlessly, his Strong Fist style was no joke, so just like that, they kept going for three hours straight.

Might Guy was breathing rapidly, While... Kaen was... well he was fine, he didn't even break a sweat during the process.

This was the benefit of the sage body, he has almost infinite stamina due to his powerful life force and vast physical energy. If not for it he will not even manage to keep up with Might Guy.

Might Guy was still better at him in terms of Taijutsu, but thanks to him he was improving quickly.

"You're body is truly perfect for Taijutsu, If not for sparring with you every day I would not even believe it," Might Guy said excitedly with a fire burning in his eyes.

"Don't worry someday I will give you something that will help you utilized the Eighth Gate without dying, but that was for the future, For now, it was all just an empty talk" Kaen said confidently.

This was his promise to Might Guy, he was not a bastard to take things without exchange *Ahem* to the people that are close to him, even though Might Guy kept saying that he doesn't need anything in exchange, but he is not an asshole so he promised him a method that even him would find it hard to refuse.

"Really!?" Guy exclaimed in excitement.

Even though he didn't reach it yet, he knows how dangerous it was based on the name it carries which is "Death".