Kakashi couldn't help glancing at Qiyun, who was pressed tightly against him. The moment his gaze brushed against his older brother's profile, he pulled his eyes away as if he had been scalded.
"You never know, and besides, what's with this clingy routine day in and day out?"
Despite those words, the corners of his mouth beneath his mask curved up slightly.
Ever since they could remember, the two of them had never been apart. Through the days when Sakumo was busy, the brothers had always supported each other as they grew up. Although Kakashi was sharp-tongued with Qiyun, deep down he genuinely liked and valued his older brother.
If he had a choice, he certainly would have wanted to be on the same team as Qiyun.
"Yeah, yeah, it's just that I can't live without Kakashi, not even for a single day," Qiyun said with a crescent-eyed smile.
Kakashi instantly lost his composure, a wave of heat rushing to his face. "What… what kind of weird things are you saying!"
Qiyun watched with a smile as the skin around Kakashi's mask flushed a charming, pale pink. "Because we're the closest of brothers, so it's not strange to think that way, right?"
When he first realized he had come to a new world, Qiyun had naturally felt lost. Was he still himself? Or was all of this nothing more than an illusion, a dream he was having?
He didn't know, so the only thing Qiyun could think to do was stop overthinking and treat it as getting to live life all over again.
People are emotional creatures. The moment he figured it all out, the person he was closest to and valued the most naturally turned out to be his twin younger brother, Kakashi.
The current Kakashi was sharp-tongued and fussy, a proud little genius with a gentle and sensitive heart—you couldn't see a trace of the delinquent Jonin he would become later on.
Qiyun's face maintained its smiling expression, but the arm wrapped around Kakashi's shoulder tightened instinctively by a fraction.
Kakashi pressed his lips tightly together, the shy pink on his face gradually fading. He was an exceedingly smart child, and his perception of emotions was remarkably keen.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi observed Qiyun chatting and laughing with Sakumo and frowned slightly. Dad often left because of his ANBU work, so he didn't know the full picture, but Kakashi lived with Qiyun day in and day out. Because of that, he could clearly feel that Qiyun had an abnormal desire to control him.
This desire for control wasn't coming from a negative place; rather, it stemmed from worry and an unwillingness to see him get hurt—as if Kakashi would drop dead the moment he wasn't within Qiyun's sight.
Kakashi didn't know where Qiyun's worries came from, but deep down, he felt a secret thrill at being favored like this. His older brother loved him and valued him; shouldn't he be happy about that?
Only… Kakashi, who had a lot on his mind for such a young age, touched his chin. Was it because he was too weak that his older brother worried about him so much?
At this thought, Kakashi felt a wave of irritation. Damn it, his older brother's physical stamina was indeed better than his, but that wasn't a reason for his brother to treat him like a weakling who needed protection!
Kakashi clenched his fists in his heart. He had to work hard at his training! Next time, he would be the one to protect his older brother!
And so, Kakashi—that overachieving grind-master—started grinding even harder. During the days Sakumo was home, he constantly peppered him with questions about Ninjutsu, and his swordplay training didn't fall behind at all either.
"Clang—!"
A loud metallic crash echoed across the training ground.
Qiyun blocked the lightning-fast short sword lunging at him, the clash of steel sending up a dazzling shower of sparks. The web of Kakashi's hand stung fiercely, forcing him to pull back his blade and retreat.
As he fell back, he immediately formed hand signs. "Substitution Jutsu!"
The next second, a flash of blade light swept past, slicing the wooden log that had appeared in its place cleanly in two.
Unsurprised, Qiyun turned around to cross blades with Kakashi once again.
Qiyun's swordplay was wide open and aggressive, every move and stance executed with effortless ease. His innate monstrous strength gave him an inherent advantage, and his delicate face was brimming with the confidence of the strong.
Kakashi, on the other hand, relied primarily on agility and extreme speed, supplemented by Ninjutsu. He was as fast as lightning, his dark eyes locked onto Qiyun with absolute focus.
The two blades collided with a deafening crash. After exchanging blows with Qiyun multiple times, Kakashi's hand was finally knocked back a distance. Qiyun didn't miss the opportunity, immediately pressing the attack step by step to prevent Kakashi from pulling his hands back to form hand signs.
At a disadvantage in swordplay, Kakashi instantly fell behind, retreating step by step with no spare breath to swing his next blow.
"Show me your trump card, Kakashi, or else you're going to lose," Qiyun said with a crooked smile.
"I won't give up so easily!" Kakashi's gaze hardened.
A wisp of electric current flickered across his arm, racing swiftly down to the short sword in his hand—moving so fast that even Qiyun failed to react in time.
