Chapter 39 (Patreon)

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

For the candidates preparing to participate in the official third exam, every one of those days was precious. With only a month remaining, none of them would waste a moment that could be spent training.

For Mihawk, however, those five days had been some of the most unpleasant he had experienced in years.

The reason was simple.

Hinata had not visited him once.

After Hiashi Hyūga learned that she had passed the preliminary round, he placed strict limits on her daily activities. He had even begun personally training his eldest daughter again, despite having practically given up on her before.

Mihawk had grown accustomed to Hinata taking care of him over the past several years.

Now that she was suddenly no longer beside him, everything felt strangely uncomfortable.

He usually prepared breakfast for Hinata, and the two of them would make lunch together. With Hinata unable to leave the Hyūga compound, Mihawk could not even be bothered to eat at home.

He was not in the mood to meditate at the dojo either.

For the first time in two years, he returned to the waterfall outside the village.

Rumble—

Water poured from the top of the cliff and crashed against the boulders below. Countless droplets scattered through the air like mist, falling over the lone figure seated on the surface of the river.

With the roar of the waterfall behind him, Mihawk sat cross-legged on the water in quiet sword meditation.

His long silver hair hung loosely over his shoulders. Several wet strands clung to his forehead and cheeks.

Combined with his handsome features and black kimono, the faint loneliness surrounding him gave him the dignified presence of a young noble.

The scene looked almost like a painting.

Several women who had come to the waterfall together to play in the water stopped when they noticed him. None of them wanted to disturb the silver-haired boy sitting silently beneath the waterfall.

The sight also attracted the attention of a legendary shinobi who had been following them.

“Hey, Pervy Sage, why did you bring me all the way out here?” Naruto complained. “I’m supposed to be practicing the Summoning Jutsu.”

Jiraiya peered through an opening in the bushes as the women walked away, disappointment flashing across his face.

His eyes quickly lit up again when he noticed Mihawk beneath the waterfall.

“Right, right. You can train here,” Jiraiya replied absentmindedly. “Just don’t bother me.”

“Seriously…”

Naruto stared at his irresponsible teacher with a helpless expression.

Jiraiya ignored him.

His attention had already been captured by the figure beneath the waterfall.

“Incredible,” he murmured. “I leave the village for a few years, and Konoha produces someone like this?”

Walking on water was nothing remarkable.

Sitting on the surface of the water was not particularly impressive either.

Any skilled chūnin or elite genin could learn that level of chakra control.

What caught Jiraiya’s attention was the presence surrounding Mihawk.

Beneath that calm, dignified appearance was an incredibly sharp aura.

Just as the pirates of another world possessed Haki, powerful shinobi also carried a presence that could be felt by those sensitive enough to notice it.

Sasuke had once been frozen by the killing intent of Zabuza Momochi. He had experienced an even greater fear when faced with Orochimaru’s murderous aura.

Later, the sheer presence released by shinobi such as Hashirama and Tobirama Senju would be enough to shake an entire room.

The stronger a person became, the easier it was for them to judge another person’s strength through their presence alone.

As one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya immediately sensed the terrifying sharpness hidden beneath Mihawk’s noble bearing.

It was like a sword that had already been drawn from its sheath.

That was why he was so impressed.

Konoha was known for producing geniuses, but most of its greatest talents had emerged during times of war.

Without experiencing bloodshed, many gifted shinobi never awakened their full potential.

Even Itachi Uchiha had witnessed the cruelty of the Third Shinobi World War when he was still a child. That experience caused him to think about war, life, and the meaning of becoming Hokage at an unusually young age.

Later, the deaths of his teammates and closest friend pushed his Sharingan from its first awakening all the way to the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Aside from jinchūriki, even the most talented genin raised during peaceful times were usually only around Sasuke’s current level when they graduated.

That was why Mihawk’s presence surprised Jiraiya so much.

What happened next turned that surprise into shock.

After meditating for some time, Mihawk slowly opened his eyes and rose to his feet.

He turned toward the waterfall.

Taking the band from his wrist, Mihawk gathered his long silver hair and tied it into a single ponytail.

His right hand then settled on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Mihawk vanished.

An afterimage shot upward along the waterfall, racing toward the top of the cliff in an instant.

Each time the afterimage briefly appeared at a new position, a dazzling silver flash cut across the falling water.

Moments later, Mihawk stood at the edge of the cliff.

The waterfall beneath him seemed to freeze.

For one silent instant, the entire silver curtain of water remained suspended in place.

Then it split into several separate sections.

Rumble!

The divided torrents crashed down at once, releasing a deafening roar.

“Wh-What was that?! What happened?!”

The sudden sound startled Naruto, who had been standing behind Jiraiya.

He looked around in confusion, but Jiraiya was no longer standing in front of him.

The waterfall had already returned to normal.

Mihawk had disappeared as well.

However, the sight he left behind remained engraved in Jiraiya’s mind.

After a long silence, Jiraiya finally recovered from his shock.

“Can a kid that young really possess swordsmanship like that?”

His expression became unusually serious.

“And aside from the Body Flicker Technique, there wasn’t even the slightest fluctuation of chakra.”

The force of a waterfall was enormous.

Even a grown man who stepped beneath it could easily be knocked down and swept away.

No matter how skilled a swordsman was, cutting through a waterfall should have been impossible without a chakra-conductive weapon and mastery over Wind Release nature transformation.

Yet Mihawk had split the entire waterfall into several sections using nothing more than ordinary sword draws.

There had been no chakra in his strikes.

Even the samurai of the Land of Iron—or someone as skilled as Sakumo Hatake—would have found such a feat almost impossible without using chakra.

The image of Mihawk’s youthful face returned to Jiraiya’s mind.

He suddenly turned toward Naruto.

“Naruto, was there a genin in your class who specialized in swordsmanship?”

“A genin who uses a sword?”

Naruto immediately remembered the strike Mihawk had used to defeat Yoroi Akadō.

“Yeah, and he’s ridiculously strong!”

Naruto began speaking with visible excitement.

“Pervy Sage, you should’ve seen Mihawk’s swordsmanship! None of us could even see him draw his sword. His opponent just fell before anyone realized what happened!”

“Mihawk…”

Jiraiya frowned slightly.

“Nerona isn’t a clan name I recognize.”

His gaze returned to the waterfall.

A civilian-born genius?