A numbness shot through his hand, and his grip involuntarily loosened.
Now's my chance!
Kakashi swung his sword downward, aiming straight for Qiyun's vital points.
A flash of surprise crossed Qiyun's face, instantly replaced by eyes brimming with amusement.
"Not bad."
He swiftly fought through the nerves paralyzed by the electricity, tightened his grip on his blade, and pressed it against Kakashi's throat the exact moment Kakashi's sword brushed past his shoulder.
"You lose, Kakashi."
Kakashi lowered his sword and said dejectedly, "Yeah, I lost."
If this had been a real battle, he would already be dead.
Qiyun put away his sword and ruffled his little brother's fluffy hair. "Don't look so down. What was that electric trick just now? If my recovery speed hadn't been so high, I really might have fallen for it."
"It's a new Ninjutsu I'm researching. It's just an idea right now and isn't perfected yet," Kakashi shook his head.
"That's still amazing!" Qiyun didn't skimp on his praise. "Kakashi is really talented at Ninjutsu, already starting to research new techniques."
Kakashi looked at Qiyun speechlessly and retorted, "Qiyun, at least practice your hand signs properly. What kind of ninja doesn't use Ninjutsu in battle?"
"Hahaha…" At the mention of this, Qiyun gave an awkward, dry laugh and scratched his head. He wasn't actually a four-year-old child; he could remember the sequence of hand signs just fine. But there was still that same old problem: his hand sign speed was agonizingly slow. When it came to actual combat, it was faster to just grab a sword and go at it directly.
"It can't be helped," he said helplessly. "Fighting you doesn't give me any time to weave hand signs at all."
"That's why I'm saying you need to practice your hand sign speed—it's way too slow!"
"Is hand speed something you can just practice into shape? I'm not some grand mage!"
"Of course it can be practiced. And besides, stop saying things I don't understand."
Qiyun gritted his teeth and aggressively ruffled Kakashi's hair. "But I won just now, right? The tactic that wins is the best tactic!"
Kakashi ducked to dodge Qiyun's ravaging hand and said unconvinced, "Big Brother is just winning by suppressing me with brute physical stats! Sooner or later, I'm going to grow bigger and stronger than you!"
"Hmph hmph, stop talking big. Try surpassing me first before you say that," Qiyun curved his blue eyes.
"I definitely will!"
"Gurgle~"
Qiyun's stomach let out a strange sound. He lowered his head to look at his flat belly. "Ah~ dragged out early in the morning by Kakashi for spar practice, I'm starving."
He grabbed Kakashi, who was still looking like he wanted to review their recent match. "Let's go, my hardworking younger brother. Go fill up your older brother's stomach first."
"Honestly, why is someone like you a kitchen killer..." Kakashi offered no resistance as Qiyun dragged him along.
After all, he certainly didn't want Qiyun actually stepping into the kitchen. Every time he did, the kitchen ended up blown to pieces by various accidents.
The past Kakashi hadn't believed it and tried to defy common sense, resulting in the family kitchen being remodeled five times in a single week. After that, he gave up entirely.
"Oh, looks like there's only veggies left." Qiyun looked at the sea of green in the refrigerator and made a disgusted face.
"Then let's go out to eat."
"But I want to eat something Kakashi makes," Qiyun blinked.
Kakashi immediately glared at him with deadpan eyes. "Didn't you say you were starving? If we go to the market to buy ingredients, then come home and fire up the stove to cook, it's definitely going to take a while."
"Hmm..." Qiyun thought for a moment, a flash of inspiration hitting him as he smilingly clenched his fist and struck his open palm. "Let's go fishing by the river and grill some fish! That way, I can help out too."
Seeing the skeptical look on Kakashi's face, Qiyun quickly added, "Other things aside, you can't possibly blow up a campfire, right?"
Well... that made sense. Kakashi was slightly tempted. Even though he was the one who usually cooked the meals when Sakumo was away, he was also quite curious to taste Qiyun's cooking. So, half-reluctantly, he grabbed their fishing gear and followed Qiyun down to the riverbank.
"So slow..." Qiyun muttered with a blade of grass in his mouth, squatting down to stare at the completely motionless fishing rod.
"Fishing requires patience in the first place." Kakashi, unhurried and steady with his fishing rod, showed no impatience whatsoever, displaying a composure rare for his young age.
"I can't wait!" Qiyun kicked off his shoes and rolled up his trouser legs.
"What are you doing?!"
Qiyun waded straight into the shallow water, turned back to flash a smile at Kakashi, and said, "Watch me!"
"Sigh..." Kakashi let out a sigh. If he acted that rowdy, any fish that were about to bite would just swim away. He seriously suspected Qiyun just wanted to play.
The cool water flowed past his calves. Qiyun turned back with a smile, opened his arms, and curved his blue eyes. "Kakashi, let's race to see who catches a fish first!"
"Who would do something so childish..."
A moment later, Kakashi—having taken off his shoes and socks just like Qiyun—stood in the shallow water, his dark eyes locked intently on a motionless fish not far away.
Now's the time!
Water splashed.
"Hahaha..." Qiyun clutched his stomach and roared with laughter.
With a blank expression, Kakashi sat up from the water, soaked from head to toe. A strand of waterweed hung from his silver hair, and his mask was plastered tightly against his face, outlining the shape of his features.
"Still hard, huh?" Qiyun walked over to Kakashi's side and held out a hand to him. "It really tests your eyesight and reaction speed."
Kakashi took Qiyun's hand, used the leverage to stand up, and said unconvincingly, "If I had used Lightning Release, mere fish..."
"What if you encounter a situation where you can't use Ninjutsu?" Qiyun countered.
Kakashi froze. "How could I not be able to use it?"
"Like... what if your chakra is completely exhausted? Or sealed away by a Sealing Jutsu?" Qiyun asked with a smile. "How would you handle a situation like that?"
For a spatial power user to die to spatial lockdown would be far too pathetic, but when it came down to it, he had been arrogant and failed to consider every possible angle. This time, he would never repeat the same mistake.
Hearing Qiyun's question, Kakashi lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "...Indeed, that is a scenario that needs to be considered."
He raised his head to look at Qiyun. "Is that why Big Brother put so much effort into practicing Taijutsu, because you considered this kind of situation?"
"Part of the reason," Qiyun scratched the back of his head. "You know how it is—I'm really not good at hand signs."
He sighed as he spoke. "I don't get it. Why must we use hand signs anyway?"
"I've told you before, hand signs are for releasing Ninjutsu and guiding the chakra within the body..."
"So, if there's another way to guide chakra, there's no need to force hand signs, right?" Qiyun interrupted Kakashi, looking puzzled. As an esper, weren't instant-cast abilities just the basics?
"...Do we really have to discuss this right now?" Kakashi felt soaked to the bone and had zero desire to debate Ninjutsu theory with Qiyun while standing in the water.
"Hahaha, true enough. Let's wrap this up quickly then." Qiyun drew several senbon needles from the ninja tool pouch at his thigh.
He closed his eyes, and a powerful wave of perception instantly spread out, locking onto several targets.
When he opened his eyes again, a flash of golden light flickered in his blue irises.
The senbon needles shot out instantly. A few moments later, several fish floated to the surface of the river, belly up.
"All right! Today's lunch is secured!" Qiyun pumped his arm happily and turned back to call out to Kakashi, "Hey hey, Kakashi, let's start grilling the fish!"
Yet Kakashi only opened his deadpan eyes wide, staring blankly at Qiyun. "...So strong."
That terrifying level of insight and control was something he couldn't achieve yet.
In that instant, Kakashi understood why Qiyun had been so at ease during their spar earlier. He hadn't even forced Qiyun to use his full strength.
"Hmm?" Receiving no response, Qiyun leaned in close to Kakashi with a puzzled look. "What are you spacing out for, Kakashi?"
"No, nothing." Kakashi snapped back to reality, cast a complex glance at Qiyun, and silently walked back to the shore.
"What's wrong with him..." Qiyun inexplicably sensed a burning fighting spirit radiating from Kakashi.
Qiyun scooped up all the fish he had killed and returned to the spot where the two of them had been fishing. Kakashi had already set up the campfire, taking off his soaked mask and placing it aside, revealing a similarly delicate and handsome face.
Although they were twins, Kakashi and Qiyun still looked somewhat different. Aside from their eye color, Kakashi took after their father, Sakumo, while Qiyun had inherited more from their mother, giving him softer facial features.
The reason Kakashi wore a mask wasn't just because he looked good and was frequently mistaken for a girl; he also possessed a sense of smell far superior to ordinary people, and the filtration provided by the mask served as a form of protection.
Because of this, Kakashi practically welded the mask to his face from a very young age, but in front of his twin brother, it didn't matter.
"I fished the catches out," Qiyun said casually as he sat down beside Kakashi, rubbing his palms together. "Let's get started!"
"Wait a minute, at least clean out the guts first!" Kakashi said hastily, seeing Qiyun impatiently trying to skewer the fish.
"Huh?"
"As I thought... I shouldn't hold out any illusions about your pitiful cooking skills."